Wise words on a Wednesday #5

 

This weeks wise words were inspired by my 8 year old son, as for someone so small he is pretty sensible (when he wants to be)

This week I received a letter from school to say that all the year 3 classes, including Kierons, were going to have a swap around ready for year 4. This is because the classes are not all equally  matched in terms of ability, gender and behaviour and it would give all the children the opportunity to mix with other children in their year group as there are 3 classes.

Each child was told to write down 8 of their closest friends names and was assured that they would have at least a few of them in their new class.

When Kieron got home he told me all about the list and explained that he hadn't included his best friend on his list. I was a bit surprised and asked why he wouldn't want his best friend in his new class. Very matter of factly he told me that class time was for learning and his friend always wanted to talk to him in class when he was trying to work. He said that he would still be best friends with him and they could play together during break and lunchtime.

If only I had that same attitude to learning when I was at school, I could probably be a brain surgeon by now! 

The summer of '94 I moved from one side of London to the other and started year 10 in a completely new school, there was nothing wrong with this school, it was rather nice and had boys and everything!! However I missed all my school friends and as my brother was allowed to travel across London to school  I thought it was only fair that I could as well. So I made the decision to leave the house at 6:45 everyday, catch the bus to Norwood Junction, Train to London Bridge, bus to Shorditch and another bus to Stamford Hill for 2 whole years, all for the sake of seeing my friends!!

I'm not saying it was a bad thing to travel far to school but it did impact on my learning, I don't remember ever doing homework as I was just too tired and my exam results were pretty poor but at the time my only focus was on the social aspect of school and not what achievements I would get at the end of it.

I'm glad my kids are a bit more wise than I was but its never to late to change our present in order to have a brighter future.

4 Kids and never been called mum!

I'm not saying my kids don't talk to me, I mean I'm not really that bad a mother...  but for some reason they find it really difficult moving on from the name Mummy.

My eldest son is nearly 16 and over 6ft tall so it would be a bit strange hearing him call me Mummy. No what he calls me is even worse... it's Mother! He's always had a bit of posh about him, considering his dad grew up in Brixton and I grew up in Hackney only God knows where he got the posh lingo from and his dad is not too pleased about being called Father!

My 14 year old actually tries her hardest not to call me Mummy but she cant help herself and it just comes out. As she's recently been taking Spanish classes the new thing she calls me is Madre, unless of course she wants something then its back to 'Muummmyyy'

At 11yrs and 8yrs the youngest two seem to still feel comfortable with the term Mummy and not sure that they're ready to move on from that just yet (although there are times when they probably think of a few other names to call me) and I'm not sure if I am ready for them to move on either, they seem to be growing too quick as it is!

What age did your children go from calling, screaming, crying, whining or whimpering "Mummy" and is there a certain age that is just too old for that, I mean I'm sure Prince Charles still calls the Queen Mummy!

Rollercoaster ride

I could start this post by telling you that yesterday was my son's last exam, he has now left school and to celebrate he's gone to Thorpe park with a group of 16 friends.

But the rollercoaster ride I'm referring to is not one that you find at a theme park but the metaphorical one we call life.

The past two weeks for me has been so full of ups and downs that I don't know if I'm coming or going.
You know when you are going through a situation and it feels like you've been punched in the stomach and then everyday you carry that feeling around with you and physically feel sick but just put on a smile and carry on life as usual. When this particular situation was dealt with and I felt slightly better something else came along and just wiped the smile off my face. Then after a couple of days I get some good news and feel all optimistic again and so it goes on, up and down!

Who would of thought as a child or young adult that life could get so confusing, complicated and such hard work. I sure wish I was back to my last day at school and enjoying myself with friends with the only thing to worry about is which rollercoaster to go on next.

Wise words on a Wednesday #4

 

I had to write my wise words with a 'keep calm' theme today as I am fuming just a little!



If you read my previous post about a tax rebate that I've been waiting for since November then you would know that I had 2 lots of cheques sent out that I didn't receive. I had to write to the Inland Revenue to request my payment be put into my bank account which they agreed to do, but then went on to send out another cheque (which was not recorded delivery!) I didn't get this cheque either and after a month asked for it to be cancelled yet again. The guy on the phone told me to wait a while longer as I may still miraculously get it delivered which I highly doubted.

Anyway 2 weeks later, no cheque, got it cancelled, asked for it to be put into my account again and told it was a 6 week process *sigh*

Now the payment would have been due this week so I phoned just to check on the progress only to be told that somebody has in fact cashed one of my cheques and they now need to investigate the situation!

Grrrr, I really wanted to shout at the lady on the phone and ask what a shambles of a government office they are running. How in this day and age can it take 6 months to pay somebody the money you owe them but are able to take the money I earn before its even issued to me?

I'm wondering if I will in fact see my money before the year is out but getting mad is not going to change the situation so I will do what I do best and Keep Calm, oh and I need to paint my nails too as my varnish is chipping!

Half term happiness

I do love half term but then again I would - I work term time only!
For the children its a break from school and a chance to have fun and let me entertain them but for me its a week off work and I like to spend it doing absolutely nothing. This means we have to come to some sort of compromise.

This week hasn't been too strenuous, here are a few things I've been up too..

 

I dyed my hair, not for a fresh new look but to cover up those white streaks that seem to appear right at the front of  my head where everyone can see them! Unfortunately it didn't quite work and most of them are still there but if you just look at me from the back it doesn't seem too bad a job.

We also took a trip to the cinema, myself and the 4 children went to see Wreck it Ralph which I found to be a pretty good movie, particularly if your children are into computer games as all of mine are.

 

I'm not much of a baker but I do like eating freshly made goodies so I'm lucky that my girls have a keen interest in cooking. Not only did they bake these delicious cookies but they found out what ingredients they needed and went to buy them all from the shop too.

As I wanted to do a car boot sale this weekend it was a good opportunity to have a good clear out, I do like to keep a good routine in the week so thought I would wait until a school holiday came up before pulling out all the cupboards and stressing myself out. The car boot sale wasn't exactly a great success but I've passed on everything I had to my brother so I didn't need to bring any junk back with me. My brother doesn't have a particular interest in my junk but he intends to sell it on himself doing his own boot sales! 

Sadly half term is now over but I will work hard for the next 7 weeks (hopefully with a bit of sunshine) until the next holiday and instead of the 1 week break we will have 6 whole weeks of fun to enjoy!! I cant wait.