Thursday photo #337

The problem with freelancing is that it’s so all or nothing. At the moment especially, many freelancers are struggling with lack of work. Unsurprisingly though, when work does come, it all arrives at the same time. After a few weeks of not having too much work and happily bumbling along doing my own thing, this week has been a busy one for me. I even had to work most of the night on Tuesday, which I haven’t done for a long time. As I keep reminding myself though, I’ll be glad of it at the end of the month.

Being bossy

Yesterday, Lia mentioned that one of the boys had made her angry in school by telling her she was bossy. Whilst it is never nice to hear that someone isn’t being nice to her, it started a useful conversation. It was interesting to hear that whilst Lia didn’t like it, Libby fully understood that being bossy isn’t a bad thing. She immediately explained to Lia that she would take being called bossy as a compliment. We then had a chat about the fact that bossy is a word only really used in relation to girls.

I explained that while people say a girl is bossy, they wouldn’t say that about a boy. People would say that a boy was confident, assertive or a good leader. So for a boy to tell Lia that she is bossy, that means that he doesn’t like how confident she is, or how well she puts her point of view across. It also means that he hasn’t been taught that it’s not appropriate to use sexist words. Which is a shame, but not surprising.

There was another positive to this conversation too. If Lia is thought of as bossy by a boy at school, it means her confidence is improving there, just like it is out of school. She has always been rather shy and a bit timid. In recent months though, Lia has really come out of her shell. She chats with anyone, stands up for herself and is always ready to break out into a song. I wasn’t sure if she was like that at school because I know that in the past, she has been quite nervous there. It’s amazing how many positive things can come out of someone trying to be unkind.

The disapproval of a cat

When I was a child, we always had cats. I think that’s why a house never feels completely like home to me unless there’s a cat in it. For a few years after we lost Jamer, we didn’t have a cat and I missed it. But like everything, you tend to only remember the good parts. Perhaps it was something to do with Jamer’s rather unusual character, but until we got Rupert a year ago, I had completely forgotten about the disapproval of a cat.

If a dog boosts your confidence with their love, a cat is always there to bring you back down to earth with their powerful, unwavering disapproval. I wouldn’t say that Rupert was an excessively disapproving cat, but he is extremely vocal about it. He yells at me about everything, then I have to guess what has upset him on any given occasion.

When we first got him, I assumed he just wanted food. I was wrong. He does shout at me when he’s hungry, but he also shouts for other reasons too. Sometimes he wants a door opening or a tap turning on. Other times, he follows me around yelling at me until I give up and sit down so he can sit on my lap. He even screams at me to throw a squash ball for him when he wants to play. And if I get it wrong? That’s when I get a real dressing down. Last night, I put some biscuits in his bowl. But apparently that wasn’t acceptable because at the time, he was sitting in a box and had no intention of getting out of it to eat. Then I felt the full effect of cat disapproval with this look.

Thursday photo #337

Weekends look so different now to the ones we used to have. They’re much more relaxed with fewer photo opportunities. The girls are still full of smiles when the camera comes out though, despite the fact we’re usually at home when it does.