A catching up post

I'm sure* you are all wondering what I've been up to this week
(*I realise you don't care)

And so here is my news.

This week I have mostly been panicking about what to buy my dad for his birthday. I'm sure in 'the olden days' it was easier to buy things for people, we didn't have much and we didn't seem to want much, we were easily pleased. I know that each year I struggle to think of things that I need or want that I don't have already...more earrings? More books? More handbags? When did owning things become a chore? I just thank my lucky stars for food and alcohol - both of which get used up between birthdays and for charities that allow you to buy something for someone that actually needs something...I once bought a bicycle for a Dr in Bolivia for a friend...and my mum once bought me a school desk in Africa...

This year I bought my dad beer..and I have a surprise gift planned for when we meet up next weekend (we are going camping of course) 

Also I've been planning my imminent London excursion to see Sir Tom Jones in concert in Hyde Park. I was hoping to take DD but she is double booked and is off to a Cheer leading Competition instead. The weather forecast for London is wet...and that's not just the middle aged women at the concert...

I've also managed to finish a bottle of wine and a bottle of cava this week, averaging a glass and a half a night, not sure when you declare you have a drink problem...when you can no longer afford it?

Other things I have been doing include playing The Sims (freeplay) on the ipad, including finally getting a birthday for all the babies, and buying a Frisbee for the dog.

And trying to get past level 20 on Disney's Maleficent Free Fall.

So there is my exciting life. Oh and Mr TM broke the lawnmower...again, by crashing it into the trampoline., we currently have an uncut circle of grass like a reverse crop circle on the lawn.

Play with your food

I'm 'aving 'oops! 
In fact DD and I are having Hoops and Crosses! Thanks to a rather cute gift package from Walkers Crisps, DD and I had the perfect chance to play with our food this weekend. A new baked snack, with wholegrain in hoops and cross shapes just begged to be played with (and eaten) but before that we had to release Monty a cheeky monkey fellow accompanied by a book telling us just why we ought to be trying Hoops and Crosses from Walkers in DD's lunch box instead of crisps.

 Our monkey book tells us the snacks are 56% wholgrain, that 27% of children get no wholegrains in their diet at all (sad but not really a surprise) and that Hoops and Crosses come in 3 flavours, Salt and Vinegar (in the wrong colour bag, don't get me started), Beef (which we tried, after DD declared "I don't like beef flavour crisps" than ate some and added "except these, these are nice") and Prawn Cocktail (a good old British favourite in a jolly pink bag)

Now  DD doesn't regularly have crisps (I deem them 'junk food' and too salty) but we are of course human and we do have treats now and again so we will certainly be buying this (slightly) healthier optton in future. 

And to add to the fun, a few strands of uncooked spaghetti make a rather fine 'board' on which to play. I noted that when I was about to win a row, DD would hastily eat one of my pieces, but it was fun despite the cheating. So a rather fun and tasty snack, a great way to shovel some wholegrains into a child and not too bad a snack as a grown up either, a long time since I've had a crispy beef snack, I think they'd go well with beer :-)

Thanks to Walkers Crisps for sending us a bag to try (and for Monty our new monkey friend).

LOCOG - Crushing the Dream, one day at a time

I was really excited about the Sports even that shall not be named. Not at first I admit, but gradually I came round to realising that it was going to be a historic event, something good in a  time of recession. I stopped worrying about how much it would cost and concentrated on what it would achieve. 

Sport would be highlighted in schools. Kids and young athletes would be encouraged. The Paralympics would show disabled people in a positive light, moving them away from the 'benefit scrounger' image they seem to have gained.

The Ticket 'lottery' was horrible. It felt weird, and unfair, to order more tickets than you needed? or to just order what you required and risk disappointment? To order in some kind of 'double guessing' way by selecting sports that you imagine to be 'unpopular' ... but what if everyone did that? To order in the highest price band or the lowest? It was a nightmare and in the end I ordered the cheapest options in what I wanted to see and only what I could afford.

I was one of the lucky few it seems as I got nearly all the tickets I applied for! So the excitement grew again. The thought of seeing top athletes in a massive new arena  or pool, cheering on my country with DD at my side.

Kindly donated by @Kungpofanda at Twitter

The  transport looked like it might be tricky. We live close to London (an hour on the train) but even so the journeys seems long and complicated, we were advised to leave 'extra time' so I did. I booked the tickets on the train even though they cost more than the tickets. I felt smug and organised.

And then the emails started...and the texts telling me to read and observe the rules in the emails ... "or else you may not see your event". That sounded ominous and threatening. 

Suggestions to arrive TWO HOURS earlier than the event, after I had purchased tickets (planning to arrive 30 minutes early) Suddenly an early morning train journey became a dawn/milk train journey - 5.14am for an event that starts at 9am. And then the searches, the rules on 'excessive' food (what is excessive? who decides how many maltesers is acceptable?) the ban on liquids, on large flags, umbrellas, kittens. Where was the fun? Where was the excitement?

And now missiles on roofs of ordinary peoples flats ('you are at no danger' they are told - 'so why the missiles and armed guards then?' I would reply) A lack of security from the company PAID and CONTRACTED to provide them. Soldiers brought in from our troops aroud the world to patrol a sporting event! Allegations of free tickets to top events for the great and 'good'...., And finally the crown, we can no longer even mention the games (and possibly the year, the word summer or the metalic colour of the medals) without getting sued..

I admit, I'm losing the love. I want to get the love back. I want the Sports Event that cannot be named to feel like a Sporting Event of a Lifetime, not a War.


Toy Soldier Picture Credit : National Museum of Play Online Collections

edited to add  the no kittens pic

An Olympic Meme

Crank up the national anthem, get out your gold medals because I've been tagged for the latest meme sprinting round the block. No list of rules for this one, just a list of Q & As and MelkshamMum has passed the baton to me so here we go...3,2,1 and they're off

If everyday tasks were an Olympic event what would you get a gold medal in?

Sleeping, absolutely without any doubt. I can sleep through practically anything. Storms that destroy our garden shed, radios blaring, toilets flushing, 11am coming and going, movies, I once fell asleep in a nightclub. I'm a Gold Medal winner for sleeping for sure.

As a child, or now even, did you excel at a particular sport?

No. As a child I was terrible at all sports and it put me off doing anything even remotely sporty for life. I was finally diagnosed at 36 with Charcot-Marie-Tooth explaining (finally) that I wasn't 'lazy' or 'rubbish' at games (as many a PE teacher had suggested) but was, in fact, mildly disabled. I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics though, and the Paralympics even more so.

Michael Phelps (swimmer) or Michael Johnson (runner) - which sport appeals to you more?

I can neither swim nor run. However the idea of watching fit young men do either is really rather appealing....hmmm glistening muscles....

Gratuitous Muscled Body Picture

How fast can you get out of bed and ready to go out the door if you miss the alarm and sleep in?

I rarely sleep in because while being able to sleep for England I am an early riser on a work day - out of bad making tea for DH at 5.30am. If I did oversleep I could be up and out in 10 minutes. I don't wear makeup and showers are for sissys (kidding I do wash, but if in a hurry I'd skip a day)

What fantasy sport would you like to see made into an Olympic event?

Extreme Breastfeeding, you know, while bungy jumping, underwater, up a mountain, while skydiving, that sort of thing. For those that don't breastfeed there would be a bottle feeding version but I think it would be harder to sterilise bottles and milk underwater than to breastfeed there :-)

Claim to fame time: have you ever met an Olympian and who was it?

No, but am attending some events this year so there is still time. Are you allowed to lick Usain Bolt?

What event in past Olympics can you remember most vividly?

To be honest I don't really remember many events - just the shock stuff like Zola Budd changing nationalities to run in the Olympics, and Ben Johnson being stripped of his medal in 1988

Tuning in at home or tickets clamped in sweaty palms?

I have tickets for Dressage (that's a horse thing ;-)) and tickets for swimming, dressage, and wheelchair basketball in the paralympics. DD and I are going (DH not so keen) and we are very excited. (Tickets not arrived yet though! *bites nails*)

Who do you think most deserves a gold medal (any walk of life not just Olympians)?

Would be slushy to say my other half wouldn't it? but he's been a SAHD for the last 12 years and does most of the housework, despite being 20 years my senior. So I think I'd award it to him. 

Now I have to pass on the baton, but whose sweaty palm is outstretched to grab it?

I pass to  The Moiderer (because she can actually run and has done the London marathon!)

and  Very Bored in Catalunya because she is lovely and is in the right place for some Beach Volley Ball

Feel free to snatch the baton for yourself if you want to answer the questions, and leave a comment here so I can pop over to look.

Victorian Parenting

Now as you all know (unless this is the first time you have ever heard of me, and you just stumbled across this blog, in which case , welcome and catch up) that I am a lover of the Twitter. I adore technology that allows me to talk to a whole host of fascinating and often clever, usually witty, people where ever I go. 

 

I love the Wii and enjoy a round of virtual golf as much as the next man, I have a Humax digital recorder box thingy and generally like technology BUT I am also of the old ' don't buy new til the old breaks' school of thought. So we do not own a flat screen TV, we do not have a laptop, and our PC is over 10 years old (and yes it barely functions...), I have pushed the boat out recently and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab - mainly because my old phone was...well, really old.

With that in mind, we also have a 12 year old daughter, keen to keep up with her friends, she has a mobile phone (LG Cookie, not some vastly expensive Apple thing, and she saved up and bought it herself) she has a DS (just the basic DS Lite - not 3d or anything, and again, she saved and bought it) she has a Tablet computer (very amazingly cheap from Amazon, a Birthday gift) and of course she watches TV and has access to the PC (where she blogs) and plays on the Wii

So...decisions,  modern parenting or trapped in the dark ages? My DH and I feel that access to digital 'stuff' without control is not great for the growing brain or for a fully functioning social life (yes yes twitter friends I do see the irony here) so we restrict her 'viewing'. (she had no access to TV at all before the age of two, but had a mobile phone at 8!

Lately the rules have been defined as: 

Weekdays - nothing before school, 1hr after school (to include any of the electrical 'stuff' including TV) and a further half hour when I get in from work in case I fancy a golf partner :-)

At Weekends - nothing before 10am, then an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, and any 'family' Wii or TV time as the evening dictates.

Do you have a digital dilemma? Do you own loads of gadgets? Do you restrict your children or yourself? Do you have any 'electrical free' family time? (we like to make time for board games like Scrabble, ConnectFour, and Chess and card games like Uno or 21)

Am I a Victorian parent? Is technology part of life now and I shouldn't care? Or is the mental development of a child a responsibility that needs some restrictions to ensure a balanced outlook? (Much as I don't let DD live on chocolate biscuits and honey)

I would love your thoughts and comments - either agreeing or disagreeing with my thoughts! Do please stop and tell me what you think, and let me know: do you have children? What are their ages? Do you restrict their access to technology? If so why?  Have your ideas altered over time ? Thanks