-
Tuesday blog distractions
Tuesday again and another day off. Alexa woke me again and I woke the children. Both were still asleep at 6.30am, a morning miracle as my 7 year old is usually awake earlier. I got them dressed and sorted out food. All too soon we were out the door and driving to school.
The kids were as awkward as they often are when I was parking. Though this morning my son did wait till I had stopped before he got out of his seat and climbed into the passenger seat. As we were early he read me some of his reading book. Frustratingly he will read well but he will not discuss the book with me. This does not help with the test on Accelerated reader that he has to complete to test his understanding however, he does usually pass it. My 5 year old was to busy playing in the back of the car to want to read.
The school Christmas tree was decorated yesterday and today it stood proudly sparkling in the hall. The children thought it was lovely and meant the conversation on why mummy does not want the Christmas tree up yet started again. I am trying to put it off as long as possible. We were a little late into the hall today due to reading in the car. This then meant that all the chairs were taken, there were so many children having breakfast this morning. I asked if we could have a chair so he could sit on the end. The teaching assistant bought him a chair. He now happily sat down to enjoy his breakfast.
I left the children and came home via the cash point machine as needed money to pay the school for Santa this year. Tomorrow is a non-uniform day as the school are collecting goods for the Christmas fayre tombola. I’m pleased that it is not a teddy tombola, like it was in the summer. I can not part with our loved teddy bears so we bought two orphaned bears in a charity shop and then donated them. I’m glad that I didn’t have to race to town today for bears.
My plans for the day were thrown out as I got distracted by my blog. I managed to do a load of washing and sent some emails. Reading did not happen but I did find the school jumper and I vacuumed downstairs. The vacuum cleaner today was full of fluff, the disadvantage of having a flokati rug in the bedroom. https://justmuddlingthroughlife.co.uk/2018/10/24/washing-the-flokati-rug/
I had to sit for a while with the cleaner hung over the bin, scraping out dirt and fluff.
I am a fan of Jackie Chan. A few weeks ago I pre-ordered his new book from Amazon. Today it arrived, it has now joined my pile of books that I want to read. I know that I need to read my fiction books to help with writing my novel. However, Jackie’s new book I am sure is interesting.
So today I made the decision to change my blog hosting and be self-hosted so you might notice some changes. My web address will soon be changing but I will still be just muddling through life, I’m always muddling. It’s a brave decision on my part as it means that I need to keep blogging, there’s no giving up now. However, I am enjoying writing it.
When I collected the kids tonight, I had plans for homework and reading. This did not quite go according to plan as daddy let our son have the iPod, after the demands of wanting toast as they were hungry as usual. I was distracted by blogging, hosting and sorting out the washing. My daughter was busy with cardboard, sticky tape and scissors. So it was after a bath and dinner that we then heard the kids read. I listened to our son whilst our little girl read to daddy. A joint effort tonight and they both read well.
Putting them to bed they didn’t go straight to sleep. There was some messing around, however, they did not reappear downstairs, so still not as bad as previous nights. The children can be so good and make us so very proud, but they can also make us feel so stressed that it feels that smoke is coming out of our ears, like in an animated cartoon. Do other parents feel like this sometimes? They can be really good but also so difficult.
Anyway, they are both asleep now and I am now going to get some rest. Try and build up my energy for work tomorrow and the daily morning stress of being mum.
Share this:
-
Christmas stresses
Does anyone else get stressed at Christmas? The pressures of writing cards, buying presents, worrying that people will like your presents. Have you bought what they really want? Or will it be put in a cupboard and never used? Will it end up sold on eBay? Should you give a gift card? Will people think you are being lazy if you do? I know that I like to receive a gift card as long as it is for a shop that I shop at. My number one shop is Amazon and the addition of Amazon prime has made it a bit of an addiction, order one day and it often arrives the next.
Daddy has already had his Christmas present, black Friday saw to that and he wanted a Kindle Paperwhite. I felt jealous so I ordered one too. So that’s Christmas sorted for us. The kids had bikes earlier in the year, but you can’t really tell a child that they have already had their present in July time. I had been considering Kindles for kids. I have decided against that because they are both driving me mad with technology right now, plus it gets expensive.
My daughter desperately wanted a BFG toy so she will have ‘Whizzpopping Bfg’ I am hoping that we will not be wanting to hide his batteries too soon due to all his Whizzpopping. I have also bought her a book, I’m a bit nervous to give it to her though as she likes to tear out pages. The two do go together though. She also has some Care bears. One day I will photograph her bears she has a lot. I am hoping that she loves them forever and they are not one day being sold on eBay.
My 7 year old has got some K’nex, books and Lego Technic. The big box of K’nex looks empty with what looks like just a few bits. I am hoping he is not too disappointed. I had thought of buying him more but then I would need to spend more on my daughter so I will leave it for now.
The escalating costs of Christmas and others expectations. There is so much in the news at the moment about people getting into debt due to Christmas. There is so much that I would like to buy but I know my limits and they already had bikes earlier in the year. I don’t think it would really matter how much I bought my children they would still say “it’s not fair” and “I want a such and such”. My little boy wanted a Lego truck, looking online I can see a Lego Technic truck for over £100.00. Lego can be very expensive and I am sure if I had bought it, it would have been me building it.
He does also have a lot of Lego already. One day I would quite like to buy him some Lego Architecture, that is not cheap either. There are plenty of birthdays and Christmas’s in the future if one day he is interested in building the Eiffel Tower.
We usually spend our Christmas day by ourselves playing with the kid’s toys and trying to relax. Is anyone else as unsociable as us? I like pretty much doing nothing all day and just enjoying being with my little family. Previous Christmas’s we have spent the day in pyjamas which in my mind is a great Christmas day.
In Christmas past, I have gone to mass Christmas Eve, I last went maybe 8 years ago before my 7 year old was born. Having small kids means going to mass is not possible unless you take two tired children. Trying to teach children the real meaning of Christmas rather then just the tinsel, presents and Santa. The nativity plays will be soon. The children do have some understanding but the last church service they went to was my nephew’s christening. Taking them to church is not helped by the fact that they will not sit still. They get bored very quickly and easily, they will be quick to get up and run off when they should be sat patiently. Maybe one year we will go to mass but that could be a few years in the future.
Does anyone else feel relieved when we reach the new year, January? The presents are all received, the festivities are all had and the family commitments are all met. I hate the pressures, however, it would be nice if we had more annual leave over Christmas. Special Christmas leave, however people still get ill and we all have work commitments. Just as the NHS stays open so do shops. Businesses have to start again. It is the way of the world and most of us have to work, some working to pay for the Christmas they have just enjoyed.
My children are asking to have the tree put up this weekend. I’m not ready for the stress of the tree yet. We only have a small front room and it is in the way. However, admittedly it is pretty when it is up. It is just the effort of decorating it and then living with it for a few weeks, or days. I bought my tree possibly over 15 years ago, it is an old plastic tree that I really should replace, however it is still functional, it looks like a Christmas tree. The lights though are equally as old and some do not work, yes they need replacing, I’ve had a year to replace them and still haven’t, bah humbug to me!
Anyway, I really should start to write some Christmas cards. They, unfortunately, will not write themselves sat in their box. The school had decorated their tree yesterday, it looked lovely this morning standing proudly in the hall.
So I am now going to go, hope you all have a lovely Christmas and you are not as stressed with the preparations as I am. One day I will relax and enjoy all of it, rather than just the whole magic that is Christmas day. The children’s excitement is lovely and it does makes all the stress and build up to it worth it. I just have to keep telling myself this. Anyway on with writing the Christmas cards now and then collecting the kids later from school, on with the stress of being mum.
see also, happy Christmas poetry, https://justmuddlingthroughlife.co.uk/2018/12/16/christmas-tree-shining-children-smiling/
Share this:
