Another day at' mill

Hello again. Last time I wrote about my son and his new wife. Today I am going to tell you a bit more about me.

I was born in USA and moved to England when I was nine. Up till then I had been to three schools on two continents but after coming to England I stayed in the same school for the rest of the time. After leaving school I trained as a teacher - three years at a College of education, although nowadays it's a University course. I really enjoyed the course and the teaching practices but when it came to the real thing, I ducked out after two terms and got a job in a bank. Less money and shorter holidays - what was I thinking of?

I'm back in the finance industry now although I had six years at home looking after our two oldest children and then my husband and I bought a Convenience Store and ran that for fourteen years, in conjunction with bringing up baby numnber three.

The oldest is the one who got married last week, the next is happily 'partnered' and the youngest is in her final year at school. She is planning her university career - choosing her courses and completing her personal statement etc for UCAS. The house will seem quiet this time next year, although I'm not planning on suffering from empty nest syndrome. Just looking forward to things still being where I left them.

I read a few blogs including Dr Crippen's excellent comments on the decline of the NHS. I'm studying Health Science with the Open University and have always been interested in medical matters. In an ideal world, I would have liked a career in a 'profession allied to medicine' (eg as a Physiotherapist) but things didn't turn out that way. Which is why I am currently working towards the degree I didn't get in my twenties and studying Human Biology and Psychology. People ask me what I plan to do with the degree when I finally get it and some seem surprised that for me just getting the degree will be an achievement in itself. I'll be into retirement by the time I've completed all the modules, so not much opportunity for a new career!!!

Musings on Life's Laundry

Well it's quite a long time since I last wrote on this blog!! (just over 2 months to be exact). I was collecting our kayak and also taking H to pick up her AS results. The kayak has been used intermittently and not at all over the last three weeks or so - more later on the reasons why not. Helen's results were excellent - 2 A's and a C so she has gone back into the upper sixth full of confidence in her ability to do well.

All our spare time recently has been concentrated on our son's wedding. We have spent the last five or six years telling him to get a life; that he will never meet people playing internet games and lo and behold!! he met his future wife on an internet fan site (which shows that they had something in common from the beginning). After about four and a half years chatting on-line, playing World of Warcraft together and and getting to know each other they finally met up last year when she travelled half way round the world to spend a couple of weeks in England. The rest, as they say, is history and when C arrived this summer P was waiting at Heathrow with the engagement ring in his pocket. Apparently, he vaulted over/ducked under the barrier and went down on one knee in the time-honoured fashion. I believe he got a round of applause from the bystanders when she said Yes.

Anyway the wedding was last Friday and we had a great day. The weather held out, the dresses were gorgeous and so was the cake. Everyone and everything arrived on time, although there was a slight error with the flowers - the bridesmaid's headdress looked like bunny ears on an alice band, although an arrangement on a comb had been ordered. The hairdresser (a family friend) took the arrangement apart and fixed the flowers into her hair separately then did something similar with C's hair and flowers so that they matched.

More next time and maybe some photos if I can work out how to include them in the blog!!

A very busy day at work today. Still I have a day's holiday tomorrow as H gets her AS results and I said I would take her to school to pick them up. Our kayak has arrived at the shop, so I will go and collect it tomorrow too.

Today my husband decided he had had enough of being a couch potato, so we went out this morning and bought a kayak. The one we chose has to be ordered from a different branch so it won't arrive for a few days. Our elder daughter came round this afternoon and she and her boyfriend have also ordered the same model from the same place! Spooky or what!

The only thing is that I am a bit worried about my husband as he has been losing weight quite rapidly this week - about 5 pounds since Monday - without eating less or doing more. If it continues next week I shall insist on him going to the doctor; in common with lots of men he seems to think consulting a doctor is some sort of a sign of weakness, only done by women and wimps.

I've seen quite a bit of our doctor over the last couple of years both for myself and with our younger daughter. I have age-related joint problems (does that sound better than arthritis?) and she had some emotional issues that were interfering with her schooling. She is a lot better thanks to some counselling and a course of antidepressants. My arthritis isn't going to get better but I've taken up Pilates to try and strengthen my muscles and take the strain off the joints as I don't want to spend the rest of my life on painkillers. I'll let you know how that goes as I've only been to a couple of classes so far.


More about me and mine tomorrow.

Hello to anyone who has found their way to my blog. I've been reading others for some time and decided it was time to join in. I'm a fifty-something mother of two adult children and one semi-adult (in her final year of school). I've been married to my soul mate for what sometimes seems like forever and to the children, I guess thirty years does seem like even longer than that! I'll be telling you about my family life warts and all; the good times and the not-so-good.

I work full-time for a large company in a senior admin role which I mostly enjoy although sometimes I'll have a moan about that too.