Skip to main content

Slow time

Izzy making the most of a trip to Dun Elm -
I've clearly created a home furnishing monster!
Ah, what a treat it is to have some slow time to catch up and not have to rush around quite so much as usual. Obviously when I planned these 2 weeks off I was assuming that i would be spending much of the time with the kids and Glenn, but it seems they have other ideas! While Glenn has been about of course the kids have their own plans. Abi has obviously been at Angie's - where else would she be after all - and Izzy seems to flit in and out, sometimes here, sometimes not.

As a result of this I have quickly adjusted and had a lovely week, pottering around with lots of long dog walks, tea and cake with local friends, extra yoga classes and enough other stuff to fill my time very nicely. If I had to say now what I had done and when I wouldn't have a clue, but looking back the week passed very pleasantly and I'm feeling pretty relaxed.

On Friday it was my turn to do the run to Tollard Royal to pick Abi up. I wanted to go for 2 reasons - when I do it we seem to have a smoother transition of her back into the house, I think the time being able to chat to me and download before she gets home is helpful, and also I wanted to pin Angie down on her plans for the following week as well as the details on the house for New Year. The latter was a bit hazy - we know what week we have booked of course, but it wasn't immediately clear from the website what facilities there are and already there are questions on numbers of bathrooms. As Abi said "get over it, if you don't want to share a bathroom, don't come!" Seems straight forward enough! I got enough out of her to work out the gist of what's available and basically it's an old house with no en suite facilities - we'll survive! By the time we got home Abi was nicely chilled and we had a lovely afternoon and evening despite the fact that it was torrential rain outside. We sat down to watch a film and Abi suddenly said "Can you smell burning?" We went outside and sure enough there were clouds of smoke billowing across the garden, despite the pouring rain! We weren't the only ones to have smelt it and our neighbours were also out there trying to see which house was burning down! After a bit of checking we concluded it must be the new people who have rented at the other end of the cul de sac burning removal boxes in the rain - why would you do that??

Saturday Abi disappeared to Mia's (of course) and then Sunday it was a case of getting ready for Centre Parcs. What this meant in reality was lots of procrastination and "We'll do it tomorrow Mummy" so I gave up on them - I can't and won't be responsible for everything. I had to hot foot it into London on Monday morning to go to a meeting, which meant a quick turnaround to get back by lunchtime and pick them both up (having checked their packing) to take them to Warminster before |I went onto see Mum and Dad (on my own - what a treat!!). Despite them having bacon sandwiches and an apple about 30 mins before we left, as soon as we drove away from the house they both informed me that they were "starving" - how?! I offered up a few options and in the end just thought sod it - I wouldn't do this very often but we can stop at the MacDonalds on the way and get something quick otherwise we'll be even later. Bad parent but in my defense I have waited until they are nearly teenagers before doing this and it's only the second time I've ever done it. It's probably better tor relent sometimes or they will just go there behind my back anyway and chicken wraps can't be as bad as a double cheeseburger and thick shake (I hope!) It kept them going until we got there so did the trick.

So off they have gone to Centre Parcs with Kerrie and Ryan, we've heard a few bits and pieces and all seems to be going brilliantly - stories to follow in next week's blog I hope. I on the other hand had a truly lovely 24 hours with Mum and Dad, walking, talking and eating cake - there is a theme to these couple of weeks off I see!





Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more