Skip to main content

Stop bickering!


For those of you who read last week's post... it's still raining. Having had a beautiful 6 weeks or so as we moved from late spring to summer we are now at the 'height' of summer and it hasn't stopped raining since we got back from France. I can't complain though - the forecast today was horrible and actually we ended up being able to spend most of it in the garden - you have to take your chances where you can! It's a good job we've been able to get outside as we are still clearing up from our builders. So much for them leaving everything spick and span. At the point they finally finished the work itself on Tuesday we'd just had enough - they asked us if we were satisfied with the end result and basically we said yes - the house itself looks great, but the surrounding areas needed loads of tidying up to get back to what we would say is normal. Anyway - having spent 4 hours this afternoon, plus the time over the week we are finally getting back to normal. we've also had Shaun come out and put right the block paving, we've scrubbed the garden furniture to remove the worst of the plashed paint.... thank goodness this is the last of the major projects we foresee for a good while!

This weekend has also been a process of mediation as Abi came home from her week riding tired and out of sorts and the two of them went through the normal transition of getting back into the swing of being generally good friends. More and more they want their own friends rather than each other and this morning was no different. Right from the off they were niggling at each other and begging me to find someone else for them to play with. Apparently being at home is "sooooo boring!" which clearly means there is only one interesting thing to do - irritate each other. After trying a few options I managed to find someone for them both to go see - and of course they were perfectly behaved all afternoon - that is until I got them in the car to come home - arghhh! At least the dogs love each regardless of what's going on - Freya likes nothing more than to be close to Bertie - even if it means sitting on his head!

August is just \around the corner and I only have a few more weeks until I move to a 4 day a week basis - I cant wait. I read somewhere this week that once you are past 40 the optimum number of hours you should work is approx. 30. Apparently anything less than this and your brain stagnates, anything more and you are in danger of your bran deteriorating because of overwork. While I don't think that a 4 day week will quite equate to 30 hours for me, at least its a step in the right direction. In the meantime it seems to have got very busy for what should be a summer break and so I'm in danger of not being able to take the time off I've planned for the end of August. I was supposed to be in Devon with Izzy , Zsara and Aran for a week but I suspect we may curtail that. if I'm honest that doesn't bother me too much - after being away in France I'm ready for some time off at home - I just want to enjoy it looking so nice now!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...

Bank Holiday sunshine

Off to meet FiFi and Grumps for a walk  (and yes, she is on the seat) Finally after weeks of rain and cold weather, the tide has turned and we have glorious sunshine for the bank holiday weekend and half term - hooray, it's about time.  Also just in time is half term as the kids were definitely ready for a break. They have both done brilliantly settling into the school, making new friends and finding their feet in an unfamiliar environment. Izzy has just had her exam week and felt it went OK given she hadn't covered all of the syllabus, and Abi's exams start as soon as she is back next week. I hope she's done some revision as she left for Devon with Claire, Adam and Mia today and isn't back until Saturday. There is talk of looking at some of her notes but who knows. My view is that a bit of R&R will probably be at least as beneficial if not more so than cramming all week so she should take the time to relax and have some fun - she deserves it. So we packed Abi o...

Half term

Whatever happened to half term?? It seems to have disappeared in a flash, do doubt partly as I was working having had 3 days off the previous week for Kerrie and Ryan's wedding. The plan was to not have a plan - both girls have exam week coming up and so our major intent was for them to spend at least half an hour a day or so doing a bit of revision. This has sort of worked - we only had one day where I got an irate message from Glenn that Izzy knows 'absolutely nothing' about her maths... we'll see. With half term comes effort grades and if they genuinely know nothing, it's not for a lack of effort. Abi did really well, keeping up her average and getting a 6 (top grade) in French again. Izzy, who we always worry is apt to cruise if allowed, got the first 5.0 average grade we've seen from either of them and 3 6's in French, English and DT - well done Izzy! I tend to assume all the kids work hard but it seems not - according to Abi "all the boys always...