Wooo! I have had a fair bit of making to do recently and have struggled with motivation however I am now ahead of the game! The only thing I HAVE to make next week is a bag to match my outfit at Ellie's wedding on Saturday.
Of course then I have start on the Christmas Makes when I get back from Yorkshire next weekend... sigh!
Friday 24 September 2010
Wednesday 22 September 2010
Blood and Blackcurrant!
Today I thought I would try out the bike trailer for the school run. Epic, epic fail! Things that went wrong:
Anyone want to buy a bike trailer?! It is time for Ebay isn't it!
- Gears jammed outside school. I thought I was going to have to leave the bike and trailer there, get the bus home and come back with the car (twice as children + bike + trailer will not fit!). Thankfully a bit of pedal wiggling and gear changing sorted that out.
- Phoebe has had a growth spurt and is now WAY over the safety height line in the trailer.
- As I was handing out black currant juice as a post school drink Clara squeezed the box and squirted black currant juice all over my dress.
- We went to the park so the girls could play (and I could regain the stability of my horrendously out of shape legs!). Within minutes of being there and the girls playing Clara fell off the round about and split her lip and the only thing I had to clean it up with was my dress adding to the already present stain!
- As I was cleaning Clara up Phoebe managed to whack her cheek on the round about resulting in a fabulous bruise!
Anyone want to buy a bike trailer?! It is time for Ebay isn't it!
Saturday 18 September 2010
Feeling lost.
I am not sure what I am feeling at the moment. Autumn approaches and the dread of the dark nights and low moods. I wish I could be someone who looks forward to the autumn but I dread it, I will have to crack out the SAD lamp in the hope that it bashes away a few of the blues.
I think Phoebe starting school has shaken me as well. Clara starts next year and that means I am going to have 6 hours to myself. I should think about re-entering the work force and, whilst the extra money will be good, the thought is scary. I am dreading having to go back into an office environment and whilst I want to kid myself otherwise that is exactly where I will end up. I would love to retrain as a Drama Therapist or something but I'm not sure it is a particularly good idea. I would hate to retrain (again) for something that isn't going to be used. My other thought is as a Primary school teacher but I think there are too many teachers for positions at the moment. ARGH! I don't know... what in the hell should I do! I have had 6 years to think about this and I feel like I am walking the wrong way on an escalator about life.
I think Phoebe starting school has shaken me as well. Clara starts next year and that means I am going to have 6 hours to myself. I should think about re-entering the work force and, whilst the extra money will be good, the thought is scary. I am dreading having to go back into an office environment and whilst I want to kid myself otherwise that is exactly where I will end up. I would love to retrain as a Drama Therapist or something but I'm not sure it is a particularly good idea. I would hate to retrain (again) for something that isn't going to be used. My other thought is as a Primary school teacher but I think there are too many teachers for positions at the moment. ARGH! I don't know... what in the hell should I do! I have had 6 years to think about this and I feel like I am walking the wrong way on an escalator about life.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
A Dream Come True...
Since we went to a Ballet Open Day last year with Becky for her little girl Millie, Clara has been doing the exercises she saw. She was 2 at the time, she has been doing them for a year. Now, finally, she is old enough to actually go to ballet class and so today she did for the first time. As it was her first time she was excused from wearing uniform to see if she liked it before buying. A bit of a pointless exercise really as she loved it! Trotted off happily with Miss Penny into class (mummies and big sisters aren't allowed in) and was positively beaming when she came out half an hour later!
So, as we had a little time before going to Phoebe's swimming lesson we went and bought her RAD uniform for her lessons:
She threw a spectacular tantrum when it came time to stop modelling it for Daddy and go to bed! She is one happy little girl and I am one much poorer Mummy! Still it will be worth it when she is a world class ballerina right?!
(Please also note the hair... she is now sporting what I am calling a "Jennifer Aniston on a bad day" do... but it doesn't look too horrendous I suppose, still not her gorgeous long curly locks though!)
So, as we had a little time before going to Phoebe's swimming lesson we went and bought her RAD uniform for her lessons:
She threw a spectacular tantrum when it came time to stop modelling it for Daddy and go to bed! She is one happy little girl and I am one much poorer Mummy! Still it will be worth it when she is a world class ballerina right?!
(Please also note the hair... she is now sporting what I am calling a "Jennifer Aniston on a bad day" do... but it doesn't look too horrendous I suppose, still not her gorgeous long curly locks though!)
Monday 13 September 2010
It had to happen sometime, but why now?!
Yesterday I had to pop up to the shop for a couple of soup ingrediants so I left the girls at home with their Daddy. When I drove back up to park I could see them skitting around in the living room. When I got into the house I saw the reality... 1 pair of sewing scissors and 1 small child's hair. Paul had been upstairs whilst it happened.
I could have cried, I really could... she looked like she had a mullet! They had lopped a bit off either side of her head and a bit from around the back too. Today I had to spend £12 at the kiddy hairdressers trying to make it less obvious. Clara is now sporting layers in her hair and the hair dresser has feathered the really short bits so they aren't so noticeable. But still... her lovely hair!
To make things worse she is Flower Girl for my step sister Ellie in 3 weeks. I am hoping that it will settle a little more in that time, or at the very least the hair bands they have conceal some of the damage! I was this close -> <- to ebaying the pair of them!
I could have cried, I really could... she looked like she had a mullet! They had lopped a bit off either side of her head and a bit from around the back too. Today I had to spend £12 at the kiddy hairdressers trying to make it less obvious. Clara is now sporting layers in her hair and the hair dresser has feathered the really short bits so they aren't so noticeable. But still... her lovely hair!
To make things worse she is Flower Girl for my step sister Ellie in 3 weeks. I am hoping that it will settle a little more in that time, or at the very least the hair bands they have conceal some of the damage! I was this close -> <- to ebaying the pair of them!
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Well here we are half way through her first week...
of Big School! Has been chaos here so that is why I have neglected my Blog.
Clara went back to Preschool on Monday morning, Phoebe started Big School on Monday afternoon. She was absolutely fizzing with excitement about going, there was no way she was ever going to dress in anything but her uniform despite not having to be in school until 1.30pm! I was asked ever 10 minutes all morning if it was time to go yet, and when Granny arrived (so she could look after Clara and I could stay with Phoebe on her first day) she nearly exploded with excitement. Thank heavens Granny did come as she reminded me I actually had to feed Phoebe before school! I was thrown off as we don't eat lunch until 1pm usually! 1 quick Marmite sandwich later and it was finally Time To Go! Granny walked up with us to the bus stop and then on to get Clara whilst Phoebe and I climbed aboard the bus. She chattered non stop all the way there and practically danced into school... we then had a small meltdown as I had gotten confused with timings and we arrived for 1pm and it didn't start until 1.30pm, oops! So we went, bought a bike lock and basket and came back.
It was only a short settling in period of about an hour, so she could see her classroom, meet some of her classmates and, of course, her teachers! She had a ball looking around and exploring everything and was a bit disappointed it was only a short session. The next day we headed back so she could go on her own for 2 hours, she loved it and again today. I must confess I wish she was going full time next week as she is so ready but instead we have a week of mornings before that will happen, all in good time eh?!
I can't believe she is ready for big school already! Seems like only a blink and she was a weeny newborn baby that I didn't know what to do with, or a small baby who wouldn't crawl over the door mat, a staggering toddler trying to get my marmite on toast. The long long long point and shriek phase and her finally starting to talk! 4 yrs 9 months have just whizzed by and my baby is growing up so fast!
Love you gorgeous girl, and I am very very proud of you!
Clara went back to Preschool on Monday morning, Phoebe started Big School on Monday afternoon. She was absolutely fizzing with excitement about going, there was no way she was ever going to dress in anything but her uniform despite not having to be in school until 1.30pm! I was asked ever 10 minutes all morning if it was time to go yet, and when Granny arrived (so she could look after Clara and I could stay with Phoebe on her first day) she nearly exploded with excitement. Thank heavens Granny did come as she reminded me I actually had to feed Phoebe before school! I was thrown off as we don't eat lunch until 1pm usually! 1 quick Marmite sandwich later and it was finally Time To Go! Granny walked up with us to the bus stop and then on to get Clara whilst Phoebe and I climbed aboard the bus. She chattered non stop all the way there and practically danced into school... we then had a small meltdown as I had gotten confused with timings and we arrived for 1pm and it didn't start until 1.30pm, oops! So we went, bought a bike lock and basket and came back.
It was only a short settling in period of about an hour, so she could see her classroom, meet some of her classmates and, of course, her teachers! She had a ball looking around and exploring everything and was a bit disappointed it was only a short session. The next day we headed back so she could go on her own for 2 hours, she loved it and again today. I must confess I wish she was going full time next week as she is so ready but instead we have a week of mornings before that will happen, all in good time eh?!
I can't believe she is ready for big school already! Seems like only a blink and she was a weeny newborn baby that I didn't know what to do with, or a small baby who wouldn't crawl over the door mat, a staggering toddler trying to get my marmite on toast. The long long long point and shriek phase and her finally starting to talk! 4 yrs 9 months have just whizzed by and my baby is growing up so fast!
Love you gorgeous girl, and I am very very proud of you!
Sunday 5 September 2010
Surely this can't be appropriate for bus stop advertising?
I just popped to the shop and drove past the bus stop I will be using for the next couple of weeks to take Phoebe to school. On the bill board bit of it is a huge picture of a blood splattered girl bent over backwards advertising a movie called The Last Exorcism.
My friend Annabel spotted them the other day and as we discussed it I remembered feeling similar when I saw adverts for Saw VI (or one of them at least) and the last Final Destination. How is it appropriate to have these images in full view of small children? Am I missing something in the logic of their advertising campaigns? Terrify small child = parent goes to see the movie?!
I have to be quite careful with what Phoebe watches as she is, like me, prone to over imagination and nightmares over basic things. She is quite easily frightened and very astute as to what is scary and, more importantly in my opinion, why it is scary. So for her to see images like the one I mentioned above every day is a little worrying. Still images are just as capable of scaring children as moving ones.
When did we get to a place in society where it is appropriate to put images of 18 movies out for all to see. I understand they need to advertise their movies, but surely they should use alternative channels available to them that are less likely to include small children in their demographic. Television after the watershed, the internet, film magazines... there are plenty of avenues available to them so why on earth put such images on buses and billboards. If they must advertise on them, surely there are more subtle ways of doing it? I am not even sure who to complain to about it!
Please tell me I am not being an old fuddy duddy about this!
My friend Annabel spotted them the other day and as we discussed it I remembered feeling similar when I saw adverts for Saw VI (or one of them at least) and the last Final Destination. How is it appropriate to have these images in full view of small children? Am I missing something in the logic of their advertising campaigns? Terrify small child = parent goes to see the movie?!
I have to be quite careful with what Phoebe watches as she is, like me, prone to over imagination and nightmares over basic things. She is quite easily frightened and very astute as to what is scary and, more importantly in my opinion, why it is scary. So for her to see images like the one I mentioned above every day is a little worrying. Still images are just as capable of scaring children as moving ones.
When did we get to a place in society where it is appropriate to put images of 18 movies out for all to see. I understand they need to advertise their movies, but surely they should use alternative channels available to them that are less likely to include small children in their demographic. Television after the watershed, the internet, film magazines... there are plenty of avenues available to them so why on earth put such images on buses and billboards. If they must advertise on them, surely there are more subtle ways of doing it? I am not even sure who to complain to about it!
Please tell me I am not being an old fuddy duddy about this!
6 years ago
I married my wonderful husband... twice! We had a Handfasting which isn't considered a legal ceremony so we did the legal bit on the 2nd and then held a big Handfasting on the 4th September! It was a wonderful, if slightly more eventful than planned, day!
We had a lovely celebration, the girls and I headed over to Mum's house on Friday morning to spend the day there. Paul came over after work and Mum surprised us with tickets to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria. So we left the girls with Mum and Rob and headed over to stuff ourselves silly with Sushi then head to the theatre. It was so wonderful that at the interval I turned my phone back on and organised the download of the music!
This morning we had a lovely breakfast with everyone before Paul and I headed up to Oxford Street to do a bit of shopping... my wardrobe was in need of a serious refresh! We had 5 gorgeous hours to ourselves just wandering around. It is rare we have time away from the girls just being us and it was a lovely change. Whilst we were out Mum, Rob and the girls hit The Kings Road and had a pizza-rific lunch and then bought some books to live at their house.
We got home tonight just in time to feed the girls a light supper and then pop the girls exhausted into bed!
We had a lovely celebration, the girls and I headed over to Mum's house on Friday morning to spend the day there. Paul came over after work and Mum surprised us with tickets to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria. So we left the girls with Mum and Rob and headed over to stuff ourselves silly with Sushi then head to the theatre. It was so wonderful that at the interval I turned my phone back on and organised the download of the music!
This morning we had a lovely breakfast with everyone before Paul and I headed up to Oxford Street to do a bit of shopping... my wardrobe was in need of a serious refresh! We had 5 gorgeous hours to ourselves just wandering around. It is rare we have time away from the girls just being us and it was a lovely change. Whilst we were out Mum, Rob and the girls hit The Kings Road and had a pizza-rific lunch and then bought some books to live at their house.
We got home tonight just in time to feed the girls a light supper and then pop the girls exhausted into bed!
Saturday 4 September 2010
Out of the mouth's of babes!
Picture the scene, the angelic looking Phoebe and her beloved Granny are packing up the toys at the end of the day before heading up to a bath and bed.
Phoebe: Granny! Don't forget the Fucking Trailer!
Granny: Um... what did you say Phoebe?!
Phoebe: The Fucking Trailer!
Granny: I beg your pardon?!
Phoebe: (now waving the toy) THE FAT CONTROLLER!
Oops!
Still gave us something to giggle about this morning!
Phoebe: Granny! Don't forget the Fucking Trailer!
Granny: Um... what did you say Phoebe?!
Phoebe: The Fucking Trailer!
Granny: I beg your pardon?!
Phoebe: (now waving the toy) THE FAT CONTROLLER!
Oops!
Still gave us something to giggle about this morning!
Thursday 2 September 2010
T - 4 days and counting...
Until school starts! Eeeek!
We still have 2 things on our shopping list and 2 on my make list. Shopping list is plimsolls and sports shorts. Make list is 2 x drawstring bags, 1 for sports kit and 1 for wet weather gear. Not being able to bear the thought of her good wellies (that were given to her by a lovely friend and come all the way from Canada!) staying at school I bought a cheapy pair that can live at school, I will also put her pack a mac in that bag so if hasn't got her waterproof coat on she won't get soaked to the skin.
Whilst we were in Sainsbury's I allowed Phoebe to pick out a cuddly friend to go with her that could live in her satchel. Normally I would have let her take Moose (or the other favourite Waggy) to school but I am worried about her loosing them, especially as currently we only have one Moose and I forgot to try and buy spare Waggy's when we were in France (doh!). She picked out a little yellow cuddly dog and promptly named it Biscuits. She is a funny little mix of a girl, utter tomboy but obsessed with all things cuddly. Mind you I suspect that in reality she just wishes all her cuddly dogs, horses, moose etc were real animals!
Not to be outdone by her sister Clara got a little pair of baseball boots with Upsy Daisy on them:
This was a BIG treat as normally I don't allow them to have character clothing. I don't know why I have such an issue with it but I don't like seeing the children as walking adverts for TV shows, not to mention they are usually over priced! So after all that I am feeling considerably lighter of pocket... again!
We still have 2 things on our shopping list and 2 on my make list. Shopping list is plimsolls and sports shorts. Make list is 2 x drawstring bags, 1 for sports kit and 1 for wet weather gear. Not being able to bear the thought of her good wellies (that were given to her by a lovely friend and come all the way from Canada!) staying at school I bought a cheapy pair that can live at school, I will also put her pack a mac in that bag so if hasn't got her waterproof coat on she won't get soaked to the skin.
Whilst we were in Sainsbury's I allowed Phoebe to pick out a cuddly friend to go with her that could live in her satchel. Normally I would have let her take Moose (or the other favourite Waggy) to school but I am worried about her loosing them, especially as currently we only have one Moose and I forgot to try and buy spare Waggy's when we were in France (doh!). She picked out a little yellow cuddly dog and promptly named it Biscuits. She is a funny little mix of a girl, utter tomboy but obsessed with all things cuddly. Mind you I suspect that in reality she just wishes all her cuddly dogs, horses, moose etc were real animals!
Not to be outdone by her sister Clara got a little pair of baseball boots with Upsy Daisy on them:
This was a BIG treat as normally I don't allow them to have character clothing. I don't know why I have such an issue with it but I don't like seeing the children as walking adverts for TV shows, not to mention they are usually over priced! So after all that I am feeling considerably lighter of pocket... again!
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Dealing with faddy eaters....
I have one and a half. The half is Clara who is naturally quite adventurous but just stubborn and copies her sister. Phoebe is very faddy... it is a pain in the bum. Her diet consists of:
Sausages
Chorizo
Chicken Nuggets
Chips (on a good day)
Apples
Strawberries
Pear
Cereal
Pizza
Chicken (occasionally)
Marmite sandwiches (no crust... in squares or funny shapes)
Cheese on Toast
Oh and, of course, anything bad for you! Writing that down it doesn't look as bad as it feels but it is pretty limiting.
Her iffy eating is reason 3 bajillion I am doing her a bento box style lunch box for school when the time comes. At least there will be some thing she can eat in that, if she doesn't eat then she is FOUL and I wouldn't wish that on anyone!
We have taken the stance of mostly ignoring it and encouraging her gently to try new foods by kissing and licking and finally eating a bit of food. Very much slowly slowly catchy monkey! Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but it doesn't make a big deal about food which is the important thing. She is only 4.5 and has a long time to develop her tastes yet. Still a pain in the bum though!
Sausages
Chorizo
Chicken Nuggets
Chips (on a good day)
Apples
Strawberries
Pear
Cereal
Pizza
Chicken (occasionally)
Marmite sandwiches (no crust... in squares or funny shapes)
Cheese on Toast
Oh and, of course, anything bad for you! Writing that down it doesn't look as bad as it feels but it is pretty limiting.
Her iffy eating is reason 3 bajillion I am doing her a bento box style lunch box for school when the time comes. At least there will be some thing she can eat in that, if she doesn't eat then she is FOUL and I wouldn't wish that on anyone!
We have taken the stance of mostly ignoring it and encouraging her gently to try new foods by kissing and licking and finally eating a bit of food. Very much slowly slowly catchy monkey! Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but it doesn't make a big deal about food which is the important thing. She is only 4.5 and has a long time to develop her tastes yet. Still a pain in the bum though!
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