Meltdowns

It's Monday again and you can tell how things are going from the fact that I didn't get a chance to write the blog yesterday and I daren't look at my diary this week - every time I do I have minor palpitations and worry about how its all going to fit in. It will, it always does, but even so. You would think with the current trend for working from home there would be more time, I'm not sure where it all goes. Admittedly I get up a bit later in the morning, but only by half an hour, and I walk Bertie for longer, but again only by about 20 mins - so where does the time go? I used to squeeze in the best part of 3 hours commuting a day - what has happened to that time?? I do have more time to walk, and more time to spend with the kids. If only they wanted to spend some time with me! Oh well, I'm sure it will pass and things will calm down again... ha ha.

Back to school has gone well and, despite some of the Covid annoyances which we hope will get ironed out as things settle down, the girls are flourishing being back in school. They are really benefiting from being back with their friends, even if they were worried initially that they wouldn't like them. It's been interesting to see that if you only experience people through social media you start to go off some of them - probably not a bad lesson to learn (1. to not view life through Snapchat and 2. not everyone is what they seem online). Izzy has been bubbling with everything she has to say to us when she gets home, so much so that Glenn has had to leave the room a few times! I keep reminding him that if she's talking to us it's a good thing as mostly she seems to ignore us currently, but he doesn't necessarily agree. 

I got majorly freaked out for Abi on Tuesday when we had a 'Welcome to Year 9' Teams call in the evening, hosted by the Headmaster and supposedly for parents and pupils. Firstly she didn't even want to share the login details with me, and then messed around with her animals and was late coming in to join me to watch it. The message was essentially "this is your transition year, enjoy it but be under no illusions it gets serious from here on in" It seemed that I was the only one taking it seriously and I then got so wound up that I ended up in tears. It's not often that I have a full scale meltdown but this was one of those occasions. I basically felt like I'm the one working hard to keep them in the kind of school we didn't get the chance to go to, and they hardly notice let alone appreciate it. [Note to Mum - I know that you tried to get me into a decent school at this age but I refused - the irony hasn't been lost on me!] Luckily Glenn managed to calm the whole situation down and somehow I ended up apologising and the world continued to turn. I just hope everyone realises there was a point to my histrionics - I just want them not to waste their education.

Outside of school Abi is beside herself with excitement that I have finally relented and said she can look at getting a horse for her birthday. We've been up to the stable yard they used to ride at and she is now old enough to do DIY livery. It will no doubt cost an arm and a leg (it's a bit like private schooling - looks relatively inexpensive on first glance but the cost is in the small print), but she has wanted this for ever and I feel she's at the age where she'll either commit for life or we will be writing an advert in 6 months time. This means she sends me horse adverts about 20 times a day and has set her heart on all kinds of completely inappropriate horses. If nothing else this might improve her geography as I say "No, that one is 250 miles away!" I've now got Becky, Emma and Amanda on the case so I'm hoping they will work some magic and come up with some good options - has to be better than google 'perfect first horse'!

Izzy meanwhile is getting more into her motorbiking and nags Glenn every weekend to go to Salisbury Plain, She has a new bike which is big enough for me to ride (eek!) and I'm sure is way too fast for her,. Luckily she hasn't really worked out how to change up rapidly so there's still quite a lot of her riding in too low a gear with Glenn shouting "Change up, change up!" at her. Long may this slower period last. Again, anything that makes her smile as she is certainly going through her pre-teen stage and its at least as painful (more) for me than it is for her.

So Glenn has his cycling, Izzy has her motorbikes, Abi has her animals and soon her horse... no wonder I feel a bit left out - I know I have my yoga and Bertie to walk, but I still feel I'm missing out on having my thing. Good job I have a puppy on the way then!