Strange Old Day!

It's been a strange and surreal kind of day in many ways... I got quite a lot of work done this morning, polishing off 3 articles that needed writing by the end of the month. With next week being half term I wanted to have them out of the way early!

Then I made a brave start on an piece entitled 'Regret'. It's a request from someone on one of the writing forums I am a member of who is looking for pieces from female writers on the subject of regret. She wants them between 1500 - 2000 words.

I have been planning to write something for a few weeks now but I knew it would be about Mum and I knew it would be hard to write. So I put it off....and off.....and off.....until this morning. It was hard going, and I spent much of the time trying to type through the tears (ooh, I like that as a phrase!) and I haven't finished yet. I think I'm about 1200 words so I've saved it and I'll come back to it later in the week to try to put the finishing touches and edit it. It's not a job I'm looking forward to really.

Then I went to pick the Bean up from school...all seemed fine until I got talking to him about his day. I won't go into it all here but I think I will be rejoining the ranks of home education. It's all a bit raw now, he's fine, it's nothing to worry about, but once again we are not happy with certain things. This is three schools now. Enough is enough. SLA has left messages on the school ansaphone so no doubt I will have them on the phone first thing tomorrow. Not looking forward to that much, I'm not much good at confrontation or standing my ground but I'll have to. I've already arranged a play date for later in the morning with some friends who home educate so hopefully we will have a nice day.

SLA is bogged under with work from school. He's got so much that he needs to get done and is still not feeling 100%. 8 weeks is a long half term, I'm hoping a week off next week will make all the difference - that and a whole lot of birthday cake!

Guinea Pigs and Rocking Chairs.

What a morning.......the sun is shining so I'm in a fairly good mood! I love being able to sit here and type with the patio doors open and the sun shining in. It makes such a difference!

It was a sad start to the day though as one of our two remaining guinea pigs died in the night. We used to have 14 after we had two litters of babies. They were all adorable but one by one we have lost them. They've all had good long lives though, the youngest died aged 5 and these last two were born 7 years ago! It's always sad though. Bert was a real character.....he looked a bit ill a few months ago and so, as it was Summer, we took the decision to let them out of the cage permanently and free range on the lawn. They've had a wail of a time and have just loved mooching around, sun bathing, eating, sleeping.......just doing the things that guinea pigs love to do! On Saturday, Bert didn't seem himself. He looked a bit dosey and not very steady. His eyesight has been failing for a while but if you shook the food container he still came bounding up the grass.

On Monday he seemed worse again and when I went out to him he cried for me. Now don't laugh, I know the thought of a pig crying is an odd one but he just squealed as soon as he heard me. I picked him up and, without going into too much info, could see that he was having trouble with his number twos so I helped him and we cleared the backlog. After that he seemed more content and didn't cry anymore. He did eat but he just didn't seem himself. As the nights are getting colder we got out the cage for them and bedded them down with lots of woodchip. Yesterday he pottered around and seemed to eat and drink a bit but spent most of the day inside his house. This morning I found him gone. It is sad but I'm relieved it's over without too much suffering for him and I'm glad he had a lovely last few months on the lawn. Bert is the pig at the front of the photo.

I've also been moving furniture around this morning. Do you ever do one thing that leads to you doing loads more that you really didn't want to have to do? It all started with me bringing my trampetter in from the garage (yes, see I am trying to be healthier!) I had a go on it for all of a minute maybe and then climbed off again! I will try to do some on a daily basis though, just with more....supportive clothing on!! Then I had to try to figure out where to keep it! It doesn't look too huge outside but once I got it in......ginormous! It wouldn't fit anywhere inconspicuous so, long story cut short, I ended up having to move a cupboard, an ironing board, the telescope, a whole pile of toys and games and the rocking chair! Phewwww! I'm shattered now :)

Actually I had a bit of a moment moving the rocking chair. It's the one that my mum rocked me on when I was a baby, it's very special to me and it has cushions on that my mum made for me when I was pregnant with the Bean. I was rearranging the cushions when one of the covers came off and just for a second, on the inside of the cushion, I could smell my mum as if she was there with me. It was very emotional for me and I'm tearing up again a little just thinking of it. I miss her so SO much.........

Today I am accompanying SLA to the dentist. He has been having problems for about 6 weeks now and has so far had 3 courses of antibiotics but today I HOPE the dentist will actually DO something! Like take the darn things out! I have a feeling it may be soup for dinner :)

Place your bets now.....

Another day......and still no house work done. Oh well. hehehehe I've been to the Dr this morning since I decided that two weeks is long enough to put up with a sore throat. OUCH! Anyway, I'm now on the delights of antibiotics for a week. I have to take them four times a day, an hour before food! Eh? Feel free to place bets on how long it takes for me to bugger that up, then!

I got my news the other day, and that is that I am starting a weekly blog on a rather large Weightloss site next week! YAY! It's a bit more money coming in too, which is also a help and I'm just over the moon to be getting paid to write. It's just a dream come true. I'm just delighted to be earning for what I love to do - the future is looking bright :)

Tonight we go to look around the Bean's classroom and hear more about how the next two years or so will pan out for him at his new school. He seems to be settling in better now, although he seems to have some built in radar for getting hurt by the roughest boy in the class. We had this at his last school and, from what he said yesterday, it looks like we may be heading down the same road again. I really laboured this morning for him to STAY AWAY from this boy. We'll have to see whether or not it made any difference at all. I never, ever realised just how hard this whole parenting malarky would be. I thought I was fairly prepared but the whole emotional side is just totally overwhelming. It really makes me realised more how difficult things must have been for my mum when it was just the two of us and after losing her mum aged 13. I never really gave it a thought before she died but I realise more and more what an amazing woman she was. I could not have wished for a better Mummy - she was the best.

The Office

I'll only have this view for another three Sundays......about another 36 hours or so..... This is because I work on Sundays, as I've mentioned before and my company is moving offices. I have worked in this same office for 9 years now. I've sat at the same desk, in the same corner...with this same view and it will be strange to not be here.

We are on the 9th floor of a tower block in the city centre of Manchester and it's like looking out over the world....I look down on a multi storey car park! In the distance I can see the rolling hills framed by the many shapes and colours of the city's roof scape. It's a magical view in many ways and I will miss it.

I have some fabulous memories of this office too.....all the early mornings, starting work at 5:15am. Working alongside my SLA here for many years, that was special. I worked throughout my pregnancy here too, running to the toilet in between bulletins through the dreaded morning sickness phase. I made so many phone calls to my mum from these phones, some in good times, some not and there were many calls to the hospital in the later months too.

I've laughed here. I've cried here. I'll leave a bit of myself in this room when I leave.

One of the first things I did when I found out where we moving too was to get the online map out....I needed to know if there was a Subway nearby. Thankfully, there is. Two in fact!! Whoo! lol I don't know what I'd have done if not, refused to move maybe? Would that have been a little OTT do you think?

I will miss my little jaunt over to my subway for lunch though. It's my small slice of city life :) I used to spend so much time in this city and now the 5 minute walk to and from lunch is enough for me. I like to see the trams winding their way around the city streets, the tall buildings and the hustle and bustle....I always walk back past the front door of the office where my mum worked. I follow her footsteps and I can still hear her stillettoed heels clicking on the floor, smell the familiar smell she had when she came home from work and I can still see her standing inside that door and waiting at the lift. It's almost impossible to think that she is no longer here. Just impossible.

And so, in 3 weeks, we move on to pastures new.......a new chapter, a new office and a new view, a new Subway(!).... I wonder what stories they will bring......