Well we made it safely to N.I. without excess baggage charges or any other problems. For 24 hours or so I was concerned that getting the all important pressies there would mean few, if any clothes, for Alan and I. Thankfully, due to my packing expertise, we managed a change of clothing or two so no embarrassment and a happy daughter. Now that the pressure is off, we can relax and be in total holiday mode, what a lovely thought. Six whole days of being looked after, relaxing and probably over indulging. I am intending to keep the daily walking up though which at least burns off some of the calories and makes me feel virtuous into the bargain.
How are your plans going? Going away early meant planning in advance and I am fairly pleased with it all. We even managed to spend our last evening in the company of our neighbours, which was really lovely. In the winter we tend not to see so much of the neighbours so the get togethers need to be initiated rather than stumbled upon. I knew I had come along way though when instead of busting a gut to prepare a meal on our last night in London, I was able to propose an Indian carryout without feeling at all guilty. They will join us for dinner on the 31st when they will get some home cooked food and we will all have much more time to socialise. My biggest tip to you this Christmas is to go easy on yourself, don’t try to do too much and enjoy what is really important.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
Return to this blog!
I have been spending so much time recently developing my walker's coach blog http://walkerscoach.blogspot.com/ and my new walking initiative that this blog has become somewhat neglected. Well no longer.
I am sitting at my desk planning the day as I scroll my email. The response I was waiting for has arrived so I can schedule in an initial chat with a potential client. As you can imagine time is now getting very tight and I am juggling spaces in the diary trying to respond to the needs of as many clients as I can. As well as this there are the family commitments especially busy at this time of year when you have a school age child.
Yesterday saw me manically wrapping pressies at the school for the children's 'Christmas Wrap'. This is when they can choose a small present for mum, dad, older brothers and sisters, grandparents etc and have them wrapped nicely by members of the PTA. The children love this as it enables them to give a pressie that their parents do not know about. For my daughter it has been so liberating to pay for this with her own money and although I was allowed to wrap the pressie she choose for daddy, someone else was chosen to wrap mine so it will remain a secret.
Today is dress rehearsal for Ellie's concert so I have been listening to her lines all week and getting the costume together. Luckily it was easy as she is a narrator but when, at 8.30 p.m., she uttered the words 'I need to take my costume in tomorrow morning' I initially panicked. Why do they always leave it until bedtime before enlightening you of these needs?
Sometime today I have to return some things to one shop, find a basketball stand and ball, do the last of the shopping and find time between 4.00 and 5.30 to buy the Christmas tree. Thankfully come 6.00p.m. Ellis is off for a sleepover so Alan and I can have a night out. I can hear that glass of wine beckoning.
What prompted me to start writing again this morning though was the appearance of a robin just outside my window. It is the first one I have seen this year and he just perched on the railing and looked in then moved to a better vantage point on top of the washing line pole. Watching him sitting there reminded me of a book Ellie still has called 'Little Robin Red vest'. It tells the story of the robin who knit himself lots of vests to see him through all the cold days up to Christmas. However, day by day he ends up giving these away to other birds and animals whose need is greater than his and then when Christmas comes he is cold and has no vest left. Santa, finding him, takes him home and tells Mrs. Santa about the kindness of the little bird. Touched by this Mrs. Santa knits him a red vest which is how he developed his name. It reminds me of Ellie and me snuggling up to read it and of course the moral of the story. It is the kindness and thoughtfulness which often gets forgotten in the commercial whirl and this is the reality that the robin returned me to this morning. We all need reminded from time to time.
I am sitting at my desk planning the day as I scroll my email. The response I was waiting for has arrived so I can schedule in an initial chat with a potential client. As you can imagine time is now getting very tight and I am juggling spaces in the diary trying to respond to the needs of as many clients as I can. As well as this there are the family commitments especially busy at this time of year when you have a school age child.
Yesterday saw me manically wrapping pressies at the school for the children's 'Christmas Wrap'. This is when they can choose a small present for mum, dad, older brothers and sisters, grandparents etc and have them wrapped nicely by members of the PTA. The children love this as it enables them to give a pressie that their parents do not know about. For my daughter it has been so liberating to pay for this with her own money and although I was allowed to wrap the pressie she choose for daddy, someone else was chosen to wrap mine so it will remain a secret.
Today is dress rehearsal for Ellie's concert so I have been listening to her lines all week and getting the costume together. Luckily it was easy as she is a narrator but when, at 8.30 p.m., she uttered the words 'I need to take my costume in tomorrow morning' I initially panicked. Why do they always leave it until bedtime before enlightening you of these needs?
Sometime today I have to return some things to one shop, find a basketball stand and ball, do the last of the shopping and find time between 4.00 and 5.30 to buy the Christmas tree. Thankfully come 6.00p.m. Ellis is off for a sleepover so Alan and I can have a night out. I can hear that glass of wine beckoning.
What prompted me to start writing again this morning though was the appearance of a robin just outside my window. It is the first one I have seen this year and he just perched on the railing and looked in then moved to a better vantage point on top of the washing line pole. Watching him sitting there reminded me of a book Ellie still has called 'Little Robin Red vest'. It tells the story of the robin who knit himself lots of vests to see him through all the cold days up to Christmas. However, day by day he ends up giving these away to other birds and animals whose need is greater than his and then when Christmas comes he is cold and has no vest left. Santa, finding him, takes him home and tells Mrs. Santa about the kindness of the little bird. Touched by this Mrs. Santa knits him a red vest which is how he developed his name. It reminds me of Ellie and me snuggling up to read it and of course the moral of the story. It is the kindness and thoughtfulness which often gets forgotten in the commercial whirl and this is the reality that the robin returned me to this morning. We all need reminded from time to time.
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