Earthgirl's Final Battle

beanielou

Hope that you are enjoying your day

earthgirl

Oh wow thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes and cakes!! So kind!! Fortunately/ unfortunately (can't quite decide) I did eat a ridiculous amount of cake and other birthday food items yesterday but because I was good in the week i managed a little of weight loss.

Current weight 8st 3
Target by Sunday 8st 1

It was an awful rainy day yesterday here, it rained cats and dogs all day. Not so good for us but great for the garden! I had a lazy day, went grocery shopping £44 Which is great for when I have students.

New students arrived and brought nice presents for the kids which was kind. They seem nice although their English levels are not as good as I'm used to, great opportunity to keep things simple.

So I'm definitely not going to nap in the afternoon again I was wide awake later on that night and subsequently exhausted yesterday. There may st be a different answer to being tired in the afternoon, like not getting up as early, keeping occupied/moving and eating and drinking better to try to stay more alert. I'll give it a try!

themadvix

Belated Happy Birthday Earthie! It sounds like you had a great day

If you find a solution to the mid-afternoon nap/slump conundrum, please share!

Hope this week's students are lovely - I bet their English is substantially better by the end of the week!

Pooky

My mid afternoon slump disappeared when I went gluten free.

earthgirl

Thanks for all the suggestions. No chance at all for a nap st the moment!

OHs dad is in hospital, he is 83, suspected heart attack. Hopefully he will pull through. He is not in pain and only mild discomfort. Oh is BACK AND FIRWard to visit and I'm encouraging this even though I'm missing his help and back to working for almost 14 hours a day with these students and then cooking cleaning etc. I am with them for about 8 hours per day. I'm putting in a lot of effort at the moment to do the free/cheap stuff with them and next week when I'm even more exhausted I'll pay for stuff like the cinema when I can rest.

Good things: students are nice and helpful, I'll use this to my advantage. Did S great workout this morning and I'm walking with the students every night which amuses them and is exercise for me. Meal plan is holding up no alcohol but a lovely single tray of chocolates bought for my birthday almost disappeared today

Bought mums birthday present and ds1s birthday presents all ordered.

To improve
Speak to children and get them more on board. Unhappy with their behaviour tonight.
Plan out easy excursions next week.
Check meal Plan is easy next week

Next week: start planning out holiday food (self catering starting 28 Aug for 1 week)

beanielou

Hope your FIL is on the mend soon.
Glad these students are way better than the last ones.
Makes it worth having them I hope

apple_muncher

Hope oh's dad recovers quickly. Hugs x

earthgirl

Thanks for the well wishes. FIL likely to be in hospital a while as heart attack has been confirmed. I've not been to see him (students glued to me for another 9 days as they are only 13).

Good things: survived the day, thinking ahead and making things easy for myself paid off. I took time in the lesson this morning to really explain our excursion this afternoon so that went very smoothly and I didn't have much actual work to go, just looking after my own offspring.

Their behaviour massively improved. I have implemented staged interventions. If I have to come twice to do something they get an hour in their room etc

Tea was yummy and now I'm on my knees, in bed already!

Tomorrow I'll have more energy's o I'll do the weekly shop, take them to a park and collect ds1s free pants.

I'll have a 'use up whatever veg' and chicken pasta tea tomorrow.

I've simplified the weekends sctivities too.

Back to hedlthy eating and exercise tomorrow.

earthgirl

Ive been reading on TOPM's thread all about raising children and the debate over going into debt to give children a certain childhood - or not - and what is important. One poster posted the following and I was so moved. This is exactly my feeling on the issue, but I love her honest open personal account of brining up children and I want to keep it for posterity so I'm posting it here - I hope thats ok? Not sure?

I don't want to enter into the debate or anything, I just want a reminder to myself that, as we now have more disposable income than ever before, the answer is certainly NOT to spoil the children. We need to give them our time and the benefit of lots of different experiences, rather than throw money at making their childhood 'perfect'. Actually, some adverse experiences will probably be a good thing! Also a good reminder that every child is different and as a parent you can only do your best. Anyway I really hope its ok to repost as I want to keep this and I don't know how!!

"Rather than move house, to the catchment area of a better state school, we sent out Son to a small prep school and really stretched ourselves to pay the school fees. We divided the summer holidays so he had two weeks in an excellent, varied, well-run holiday play-scheme (cost a fortune), two weeks with my Mum looking after him, either at hers or at ours, and two weeks with us, somewhere camping, or a holiday cottage or cheap gite in N France.

We gave up on foreign holidays after realising the debt we were in, but stretched again to pay for an orthodontist for four years (started with 12-18 month treatment plan that went on forever), and various clubs and school trips. When he was 21 we had just come into some money that would have cleared our mortgage and left us comfortable. We instead bought a second house, keeping the mortgage on ours, and gifted him 25% as his 21st present.

He has no interest in earning money beyond enough to live on, in a poorly paid shift job in challenging circumstances, which periodically frustrates him. What frustrates us is his total lack of work-life ambition or progression. We think we made it too easy for him.

And the money we had is tied into his house, where it generates just enough to cover the bills but no more. I retire early next year, still with a mortgage of (currently) over £70,000 and a dilemma. Do I use our pension savings to pay it off, and sacrifice much of the future 3rd age we planned, or continue to economise where we can and pay down by nibbling away? We were relatively late to parent-hood and we clearly spoiled him in some ways.

Our Son lacks ambition, is rather lacking in drive, is untidy (in direct contrast to how he was brought up), eats junk food regularly at vast delivered cost (also because he can, without us making him eat healthily) and in the six years he has lived away from us we have regularly bailed him out financially, and in other ways. My overwhelming sense is that we tried our best but failed him in his preparation for life.

It wasn't that he lacked things or opportunities, we sacrificed big-time for those. It is the fact it all came too easy for him, so maybe he thinks it always will.

In my view it is not the material things, it is your time, energy and influence that are the most important things and there I feel I failed, at least in part (DH less so). Do things with them, not for them. I could say more, I would definitely do things differently, given the chance to do them again, and I really do regret doing too much for him, too early. As I say, got the poster, T-shirt and matching pens and pencil sets."

earthgirl

So 2 hours of online teaching completed this morning, now I have an hour to get eveyone breakfasted and a packed lunch sorted. Then we are out on an excursion 10 - 4. Its an hour away but its all free

I did a grocery shop yesterday, took the students and kids, and it actually worked out fine. It was a rainy day anyway. Spent £50 which is great for 6 people.

Tomorrow I've booked myself an easy morning off - given them homework project to do - and then another picnic and a trip to a nearby sports centre open day - free