a weekly round-up of random happenings

I can't believe it is Friday once more! It has been a busy week and I am glad it is coming to an end. Tonight we are celebrating the end of the school year with the PTA (parent teacher association) and I look forward to a night out with friends. Just now, I am stealing a few minutes of online time, munching a lunch time bacon butty. It is delicious.


This last week was taken up by a variety of activities at school, as is always the case during the last couple of weeks before the summer holiday. Friday last week we had our school summer party. As a PTA treasurer in training, I was in charge of wandering the school grounds and collect money from doors, bar and other stalls. I thought I'd bring an incongruous wee handbag but it soon became clear that it was rather too small. It was a tiring job, and a bit scary, too. I have never had that much money to look after and I was just so worried that I might loose all or some. But I had just the right amount of prosecco to keep my courage up and of course plenty of friends, children and helpers to talk to. We raised a total of £2278 for the school. It will be great to see the money come to good use in the new school year. My children meanwhile were roaming free from stall to stall and through the woods. Our school is surrounded by fenced off woodland, which is great. Every few minutes one would appear to ask for money for yet more sweets. We got back at 10:45 pm with four tired but happy children.


On Monday, we had the opening ceremony or the schools Commonwealth Games. You may know that the Commonwealth Games 2014 are hosted by Glasgow and of course the Games are eagerly anticipated. I think the start is towards the end of July. The school organised their own games and I was required to attend no less than 5 events this week, starting with the opening ceremony and ending with the closing ceremony. In between there were the infant sports day, a Commonwealth afternoon with James and the upper school sports day. I have some budding athletes in the family, with James winning the bean bag race and becoming third in the flat race. Annie managed to get a place in the 300 metre final after a spectacular collapse on the finish line in the heats. She was in the lead for more than half the distance but then had a coughing fit and suffered from shortness of breath. She gets that when doing exercise. Nevertheless, Annie is a fighter and would have rather died than give up and she came in second. The winning girl had the cheek to say something like "oh well, someone had to win, and it was not you". Not much sportsmanship but there you go.

There was also a camping weekend with Scouts that Sam, Annie and Richard attended. They left on Saturday morning at 7:30 and returned on Sunday evening at 7 pm. The dirt and smell that they brought with them is not fit for description but I will say that their walking boots are not allowed in the porch until they are bone dry. The weekend was spent climbing rock faces and walking two munros. For those unfamiliar with the term munro, this is what we call the mountains here.

Meanwhile, James, Alistair and I spend most of the weekend in the garden and on the playground. It was rather nice.


There are only three school days left, and unfortunately one more event where parent attendance is required, the prize giving ceremony. It is of course not compulsory but since I am not working I cannot come up with a really good excuse for not going and the smug mum brigade already have their eye on me for various reasons. I dread the phrase "poor little Alistair, ...." (fill in the gap with being late for French café or for not walking the poor wee mite to school (Annie, James and Ali go together, it is a 5 minute safe walk) or not giving him the appropriate attention at the end of sports day, which apparently left him distraught, the only child who wasn't greeted by mum (really!). I was actually clearing up the coffee and tea stall we had organised for the other parents. The poor wee mite was not distraught but miffed that I didn't do the mum's race (I was serving tea and coffee to Mrs and Mr Superparent instead). Ok, I must stop here because I can feel a proper rant coming on.

Other news this week:
  • I am still unemployed and continue to search for a job.
  • On my "day off" (no school event) I did outreach work for a career event at a local High School. Yes, it is rather ironic.
  • Sam was awarded a free ticket for the Commonwealth Games (gymnastics) at school for outstanding participation at various activities. One of 10 tickets, how lucky is that.
  • We found out who will be teaching the 3 younger ones next year. I am happy will all three teachers (we've had them before) and even happier that Alistair is now in a composite class because for composite classes, the maximum class size is smaller than for "normal" classes.
  • All my nail varnish has disappeared. I suspect my darling daughter and will have a search through her room tomorrow. Luckily she labels all her boxes with handy stickers and it will be easy to find the beautifying box....
  • The weather has been unusually good. We've had no rain since last Friday, which is worth a mention on the news for sure.

And now I have to scoot off for a night of fun with the PTA. I never finished this post at lunch time, as I had intended. School run, laundry, play park and dinner had to be dealt with instead. I have 5 minutes to spare before I need to dash off (with unpainted toe nails). Apologies for the random photos! It is watermelon weather and the watermelons are just beautiful. I'll reply to all your lovely comments on my last post this weekend. Promise. Right after I searched Annie's bedroom. Cx

Comments

  1. It is definitely toenail weather and I too am on the job search - so dull! Jo x

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    1. I hope you'll find a job soon Jo. It is a bit soul destroying, searching for a job. I found the nail varnish, hurrah.

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  2. Loving your comments re The Smug Mum Brigade. We have them too (doesn't every school?) Let's comfort ourselves with the fact that they are setting their (usually) equally smug offspring up for a fall, 'cos life isn't one big fan club, as they have been sadly led to believe. Oops, better stop now, I can feel a rant coming on, not good for Friday night karma!

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    1. Yes I think the smug mums are everywhere. I am sure they mean well but maybe a bit of diplomacy would help. I hope I didn't spoil your Friday night!

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  3. Well, that sounds like an eventful week - you have been very busy, Christina! The commonwealth games at your school sounds great fun, well done to Annie for coming second (and the winner was just plain rude if you ask me!) Well done for James winning the bean bag race too! I cannot believe your school is nearly finished for summer, we have until the end of July! Well, mum brigade should mind their own business, Christina! Take no notice of anybody else or their comments. We get a lot of this at school, I don't know why people have the constant need to compete with other parents or judge people. I find myself constantly slipping away from groups as I hate it when others make me feel inferior, or I should be parenting in a different way. I admire you for all the help you are giving to the school. Have a great night with the pta and have a lovely weekend too! :))

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    1. It is great to have an early summer holiday, we benefit from the "low season" prices! When I was working I didn't notice the smug mums much, in fact I had no idea that being a mum is a competition. Just tells you how naïve I am... The PTA night out was amazing but the aftermath rather painful (pounding head ache)... :)

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  4. Yeh hate all that smug stuff .. Pta stuff gets busy doesnt it?! How cool being right where the games are!!! Im a very proud aunty as my nephew is representing nz in boxing.. Not my favourite sport but Im proud anyway!!! my sister is going- lucky thing. I love Glasgow!

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    1. Well, if your sister is having problems with accommodation, send me an email. I heard that there were some accommodation scams going. Well done for your nephew, that is a great achievement. PTA business always peeks in June and then again in December but I am quite proud of our achievements.

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  5. That sounds like a busy week indeed - and good to hear you're enjoying some summer sunshine too, let's hope it continues for a wee while. Don't worry about the smug mums - karma is a wonderful thing! ;-)
    Have a happy weekend, xx

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    1. I don't usually worry about my parenting style but sometimes the competitiveness gets to me. Karma is indeed a wonderful thing. Have a great week. x

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  6. It sounds like a rather busy and slightly trying time for you. Don't worry about what anyone else ever things, you know that you are doing what you need to do and what is right for you and your family, and that is what matters!! I don't hear you saying what work these others mums are doing for the PTA..... Great job on the fundraising, and I understand the scary carrying the money around thing from descriptions given to me by a couple of people close to me who have had similar situations. The end of term will be here soon and you can enjoy the Games and all the other lovely things about summer instead of PTA'ing all the time. xx

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    1. I am always busy because I am not so great at saying no. The money is safely banked and we celebrated our successes last Friday. Two more days to the holidays! x

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  7. We had our fete last week, it amazed me how much money was extracted from me. I have a watermelon too, good aren't they? Sorry about the smug mum brigade, best ignored I think. I hope you have a really good weekend. CJ xx

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    1. Yes, I think we spent our cash during the first 40 minutes.... I found out later that both James and Alistair had asked other people for money! I pretend not to be mortified. xx

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  8. Know how you feel abut prize giving and the competitive mum thing. I had to sit through two of these ceremonies this week and hear the head's speech twice. Tedious. Really enjoyed hearing about your week and you can hardly call yourself unemployed since you seem to work very hard indeed.

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    1. I like to keep busy and I am terrible at saying no.... I am not sure if this is a good combination. But the business has peaked now and I look forward to spending 7 weeks with the children without shelling out a monthly salary for holiday clubs. First time ever. I have decided to skip the prize giving and I hope I can keep my resolve up tomorrow morning... Our head seems to compete with the minister. Double tedious. The school uses the church because the school hall is too small.

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  9. Those smug mum's get everywhere don't they, I've come across quite a few! How exciting to win the ticket to the games, our little gymnast here will be very jealous!
    Have a wonderful weekend Christina hope you find the nail varnish! X

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    1. I did find the varnish, painted my toe nails but did such a terrible job it has to come off again. I need glasses and a smaller belly, which gets in the way. I think the kids also got tickets to squash, lucky them! I think all schools and clubs get an allocation of tickets because we are the host city. xx

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  10. Smug mums apparently exist the world over. :-(

    I laughed at your description of your returning Scouts. Hopefully some baths and a few loads of laundry had them all sorted out. The watermelon looks yummy. I'm surprised to see it has seeds. It seems the only kind available in Canada now is the seedless variety, and they aren't nearly as much fun to eat. I hope the rest of your weekend is terrific!

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    1. The seeds in our watermelon are soft and small, not like the ones I remember, the ones that are good for spitting competitions.

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  11. Hi Christina, I have nominated you for the Liebster Award, thank you for agreeing to take part. My post is now up, with all my questions to you etc. I look forward to reading your Liebster posts. Penny X

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Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment, I love to hear from you, I really do. I sometimes reply by email but I am not all that reliable... Christina xx

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