Catch It While You Can

Well, as I feared, I now have my son’s cold.  Good timing eh!  I’ve tried to minimise the risk, but it’s hard when poorly children need mummy cuddles!

I phoned the hospital this morning but they said wait until Monday to see if the cold has cleared before they make any decision on it. 

All I can do is dose myself up with Lemsip, sit back and wait and see.  Part of me is secretly hoping I won’t be well enough for the day surgery and part of me just wants to get it over and done with.

My husband is also poorly and guess what?  My youngest son’s school phoned me to come and collect him.  Goodness it’s all illness this week. 

I want everyone well so I can be doted on hand and foot next week.  Fat chance of that happening really, but I can dream.

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Tuesday Continued

So after the problem with my middle son going into school yesterday, I then had to see my daughter’s nursery teacher about the arrangements for next Tuesday (the dreaded hysteroscopy).

She’s been brilliant going into class without my help.  But . . . . her teacher invited me into the classroom to talk privately.  Big mistake as my daughter saw me and started crying for me!  I let the classroom assistant help her out as I didn’t want to mess up the routine she has established and then gave her a big cuddle before she went off to her group.  Sorted, but could have done without it.

I have friends on standby to let me drop the children off at 7.00 am next Tuesday, which is brilliant.  I have another friend who has also offered to pick the boys up for me.  It’s so good to have people to rely on who are willing to help.  After all it’s a big favour asking people to be ready for me at that time of the morning.

Apparently all the ’surgery’ is carried out in the morning, you rest up for a couple of hours afterwards to make sure you have no adverse reactions, then you can go home.

I’m not looking forward to it, and am having to console myself with the idea that at least I might get a couple of hours uninterrupted sleep.  The instructions (amongst other things) also say I’m not allowed to operate a cooker and kettle for up to 48 hours afterwards.  Or was that a week!! (Probably won’t get away with that one).  Still I’ll milk it for what I can.  :-) 

Also on a positive note, mom got behind the wheel of her car today, with no problems.  I made her do two emergency stops like they do when you take your test! 

Onwards and upwards!

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Mini Meltdown

I’m afraid I had a mini meltdown this morning.  I actually cried in front of my middle son’s teachers.

We’ve had a lot going on just recently with mom having had the hip operation and running errands for her.  This had in part started to slow down with mom taking her dog on mini walks and me just keeping up the rear on the larger walks.

Saturday morning I had a phone call from mom saying she had been really ill in the night.  So I went round and ended up staying all day with her and overnight as I was worried about her.  I have never seen mom so wiped out from being ill as she was on Saturday. 

We’re not sure if she had a bug, a touch of food poisoning or what.  I’d been with all day Friday and in fact we’d had a great day.  She’d had good news from the hospital about her progress and doesn’t have to go back for 9 months and we celebrated by having lunch out at a local restaurant.

It was such a shame as we’d arranged to take her out in the car over the weekend for her to have her first go at driving in over 7 weeks.

I left hers on Sunday, just coming back to walk the dog in the afternoon.

She then had a relative visiting on Monday so I didn’t see her which was just as well as my eldest son was poorly.  He was full of cold but he goes pale and yellow (hereditary spherocytosis) so decided to keep him off.

Tuesday morning he seemed better although he complained of not feeling good but he got ready for school.  Got to the school gates and he appealed to me to not go in.  He’d had some medicine before leaving the house but when I felt his forehead he was hot.  I made the decision to take him home.

Before doing that I had to take my other two children to school.  When we arrived my middle son started crying and complaining of stomach ache.  My feeling was he didn’t like the idea of his brother being at home, plus  he’d had three days off the previous week poorly with stomach ache and temperature.  (Don’t you just love it when they go back to school and bring everything home with them?).

I was in a dilemma.  I made the decision to let him stay at home and while a friend watched the car for me I took my youngest into school who went without a fuss.

I got the two boys home, sent them upstairs to get changed and they had a nice quiet day.  My youngest son actually did sleep most of the afternoon, so was not tired at bedtime.

At this point my eldest was no better so I told him that he wouldn’t be going into school the next day either.  My youngest son was actually bright as a button, jumping around etc so he knew he would be going to school today.

So it came to the point of getting ready and my youngest son went back up to bed, refusing to get dressed and basically pulling at my heart strings to let him have today off.  He said he was feeling ‘terrible’, but I knew he was just tired from the night before.

I managed to get him dressed and in the car to go to school.  He refused to get out of the car (which I managed to overcome), then he refused to go into class.

I sat him outside the classroom while I went in to explain  to his teacher (and get some help).  One of the other mothers was keeping her talking.  The longer I waited, the more anxious I got and when they finally asked me if everything was okay, I just burst into tears!

Luckily a friend of mine (whose son is a good friend of my son) was outside talking to him.  And his friend was outside with his arm around him.  When the classroom assistant went out to get him, he came in without any fuss.

It’s a horrible feeling knowing that your children don’t want to go into class but I knew this reaction was because his big brother was at home combined with tiredness.

But goodness it makes you feel like you’ve betrayed them.  I certainly don’t like knowing they’re upset but sometimes you have to take the firm stance and say this is how it is.    Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem keeping them off school, but I didn’t want him to think that he could just click his fingers and I’d do it.

I still feel guilty sitting here now.  But boy, they never wrote about this side of parenting in the manuals did they? 

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X Factor

Although I have loads to catch up on, I have to comment on the X Factor.  It’s an escape from my reality to someone elses!

• Niki at last was left to sing on her own without any ‘extras’.  She started off the ‘Power of Love’ so well without music accompanying her and it was a good performance. However, I still don’t think she can reach those high notes properly.    Am I the only one to think that?
• Leon did well, although as it wasn’t a popular song, I wasn’t that keen.
• Same Difference.  Another bubbly performance from them and it gave us a chance to hear their individual voices.
• Hope.  Not a good song for them.  One of the judges made a comment about only Phoebe really singing with the others just contributing in the background.  I had to agree and Phoebe was a bit flat in places.  They were so nearly out of the competition this week which is a shame as they have the potential to be a really superb girl band.
• Beverley.  Another good performance although still the high notes were a problem. She looked great though and it was a real shame to see her leave. 
• Rhydian.  Love the song he sang, wish it had been longer though.

The final is open to anyone at the moment and will remain a battle to the end.

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Where Have I Been? (and Merry Christmas)

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted on my blog for the past week.  Not for want of trying I might add.  I’ve had a blip with it that meant I couldn’t write any posts.  And boy did I have lots to say.

I will slowly catch up over the next couple of days, but I did want to share this:-

My Christmas Tree is Up!!!!!

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X Factor Disco

Yes I was glued to the show again last night, it’s my one bit of relaxation.

• Niki should be left to sing without all the dance routines.  I know it was disco week this week and her performance was powerful, but what had they done to her hair. 

She didn’t look comfortable with the ’sexy’ moves around the dancers.  For goodness sake Louis, leave her to sing her heart out, like she does so well. 

But take care of the really high notes, they (like Beverley below) can sound a bit ’shouty’.

• Leon’s best week this week. I didn’t get to see the whole performance, although I heard it from the kitchen. One of the comments was about his dancing.  I would agree with this.  Like I said last time his ‘dancing’ is not natural, very wooden and pulls his performance down.  But well done Leon anyway.

• Same Difference.  This wasn’t their best week, but as we found out at the end of the song, they had had to change the song and routine really close to the live show.  They only had a few hours to rehearse.  It wasn’t the right song for them, but they still pulled off an entertaining performance.

• Hope.  They are getting so much stronger and I loved their routine last night.  I like that Abba song anyway, but I think it was the best choice of song out of all the acts last night.  They are beginning to gel so well and what a voice Phoebe has.  They did not deserve to be in the bottom two last night, but thank goodness they are still in the competition.

• Alisha.  It’s such a shame for Alisha.  Her singing was flat, but I think nerves had kicked in.  Perhaps she knew she may be in the bottom two and I think rightfully last night.  She has a great look and I think with the right songs she can still be good, a bit like Gabriel.

• Beverley.  This was a great choice of song for her, although once again, I did think it was a bit ’shouty’ on the high notes.  I really like Beverley and I disagreed with Simon’s comments about her outfit.  I thought she looked fab. 

• Rhydian.  Not the best song for him, although I love Go West.  Mind you I am a big Pet Shop Boys fan.I hope Dannii doesn’t do anything stupid with his next song, he needs another ‘Phantom’ performance to put him back on top again.  Still think he’s great though and out of all the acts I look forward to him the most, followed by Hope. 

Actually, I would loved to have heard Rhydian singing this in his style.

It’s a shame Sharon has no one left in the competition now, but I’m still not sure she picked the best three to begin with. 

I also think that with the competition hotting up, the judges comments are going to start getting silly again.  Considering it was disco week, Simon kept commenting on how people looked, yet look at how Hope were dressed.

It’s also going to be time for them to ‘dis’ each others acts so their’s will be in the final.  Currently the top three I think should be in the final are Rhydian, Hope and either Niki or Beverley.

The judges should concentrate on their singing and overall performance and give them some better songs not only for their voices but for the ‘watchability’ factor.

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Getting to Know You

Things were getting cosy with the emails and although the carer with the complicated life was not a prospect a new one had arrived.

As always the emails started off cautiously until  one of us cracked a joke and broke the ice. This is great when it happens as it becomes less formal and polite straightaway.  Not that it gets down and dirty but you can be more     yourself and feel more relaxed.

This guy was ex army and was looking to try again and said he was very shy. He was now working for a mining company since leaving the army and was looking for love.

Now I am not looking for love but our emails were getting friendlier and funnier and we were able to communicate like we were becoming best friends. I was getting hooked on checking for emails and was image building in my head of what he looked like.

Unfortunately this particular guy had never posted a photo on his profile and I did not know what he looked like. He said he had some old ones and he would forward them to me via email but it didn’t happen and I didn’t push it. I did not want to come across as being superficial when we were getting along so well with the written word.

We deicided to bite the bullet and set a time and date to meet in a watering hole in the town and then we swapped phone numbers so we could text if there was a problem on the day.

Thank god I had his number because there was a problem and yes it was me!

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Sucking Up To The Teacher

You may remember that in a recent post I was moaning about the reading book my son has been chased about at school.

Well I found out that his teacher had given him a little bit of grief about not bringing it in, saying that his mom (that is me!) had said I’d seen it at home.

Well yes I had seen it, one day, for a moment and now I don’t know where.

I thought I’d better send in a note on behalf of my son to stop him being told off and as it was Children in Need day I decided to do it in poem form. 

So here it is.

The Case of The Missing Reading Book

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Thooper Thursday!

Wow, what a morning.  Mom had her appointment at the gym so I took the dog off to one of our local parks for a good walk.

They have an area adjacent to the park which has been left to nature and on a day like today, it was magnificent.

Where we live it had been a frosty morning, cold but with bright sunshine.  One of my PERFECT days.  All I could think about walking around was Nina Simones song - Feeling Good. 

It was one of those days when I really wish I’d had my camera with me. 

The grass was covered in frost that crunched beneath my wellies.  The dog thought it was great, all those new smells.  She had one of her ‘funnies’, when she races up to you, quick turns and races away again.

We walked over the little bridge that guides you over a boggy area and overnight it had become a mini skating rink.  I admit I laughed out loud when mom’s dog jumped onto the bridge, skidded and fell off again.  It was only a few inches above the ground, but she just kept racing round and around as though she too got the joke.

The only noise around us was the distant sound of industry and the hum of the cars on the motorway.  In the field we were surrounded by bird song as they dived in and out of the bushes.

There was one particular tree that stood out against the azure blue sky.  It had no leaves or life left in it, I think it’s usually referred to as a petrified tree.  But against the backdrop of the sky, a flock of seagulls had landed within it’s branches, looking like white buds about to open in the Spring.

It was gorgeous and I was hard pushed to leave the area. 

It set me up for the whole day, until I later realised that while I was walking around this oasis of calm feeling good about llife, I had failed to take one of my children to the dentist!  Oh well, I’ll get it right one day.

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Whinging (or Whingeing) Wednesday

I’ve backdated this post as I haven’t had time to get to the blog this week and I had all the posts ready to put on.

Tonight I saw the Spice Girls Video although I can’t remember which site it was on.  This link is to You Tube.  I have to say I was really hoping the girls would shine with their new single, but sadly I was disappointed.

After they rocked on to the scene all those years ago, and not knowing what to make of them, I did actually like some of their records namely Viva Forever and Spice Up Your Life.

I hoped they would bring out something as lively or as pretty as either of these two songs, but quite frankly the new song is boring.  I even think the video is poor too.  Don’t get me wrong, they all look fab on the video especially as all but one of them is a mummy.  But I got fed up of the sexy poses and all the hands across the face poses. 

I’m really not sure who their target audience is. It wasn’t a case of Spice Girls, it was more a case of Snooze Girls.  Come on ladies where has the girl power gone?

As a mummy of a certain age, I need you to show us how to rock this world!!

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