ELEVENSES - the next chapter

[MaryAnnSingleton]

here we go !

what a shame that camping trip was curtailed - bloody weather - grrrr.
very sorry too about poor B - let's hope it's just a passing bug and quickly sorted.

how is house hippi ? and how is B feeling hotcross ?

Oh no, what a shame about the camping trip!! And typical - the weather has been gorgeous the last few days.

Move was very stressful - a very chaotic, tiresome day - I hated every minute of it.

Have not yet settled in the new house - it is so old, so dated, so dirty.... The garage leaks and the loft is not yet boarded so we are surrounded by boxes. O and E are on matresses on the floor in O's room as E's room is also filled to the rafters with boxes. Not an ideal arrangement as we all start back at school tomorrow (well, O and I do, E has an inset day)
The road outside is more of a main road than in our old house and am struggling to get used to the car noise (although everyone I have spoken to reassures me I will soon not even notice it)
The neighbours are nice although the man next door, whilst very jovial and helpful, seems a bit overbearing and opinionated. But he seems very nice nonetheless (I just feel a bit intimidated by overconfident types) His wife seems lovely and their children very sweet (a dd age 11 and a ds aged 7)
On the other side (not attached to us) is a lovely elderly couple who immediately had O in their greenhouse picking tomatoes

The garden is lovely and to E's delight we have bats flying over the canal directly behind our house. Last night we went over the fence with a torch to go bag-watching.

I just cannot relax in this house. It does not feel like ours. It does not feel like home. I know I am expecting miracles, but our last house felt like home the minute we collected the key.
Am sure it will happen, but at the moment I have a heavy feeling in my stomach and am just not a happy bunny

Will email addresses soon - just waiting for BT to confirm new phone number.

oh hippi - it is sooo stressful moving and settling in and some houses just take a while to feel like yours- I took a while to detatch from my old house...it'll all be fine once your things are sorted and unpacked...try not to feel down...we're thinking of you xxx

hope that school has started well and house is feeling more like home hippi...T not back until Thurs, meanwhile exhausted after a trek around Basingstoke in search of blue school shirts and PE trainers. Found age 12 school shirts in bhs -they fit,but will order aged 13 from M&S when back in stock -and trainers ordered from Clarks - he is now fitting a size 6. have good weekends- am going to do some work but also have to make some butterscotch cookies for mum as she is having friends to afternoon tea and i promised !

Hi

THANK YOU for the beautiful card MAS - it is really really nice It has taken pride of place on the windowsill

School has started well O had a taster day yesterday - he had to go in for 4 hours to meet his form tutor and the other dc in his form, collect his timetable, have his photo taken and be set up on the biometric parent-pay system for lunches.
He finished at 12.30 (and was going home with my friend whose ds also started WC today and wh had E for me) and he texted me to say it had been 'brilliant'. So that was good In fact he is saying he cannot wait to go back!

My inset day was good too. Very intense training all day with a break for an hour to go to the pub next door for lunch. My timetable is not too bad. I am working 25 hours a week (every day from 9.40 - 15.00 not counting break and lunch) In those 25 hours I only have 'boy' for 9 hours. Not too bad. In fact, for 5 of those hours I have 'boy' with a year 4 child out of class, just the 3 of us. That one hour a day is 'maths' - I need to teach them numbers, basic addition and subtraction, telling the time, shapes, weights and measures and simple data handling such as tally charts and bar charts. EEEEEK! The rest of my time is spent as general class support in the lower ability Y4 literacy and Y5 maths and literacy classes, and a bit of ancillary as well (4 hours of that), PLUS an hour of my own PREP time. So I am happy. It should be a much less stressful year - which I need because the house is going to be stressful enough.

I will love the house. Once we start decorating and it becomes 'ours'. But that is a long way off.... Rewiring and replumbing must be done first and the earliest the rewiring can be done is the last week in October. No date for replumbing yet.

The road issue still bugs me. The road to the front of the house is buysi-ish but managable and I was expecting that. However.... Behind the canal is a towpath, behind that is a wooded area of approximately 60 ft and behind that is a bypass. Not a majorly busy bypass but a bypass none the less. (Lockfield Drive for those that know Woking) And that is taking some time to get used to. I never relly noticed it when cycling along the canal. Well, I did, but it did not bother me. But now it does. Grrr. I feel like I should have done my research better and was blinded by the fact the canal is behind us. Which is lovely, but does it outweight the roads???????? Only time will tell.....

Right, better go - need to order O a wardrobe from Argos and their website is playing me up.

Back later

ah,am glad you liked it- I hope it makes you feel jollier about all the renovations- it must be very daunting but it will happen and then be wonderful
Glad to hear that O's school start has been good,yours too. Hope you get the wardrobe ordered Take care and have a lovely weekend.

Oh there's so much here to read through. Will do it at my leisure!

Hippi - am so glad you've moved! I know it takes a while to feel like it's home - particularly when there's so much work needed - but I'm sure you'll settle in faster than you feel at the moment. From experience, although our house needs gutting (we've been here 3 years but finances wont allow major work as yet) our house felt more like home after sitting on the floor with friends eating a take away. So, try to have people round as much as possible, ignoring the mess/undesirable decor etc etc. They wont care about it, and people are what make a home, not how lovely the wallpaper is

Glad your timetable is nicer this year and O is happy at school. Hope the wardrobe has been bought!

MAS - how were the butterscotch cookies? They sound yum - any chance of the recipe??!

B started school this morning after weeks of anxiety induced tummy ache! She lined up ok and went in without any fuss, so I was very proud and relieved. Some of the mums came back to mine for coffee and croissant so I feel OK and not to stressed. Hope she has a great day has been a very stressful few weeks!

so glad that B is ok
butterscotch cookies v nice -don't make them too thin -they are quite crispy..
recipe here

Thank you MAS! will give those a go when the new-school dust settles

Hope T's enjoying his last day of the holidays? Lucky thing still being at home... Is he looking forward to going back?

How are O and E Hippi? Hope they're both settling in to their new schools. What's the school run like?

B is reasonably OK. Apparently she cried in assembly on Monday because she felt dizzy but isn't so scared of it now. She's coping with school dinners and actually ate a hot dinner yesterday! She seems to be beginning to play with the girls in her class - fingers crossed there's someone she properly gels with... It's all such a steep learning curve! I'm not enjoying the hands-off ness of it all - she's going into the school on her own, so no hanging around chatting to other parents etc, which is a shock. It will be fine though!

I'm painting our dining room door today - I hate glossing, but it was really chipped and grotty.

good for B - hope she feels settled v soon...
T seems happy enough about going back tomorrow - had a very nice day out today...will be weird not having him around.
Am picking up S from her new school tomorrow - she's in yr 3 -think we're off to the library afterwards.

Hope T's having a good day today! I'm off for a meet the teacher this afternoon - hoping to get a chance to talk to some of the mums from the other feeder school and arrange a meet up

Hippi - I was in Woking this morning and thought of you!

T said it was ok, not brilliant,got crapped on by a bird on the way in which probably didn't help - seems cheery enough now ! Hope all is well with everyone...good luck with meet the teacher :-)

Hello - how are you both?

Here things are fine. Both O and E are finding their feet at school - E has already had a few run ins with some of the girls in her class (but she can be a stroppy mare so I am not surprised) and O seems happy despite having the trouble maker girl whose mum demanded I move O back in his form and little miss hideous with whom he had so many issues in two of his classes.
Oh well. He will just have to learn to live with it - it will toughen him up a bit hopefully. Other than that he is loving high school. He has decided not to join the drama club (for various reasons but including the fact that little miss hideous will spoil it for him) and has joined both the badminton and the rugby club instead. O is not a sporty boy so we will see how he gets on

House still a mess. Found some ominous cracks so am now very nervous but dh assures me it is all fine...

Eek.

Hope meet the teacher went well hotcross and you met up with some of the mums

sounds as though O is settling himself in,despite horrid girls ! good for him

Oh poor T - not fair but isn't birds pooing on you supposed to be lucky? maybe he'll have a fab year as a result

O sounds very together. I wonder if doing the sporty clubs is a way of appearing more mainstream - drama club always seemed to single people out for agro? Bless E - I can't imagine her saying boo to a goose tbh, but obvioulsy she has a mind of her own

B is doing OK, still a bit panicky - assembly and lunch are still the scary bits apparently. Meet the teacher was OK - not many parents there really, so haven't had a chance for a good gawp yet! I think Monday morning may be tricky - she'll have settled back into life at home and then she gets sent back to school again. Very unfair - I remember it well

Just had a phonecall saying B has a place at Brownies. She'll be thrilled as she'll be starting with some of her friends from Infants. Phew.

I'm sure B will soon settle - and Brownies will be fun
Hope T has had a good day - you can tell by the way he comes in - but it's the weekend, so he should be happy ! Told him that bird poo was lucky !

Happy Birthday hippi
have a lovely day xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hippi! Hope you have a lovely day. What are your plans?

(well done MAS - you are very very organised!)

!

Hope you both had great weekends? Ours was really busy, but lovely. On Saturday we went to visit the family we met when we were camping in May. They live in the middle of glorious countryside, have two very cute wee ponies and a swimming pool Of course, lifestyle envy kicked in However, B and their little girl played so beautifully, and defintely want to keep in touch, so must try not to feel embarassed about our lack of funds...

Sunday B went to a party and dh and I did the shopping/cut the grass etc.

I have a dilemma. A job has come up in our local secondary school for a part-time librarian. I'm tempted, but scared that health-wise I wont be able to do it and keep on top of school run/house etc. We could really do with the money, but at the expense of what? I'll find out more about it I guess and then decide whether to apply... Probably wont get the job anyway - I haven't had a job for YEARS!

Hello you two!! Thanks for the birthday wishes - I had a lovely lovely day. My sister came down for the day, we spent some time taking a lovely walk down the canal behind the house. She absolutely loves it and it has restored my faith that buying the house was a good thing to do We then went for a gorgeous dinner at Belinis in St Johns - truly superb Italian food and the staff are very very nice.

O and E are setteling into school quite well. O had a few hiccups on Friday - he was given a stern warning by his drama teacher for misbehaving in class, a note was written in his planner and if it happens again he has a detention And his history teacher also had cause to write in his planner because he had not written down, and thus promply forgotten to do, his history homework. Added to that he got lost on site and arrived late to a lesson.

But he will get the hang of it - it is a big step up from primary school where they remind them so many times of where to be / homework etc.

Hotcross - I would apply for the job. If it is part time you may be able to work it alongside house/illness etc. Especially if you are up front with them about any worries and they may well be quite flexible. You have nothing to lose!
I am absolutely LOVING my job now. It is so much better having a varied timetable - I now go to each session refreshed and enthusiasti, so much better all round!

Better go, dinner is cooking. We have a builder coming round to quote at 7 and then I need to rush off to a get-to-gether with the other TA's.

Back later

Glad you had a nice birthday! Sorry O's had a rough start - will get better and all good learning stuff really.

Am still thinking about the job - must get on with making a decision though!

I'm going to a new choir tonight, which I'm looking forward too. I know my asthma will thank me for exercising my lungs a bit

hotcross - yes,absolutely GO FOR THE JOB ! I reckon you'd really love it - it sounds great to me-and you can't really go on fretting about health and letting it take over - trust me,trying something like that will give your whole feeling of well being a lift ! lecture over !
Hope choir was good
I think new secondary school can be a bit of a shock at first -but it teaches them to be responsible - T learned that-though of course he still forgets stuff !

Morning

Thought I would quickly hop on here whilst having breakfast...

I agree with all that MAS said - GO FOR THE JOB!! You will love it!
I love mine - the actual job itself has many downsides (mainly the children ) But I love the fact I am working. Term time. It is just perfect! I would love to work in a library - that sounds to me even more perfect than being a TA!
O is doing allright at secondary school. I don't think he is bowled over by it and he is not overly enthusiastic about it. He says it is 'allright' when questioned. I think he is still very much finding his feet. He has had many changes in a few months from the dog dying (it was O's dog really) to moving house to starting a new huge school with lots of unfamiliar faces. I think the rug has been pulled from under him a bit.
And it is all going to get more chaotic - we potentially (if we give the go ahead) have the builders starting next week. They are going to take down the old garage, build a new one next to the house, block up the living/dining room archway, knock through the kitchen and dining room, fit a new (my friend's old) kitchen, take out the stairs and fit new ones, remodel the landing and create a bigger bathroom by taking up some of the landing and kocking into the airing cupboard. It is going to be a minimum of 12 weeks of mess and upheaval! Christmas is going to be interesting this year!!!
I am dreading it all but will have to cling on to the thought of a nicer house when it is all done [fret]

Better go, the urchins need to be sorted out

Have a nice day