The Mummy Diaries – Week 29
EXCITING TIMES AHEAD. Well I was hoping it’s exciting times! This week, I had been invited by one of my friends to see a fortune teller on Friday night at her house. My friend said she needed eight people for the fortune teller to read and it took me all of two seconds to say, ‘Count me in!’ By the weekend I would know if we were going to win the lotto, or what university Jamie and Lily would be going to and who my second husband was going to be! I mean, they never tell you anything bad at these things. Do they?
Roll on the summer time! I’m usually one of those people that love the different seasons. It all sounds lovely in theory – The beautiful picturesque views of the leaves turning brown in the autumn. The cosy nights in front of the fire in the winter while it’s snowing outside. Nah! In reality it’s more like doing the play school walk, dragging a buggy sideways through the snow while trying to hold on to my suicidal three year old who has no comprehension of what happens when you lob snow balls at oncoming traffic! That and the extra 20 minutes you have to add on to your ‘getting ready time’. The gloves, scarves, hat, buggy cover and then the two minutes that it takes the kids to pull everything back off themselves and then you have to repeat the process much quicker the second time and get them out of the door before they have a chance to strip off again. The utter joys of winter, it’s magical!
So what do I do? Well, I have to weigh up the pros and cons of keeping Jamie off play school.
PROS
- Can’t actually think of one, apart from the fact that it will be lovely to have him with me (well, at least till he ends up on the naughty step after the first twenty minutes).
CONS
- Boredom in the house?
- Not climbing the walls having been pushed to my wit’s end?
- No fights between Jamie and Lily…
So that’s that then. Off to play school we go, rain, hail or shine. That is until the unthinkable happens. They CLOSE the playschool..
‘Parents, we regret to inform you that the play school will be closed today due to the weather. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.’
Fox. Ache.
The text message came through just as we were on to our second run at getting ready. In the time it took me to read the message, Lily had managed to remove her gloves, her hat and was struggling with the zip on her jacket. Jamie was down to his pants. Deep breath!
“Okay guys, let’s get the Lego out will we?”
“Yeeeeeah!!!” The pair of them shouted in unison.
We made it to lunch time without any fighting or screaming matches. I think Lily was enjoying having Jamie around and I think Jamie was expecting me to take him to play school at any minute, so he was enjoying the wee change in routine. The trick is to put all your plans for the morning completely out of the window. I start my day with a heap of jobs to do, and usually by the end of the day, I’ll be lucky if I’ve done a couple of things on my ‘To Do’ list. It’s normally totally unrealistic but I write it out anyway so I’m pretty much defeated before I’ve even started! And when the kids are both at home? Forget it!
Of course, possibly thanks to low expectations – we had a great day. By the time James came home from work, the kids were on great form and I was more relaxed than I think either of us expected me to be. I think it was because I took the pressure off myself with all the jobs I had planned to do. The house jobs and work would still be waiting for me tomorrow. I decided to spend the day just playing and spending time with the two of them. It was lovely.
That evening, the kids were exhausted as I had kept them busy all day running about and playing, the pair of them didn’t even put up a fight when it was time for bed. By 8pm they were both out cold and I was ready for bed myself to be honest. I made the lunches for the following day, got the clothes laid out and the washing put away and was just about to throw myself on the sofa when I heard a cry. It was Lily. We normally wait a few minutes to see if she would settle herself but she was working herself up more and more so James went up to try and settle her first.
Silence. Until James came back downstairs. Then the crying started again. I went up this time and by this point she was more awake and had the two arms up to be lifted. I lifted her out of the cot and she buried her head into my shoulder, still crying. This wasn’t like Lily at all. I carried her downstairs as I didn’t want Jamie woken up at the same time. I sat Lily on my knee and noticed straight away her wee cheeks were bright red and she was chewing on her fingers. The dreaded teething strikes again! Twenty minutes, some Calpol and a cuddle later, peace restored. I carried Lily back up to her cot and she cosied down into her cuddly bear.
Well, that was until 3am when the Calpol had worn off and Lily found her lungs again!
It wasn’t until the following morning when I was changing Lily that I saw the tip of her back tooth coming through the gum. It must have been agony! The poor wee soul.
So with a week of enduring the weather and the teething, I was looking forward to having a girly evening on the Friday night with the fortune teller. James arrived home and I had already fed the kids and left his dinner out so I could nip upstairs and get myself ready for going out. Kisses and cuddles all round and out the door I went.
I arrived at my friend’s house and the place was packed. The fortune teller was in a separate room, taking each of us in a half an hour at a time. With me being the last one to arrive, I was scheduled to be the last one to go in. I didn’t mind at all as I was enjoying hearing how everyone else had got on and listening to their stories. It was a great laugh. The last girl before me came out and my friend told me, “Right Emma you’re the last one now.”
Eeeek. I was excited but nervous at the same time.
I walked into the room. “Hello, what’s your name?” The lady said.
“Hi, I’m Emma.” I replied while thinking, jes if your any good at fortune telling, you should know my name!
“Okay, I’ll just get you to shuffle these cards please.”
“And now these ones.”
“And finally, these.” She said.
“Pick a number out of these.” So I did.
The fortune teller laid out maybe half a dozen cards, face side up and stared at them for a minute. I sat holding my breath.
“Mmmm. I can’t read you I’m afraid.” She said. “The cards should tell a story but these cards don’t make any sense at all. This happens maybe once every six months and it’s nothing to worry about. It usually means one of two things. It’s either I just can’t read your energy or you are not at a time in your life when you should have a reading.”
‘Oh okay.’ I said, trying not to sound disappointed. ‘Thanks anyway!’ I said while leaving the room.
I walked back into the kitchen where the girls were all sat and they were pretty surprised to see me so soon. I explained what happened. An hour later, I arrived home to the kids sound asleep and a bottle of wine and a glass sitting on the table.
“Well? How did it go? What did she say?” James asked.
I thought about it for a second.
“She said I’m about two weeks away from a complete mental breakdown through exhaustion and stress. I need you to do more around the house and I need a holiday in the sun.” I replied.
James looked at me with a dead pan expression. “Seriously? Are you feeling stressed? You look alright to…”
I couldn’t keep a straight face any longer and I burst out laughing.
“Oh very funny!” James said sarcastically.
“She couldn’t read me.” I said. “She said something about not being able to read my energy or that I wasn’t at a point in life that I should have a reading. It was a good night with the girls though.”
So, the moral this week? We’ll just have to wait and see what university Jamie and Lily will end up at. I’ll have to just keep doing the lotto with my fingers crossed every week. I might bump into Channing Tatum in Asda at some point. Who knows? Maybe the point is, ignorance is bliss. It’s more fun not knowing I think!
