Reasons to be Cheerful - Week 13

So, Reasons to be Cheerful this week. A bit of an 'up and down' week. Late to school, awake half the night for no apparent reason. But looking forward to the holidays. So I'm cheery this week because:

• The unseasonal fantastic weather this week. I know it's not original or clever, but it is amazing just how much the good weather lifts your mood. Even though we all know it's going to go back to 'normal' March/April weather soon enough!
• Two weeks break from the school routine come tomorrow. B is definitely in need of a break now, he's been a bit grumpy the past week or so, tired, so the holidays can't come soon enough. 
• I'm going on a kind of 'spiritual' Away Day on Saturday in London. Not quite sure what to expect, but looking forward to finding out! I'm sure to post about it next week.
• Also B and I have a few days away during the holidays, just the two of us. I am in need of a change of scene so am looking forward to it. Hoping the weather doesn't turn too nasty in the meantime!
• My volunteering role I've been doing for the past 10 months finished this week. A strange reason to be cheerful, yes, and it is bittersweet. But I know it was the right decision to make and I now feel freed up to look for more paid work or to explore other options.

What are your reasons to be cheerful this week?

Manic Monday

Mondays. I knew this Monday was going to be a Bangles-tastic* Manic Monday.

Order of play was:
8.43am Drop B at school (almost late as usual, this time due to forgetting about extra time to scrape the frost off the car)
8.55am Head straight to my volunteering stint at a local Community Health project, setting up for the Messy Play group.
9.45am-11am Make playdough, blow bubbles, and generally mess about with the kids. Great fun, but extremely exhausting!
11am-12.15pm Clean up! (it got particularly messy this week, with a very full house!)
12.15pm Drive straight to work (mondays not a work day normally) for an extra hour haring around preparing for a big meeting (today).
1.45pm Skidaddle out of work not having done everything I needed to, have 5 minutes at home to go pee, make a sandwich, pick up B's scooter and head out to to get him from school at 2.30pm, sandwich necked on the 10 minute walk there.

So, 2.30pm arrives, and I feel my headless chicken/stress levels begin to decrease as B's cheeky face appears out of school. We pop in to a friend's house on the way home, B having some play time and me some grown-up chat and a nice cuppa. Sigh. All good...

Then Manic Monday returns with a vengeance.

Oh yes, all is well (as well as it can be in a house with four school friends running about on a post-school high) until we hear a very strange and disturbing groaning sound coming from one of the kids, who it turns out to be B. He is hobbling into the living room, barely able to breathe bar this weird groaning. He then says he can't stand up properly and feels sick, as I watch the colour drain from his face (and he's a wee peelly-wally** like me at the best of times...).

He has apparently slipped on the stairs and fallen back, smacking the top of his back on the edge of the stairs.

The continual groaning and tingling in his arms and legs now has me really freaked out, I phone the gp and they advise me to take him to A&E. So I lift him into the car, plastic bag to hand in case he barfs, and we leg it to the hospital.

I'm vaguely aware when I put money in the parking meter near the hospital that the ticket is reading the wrong date and time and I silently dare any parking attendant to give me a parking fine.

I carry B into A&E and we sit and wait. Slowly, the colour returns to his face, and he can stand up by the time the triage nurse sees us.

When we're seen by the doctor an hour later, B is definitely on the mend, but the doctor assures me that I did the right thing bringing him in given it was an injury to his back. B actually seems to enjoy the funny bending and stretching exercises the Doc gets him to do, to check movement, etc.


And as for what the reflex hammer thingy does, "it's like magic!"




Assured there is no significant damage to his back bar some bruising, we take our tired and hungry selves home, by this time well past bath time. B's appetite not diminished (a good sign!) he scoffs some home-made  quicky macaroni, a quick face-wash and into bed. I didn't last too much longer and followed suit.

No more Manic Mondays, please. My friend also reminded me it was a full moon last night too...

* I will feel really old if you don't know Manic Monday by The Bangles...
** a good ol' Scottish phrase meaning pale. 

Messy Monday

It's Monday 16th January today. All Day. And apparently officially 'the most depressing day of the year', now that Christmas is well and truly over, still two weeks from next pay check (for those of you who actually get a paycheck worth mentioning...), and it's cold. And it's Monday, pure and simple!

Fortunately, it was a beautiful, crisp, bright day round these parts, which ALWAYS helps! I'll take freezing cold but sunny over milder but dull any day.

It was also my first day back volunteering for a pre-school Messy Play group, run by a local Community Health project. I've been volunteering with the group for about 7 months or so, for local parents to come along for an hour with their wee ones and have some free, messy fun without the hassle of cleaning up at the end! It's a great project, aimed at helping parents become more confident at doing messy, creative play with their kids.

It's hard work though, the kids like to make a LOTTA mess! Today, for example, it took 2 of us a whole hour to clean up! But the best bit is being able to have fun with the children: watching them pouring half a tub of paint on their mum's shoes, throw 'fireworks' with coloured shredded paper, or failing to make play doh and making gooey gloopy gluck instead!

What I took out of today, after a month off, was that I really enjoy working with children and want to continue to do so, but ideally, get paid for it! It's something I've been pondering over the past year since I was made redundant. And a year on, I feel I definitely want to follow this path.

I know I don't want to become a nursery or primary teacher, for various reasons, not least being the uncertainty of finding a teaching post.

So my big problem is finding a role which will fit. Not an easy task it seems...