Daddy, Dogs & Day Out!

The Husband and I had a chat and we decided things need to change. We are stuck in a boring old rut. The same old same old. Making sure everyone around us is happy and making us miserable. So we told The Children we were out all day and not cooking dinner. Some Sundays we can cook a dinner for six and there is only three of us, so it’s not as if it’s the be all and end all of everyone’s weekend.
This is what we did today.

Claptrap, Slushy & Realism!

I love my family so much. However I am getting nauseous over the sickly sweet, over the top post about if you love your son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother sentimental claptrap being posted on Facebook. I love my children but they annoy the crap out of me at times. When they were 5 it was a lot of work but I enjoyed it, that was my job. Now they are 17 & 21 I don’t think I should have more work to do than when they were 5 so I wrote my own little tribute to them.

21st, Grey & Old?

Tomorrow is The Daughters 21st Birthday. I am getting quite excited about it. Today I will construct her cake which at the moment is top secret but if I can pull it off it will be awesome. She doesn’t do fuss and surprises and we have been warned not to do anything that involves parties, the house full of friends or anything that will make her feel socially awkward. So a quiet birthday for her then.

My children have spoken. Reaching the age of 45 I decided to allow my hair colour to go back to its natural colour, which in truth is grey. I have been working on this for about 5 months. However while out walking the dogs with The Son he told me my hair (with a massive re growth) made me look like I was having a mid life crisis. When I asked The Daughter she said it should be at least another 10 years before I allowed it to grow grey. I think deep down I knew it was beginning to look a bit of a mess but thought I would motor on through. But after the honesty of my children, who weren’t being mean, The Daughter was tasked with buying and dying my hair the colour she thought would best suit me. The deed being done I was then informed that I looked ten year younger. The Husband, bless him, when questioned said to have my hair in whatever way made me feel happy. After I came back from the murky depths of grey The Husband said he preferred it the new dyed colour. 45 is a weird age neither young nor old!

Irony, Stupidity & Blindness!

While taking the Dogs out for a poo walk, in the dark the above happened. Seriously the youth of today are sick and wrong. We are not cougars just frumpy old forty something women. However they will be named and shamed The Son will know who they are! We probably went to school with their mums. There is irony and then just plain stupidity!

A Levels, Teenagers & The Future!

Today is A level results day. A big day for lots of teenagers. Possibly the most stressful day some young adults have experienced in their lives so far.
Tens of Thousands of teenagers need good A Levels to move onto University to continue their education.
I remember when my daughter took her A levels. She took the subjects she had done well at in her GCSE’s but found the A level versions to be totally different. She didn’t enjoy the experience and ended up not doing very well as she became disengaged. She wasn’t really taught anything, more talked at, and if she didn’t understand anything was questioned as to why instead of the topic being explained. She left with grades that didn’t reflect her intelligence.
The Daughter left education and went into retail and very quickly moved up the ladder only to fall off it when the company closed down and moved back to America.
I remember the afternoon The Daughter had a melt down thinking her life was over at the grand old age of 19. I sat her down and told her she can be whatever she wants to be and do whatever she wants to do. We discussed everything, life, the future, her aspirations and after hours of research and debate she had applied for an Open University degree course in Criminal Psychology.
She is in her second year at the grand old age of 21, pointing out most of her peers are just finishing their degrees. However her way has worked for her. She is living at home, working 20 hours a week and studying at home.
I really hope that the teenagers who don’t get the results they want and need can see the bigger picture that is life. I hope that they have parents who have the vision to help them and show them perhaps a different path. As a parent we all have plans in our head that we have for our children’s futures but they don’t always pan out as we expect.
Education shows our strength of intelligence but we mustn’t forget the strength of our children’s character and allow them to work it out. We may be surprised where we all end up in the future.

Game of Thrones, Google & Acheivements!

Some days things just don’t turn out as expected. I had plans for work and the house and then life took over.

Just before The Husband went to work I reminded him to ask a colleague, at work, about a cake I want  making for The Daughters 21^st Birthday. He suggested we look else where and I began to panic. She wants a Game of Thrones birthday cake and is vegan. I googled it and found the perfect demonstration on Youtube, the spiky bits are just cut out carrots dipped in chocolate  . Next I found a recipe for vegan sponge cake. I went on ebay and found some edible silver spray paint for the cake and a company that will print G.O.T logos for cup cakes. I was so happy and I am now excited about the prospect of attempting to make my daughters birthday cake. Baking is not my forte.

Next The Daughters cars exhaust fell off and she had work and needed it mending. While The Husband sorted the car I drove her to work, for which she was extremely grateful.

When I arrived home I noticed the washing machine hadn’t pumped the water out. So off with the back of it and I then emptied the pump filter of paper, a bracelet and £1.06. Pleased with the outcome I put it all back together and switched it on. It still wouldn’t work! Back onto Google again and it was looking like the brushes needed replacing. I love Google it sent me to Youtube and I watched men show me what to do. However they didn’t show my model and the motor was round the wrong way and underneath the drum so I couldn’t get to it. After 1 hour of looking and prodding I lifted the machine up and realised I could get at it from the bottom. I removed the brushes and ended up with black hands, apparently, via my Youtube expert, a sure sign something was wrong. Onto ebay and ordered the brushes for the princely sum of £9.99. I refuse to give Mr Hotpoint anymore of my money and think with all the information on the internet nowadays I don’t want to pay someone to do something I can do. The brushes will take two days to come. Again I am quite excited about fixing my own washing machine.

The Husband got back from work, to find me underneath the washing machine, and we had to take The Daughters car over to her at work. He took her car and I followed him and drove him back. Again she was most grateful as she wasn’t finishing until gone 9 o clock and I didn’t fancy picking her up at that time.

When we arrived home I started to hang out the sopping washing taken out of the broken washing machine and The Husband noticed the gazebo was leaning to one side. An upright pole had snapped so it was off to our garage to get stuff to fix it. I braced it with an old gazebo pole I had saved, tie wraps and duct tape I then continued to hang the washing out.

As I sat down The Husband asked me if I could make him a business flyer for electrical work he wants to do in his spare time. Anybody who knows me will know if you ask me to design something on the computer I am all over it like a rash. I did use a template but still pretty pleased with the finished design.

I wish everyday was like today. Busy, thought provoking, hands on, productive, money saving and helping people out. I wish I could get a job doing everything I have done today.

Teenagers, Tantrums & Tempers!

The Son is getting us down at the moment. Yes he is 17, Yes he is on holiday from college and Yes it’s his home too. However he is exhausting us.
When The Husband and I went away to re-charge our batteries he and The Girlfriend asked if they could join us. We ended up waiting on them hand and foot and spending more than we had wanted to and mostly on junk food for them.
When we got back everyday there always seems to be something. What time is dinner? Have I washed his clothes? Can I give him a lift somewhere? Why haven’t I been food shopping? And then there’s the constant clearing up after him and The Girlfriend in the kitchen and the bathroom.
If he asks us a question and doesn’t get the answer he wants to hear he gets angry.
I work as a team and if he were more thoughtful in his actions I would perhaps be more willing to be more obliging.
He needs to know this is not a hotel. I think he thinks if we don’t do stuff for him we are being unfair but he needs to realise that he can be self centred and that if he didn’t just ask for stuff all the time and looked after himself then we would be happier. He also needs to realise that we are very busy people.
I can be in the middle of doing a job and he will expect me to drop everything to fulfil his needs. I understand that a five year old needs this but when a 17 year old has a temper tantrum because I won’t drive him to work, it’s walkable, it becomes a bit tiresome.
I think the thing I worry about is how he always takes and never gives back and the wider family have noticed it too and that hurts. Perhaps I need to sit him down and explain to him that as he gets older people’s expectations change and that he needs to grow up a little and be more independent. It’s almost like I am here to make his life easier. I want my children to have a happy life but I don’t want them to be reliant and lazy.
He gets paid a good wage from his job at a supermarket but when his money runs out he keeps asking us for money. I am concerned that when he passes his driving test he won’t budget for his insurance and petrol and expect us to pay. We have already given him a small car!
While I understand he is still growing up it is my job as a mummy to make sure he grows up to be a rounded human being. I also want my family to stop saying they only see him when he wants something.
You don’t get given a hand book on teenagers. Any advice on how to handle this would be appreciated.

Discipline, Predictions & Planning!

I need to be very disciplined today. I desperately want to get the hedges cut, lawn mowed and the strimmer out. I have a Doctors appointment at 9 for blood tests to check which hormones have left my body as I grow older. I was then going to get straight in the garden. However The Friend has just text me about going on a dog walk at 10. And I know The Son will phone me about getting a lift home later. I dread the lift phone call because the town I have to drive through has a horticultural show on and I will have to drive miles out of my way to get him, I really hope he gets a lift back with a friend but I’m not feeling that happen.
I haven’t even left the house yet but all the best laid plans and all that.

Plan, Check & Act!

I have the luxury of time as it is the summer holidays and school is closed, therefore no work.
However I need to motivate myself as I have so many jobs I want to do but over think it all and then overwhelm myself with the enormity of it all.
I want to totally clear out the garage that has become a dumping ground and is a big mess. I want to paint the garage as it is looking scruffy. The back garden needs weeding, the hedges need cutting and stuff has gathered around the bin that need taking to the tip. I also need to empty the recycling bin and separate it all and take that to the tip as “The Children” didn’t put it out while we were on holiday.
The tiles in the bathroom need re-grouting. I have lots of school work to do, website stuff and organising two new intervention rooms.
I want to photograph the earrings I have made and get them on eBay. I have a few emails that I need to send but will take time as I have to gather information for them. The caravan needs cleaning and some maintenance work doing on it.
Thinking about it I need to print off a monthly calendar and organise myself on a daily basis. Allowing time for unexpected occurrences like kids and life.
For now I will jump in the shower, do some washing, Hoover downstairs and take the dogs for a walk and then start my list of things to do.

Holidays, Gatecrashers & Home!

Oh how 24 hours can make a difference! The Son and The Girlfriend asked if they could join us in the caravan for a couple of days. Well that was my relaxing holiday gone. As I sat down to pick up my new holiday book, relishing a good read, The Son declared he was bored. I suggested various things they could do but he insisted we played a board game. Later I explained dinner would be a while and he went off and bought some chips. He and The Girlfriend went swimming and dumped my towels and their wet costumes on the floor. They used my wash bag and bought it back soaking wet through. Left their stuff all over the caravan, didn’t do any washing up and generally got waited on hand and foot. They left this morning and we go home tomorrow and I can honestly say I am tired and didn’t get into the holiday mode. The Son and I need to have a few words about respect, appreciation and gratitude me thinks!