7x7x7x7 (or something)

I have been tagged by an idiot sorry a mean person oops gosh autocorrect is on fire today, I MEANT to say I have been  tagged by that nice chap Oliver over at http://millsandboonwannabe.blogspot.com/ to do a meme thingamybob.

I have to list 7 blog posts I admire

Then list 7 things about myself

Then answer 7 questions set by that nice chap, set 7 questions of my own and pass on the whole shebang!

Phew, So here goes

Posts I admire..(is admire the right word? some I just adore, hope that's OK)

 Marley and Lola and the great Fridge Raid

A rather super blog all round, this post a tad beetle-y

I simply Love Red Ted Art - so I chose this page of just simply super stuff

This is a post that made me laugh until I cried (she now blogs at http://thendm.wordpress.com/)

If (like me) you like Vampires then this is a must read (sleep well)

A post that I loved the first time I read it and still love it now...who is who?

And last but never ever least MamaCrow

Now 7 things about me

hmmm

1. I only have one tattoo. Yes I'm sure you imagine me like a Victorian tattooed lady but actually it's sort of a joke, I have one tattoo, of a dragon, on my arm.
2. I'm CRB checked. Who isn't these days! you want to glance at a child you have to have clearance, I have it thrice....
3. When I was young I frequently tortured by younger brother, if he yelled I always claimed he started it. He got into trouble more than me
4. I was taken to see Jaws at the cinema by a German exchange student, I was underage but she took me anyway. I was terrified and wouldn't even paddle in the sea for years afterwards.
5. I love facial hair on men, actually i love hairy men, I think hairy men are macho. My own hubby is balding but has a fine beard and 'tache to make up for it :-)
6. I am terrified of spiders(especially wolf spiders). I held a tarantula at Longleat last year thinking it would cure the fear but it has only cured the fear of tarantulas....damn
7. I can't swim (I blame the Germans)

Katie Price or Kristin Scott Thomas? hmm not knowing who Kristin is and not being a fan of Katie can i say neither?

What is the most beautiful view you’ve ever seen? (And no mush about newborn babies please – I mean a proper view, like with fields and all). I shall go with the Elan Valley in Wales I think

What is the most revolting thing you’ve ever eaten? Liver, I was made to eat it at school and I puked it over the dinner lady.

What, if anything, makes you cry? Since having my daughter loads of stuff! Dumbo's mum singing t Baby of Mine is a dead cert for tears.

Who, in your opinion, has/had the most beautiful face ever? Johnny Depp

If you had to live in another era, when would you choose? Edwardian I think, maybe Victorian but I prefer Edwardian fashion

Why? oops Jumped ahead, the fashion. And obviously only if I was a 'lady' not a drudge

Which work of art would you most like to own? I do own quite a bit of art but I would love something like Bruegel's Triumph of Death  or Saturn Devouring his Son by Goya

Everyone has a book in them, apparently. What’s yours about? hold on that's more than 7!! cheater Mine would be a vampire novel obviously, about child vampires,,,

What’s your most embarrassing moment? Falling head first into Wallis while saying (loudly) to a mate 'I Love this shop!'

What’s your best physical feature? not sure I can pick one...I'm pretty much perfectly gorgeous all over!

And now my 7 questions

1. Do you have a favourite child? Either one of yours or someone elses! Why?
2. What was your first pet (not family pet - your own)? if you have never had a pet which would you most like to own?
3. Can you play any musical instrument and if so what?
4. Do you speak more than one language? Which ones?
5. How old were you when you had your first proper kiss and what were the circumstances?
6. How many and which countries have you visited?
7. If you cold only eat one meal over and over again for the rest of your life what would it be?

Phew! all done. Now to pass it on!

I tag

ChickenRuby - cos she is a layabout with time on her hands

The Sardine Tin because - well why not!

The Moiderer because she makes me laugh

Crazy in Cambs - because she was crazy enough to ask! 

VBC - cos she's got a mouth on her!

MamaCrow - because she squealed and I luv her

and Pippa D because I've met her and she's a real person!

Jump to it!

A response to an innocent question by @pippaD - Baby Names

When we decided to have a child it was a huge decision, I was already 33 and my hubby is 20 years my senior, so you can imagine all the things we considered and worried about and of course the biggest decision was

What shall we call the baby!

We have an Italian surname and so Hubby wanted to give our child an Italian name. I am a huge fan of ‘real’ names, no Apples, Chardonnays, or Nevaehs here,, I also have a bit of a thing about giving someone a name that is a shortened form of a real name, so no Jacks, Jennies, Charlies, Sams, etc etc

I think that a name should be for an adult too, you are not naming a baby or a toddler, you are naming a person. So while Princess is cute at 3 it’s going to be embarrassing at 39 (IMO). And of course there was the Dr test and the stripper test.

You try the name in the following sentences

“Paging Dr ………….. to A&E immediately”

“ and now introducing, with her/his own snake, all the way from Vegas …………”

So for me no Candies, no Cherries, no Juniors, no Tarzans.

Finally we knew what we didn’t want. We also wanted a middle name to honour a grandparent, we decided on my parent’s name for a boy and his for a girl. (Both would be ‘Italianised’)

But a first name? Boys names we disagreed on, I wanted Luciano, he wanted Alberto..”like the shampoo?!” I asked incredulously, he had never heard of it and rejected my complaints. “Luciano would be shortened to Lucky” he said “like the gangster, I won’t give a son of mine a gangster name” “ah” says I “because there was never a gangster called Al?” Stalemate… luckily we didn’t have a boy.

Soon into the pregnancy we knew we were having a girl and searched for names. We liked Isabella but it was so popular I feared she would be one of several in her class – did I mention I also dislike popular! Ha!

The suddenly one day hubby read an article in the Sunday times supplement…and there was the name right there, as soon as he said it we fell in love with it and that is why we chose it, as soon as we saw it we loved it and it suits her to a tee, it is beautiful but can be shortened to something quirky and cute and tomboyish yet the full name is glamorous and unusual (in the UK at least) sadly I can’t tell you what we chose. DD likes to be anonymous online. (bet you feel cheated now!)

Lent, pancakes, and those religious weirdos

Pancake Day. Everyone calls it that right? it's about pancakes, everyone loves pancakes, oozing syrup or with bacon (or both!) or simply served with lemon and sugar. Today is about golden pancakes. Pancakes, anyone that claims otherwise is a religious freak, a nut, someone who wants to spoil PANCAKE day with guilt and religious ideals...but maybe, just maybe Shrove Tuesday and the start of Lent is something that everyone could benefit from thinking about.

Lent. What is it any way? some odd religious thing where people 'give something up' like chocolate or coffee or booze. No fun in that, and what's the point anyway?

What ever Lent is or was it can be a time to think and reflect.

The very fact that you are reading this blog on a computer or a cell phone leads me to think that probably you are one of the 'privileged', just like me.

For me Lent is a time to think about what I have. I may choose to give something up, I may not. But I have the luxury to do it, the luxury to know that at other times of the year that thing is there for the taking, something maybe that I just take for granted like TV or beer, cheese or pies, going out by myself, driving or bubble bath, things that thousands of people in the world do not have the luxury to give up, things that many people just don't have in the first place.

Do I need to stop eating chocolate for 40 days and nights? Well it would focus my thoughts, remind me each time I fancied a nibble that I was one of the lucky few that can have chocolate if I want, that I have chosen to go with out, to be reminded of how lucky I am.

My 40 days of lent will be a celebration of my good fortune. I can choose to not use the microwave, or to not drink beer, or not drive, or not watch TV or any of a thousand things I do each week without even thinking of all the people that cannot do these things. So maybe I'll give something up, and maybe I'll be a better person for walking 40 days in someone elses shoes. Maybe I will be celebrating freedom.

I hope that your lent will be a celebration too.

Are you giving up anything? And what could you giveup (that you are not going to!) that you could celebrate?

oh and IHOP is giving away free pancakes on 28th February - just to keep this pancake related and international!

Ground Hog day – a story of happy

I had no idea of this bizarre American tradition until I saw the movie of the same name, and to many I think that ‘ground hog day’ is, due to the movie, synonymous with the idea of a repeated day.
I’m sure you’ve sometimes come to the end of a day with a feeling of relief ‘thank god that’s over’ and a horror that a day might be repeated.

A while ago I had an idea for a meme, along the theme of repetition but rather than one of horror, one of joy, and rather than just a day, a year. A year of you life that you loved and really wouldn’t mind living again.

Maybe it would be your first year! A year of cosy cuddles, warm milk, love and sleep. Or a year from your early years before school, or even of school age, where there were long summer holidays spent fishing in streams or playing on the beach. Perhaps you didn’t have an idyllic childhood, so you would rather forget it, rather relive your first year at university, free at last, drinking, partying (studying a bit), or the year you got a promotion and a job you loved. The year you got married, finally realised who you wanted to be with (even if this changed later). So many great moments in life to relive.

At first I thought that my repeated year would be when I was 19. I was supposed to be resitting my A levels but instead I was discovering young love and nightclubbing. It was the 80s all wild hairstyles, new romantics and flirting. I had a ‘proper’ boyfriend for the first time. I got my own flat, a job and started to feel like a person separate from home life, finally an adult…but…

But the more I thought about it the more I realised the actual year I would choose to relive again and would be the first year of DDs life. I was lucky enough to have the most delightful birthing experience ever, so I’d start the year right when my waters broke. I had a water birth and was home next day. I was lucky enough to be able to take a year off work and had a husband at home too (as he had retired) we had a puppy and a young dog and now a new baby. A baby that learned to feed after a panicky start and then slept through the night like an angel after about 6 weeks. That Summer was filled with country walks and sunshine. A young baby discovering a world around her, filling us with love and laughter everyday.

We used an off road buggy so that we could take the dogs for walks by the canal, along the river and across the South Downs.

We visited museums, beautiful country houses, the beach, Wales… We also went to Butlins and toddler soft play areas. We took her for pub lunches (she didn’t drink as much as I did).

Going back to work at the end of that year was the hardest thing I ever did. I was commuting to London, trying to be a mum while out of the house 5 days a week from 6am until 9.30pm. I didn’t see her awake for days at a time. My lovely husband called it a day when he saw me crying over the cot one morning. So I started working closer to home. I would stop my repeated year right before I went back to work.

But would I want to repeat the year over and over for ever? Of course not. I would miss each year that DD grew older. The hilarious things she said as she learned to talk. Her bright take on life. Seeing my husband being a brilliant dad and teaching her things that I can’t (like music and maths). And now that she is approaching the dreaded teens she still makes me laugh with her wicked dry wit.
So what year would you repeat and why? Tell me the happiest time of your life, and I sincerely hope that future years will be even better.

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