I'm going to be lonely!

It's interesting that when your children leave home, life changes forever. My boys are now back at university after the Christmas break, they have eaten me out of house and home, demolished all the cake, sweets, chocolates and emptied my bank account in the process!

Do I miss them? Of course I do, they have been my life for more than twenty years and they have no idea how lonely I feel or alone when they have departed.  They are boys so they don't realise how it feels to be in an empty house without the patter of their feet, the mess in their rooms, the guitars playing, or, the buzz and bleeps of mobile phones. I look forward to them bringing girlfriends home so I can enjoy the company and have a house filled with laughter and fun.

Cats are in charge'

Did I tell you I am the proud owner of 2 moggies, my first in command is 'the duchess' aka Cinders, regal and majestic, she has ruled the Palace Griffiths for almost 17 years (149) cat years, she is a truly magnificent cat!  She is both regal and we, as her loyal subjects, adore and behold her.  

In recent months she has been losing weight and started to yowl rather than miaow! She's been exceptionally noisy and has taken to sitting on me in the middle of the night, not always comfortable for either of us!

So, off to see Ruth our vet last week to get an opinion on what should be done with the duchess so 1. We could get some sleep, and 2. Make her stop losing weight. 

A blood test seemed to be the answer, not sure who hot in more of a state - me or the duchess, probably me! I made a hasty retreat to the waiting room while vet and nurse did the shaving and extracted blood from my poor little duchess! 

She seemed perfectly fine, I however, was almost beside myself in the waiting room. 

OMG, Student debt rant

I do wonder sometimes what life will throw at us next! I start to think my life is 'normal' whatever that actually is, when, this wonderful curved ball comes from nowhere and surprises the hell out of me! But hey, I can deal, right?

I'm suffering from the pain of having to support 2 children # adults through university, bank of mum and dad providing income support, despite supposedly being of the Middle classes, I feel like I am very poor in so many ways, I have dipped into my savings to support and maintain my sons through the education system #David Cameron! Do you really know how hard we have to work to do that!

When I should be enjoying and reaping the benefits of my life I am having to dig deep to provide for my sons  education of which they will never pay off their debts to either state or me! 

I really start to wonder what more is expected of us as parents? We are more fortunate than some but less fortunate than others, we get little support because, according to student finance we earn too much! Ha, ha, I wish we did, if this is the case, then why, every single month do I have to go into my savings to substitute my children? 

I am disappointed in our education system in so many ways, of course, I want my children to get the best out of life and succeed, at what cost foes this come though? My husband and I had our family in our late 30's meaning we are now approaching retirement and need all our money to support our old age not our student age sons! 

Where is the help? Nowhere, life is tough enough and getting worse for the likes of the ageing parent and their offspring, I too want to enjoy my life but neither have the opportunity or funding to do so, I doubt that my sons will be able to provide for me when they will be so saddled with debt from being students and spending the next 20 years paying it off!

Busy,busy!

Hello folks

Well! What a busy week so far it's been so hectic I haven't even had time for my blog!

So, what's this week offered me so far?  Lots of meetings in work, a trip to Leeds yesterday which was very wet and foggy, the M62 is not a great place to be at 7 in the morning wet or dry! But wet, foggy and poor visibility is the worst kind of journey!

After catching up with friends and colleagues, reviewing some analysis and a couple of conference calls I went off to visit my 2 sons, dropping off bedding and towels at number 1 sons place and with a quick cuddle and short catch up then I headed off to see number 2 son in horsforth.  Due to the stolen card issue last week, it was a shopping trip to morrisons to top up the food and make sure he's got some cash?

He's celebrating his 19th birthday tomorrow, it'll be the first time that we haven't been together for his birthday I feel a bit sad so delivering the birthday cake, cards and presents yesterday was quite hard - I shall miss him tomorrow and it will be difficult for me and Mr G to accept the 'new world' of independence.

I guess we will have to learn to cope with all this and deal with occasions without us all being together!  We need to get on with.  'life as we know it' and start letting go of our two sons, sad to say, they will always be my babies and like lots of other parents it's hard to let go!  How do you cope with losing your babes?

What a mess!

I entered the room yesterday I ventured where no mother had ventured before......into the abyss known as 'the bedroom of number 2 son' aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh!  Lucky to have survived the overpowering amount of paper, clothes and general mess, I fought through the undergrowth of mess!

The dust, the empty bottles of coca cola, the odd socks aaaaarggggghhhhh! Overwhelmed by the mountain of paper that lied on the floor, on the shelves and in the drawers, cupboards, the grime, dust and dirty clothes shoved in the wardrobe I managed to scrape, clean and move all the crap into bin bags and left for the tip as early as I could this morning!!

I've, steamed, I've hoovered, I've dusted and fumigated the abyss and managed to reclaim the 'black hole' that was once the bedroom of one of earths darkest creatures - son number 2 - and survived!!

Onwards and upwards to clean, tidy and dust free bedroom which looks like a room and not the dustbin it once was!   Supermum strikes again!!

It's Friday

So, after the week which has seen number 1 son recovering from food poisoning and number 2 son oo robbed at the cashpoint last night in Leeds I'm hoping to catch up on life as I would like it to be!  What's going on I ask?

Bless the boys, they have had a dreadful week, one way and another - poor Adam has been so ill!

Apparently - 'freshers' get rumbled at cash points all the time - nice!

I did my emergency run to M & S to find some little trinket for the hubby's birthday - nothing really wowed me so I went for the old favs, liquorice all sorts ( I know! Not terribly exciting, but he likes them and I thought maybe I could get away with it ). Then I found a rather nice bottle of red wine which I thought would go down well. After which, I saw a delish chocolate cake which as long as he doesn't have with the red wine - would be fine.  If he mixes the two, well, could be a case of severe migraine and a night wrapped round the loo! Not great, considering I have a lunch booked for Sunday!

Looking forward to clearing out the bedroom tomorrow -  I am sure there will be some other unfortunate parents doing exactly the same, bin bags at the ready and paint on hand! I do miss my boys especially when there is a birthday or something and I know that Mr G would like to go to Leeds.  It's difficult to take the step back!
Bye for now

Thank crunchie....

Soooooooo glad it's Friday, it's been another busy week and tomorrow is Mr G's birthday and I've no idea what to get, feel a trip to  M & S might need to be on today's agenda - if any ideas spring to mind let me know?
Men are really difficult to buy for I find.  Once you've done socks, pants, pj's and booze not much left really!
Oh well, going to see what I can find that might do the trick - let you know it went later LOL!