You Know you're a mummy when......

A lovely meme nabbed from the blog of Christine at Thinly Spread

The rules are basic, write a little list of things which mark you out as a Mum (or Dad), link back to this post (or Christines!) (thank you) and offer the  meme up to some other bloggers who you think will enjoy it. It doesn’t matter if you have tiny babies or birds which have already flown, if you’re a parent I want to know what marks you out as one!

1. You spend more money on clothes for your daughter than on yourself, in fact you only look at kid's clothes, you think about kid's clothes and you know her shoe size and dress size but are not sure of your own as the last time you bought yourself anything new was so long ago.
2. You are a grown up but you do weekly spelling tests, make 'models' of anything from 'The Moon in a Shoe Box' to a 3d seed, and do regular 'times tables'.
3. Your car contains a car seat and a spare, in case a friend needs to come, this friend will never be your friend, you do not have friends, your kid does.
4. You have a calendar in the kitchen which is so full of appointments, parties, playdates etc that there is no room to add any more, none of these are about you.
5. Tears at 3am make you move over in bed to make room for a 'small person', who despite only being 10 years old will now take up 45% of your side of the bed, you don't care though because you want them to sleep well.
6. You would walk over hot coals to see your daughter happy, because you love her so much.
7. You sometimes want to kill your child because she can infuriate and argue like a pro (see 6 above)
8. You are an expert at creating a fancy dress costume at short notice from things you can find around the house.
9. You understand the importance of a 'particular' bear and won't sleep either until it is found
10. You never get tired of cuddles, chubby hands creeping into yours and watching (and listening) to your child sleeping.

So there is mine.....what makes you know you are a mum (or dad)?

Maybe I should ask specific bloggers to play - but I'm WAY too busy being a mum........

so just play along - pop your links in the comment box and I'll come have a read........when I get a minute

Blogging via phone

Apparently i can blog direct from my phone. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because i often think of vital blog posts when i'm in bed or on the train and with no laptop my phone is my only access to the 'net. Bad because of course, i'm now free to spout random musings from anywhere, and without thinking long and hard, and with no read through or editing.....this can only lead to trouble! Still, it does mean i may be a ble to post a quick blog update from camp bestival at the weekend :-)

sent from my samsung b3310

Winning

I've given myself an award. If you would like to give yourself an award I suggest you do it too.

All the blogs I read are really great, people are very talented, people share secrets or life stories they share their funny family moments and the pain they experience. People comment on blogs and offer support, they help and share to an amount that sometimes humbles me.

I play along, I blog too, sometimes it's funny, sometimes, ordinary, always from the heart.

We are all top bloggers. Take a bow.

Have an award.

Feel free to take this award for your own blog, and blow your own trumpet.

Party Bag Hell - What should go in a party bag

If you are a parent, or a carer for children you will know that the trend is for party bags at the end of a party

When I was a child [mumble mumble] years ago, we went home with nothing, or a piece of cake if we were so full of savoury food that we had no room for desert! But today party bags are usually more elaborate affairs, in fact they can verge on the ridiculous with gifts inside to rival the party bags at the Oscars!

But i want to reassure parents everywhere Party bags are not a Right, they are Not Essential. They are nice, but you are not duty bound to provide them!

With that in mind, IF you plan a party bag, here is the thing. Sweets are not the best (and certainly not the only!) thing that should be in the bag.

Because   

1. the children have just had a huge junk tea, of crisps, cake, sausage rolls, cake, biscuits, cake, marshmallows, cake, grapes, cake, and one carrot stick
2. some parents (myself included) limit the amount of sweets their children are allowed, and therefore empty the bag straight in the bin.
3. some children (mine) are not that keen on sweets, and empty the sweets straight into the bin (wonder where she gets that from!?) She loathes Haribo.

So what? what should you put in a party bag? Well it needn't be expensive. Here are some ideas, most of which I've used at some time in the past, they may also be useful as 'class gifts' instead of sweets at a birthday or end of term.

Powerballs - can be bought in job lots of 30 or so on eBay - work out at pennies each and the kids love them!
Pens, Gel pens, pencils - buy a pack at the £ shop and divide them up
Temporary Tattoos - another favourite, again check eBay for job lots
Key rings, all manner of themes here - again eBay is you friend - in fact eBay is great for party bags so I'll stop saying it, just assume it!
Rubbers (OK for the Americans I mean erasers, I'm not advocating sex for the under 5s LOL) £ shops often sell packs of funky shapes and colours of these too
Hair Scrunchies, clips etc
Nail varnish
Cheap and cheerful Jewellery, Claire's Accessories sometimes has bits in the sale
Note pads
Small toys - Hawkins Bazaar is fabulous for odd things under £1
Sliding Puzzles - the sort with a picture or letters etc that you have to slide to complete
Small Purses
Toy Cars (can often buy a pack of 10 or so in a £ shop)
Small Torches
Glow in the dark bracelets
Stickers, can be bought or rolls or on sheets
Bubbles - yes it's been done, but kids love them, they don't last forever and they are cheap!
A Balloon - get a crazy shaped assortmeant, or some of the 'punch ball' variety on elastic, or the screamers that fly around the room!
Pencil toppers, you know the crazy little things that go on the end of a pencil!
Practical Jokes - who wouldn't love 'fake dog turds' or 'nail through the finger' or even a 'mini fart cushion'!
Badges are fun too for older children.
Rubber snakes
Packet of seeds

Oh and why not buy plain white or coloured bags and let the children decorate them before filling them with goodies! Or for a real eco friendly (and keen! parent) you could sew some cloth bags from left over material, with ribbon ties.

A great selection of bags and boxes here

Another option is to dispense with the bags all together, buy some cheap books or cuddly toys (Pound Shop again I'm afraid!) and wrap them, then have a 'lucky dip' by the door as the children leave, most children love this!

If you are totally lazy - try the ready made bags available prefilled from various online suppliers.

The darkness beyond

I'm not the only one musing on the internet. I'm not the only one that posts stuff online. You all know that, you blog or you read blogs everyday, when you find a good one you star it or share it or follow it.

But do any blogs follow you?

I don't mean follow your blog, I mean follow you. Like stalk. Watch you, wait for you to move and be there, at your destination before you?

Are you alone while you blog, or is someone watching, over your shoulder. Biding their time.

I stumbled onto a blog a while ago and I'm hooked. I like to think it's safe to read, but sometimes I'm not so sure. Sometimes the thrill of a scary story seems just a little too close.

Do Vampires exist? If they do do they sparkle?

I doubt it, I expect they prowl silently at night, on rain slick streets, like tigers in a damp jungle, sniffing the city air...waiting.

If I knew there were real vampires would I be happy or scared? Is fear only fun when it's far away. Is danger glamorous, like my padding tiger in the dark.

Twitter seems a safe place to be. Or a blog. But how safe is safe?

Enjoy a scary story? (nothing like Twilight - trust me!)  Check out this blog. But don't say I didn't warn you.

  

complexity is killing me

and I quote

"Your password needs to meet a COMPLEXITY rule for security reasons. The following conditions must be met for your password to be valid:
Your password must NOT include your username. It should contain a mix of THREE out of the FOUR following character types:

• uppercase letters (A-Z)
• lowercase letters (a-z)
• numbers (0-9)
• symbols (!"£$%^&*)

It must be 8 or more characters long
To avoid password reuse you will not be able to use any of your FOUR previous passwords
You must not use SPACES or commas (,) "

Who is the boss of me?

BBC Website Article

Image courtesy of Graeme Weatherston / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So France has decided to tell women what they cannot wear. They cannot wear the full face veil in public. Men that force women to wear a veil are also punished. (with a prison term, while the women are ‘only’ fined)

At what point is a government wrong when it tells people how to dress, is telling a woman she cannot wear revealing clothes wrong? Is telling her she cannot cover up wrong? Where is the line? Is there a line or a long shadow of grey.

I am tempted to wear a veil in public purely to spite governments that say I can’t. Much as I enjoy supporting the Naked Rambler in his attempts to prove nudity is a personal choice, and not illegal, much as I sunbathe topless where it is ‘forbidden’.

Who controls our bodies? Who should decide what we wear.(or don't wear)?

Can a government ever proscribe our dress while claiming to be on our side?

Comments actively welcomed, but not stupid racist ones (which will be deleted) thank you

PS My lovely twinny VBinCatalunya blogged beautifully on this subject here

IMPORTANT MESSAGE:

IMPORTANT MESSAGE:

You've heard about people who have been abducted and had their kidneys
removed by black-market organ thieves? Well, this kind of cruel theft
is happening with other body parts as well!

My thighs were stolen from me during the night a few years ago.

I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs.
It was just that quick. The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal.
Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine?
I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs.
Finally, hurt and angry, I resigned myself to living out my life in jeans.
And then the thieves struck again.

My arse was next. I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains
to match my new rear end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier.
But my new arse was attached at least three inches lower than my
original! I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favor of long skirts.

Two years ago I realized my arms had been switched. One morning I was
fixing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of my upper arms
swing to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush. This was really getting
scary - my body was being replaced one section at a time. What could
they do to me next?

When my poor neck suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a turkey
neck, I decided to tell my story. Women of the world, wake up and smell
the coffee! Those "plastic" surgeons are using REAL replacement body
parts -stolen from you and me! The next time someone you know has
something "lifted", look again - was it lifted from you?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX. This is happening to women everywhere every night.
WARN YOUR FRIENDS!

P.S. Last year I thought someone had stolen my breasts. I was lying in
bed and they were gone! But when I jumped out of bed, I was relieved
to see that they had just been hiding in my armpits as I slept.
Now Ikeep them hidden in my waistband.

(sent to me in an email - too good not to share - take care out there)

Another Book Giveaway? can it be true?

Yes gentle reader it can!!

The adorable people at Punk Publishing sent a book to me in error (see previous post) so they sent me a little something extra when they corrected the mistake, and as I said that I was a 'more basic camper' they included a different type of camping book.

I give you

tiny campsites - by Dixe Wills

(Dixe writes non-flight travel articles for the Guardian)

This book is too adorable for words! All the campsites listed are tiny (the clue's in the name!) under 1 acre and they have all been visited and reviewed by Dixe himself, an eco traveller fond of a bicycle (not overly fond like that chap in Scotland....ahem.....) any way he cycles to many of these little out of the way places and none are adverts - in that no one paid to be in the book. They are spread across the UK, and you would be sure to find one you would adore, no posh shower blocks, no playgrounds,  (actually there are some with all those things, and several with a pub so that was all a lie! but you get the idea!) fire pits, streams, no rules, just lots of fun!

Each site is clearly set out, with ratings for friendliness cost etc, there are pros and cons of each site, maps, top tips and clear lists of facilities ( loos, electricity, recycling etc)

I'm already in love with the book and cannot wait to try some of the sites Spyway Inn - with a great name and a pub! or Foxhole Bottom (go on snigger! why wouldn't you want to stay there!!) many are 'no music except acoustic intruments' and one has discounts for musicians!

And now because I asked nicely I have a spare copy of this awesome book!! a Book for the camper that likes it 'real' (or likes a pub - or both!) a book for the camper with no car! (or a car) a book for the camper with no children! (or even free range children, that like to get muddy, climb trees and roast marshmallows over glowing firepits) Yes a book for everyone that loves camping!!

So tell me why you love to camp - and the book could be yours, comments below please to be entered in the draw, which will take place on 10th July 2010

Good luck, may the keenest camper win!