Saturday January 2nd 2010

Tonight I am exhausted. It is packing day minus 1 and there is still so much to do. It doesn't help that 4 of us plus dog are all doing different things. Charles - our 17 year old - is off to his boarding school on Monday morning. It will be his first experience of boarding and although he has had several months to get used to the idea, he is quite a "home" sort of guy and I think he is quite apprehensive. We had a quiet mother / son moment in the kitchen this evening which I felt was quite telling. We haven't had one of those for about 5 years.

On the other hand, Emma -our 14 year old - is off to her boarding school on Monday evening. She started in September and so considers herself an old hand by now. She doesn't have so much "stuff" to pack up as Charles, as a lot of it is at school already , but it is amazing how much junk a 14 year old girl can accumulate in 2 week's vacation. The landing looks as though the proverbial bomb has hit it, with bags, suitcases, ruck sacks etc absolutely everywhere. But, in two days it will all be gone and with it the children. Not sure how I feel - ask me again in two days.

Today was definitely a "what ever they are paying you isn't enough" sort of day. There hasn't been a minute that hasn't been filled with something going on. The children daren't look for a second as though they aren't busy otherwise I will find them a job. The washing machine hasn't stopped and the dog has been totally neglected apart from a quick walk with Steve this morning.

Talking about the dog, Tessie the Fox Terrier is 6 and a half years old. She was born in France and we bought her when we lived there. She had a very eventful journey from Paris to the USA and another day I will tell you all about it. But for now, she knows that there is something going on. She keeps positioning herself in exactly the right spot for us to fall over her. Fox Terriers are seriously clever dogs but very feisty. We don't call her the "Terriorist" or the "Tesseratersaurous" without good reason.