Random Rantings of a Tattooed Mummy

Time for a rant - this time about love (and a GIVEAWAY)

2012-01-26T14:51:00.002+01:00

It's nearly Valentine's Day and with thoughts of cherubs and hearts, flowers and chocolates everyone is happy and.......wait! people are not happy! No one is happy! Valentine's Day does not evoke happiness at all! Why? Well I'm glad you asked, pull up a chair, grab a coffee and a biscuit and read on....

Let's start with some history. As usual this 'Saint's' Day has been hijacked by the Christian Religions from ancient pagan times. In ancient Rome, 13, 14 and 15 February were celebrated as Lupercalia, a pagan fertility festival. This seems to be the basis for a celebration of love on this date.(do click the link as there was apparently spanking, whipping and all sorts going on!) anyway...fast forward to AD 496 ish where St Valentine gets to hijack the festival. St Valentine (it seems) was a bishop that went against Rome to allow and to actually carry out secret illegal marriages, so that's his precarious link with love sorted then....

Any way back to the present day, by now shops all over the UK (and no doubt other countries) are filled with Valentine's cards, gifts and general nagging to 'not forget'. Because what is more romantic than grabbing a preprinted card with a naff greeting inside (that you probably don't even read if you are a bloke) and scribbling a question mark inside it before bunging it at the object of your affections, maybe with a plastic rose or a 'Me-to-You' bear or a 'Tatty Teddy' (what every grown woman/man wants)

which leads nicely to the rant.(blimey you are thinking, I thought that was the rant!)

Married people do not like Valentines day, it makes them feel guilty if they do nothing but stupid if they do something, after all, we are already married! I can hardly be a secret Valentine to my husband! If we want to go out everywhere will be full up and more expensive than normal, AND getting a babysitter will be a nightmare unless we employ a couple of lovesick teens that have no where to go for a snog.

Single People do not like St Valentine's day. Why would you! Everywhere you look are couples and pictures of couples, advice on love and couply-ness. Vomit. Give me a break. If you are single it's either through choice, so shut up telling me I 'need' love. Or because I haven't found the right person and nagging me about it won't help, it'll just make me sob into my (bought for myself) chocolates.

What of singles 'in a relationship? do you like Valentines day? Surely you are either serious enough to fall into a similar category to the 'marrieds' or you are starting out and still in the lovely dovey stage anyway - you hardly need a special day!

From what I can see only teens and young kids like Valentines day - a perfect excuse for 'My friend fancies you' and secret drawn hearts on A4 paper in the art room slipped into lockers at breaktime. A a youngster it's cute.

BUT! we cannot escape the rampant march of capitalism, consumerism, and other things ending in -sm. (no one say it - I bet you are all thinking it though) And so my dearest blog readers I give you the chance (thanks to the lovely @carbontwelve on twitter) to have a relaxing a lovely Valentine's day regardless of age, sex, sexual orientation or marital status!
To be in with a chance to win a grown up present for yourself or a loved one for Valentine's day, just leave a comment telling me what you plan to do on 14th February, and email me your email address (or follow me on twitter) so I can contact you if you win.

The lovely present is a set of pretty candles, one scented with 'passion', (don't ask! but may help with the last -sm) , made by Steve Lawrie whose workshop is in the Abby Arcade, West Malling in Kent. They have a website too at http://www.katiescandlesandgifts.co.uk/

So to win these

Please let me know what you are up to! (Closing date for entries 7th February)

Breasts, juicy juicy breasts...

2012-01-13T11:15:00.002+01:00

So there was a report, it was about breastfeeding, we all got enraged. Yes all of us, everyone..or maybe just me. Anyway the point was I was enraged. The report (widely reported in the media) seemed to say that breastfed babies were poor sleepers, miserable, cranky, and generally sadder babies than the chubby bundles of fun that sleep through and giggle like smiling cherubs when fed formula. No wonder there was rage; I’m almost a breastfeeding nazi! (I’m not but once on twitter someone listed me as such, I was sort of proud) anyway….I went off to track down the report itself since none of the media sources, not even the BBC, saw fit to link to it or reference it in anyway. Luckily the NHS website was more forthcoming and even helpfully pointed out the errors with the ‘study’…such as that the ‘study’ was not actually designed to study the difference between breastfed and formula fed babies at all, it was an aside from a larger study and that the study itself had only 300 participants, that the data was all subjective and no backgrounds were obtained for the babies…well go check see for yourselves(and a snippet below), it’s basically a pile of ‘maybes’ and ‘might haves’. No real concrete data at all.

"There are several additional points to make:

The researchers did not take into account other wider issues that might affect the chosen feeding method, mother/baby interactions and babies’ temperaments, such as whether the mothers were working, time spent with babies and feeding schedules.
The study relied on mothers to subjectively rate their babies’ temperaments. Such self-completed ratings could be influenced by other things, such as the mothers’ anxiety about breastfeeding.
The differences in temperament between breastfed and formula-fed babies as rated by the mothers appeared to be small. For example, the emotional instability score was 2.8 in the bottle-fed group and 3.0 in breastfed and mixed-fed babies. It is not possible to say whether these small score differences would have made appreciable differences in the day-to-day temperament of the babies.
Educational achievement of women who breastfed or mixed-fed their babies was higher, and how this might have influenced their scoring of temperament was not discussed by the authors.
It is not known whether the current method of feeding at three months represents a consistent pattern since birth or whether there have been changes. For example, a baby described as formula-fed at three months may have only just been switched to formula feeding and may have been exclusively breastfed up until then. Finally, as the researchers point out, this small study of mothers and babies in Cambridge may not be representative of UK mothers and babies generally."

But why were mothers bothered? If a study says that something may not be as good for your baby you won’t do it – you want the best or your baby. Best is a fed baby. A baby that grows and is happy. Breast or formula can do that, but mothers all want the best. This study seemed to imply that breast was actually inferior…or did it? It said that breastfed babies were more restless, formula fed babies slept more. Well I don’t know about you but after a huge meal of heavy to digest food I sleep well too! Often most of the afternoon, so having a belly full of heavy rich food makes you sleep…ok…

And babies that are breastfed cry more. Now this is the thing that made people sit up! Babies that cry are sad! Miserable! Poor little things! But most breastfeeding mums I know feed on demand. The babies need to inform mum when a new helping of grub is in order, and it might not be in four hours because, well it was easy to digest, it went quick and now “I’M HUNGRY!” and then they drink and are not hungry and can get on with being babies..watching the world, growing, communicating (often by crying “I want to touch the thing!” “why is the light bright” “I want a cuddle” “I want to be left alone” “I want a cuddle “I’M HUNGRY AGAIN!” ) so really is the crying bad?

No! babies cry! Breastfed babies may (or may not – it’s a tiny, flawed study) cry more but that may be because they are communicating more! Because they are more awake, because they are not dozing with a tum full of formula!

So is formula bad? Of course not. Lots of babies grow up happily on formula, a mum may not be able to feed, may adopt, may have a tough birth, may have a busy job or a second child that is ill and needs her attention too, there are a million reasons a mum might not breastfeed (one reason I’m not a ‘breastfeeding nazi' and would never say anything to another about her choice unless she asked for advice) but should a woman choose not to breastfeed because of this study? NO! certainly not!

But the sad fact is that thousands of women every year are put off of breastfeeding, and your milk is nearly always the best thing for your baby. The reasons for not breastfeeding are usually fear, fear of exposure, fear of offending people, fear of being verbally abused, fear of not having enough milk, fear of not being able to do it, and an added fear that on top of all that it may be ‘bad’ for the baby is just awful!

Formula is not a poison and may suit you better, but don’t use it ‘to get a quiet night’ my own experience and that of many breastfeeding mums is that if you relax, if you are led by your baby, you can have plenty of sleep with breastfeeding (not all at night it's true!) and will often not get sleep with a formula fed baby…because (guess what) babies are all different. Babies are different and mums are different, babies that sleep may have mums that don’t worry, or mums that fuss more to get things right! who knows!?

You are the mum, you and your baby are a perfect match, and if you can, you should listen to what you, your baby and your family needs, then everyone can relax and be happy. They are only babies such a short time, enjoy them.

So what of Sherlock?

2012-01-09T11:30:00.005+01:00

If you are in the UK you may well be amongst the many that have been avidly watching the new Sherlock Holmes. I have enjoyed it far more than I ever believed I would, as a real fan of the original written works and the films with Basil Rathbone, followed by the brilliant TV adaptations with Jeremy Brett, I was surprised to see that this new series was a modern version, I was worried it would be either too far from the original feel or too close (and therefore ridiculous) but amazingly it was (as Goldilocks would agree) just right!

I adore the portrayal of the main characters, Moriarty is camp enough to appear amusing and then horrifically terrifying by turns. Watson is perfect as the slightly bemused but never stupid side kick and Sherlock, well he is Sherlock!

So rather than blog about the episodes, the plots the genius rewritings, rather than argue that Irene Adler is still a feminist that bests Holmes or that the scenes in Government buildings are hilarious in the space and cleanliness they show I shall comment on how I see Holmes and his relationships; with Watson (“we are not….”) and with Moriarty and maybe even with ‘The Woman’.

I plan to rewatch the first two episodes in this series, so if I’ve missed anything I apologise. And these are only my rambling ideas anyway. But the main thing I think is that Holmes is a distant character who does not form proper attachments in an emotional sense with anyone. Watson comments, in an overheard conversation with Lestrade, that Holmes has aspergers and indeed he sometimes shows traits of aspergers, autism, and other conditions related to emotional detachment. This is true to the original character who always put intellect before emotion. I enjoyed Watson’s jibe “alright Mr Spock”.

Now I can hear you all ‘but he loves Watson’ ‘he is friends with Watson’ ‘He likes Mrs Hudson’ ‘He lusted or loved Irene Adler’ etc etc

But I put the preposition that he did not and does not, do anything of the kind.

He needs Watson in a way that perhaps even the great Sherlock Holmes does not understand, he needs someone to show off to is the most basic of these needs, he constantly admits to being a show off – he thrives on his own cleverness and the demonstration of his powers. He needs Watson to do the mundane tasks such as writing the blog (and probably buying the groceries, paying the bills, etc), to read the papers for him (much as an MP has researchers) He needs Watson to help him to interact and to understand the emotional side of the world. He is concerned when he realises that Watson may leave him, not because he will miss his friendship, but because he will lose his sounding board, his guinea pig (“you thought the drug was in the sugar! And you gave me the sugar!”)

Mrs Hudson’s character is very similar, she keeps him ‘normal’, she rents him a home and ensures he keeps it habitable. Without her one imagines he would never clean or tidy. He uses her ruthlessness and bravery also, such as when she hides things for him and resists interrogation for him. It is clear she loves him (and possibly Watson) as the sons she does not have. Her ‘boys’.

Sherlock has a relationship with Moriarty that is equally complex,. He both loathes him (for his evil nature) and loves him (for his intellect and ability to challenge Holmes) The real complexity is, that given Sherlock’s lack of emotions, inability to understand ‘caring’ (shown when he couldn’t understand why anyone would not have a vicious dog put down) why is he on the side of ‘good’ at all? After all he sneers at Mycroft and the government, he appears to have no care about many small cases at all, so it is not a desire to help that causes him to solve cases, no of course, it is the challenge of the case. Perhaps the reason Sherlock loves Moriarty so, is that he knows that he could be him, that if the cases dried up, if the criminals became easy and boring, he himself would be drawn to crime just to stretch himself. I have always imagined him as something of a sociopath .

I also believe his relationship with The Woman is similar, he is fascinated by her in non sexual way, as one would be fascinated by an alien species that has bizarre mating habits. He is interested in how she feels about him, he understands the physical aspects of love (the increased pulse, the pupils dilating) and obviously of sex but he himself does not feel them, rather he loves her in the way he loves Moriarty, she is his intellectual equal. She challenges him and makes his life interesting. If he saves her life it it’s not because he loves her, but because his world would be more boring without her in it, and to Holmes, his world is all that matters. He is the most selfish man I have ever seen. And maybe, just maybe this is what makes him so desirable to so many who watch the TV show, or maybe it’s that he is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T15:17:00.001+01:00

Long, long ago...

2012-01-03T14:00:00.004+01:00

well ok, September actually,

I had a plan for a Handmade Christmas Decoration swap. I didn't know how much interest it would get as I'm not a very prolific blogger (haha!) and although I have lots of friends on Twitter, one can never be sure anyone is really paying any attention, so it was a nice surprise when my 'limit' of 20 people was reached!

The range of decorations was fabulous, from simple ideas that we could all have a go at to eleborate artistic ventures, and all were really Christmassy, made with love and generally wonderful.

Lazily I haven't got around to posting the pictures of these gems, so now is the time.

Behold the glory of the Handmade Christmas Decoration swap!

with many thanks to the twitter users who played

@beckycheeks
@frugalfamily
@Lady_Gyr
@mamacrow
@mummylion
@redtedart
@missielizzieb
@peekaywrites
@rea_g
@MotherScuffer
@snafflesmummy
@chickenruby
@cherrytweep
@smokerette
@liveotherwise
@WahooCoo

@smiffysmrs

@Georgina_Giles

(You'll see I am missing some pictures - watch this space - I'm hoping to have more up soon)

Things "social media experts" say you shouldn't tweet about...

2011-12-30T14:56:00.003+01:00

You're all seen them, posts on blogs or articles in the news telling you the *sins* of tweeting. Well here is the thing, there is no right way to tweet. Twitter is people. (not in a creepy soylent green way) and people are all different and all like different things. So you tweet what you like, and people that like your tweets will follow you.
Some examples of what not to tweet, why I do it anyway, and why I don't care if you do too.

1. Do not tweet about what you just ate.

Why ever not? We all eat, your choice may spark a craving of my own, or send me off on a mission to find a recipe, or in a million small ways start me on a culinary adventure of discovery. It also may just make me hungry, then hate you.

2. Don't tweet about your pet.

Again, why not? I like animals lots of people do, some of the best tweets are dogs ( @marleyterrier ) so go ahead, tell me about your dating dog, your freshly bathed cat, or your recently neutered rabbit. Many animal related tweets are very informative, and usually blooming funny as well.

3. Do not tweet about social media.
Or blog about it presumably. Damn.

4. Do not tweet about your workout.

Hmmm health tweets, these come in three types, the "I have just run loads, i'm ace"
"I should be running but can't be arsed"
"i'm ill"
All of the above are fine examples of great tweets, I can laugh at your running obsession and taunt you with chocolate, I can feel smug that I can't be arsed to run either, our I can offer tea and sympathy.
I've run out if things not to tweet about...seriously, oh maybe

5. Do not use twitter to promote a blog post, not everyone can access the link via phone.
Yeah what ever... Get over it ;)

Food Waste, a short blog post that is all links

2011-11-18T10:21:00.000+01:00

I just read this BBC News Story about food waste and it made me think of this blog post I wrote about food waste. We really are terrible animals aren't we? Without help I predict extinction in the next million years. The dinosaurs were so much more efficient. (But they didn't invent Supermarkets either...good or bad?)

I haven't blogged for 2 weeks and today is not a great day to do it

2011-11-17T21:53:00.000+01:00

but I will anyway. I got a new car this week, it's a Fiat Panda and I love it already! Great fun to drive, loads of space, 4 doors and not pricey at all!

But apart from that (which is pretty amazing and has cheered me up a lot) I'm not the happiest of bunnies, time of the month? lack of sunshine/daylight (dark when i go to work, dark when I return!) who knows but i am gloomy which is not like me at all.

Twitter, normally the love of my life has just managed to do nothing but annoy me today with it's constant whinging, no one there ever seems happy about anything (myself included!) everyone is whining about the state of the world/government/banks/pop stars/journalists etc etc (add any I've missed) happy to blame everyone, not keen to suggest solutions.....so my solution has been to have a twitter break. Lets hope I feel better in a few days. Meanwhile I shall read escapist fantasy on my Kindle and drive about happily in my (economical) Fiat Panda - who is called Tony by the way.....

Night Stalker

2011-11-01T10:24:00.000+01:00

I awoke this morning to a better email even than the one I received on Sunday to tell me I had won the lottery! (£55 since you are wondering). An email to tell me that my favourite blogger, blood drinker, and undead writer Jonathon8 had blogged (and tweeted) again after a long absence. (295 days – but if I told you that it may make me seem like a bigger stalker than he is)

So now I cannot concentrate, I’m wondering where has he been? Who has he been with? Where has he fed? Is he ‘well’? (whatever passes for healthy among the undead.) and more importantly, why is he back?

If you have never seen his blog, take a read, start at the beginning, trust me, he is a vampire that most definitely does not sparkle.

The one where I rant a bit about reviews

2011-10-13T13:42:00.000+01:00

This post is sure to mean I am never approached by a company to review a product ever again. But that is not my intention.

I opened my Google Reader to read 11 new posts yesterday and they were all reviews. All of them, every one.

And that made me think.

I do not follow any review blogs or company blogs, I follow (vomits at use of phrase) mummy bloggers, and a few daddy bloggers and a few other personal blogs. I read them for the chit chat, the anecdotes, the mundanities of life that oddly seem either comforting or hilarious when put into a blog. If I want a review I go to amazon, or a review site, or I google it. Now before you all shout, yes I know, I have reviewed things here. I reviewed some Nakd bars (they were yum) and a mysterious magical toothbrush (it was amazingly effective) , I reviewed Vosene (more than once) and I reviewed a Nokia Smart Phone. So I am not immune to the lure of the 'freebie' and lets be honest, who doesn't like something for nothing!?!

But I at least try to be honest and I know it's hard to look a gift horse in the mouth; of course this means reviews of freebies tend to be good, many are glowing, does this convince me they are great products? not really? so is the advert (for gentle reader, that is what these reviews are) really even working?

I will post here and on twitter if I find something I love, whether I'm asked to or not, whether I am sent a freebie or not. And I will accept things to try, and then review them if they are something I would normally use or try and I will be honest.

I think the main thing about adverts is, that like the television, they need to be short, and spaced between quality programs because if not, the blog just turns into one long ad break, and I for one find the urge to fast forward....

Maybe this is not a popular view? maybe you love to find new things via a review on a friends blog? Do you blog reviews? Do you set yourself limits? Do comment below and let me know.

Thanks for reading...normal service will resume after this message from our sponsor......

The one where I share money saving tips and then lose the plot

2011-10-07T15:28:00.001+01:00

Today I listened to The Jeremy Vine show. Sadly I often have to listen to his inane ramblings and tedious subjects as I share an office, and democracy dictates the majority rule the radio waves. Often his callers are as misinformed and as odd in their ideas as he seems to be (I fervently hope he is just pretending to be as stupid as he sometimes appears) any way today took the biscuit with some top money saving tips…

Now I don’t know about you but I do try and save money. Most of the way we do that is fairly obvious, we buy cheap unbranded stuff, we switch off lights we are not using, we don't buy newspapers, we turn off electrical appliances, etc

So I was a little surprised to hear the advice “Buy dresses in the sale to save money” Wow, I thought, how lucky he told us that! Who knew! Sale items are cheaper than full price! Great tip!

And to be fair I tuned out as much as I could after that, but still stupid money saving tops, from the glaringly obvious to the blatantly stupid began to pop into my head and so, without further ado I share them. I hope you don’t need to instigate any because either you already do them or you can see that they are plainly ridiculous.

My thanks to several tweeters for joining in with my idiocity.

Buy things that are a bit cheaper than you usually buy
Eat a bit less
Ask the green grocer if he has any old vegetables ‘for your rabbit’ – eat these (My MIL actually used to do this)
Try the above tip with bones for the ‘dog’ from the butcher – make soup
Read your neighbours’ newspapers the day after they are printed, they can be easily rescued from the recycling bin under cover of darkness
When a mate visits, ask them to bring their own tea bag, or batter yet, a flask of tea.
Ask your neighbour if you can ‘borrow’ a cup of sugar. Do this weekly, never give any back
Don’t buy any clothes at all for at least a year, you have too many anyway.
Switch off your car engine when going down hill.
Use a head torch powered by cheap pound shop batteries rather than turn lights on in the home
Get rid of your TV and save on the licence fee
Ditto telephone
And also electricity…and your car
Drip hot wax onto your head and stick a candle on it, even cheaper than a head torch!

And it was at that very point I realised I needed a lie down, or a cup of tea…

Can you spare a cup of sugar?

Please add more tips below, serious or silly, all appreciated

and while we are talking Festivals

2011-10-04T13:01:00.001+01:00

I went to the Out of The Ordinary Festival at the end of September, we were blessed (maybe by mother nature herself?) with fabulous weather and the best people on Earth.

I ate fabulous food, we listened to bands we had never heard of (but enjoyed anyway) and the kids tried out circus skills...oh and there was cake.

Here are some pictures of the awesome.

Making stoves from cans

Music

I especially enjoyed New Groove Formation

Circus skills and climbing fun

The Best curry I have ever had, in a field

Wood Spirits...

Cake!

Recycling.....yes it's my Pim's can

Lovely places to chill and eat vege food

Did I mention that there was shopping too!

and for all your late night needs....

admit it, you wish you'd been! next year? see you there!

During the Summer I went to Camp Bestival

2011-10-04T12:41:00.001+01:00

and I don't think I ever got round to telling you all how awesome it was! Obviously much of it is a blur due to copious amounts of Pim's (it's terribly middle class dahling!) but we did get to see Mark Ronson (carrying on despite the tragic death of Amy Winehouse only days before) and the (and the Business International) were great, loved dancing to the bicycle song with DD - catch the song on YouTube if you've not heard it yet

DD enjoyed seeing Dick and Dom (maybe I did too) and the entire campsite rang to the sound of BOGIES! yelled at every opportunity all night on Saturday.

The Insect Circus was a highlight again.

I did not touch Mr Tumble this year, but we can't have everything.

DD adored Silly Science.

I loved seeing (and heariing) Jaguar Skills - it was late though, so DD slept in our middle class trolley :-)

The food was good, the people were friendly. It was a gorgeous festival as always and we have already signed up for tickets for next year, do comment here if you are going, it would be fun to meet up.

My tent is easy to spot :-)

Some fast blog posts so I can catch up..

2011-10-04T12:24:00.000+01:00

Thanks to everyone that signed up for the Christmas Decoration Swap (which will actually be more of a chain) I hope to tell you who you will be sending to by the end of this weekend, so you can either wait and persoanlise your decoration, or just get started now!

I can admit here and now that my DD will be making a decoration to send to my person as well as the one I send, prepare yourself! Her's is bound to be better than whatever I make!

Christmas Decoration Exchange

2011-09-14T12:23:00.000+01:00

Thanks for the interest! I now have about 16 people signed up (although a couple may be the same person!! LOL I get confused with twitter, blog and real names!!) I'm happy to have a few more if you have not signed up yet.

You really do need to send me your address and email address though - you can safely use the contact page on this blog - or DM me on twitter for my email.

The plan is to create a sort of 'chain' each person will send to the next on the list - I won't announce who is sending to whom so it will be up to you if you reveal who you are!! Doing it this way means it doesn't matter if an odd number of people join, or if an odd number of people don't want to post outside their country.

It is NOT a competition, however great or bad you think your decoration is it will be loved as it was made by you! and handmade is always best.

There is no theme, except Christmas, no one is to be offended by religious or non religious items - we are all grown ups (except me) The only proviso is that the item is to be hung on a tree so it needs to either light or small or both.

Yes, yes, I know it's only September....but...

2011-09-12T12:53:00.000+01:00

.... it's cold enough to be winter and I've already started buying Christmas presents....oh stop judging me, you are only feeling bad that you haven't got organised yet!

(Why not get some CMT Christmas cards as September is CMT Awareness Month)

Anyway that made me think, long ago I was a member of a chat room and we sometimes did silly swaps (in real life! actual things, through the post!) and I've come to love twitter and blogging so much I wondered if it would work here too. Being in the middle of a global financial meltdown I realise no one has much money but something small and cheap to post would be a ray of sunshine in a gloomy world wouldn't it! Something like...

A Handmade Christmas Tree Decoration! We could all do that, anything from a picture we drew and laminated, to an elaborated felt sewn reindeer, with anything in between. Glitter covered pine cones, painted wooden stars, Festive Fimo Father Christmas, pipe cleaner shapes with beads, well you get the idea. Something lovingly made but not necessarily expensive (though diamond encrusted salt dough gingerbread men are fine too) and something small and easy to post...

We could do that right? and if we start now we have 104 days to do it.

So if you would like to send a decoration (and receive one) you can sign up below.

You will need to commit to doing it (no slackers - no backing out) you will need to be prepared to give me your address (Contact me here) and tell me if you are prepared to send out of your country or locally only.

All decorations to be finished and posted by 1st December 2011

Plenty of ideas to get you started here and all over the internet. So what's stopping you?

I don't think my blog is so popular that I need to set a limit! but just in case - I'll restrict it to first 20 people. Not sure I could cope with organisng more. I expect about 5 of us will play! LOL

My fridge, a meme from eons ago.

2011-08-29T16:46:00.002+01:00

Way back when dinosaurs walked the earth I was tagged to blog about the contents of my fridge. Finally you can judge away. You will notice the kitchen is cream and brown while the fridge is silver. This is because I am cheap and the fridge is second hand, bought from a gay mate who needed to change it to colour coordinate.
So first off the fridge is gay. Then you will see it is rather full. Worryingly this is not our only fridge, we have a small one atop the freezer, and there are only 3 of us in the house (not including the dog).
So what is in the fridge? Well not butter, thats in the larder.
The fridge contains:
Mustard
Ketchup
Brown sauce
Mayonnaise
Margarine
Fresh vegetables (and half a cucumber)
Jam
Marmalade
Lemon curd
Half a tin of raspberries
Chutney
Chilli jam
Cranberry sauce
Fresh ground coffee
Olives
Pickled jalapenos
Pickled garlic
5 types of cheese
Beer
Wine
Cranberry juice
Organic apple juice
Milk
Free range Eggs
Sliced ham
Soya custard
yoghurts
Benecol drink
Left over cauliflower cheese
Butter wrappers for wiping round cake tins to grease them
It is not a tidy fridge.
The other fridge has beer, wine, spare cheese and a water melon. Oh and dog food
Was it what you expected? And what do you have in your fridge that you consider an essential and I don't even have...?

Luck

2011-08-20T19:40:00.000+01:00

Can you be lucky?

Today I was thinking about luck and randomly asked twitter what they thought about luck. Is there such a thing? Can you be lucky? Or unlucky? Do you ‘make your own luck’? is luck not a thing at all…

Looking at some timelines on twitter was what made me ponder in the first place, some people seemed to have a timeline full of woe and calamity, illness, lost jobs, broken appliances, sick children, lack of sleep, lack of money, depression, - Wow! I thought, they are unlucky people!

But others had timelines of joy and happiness, kids passing exams, kids saying funny things, bargains bought at boot sales, fivers found in pockets, great jobs, lovely husbands, new pregnancies and I thought – Wow! They are lucky people!

But looking further into some timelines it became obvious that actually, the people were the same. The number of illnesses, missed buses, found money, unexpected phone calls, visiting in laws and the like were often very similar but, and this is the crucial bit, the way they were looked at and spoken about varied a huge amount!

I follow people who have cancer that consider they are 'lucky' people, and wealthy people that think they are unlucky'.

While I’m sure I could do a whole PhD on twitter and optimists and pessimists and luck, a very cursory glance leads me to believe what many of my followers also tweeted in answer to the ‘Can you be lucky?’, that while things happen, the way you approach them can determine if you ‘feel’ lucky or unlucky as a result.

So ask yourself, do you feel lucky?

The one with Jason.....and near nudity, and lust..oh and charity

2011-08-16T20:04:00.001+01:00

So those people that know me well (and yes Twits I include you) will know that I have something of a crush on Jason Bradbury.

There are many reasons, he is geeky and clever and funny.........oh and he has a rather nice body. Luckily he knows I have a crush on him so I can blog about it with only minimal embarrassment. My husband also knows about my crush, he finds it funny.

We (as a family) have watched The Gadget Show for a long time and as my crush grew i started following Jason on Twitter. Jason is incredibly nice. No really, he is a really nice bloke. He is of course also an idiot! Always up for a ridiculous challenge, so I'm sure that when he was asked to Join the Swim he leapt at the chance, partly to show off his bod (he's such a floozy!) , partly for the unbelievable challenge but mostly for the charity it will help.

" Sir Richard Branson and Ronan Keating are taking on the ultimate challenge. They’re captaining a team to swim the gruelling waters of the Irish Sea and raise £1million for Cancer Research!

The Swim is a celebrity-led challenge to cross the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin in a 10-person relay. Almost three times the length of the English Channel, this 56-mile swim hopes to raise £1 million for Cancer Research UK’s lifesaving work.

Will this team of celebrity adventurers beat the odds to swim the most treacherous waters off the British coast? Richard and Ronan are to be joined by Gadget Show host Jason Bradbury, Snog, Marry, Avoid presenter and pop star Jenny Frost and have most recently been joined by Strictly Come Dancing star Pamela Stephenson.

In the time that it is likely to take The Swim team to cross the Irish Sea (40 hours), around 1,400 people will have been diagnosed with cancer in the UK. So Cancer Research UK is calling on everyone to get involved in The Swim and help raise £1million for the charity’s lifesaving work."

So are you still sitting there? are you in awe that a bloke that had such poor swimming technique a few months ago is planning to swim in the Irish Sea?! Well why not donate a few quid while you are still in awe, you know you want to! If you are as crazy as Jason you could even organise a swim of your own..

Let me know if you donate, or if you plan a swim, or just comment with "phwoar!" if you like these pics :-)

I mean, who doesn't like a man in rubber......or a man out of it!

About Cancer Research UK
• Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research
• The charity’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. This work is funded entirely by the public.
• Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival rates double in the last forty years.
• Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
• Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to beat cancer.
• For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 020 3469 6699 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org

Laying in the Kids Field watching the world go by

2011-07-31T07:44:00.000+01:00

With a couple of hours til the next band we want to see, DD has insisted on a spell at the merriment put on for the kids. She is playing on the crazy bikes near the Breastival Temple and Baby Chill Out Tent. We have eaten our weight in churros and last night had a fabulous pie with mash, from Pieminister. Now the barbecue at River cottage smells good, but i nned to leave room for WI cakes and tea later; should a festival really include this much eating?

luckily towing a trolley around is keeping me fit, excellent for the late night stuff when DD sleeps in it, and during the day i drop a side down and use it as a sofa.

today is fancy dress day, started rainy, now sunny and some great costumes around. A camel in a tutu just walked by.

we saw mr tumble earlier, and dick and dom. But later it's all about mark ronson.

oh and eliza doolittle, oh and house of pain ;-)

Comedy at camp bestival

2011-07-29T23:32:00.000+01:00

Writing this while listening to some bloody hilarious standup. (Ben Norris) There is a phenomenal amount of swearing and sex jokes and my 11 yo daughter is loving it (as am i) we are awaiting the genius that is Matt Kirshen, but not all comedy is of the professional variety... Some thing i overheard yesterday

(on a 4yo reaching for a water bottle for a drink) "not that one Oscar, thats the vodka"

oh and Matt, yeah we would laugh if you bled, i'll be setting the traps as suggested.

In addition; names

2011-07-29T15:24:00.000+01:00

I need to add Zara, Ruby, Sebastian, Jasper, Matilda and another Freya

I seriously love camp bestival

2011-07-29T04:50:00.000+01:00

Prepare for lots of tiny blog posts, when signal allows

Middle class festival

2011-07-28T20:21:00.000+01:00

I'm loving camp bestival. And one of the things i like most is spotting middle class kids names. Don't get me wrong, i'm middle class and very guilty of picking a pretentious name for my daugher, maybe that's why i enjoy the game of spotting others. We've been here 4 hours and so far have
Oscar, Lily, Rosie, Amber, Freya (3 of those), Alexandrina, Poppy, Finn,

Quick Update on Magpie Monday

2011-07-15T13:28:00.001+01:00

Remember my lusts on Magpie Monday?

Well guess what?

My husband is a darling and bought my some gifts

A rather super felted bag and two silver bangles.

Aren't I lucky!

#silentsunday

2011-07-10T13:14:00.000+01:00

Magpie Monday and Art (daaaaaaaaahlings!)

2011-06-27T13:21:00.000+01:00

It seems I only have time to blog once a week at the moment! How lucky that I should choose a Monday to blog. This weekend there may have been trips to the rather fabulous Worthing Open Houses Art exhibitions (don't panic it's happening again next weekend and I strongly advise you to visit some of the houses if you can) and much admiration for some fantastic art. we especially enjoyed to modern take on art at Gallery26 (who you can also follow on twitter) , some delightful seaside paintings by Brenda Brooks and the amazing sculptures by Alan Tobias-Williams.

But it wasn't all culture, oh no, I did find time to buy a large, yet smart 'mummy bag' at a charity shop for the princely sum of £4.99. Perfect to fit a myriad of mummy goodies in yet still smart enough to use for business. The only downside was DD ensuring I sent at least 4 handbags I already own, to a charity shop in exchange. (I may have a handbag habit, don't judge me)

So here is the beauty

Posted as part of Magpie Monday - Hosted by the super MissieLizzie

Magpie Monday

2011-06-20T13:33:00.001+01:00

I hope I’m not going to get into trouble but today’s Magpie Monday is not something I bought but something I desire. Like the magpie I must have been in a former life I am drawn to the shiny, the glinting, the beautiful and like the woman I am in this life, I’m drawn to the frugal, the 2nd hand and the unusual. I adore retro items, beautiful things that conjure memories of past times as well as feeding my love of the fabulous in the ‘now’. And while at the Nineveh House in Arundel at the weekend, all these desires were fulfilled in some jewellery that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. The jewellery of Jenny Shutler at www.numerous-aspects.co.uk/

If I told you that you would wear a fork as a bangle you’d probably think I was crazy, but if it was a gorgeous silver 50s cake fork, beautifully curled into a thing of pure loveliness, or a set of sugar tongs to clasp your wrist in a warm embrace, or even the sharp silver tines of a fork to dangle from you ears and catch the light like mini chandeliers you may change your mind . So today‘s Magpie Monday is a true ‘Magpie Moment’. I am adding these to my own personal wish list and hope to carry one off to my nest very soon….

Posted (with special permission!) as part of Magpie Monday over at missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.com

The one where Mr Tumble made me laugh til the tears ran down my leg ...

2011-06-16T14:09:00.000+01:00

OK so to start I need to make something clear. I love Mr Tumble. I love Justin, and DD also loved watching him with Sarah Jane in the Higgledy House. So I was delighted to see him at Camp Bestival last year (and even....squeee! ... shake his hand!) and hope to see him there again this year, we like to learn makaton and he is very good at entertaining the children.....so now you know my admiration for him i can share my laughter at taking some of the Something Special magazine (the Mr tumble magazine by the BBC) out of context. If it doesn't make you snigger I shall wonder if we should still be friends.

Without further ado i give you................inappropriate Mr tumble picture No1

In case you can't see it - Grandad Tumble (and a work colleague described him as 'more creepy uncle than grandad) has a speech bubble asking you to 'Touch Me!' Nice! well as you know I have touched Mr Tumble so I moved with delight to see what else the lovely Mr tumble was up to.

I'm not sure any explanation is needed for the other pictures. I think they speak for themselves, enjoy.

so there you have it ladies, gentlemen and assorted Mr Tumble lovers!

And to show how much I really love him I bought the magazine and am giving it away to the person that makes me laugh hardest with a comment on this blog.....................go. (open to any country you like, but not posting to the international space station....)

A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks.

2011-06-15T13:16:00.003+01:00

Bloggers will know that sometimes companies ask you to review things and sometimes you think it is a good idea and review it and sometimes you don't. PR companies and representative (I assume) have various approaches from the 'just ask everyone', to the tailored, 'find someone that sounds from their blog like they are suitable for this product'.

I hope that the reason I was asked to review a revolutionary new toothbrush was because I'm a keen camper, and because I'm known to be trustworthy in my reviews - if I like it I'll say so but I'll be honestly critical if I don't. I am truthful, keen and friendly.........I would hope for world peace in the future, enjoy working with children and animals and will be back later in a swimsuit (dazzling smile).....sorry I was distracted - this isn't Miss World?

Where was I? oh yes the revolutionary new toothbrush.

Well, I was offered the brush to test as I'm a keen camper and the brush is supposed to work without toothpaste or even water! if those items are not to hand (eg festivals, travelling light, trapped at the office, at your lovers house etc etc) personally I find if I remember to bring a toothbrush I tend to remember to bring toothpaste (or my new friend Lush Tooth Tabs) and water (even if bottled) is normally around, however - i thought it sounded fascinating. mainly I thought 'it sounds mad', if I'm honest. I mean *ionic toothbrush* really??

Just Look

"The Ionic toothbrush works on the principle that every element in nature has a positive or negative charge. This is called polarity. When the polarities are opposite, the two elements cling together. That's why dust sticks to your coffee table and why plaque, which has a positive charge (+), clings stubbornly to your negatively charged (-) teeth.

Dyna-Dental's new hyG Ionic Action toothbrush temporarily reverses polarity of the tooth surface from negative (-) to positive (+), drawing plaque towards the negatively charged hyG toothbrush head.

When you brush with a hyG toothbrush, a constant flow of positive ions (+) from the lithium power source temporarily reverses your teeth's polarity. This makes your teeth reject plaque, even in areas that aren't touched by hyG?s bristles."

I mean...really? sounds a bit....well.......

So I received the toothbrush. decisions decisions, should I wait to camp or test now? with or without toothpaste/water? what is a fair test? am i barmy? surely it is just a toothbrush?

I waited a few days then could wait no longer. For 3 days I didn't use any toothpaste with the HyG Ionic Brush, just water - I followed the instructions and brushed...and

Well it pains me to say this because I still don't really believe the science but....... my teeth felt excellent! Really shiny and smooth and clean, my mouth felt fresh and clean and no bad breath even with out any added mint!

I've since tried the HyG Ionic Brush with toothpaste and Toothy Tabs and to be really honest, I prefer it alone, it seems to work better.

Would I have bought it from the product blurb?...no way! It sounds ridiculous. Would I buy one now?....well yes because it really does appear to super clean my teeth! So camping or not, I'd say it's worth a shot if you need a new tooth brush.

A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles Gordy

The hyG toothbrush costs £10.25 and is available from John Bell and Croyden, independent health food shops, independent pharmacies and dentists. It is also available online from www.pharmacy2U.co.uk, www.freshbreathonline.co.uk and www.natural-alternative-products.co.uk

Just a reminder..

2011-06-10T18:54:00.000+01:00

That Vosene are still giving away fabulous prizes in their competitions based around the theme of families and this month the prize is........

Your very own chef!!

and still the chance to win a fabulous family holiday - so mosey on over to http://www.vosenefamilies.co.uk/ and see what you need to do....cameras at the ready!!

Good Luck!

Magpie Monday - Mr Tattooed Mummy strikes again

2011-06-06T20:36:00.000+01:00

What a nice chair, how delightful to have it for the new computer chair, fits beautifully into the office/spare room that houses the futon and the computer (and freecycled TV and PS1)

It's slightly smaller than a usual chair so fits just right. And Mr Tattooed Mummy (who found the bargain) also sanded it and distressed it.

What a lovely Magpie find for Magpie Monday. Do go and look at the others....

The Painting of the Tent

2011-06-05T15:12:00.001+01:00

After finding advice online I decided to risk painting my tatty, second hand, poly cotton tent. I used fabric paints (Dylon make them and there are other brands) after I painted on the design it was left to dry, and then I ironed each painted section of the tent on the hottest setting the tent would stand to fix the dye. Once dried and ironed I sprayed over each painted area with Fabsil waterproofer (you can see what looks like a wet patch around the painted areas, it dries clear and invisible) and now all I need to do is test the tent in the rain!

Wish us luck! The tent will make it's debut at Camp Bestival this year.

Phase 2 of tent painting

2011-06-01T11:21:00.000+01:00

thinking i could give tracey emin a run for her money!

Painting the tent. Part 1

2011-05-30T17:19:00.000+01:00

just going up into the loft to fnd Barry and bring him to the garage to be decorated. According to online sources i can use fabric dye/paint as normal on a cotton or polycotton tent, as long as i spray the treated bits with Fabsil afterwards. Even though Barry was only £20 on ebay i'm still a little nervous to be honest. We are going with some random 'festivally' patterns, first stop, the 'door' with some coloured spirals. Wish me (us - as DD is helping) luck!

Giveaway!! Do you like it frequently? (I like it every day)

2011-05-26T13:00:00.001+01:00

If you like it frequently then this giveaway is for you!

But first a little preamble….

As you will know, I’m a mummy and I blog, but I don’t think of myself as a “mummy blogger” – to me (and I’m almost certainly wrong!) a ‘mummy blogger’ is a SAHM who has 3 or 4 kids under the age of 5, she works hard to keep a house running, entertains children and blogs at 11pm when she finally has 10 minutes to herself on the laptop. She takes blogging seriously because she might not always get out into the real world everyday, she blogs well, and regularly, mostly about her family and children. She also goes to mums groups and has a life that is mostly centered around young children and other mummies. (don’t be offended I’m sure you are not all the same!)

I on the other hand, am a WOHM and my husband is our 11 year olds main carer (he has been since I went back to work when she was a year). I work full time, am a ‘mummy’ at evenings and weekends, and take DD camping a lot! I have no social life around other mums, my colleagues are nearly all younger than me and childless, I chat mummy stuff online only. I am, however, a ‘mummy taxi’ at weekends.

I blog about whatever pops into my head (which is why you are reading a rambling internal monologue..) , and I blog only when I feel like it – pretty spasmodically. Of course I sometimes blog about family stuff because I love my family, families are important.

Some of us create our own families (by marrying and/or having children) some cling to the family we were born into, some are lucky enough to have both and maybe even a huge extended family. For some families are pets or friends that we have known for so long and are so close to that we are now forever connected.

Vosene contacted me a while ago due to my headlice obsession. And since then they have been generous in giving gifts for blog giveaways, they have been sweet about keeping in touch too.

Vosene are also keen on families, if you haven’t entered their competition yet there is still time.

And now, stop waffling I hear you yell! Get with it – what free thing can we have? Give it to us! And give it to us frequently…..

Well it so happens that giving it to you frequently, ( in the shower would be my choice), is exactly what I plan to do. If you want to be soothed, silky and generally soaped up and clean on a frequent basis then this giveaway is for you!

I have 20 full size bottles of Vosene Frequent wash anti dandruff shampoo to giveaway and all you need to do to claim a bottle is to let me have your email address (via my Contacts page or via Twitter DM) and comment here to tell me your favourite thing to do frequently!

First 20 commenters will be able to do it daily!

#silentsunday

2011-05-22T10:49:00.000+01:00

#MagpieMonday another #Freecycle Delight

2011-05-16T21:21:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie this week. A fabulous freecycle bargain (ie it was FREE!)

We needed a spare bed for the guest room which until now have been used as an office, in fact it will still be an office and I'm sitting in it now typing this, but sometimes we'd like to utilise it for what it was designed, a guest bedroom.

I saw someone offering a futon on freecycle. 'In good condition' well i was sceptical but asked politely and was offered the futon. When I went to collect it i was very pleased to see it was in nearly new condition! Had a lovely cream cover (removable and washable) and was really just what we wanted.

It fits in the room beautifully, and gives us the perfect sofa to sit and watch our freecycled 2nd TV :-)

Posted very late as part of

Run Free little dog : Jeep 16th July 1999 - 5th May 2011

2011-05-06T09:26:00.002+01:00

IF IT SHOULD BE

If it should be that I grow weak

And pain should keep me from my sleep,

Then you must do what must be done,

For this last battle cannot be won.

You will be sad, I understand.

Don't let your grief then stay your hand.

For this day, more than all the rest,

Your love for me must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years.

What is to come can hold no fears.

You'd not want me to suffer so;

The time has come -- please let me go.

Take me where my need they'll tend,

And please stay with me till the end.

Hold me firm and speak to me,

Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time that you will see

The kindness that you did for me.

Although my tail its last has waved,

From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Please do not grieve -- it must be you

Who had this painful thing to do.

We've been so close, we two, these years;

Don't let your heart hold any tears.

--- Anonymous ---

I have had Jeep since she was 8 weeks old and I was 6 months pregnant. She has grown up with my DD. Jeep has always been a well behaved, slightly odd and adorable dog.

Jeep had had a brain tumour diagnosed back in October which had been kept in check with daily steroids, but she had a sudden turn for the worse yesterday, with confusion, pacing and twitching, and some incontinence. We didn't want to keep her here 'just for us' and it was hard to see her so upset. She had a huge tea (!) and at the vets she was still hungry enough to munch on fish snacks, in fact she was so busy snacking she didn't notice the injection, and died with a mouthful, the perfect way to go for a Border Terrier.

Voting

2011-05-05T09:22:00.003+01:00

9 friends are off to the cinema. (Adam, Brian, Colin, David, Ethel, Freda, Geraldine, Hilda, Isobel) and they can’t decide which of the 4 movies to see. They have a choice of Horror, Comedy, a 3d Cartoon or Romance.

Adam, Brian, Isobel and Colin all want to see the horror, David and Ethel want to see the comedy, Freda, and Geraldine want to see the Romance, Hilda wants to see the cartoon. They all want to go and see a movie together though (even though it’s a multiplex). Adam, Brian, Isobel and Colin say that their votes are the most so everyone should see the horror. But the others argue that that would mean that 5 of them would watch a movie they don’t want to see! It’s obvious that Hilda is on her own, so they ask her what would her 2nd choice movie be. Hilda picks the comedy. The others are annoyed now – there is still a split, although romance is now the clear runner up. So they ask Freda and Geraldine too for a 2nd choice. Freda picks comedy too, and Geraldine ums and ahs but finally plumps for the horror.

There are now over 50% of the friends wanting to see the horror. They go and see it. Geraldine and Freda agree it was rubbish, next time Geraldine will vote for comedy. If things are the same next time, her vote will swing it for the comedy.

We use the alternative vote all the time, we usually don’t even notice.

They argued about the popcorn too – but luckily there was only a choice of salty or sweet, and in a choice of two, the majority vote works fine, and even though Adam didn’t want popcorn, it turned out that most people wanted sweet……

Magpie Monday - the overload edition

2011-05-02T09:15:00.001+01:00

My parents are staying for the Bank Holiday weekend and as my mum taught me all I know about charity shop shopping and bargain hunting it was inevitable that we would spend a morning trawling local charity shops.

Despite only a two hour reconnaissance we have an impressive haul! I told her that her bargains should be included on the blog too. so first up are my mum's goodies.

She bought two pairs of shoes (she's loving wedge heels now they are back 'in' - I'm jealous I can't wear heels due to my CMT)

She bought a cat print fun fur jacket as she's envious of mine ;-)

She also bought this lovely embroidered and beaded bag, originally from Accesorize, which I spotted and she nabbed while I was deciding if I needed another handbag!

A skirt and top, the skirt is linen and the top is a Jaeger one

Two very pretty bowls, the china one to be a soap dish (it is just the right size) , it's very delicate and cute, the glass one she has no idea what to use for but in true Magpie style, she bought it because she liked it!

And then the goodies I bought (which actually are not as awesome)

First I was attracted the suave good looks and roguish moustache of Ian Stewart , unable to resist his 50's charms I bought him to play on my retro portable record player.

I bought a teacup and saucer for Mr Tattooed Mummy with the witty slogan, "I don't go to the Gym - I garden" which is very appropriate.

I bought a small bag for myself featuring My Little Pony - it's quirky and odd and is a source of embarrassment to DD so my work as a parent is going well.

I found the perfect match for a previously found and adored pyrex bowl (see here) so was very happy with that.

I bought two annuals for DD at 50p each (cheaper than a comic!) and she was thrilled.

And I scored a copy of the SIMs (deluxe edition) for PC which I haven't tried but have always wanted to - for £1

So all in all a fine haul. How did you fare? was there a drought? or a flood of great bargains in your life this week?

Posted as part of Magpie Monday over at

Oh and after last weeks tale of amazement - we saw, (but didn't buy) these!!

And a Trip to Brighton, that wasn't work

2011-04-26T12:59:00.000+01:00

So sunny we went to Brighton as Tourists on my day off last week, We went on the pier, ate seafood, and generally did touristy stuff.

DD and I went on the roller coasters at the end of the pier - I screamed like a girl and it was fabulous. DD was thrilled that one of them had a loop and as she had never been on an inversion coaster before she was beside herself with excitement. We went on, sat at the front and loved it! she wanted to do it again, but at £4 each I called it a day.

Here are some pics from our day. What is Mr Tattooed Mummy looking at?!

Magpie Monday and the further adventures of Mr Tattooed Mummy

2011-04-25T09:18:00.000+01:00

So, last week I blogged this, as a link up to Magpie Monday. (If you didn't see it - pop over to have a read - the rest of this is only amazing if you know the back story)

And some bright spark told Mr TM 'he needed one for coffee'. Now we don't drink instant coffee, we have the real deal and it lives in the fridge in an airtight container, so I thought no more about this silly idea.....but Mr TM did not forget.

On Thursday we went to Chicester to row on the canal

(which is lovely and well worth a visit) and after an hour of lovely rowing (in a boat, with oars - not arguing!) , watching ducks, herons and water rodents we had a picnic and then strolled into the town. Unable to resist the lureof a charity shop (Chichester has many) we wandered into a few and Mr TM had (unknown to DD and I) his eyes peeled.......

So! after a trip to the Scope shop, and for the grand total of £4 we are now the proud owners of..............drum roll.............. three matching lidded jars!

but that ladies and gentlemen is only the beginning, for this jar was part of a set......

Including an actual sugar bowl

a small shallow unlidded bowl of no clear purpose (currently holding our dishcloth)

and last but not least two matching mugs!

So that's it! he wins again! I may as well give up! and he's forbidden to buy any more of these jars EVEN if he does see another one! Where are they from? who made them? are they local? we don't know! There is no makers mark! any ideas welcomed.

Posted for

What have we been doing in the sun?

2011-04-24T10:40:00.003+01:00

Well we went to Marwell Zoo which was amazing and lovely.

The space the animals have there is great and the giraffe (our favourite animal ...almost) were roaming round a water hole almost as if they were 'at home' in Africa, on such a hot day we could be forgiven for thinking we were actually there!

We ate delicious Buffalo burgers while watching the buffalo (I loved that!) and we ate icecream while staring at sleeping tigers.

We sniggered at sleeping tapirs, and looked at the pigmy hippo grazing.

Rhinos amongst the blossom, and otters nibbling crab claws.

The day could not have been better! and we even have a new favourite animal, the fossa, slinky streak of madagascan killing machine that he is!

So if you want a day out with too much to do - I recomend Marwell! Simples.

Oh I nearly forgot - buy your tickets online for 5% discount AND avoid the queue to get in when you arrive!!

(Amazingly this post is not sponsored! LOL)

Silent Sunday

2011-04-24T07:08:00.001+01:00

Donkeys are cute - and I have one to give away!

2011-04-23T17:40:00.001+01:00

DD receives some scrumptious gifts at her birthday parties. Last year she was given a Stitch-it Donkey Kit, by not one but two people! and it was great fun to make! Simple sewing (so no sewing the wrong side and turning it inside out - just stitch and stuff!) and he is green (my favourite colour)

So we made one and toyed with the idea of making the second but then we thought, why not give him away! there are so many crafty bloggers (with and without kids) out there - I 'm sure one of you would love it! It's suitable for children aged 8 and up, and obviously the grown ups are welcome to try to win it and have a sew too!

2 things though, his ears are too sort to be a donkey in my opinion! and we used stick on googly eyes instead of sewing them, but otherwise ours was as he should be :-)

So what must you do to win such a fun treasure? well sadly you must live in the UK (it's me paying the postage!) or be prepared to pay the postage if you are that keen!!

and then you need to tell me in 20 words or less why you want to win him, Simples!!

And the winner is @Summer_Faery selected by

Magpie Monday

2011-04-17T11:36:00.002+01:00

Finally! only a few weeks late I have the post that is here to show you that not only mummies do Magpie Monday.

For these goodies were aquired at local charity shops (for local people) by none other than Mr Tattooed_Mummy!

He was on the look out for a container for the washing up brush ( we are a dishwasher free house hold - how retro) when he found this

Which I agree was very pretty and suited the kitchen. He planned to discard the lid and use the container, but then the same day after finding this gem (for less than £2) he found this!

which was instantly put to use, leaving the pretty lidded pot with no job! How lucky then, that I needed a new sugar pot!

Now Mr Tattooed_Mummy was very proud of his bargain purchases (both under £2) and flushed with his success he came home yesterday with a a treat for me.

While out with DD he had spotted another little something, that he couldn't resist.....

What were the chances! so now we have a matching tea container....watch this space, as Mr Tattooed_Mummy becomes a confirmed Magpie!

Posted as Part of Magpie Monday - at Me and my Shadow

I'm just not that into you ......the Nokia E5

2011-04-13T14:49:00.006+01:00

How I love the power of Twitter. Two weeks ago I sent a random tweet

and quickly received a reply with the offer from @WOMWorldNokia to test a smart phone.

The smart phone they sent me (sadly for two weeks only) was the Nokia E5

Now I don't need to bore you with the details of the features, as they are all on the website and several people have done amazing reviews already which I really cannot improve upon. So this review is a personal one.

First impressions. The phone looks like a Blackberry- or maybe the Blackberry looks like the Nokia, who knows! :-). It's smart. Easy to use straight from the box. I'd like to stress that bit - I opened the box, popped in the battery and my sim, turned it on and within 10 minutes had everything set up and raring to go. OK I'll be honest - within 5 minutes I was tweeting

So I was very impressed! The qwerty keyboard was easy to use despite it's size and intuitive too, with keys for adding symbols, changing case, and the common symbols (full stops and question marks) having dedicated keys.

The phone also has shedloads (technical term) of exciting business stuff, it has email (of course) and a little Office suite but although I poked about in them, I didn't really use them.

It does lack a dedicated Twitter app, opting instead for a link to mobile twitter, so I added an internet bookmark (easy to do) to dabr and installed Snaptu, two twitter thingies that I use on my current samsung 'Non-Smart' Phone. Snaptu works better on the Nokia, and so does Dabr - as the twitpic uploader actually works!

Which leads nicely to the 5mp camera, great pics, nice video, no reason to lug a camera around with you unless you really want to. I tested the camera a London Zoo, and even though the Nokia has a flash I was a little disappointed with how it handled indoor shots, like many cheap cameras it seemed confused by backlight, and refused to flash even when I tried the override option. That said the outdoor pictures were amazing and many of the indoor shots were at least as good as my usual camera.

While in London DD and I tried the GPS which is great! Very clear and easy to understand, it doesn't favour allowing walking routes through parks! Preferring instead that you walk via roads, so best to be used as a satnav in the car only but on the whole the maps, directions and rapid ability to pinpoint your location was good. (as an aside, there is a weather link i n the GPS suite of programs, and it links direct to the weather where you are! too funny, the lovely phone seems to think I can't just look! - of course I can ask it to look elsewhere too)

I haven't tested the wifi, now you'll all think I'm rubbish but I work and have no wifi at home so chances were few to test it - at Victoria station I found Free Public Access Wifi but couldn't connect...maybe me, maybe the phone, I don't know, but we failed to do it. There there little Nokia don't cry.....

I could play Youtube videos pretty easy even over the 3G connection, and the big memory meant that I could have numerous apps open at once with no problem (this I like a lot)

The Phone also utilises it's flash as a useful torch when the space bar is held for any length of time, great for finding a lost stick insect in the dark bedroom with out waking hubby.

but......I was warned that the Nokia used a different OS to everyone else, and it doesn't let me use flash, it wouldn't let me play BBC News videos on the BBC site which was annoying. And the biggest annoyance of all............the Nokia sulks, it randomly froze and restarted itself!! Often mid Tweet! and when I googled the issue it seems I am not alone, lots of them are prone to the same trouble. A glitch that definitely needs sorting.

and as for Battery life - well you all know I'm a twitter addict, I spend most of my phone time tweeting, a bit internet surfing, some texting and rarely use it to make calls. A day in London using twitter, camera and GPS was too much for the Nokia E5 and it gave up at about 6pm on the train home. The battery life is far better than my samsung, but can't keep up with my internet use.

That said, the phone is slick looking, business like, grown up, has lots of good points and is not too expensive for a smart phone. Also the screen resolution is pin sharp! very nice! Would I buy one? No. Not because there is anything wrong with the phone (except the rebooting issue) but because despite the keyboard it was difficult to type as fast as I can on my Samsung, mainly due to the upright style (I like to type with 2 thumbs).

So sorry little Nokia, but I'm just not that into you, it's not you though, it's me. :-)

I'll still miss you when I send you back tomorrow though.....

The Zoo, Herons and Vosene

2011-04-05T13:43:00.002+01:00

You will recall that I have blogged about nits and headlice on occasion. I have a child and therefore it seems, I cannot go through life with out scratching and combing and nitty nora style exploring sometimes.

I'm assuming that this obsession with the louse is what led the lovely people at Vosene to find my blog. I had a giveaway a while ago for their Tea Tree oil shampoo that is designed to fool and repel the wee bitey beasties and so far it seems to be working......

But not content with the shampoo sample those sweet people at Vosene invited me (and some other lovely mummies) to London Zoo to see the new products in the range, some new products that are on the drawing board (I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you) and to tell us of their fantastic new competition, because if there is one thing that Vosene love (nearly as much as they love clean hair!) it's FAMILIES

So if you would like to WIN an enormous prize for you and your family do pop over to their site and join in, lots of smaller prizes too.

I would like to thank Vosene for a fab day, there were things to do for the kids, food (CAKE!) and then a lovely wander around London Zoo afterwards, I took some pictures so you can see the fun we had.

Herons in Regents Park

Boo Hiccup the Magician - DD was enthralled by the close up magic while @PippaD's wee boy giggled like a loon at the 'naughty ferret' LOL

There was dressing up

More Magic

Cookie Decorating (and eating)

Cake!

Face painting

and animals of all shapes and sizes!

Silent Sunday

2011-04-03T14:26:00.000+01:00

Mothering Sunday

2011-04-03T14:10:00.000+01:00

My lovely DD has written me a poem and said I can share it with you. It is wonderful and made me all smiley and teary at the same time. I'm lucky to have such a sweetheart (remind me I typed that next time I'm close to strangling her)

and the silly bit? well maybe she had this in mind - a polaroid from yesterday's trip to London Zoo courtesy of Vosene (more of that later)

Hope all mothers (and those doing the job of mothering) have a lovely day today.

Last night I got out of bed and padded into the tiny room we call the library...

2011-03-29T10:02:00.000+01:00

I went into the box room (grandly titled 'The Library' due to it's being floor to ceiling shelved and filled with books) because one of my author friends(?) heroes(?) crushes (?) all of those(?) @AndyStantonTM had asked a question about grammar in the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and I knew I had a copy and could check.

I checked and then of course I lay in bed and read a little, and found myself thinking of the recent riots (which I have trouble sorting in my mind, are people rioting for *more* state involvement in their lives?) when I read this...

Ignorance is Strength

Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other --
.

'Julia, are you awake?' said Winston.

'Yes, my love, I'm listening. Go on. It's marvellous.'

He continued reading:

. The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim -- for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives -- is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal. Thus throughout history a struggle which is the same in its main outlines recurs over and over again. For long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice. As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position of servitude, and themselves become the High. Presently a new Middle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. Of the three groups, only the Low are never even temporarily successful in achieving their aims. It would be an exaggeration to say that throughout history there has been no progress of a material kind. Even today, in a period of decline, the average human being is physically better off than he was a few centuries ago. But no advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimetre nearer. From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters.

I went to bed sad, I'm still sad. Sorry folks, what sort of crappy blog post is this! I'd ask for your money back if I were you.

If you want to read more, the entire novel is online here for free

Perils of the older child and Sleep Overs

2011-03-18T13:54:00.000+01:00

I wrote some time ago now about being Nemo's Dad and the protective neurotic you become when you have a child. How it's a fine line between protection and stifling a child, and how hard it can be to find a balance.

Now my DD is 11 years old. She walks to school alone, she goes to call for friends alone, she goes to the shops alone. She also still does a lot of things with us as a family. She has yet to catch a bus or a train alone for example.

When I was 11 I did all these things too. And also, now she is older, she has friends where we don't know the parents. Not don't know them very well, but don't know them at all, have never seen them, don't even know their names.

So last night a long phone call from a friend resulted in 'Mum can I go for a sleep over at Ophelia's house?' (names changed to protect the innocent) and I stopped and thought.........

well why not, she goes out a lot by herself, she plays with this girl at school....

but....

I don't know the family, at all. I have never met the mum, I have never seen the house, I don't even know where it is! DH has seen the house once when he gave Ophelia a lift home from a tea at our house once (her mum obviously trusts US!) but that's it.

I guess I just need to ring the mum and confirm the arrangements and try and assess from a phone call that all will be OK.

I asked on Twitter what people thought. And in response to a Question - Would you allow your 11yo daughter to go for a sleepover with parents you didn't know? and if not how would you go about 'vetting' those parents? I got many and varied answers! ranging from

Never! I would have to know the parents well

No, I would meet them over coffee first

I would ring them and chat on the phone.

I would facebook them (I don't have facebook and besides that I don't know the mum's name!)

Yeah, there comes an age when you can't know all the parents

Yeah if she's happy to go

Yes it will be fine, just check the mum knows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I'm none the wiser, I guess that DD will go, I guess there will be a phone call, I guess all will be fine. What would you do?

With a song in my heart.....

2011-03-13T17:35:00.001+01:00

So it's nearly time for Magpie Monday over at the blog of Me and My Shadow again, and it seems I'm always either early or not there at all! So this week I'm here at the party and early too.

And what a party it is! This week's Magpie Monday find was gained completely free via the amazing Freecycle Network. I'm not often lucky enough to get the things that are offered that I really want but this week, well just look

The young among you will think it's a suitcase, in fact the older amongst you may also think that unless you had one of these retro delights.

Once opened all is revealed!

Yes! It is a record player! A tiny and gorgeous portable player of musical discs! And it works perfectly!

Cue hours of sifting through a terrible and embarassing collection of 45s ranging from old Chuck Berry's, original Elvis tunes (are you lonesome?) and onto the 1970s and 1980s with Roxy Music, City Boy,Scritti Politti and even some George Michael!

I have had a very enjoyable musical afternoon, listening to 'proper' music, complete with hum, clicks, scratches and glowing diodes.

I am old, nostalgic and very happy. What a super magpie find.

Do you still have any records? Want to come round and dance in my bedroom?

Written for Magpie Monday

Getting Fruity!

2011-03-02T14:33:00.000+01:00

A fortnight ago (that's 2 weeks for my American readers) my Darling Daughter asked me to buy starfruit. She had had some once, long ago at school when they had a 'tasting day' and had liked it. I also like starfruit, so I bought one.

For those not in the know, it looks like this

and once sliced it is obvious why it is so named

I described it as tasting like a cross between an apple and a lemon, but the one

I had was a little green :-). Any way the starfruit came home, was sliced, and DD took a tentative nibble before declaring, "I don't really like it, it wasn't like this at school". So I ate the starfruit.

This week she requested I buy a pomegranate. "Do you really like them?" I asked, "Yes, I love them, we should have them all the time!" "OK"

So I bought a pomegranate and presented it at breakfast

DD "what's that?"

Me "A Pomegranate"

DD "oh, OK"

I opened the pomegranate, i lovingly separated the pearls of ruby delights (stolen phrase from twitter) and gave her some in a bowl. A tentative nibble, some mumbles, some discussion of if eating seeds would kill us. Finally........

Me "you didn't mean pomegranate did you? this isn't what you were expecting?"

DD "nope"

Me "what were you expecting?"

DD "a round purple thing, when you cut it, it's orange inside and squishy with black seeds that you spit out"

Me "ah"

Quick trip to Twitter to ask

Turns out she meant Passion Fruit!

So today I am eating pomegranate.

Who knows, soon I may be eating passion fruit.

Retro Goodies and a kitchen of delights

2011-02-26T12:52:00.007+01:00

On Friday I took a day off work, the lovely horse mad DD had a 'Pony Day' at the local stables, so lovely DH and I wandered around some charity shops. We laughed at the oddities, sneered at the self help books, bought some art books....and then, I saw....this

well what's a girl to do? it was so pretty and my pyrex dish had recently succumbed to unexplained damage, so I practically 'needed' it. £2.45 and it was mine! Oh the joy, I found I was really really happy to own it. I mentally shouted at myself "get a grip! you are not a 1950s housewife to be thrilled by kitchenware!" but it was no use. I love it.

After someone on twitter mentioned there was a blog that dealt with lovely finds in charity shops I decided to blog about it, but also to look around and see what else I had 'collected', magpie fashion, over the years...

The first thing i realised was that we inherited a lot of stuff. The very plates, cups, bowls etc that we use on a daily basis are pretty retro...

and the eagle eyed will have also seen, that along with the Chelsea Bird themed crockery there is a recipe book, a retro recipe book ('old' for the un-trendy). It is a book from 1968, by the amazing Marguerite Patten, called simply 'Everyday Cookbook' and it's a gem. I inherited it from my mother in law and as I gazed at the pages I realised that I owned many things that were in the book, and used them in my everyday cooking too!

So here are some examples, pictures of the item, with the book opened on the relevant page, see how good you are at spotting

This first one, the scales, I found in the same charity shop as the pretty lidded roaster. And even though I already have a set of scales like this (and yes I use them to weigh stuff they are not just for show) I couldn't resist buying them, they were too cheap, too shiny, too pretty (I am a magpie!)

This next item once had a lid but DD broke it (sad face) I inherited it from my mother in law as well and the exact same dish is used several times in Marguerite's cook book. Semi claim to fame.

This coffee cup (one of a set) is inherited from my Grandmother, they are so delicate you can see light through them, I rarely use them because I prefer a mug, but they really are lovely.

And of course not kitchen is complete without a mixing bowl

And while I was looking at the cook book i thought how it was so sweet in what were 'new' foods (oh the exotic avocado!) and what a kitchen should look like

Now I think I'm doing quite well, my kitchen is fairly 'domestic goddess' like

but then I saw that the late 60's early 70's wasn't all about the food....

So I was pleased to declare I use this next thing, a lot :-)

Anyone for Baby Cham?

Posted as part of Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday

Post Script - I just searched Ebay for "Chelsea Bird" and was shocked! maybe I should stop eating off of 1930's plates and sell them! (then I could buy up all the pyrex/opalware)

The new lidded roaster I bought is listed there for £20 so i feel even happier now!

The Totally Truthful Memetastic Award

2011-02-01T14:26:00.001+01:00

It appears I have been tagged. By someone I thought was a friend, now I wonder.....

thanks Julie although maybe she's not entirely to blame, after all, she was tagged by Jillsmo

with this silly meme

and here are the rules

1. You must proudly display the absolutely disgusting graphic that I have created for these purposes (put it in your post, you don’t have to put it in your sidebar, I think that would seriously be asking too much). It’s so bad that not only did I use COMIC SANS, but there’s even a little jumping, celebrating kitten down there at the bottom.It’s horrifying! But its presence in your award celebration is crucial to the memetastic process we’re creating here. If you need a higher resolution version… I totally have one!!
2. You must list 5 things about yourself, and 4 of them must be bold-faced lies. Just make some shit up, we’ll never know; one of them has to be true, though. Of course, nobody will ever know the difference, so we’re just on the honor system here. I trust you. Except for the 4 that you lied about, you lying bastards! But don’t go crazy trying to think of stuff.
3. You must pass this award on to 5 bloggers that you either like or don’t like or don’t really have much of an opinion about. I don’t care who you pick, and nobody needs to know why. I mean, you can give a reason if you want, but I don’t really care.”

so with out further ado, have a guess

I once came home from a 'vicars and tarts' party on the tube and was propositioned by someone who thought I was a prostitute.
I am really a man, but I blog and tweet as a woman because it's easier and more acceptable to make friends that way. The photos I post are my wife, and our daughter.
I'm allergic to carnations.
I was once caught having sex with my boyfriend in some woods, by an old man walking his dog.
I was a competitor on the Chris Moyles Show's phone in game 'Car Park Catchphrase' but I didn't win.

so now I can tag...and I tag

Mamacrow cos I love her

Marley the dog! cos he is funnier than funny

Not Drowning Mothering the blog that makes me wee laughing

Very Bored in Catalunya because she is lovely

Christine at Thinly Spread just because

In which our hero rants (again) this time about about song lyrics...

2011-01-24T11:24:00.001+01:00

I don't know about you but for a me a song is more about the lyrics than the tune. I'd say 70% lyrics to 30% music maybe. The lyrics need not be cheerful, or even 'nice' but I like them to make sense and be reasonable. I love the song by Eminem about a horrible subject, a song of domestic abuse of both parties caught in a hideous cycle of harm, of a man lying to himself, knowing he can't stop and woman caught up with confusion as to what is pain and what is love, the subject is horrible but the lyrics and the entire song are beautiful, so tragic. My favourite song of all time is 'If you go away' and I prefer the Marc Almond version, I love the song of loss and of love, a song that realises that sometimes people leave and if they do then you will be sad....

But a song of late, that is getting right up my nose, is the current UK number 1 (good grief!) by Bruno Mars. He just doesn't get it does he? He sounds like a stalker in this song! he sounds like a freak, a weirdo a truly scary person to know, and I don't care how catchy the tune is, the lyrics frankly scare me! Let's analyse them a bit.

Easy come, easy go
That's just how you live, oh > OK her choice I guess, a fairly laid back young lady.
Take, take, take it all,
But you never give
Should of known you was trouble from the first kiss, > OK so you knew she wasn't for you from the 1st but you gave it a bash anyway
Why were they open?
Gave you all I had
And you tossed it in the trash
You tossed it in the trash, you did
To give me all your love is all I ever asked,> well you can ask to be loved but you know you can't force someone to love you, she obviously thought you were fun and that was all.
Cause what you don't understand is > and here we get weird
I’d catch a grenade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah) >ignoring your blatant use of 'ya' when you mean 'you' (I'd dump you for that alone) you sound a tad odd, where would you see us, and in what situation that you'd need to catch a grenade? are you taking me to Afghanistan?
Throw my hand on a blade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah) > self harming is not big or clever, what is the point of this weird offer?
I’d jump in front of a train for ya (yeah, yeah , yeah) > inconvenience hundreds of commuters for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah) . except take 'I don't want to go out with you any more' as a clear indication of my feelings it seems
Oh, oh
I would go through all this pain, . that you are creating! no one else, just you you idiot!
Take a bullet straight through my brain, > in the light of what recently happened in the US this is just crass and bad taste
Yes, I would die for ya baby; > by this part of the song I'm actually wishing you would, maybe it would shut you up!
But you won't do the same > no because she's got some sense! She doesn't want to go out with you - move on!

No, no, no, no
Black, black, black and blue beat me till I'm numb > don't tempt me
Tell the devil I said “hey” when you get back to where you're from
Mad woman, bad woman,
That's just what you are, yeah,
You’ll smile in my face then rip the brakes out my car . give her some credit she is trying to rid herself of this obsessive stalker..
Gave you all I had
And you tossed it in the trash

(chorus - I won't make you suffer it again)

If my body was on fire, ooh
You’ d watch me burn down in flames > while dancing and singing and rejoicing that she no longer needs the restraining order
You said you loved me you're a liar . no she just realised what a freak you actually were
Cause you never, ever, ever did baby...
(whining til fade)

why we blog

2011-01-20T21:44:00.003+01:00

Once upon a time blogging was a simple thing. Blogs were like online diaries, notes to self, there wasn't much call for fancy fonts, little use for photos and design choice was limited to black on white or white on blue. Blogs have evolved, they flash, dance and even sing on occasion, but do they say any more? do you still blog for the same reasons that you started blogging? What is your blog *for*? Why do you blog? i think i still blog mainly for me, but i'm aware that 'you' are out there too, maybe even reading.

Ranty Ranty Rant (in which our hero rants)

2011-01-19T13:31:00.001+01:00

So NetMums has annoyed me. An article in the news says that they did a survey and mothers admitted to ‘lying’ about how much quality time they spend with their kids, what they cook and feed their children and how much TV they allow kids to watch. Etc etc

The reason for this lying is apparently to keep up with other parents, and the moral is that we can all relax as everyone is lying.

This makes me angry on 2 counts. Number 1 is pretty obvious to anyone that knows me and it’s because I don’t lie, and neither does my hubby, I include him because he’s the stay at home parent in our house, he’s the one that cooks DDs meals from scratch (I recently taught him Bolognese sauce! LOL) and he’s the one that sits with DD to do homework, the one that helps, encourages and listens while she practices her clarinet. I’m the one that drives her to horse riding, bakes muffins with her, takes her to her music lessons ( and yes @themardyarse I admit it – we have middle class pursuits and you know what? I don’t care!) which leads me on to the second reason it annoys me. (to be fair, it annoys NetMums too and it’s part of what the are saying but not all, because they are happy to assume everyone lies, which as I’ve pointed out, they don’t!)

I’m annoyed because of the reason parents supposedly feel compelled to lie. Once again it’s to feel good about themselves. Parents that lie are lying because they see their parenting as substandard, and they lie to sound closer to the ideal parent. Well here is a newsflash

THERE IS NO PERFECT PARENT

Really, we are all learning and all our kids are different , we, and they, are all individuals. Maybe your kid watches TV from when they get in until bedtime every day, maybe you are a vegetarian and they only eat organic, maybe you breastfed for 6 years or you formula fed from birth, maybe you work and your kid goes to breakfast club, maybe your 11yo has a TV in the bedroom or you have no TV in the house. IT DOESN’T MATTER!! We all love our kids, we all do the best we can for them and for us. As Janet street Porter said today on Radio 4 “There is your way and there is the wrong way” there is always someone ready to bash your choices, always a ‘study’ somewhere to show you are ‘parenting wrongly’ so get a grip, DON’T LIE be proud that you are a parent, a parent who may struggle, may yell, may use the TV as a babysitter so you can get time for a shower, a parent that may (shock) allow a toddler to share your bed because it means you all get to sleep. Whatever you do, if it works for you and your child be proud of it! Stop lying!

Admit you are awesome. You are mainly awesome because you read to the end of this ranty piece of crap. Now leave a comment and you will explode with awesomeness

Birth Plans, journey to the future

2011-01-07T14:29:00.001+01:00

When you are pregnant you may find people suggest you write a ‘birth plan’. This will list all your wants, your desires and plans for your perfect birth. It may list ‘no drugs’ or ‘water birth’, it may specify ‘husband to be present through out’ or ‘don’t let my mother in!’. Your wishes and desires from the extremely medical ‘I do not with for an epidural’ or ‘I do not want an episiotomy’ to the weird and wonderful ‘I would prefer only blue towels if my baby is a boy’, will be written out and probably discussed with your midwife or healthcare provider. Your midwife will probably have input and suggestions too, mine pointed out things I’d added that were irrelevant as they were not done in the UK any way (I grabbed a birth plan template online and as we know, the ‘net is American!) and then finally the master plan is complete. You can rest easy knowing all is prepared…..

I was lucky, I followed my birth plan, nothing went wrong, nothing deviated from my plan, hubby was pleased as he found that when he was asked (as I was, but I was shouting just get the f*cking baby out!) whether a student could come and witness the birth of our daughter, he could confidently say ‘No, we did specify no students on the birth plan’ he was happy with what I wanted as was able to act on my behalf when all I could do was grunt or swear. ( I had a water birth if you are interested, with a tens machine to start with, before the water! And then gas and air as my only pain relief! Go me!! Haha)

But not all women are so lucky, maybe you asked for a ‘natural birth’ but when the pain kicked in you knew you wanted an epidural, maybe you’d longed for a vaginal birth in a dimly lit room to music, but ended up with a caesarean in a brightly lit theatre (operating theatre obviously – unless you’re a real show off) well don’t despair…

I like to compare the birth plan to a journey plan. If you take a trip you check the map, you look at the best routes, if the journey is long you may plan stops at service stations, or decide to take your own sandwiches. You may write down the major road and towns you will pass through, and then you set off! But oh no! traffic is terrible, you need to divert as the motorway is blocked! The dog weed on the sandwiches so you need an unscheduled stop at a Burger King, and then you realise you pass near a lovely castle and make a detour to see it. At the end of the journey you arrive.

The birth plan and the journey plan are the same, they are a plan, not a blueprint, a plan, a hope for what you would like to happen, it maybe the journey (or the birth ) is different to the plan, maybe worse due to long delays or better due to the detour to look at a view but the end of the journey is reached and you have a baby…..(did I get muddled some where there?)

Don’t feel bad that the M4 was closed at junction 12, or that the birthing pool was in use by another mum, it just happens, plans change. The important thing is you planned and then you got where you needed to go, by the most appropriate method available.

Did you have a birth plan? Did you stick to it? Would you have one again? (I know I would)

Camping in the Spring or Summer

2011-01-06T14:45:00.006+01:00

We had a chat on twitter (which rapidly got out of control as these things do!) about a few of us getting together for a camping trip. Maybe in the spring or the summer holidays for a weekend or even longer. As my daughter is at school it needs to be holiday time. I suggested The Camping and Caravanning Club site at Norman's Bay, Pevensey and this idea met with approval from the people I hoped it would. While the idea of a 'twentup' took off across twitter I held firm to my ideals of a few of us having a wee get together with kids, beer and wine, and maybe a sausage or two.

If you need more info contact me via my contact page. (Contactify Link here) Would be nice to actually make this happen.

And if you can't come to this event but see folk near you on the '#twentup' tag - let them know you are keen and organise more camping trips, you can't have too many tenting trips!

National Camping & Caravanning Week (#NCCW)

May 30 to June 5 this year The Big Pitch!!

Meet up at Norman's Bay - anytime during this Big Pitch Week!!

a load of old........or a stream of conciousness

2011-01-06T14:32:00.000+01:00

last time I blogged it was about secret Santa. we had ours. I didn't get a gift. yeah yeah i know maybe I was just 'too naughty' so Santa left me giftless, but in reality how hard is it? you opt in, you have 4 weeks warning to get the gift, there is a box to put it in. I'm not bitter and twisted* (*I am bitter and twisted) but it's mean. I was not the only person to miss out on a gift there were three of us. So out of approximately 20 people that played 3 people just couldn't be bothered. I wondered if when I returned after the new year the missing gifts would secretly arrive, but no. so there we go. Note to anyone organising a Secret Santa, either take a note of who each person has got to buy for so you can name and shame and maybe brand them or tar and feather them if they fail in their mission, or buy a few extra gifts for any 'no shows'.

I've been tweeting lots as usual and lately a few topics have surfaced. It seems lots of people are happy that Zane Lowe has taken over the Radio 1 Breakfast show but i find him way too over enthusiastic and energetic for the morning slot! playing new music is also fine, but 7am is not the time for big clubbing tunes in my opinion, and yes I am old (thanks to my follower on twitter for pointing that out!) but i like the right show at the right time and breakfast is a time to groan and grumble, to moan and mumble, to make crap jokes and play a few tunes (not too many) so I am longing for Monday and the return of Chris Moyles, my favourite Radio 1 DJ.

The last couple of days on twitter seem to have been all about some odd person enthusing over women that are the size of prepubescent girls, telling all women they are too fat and that anorexia is fun and the way to go for all 'females' (nice he doesn't even state our species he rates us so far below him) Luckily reading through all his tweets it seems he is a bit of a sociopath and has delusions of grandeur so i guess the men in white coats will be along to take him away soon, we can only hope. In the meantime, lest you worried, I'm a (UK) size 14, quite happy with that and am eating at least one cake each time he tweets - I say 'at least' as after I tweeted that idea he tweeted less and I still wanted cake.

Also I was excited on twitter to get a tweet from Rob daBank about Camp Bestival, I already have tickets and am wildly excited to see what acts he is lining up for this year. I have new wellies all ready to go! Last year was fabulous and this year I hope to plan better, catch more music acts and not miss so many comedy and literary events. I'm hoping to lure some of my favourite comedians and children's authors.

My little dog , the one with the brain tumour, is still soldiering on, showing signs of imbalance but no pain or distress so all is good there (all hail the wonder drug prednisolone)

The Archers had a special 60th anniversary 'shock' when Nigel (my favourite charater by far) fell of a roof and rather than end up paralysed in a wheelchair (a great story line that all on twitter seemed keen on) he was killed. This even took away the cosy happy feel to the archers so I'm no longer listening, it was the one 'soap' I still clung to, but seems it has joined the rest with it's depressing and unbelivable story lines.

In other news - today is 12th night and I'm not taking my decorations down until the weekend. This will end in tragedy.

How secret is your Santa?

2010-12-17T14:57:00.001+01:00

Do you have a Secret Santa (aka Brantub) at your place of work? and if so how does it work? I'm really interested to know! (this is a cheat post really because I need you to comment to make it work!)

Do you all draw names from a hat? Do you keep it a 'cut me throat' secret? or is it more of an 'open secret'? or even no secret at all! Do you tell at the point the person opens the gift? or maybe let them wonder and only let the info slip out over time using clues? Maybe you never ever tell.

I've played in many secret Santas and I'll be doing it again this year. Some times I pick the name of a person I really like and then it's hard to keep it a secret, i can't discuss with them what I plan to buy of course, but also it's hard to pretend on the day, if they love the gift i long to shout 'me me it was from me!!' but what if they hate it? or look confused? I want to explain why I chose it or apologise, or maybe hope they never guess it was from me!

But what when you get a name of someone you barely know? To be jokey? or just fall back on chocolates or bath salts!

When I get a gift I'm nervous, what if it's really 'personal' like underwear! Was it from a guy? or a girl that knows me? was it a secret admirer as well as a secret Santa? or the office perv? or my manager! or someone who just knows I'll sweat over who it was from!?

One year I received a mouse mat (I work in IT) with a moulded 'gentlemans parts' on the front that when pressed uttered groans of pleasure. The gift was very 'me'. Rude, funny, clever. But I never found out for sure who it was from, some suggested that it was a young guy that I rather liked at the time, but others that it wasn't. I guess I'll never know!

I once sent saucy underwear to a woman knowing she would think it was from the guy at work that she fancied (he DID NOT fancy her) and she moped about him for weeks after until I told HIM that it was from me, I'm lucky to have escaped with my life I reckon.

What are your best and worst gifts from secret Santa's, both given and received. And do you like Secret Santa? Do you always join in? or sit out with a humbug......

right, that's it, I've had enough!

2010-12-13T16:47:00.000+01:00

So much ridiculous spam, offensive, idiotic, nasty, on this my pretty blog.

So I'm switching the CAPTCHAs back on.

Sorry to all you humans out there! but want to see if it helps.

All I want for Christmas.........

2010-12-09T14:58:00.000+01:00

Recently on Twitter there have been many cries of ‘what can I buy xxxxxx for christmas’ the first thing I thought was xxxxxx is an odd name! and what a coincidence that so many people know xxxxxx!

But moving on, here are some ideas

You’re welcome

Grown Ups

Ladies 1st

Leather gloves (not for vege’s unless you hate them)

Photo frame, or a digital frame/keyring

Hand bag organiser – I have one and I love, love, love it!

Watch – so many gorgeous and funky watches around at the moment.

Bag – anything from a shopper that has sections for photos, to a sparkly evening bag. You can’t have too many

Men

Leather gloves (as above and bigger so they fit men obviously)

Books – some great books available at The Book People

Games, has he an Xbox? A Wii? A DS? Check out some of the new games around

Messenger bag – they all want a man bag, they are just to shy to buy one

Alcohol – unless they are a Mormon this should be a good bet – you can even get personalised beer (which I did last year and is fab!)

Hoodie or T shirt with witty slogan, if it’s actually clever and appropriate they will like it and if not you’ll get a laugh and they can wear it for painting.

Kids (not your own, you really should know what they want! But those extra rugrats you need to buy for)

Dressing up clothes, so many great ones around, at Tesco, Woolworth (online) or ELC and I’m sure lots of other places too

Books – the gift you can open again and again, how about an audio version on CD? Or something a bit gruesome or interactive.

Face Paints

Lego

Board games

This page NOT sponsored in any way - but if anyone wants to send me free stuff that would be a delight! ;-)

feel free to add more ideas in the comments box!

Frozen Friday

2010-12-03T09:08:00.000+01:00

As you will know (if you live in the UK) it has snowed a bit lately. Yesterday i couldn't get in to work. Today I'm braving the snowy wastes in my Ford Ka to have a go at the 20 mile journey. Yesterday I stayed in, and took a few photos. Here are some of them.

Is it wrong I almost wish I was camping in it?

I'm a Twitterholic - don't judge me

2010-11-15T13:41:00.005+01:00

When did you join twitter? (You can find the exact date at bwitterday.com)
I had an account for 6 months or so, which I deleted when hubby said I was addicted. He told me to create a new one when I was so grumpy without twitter! This account was started September 22, 2009

Why did you join twitter?
I didn't want to, it sounded awful and I loved facebook (which I have now deleted! oh fickle online person I am) but Stephen Fry seemed to rate it so I joined to see what it was like.

Who is/was your oldest follower? Who did you follow first? Tell me all about them. (firstfivefollowers.com will give you this info)

The First person I followed was Stephen Fry

My first 5 followers on the new account (so they must have missed me!) were: @saraheadworth @StoatsJackson @ti_bo @LivingWithCMT @JasonBradbury.

Stoats is a lovely cuddly funny guy well worth a follow :-) I have a crush on Jason Bradbury, Ti_bo is a cutie of the nefarious type, the CMT account is a hereditary condition I have too, we share symptoms :-) Sarah is a nice relatively normal person haha

Do you have any celebrities following you or have you ever had a DM from a celeb?

not DMs but lots of @replies (depending on your idea of celebrity I guess!) I've had tweets from Graham Lineham, Alexsander(The Meerkat) , Paul Daniels, Stephen Fry, Chris Moyles, and I chat fairly regularly with Jason Bradbury, Andy Stanton, Matt Kirshen I tend to star them, so check my favourites.

If you could follow anyone who is not on Twitter – alive or dead, real or fictional – on Twitter, who would it be?

would be good to follow a blog of someone really real but also who is secretive in real life or who no one knows much about, God would be great though! But I bet he'd tweet fast

Which came first Twitter or the Blog?

The blog. No readers, but the blog.

Twitterholic on a Desert Island!

2010-11-15T13:26:00.000+01:00

saw this over at http://princessl.co.uk/index.php/2010/10/25/twitterholic-on-a-desert-island/ and I am so going to do it next!!

Twitterholic on a Desert Island!: "

So I have been RUBBISH at memes recently! Sorry folks! I do appreciate the tags, really I do, I just suck! So here we go with a catch up!

The beautiful Beckicklesie tagged me in The Five F’s Meme: I am a Twitterholic

Sadly I can’t do this properly because of my recent change of twitter account *sigh* But I’ll do my best!

When did you join twitter? (You can find the exact date at bwitterday.com)

July 31st 2010 (on my new account), but I think we both know I’ve been about longer than that! I’d guess maybe a year and half…ish…maybe!

Why did you join twitter?

I *think* it was a case of “all the cool kids are doing it” so I thought I’d give it a whirl! When I first started my account I wasn’t sold at all to be honest, I didn’t “get” it, it wasn’t until I found tweetdeck that I got into it and found all the lovely people who have become such amazing friends.

Who is/was your oldest follower? Who did you follow first? Tell me all about them. (firstfivefollowers.com will give you this info)

On my new account they were: @NicsNotebook @Gillian73 @AngelHales @Aliquant and @Singlemummynet

The first person I followed was @Schofe because he is basically a twitter God! And he’s gorgeous and funny and….*ahem* anyway!

Do you have any celebrities following you or have you ever had a DM from a celeb?

Nope, but then having said that I don’t really follow many celebs any more, I culled them in favour of “real” people so they probably don’t like me now!

If you could follow anyone who is not on Twitter – alive or dead, real or fictional – on Twitter, who would it be?

Hmmm, I’d quite like to follow Henrietta, my guinea pig, on twitter so I could know what she’s thinking.

Which came first Twitter or the Blog?

I *think* it was the blog…I’m pretty sure…

Right, I’m done! Because I suck I’m not going to tag anyone else but if you want to do it then consider yourself tagged! Just grab the badge, link back to me (or The Five F’s blog), answer the questions and then tag some other lovely folks

Yay! I'm tagging ME!

Homophobic Slur Hurled At Justin Bieber During Game Of Laser Tag

2010-11-15T13:16:00.000+01:00

Homophobic Slur Hurled At Justin Bieber During Game Of Laser Tag: "

10/17/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Even celebrities are subjected to bullying. TMZ is reporting that Justin Bieber, who was recently here at a state fair in Vermont, was at the receiving end of a bully using the same kind of homophobic epithets that are commonly used against so many school children these days. The incident occurred during a laser tag match on Friday night.

During that match, Bieber was called a “faggot” by one of his opponents, who apparently specifically kept targeting Bieber. When Bieber got frustrated by the fact that he was being cornered by this kid, Bieber said “That’s enough”, and the kid responded “What are you gonna do about it, faggot?”

A shocked Bieber is reported to have said “Excuse me?”, and the other kid is reported to have said “You’re a faggot.” When the other kid put out his hand to Bieber, the singer pushed it away and left. While some are reporting that Bieber struck the other boy, that has apparently been proven to have been false, though there are probably more than a few people who would have thought that he would have been perfectly justified.

Law enforcement are investigating since a complaint was file by the other boy’s father who apparently told people “I’m a lawyer.” He may end up regretting that since apparently police already know that Bieber was not the instigator in the incident.

Homophobic bullying has been a major problem of late, and it has lead to one boy getting his arm broken for cheerleading and lead several more to take their own lives after months and even years of intense homophobic bullying.

Source

Do we need a silence?

2010-11-11T10:59:00.000+01:00

Every year, once a year, we have silence, quiet, hush.
We say it is to remember the dead, the lost, the harmed.
Some say it glorifies war, horror, pain.
Some say it is boring, useless, unimportant.

Today the sky is filled with clouds, rain, tears
and again we will stand, sit, wait
for the two minutes, the 120 seconds, the pause;
and find a gap in our busy lives, our work, our family
a time we can remember, think, consider

but will we?

In a short 2 minutes what will you do?

Animals, friend or foe

2010-11-05T12:46:00.001+01:00

I have read some strange stories in the news lately, and maybe it’s just a coincidence that so many wild animals seem to be killing people lately, or maybe (worse) wild animals kill people all the time but we only hear about them some of the time! But whatever there have been some strange tales in the news lately, so for anyone that missed them I’m sharing them here.

First I spotted the headline ‘Crocodile on Plane kills 19’ and I refused to read the story because I felt that the story would only disappoint after such an amazing headline but how wrong I was, for it transpired that a crocodile had been smuggled onto a plane – forgive me while I imagine ways you can smuggle a crocodile, in your luggage? Disguised AS luggage? Down a leg of your trousers? (risky but can be done with ferrets so who knows) Under a jumper “my oh my that guy is fat and has scaly belly skin’? the mind boggles – but however it happened it appears that the poor crocodile was not securely smuggled (always secure your smuggled crocodiles folks!) and it escaped on the plane, running about and generally terrifying the passengers who dashed away from the ravening beast, unbalancing the plane and causing it to crash! And the worst bit was that the poor crocodile was one of only 2 survivors of the crash! but was killed by rescuers at the scene! Now THAT is a news story.

(as an aside – maybe he smuggled the croc into the plane in a bag of toy crocodiles in much the same way this lady smuggled a tiger cub……)

But jeepers creepers if it doesn’t get worse!

Imagine, you go on a safari holiday, you watch animals during the day and camp in cabins at night, eating round the fire, enjoying the sounds of the wild. Protected in your compound you pop out (with your wife) for a late night outdoor shower under the stars, does life get better? Well it can certainly get worse! Just when you thought soap in your eyes was the worst that could happen, 5 lions attack you! Yes not 1, not 2 not even 3 but 5 lions attack you IN THE SHOWER! This is the stuff of nightmares, and in the case of Pete Evershed the cause of death too.

And of course last week a young boogie boarder was killed by a shark in the waters off of California, a young man that had joked about 'what if we get attacked by a shark'.

Nature is fighting back people! By careful out there!

(How morbid would you need to be to keep a Top 10 animal attacks list though, yeah I'm looking you Time Magazine)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T10:25:00.001+01:00

Nitty Nora returns! (in the guise of......me!)

2010-11-01T15:28:00.003+01:00

A year ago I wrote about Nits and my nostalgia of Nitty Nora the school nit nurse (read the posts here)

Now I have a new post on the same itchy subject, (timely too as David Tennant was dealing with the same crisis last night on the BBC in Episode 4 of Single Father) so are you scratching yet?

Imagine little creatures with sharp clingy feet crawling on your head and neck to lay a sticky egg at the base of each hair, imagine the little babies hatching and nibbling on your scalp.....now are you scratching?

I was contacted by Vosene about some new products they are promoting. They have a repellent shampoo and detangle spray, also a hair gel (not repellent to humans! to lice! obviously) they also have a new website for parents and carers to share information on where the wee beasties are lurking! Nitwatch!

All sounds like a plan! forewarned is forearmed and all that.....

So then I was asked to try the product.....

We received a sample of the shampoo and the detangle spray (great as DD has very long fine hair) and we used them both for the first time last week.

Now obviously it's a 'repellant' so I can't tell you if it works or not unless I know she's exposed to nits, and as far as I know at her age (10) it's getting less likely (why do they like little kids? can it really be the cuddle factor? the fact they play close? I don't believe that as DD is just as 'head-to-head' with her friends now, maybe even more so than she was when she was small) but I can tell you it smells quite 'medicinal' is easy to use and leaves her long hair very shiny. The ingredients include many of the usual things you associate with repelling head lice, Eucalyptus Oil, Tea Tree Oil and lemon grass for example, it also has soothing camomile. The detangling spray is great between washes, having the same smell and (presumably) repellent affect with the added bonus of helping get rid of tangles.

So what's with nits? Do your kids still get lice? have you had them? Do they still sweep through a school? Do you suspect some parents just 'give up' as it's too hard to get rid of the little beasts (the lice not the kids!)? Do you give up?

Maybe this shampoo and spray could help the busy and the lazy as well as the obsessive parent! We shall see, and if you'd like to try the shampoo, just leave a comment with your worst/most gruesome/funniest lice/nit story and I'll see you get to try it*, because I've been promised samples will be sent out to the best 20 tales of woe left here :-)

*UK only, comments to be left by 15th November 2010

Camping in the last last week of october has taught me....

2010-10-24T14:02:00.001+01:00

,1. It is not darkest just before the dawn, but it is coldest.
2. Baked beans are amazing for breakfast and warm your very soul.
3. The best way to get warm is to get dressed & do the washing up.
4. A sleeping bag, a duvet, pjs, a hat & bed socks can make a subzero night toasty warm.
5. Taking extra gas is a good idea.
6. Instant porridge is the invention of a genius.
7. Showering is over-rated.
8. 2 girls aged 10&11 can amuse themselves for hours at a time in the countryside.
9. I can still read a book in 3 days when i have time!
10. Caravan's are for wimps :-)
11. The english countryside is gorgeous in the sun, not always warm, but always beautiful.
12. Birdwatching is fun (tawny owl, buzzard, kestrel, spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, crows, )
have you camped in a tent this late in the year? Did you enjoy it? Would you consider doing it?

Sun sun sun (and freezing wind! But you can't see that!)

2010-10-24T13:17:00.001+01:00

A day in the life of an october camper ;-)

The one where I get Nakd and there are pictures........

2010-10-01T10:22:00.001+01:00

Ok so having grasped you and your dirty minds……

This is the blog I should have written a week ago but I’ve been ill. -- excuses! Pathetic!

The lovely people at Natural balance Foods know how much I like their Nakd fruit/nut bars because I’ve raved about them online before, so they were keen for me to try the new flavours just out. They sent me the three new flavours to try and I did. (see "I get nakd" ;-- see what I did there?)

I’ve always been more of a fan of the fruity flavours than the chocolate, so I was surprised to see that 2 of the new flavours were chocolate based, I must be in the minority I guess.

If you have never had one of these bars before there things you need to know, they don’t look great, they are (mostly) raw.

So issue one :appearance, to be fair they look like compressed squirrel shit (they actually probably share a lot of the contents too!) but this is not reason to not eat them! Oh no! brave the look and bite into the tempting goodness, due to the fact they are raw all the goodness is still there!

issue two: rawness Just squished into a chunk of tastiness are all the vitamins and minerals and fibre and YUM!

Issue three : taste - they are bloody yummy!

So I tried the new Berry flavour first Berry Delight, and it was delightful! As I said I like the berry flavours and feel I’m getting a huge chunk of my 5 a day at the same time as getting a delicious treat, so that was all good.

Then I tried the Cocoa Delight, and while I wasn’t delighted (I told you I prefer the berry!) it was still yummy, very chocolate-y but not ‘sweet’ like a sickly milk chocolate bar. I do love the texture of the bars too.

And last I tried the Cocoa Mint……….and it blew my mind!!!! It is the tastiest most scrumptiously deliciously minty chocolaty bar of goodness I have ever tasted. Even my normally fussy DD agreed to try a nibble when she smelled the minty loveliness of the bar, and she liked it! Yes people of the world, I have discovered healthy snacks that taste so good they could be junk!!

Run to the shops now before I buy all the mint bars!

(That said, I discovered Gingerbread flavour too and my oh my is that one a taste of heaven too! Can’t get enough of this tasty goodness)

Did I mention they are suitable for vegans, they are all natural, no added sugar, and gluten, wheat, dairy & GM free? cos they are!

Wordless wednesday, guess how i'm feeling

2010-09-29T08:46:00.000+01:00

The one where I post some old poetry from the 80s

2010-09-23T12:53:00.002+01:00

OK so my cop out, I wrote this when I was 18 or so, the world was a black and white place and I KNEW what was right and what was wrong.. Obviously now I'm a grown up (haha!) I'm no longer so sure, but despite that, and while many of my teen poems (more later if you are good!) have aged very badly, I still rather like this one. (I've copied it as I originally typed it on my typewriter! LOL all the punctuation is original!)

Tiger Tiger (with apologies to William Blake)

Tiger Tiger, shining bright,

Tell me what you see tonight,

Do you see the blood red moon?

Hear the guns they'll bring here soon?

Tiger do you smell the sweat?

Hear the rustling of the net?

See the glinting of their eyes?

Crouch so low and purr them lies.

Tiger how you loved to run,

Sniffed the moon and heard the sun.

Now you lay in aching fear,

Sense the hunters coming near.

Tiger never fear a man,

They weren't here ere you began,

You roamed the earth and paced the sun,

Don't fear man - just fear the gun.

Tiger hear a shot rings out,

There a beater, here a shout.

Crouch a little longer yet,

Stiff and cold your bones are set.

Tiger swipe with glowing paws,

Tear the men-shapes with your claws,

Kill a million; drink their blood;

Feel the bullet; taste the mud.

Tiger proudly on a wall,

Your head displayed for one and all.

The snarl that killed one hundred soldiers

Looked much better on your shoulders.

Watching the BBC show, Lost land of the Tigers, last night made me remember this poem. and @verymuchreality made me brave enough to blog it

Wordless Wednesday : It's September

2010-09-22T22:17:00.000+01:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-15T11:37:00.000+01:00

Wean me gently, a poem about breastfeeding..................

2010-09-08T10:09:00.000+01:00

This is a poem by Cathy Cardall it was brought to my attention by @radicalactivist - and I love it and wanted to share! (it made me all weepy at the end)

Wean me gently

I know I look so big to you,

Maybe I seem too big for the needs I have.

But no matter how big we get,

We still have needs that are important to us.

I know that our relationship is growing and changing,

But I still need you. I need your warmth and closeness,

Especially at the end of the day

When we snuggle up in bed.

Please don't get too busy for us to nurse.

I know you think I can be patient,

Or find something to take the place of a nursing;

A book, a glass of something,

But nothing can take your place when I need you.

Sometimes just cuddling with you,

Having you near me is enough.

I guess I am growing and becoming independent,

But please be there.

This bond we have is so strong and so important to me,

Please don't break it abruptly.

Wean me gently,

Because I am your mother,

And my heart is tender.

The one where everyone was surprised...

2010-09-07T15:20:00.000+01:00

I am not a vegetarian.

I have been, for about a month, but it’s not for me. Fair do’s to those of you that are. I know many reasons why I should be a vegetarian, kindness to animals, saving the planet, health etc etc. But I am not one. My teeth and my gut as designed for an omnivore, I enjoy meat. I have killed animals with my bare hands (yes really) and I have visited slaughterhouses, and battery chicken sheds (yes really). I try to ensure my meat is as ethically sourced as possible, but I don’t do without it.

Just ask a chimp! Fruit and leaves are all very well but there is nothing like a freshly ripped apart colobus monkey, still twitching and bleeding, to really get the old saliva flowing! (I haven’t actually ever eaten colobus, just to keep things straight and true )

(Warning disturbing images)

Any way now you know the background.

This lunchtime I did the unforgiveable (and the predictable) and tweeted what I had for lunch. I had no idea it would provoke such a flurry (ha ha McFlurry?) of replies.

Here is the tweet

“had the vegetarian option at mcdonalds. i've never done that before”

Now the main reaction was surprise, not surprise that I’d chosen it (though given what you now know about me you may find that surprising) but surprise that McDonald’s even had a vege option.(I am based in the UK BTW – no idea if other countries have a similar menu)

For years I’ve visited the Wimpy bar and been a fan of the Spicy Bean Burger- first served in 1985 - (no where near as much fun as odering a Bender in a Bun though), and lots of other burger places have a vege burger option, either Quorn or bean based, so it was now my turn to be amazed, amazed that so many vegetarians seemed not to know of the option.

@fashionpony said “Is there a vegetarian option? Who knew”

@linedwards said “what's the veg option....?”

@thinkbabytweets said “there's a vegetarian option at mcdonalds?!?”

So a discussion ensued.

Now it may be that due to the way this junk food is cooked, no part of it (even the fries) is really ’vegetarian’; as there is mixing up of the products before, during and after cooking, but at least it’s a start. Maybe as consumers vegetarians should CHOOSE to eat at places that don’t seemt to cater well for them, demand what you want, show theses places that there is MONEY to be made from vegetarian consumers. Stop preaching (and no not specifically you dear reader, but pressure groups and the like) and start buying!!

And now, what was the Deli of the day actually like? Well it was bean based (not Quorn or Soya based) but very tasty. Crispy crumb coating covering a “spicy veggie patty made from a blend of chickpeas with coriander and cumin,” served in a bun with lettuce etc. It was really not bad, considering there was no colobus.

NB apparently the Vege option at McDonalds is “Not available in the Tyne Tees or Anglia regions.” I wonder why? Get in there and start asking!!

How old is too old? (or 'sniff it and see')

2010-09-03T14:21:00.003+01:00

Every now and again on Twitter someone says they have chucked away a yoghurt 3 days past the 'use by' date, or asks if bread 2 days past the sell by date is OK to eat or........well you get the idea. They want to know if they can safely consume an item of food that seems to be saying

NO! DON'T EAT ME, YESTERDAY I WAS FINE

BUT TODAY I AM FILLED WITH POISONOUS BACTERIA

THAT WILL KILL YOU IN AN INSTANT

WITH PAIN YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE

or something like that anyway.

I am old enough to know that expiry dates are a fairly new invention. Yes young people you read that right, we have not always been told when food is 'past it's best'. For hundreds, indeed thousands of years we used our own judgement! We looked at things, smelled them, touched them and decided 'is it still good'? (* when I say 'we' I do not, obviously, mean me! I mean the human race, I'm not thousands of years old, or hundreds come to that!)

And in some cases we still do. While supermarkets may wrap your vegetables in a plastic bag with a sticker proclaiming 'use by 9 Feb 2010' your local green grocer is unlikely to do the same, my local green grocer sells cucumbers, they are long and firm and green and that's it! I have to fondle the cucumber and decide how fresh it is! Is it soft? getting limp? then I'll ask if it's discounted or buy a firmer one! (are you all right? some of you appear a little flushed?)

Likewise my butcher does not put 'use by' dates on his pork products, i have to admire his loins and decide if they are fresh, are they greenish in hue? Do they smell? If not, I'm happy, a pink fresh loin is most women's dream, as are his sausages and his faggots! but I digress.

Until 1973 no stores in the UK used best before dates at all! And it was Marks and Spencer that began the trend purely as a marketing technique, to show how 'fresh' their food was! Of course all other food sellers leapt on to the bandwagon to be sure and keep up with the new trend.

It's true that some foods nowadays are hard to see. How can I tell if a tin of beans is 'fresh' or if a carton of orange juice is? and the simple answer is of course that I can't, like the rest of society I rely to some degree on labelling of the packets, but wouldn't it be easier to tell me when it was packed rather than a use by date? When I bake a cake I estimate how long it will last (bad example - 10 minutes in my house) by the date it was baked and then I use judgement.

When I open a loaf of bread and it had a patch of mould on it, I tear off the blue bit and toast the bread! I only throw away the whole loaf if it's more mould than loaf or if the flavour is totally tainted. Marmite can disguise a multitude of tastes.

And yoghurt is gone off milk! As is cheese, it can't go off! Sniff it! how does it smell? I've often eaten yoghurts 2 weeks past their 'use by' dates with no ill effects at all. And cheese can usually just have the mould cut off - after all cheddar is often already 24 months old by the time you buy it! So why would another month make any difference?

But I'm not alone, I am aware that many of you eat food that you have judged to be OK. Just remember it's a skill, learn it, pass it on, don't be afraid, trust your instincts. My good friend Donna on Twitter sent me this handy link to get you started.

And don't come crying back here if you get sick.

Remember that this advice is just from a boring old person, not anyone clever and don't take risks with the elderly, the very young or the infirm. (No testing mouldy yoghurt out on your granny!)

PS A website called Love Food Hate Waste perpetuates the myth by saying NEVER eat food past the use by date, which is just silly IMO. They even tell you 'if it looks fine, still throw it away! I still say that for cheese and many other products this is ridiculous.

If you would like to buy some out of date food to practice on - look here for some cheap deals. Yes indeedy, an online retailer that specialises in old food!

I get all critical

2010-09-01T09:57:00.002+01:00

So last night I went to Zizzi in Brighton. A beautiful location by the Marina, and as Zizzi is a chain you know that the prices are reasonable and the food OK too. We initially sat outside, after waiting 5 minutes for a waitress to notice us by the ‘Wait here to be seated’ sign, and show us to a table. We rapidly moved inside to escape the wasps.

The service was slow. Very slow. The waitress was helpful and polite but struggled to understand my Canadian friends' orders, because the waitress herself did not have English as a first language.

The mussel starter was spicy and interesting, enough mussels to share, and we all enjoyed them. Zizzi have a strange policy of selling you bread rather than providing it, free bread is something I expect at a restaurant, so we chose a mixed bread starter to share as well. The bread was….bread, some with olives, or olive oil, handy to mop up the sauce from the mussels.

Main courses were chosen and once ordered (helloooooo waitress?....) arrived promptly, with fresh parmesan if required, a nice touch.

My lasagne was tasty but sloppy, far too sloppy and the pasta was so soft as to be totally unnoticeable, in fact maybe it was the worlds first pastaless lasagne! There were, of course, no discernable layers to the lasagne. Garfield would have wept. My good friend Alison over at Love, Laughs and Life after the Big C makes a far superior lasagne.

My friends man had a pizza, which looked fine, if a little dry. He didn’t complain but men rarely do in my experience.

My friend had the Ravioli with pesto and pine nuts and it looked by far the best choice (although even then it looked a little oily). It was a classic ‘I wish I’d ordered that’ moment.

Drinks choices for the teetotal were limited. No ginger beer which is never a good sign in my opinion, and as usual glasses of bottled orange and apple, no ‘freshly squeezed’ options. (California has spoiled me) I settled for tomato juice (and wasn't offered tabasco or Worcester sauce as additions) and my friend had an Appletiser.

Desserts were better, more interesting choices and nice combinations. I had Pannacotta with fruit, my friends had cherry and almond tart and Zabaione respectively, and both were nice, but the zabaione proved too rich to finish (to be fair I think I could have finished it!), while the cherry tart was the best option, leaving us all wanting more.

So for £20 a head we had pleasant meal, not great, not terrible. The service needs to snap to it a bit, waitresses should be there when I need them, not hiding out the back somewhere, they should be watching tables, not me having to hunt for them. (my friend had to get up and walk the restaurant to find someone to request the bill!)

Here’s hoping you enjoyed my first ever restaurant review. I don’t see a career as a food critic but maybe it’ll help someone in their choice of eating places..

Special offer vouchers for Zizzi available at http://www.zizzi-offers.co.uk/

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-25T13:01:00.002+01:00