Category Archives: Blogs

I am thinking of finding an English course (just a one or two day thing) Noun: Is a person, animal place or thing. I can hardly remember any of my School english, other than my tutor was Mr Bogie – FACT!

I adore the English language, words often escape me and I don’t feel that I express myself as eloquently as I could. I get nervous about my choice of word and wonder if I am using it in the correct context, I couldn’t survive without spell check,  I find myself constantly questioning my own spelling, hence the basically written drivel you have the good grace to read from me.

I read all the time, Magazines, Cereal packets, Emails, Text messages, Books,  the paper and trash mags whilst I sat in the children’s Ward for the whole of Thursday this week…. Chicken Pox, I never for one moment thought that would land us in hospital, no doubt shortly to follow a blog on that whole debacle. So it’s surprising that I can never find the right word when I read so many of them. Maybe I should get the word a day toilet roll, or the app for Iphone, can you still get those?

As usual I digress.

After not being invited to join any of the book clubs that my friends were in, despite me enquiring “oh right, so you’re in a book club, how do you join a book club?”  Response “oh so & so set up, and asked us, and we’ve been doing it for ages now”  My thoughts – right so you’ve done it for ages, but I’m not good enough to join??  I thought I would ask some of my other friends if they would like to join a book club. They thankfully said yes and five of us meet every four weeks to go through the book that one of us has chosen. In fairness we devote approximately 8 consecutive minutes to the book then dip back in and out of it during our  3hour (on a bad day) love, life and kids gossip.

We have had a variety of books in the last 12 months from slavery, the holocaust to “Chick Lit”  currently we are reading Blind Trust by Red Szell, (one of our members is Hungarian, she is determined to only ever choose Hungarian novelists for the entire duration of our book club. My Grandmothers book club has been going for approximately 32years,  I am not entirely sure there are enough Hungarian novelists to cover that stretch) and then Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, I am in love with this novel, have purchased the 1940s movie and now want a huge Library, daily afternoon tea plus a full staff to take care of all domestic and household chores so that I can plan Balls, shop and pay visit to my friends and local acquaintances.  However as usual, I finished the Feb book in a couple of days, then started and finished the March book, in four days. I now have to make a choice for April and try not to read it before hand.  

I listened to BBC London the other morning and they discussed 200 years of Charles Dickens. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will listen to a reading from Great Expectations to mark 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. I think that’s cheating really, are they going to listen to the whole thing, and why aren’t they reading it?  To all the people reading this blog, yes that’s all three of you, how many Charles Dickens novels have you worked your way thorough, how regularly do you read now, and I don’t mean the internet, work material, magazines or blogs, twitter or facebook, are you a member of a book club? 

I have now made my choice of novel for the book club, I think it’s a choice of 3… One of them being a Charles Dickens.

Whilst this blog has been sitting in my drafts I found the following site – I currently read at 340+ WPM with an 80% retention. speed reading test http://www.readingsoft.com/index.html#results

Happy Reading 🙂

For 2012 I shall:

Be nicer to my husband:

I am not doing to well with that one at the moment, snapped at him on the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd this resolution is starting from 4^th January 2012

 Spend more time one on one with my son:

Charlie will be starting school full time in September, I don’t have much longer with him just the two of us, I’m quite sad about that, sadder that I thought I would be.

Spend less money:

So far so good, only spent about £50 since 1^st January – long may it continue

Save more money:

As long as the aforementioned spend less is successful this one should be a doddle…. She say’s hopefully.

Continue the exercise:

I have been spinning for the last couple of months and really enjoyed it, only I haven’t been since 8^th December and now need the motivation to get back to the gym, so that I have a bikini happy body for the group Sicilian holiday in July. At the moment the thought of our friends seeing me in a swim suit makes me want to: – a) be physically sick, b) hope the ground opens up and swallows me whole c) stay indoors for the entire holiday, d) find a 1920s style all in one trouser & bustier swimsuit. I have put on 3lb over Christmas not so bad when you consider that I drank my body weight in wine.

 Finish & Launch Mumswholunch.com

 Self explanatory really, just need to bloody do it!!!!!!

So there we have my resolutions, so far I have only failed on one, although I have cheated and post dated the start date so, technically I haven’t failed at any.

I hope that everyone has a great year, I shall keep you posted with my progress along with all the other nonsense that fills my head throughout 2012…

To look at your downloaded items touch the backpack!

Hello….. there are no downloaded items in my backpack, even though I have connected to a computer, followed the instructions and downloaded Flash….

My mother-in-law got my Son the Storio for his Christmas gift, he loves it and it has been on for the last few days non-stop, however the stupid thing is driving me insane.  The thing came with only one story and now this is not good enough so, more are required. John Lewis do not sell them so we were out of luck there, have looked on line, downloaded the required app for my machine and all is going well. I then oblige and download the flash player, even though my installation is successful, the EFFING app still thinks flash is not downloaded… I have re-booted twice and re-downloaded 3 times and still nothing!

The V-reader website is a pile of crap and wont open. The backpack is still empty, we still only have one story, I have a moody 3 year old now already disillusioned with technology and I sit here wondering to myself, why couldn’t my mother-in-law of just brought a good old fashioned story book…..

I myself managed to get a Kindle for Christmas, granted it wasn’t a suprise, I asked my husband for it, then proceeded to purchase it for myself, have him wrap it and then stick it under the tree. Currently he is saying that, he is glad that I like it and he thought I would become a Kindle convert (that’s not going to happen I love my actual books) and I sit here wondering when I will get my £98.00 including postage for the gift that I bought myself??

I love that it’s WiFi and I can download free classics – of which I now have 22. I love that you can categorise your books, so I have also set up a section for the book club books and have downloaded and read our book for the month of January already 🙂  I love that you can use the included dictionary whilst you read so there is no guessing as to a words meaning – unless it’s a word (like many) not in the American English dictionary.

Am I a Kindle convert No, a huge advocate however yes I am…. I do though HATE the sodding Storio!!!!!!!!!

Charlie was Six – well Six years, 8 months 2 weeks and 4 days to be precise – almost six & three quarters. For the last 2 years, 8months 2 weeks and 4 days Charlie had kept a secret, Charlie could fly.

It had started all quite accidentally; he was out in the garden when he was four years, eight months, 2 weeks and 4 days old, his cat Bea had run away from him again and scampered up next doors tree.

Charlie stood on the patio table, stood up on his tiptoes and tried to reach her, he stretched and stretched and stretched and then, just when he almost reached her the startled cat ran back down the tree. Charlie couched down to step off the patio table when he realised that he was no longer on the patio table, but was in fact floating high above it next to the tree.

The trouble with suddenly realising that you’re doing something you didn’t know you could do is that the moment you realise you’re doing it, you tend to stop doing it rather suddenly. This is fine if you’re cycling without your stabilisers for the first time or roller skating without holding on to your mum or dads hand, but, if you’re flying or floating as Charlie was, you tend to, well, fall out of the sky! That is how Charlie broke his arm and boy he was in trouble.

He was in trouble for

A) Being in next doors garden when he knew that Mr Johnson would be extremely cross with him and

B) Climbing trees when he knew very well that he wasn’t supposed to.

He had tried to explain what had happened to his mother as she came dashing outside to a broken table and Charlie all caught up in the debris, he tried to explain to his Dad as he drove them all the hospital, he even tried explaining it to the nurse who took his x-ray, the one who gave him his medicine, the one who put the plaster on his arm and the one who pushed him in his wheelchair back to the A&E ward. He didn’t bother explaining it to the Dr as he was, well quite frankly he was sick of telling people when no-one believed him.

Flying has its complications thought Charlie as he sat on top of the Eiffel Tower. He had decided to fly toParis this morning for a quick trip

Charlie flies extremely fast, if you blink you will miss him, a trip to France that would take us an hour in a plane takes Charlie 5minutes.

The problem was Paris was the furthest he had ever flown and now he was so tired he didn’t have the energy to fly home and, he seemed to be drawing quite a crowd below all of whom were wondering what on earth a Six year old child (well Six years, 8 months 2 weeks and 4 days to be precise) was doing on top of the Eiffel Tower in his Pyjamas with his best friend in the world Big Brown Bear. Yep thought Charlie, flying definitely has its complications.

A man in a blue security guard suit came as close as he could to Charlie, they were very high and Charlie was standing on the railings but the man, who was much bigger than Charlie and couldn’t fly was a little scared about falling off, so he wanted to stay on the visitor walkway.

“Bonjour, que faites-vous ici?” hello what are you doing up here? – asked the man

“Um, I don’t speak French” said Charlie

“Oh” said the man “what are you doing up here, how did you get up here”

“I flew, only now I am too tired to fly and, I am stuck here and don’t know how I am going to get home” sobbed Charlie

“Where are your Mum & Dad” asked the man

“They are at home”

“You flew to Paris on a plane on your own?”

Blimey thought Charlie, you’d think whilst I am balancing on the top of Eiffel Tower someone might actually believe that I can fly! “Yes” he said “I flew here on my own”

“Well we need to get you and your teddy down from here, it’s dangerous, you could fall and really hurt yourself, not to mention it’s very cold and you are only wearing your pyjamas”

The man held out a harness and told Charlie to loop it around himself and Big Brown Bear so that he could climb down into the arms of the security guard to be rescued…

Charlie thought to himself, if only I hadn’t flown all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower or if I had flown somewhere else, somewhere closer to home, I only wanted to be high up, I didn’t think that everyone would see me up here, what am I going to do, how am I going to get out of here?!

The man got Charlie into the lift with him, and they started the journey to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.  When they reached the bottom the lift doors opened and the security guard beamed at the people and the camera men who were waiting with their flash bulbs going crazy.

“Its okay, it’s okay” said the security guard, “I have saved him I have saved him”

But in all the commotion the security guard had let go of Charlie’s hand, and being Six years old (Six years, 8 months 2 weeks and 4 days to be precise) he had been able to crawl under peoples legs and make it through the crowd of people, jumped up in the air and like a flash he had flown back home.

As he flew in through his bedroom window he heard his Mum shouting from downstairs.

“Charlie, will you come down stairs now, I will count to three and if you are not here then you are in big big trouble”

Charlie came bounding down the stairs, “sorry mum” he said, he said down at the kitchen table and then he looked at the television in the corner.

“And now to Paris” said the news man “where it appears a young boy has been rescued from the top of the Eiffel Tower”

“Oh look” said Charlie’s mum “that little boy has the same Pyjamas on as you……

 If only you knew mum thought Charlie, if only you knew!

I am getting so excited about Christmas.

I love this time of year, all the kids we know were born between November & March so party season descended at the start of November, my Wedding Anniversary is coming up followed closely by my birthday, then my husbands and my mothers birthday then Christmas and New Year… horrarh… I will also kind of be finishing work the second week of December. Loads of time off!!

We are having a Kiddie Brunch for 12 children and their parents on Christmas Eve, so I will be cooking for them (read, order from M&S, dispose of all packaging before everyone arrives)

My family from Valencia are coming to see us so, there are 11 for Christmas Dinner – must remember to cook amazing festive feast (read, order from M&S, dispose of all packaging and serve up as own meal) as I do every year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m a control freak.

If it’s not going my way I am generally not happy… I do recognise this as a problem, but it doesn’t mean that I can do anything about it. You see at work I am often lucky, things may not start off going the way I want them but they generally end up that way. In my personal life things aren’t always so simple. I don’t always voice my childish paddy but internally I seethe, after all relationships are a democracy. I still however want my own way only I want to win it fairly…. Well fairly(ish)

I have up until now kept my blog as my little secret, from my friends and family anyway, but today whilst out with our son’s (to see Dr Palfi presents Not The Flying Tortoise Show at Luton Library Theatre, which I hasten to add is great fun for 3yr olds and highly recommended, even though it’s slightly cringy for the adults) my friend asked if I had written something and posted it on the web…  I’m nervous now that people I know, look at me getting ahead of myself, a person, singular, just the one, is reading something that I have written. Think I might actually be more nervous that she’ll tell people, which hilariously is the point of a blog, you want people to read your thoughts, stories, ideas little ditties and whathaveyou’s, only not sure I’m ready for that. If my friend is reading this, please give me a good review. 🙂

If I left do I honestly think he’d notice? Maybe in a day or two, once his shirts weren’t hung in the wardrobe or he ran out of pants.

This is what I am wondering whilst lying in bed waiting for the keys to turn in the door. I take that back, whilst I wait for him to attempt to turn his keys in the door, then ring the doorbell, we have one of those wireless ones, the ones with that get plugged in a socket, its in the dining room, do you know the ones I mean? never mind it’s not important. Where was I, ah yes his attempt at opening the door, then trying to ring the door bell, which I have turned off hence the digression. So he’ll call up to the window, and not in a romantic “Juliet Juliet where for art thou” this will be a”babe you’ve locked me out, babe, BABE!” till I come down in my pyjamas cursing myself for trying to go to bed and not staying up to watch the late night Channel4 movie, (something about a suburban murderer – would that work I wonder, although I am not so sure it’s that simple to hack body into pieces…..) and let him in. I wont say a word turn on my heels and go back to bed, this time really cross as I will now definitely be unable to sleep.

He would notice if I left, he’d notice a lot sooner than most and he’d notice because he would still be stuck outside.