Project 52 2022 week 43

Week 43 sees the start of half term. It feels like the first part of Year 7 has gone by so quickly, but they’ve settled in well, and it seems strange that only a few months ago they were at primary school. They seem so much older already.

Here’s our week for Project 52.

Sunday was a busy day. We had to nip into town first, then got home to find the OH had done one of his blitzes and emptied out the utility room of our bikes, and I’m not sure what else. All the outdoor toys got moved out to the shed in the lodgers’ garden with the bikes. Including the basket of tennis balls. I won’t be impressed if they get chewed (the door never shuts), but does mean the back room is a little clearer now.  I’ve now got even more stuff in my car boot – monitor box and laptop box that work don’t want me to get rid of. I’ll have to take it back into them as we’ve nowhere to put it. After cleaning and doing 2 lots of washing I didn’t sit down for my lunch til nearly 3pm.

On Monday it was a quiet one.  The start of half term, I was working. Had a nice bacon, egg and chips (salad for tea), cooked jointly by N and myself.  Bacon is his claimed job.

Tuesday was another busy. More homework for N, work for me.  I had my Covid booster at lunchtime.  Just a sore arm afterwards so far.  And pleased to have finished work for the rest of the week.

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On Wednesday N wanted to get some World Cup stickers* so we nipped into town. Personally I think they’re a waste of money, especially when he’s not getting consistent (any) pocket money because he never does basic stuff like reading or clearing up the table regularly enough to get it. But the OH gave him a bit of money to spend. I spent the afternoon trying to have a quiet nap and chill out because I had a headache, and was just really tired. At least the headache went by tea time.

Thursday was another pottering day. I don’t recall us ever having such a quiet half term, unless I think back to Covid times. I did however get to sleep in til 8am which was lovely. I’ve been trying to sell lots of my puzzles to declutter, 6 down, 2 outstanding waiting to be paid for, and a couple of people mucking me around. Unfortunately I have one coming to review, plus I couldn’t resist buying a couple more second hand. Oops. So much for decluttering.

On Friday we had a lovely day although we’re not sure how much pain we’ll be in on Saturday. We took one of N’s friends with us to go ice skating. We rode the park and ride into Oxford. The session was 1 1/2 hours but I only made it through around 45 minutes because the skates were so painful digging into my leg. The boys had quite a few falls between them…N’s were very funny. Slow motion, and quite graceful. He gained a lot more confidence than last time now he’s not scared of falling over, and they both finished off with 2 laps without holding on at all to the barriers.

We had lunch at Pizza Express using numerous referral rewards from their app (free side and starters). The boys were obviously hungry after all the skating and walking around. They played on the xbox and then Monopoly when we got home. Then spent a couple of hours catching up with his parents when we dropped his friend off at his house. A really nice day.

Saturday luckily ended up dry just in time for N’s football training. Good to have a chat with some of the other mums. We headed into town afterwards and with it being later we ended up having a quick lunch out. In the afternoon I did a new Wentworth jigsaw puzzle I’d been sent to review while I tried to persuade N to do some more homework. He’s still not finished even one of his projects. He starts with good intentions, then the OH turns up and drags him out on the farm to do various jobs he likes doing. Three times he sat down to do work, 3 times he went out, and I don’t think he got much done. His Sunday’s going to be a slog! He’s still got 3 projects to finish or at least progress to at least have done the research part of it.

We went out after tea to the local firework display at his football club grounds. N was meant to have a few friends going from his team, but they didn’t come. Without people being there to talk to, it did drag a bit, but it was nice to see some fireworks after so long. I think the last time we saw some in person was when N was about 3 or 4.

New posts this week:

• .How to do the school run (without annoying others)
• Outdoor birthday party ideas