How was your morning?

Mine went something like this:



5.30 - alarm goes off. Feel slightly resentful, pissed off and like I haven't had quite enough sleep. No change there then.



5.35 - Get up, stagger downstairs, poke fire and go to let the puppy out.


Puppy decides that outside is dark and scary and thus it would be better if I went with her. Put wellies and coat on over pyjamas and stagger outside.


Puppy decides that it is still too dark and scary to do a wee unless I take her for a walk up the garden.


I decide that I need tea in order to do this so we return to the house. Puppy promptly wees on the floor.



5.45 - Have shower and realise that I look somewhat raddled. Hastily apply a good dollop of Ultra Lifting Serum. Emerge from bathroom and find puppy has nearly chewed through the 5 litre box of red that is on the bottom shelf. Remove wine box, milk cartons and two bottles of washing up liquid that are also on the bottom shelf. Place out of puppy's reach. Wash hands and smear face and neck with Daily Smoothing and Firming Creme.



6 am - Begin attempting to wake children.



6.05 - Continue attempting to wake children.



6.10 - Repeat at five minute intervals.



6.20 - Shout at children.



6.25 - Hear scrabbling, discover puppy is digging up floor and has got as far as the insulation. Cover up all evidence with six pack of fizzy water and decide to face the wrath of Mr. H later.


Apply Brightening Eye Cream to bags under eyes.



6.40 - Referee at breakfast table. Children arguing over who gets last croissant. Croissants had been bought as a treat in an attempt to be Nice Mummy. Resolve not to do so again, shout at children and me it clear that I am Bad, Evil Mummy.



6.50 - Take puppy outside for another wee whilst simultaneously massaging Instant Miracle Day Cream into face and neck, before locking self in bathroom and attempting to blow dry hair. Emerge when I hear yelling and assume that the croissant debate has become physical. Discover that the yelling is being done by Mr. H who has found the puppy chewing on the water pipe. Hastily erect barricade involving two metal boxes and a gas bottle in front of water pipe before puppy can continue and flood the house.



7am - Realise that hair has been left damp for too long and I now look like a spaniel who has been in the river. Give up on hair and instead apply Detoxing Tinted Moisturiser. Find a random tube of Calming and Soothing All Day Long cream. Am tempted to try it on toast.



7.05 - Yell at eldest and youngest children to put coats and shoes on.



7.10 - Leave house, insert children into car, collect neighbour's child, drop two off at the bus stop and take youngest to the garderie.



7.30 - Return home and mainline caffeine.



7.40 - Realise it is too wet for middle child to walk to bus stop so take her too.



7.45 - Go to work. Phew!





Teehee, didn't have the routine today, irony was it turned into a beautiful day and the first for weeks at that. Girls went back yesterday, off again today, so in again tomorrow... Who planned that, DOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Our 'puppy' is now nine months old and down to leaving 'night deposits' one day in six-ish. Like yours, she is afraid of the dark and then gets upset when the other (a big GSD) saunters out to pollute the sawdust under our sawdogs...

Great, I thought, but our girls have different belts so different classes at judo club on Wednesdays and we are fighting with our job proposal for Friday afternoon (please neither fall ill), so we ferried one each in rota. OH has a pulled tendon in her shoulder so cannot pick up an espresso cup let alone anything else. Bit like yoyr crocked leg, reallllly helps! Like ****! Doctor wants her to have it scanned - tomorrow, so shse has to go to Bergerac early which means I do school run. Both out of the work bit for part of morning then. Panic is setting in. But life goes on.

But just like us, go on admit it, you love it. If not then start a group 'Parents hate school run group' - I shall be your first to join in!

Well put and such a hoot to read, especially the bit about the puppy in the morning... I can so relate to this. Another super Blog... G x

I love this.

You do tell a good yarn Catharine, a little too much weeing and shagging (last story) for my personal taste, but v.amusing, glad I wasn't there.

Did I miss something? I was about to tell Catharine how I was LMFAO about 'how was your morning' and scroll down to find the saddest recounts of disease, death, being far away from loved ones...... I'm confused. And now at least two times it said that James had commented, but then it's Catharine, of whose posts I thoroughly enjoy, but, confused again. Meh??

Sarah - the same thing (language failing on me) happened to me this year, one of my close french friend's father had a very bad stroke, he then had heart attacks and it turns out an anurism. He was on life support for months, then they found out he also had terminal cancer. I didn't know what to say or how to express myself. I found it really difficult to broach the subject each time I spoke to her (not helped by it being a telephone call rather than a personal visit with me being in the UK so much). Finally he died in July and as I didn't see them each time I went home - they are very busy as summer is their busy season I only found out he died recently. I sent a card with a personal letter in French (with the help of translate to find the right words in french) and a white orchid to say how my thoughts are with her. I spoke to her husband and he told me she is very low. I just knew that if I tried to speak french my words just wouldn't come out right & I'd burst into tears. Some things are so much more difficult in a second language. Grief is one of them. My thoughts are with you Sarah. I will call her soon and I hope I find my words.

Brian - let's keep it secret please, I don't want everyone knowing :-O

Seriously, it's nice when people can agree rather than arguing all the time!

On the fluency matter - everybody please forgive me for the untold number of 'to's instead of 'too's! Dunnit again below...

Back on two minutes ago here too. With you Sarah there and agree with Andrew (this affair must end, all this agreeing...). Only my OH and I here and I had to have an expletive, so said bollocks when the UPS was finally exhausted and anyway the router was out... I imported a Rayburn when we came and at times like this I could go down on my knees and salaam it. Built it up, boiled water for hot tea made us both some lunch and watched mu superior's shivers go and got a nice hug for it. However, no time to make the chocolate cake for judo club party one or the other of us would have made and no assurance it would get cooked in time, so she'll be off to the shop. My consolation, bet you to other parents, is that today is the end of term and two weeks and a bit without THAT drive... Anyway Sarah, having always been bilingual I still rely on the good old German Scheiße which is one of those wonderful words that even grannie or grandchild can say in that language but never in English and somehow 'merde' does not have the same resonance. Three of my very closest friends went this year without me seeing them (two cancers and one heart) and another is sinking and I cannot get myself to London just now for what might be the last ever time we see each other. No not going senile, just grasping your comforter blanket and don't we need it at times.

Absolutely agree - I always lose it in times of stress. Which is doubly frustrating as those are often the very occasions you need to express yourself as fluently as possible. As Andrew says, courage.

@Sarah, Just come back online and just wanted to say firstly that my thoughts are with you - so unjust as you say. Secondly that yes, there are moments when the whole "French chip" in the brain overloads for one reason or another no matter how fluent you usually are - take it from a linguist, it's normal and what makes the difference between your mother tongue and a foreign language no matter how good the level. Courage !

Thank you - and sorry to spread the misery but I came online to check emails etc and suddenly needed to 'speak' english.............I don't know if any of you find that your ability to speak french disappears in times of stress? This morning the family of my friend asked me to help by telling people the sad news and I suddenly found myself unable to express myself in French! I was taken aback by my sudden lack of vocab, grammar etc which is bizarre as apart from anglo contact on SF and Facebook I speak french morning, noon and night - does this happen to anyone else or am I slowly going senile?

@ Sarah - so very sorry to hear that. Thinking of you xx

Horrible horrible horrible morning as a friend of ours who fell into a coma yesterday died in the early hours after a long battle against multiple cancers. Only 45 years old. So not fair - and as often is the case it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy nor a nicer family. So morning spent letting people know funeral details, lighting a candle, saying a little prayer and now thinking I will vent my grief by chopping some wood....

And where's the morning gone? just seen the time: 12h30 - bon appétit si vous passez à table !

Some mornings are like that, lol!

oh and now my laposte.net email isn't working either - storm taken out their server...?!

Alicia woke me up at 3 - still got a sore throat - but went back to sleep, Robin now caught the dreaded lurghie and woke me up at 4, ended up sleeping in our bed (OH at a conference/training week in Lyon - hope she manages the 5 hr drive back in her little Fiat Panda latter with the current weather!) where he kept me awake most of the night coughing, wriggling and generally not sleeping either. Both finally sleeping well at 7 this morning when I went down to make Robin's biberon, a cuppa and get a yop for Alicia - they finally woke up at 8 so it was a mad panic to get them changed and out of the house for school and nounou - managed it but a little later than usual. Back home to feed OH's bloody horses, oh I forgot to mention I was woken up at 7 by the smell of cat pooh - cat had decided it didn't want to use the litter tray and promptly shat in the bathroom sink - lucky it was the sink I hear you saying - except she stood in the sink and crapped on the surrounding surface!!!

Now feeling rather groggy after so little sleep - this is giving me a break from a translation that I really don't feel like doing!!! - oh and like Brian, thank God I don't have to go through (sorry - can't be bothered with) all that cream stuff :-O - my side of the sink simply has a toothbrush and a razor - hair's short enough that I don't even have to bother with that - wash it, rub it dry and that's it ;-)

bonne journée à toutes et à tous

Sounds like you need a holiday!