Skip to main content

Dog days

And so Christmas is over for another year and we are enjoying that wonderful but weird in-between period before New Year when there is still too much chocolate around but not enough motivation yet to throw the remainder away! In fact it's not too bad if I consider what the alternative could be. I've had the pleasure of lots of long walks with various friends and family over the past couple of weeks, and alongside that I've run or been to yoga every day this week. While I'm certainly not losing the pounds I should at least be maintaining a balance of sorts.

Today has been a great example. Abi and I went to Westonbirt (along with about a million other people) and met Mum and Dad, Amanda, Alex and the boys and Simon and Audrey plus ALL the dogs - six of them in total! This is a massive thing for Bertie - he's not done something like this before so to go from the recent walking where we do meet people but in relatively small numbers, to Westonbirt on one of the busiest days of the year is huge. He must have greeted over 100 dogs today and while we had a bit of angst to start with before he was allowed off the lead (the first thing we did was try and get him to sit quietly while we had a cup of coffee), once he had a chance to get his space and greet other dogs normally he was a complete star for the entire time we were there. We walked for a couple of hours and he charged around with the other dogs and had an absolute ball - I am very proud of him. I think he is officially starting to properly rehabilitate after his few years in a social wilderness.

The last few days have been so nice - getting up at a sensible time, pottering around doing bits and
pieces, seeing friends, getting a few things sorted at home and so on. I know I only have one week to go before the onslaught of a new job but it's been very helpful having my new laptop so I can see what I'm heading into. Having sight of my diary is particularly important - I've already been able to speak to my new PA and tell her how I like my day to be structured and so I can see already that she's blocked time for me to get away for my Thursday yoga class and work from home on a Friday - little things like this make all the difference. The new, improved commute also means I can catch a slightly later train and while I've been toying with the idea of going in earlier, I keep reminding myself that this isn't necessary and the extra 30 mins in bed before 6am every day is far more valuable to my overall health, well being and therefore stamina. My primary 2020 resolution is to be kinder to myself on things like this so I should start as I mean to go on!

The flip side of all this relaxation is of course we are all out of routine and getting the kids to get motivated is doubly difficult. Abi has been pretty good - she has her animals to create some structure and has also started to do a bit of running on the treadmill which is brilliant. Izzy on the other hand would happily spend all day in her pyjamas watching YouTube and eating rubbish and then wonders why she's grumpy. She also got royally told off for going to Mia's for a sleepover and coming home so tired she was still in recovery mode on Christmas Day. She has subsequently been banned from staying over until she learns it's just not acceptable to keep yourself awake all night. She thinks I'm being unfair but I don't like having to deal with the emotional fall out of an overtired 11 year old. If I'm honest of the two of them it feels like she is the one on the hormonal roller-coaster right now rather than Abi. If I think back then that makes some sense - I'm sure Abi was more volatile at this point as well. As I've said more than once, the great thing about 2 kids is one of them is generally up when the other is down! Oh the joys - at least that is one reason to look forward to a new school term starting!


Post Westonbirt - one very tired dog!

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