Out of Kilter

"Not properly adjusted, not working well, out of order. For example, This whole schedule is out of kilter with the rest of our projects, or The wheels on the trailer are out of whack. The first term, also spelled kelter, dates from the early 1600s and its origin is not known. The precise allusion of the variant, a colloquial term dating from the late 1800s, is also unclear. Possibly it relates to a whack, or blow, throwing something off, or some suggest, to wacky, that is, "crazy."

This is how I have felt this week. A strange phrase but a true state of mind.

Firstly, Jordan went off on Monday morning to catch his bus to Newcastle at the unholy hour of 7.00am. This came as a shock to his system as usually we are starting the "Are you up yet" argument at this time. He had a 1hr 30 min journey with one change of bus to get him to his work placement. As he sloped off at slow speed, I did wonder if he would actually reach the bus stop never mind the placement.

Why is it that teenagers only move at slow speed????

Because he left the house so early I had extra time so with only Alexander to get up and dressed I did more pottering around. I did more ironing, hoovered up, played an extra game of bingo on facebook etc. And then I was late, and had to rush around for no reason at all.

Mick picked Jordan up after work as he finished around the same time, but it meant I had to collect Alexander from the childminder - and then I couldn't take the dogs out for as long I would normally, so they were more lively around the house.

Then the weather turned for the worse and winter set in again for a couple of days and I was cold due to putting all my warm clothes away in the loft.

But Jordan did us proud - he worked in Marks and Spencer at the Metro Centre and had a great week. He seemed to enjoy the work and will hopefully get a good report. Next week he is working at Woolworths in the local branch which only involves dropping him off at his Grandparents on the way to work. He asked to go to these places as he wanted to experience work rather than somewhere where he had little to do all day.

Sometimes we are hard on Jordan, accusing him of not trying or being uninterested in doing anything to contribute to the family. He has never let us down with important things, and often makes us feel guilty for feeling that way - like when he won the Headmasters prize for Services to the School last year because of all he does to help encourge others to read and use the library, his confidence and attitude towards visitors to the school etc.

Another first happened tonight. After weeks of asking if he could go to football training with his big brother, Alexander got his wish, although not with his brother, he went to his own football training session. Jordan's football club has just begun to train the 5/6 year olds with the hope of giving them the skills a year or so earlier than before so that by the time they are 10 or 11 they should be a well established team.

Alexander was so excited about this. He had his Newcastle strip out two days ago and hasn't stopped talking about it since we told him on Wednesday. He had a great hour of running around and getting used to passing the ball. However we have to take him to get a pair of boots and shin pads tomorrow so he is fully kitted out for Mondays session. (I must remember to take a photo of him in full kit.)

Finally we are reaching the end of 4 year period of Health & Safety diploma's, Msc's and other qualifications. Mick has almost finished his dissertation and maybe life will return to normal shortly. For an eternity he has been going out to study, or to discuss things with his dad msot evenings, leaving me to struggle on with mundane household tasks and the kids a lot of the time. He won't know what to do with himself once it's done but he doesn't need to worry, I have a whole long list of jobs for him to crack on with - Ha!

So maybe, just maybe, next week will be even better than normal!