Thursday Photo #166
I have to admit I’ve been dreading this month a bit. We’ve got so much on and no time to relax. I knew the children would enjoy it but it was also looking like incredibly hard work. But despite my misgivings, last weekend ended up being pretty much the best weekend the girls have ever had. It was also one of the best we’ve had as a family.
A weekend in a hotel
As you probably know, we’re huge fans of self-catering holidays and camping. We like to take the dogs on holiday, which tends to limit us on where we can stay. This has meant that over the years, we’ve never got around to staying in a hotel with the girls. And as first hotel stays go, you can’t really beat the cBeebies hotel at Alton Towers.
As you can see from our review, the girls absolutely loved it. Better still, they got along brilliantly all weekend. They went off together to join in with the entertainment in the evening and were singing, dancing and socialising with other children. They loved being in the theme park and enjoyed every minute of the waterpark too. All in all it was a fantastic experience and definitely one we’ll repeat in the future.
The school trip
Yesterday, Libby went on a school trip to the seaside. She had been so excited about going for weeks and weeks. My husband even threatened not to let her go every time she misbehaved. It worked a treat! Unfortunately when yesterday arrived, the rain arrived too. Nonetheless Libby went off in a state of excited delirium, ready for her trip.
When we got to school, her friend who she’d agreed to partner with for the day wasn’t there. This left Libby looking a bit lost as she seemed to think she was going to end up on her own. Luckily though, the whole class seem to get along quite well. She came home raving about what a brilliant time she’d had, and she’d spent the day with various different children and loved it after all. It was as much a relief to me as it was to her I think. I’d hate for her to end up as antisocial as me, so it’s great to see that she can mingle well with anybody.
The emotional rollercoaster of freelance work
When I mentioned this to my husband, he laughed and was as sympathetic as a mosquito as usual. But honestly, the struggle is real. I love freelancing. Working from home is perfect for me and I can’t imagine going back to ‘proper’ work if I can avoid it. But it really is an emotional rollercoaster.
Last week, I was owed a significant amount of money from various sources. Some of it dated back as far as April and nobody seemed to want to pay me. I didn’t have much work lined up for the next few weeks either. And I was doubting myself. Was my writing rubbish, was I getting conned by these companies I’d worked for and – most importantly – how the hell were we going to cope financially?
But yesterday, things changed completely. I got new work in from three different sources and four other clients decided to pay me. But more importantly, I got a bit of confidence back and remembered why I love what I do. It seems crazy to take so much self-validation from my work, but the way my business is going really does change the way I feel about life.
Our Thursday photo #166
Of course, this week’s photo is of the girls in their amazing Konfidence swim jackets at Alton Towers. I just love the look on their faces, they were so happy in each other’s company all weekend and their expressions sum up the fantastic time they’ve had together.
