Mar 12, 2008 | Kids, Life at Home
It’s a school night; the house rule is that the kids don’t go out on school nights. The only exception to this rule is if there is a compulsory school function. I haven’t always been consistent with enforcing this rule in the past (big mistake) but due to a recent deterioration in school work and behaviour all round, that rule is now strictly in place and I intend to stick to my guns. So when I’m asked if I can provide a lift and money for a music concert being held tonight, my answer is a firm “no”. Then I’m told that it’s being held at a girls’ high school and tickets were being sold at schools to the kids. What?? How can the school administration allow this? We as parents are supposed to provide structure and boundaries for our kids, we get told by school that they need our support in teaching the kids to be disciplined and to ensure they do their homework, get enough sleep and remain focused. How on earth can they be such hypocrites? It’s beyond me that they can advocate a rock concert to be held on a school night at a school! When the kids turn up to class exhausted the next day, who is to blame? Perhaps some parents will let their kids go. I don’t care – their children are not my responsibility and I have additional, difficult issues to deal with when it comes to raising the boys so I’m NOT going to cave in to the “but everyone else is going” tactic.
So, I’m not very popular at the moment and tonight could be a bit tense at home. I’ll just have to suck it up, knowing that I have made the correct decision, based on the best long-term interests of my children. I have their father’s 100% backing on this – he has agreed to it, and said he will support me.
Mar 12, 2008 | Cats and Dogs, Gym, Personal
I don’t think I managed to sleep more than 2 hours last night. Urgh, this is the third consecutive night of far too little sleep and I am completely shattered!
My neck and back were so sore; I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what position I tried. My head was spinning – so much stuff screaming around in there. And my cats, oh dear …. I love them to death, they are beautiful creatures, but they irritate the crap out of me at night! They insist on sleeping either under the covers with me, or right on top of my legs. It wouldn’t be so bad if they kept still, didn’t scratch me and weighed a whole lot less! (Burmese are not called “bricks wrapped in silk” for nothing.) After being woken up by a sharp claw in my thigh just about every time I started to drop off, or what felt like 2 elephants settling onto my legs whenever I shoved them out from under the duvet, I was just about ready to drop kick them! I don’t want to ban them from my room though, I’m too afraid that they will go outside and it would kill me if anything happened to them. I’m going to try cat beds; hopefully I can get them to settle down and sleep in their own beds and let me get some rest. Then there’s the issue f my eldest son, who frequently gets up at night and trots off to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He’s so noisy! Banging doors, heavy footsteps, cupboards and fridge doors creaking, crockery clanging, cutlery rattling – it sounds a million times louder in the quiet darkness. I’ve spoken to him before about it, but to no avail so I guess earplugs may be the best plan.
So, I am running on empty today and it sucks! I have to go to gym at lunchtime for an hour – god knows how I’m going to survive that but I can’t not go – I’ve not been since Saturday and I can’t miss another day. I don’t want to have to handle all the inevitable negative self talk that’s going to dominate my thoughts if I don’t go. (I’m on a mission to drop the nearly 10kgs I put on over the last 2 years and my efforts are finally starting to pay off a bit, so I really don’t want to jeopardize that. I joined the Virgin Active gym and I’ve been going 3 or 4 times a week since February. Progress has been slow, mainly because I don’t eat as well as I should, but I have managed to lose 2kgs and quite a few centimeters in about 4 weeks.)
I’ll have to go to the pharmacy later and renew my script for sleeping pills. I hate taking the things – even a half a tab gives me the worst zombie hangover the next day – but if I don’t get some decent sleep soon I’m going to be even more of a cranky bitch!