Pink Balloons should be on the NHS

Well, I have never had a surprise party in my life, and this week I had two. In fact this week has had lots of surprises. Yesterday, I went to a training course my boss asked me to go to on her behalf, in a football stadium. Got there harassed and late, as the taxi had been snarled up by a lost booking.
Enter very late lady in a roomful of pixie care people, 99.9% women. We look after the age 4-12's pixies, and let me tell you, most managers of this ilk - you would not want to mess with. We don't look like headteachers. We look like we are made of a bit rougher granite, and you sure as heck don't want a Time Out from us, because by gum, we mean it. However, our hearts are softer granite - and we usually come with nice bosoms and the look that says I work bloody hard in my job - and believe me, pixie carer's do. They all worry they are doing the right thing, and I think parent's would be shocked the level of paperwork, sweat, blood, tears, sleepless nights and Prozac it takes to run a pixie club.
(I don't know if I look like granite - but I know my look is fairly fierce - so I presume it rubs off you. )
But, then I discover I've had half an hour training (this is the form, fill it in, like it says on the form) and suddenly we are networking around the stalls. Which I do like mad to justify my representative skills. And then it's upstairs for lunch. Oh, goes my eyes - this'll be the restaurant then.
There were no sandwiches! It was the poshest lunch I've eaten in years. Now the guilt is sweating out me - I miss most of the training, and now I get a free beautiful lunch! Believe me - this has never happened to me as a manager before. It was fab.

Post inspection eve, I came down with the very sickness virus I'd been bugging Public Health for info about. And when I say down, I mean slaughtered. My family came the next day for lunch (three cheers for my niece, just because she is so very beautiful!). Then two days of bed rest/wall crawling around the flat which had me all weepy and wanting to nail the floor straight to stop it wobbling - well let's say it was a jolly good time to have a FREE YUMMY LUNCH.

So, when I came home from work with a very good friend I was too busy describing the menu to really take in the pink helium balloons in my hall. When I walked into my living room and saw my friends there and lots of balloons - well, I don't know who got the biggest surprise - coz I made a very loud response. A wonderful surreal moment, that will stay with me, as a very happy memory to have in your head. I'm 30something this year, and I have not been looking forward to it at all.

Thank you to all the generous people who made my pink balloon day happen - so pretty.

Today the pixies threw me a surprise party - which was full of 'Cover her eyes, no COVER them, no I'm covering them, NO IAM, now walk towards the door coz the candles are you know...oh, right, no, stop, NO looking!'

I have been given a painted canvas by a 6 yr old - and it is gorgeous. Her mummy persuaded her to write -'You are the best ever', instead of 'It's a shame about your age,' in my card.

'But mummy,' she said, 'It is.'

Sometimes when a rollercoaster has been rocking - your friends help you to see the twisty fun bits at the top.

Inspector calls

'The worst thing that could happen,' I had said, ' is if the pixie club inspector comes in when we are suddenly short staffed.'
So, as soon as an agency pixie carer came in sick, and I sent her home, whoosh! I turn round and there we are, summoned by circumstance, is our Very hard to Please Inspector.
Woo, were we inspected. It lasted two days, during which every single pixie was interviewed, all the staff were quizzed and several debates were had. That was me - after last year, I decided I would speak up when asked to do something I disagreed with. So, by day three, when you get the Big Chat, my knees were knocking. This is when you find out all you thought you might be doing right, but weren't. Don't get me wrong, the Inspectors do a good job, but there is so much controversy in Pixie care, and we get so many conflicting pieces of advice, it is really hard to know whose recommendation to follow.
I am friends with the police, social work, environmental health, public health, local pixie care agencies, various headteachers, etc, and I could spend all day trying to find out the legally correct procedure to put in a policy. In fact make that all week.
Bet they cheer when I call - I asked public health for information in writing last week, but they said they were too busy, and why wouldn't a verbal do? I used my best, best manager voice to explain why a verbal wouldn't do. Soon, they'll barr my calls.
Well, then me and my top Pixie leader (my boss), got a verbal thumbs up from the Inspector. We were like, what? Eh?

So, I told her I had a disability when I was asked how we adapted games for disabled children, and that this made me very adaptable. My boss said her face was a picture, and that she looked like she was dying to ask what my mysterious malfunctioning part was. I told her we taught the children's charter by drama, coz it was more fun. We did do this, but it was so we could do it without acting like teachers. We acted like awful said the pixies.

Three tonnes of worry fell off as soon as we realised - we were finished, and fully bona fide inspected. Literally three tonnes - I weighed it. Pheeeeooow.