pfb -in fact only child - off to secondary on Thursday...

[MaryAnnSingleton]

am being calm but every so often panic strikes me - ds is fine about it, it's just me fretting about roads to cross/ money for the canteen - will it get lost/stolen, what about the lockers, arghhh ! Plus,as with the beginning of every term,I'll miss him - I love having him here in the holidays !
It also means that I have no excuses not to sit at my desk and work on the job I'm meant to finish by the end of Seot...

Luckly DD has a page in her planner for parens evenings and appointments otherwise I know for a fact she'd lose it!

argh - today appears to be non-uniform day - ds in a total panic when his friends knocked on the door - rushed him upstairs to change ! How come I didn't notice that ? gah !

oh no MAS - at least he had the chance to go up and change, rather than getting to school and it being too late.

DS has just gone out on his bike, he is waiting for his friends to appear. DS2 is soooooooo not impressed that he has to go to school.

Btw - do you all work? I know you work from home MAS (am I correct), but what about those of you that go out of the house to work - what happens in the holidays?

I am fed up of doing evening work (although I do one day shift) and in the hols I don't do this shift but obviously do not get paid. I would love to go back to some sort of officey work but wondered if I would be jumping out of the fat into the fire. I work in a very busy village pub, which is only a few minutes away in the car so very handy, I love the customers (when on the bar) but hate the waitressing bit, although they do pay well.

I am just getting a bit upset with myself that when the boys come in from school, I am getting tea on then getting ready to go out and I do not seem to have any time for them. DH comes in and I garble to him that he needs to do xyz with homework, go through books etc, help the DS's, ask him to remind them that guitar practice needs doing etc etc etc. I feel that I am just barking out orders left right and centre.

yes,thank goodness it was discovered before he'd left !! poor thing was in enough of a tizzy as it was...
I do work from home (when I have work,which is sadly not often)- it's always been great because it's fitted around ds.
I will need to review this pretty soon,esp as ds is getting older, but I do like to be around for him.Am also not sure what else I can do,workwise. Is waitressing not a nice job btw ?

It is ok if there are enough of you, but on a lunchtime there are only 2 of us - could go either way - busyish yesterday, but the day before (luckily I was not there) they used every table and had to open up the restaurant which is used for the evenings.

The waitress also has to wash up and the chef can get flippin narked if it is not kept on top off which sometimes is difficult when there are people just piling in wanting to eat, orders to be taken, food to be eto tables, drinks to be served. If the chef goes in the sink (depending on what mood he is in) he will be banging around etc etc - makes me very nervous. I am fed up of smelling of food and am just reminiscing to myself about the days when I got dressed up to go to work, my nails were nicely painted all the time etc etc.

Am just feeling sorry for myself today - have got toothache and I want to curl up into a ball until it goes away. I was only at the dentist a few weeks ago having two crowns done at the cost of £198, my car tax is due at the end of this month and I really do not want to spend any more money.

food to be taken to

bellavita - have a hug xxx sorry to hear about toothache too and dental bills (can sympathise - have no money coming in at the moment - from me- and have to fork out for new contact lenses and the dentist (2 fillings) on Monday.
I wouldn't like the washing up or smelling of food at all.

Thank you for the hug MAS.

Hi all! Sorry to hear about the stress and dental bills, etc.

I actually work in a secondary school as a cover supervisor - so should not be so pfb about it all on here! But it's a very different school to the one ds1 goes to.

Luckily for me I get paid 52 weeks of the year but only work term-time plus 5 inset days. It's 5 mins walk from my house and I work 8.30-3.30; apart from one meeting once a week.

So basically I get all the time off that the boys do, which is fantastic. It makes up for a lot of the stress/hassle/low pay that comes with the job!

Today I am home with ds2 who is recovering from an operation.

Thanks roisin, just feeling a little bit sorry for myself today - shouldn't be, I have a lovely house, my own car, two lovely boys, a fantastic DH.....

How is DS2 doing?

He's doing really fine, thanks for asking.

He's not 'ill' at all, just too fragile (with a 5" full-depth of skin scar with stitches) to cope with the rough-and-tumble of primary school! I'll be sending him back to school on Monday with a note for them to keep him off PE and playtimes and swimming for 2 weeks.

poor ds roisin - hope it all heals up quickly !

DS has done rugby today - the only thing is his boots and kit are still sat in his boot bag in the kitchen eurgh!

Let's just see how long it takes for him to unpack it. I have mentioned it to DH and warned that I will not be cleaning boots like last week (although to be fair, I put the hose on the bottoms and it was done).

How has your DS done at school today roisin?

yes, how was he roisin ?
Ds couldn't get his locker open today so has carted PE kit around all day - told him he must ask his tutor tomorrow morning (she said he should if he had difficulties)
Last week he also admitted to lending the same boy who had borrowed money twice and not repaid it *more8 money - only 20p, but I hit the roof...think/hope message has got through now !

Oh MAS for your DS, hopefully whatever you have said to him will make him think about his actions this time.

Maybe the lock just needs a bit of WD40 in it?

Talking about lockers, have just noticed that DS has left his locker key on the niche in the hall - oh dear.

He did leave in a strop this morning though, but I bet when he gets to school he will be a little distraught thinking he has lost it on the bus.

He has with him a winter coat and indoor pe kit so he will be carting stuff around with him all day too.

the padlock is a new one,so should be quite flexible-it's locked on to his locker- am hoping he just didn't line up the combination properly ! arggh - I feel like a broken record repeating instructions (ask your tutor to help with lock/never lent xxxx money ever again ad nauseum)- ds just gets really sulky and cross.

padlock ok again - tutor helped
was your ds worried about his locker key bellavita ?

Luckily, it was his spare that was in the hall - phew. As soon as he came in I asked him and he produced a key from his pocket.

The rugby stuff from yesterday is still sat in the boot bag in the kitchen and todays indoor pe kit is now sat next to it! I think someone is going to be wearing dirty clothes next week.

Glad the padlock was ok.

ds2's doing fine back at school. His teacher lets him choose a friend to stay in with him each playtime, which is nice.

ds1 has been saving up change from dinner money to buy christmas presents for the family - aww.. how sweet

He gets £2.30 a day, which is plenty, and we allow him to keep any change. In the first couple of months he usually went down town at the weekends and bought some pokemon cards or similar junk. But this month each week he's been using the money to buy gifts, and he's just fetched the wrapping paper and wrapped them all up. Isn't that gorgeous? It makes me want to blub!

Glad to hear DS2 is on the mend Roisin.

DD keeps all her keys on a lanyard around her neck plus her purse for some bizarre reason so up to now she's not lost/left behind her keys which is a miracale for her!

We have her tutors meeting next Wednesday -luckly it is a day I can get out of work early. DD had History homework tonight to do I think I suprised her when she asked about inventions in the 18th Century as I rattled off a fair few -my Social and Economic History A level was not wasted! I can't believe it's nearly Xmas. DD has a school Xmas ball -sounds posh but it's a disco with a buffet in the hall and for a totally non girlie girl she suprised me with a request for a DRESSS!!!!!!!!!

roisin - glad to hear that ds 2 is doing ok back at school and as for ds1 - how lovely he is ! my ds of course gives his change away !!
bellavita - glad locker key was safe !
Ds' pupil evaluation was fine and he has brought back a good report - all appears to be going v well,maths and ICT being the things he needs to improve on, but top marks for attitude in geog. and music...hooray !
Christmas ball sounds fun magenta !

Glad DS2 is ok roisin

DS1's school (although DS not involved) are putting on a production of Tommy this week. DS asked if he could go and DH is taking him tomorrow night - but the tickets are £7 for an adult and £5 for a child - a bit expensive imo but he had set his heart on going and of course DH said yes.

How lovely an xmas ball magenta - I think I had better check DS's school website just to make sure they are not doing anything.

Btw - his rugby and indoor pe kit are still sat on the kitchen floor in their respective bags. My mother was aghast this morning, not at DS but at me - her words were "he is a boy, that is what boys do, leave stuff for their mums to sort out, if I were you I would just go an unpack it and put it through the washing machine" - is he ever going to learn though if I keep doing that - it isn't that I have not nagged asked him to empty the bags. I just despair of him and she does of me!

am expecting DS to get an st (black mark) today - have just realised his planner is sat on the spare bed.

Hopefully your DS didn't get a black mark Bellavita.

DD has her first practical cooking session today -to make a healthy sandwich using traffic light colours. So I've sent her in with two slices of brown bread, some red pepper, orange cheese -had to blinking run up to the shop for that and cucumber. Next week they are making bread apparently.