Tinkerbell's Pages

On looking forward to 2007...

Well Christmas is over well and truly over and thankfully it wasn't a complete disaster! The last few days have been a bit of a blur really - too much food, drink, slobbing around watching Christmas TV, sleeping, sales shopping...all the usual activities which Christmas involves! And so today is the last day of 2006 - not a year I'm going to be sorry to leave behind really. 2007 is going to be an interesting one I think. Boyfriend and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary together (!!!) and I sadly I will be turning 30 in the summer : (  Hopefully all the wonderfully expensive birthday presents people will be buying me (hint, hint) will make up for the heartache I shall feel at leaving my twenties behind forever *sob*!

Have already managed to book a bargain trip to Italy for our summer holiday - even though we're not going until the end of August, I got a big discount for booking early and it gives us something to look forward to at least! Well, I must go and have my afternoon nap before the New Year celebrations tonight. I really don't know how I'm going to get back into the routine of getting up at 6.30 in the morning and working all day again! Oh well, I'm not going to think about that for the moment... Have a great New Year everyone! Enjoy yourselves and here's to a fantastic 2007! xxx

On wishing you all a very Merry Christmas...

Well, Christmas is almost upon us and things are only going to get more hectic for the next few days, so may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! School is finally finished for the year and I've been out catching up with friends all week enjoying a few drinks and exchanging Christmas pressies, which has been really nice. Since school finished on Tuesday, my cooker and now my central heating/hot water system has broken down, so not exactly a peaceful start to the Christmas holidays! I am currently sitting in my freezing flat with my fingernails slowly turning blue with the cold...but hey, who's complaining?!

Take care and I hope Father Christmas brings you all you have been wishing for! Have a great Christmas and make the most of the break from work!!! x

On growing old disgracefully...

Today I found myself wondering (yet again) whether I am really mature enough to do my job. Although we're still at school until next Tuesday, I am not planning to do any more work with the kids, it's going to be all Christmassy fun for the next few days. It's the best part of the year for a primary school teacher (apart from the summer holidays of course!) Today I had to take my class on a school trip to the Imperial War Museum and it's days like these which really test your responsibility levels to the limit. Not only did I have 33 children to supervise, I also had three teaching assistants and three parent helpers to organise all day. If any of the children had been left at the museum, taken off by a stranger or if any other terrible thing had happened, it would all have been down to me. Luckily, none of these things happened and no one was even sick or pooed themselves on the coach (both of which, I'm afraid to say, had happened on the same trip last year, but thankfully on the other coach, not mine!)

At the ripe old age of 29, I should technically be mature enough to handle these things and to act like a responsible adult at all times. However, on the way back to school I found myself being a bit rude to our coach driver by mistake. I somehow managed to enter into a 'lighthearted' game of 'see who can be quiet for the longest' and was so determined to win, that I completely ignored the driver telling me how his satellite navigation system wasn't working until he completely gave up trying to hold a conversation with me. I feel quite ashamed of myself : (

On how quickly time flies when you're having fun...

Where does the time go?! I feel like I haven't had five minutes to myself over the last week or so and things are set to get even busier in the run-up to Christmas. The weekend has just passed me by in a blur - I have managed to fit in seeing a three-hour-long play; a bit of Christmas shopping; a contact lens and eye-test at the opticians; food shopping; attending a 7-year-old's birthday party; attending a birthday dinner and going to see Jimmy Carr at Hammersmith Apollo (which almost didn't happen due to engineering works on the trains last night) since Friday night, which is why I really don't know whether I'm coming or going at the moment! Am supposed to be helping out with the school Christmas concert tonight, but I really couldn't face it, so have opted to help out tomorrow night instead.

This week is going to be just as busy (if not more so) than last week: two school Christmas concerts; school trip to the Imperial War Museum on Thursday; catching up with an old friend on Thursday night; school carol service at the local church and pantomime on Friday afternoon; two more birthday dinners at the weekend (boyfriend's parents - yes, both of them!); work Christmas do on Saturday night; Christmas card writing; last-minute present buying and wrapping; putting up the Christmas tree... I just don't know how I'm going to fit it all in!

PS. Since my last blog I have 'officially' become an auntie. I now have a new baby niece called Katie. She is really cute : )

On the impending birth of my first nephew or niece...

The next few days should see the arrival of my first nephew or niece into the world. I've got three (much older) half brothers, so have technically had 'half' nieces and nephews since I was only a young child myself, but this is to be my first real one. Yet why, instead of great and joy and excitement, do I find myself feeling quite numb at the prospect of the event? The baby was due last Wednesday, but sister is now scheduled to be induced on Sunday night (coincidently, this is also her 27th birthday). With younger and elder sister still not talking and both being as stubborn about the whole situation as each other, I am just totally worn out from even thinking about it. I just want to shut myself away somewhere, stick my fingers in my ears and sing 'la, la, la' loudly to myself until it all goes away.

Am still so angry at younger sister for so many reasons; but life's too short, and as I realist, I know that we all have to just get on with it. Things will never be the same between us again, but I am willing to let things go and just get on with life. Big sister, however, is a little more stubborn than me, bears grudges for a long time and is not good at backing down. It seems (and I am painfully aware of the irony) that she and younger sister have more in common with each other than I first thought! I am so disappointed and angry that I have been made to feel this way about something that should be such a happy event. I remember when the boyfriend's nephew was born (almost exactly seven years ago now) and how happy and excited I felt about it all. Everyone was so overjoyed. I should feel like that now. There's no use pretending though - I just don't : (