Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 3 - A New Beginning

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all :hello: :coffee:
Just having a quick cuppa and catch up with Lewis Capaldi on the Big Weekend. How very typical that I would have loved to have seen him live and he was in the North East the very weekend I am in London. Still, I'm way too old and introverted for going to concerts etc.
I got a really good sleep last night actually - much needed - but have woken this morning with a very snotty nose, sore throat and a bit of earache. Lovely. Hopefully though I won't be too busy today - I don't predict that it'll all properly kick off until Wednesday or Thursday. I'm intending to spend a bit of time with the kids today and just enjoy being in my own home for a little while.
I feel a bit guilty about how lazy I'm being - the kids have spent time with granny, who doesn't mean to upset me but loves to pass comment on how shabby my house is, and how untidy the garden is. DD is an impressionable and materialistic teenager who now wants me to spend millions of pounds turning our house into a show home. She says that she and her brother are going to take over looking after the garden, and that she is going to learn how to wallpaper and decorate the house. These are jobs I have zero motivation to do so I've told her to crack on with it - all the while feeling quite guilty about it. :rotfl: I hate housework and gardening, and would rather spend time earning enough money for us to enjoy life a little bit. Oh, and to pay my legal bills.
Speaking of legal bills, I've just remembered it's ex's birthday. Do I get the kids to text him? Best have a little think about that.
Now my anxiety is kicking in because I'm thinking about the fact that I've not decorated the house for years and worrying about being judged by the thousands of people who have never even been in my house :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Ridiculous. I own my own home, and am happy here. It's warm and dry and that's the important thing.

f0xh0les

Offer them a trade off

a) a week on the beach

b) 2 days of some bloke called Dave being in their bedroom and living room with a bucket and a ladder of paste, and you shouting - 'hands off the walls!' every 4 minutes for the rest of the year .:rotfl:


You could let them do their own research on what they would like, and then do a presentation with costs. DS3 has a ridiculously expensive blind in his room with blue footed boobies he found online. It makes him happy every time he goes into his room, even after 3 years. Unless your mam is a dab hand with a paste brush??

apple_muncher

Is 'blue footed boobies' what I think it is...?

Honeysucklelou2

The important thing is that your home is warm and dry and you feel safe there. Anyway shabby chic is a style isn't it? Well that's the one I'm going for here. Decorating has to wait until the summer holidays when I have time!!

Hillwalker11

I for one think you have your priorities spot on.Apart from teaching a very intense subject at the same time as juggling a difficult separation you keep your children at the forefront of everything you do.

I have a friend who is incredibly houseproud, it is like visiting a show house,every article of clothing is colour coded,socks are folded so you can see the logo,everything and I mean everything is ironed.When you visit you are afraid to move and perch on the edge of the settee.All in all a very uncomfortable experience.

On the other side of the coin I have a very dear friend who has just watched her 30 year old son lose his battle with brain cancer.She is a lovely person and her house has always been chaotic.Never worried about housekeeping or decorating, but you always felt comfortable when visiting.Her motto has always been ' stuff doesn't matter, it's people that are important'.I think with what she is going through now it has put that blindingly into perspective.At the moment I doubt if she is even aware of anything around her, tidy or not.


No one will ever say in a eulogy, she had a beautiful house and hoovered three times a day!
I imagine your house is very comfortable and lived in where people can sense a good feeling.It is a house that you and your children have made into a home.That is what life is all about and you have got it right.

Baileys_Babe

We are not house proud, our home has ranged from comfortable to chaotic and back again over the years. Same with our garden.

We don't enjoy decorating, but one thing I have found to keep it looking good for longer is washing down the walls with sugar soap (follow the instructions on bottle/packet), like you are preparing to decorate, this makes the place fresher.

crazy_cat_lady

Thank you all for the reassurance. Hillwalker, you are so right - it is the people that are important. I was just chatting with my sister about this yesterday - how some people are so motivated by showing off to other people what they have, whereas we're both motivated by the people that we have in our lives and just having enough to be comfortable. I'm proud that I own a house, on my own, and I'm proud of the kids, and the way they're growing up. The other stuff is neither here nor there. Resilience, respect, hard work and love are the important things in life. In my opinion...
We ended up going out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. It's quite rare that the three of us all go out together these days but we went to the cinema. I had T£sco vouchers that I converted and I only had to add an extra £1.20 so it was a pretty good bargain for the three of us. We saw Secret Life of Pets 2. No spoilers but there was a crazy cat lady in there - I think I've seen my future :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing a bit of work and watching a bit of Game of Thrones (I was very late to the party with that). Weather is utterly miserable, cold and raining so I didn't want or need to be out and about. The kids used that as an excuse not to do anything in the garden yesterday :rotfl: They did a bit of rubbish sorting though, which is at least a start.
Even though it isn't payday until Friday I need to do some shopping today. We are a bit short of groceries (for the kids, not me) so I'm making them write a list and we are going to stick to it. I also need to pick up a parcel from the sorting office but other than that just more work.
Right, best get on then.

foxgloves

Although I have gardened in almost any weather, CCL, it is so much nicer to be out there with the sun on one's face. I'd got good veggie garden intentions today, but it's drizzled most of the morning & is chilly. I'll see if it picks up later, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. The forecast is much better here from Thursday, so I can always clear all my indoor jobs & wait for the sunshine for digging, planting & de-gunking the pond x

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all :coffee:
Today is the day the big stuff begins with the marking so I may be gone some time after this - depends how my time management goes and how straightforward the tasks are. I'm still full of snot but feeling quite a bit better than I did the past couple of days.
Nothing much to report which is kind of how I like it. No word from the ex, no money in the bank, kids peaceful etc. The weather was vile all day yesterday - really heavy rain for most of it so we didn't get anything much done.
I do have a couple of little things I need to get done today in amongst everything else. I desperately need to make some rice pudding to use up some milk that isn't going to last much longer. That's straightforward though (must be if I can make it). Also need to keep on top of the washing and rubbish/recycling. I also have a 2 hour tutoring session - my tutee is just days away from A levels so I'm at his beck and call for the moment bless him.
Ooh, there is one thing. A pending payment in my bank account from the child maintenance people. :T It will be the only one I get as ex is officially unemployed last I heard but I will put it away to help fund dd's upcoming school trip, and school uniform buying. Might as well make the most of it - I doubt anything else will come any time soon.
Suppose I'd best get on. Will check in as and when I can.

f0xh0les

Rice pudding is an exciting child activity - put them in charge of puddings.