Photo A Day August 2013

While I enjoy looking at photos, I'm not a fan of having mine taken. I also think that photos I take tend to suck. Despite this, I thought I would participate in Chantelle's Photo A Day for August. I won't be posting my photos every day (as you can tell I'm already behind) but I will be trying to post my photos once or twice a week.

Here's the list of prompts for August 2013:

I think some of the styles that other people have used to show their photos look great so I'll also be playing around formatting etc. Anyway here are my first three photos for the month my something starting with N is a notice, incomplete is a blog post and the skyline comes from a bush walk Mr E. and I went on.

Are you playing along?

 

My girl is growing up

Girl Child is almost 10. Some days it's hard to believe that my baby is almost double figures. In some respects she is growing up so fast and thankfully not so much in others. Because she is an avid collector of stuff she grabs any catalogues and circles the things she would like as soon as she sees them. It's in this that the conflict in her maturity is showing.

On one hand she wants Monster High, makeup and real jewellery but she also wants a Baby Alive, LaLa Loopsy and Barbie dolls, and play dough. She is a tween and thankfully not too invested in some the older stuff but I'm finding the disconnect a little jarring. I think it's because I'm watching her try to find her place in the world.

This year at school she is with the big kids (there are about 8 year 4 students in the senior building Year 5 and 6 building) and I think this has helped her mature. She is definitely less clingy and quite a bit calmer this year. So much so that the extended family have said how much better more grown up she has become.

With this maturity showing she may be getting her ears pierced as a birthday present. That is something she has wanted for a very long time. We had said when we believe she is mature to look after them herself. Right now, she will still need some help but she is certainly a lot more sensible than before. It really is surprising how much of a difference 6 months can make.

 

She probably isn't getting a Baby Alive doll as the ones they have now creep me out. I wanted one when i was a child too and never got one. I think I turned out mostly okay. If Girl Child doesnt get one, hopefully it wont be held against me for the rest of my life. But you never know, apparently I ruined her life when she was 4 by giving her the wrong library bag for preschool.

 

My not so hidden talent

It’s great that I can do something really well but sometimes I wish that my talent lay elsewhere. Unfortunately for me, my talent is the ability to get lost. Let me give you today’s example which highlights just how talented I am.

The kids and I were travelling home after visiting family interstate.  I figured that buying petrol would be a great thing to do before I got on a motorway or an expressway or any kind of road that you can’t get off for a long way.  So we stopped, I bought petrol and some snacks for the trip home and we proceeded on our merry way. Now at some point not too long after that I saw a sign for the road I needed to be get on to head home. I was over a lane too far and so I missed the turn.

No problem I thought, just get Boy Child to start the map app on my phone and it will show us how to get back to the road we needed to be on. He started the app and I was following along the directions and thinking umm this doesn’t look familiar anymore. Now bear in mind I do this same trip at least 3 times a year so I should have recognised something. But I didn’t and that concerned me.  Plus the little voice on the machine hadn’t spoken for a while so I wondered if it had turned it off somehow and I’d missed another turn. Nope, it was just in Sydney traffic half of 12kms it wanted us to go had taken about 20 minutes. The time it was going to take to get home had increased significantly as well. Weird, I thought. We should have been on the tollway ages ago. Something was very, very wrong.

Sydney map from http://www.living-in-sydney.com/sydney-suburb-map.html

It turned out when Boy Child turned the app on he selected the route without tolls.  So we heading home via the non toll route which (according to the GPS) was apparently still 3 hours 22 minutes away. Given we had already been driving for an hour and a quarter by then I was a little upset.  I stopped at the next service station we came to and I left the car for a little while to pace a little and generally calm down.

About 5 minutes of deep breathing helped and so I returned to the car and we set off again. Our trip home ended up being about five hours instead of the typical three and a half. On the plus side we had an adventure and we arrived safe and sound just significantly later than planned. This is not the only instance we I have gotten us geographically misplaced. I have often managed to take several different ways to get to my grandmothers (which has added an extra five to ten minutes) but have done okay with that the last few times.  Of course there was also the time I got very lost while visiting my sister near the gold coast a few years ago. which my family hasn’t let me forget. However, I think today’s trip  has outdone all the other times put together.  I’m glad I’m not planning anymore trips away for a while.

So it's been a while

I'm not really sure what has kept me from blogging over the last month and a bit. Probably just life. i haven't even read any blogs and while I've been gone google killed off google reader so I have had to import all the blogs I read into a new feed reader. I hope that I have managed to track down and add my favourite blogs into my new reader.  If not, I will hopefully rediscover you all and get back into the habit of reading blogs again on a regular basis.

It seems that while I was busy having a life a surprising number of bloggers have left the blogosphere. There are different reasons for all of them but I will really miss them. i was very sad to see just how many people are moving on from here.  Anyway, I better go and catch up on all the things I've missed in your lives. I can see that i'll be doing a lot of commenting in the near future. 

Grateful 26 May 2013

 

I'm linking up with Maxabella over at Village Voices for this weeks grateful.

Since my last grateful post there have been some ups and downs. But there have been more ups and so I'm going to share those things.

My extended family member's surviving baby was born at 29 weeks. He is a beautiful little boy and doing remarkably well. His feeds are all breast milk and he is breathing on his own. I know that premmies tend to have a two steps forward, one step back trip through NICU so I suspect there will be a few slip ups along the way but at the moment all the news I've heard has been positive.

My friend (who will be known as C) who was diagnosed with Breast Cancer is going okay. She has a date for her surgery booked and has a plan of action. She and her family are kind of in a holding pattern for now but they are thinking positively. I'm sending positive vibes out to them as well.

A few weeks ago Boy Child was elected to the Student Representative Council (SRC) at his school. Because of this, he has been away on a school leadership camp. I'm proud that he has stepped up to a leadership type role at school. I'm grateful that he was happy to go on a camp with a students from other schools and that he made friends. While food can still be an issue for him, while he was away he ate pasta. That makes twice in the last two months after not eating it (and sometimes not even being able to cope with the sight or smell of it) for the last 11 or so years. The day he came home he even ate lasagna. Not only that, he is prepared to have it again as a semi regular thing.

Mr E.'s work dried up about for almost 8 weeks ago. He is a contractor so we do expect these things to happen. We are very lucky that we've had a contingency plan so these weeks havent been a major issue for us. In fact, I probably was good timing as Mr E. has taken up tertiary study and he needed the down time to get into the swing of studying. However, I'm very grateful that he now has work 2 days a week for the next few months.

When the term went back my hours at work had been reduced. Part of it was on my request but it suited the school as well because they are still awaiting (yes still!) points to be allocated for some students I work with. The early finishes have stopped me falling asleep by 7:30 and I'm rarely needing pain relief for my head. It has been wonderful and I'm very grateful to be able to be making a difference without sacrificing quality time with my family.

So that's my list today. What are you grateful for?

 

Dealing with bad news

I have been writing this post for over a week and when I first started, I had entitled Sometimes Life Sucks.  It’s post about how some people in my life were having a rough time in their lives. No matter how many times I have written this post it just doesn't come out right. I figured I would just brain dump instead. 

I have received two lots of bad news about people I care about in the last week or so and it made me so incredibly sad.  A good friend has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I can only imagine how it feels, one day life is your normal and the next you are being sent off for tests. You have to decide when to tell your children, your extended family and your friends.  Would you tell them before you know? Or wait until  you know and are trying to pick yourself up from the floor and adjust to the news yourself.  My friend will  be having surgery in the next little while.  I hope that the surgery goes well and that the treatment afterward doesn’t knock her around too much.

 

Breast cancer has been in the news a lot lately mainly because of preventative mastectomies. I know that my friend and Ms Jolie will be linked in my mind. I’m not sure what my friend would think about that but I’m hoping she won’t mind.

 

The second piece of news was from my extended family. You may remember that I shaved my head a few years back after going multi-coloured for a few weeks to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.  Boy Child had his legs waxed and head shaved at school this year to support the same cause. Leukaemia (and other blood cancers) have touched our family and it is a cause that I like to support.

 

A few years ago, a little girl (she was under 1) in our extended family was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Despite fighting for about half of her life, she lost her battle. Earlier this year we were very happy to hear  that her mum was pregnant with twins. Nearing the end of the second trimester, the news is that one has passed away. I know the twins identical so I'm not sure how that affects the surviving one. I'm  also not really sure what happens now. I worry about how the family will be able to deal with the loss of another child and wondering why bad things happen to good people.

 

I’m hoping the next things I hear are good news.  I don’t like bad news weeks!

Memories

Its been school holiday time, so the kids and I have spent some time away with family interstate. For me, it's bittersweet. It's nice to see my children interacting with other members of our family but sad that it is only a few times a year. I am grateful that the family makes time for us as I haven't lived anywhere near them since I was about 8, so many moons ago now.

Every time we leave my grandmothers house she gives (or tries) to give us something. She is attempting to give stuff away because she feels it will be easier on everyone after she is dead. One visit last year I was given a blanket that my mother crocheted before I was born. It's bright and I am glad I have it. I'm not sure I had ever seen it before. This time around my grandmother has told me that she is putting my children's names on things so that my two will get them when she dies. While her thinking about my children is lovely, I kind of find it a bit morbid as well.

I had made a vow to myself earlier this year to clean up our house and have people over. Boy Child has quite a few friends who we should have over to reciprocate and Girl Child (while doing so much better socially this year) would benefit with having some children over. Unfortunately, I didn't progress as far as I wanted due to my work hours expanding so rapidly. This term I'm only working until 1 so I do get extra time at home without the children. This is greatly needed as a huge part of my clean up plan is dealing with toys. Neither child will willing give up any toys, no matter how babyish. I have to do it when they aren't in the house. The problem is that I'm struggling with memories.

We have stuff in our house that was given to my children by my mother. I find it hard to deal with giving these things away because she will neve give them anything else. I have stuff that my mother desperately wanted us to get from her house before we had to hand over the keys to her estranged husband, never to return. But it's not the stuff I would have chosen. If we had known six years ago that those three or so hours would be the last time we would ever be in that house, I would have got things that were important to me as well as the stuff that she wanted. Hindsight is 20/20 though, no one knew that she would be dead two days later.

So we have items that I struggle to deal because I never wanted them in the first place plus things that were gifts from my mother. I need to do something and deal with all this stuff. How would you separate the memories from the things?

Grateful 14 April 2013

It's been a long time since I joined up with every one sharing their Gratefuls with Maxabella Loves over at Village Voices so I thought I should join in and put some positive thoughts out in the world.

I am grateful that Boy Child loved his Outdoor Education Canoeing Camp. He survived, had fun and ate new foods. All the kids had meal plan (there were no refrigeration facilities), buy their food and canoe to their campsite and cook over a Trangia Stove. One of Boy Child's friends went out and bought the food. Boy had no clue what they were going to eat so I made sure that he had stuff he would eat as well. Turns out that he tried ravioli and chicken in a can.

I am grateful that I have enjoyed the last 6 weeks of work. I also know that I have work for next term. I even have reduced hours but still get to stay with the class that I have been working with. I'm happy and hopefully my head will settle back down again.

I am grateful that Girl Child has survived the first term of school without any of the social issues that she had most of last year. She seems to be doing well both socially and academically. I'm very proud of her.

Mr E. has been at home for a week or so as he is between work contracts at the moment. I'm grateful that he has been looking after Girl Child so she hasn't had to hang out at school waiting for me to finish work and pick her up. He as also been making lunches for Girl Child and I which has been lovely. I'm also grateful that he may be back at work again in the next few weeks.

Boy Child has had his head shaved AND his legs waxed at school to raise money for the World's Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation. He has raised over $720 so far. I am grateful that he wanted to do this and that he has meet his sponsorship goal. However, if anyone would like to sponsor him just contact me and I'll send you the link to his fundraising page.

I've got lots of things to be grateful for this week, how about you?

 

More on working

After being offered 9 days work over 4 weeks and then being asked to work every day one week as I mentioned in my previous work post, I have been asked to work everyday since. I’m very grateful for the work and I feel as though I’m making a difference in the classes I’m working with but I’m a little tired. I gave myself a day off this week as I had an appointment. Turns out that Girl Child was not feeling well so I kept her home from school and dragged her out to my appointment.

Because I'm working out of home now, Girl Child has been dropped at school early and is being picked up around 30 minutes later than normal. Prior to this I've been very available to her and I feel that she is struggling a little. She doesn't like school sometimes and until recently would complain of a headache and / or a sore tummy (her symptoms of anxiety) at least once a week before school. On the plus side the day I took off this week is the close to the only one where she complained of feeling unwell in the last few weeks. Maybe there is some maturity that occurs in Year 4 or maybe it’s the fact she knows I’m no longer working at home and therefore am no longer at her beck and call. Whatever it is I am very grateful but I worry that she might feel abandoned by me. But then I'm a perpetual worrier.

Anyway, work is going well. So well in fact that I'm going to be getting a name tag so I won't need to wear a generic School Assistant badge. That feels like acceptance to me. I've been booked for the rest of this school term. I've also heard that I may be offered a contract for next term. I'm struggling a little with tiredness and despite managing to get my headache fairly well under control, it has flared up a bit. I'm not yet taking the migraine med but I'm back caffeine a few times a week and on pain relief at least once a day which I had stopped needing in about November.

I'm wondering how long it will take for my body to adjust to working. Working in a classroom with Kindy kids is so different to a desk job. I'm hoping I adjust to it soon.

It's Easter so I thought I'd leave you with some eggs. I hope you and yours have a lovely weekend whatever you celebrate.

 

You know those people on reality TV shows

The ones where you wonder why nobody (especially their families) have ever told them that they can't sing? I've seen them and wondered whether its best to smash your children's hopes and dreams quickly or to let them believe that they have ability and talent where there is none. This week I had to make that choice.

Girl Child is not a natural athlete. She has two strikes against her, low muscle tone and then she takes after me in the coordination stakes - she has very little.

So when she told me that she had nominated herself to try out for the area school's representative basketball team, I was a little worried. Not only has she never played competitive basketball (I'm not sure she has played much more than just shooting baskets in the backyard) she also had her heart set on being selected.

We had a few chats with her explaining that many of the children who would be at the tryouts would already play basketball competitively and that her skill level would be unlikely to match theirs. She still wanted to try out. The sports coordinator at her school had also said that she would have fun at the tryouts so off we went.

She happily lined up with all the other girls to do basic ball skill drills. There was dribbling the ball across the court and back, passing the ball under your legs while crossing the court and some basic passing and catching. Girl Chid's lack of skill starting showing in the first activity but she continued despite not being as fast or as accurate as the others. By this time my heart had broken a little seeing how uncoordinated she appeared compared to the others.

Then they were doing drills with 3 girls in each line running around each other and passing balls at the same time. It was at this point that Girl Child came over to me and asked to go home. Her reason? She wasn't having fun. She didn't care that she lagged behind the other girls or that her skill level was obviously so much lower. I told the organisers that she wanted to go home and we left. She was in tears before we had left the building. As was I. Yes, I'm one of those over sensitive mothers.

The question we have always asked our children 'Did you try your best?' Girl Child tried her best and wanted out not because her best was different to the others, but because it wasn't fun like shooting hoops at home is.

Now I'm wondering if we should break it to her that her planned singing career may not be feasible. Thankfully, I think we have a few years before we need to do that. I'm hoping the reality shows like Idol will be over before then.

Work is going well

Last post I was talking about my thoughts and feelings about work.  I had been offered some work at Murrumbidgee (an assigned name for the school where I did my prac).  It was 10 days work over 4 weeks in the Kindergarten building. Because of a public holiday I’m actually booked for 9 days. One week I work 2 days and the next I work 3. Last week was a 3 day work week and I was asked to come in for the 2 additional days to help out elsewhere in the school.  As it turned out, I ended up staying in Kindy. The first day I went to fill in for someone who was away due to family issues and on the second I was working on a class helping with a particular student. It’s possible that this student may be getting some LSA time and if that happens, I may get the work.  I’m not holding my breath because these things take time but so far I seem to have a good rapport with that child and their teacher.

I feel as though I am making a difference to the students and teachers.  Better yet, people keep thanking me. They have thanked me for being working the additional days and for being flexible. I think they like me.  And I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy.

Work...

Image from Microsoft office clipart

It's funny how life is. A week and a half ago I was out handing out my résumé and wondering whether I had done the right thing by changing career. Then there was the added hiccup of my 'real job' (the business admin role which I do from home) will probably no longer exist in the near future. While it's not full time (it’s about 15 hours a week depending on the time of year / month etc) it’s employment. . While it sometimes it drives me insane because things have to be done at certain times and I often have to work while I’m interstate  (people need to be paid), I still like the fact that I have a job. It’s a very flexible job at that. I’m proud that I work.  Goodness knows, I’m not proud of my lack of house keeping skills.

A fair chunk of my self esteem is connected to the fact that I work. I found this out when I stopped working for the government many moons ago and starting just doing the business admin role. I felt as though I had lost myself and rarely felt validated as a person. But I have managed to claw some self esteem back by being fairly good at what I do.

However, when we started discussing the demise of my job I may have just lost the plot majorly a little. Suddenly, I was saying aloud things I didn't consciously realise I thought. I'm proud of the fact that I have always worked. That is obviously very important to me.  I have been employed consistently since I before finished Year 12.  Prior to that I was retrenched from my casual weekend job at Grace Brothers (back when it was Grace Brothers and not Myer) but apart from that little glitch I have been always been employed in at least one job or other. 

I’ve been aware that my business admin role was a little tenuous as it doesn't make the company (me and the Mr’s company) money and the less staff there are, the less I’m needed.  So we will be back down to 3 staff in a few weeks and then it will be reduced to 2 not long after.  It doesn't make financial sense to keep that part running. But I was still cut up about it.

Then on Thursday I got a phone call about Learning Support Assistant (LSA) work. Yesterday I had a meeting and I have work. I'm happy, excited and nervous all at the same time. It's at the school I did my prac hours at and while it’s only a few days of work for four weeks, its a great start. They think they may have more work for me after that. Maybe I will be able to make a go of my new career choice.

In this case it seems there is something true about the saying when one door closes, another one opens.

Would you stand up and be counted?

There's been an issue been occupying my mind (and Mr E's as well) for a few months. While it is fairly minor, it has taken a lot of our focus. It appears to us and others, that someone wants to change something for what appears to be changes sake. For the rest of this post I shall refer to this person as the Agent of Change. The Agent has attempted to make this change and convinced some people that this change is inevitable. Pity that those people are very excited about it and actually don't have final say in it.

Mr E. went to a meeting about this change late last year. Things that were agreed at this meeting have not occurred and the issue of change has been pushed even further. The Agent of Change has denied any agreement at that particular meeting. Along the way the Agent has called people liars and seems to feel that if there is any less than positive discussion or comment toward the change then the only place it could have come from is myself or Mr E. However, the Agent has said that a number of people had objected to the change but it seems that we may have been the only people to sign our names to their objection.

It seems people are quite happy to object as long as they aren't identified. Someone has even gone up the chain but is afraid of the consequences so is hoping that their name isn't mentioned. Mr E has taken the plunge and written to a number of people include the Agent of Change and their superiors. After another meeting, it seems other people are more willing to stand up and oppose the change.

It remains to be seen if it makes any difference or if they are willing to put their name to their opposition. I've been a little upset about this as I received a phone call from the Agent of Change assuming that a particular negative response was ours due to being nameless. To a certain extent I've felt that other people have been gutless by not owning up to their opinions. That said, I'm probably being hypocritical because I asked (or pressured, perhaps) Mr E. to go the the first meeting. Things just snowballed from there.

Perhaps with the number of people talking about going above Agent of Change's head the issue may get dropped. What really concerns me is the number of people who seem to scared to stand up for their opinions. It's quite disconcerting to know that at least one adult has even said that they are too afraid of the Agent of Change to own their opinion.

Surely that in itself is enough to get the Agent's superiors to look at what's been going on. I'm thinking that this change is only a tiny piece of what's been happening.

Is it worth voicing your opinion if you are too afraid to own it?

 

Trying to sell myself

My goal this week is to sell me. No, not in the sleazy way (please get your minds out of the gutter). I've been doing the rounds of the local schools handing out my résumé and trying to get relief work as an Learning Support Assistant (LSA).

I tarted up my résumé which I found quite difficult given i hadn't touched it in about 4 years. I also had to rewrite it due to heading in a completely different direction. I wasn't sure how to distil 20 plus years of admin and finance work into transferable skills that reflect my new career choice. I'm not sure I actually managed to do it. Regardless I went and introduced myself to a number of schools and left a copy of my resume at each.  Hopefully this will lead to some casual work.

Some of the people I did my course with have work. There were 10 of us who were studying fulltime and a few part-timers cycled through some of our subjects as well. I was under the impression that the majority of our class had LSA work this term. Two of them had had contracts last year and I heard that three people got contracts at the schools where they did their 60 hours of prac. Another had been interviewed for a job and been given the news that she had got it. I was feeling quite despondent and last week I had a little dummy spit because I felt as though I had wasted 6 months of my life studying and was never going to get a LSA job.

The 5 people I keep in touch with, caught up and had dinner recently. Of them, only 2 have work.  Unfortunately for my friend the new job fell through. I’ve been told that there is a push to fill roles internally at the moment so the contracts haven’t materialised this year. While it’s sad that we are mostly all in the same boat I did I felt a little better after that.

Hopefully my introductions at the school will lead to some work.  If not, I’ve been told I’m on the top of the list for relief work where I did my prac.  I’m lucky because I have another job to fall back on. A lot of others don't have that backup.

We survived the school holidays

Yes, we have survived the school holidays. Amazingly, I was only tempted to run away from home a few times.  I’m putting this down to actually feeling quite relaxed this time around.  We seemed to do quite a lot of things which probably helped keep things are a fairly even keel.  We went to family for Christmas and my solo break was great. I also took the kids away twice.  Once to catch up with family interstate again and once for 5 nights away at the coast.  Here are a few pictures of our coast trip.

 

Sun, surf and sand

I found a take away that sells Gluten Free Battered Fish, Potato Cakes etc.

It was delicious!

 

What family holiday would be complete without Mini Golf?

We also saw a few movies and hang around the house. Bothe Boy Child and Girl Child went to friends places as well. Girl Child and I also did some craft. No, I’m not actually a crafty person but these Friendship Bracelets were good. I think they are pretty impressive. Check out the flowers on the top one!

 

Aren’t these cool?  You can probably tell pink and purple are Girl Child’s favourite colours.

It was making these that I realised that perhaps Girl Child has got her need for perfectionism for me. I have taken a few completely apart so that the pattern works out.  We already had a Friendship bracelet foam circle with one pattern but we downloaded the other patterns from here: Friendship Bracelets Circle Patterns. I’m still not very quick with these (especially when I keep starting over!) but they are a fun activity.

Word for 2013

Maxabella has challenged us to chose one word to define our lives or a word to live by in 2013. Last year I chose as my word:

OPEN

I wanted to be open to new experiences, make my house open to visitors and be prepared to consider the possibilities that could / would be available. I think it worked put well. Admittedly, the whole visitor thing didn't last too long but I was open to the possibility of changing direction, to studying and doing something useful with my life. I was open to making new friendships and having new experiences. So I studied and I think that as an Learning Support Assistant I can make a difference.

This year, the word that resonates with me is:

Connect

My plan is to connect with people, to make new connections and to strengthen those I already have. I need to make connections with schools to get some work and stay connected to my family (both nuclear and extended). I would like to help connect my children with their peers and friends as well. Part of my plan is to also have time with my husband. We need to connect with each other as adults as well as parents.

Wish me luck!

I've been on a holiday…by myself

For 5 whole nights I slept alone (in a double bed not the single I expected), enjoyed food cooked by others (including a three course dinner every night) and had almost zero responsibility. It was bliss.

The view from my room

This was a holiday that we had talked about me going on about 5 or 6 years ago. But life got in the way and it never eventuated. So for Christmas, my family booked the holiday for me. I was very impressed but I was also apprehensive. Before this holiday I'd had very few nights away from my family. I know I had two nights away in 2009 seeing P!nk. And there were another 2 or 3 nights for my sisters fortieth birthday earlier that year but that's been it. I wasn't sure how we would all go.

I went to a health retreat and it took me almost 24 hours to start to relax and enjoy myself. Of course things tend to not to smoothly so Girl Child not feeling well and having a 39 degree temp the first night I was away was not unexpected. But the following morning she was fine and so I began more comfortable and relax about being away.

I have to admit the whole not having to cook or clean for 5 nights was a huge draw.  They even had Gluten Free food, which I had been a little worried about. I went on a package which included a personal health assessment, as well as sessions with a naturopath, personal trainer and life coach.  For the pampering part of the package I had a body scrub and a massage on different days plus a lymphatic facial (I’m still not sure how it differs from a normal facial but I’ve never had one of those done by a beauty therapist) on the advice of the naturopath.

There were activities on every day and while I didn’t manage to make it to all of them, I did go for an hour walk everyday, plus did some swimming, exercise classes and archery. I managed to read two novels as well. 

The agapanthus hedge I saw on some of my walks

While I really enjoyed my time away, Mr E. got sick during my last full day so I did feel guilty about not cutting my trip short and going home.  Especially when it took 3 phones calls to ensure that Girl Child actually went to bed when Boy Child asked as Mr E. was not feeling very well and had fallen asleep quite early.

Would I do it again?  Yes I think so.  I really loved the relaxation and pampering once I got into it.  It’s not something I would generally do / get done for myself.  I’m really glad that the family did make this a gift. There were a number of people there who had been several times before including one who has been at least once a year for the last few years.  I don’t think that I would want to go that frequently but I definitely enjoyed it.