Day 190

Ooh ten days to go! 

I’m knackered tonight. Not so much physically as let’s face it my body has s fairly easy ride in life. Mentally I’m drained. 

Last week our new “girl Friday” started at the office. The idea behind this is that she can take over some of the more mundane tasks that I normally do and I can get involved in more interesting (it’s cartridges how exciting can this really be? I hear you cry!) stuff. 

Well I can tell you it’s quite nice doing mute interesting stuff. Today I learned how “the boys” work out how much stock to buy. I’ve listened to them over the last few months calling figures to each other over the desk and mumbling about exchange rates and to be honest it all seemed a bit haphazard. How wrong I was. There are spreadsheets involved (nice) and formulas (even nicer) and macros (woo hoo!) and ….wait for it…..common sense and judgement! Hurrah! It was very interesting and my brain hurt after an hour of looking at figures and working out ratios. Very exciting. 

Onwards from work to pick up A and then on to Roundwood to parents evening with T. I think the fact that 4 out of 7 appointments ended early is a good thing. I hope so. They all seemed pleased, in fact more than pleased they seemed completely happy with his progress, his behaviour and his contribution. He’s where he needs to be or near as damn it for the end of the year and we can’t ask more than that. The cherry on the cake was his maths teachers pleasure at how much he’s improved. Really great stuff. 

A good day. Albeit knackering. 

Day 189

Wait! What’s this? A blog post at 11.35am? Surely not! 

Oh yes. I am blogging very early today. And the reason is this:-  

 

A HUMUNGOUS ball of wool. My foot is there for the purposes of scale so you have an idea of just how big this ball of wool is. Size seven foot. Dwarfed by (did I mention this already?) HUGE ball of wool. Crikey.

I’ve always struggled with guessing measurements, distances, weights etc and this is evidenced in my weekly shop when I receive a ridiculously small joint of meat or a huge bag of carrots of a tiny bag of spuds. So it was always going to be a risky business buying wool online based on weight. The pattern says I will need 190g but that didn’t sound much so I bought 400g. Swayed slightly by the fact that it was only £8. For one ball. I’m now remembering that age-old conundrum “what weighs more: a kg of bricks or a kg of feathers?” Hmm, they may weigh the same but boy that’s a lot of feathers. And 400g is a lot of wool. 

At least now I will have enough for two new cushion covers……

Day 188

She may be a stroppy, nagging little ratbag but she does do some lovely things that make me happy.  

   

Day 187

Monday. Eurgh. They should be banned. But we got through it – despite the early start (A was on a trip to the London Aquarium so had to be at school for 8.15am) and despite feeling a bit under par (me). Best bit today was a true laugh out loud moment. A proper giggle-fest. I recently finished knitting A a small Russian style doll which she loves. It has a detachable head scarf. She discovered this evening, as we were settling down to read our last instalment of Narnia (Caspian), that said headscarf can double up as a dwarf/gnome style hat. It looked hilarious on the dolly and we both laughed our socks off. I think you had to be there and probably need to have a rather silly sense of humour. Love laughing with my girl. 

Day 186

Quiet day after a busy one for all yesterday. Best bit was watching Animal Planet with A – filmed at Woburn Safari park – and seeing a baby giraffe being born. Very cool and A was so excited watching. 

Day 185

Lovely, lovely day yesterday. A road trip with Mrs F in itself is a happy thing but a road trip to see Miss T and Little Miss J is even better. 

Little Miss was just as gorgeous and smiley as ever. Miss T is still glowing and such a natural at this mothering lark it’s wonderful to see. The knitting project was handed over and was a success – hurray! 

  
Scrummy cakes to eat, lovely walk, lots of relaxing, watching Little Miss playing. What could be better? 

I love days out and I love coming home. K and the children had been to see his mum and dad and it was nice to hear their news and stories (there’s often a story when they’ve been to Nanny’s!). PJ’s on and a catch up with K to finish the evening. Happy day. 

Day 184

Happy top five: A feeling bit better this morning and much better by bedtime; seeing G&G; finishing the knitting project; seeing Mrs F; my headache going by mid-evening ready for tomorrow’s road trip. Hurrah. 

Day 183

Oh dear. How to find a happy moment for yesterday?! It wasn’t a bad day, just not a great one. A home from school with bad tummy at lunchtime. Luckily K was working from home so was able to collect her and I came home early. I suppose I could say that being able to leave work to look after sick child is a happy thing. Not the poorly child bit but the flexibility, boss-with-children-who-understands bit. He didn’t hesitate when he heard me take the call from school – immediately gestured to me that I could go. That was great. Big not necessarily happy. I’ll think on.

The new “girl” at work has settled in well and will be taking on some of the more boring parts of my job. I’ve been told that I am going to be getting more involved in some of the buying side of things and stock allocating. That is good but again not sure it made me feel “happy”.

I didn’t get to walk to school or back – untick. I didn’t see my walk to school and back buddy – untick. No Smallville with T – untick. Argh! Come on there must be something…..

Just after A went to bed (still with bad tummy ache) she came downstairs saying everything looked “swirly” and she felt dizzy. Not good. I picked her up and took her up to my bed and tried to calm her down as she was panicking. We sat for a while and did some breathing. She calmed down and I persuaded her that she’s probably got a bug that’s making her feel like this and she will be fine soon. It makes me happy that I can make my children feel a bit better when they are unwell. It makes me happy that I can calm them with a good hug and some nice words. I hate them being unwell (quite often for very selfish reasons) but it makes me feel good when I can make it all a bit better too.

Phew! That was a close call.

Day 182

Freshly line-dried bed linen on the beds; knitting all done ready for finishing off with grandma; K home early for third day in a row, 3 more sleeps until Mrs F and I go to see Miss T and J; realising I’ve been quite unstressed (is that a word?) for a week or so now and haven’t found myself feeling aggravated or irritated. Reasons to be cheerful…

Day 181

Its “Baking Tuesday” and tonight the recipe was chocolate brownies. A hasn’t made these before (I’ve made quick 5 minute ones but without “help”) so I was on standby to assist when needed. I was a bit dubious about her using a Bain Marie for the first time so helped with that and I pot the tin in the oven. The rest she did herself. They smell amazing and I can’t wait to try one! 

After a conversation with a friend whose daughter is a similar age to A I bought her a “teen pack” with my weekly shop that has the necessary bits and bobs that she’ll need when her periods start. She’s developing at a rate of knots and I’m sure it won’t be long until she needs them. She was very excited when I presented her with her little “kit” and has read all the info. We’re going to snuggle up shortly so j can answer some questions she has. How did I get this old? (I’ve asked K and T to try and be grown up and not make her feel embarrassed about it. But somehow I know it all lies at my door.) 

My knitting project is nearly ready to be assembled (with help from Grandma). 

A good day.