So how did I spend it?
Well, Big Son and Small Son got in the car at 8:45am and I drove to small son's school & dropped him off. Then stuck the magnetic "L"s to the car and Big Son drove round for 25mins until it was time to go back to school for the "Leavers Assembly"
Year Six Owls were great - they each presented a few lines about what they've liked best about being in St John's School. Small son, who only began there at Christmas of Year Three said that he'd enjoyed meeting all his new friends when he arrived. Today was also a leaving day for one of the staff who taught most of the class when they first arrived in school in Reception. There were quite a few tears around.
Personally, I struggled to hide a few tears because I know that had I not taken the decision to move Small son to this school back in Jan 2008, I believe that he would have carried out his threats of suicide because he was so unhappy in his old school. He was being bullied daily by a boy the same age "BB" and BB was a complete thug. After putting up with the thuggery through Reception, and Years One and Two, by the summer of Year Two, small son had missed more school than he'd attended. He'd received a broken cheekbone where BB had smashed him in the face with a metal drinks bottle and the head of the school was refusing to effectitvely deal with the bullying even though my husband and I were having to go in to school or send in letters every day reporting issues.
There is a 100+ year history of my family and that school. My mum used to be the headmistress of the Infants (Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two) School until she retired in July 1992, so taking Small Son away from there was distressing on many, many levels, but I could no longer make my son attend a place where I wasn't sure that his safety was important.
The existing headmaster at that school appeared to have the opinion that if he ignored the bullying, then it didn't exist. I understand that he used to visit other schools to teach them how to be "Good Schools" like his, because his had no bullying. We had been told 'off the record' that the reason his school didn't have any bullying problem was because he wouldn't allow his staff (Teachers, Lunch Welfare Assistants, Classroom Assistants etc) to put entries in the Incident Book when the thug was involved. I don't know, maybe he was shagging BB's mother or something, but it appeared that BB was TeflonTM coated! Small son had made threats, not just to us, about running in to a busy main road or throwing himself from the top of the climbing frame, just so that he didn't have to go to school any more, and I truly believed that he was so unhappy he would have carried out his threats.
Our GP had been no help in the matter, not even listening to my explanation of what he'd been saying, and why. She just dismissed my concerns saying that it was unusual of children his age to do such things. Yes - we KNOW that, this was why we were so concerned!
Anyway - enough about the old school for now. St John's had been superb with Small Son. He had slowly begun to revert back to the boy he used to be, with the confidence to leave his parents' side and go and play with other children. He had gone from being a VERY outgoing small child, who would talk to strange kids on holiday and join in their games to spending his Cub meetings sat across the room from the other kids he'd known through Beavers, watching from a distance. And now we have a son who will again take the lead and help other children with things. He thoroughly enjoys being a Scout and helping out the young Beavers with their games and activities. I was so proud this morning when he was awarded a certificate for Leadership Skills on the school residential holiday. Admittedly, they were doing things he's been brought up doing (Canoeing, archery, rock climbing etc that he does weekly with Scouts) but he was helping and encouraging his peers who were undertaking them for the first time.
So, my policy of never letting anyone see me cry was difficult to adhere to this morning, but I managed it. And by 10:40am Big Son and I were back at home, and I was doing laundry and dishwashering.
Strange vinegary smell lingering in kitchen, but couldn't find source. Bleached down the worktops, put loads of stuff away, fed Big Son leftovers for lunch and was outside school again by 2pm waiting for Small Son to come out. He handed out a couple of his "business cards" that he'd been given for his birthday so that friends who were going to different High Schools could keep in touch if they wanted to.
Then home again. Quotes for Car Insurance for my Renault. RAC, who I'm with now are wanting to increase the monthly premium by £4. I called them, told them that I wanted them to keep it the same and they could keep my business. The wouldn't budge, so I started the treck of getting quotes from other places.... Direct Line are offering to better the RAC annual by £92, and they were the first one that I tried, so it looks like it will be GoodBye RAC - although I do want to check out a price for Churchill (all UK call centres) and Admiral (multicar deals) before I make my decision - although Direct Line's policy of allowing named drivers to build their NCB is appealing - hubby's not had his own car insurance for years, and even then only had it for a few years since he was a named driver on his father's car (possibly some sort of old tax incentive since F-i-L had a company car - but F-i-L is in his 80s now, so I'm going back a LONG time!)
Then, 3:30pm was Electrolysis time - I'm at THAT AGE when my chin, jawline and upper lip are going through some sort of gender identity issue and appear to be trying their best to grow a beard and moustache! So since early Spring I've been having fortnightly electrolysis to get rid of them permanently. I'll be honest, it's horrible - I've been pulling them out with tweezers for 5+ years, and I just want rid of them, and when I was having my legs waxed, I spotted the Electrolysis machine and made enquiries.
Home by 4:30pm and back to the laundry/dishwasher (grill pans, frying pans, baking trays) and Car Insurance quotes - except my eyes made me sleepy and I dozed off mid-quote! Woke up at 6:30pm when hubby arrived home from Birmingham.
Tea, more laundry, and a suspected source for the vinegary smell = dead mouse hiding in the dining room <bleugh> and then more catching up with stuff that's been recorded on the Sky+ box. Torchwood (Miracle Day) Episode Two. Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet (part one)
Small son's negotiated a holiday bedtime of 10:30pm (not too bad to wake up at 10:30am if he sleeps 12hrs!!!) and at 11pm hubby went to bed. Big son's just been and said "Good Night" and it isn't even midnight yet!
I've decided that I want all my hair cutting off! This is the style that I'm considering
(Found from google images search for "short hairstyles fine hair round face")
And tomorrow? I'd like to take the kids swimming, but I don't know if we'll grt round to it since the reason I'd like all my hair cut off is that it's hard work when we've been swimming - takes AGES to rinse out shampoo/conditioner and then all day for it to dry, or an hour with a hairdrier! So I may just aim to get a haircut and start them off swimming on Monday.
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