A WEEK CAN BE 7 DAYS OR A LIFETIME, WHEN IT’S HALF TERM WEEK

I am glad to report that 7 days it is here as we come to the end of the half term holiday. Started off well and continued along that route with a few diverted dead ends along the way.  Nothing which a packet of Percy Pigs and Lego mini figures couldn’t put back on course so how did we survive?

Monday looked promising with a meet with Hilary, Avril and children at The Castle grounds.  A tank, an army man, two action men and an army quad vehicle joined us, in miniature form I might add. There is a wonderful huge hill ( I know it as Teletubbie Hill) where the children send the vehicles and said army and action men flying to their demise and can spend anything up to 2 hours roaming the hill. Meanwhile Hil, Ave and myself get to grips with the latest news and put the world to rights around various topics whilst enjoying a wonderful coffee and biscotti from The Castle Restaurant – perfick.

Tuesday involved swimming and roller skating – yes all in one day!! Supported beforehand by a mass intrusion on Filter Through coffee shop in Holsworthy, there were 5 adults and 6 children. We went with my mum, sister, brother in law, Karen ( sister’s friend) and our range of children – oldest 9 years, youngest 2 years. Swimming is very much a given to our children, since the day they were born ( well almost) my boys have shared a wonderful Sunday morning ritual with their cousins. Sunday is our morning where we all congregate in the local pool, my mum and Mike included. Mike has been an integral part of my boys swimming achievements. Not only has he infinite amounts of patience ( of which I don’t possess when it comes to my children) but he is an extremely strong swimmer. He has been instrumental in both the boys being so confident in the water. Thanks Mike x

Roller skating was great, JT started off very wobbly and spent most of the first 15 minutes on the floor or making his way there from standing. After the 2 hour session he was creating some funky moves whilst moving along on the skates and made me want to burst with pride for him.

Wednesday was a very memorable day for JT. Jamie ( his best friend) , Hayley, or Mrs Ayres as those who have read Birthday Bonanza post will know her as, myself and JT all went to Plymouth’s Theatre Royal to watch an evening performance of Goodnight Mr Tom. What a wonderful afternoon / evening. Took the boys to have a pre theatre meal before enjoying a very emotional and thought provoking play. Hayley and I were in tears at various points throughout and JT seemed to grasp the story well and was moved by it. The best part from his point of view was spending time with his best friend and being “ a grown up” Love him x  http://www.goodnightmistertom.co.uk/

Thursday saw Mr T taking a day off work to spend time with the boys and we had a fairly lazy morning at home where pens and paper were exhausted and the cardboard TV came into use again. Geocaching was the name of the game in the afternoon, we decided to start close to home at Kilkhampton Castle but unfortunately found no cache, boys loved it though and I must admit to liking the fact that it gave the walk some added purpose ( calling it a treasure hunt got the boy’s interest also!). http://www.geocaching.com/   Don't you think the tree looks like a face??

Friday was the day earmarked for Geocaching with friends, Avril, Jane, Toshi and Suzanne were there at the ready with GPS phones and in total 12 children were present. We decided to head to Holsworthy Woods as there were 4 caches and a bonus one to find, thought we would work our way round and see how far we got. Well, we missed cache 1, I believe that was due to the mum’s chatting too much to notice, whilst cache 2 proved too much. Who would have thought that the determined nature of us mum’s enabled us to continue searching for up to 45 minutes whilst the children played wolves, cowboys and whatever else they needed to do to keep themselves amused while we could not and would not give up! Rain stopped play after about 2 hours of being there, the boys were head to toe covered in clay/mud and we felt it was time to call it quits at that point. The children loved just running wild in the woods with each other and at points it was very reminiscent of the wild rumpus that ensues in Where The Wild Things Are.

I’m sure that’s why I chose to watch that DVD in the afternoon, we were all warm and dry now and all 3 of us snuggled under a blanket and watched Max and his very own wild rumpus. JT and I were in tears at the end when he left on the boat but I love a good cry – don’t you?

That in a nutshell was a wonderful half term, spent with friends and family, enjoying each other’s company and feeling like I get to know JT again. School seems to distance him slightly from us, it doesn’t take long for the wonderful, inquisitive, engaging boy to return and I so enjoy the time we have together. Both boys fill me with love and pride.

CEL-E-BRATE GOOD TIMES – COME ON!

Oh what a night, or should I say nights!! A weekend filled with dancing, apple sourz shots, laughter, great food and catching up with old friends. The things that weekends are made for.

Friday night saw the girls coming over for some drinks before heading into town for yet more drinks and a boogie. We entered the Carriers Inn and immediately I was transported back 17+ years to when I frequented it every weekend and where Mr T and I had many happy memories as spotty and badly dressed teenagers who were having the time of their lives. We even managed to bag the very same spot that we used to “hang out” in, the window sill by the door was always the area that myself and friends would congregate – oh happy memories. Thankfully I believe my dress sense has matured somewhat but unfortunately the drinking seemed to demonstrate that part of me had not. Someone suggested Apple Sourz shots, to which my reply was “Let’s do it!” – oh how I wish that had been retracted, to my knowledge I believe there were 4 shots that past my lips – not big and not very clever I can assure you. Had a wonderful night and certainly felt nearer 17 that night than I did the following morning – less said the better!

Saturday night was another opportunity to socialise, a slightly quieter affair with a meal at Life’s A Beach with friends that we don’t see as often as we would like to. Beautiful Cornish baked crab for starters and a deliciously cooked Bass for main to celebrate Jamie’s 40^th. Lovely jubbly. http://www.lifesabeach.info/

CONTROL(LED) CRISIS!

Last  week saw me having a crisis of my self control. I felt like things were running away with me and I couldn’t  seem to reel them back in but I found a solution – phew I hear you say! I have to be less strict with myself and need to take things back to what is the priority and what I can lose control of until another time in my life.

The highlight of this so say crisis was completing the Exeter Half and realising that I could do a marathon (this had been a mental barrier all along) and actually wanted to do one for the first time in the 2 years that I have been running.  I feverishly logged on to Runners World and trawled through the list of all the marathons coming up in the Spring. As my training has been going so well I would have been half way to getting the training accomplished for a marathon so felt it was well within my sights. Unfortunately as I had left it so late to let my mind decide I could do a marathon, I found the ideal first races were all full. Stress then took over and I felt that I needed to get into a marathon no matter what and was still researching possible races until midnight one evening, until I finally resorted to getting some shut eye and leaving it until tomorrow.

Thank goodness I did, some sense of normality possessed me the following day and I realised that it was not a race to get into any marathon and that this year would not be the best year to try for one. That put to bed the feeling of desperation to find the best race and also helped me realise what I want to get out of my running. I also felt I could nurture friendships more as I wasn’t fighting training time with friends time. I have some wonderful friends, some going through some painful, stressful times at the moment and I really want to be there for them as and when they need me, without the feeling of needing to do something else instead and compromising the time I can give to them.

I love running because I can and it makes me realise how very lucky I am just to be able to get up and out and reinforces all that is good in my life, I have my health, happiness and (sometimes) sanity alongside a great family life and I should just relish this.

When the running becomes stressful or makes me anxious then I have to reel myself back in and take stock of the purpose of it in my life. Needless to say marathon applications are scheduled for 2012 and this year is about enjoying the challenge of increasing my pace within a half marathon or 10K race and taking part in Bude triathlon with my husband and brother in law.

Stress lifted and some great things to look forward to = a happier, less anxious Mrs T