My sister has long extolled the virtues of her Halogen Oven and I had been considering splashing out on one when I was asked by Clifford James if I would like to review one. Seeing as I had already been considering getting one I said yes and eagerly awaited it's arrival. When it did come I was surprised at the size of the thing, but after a quick phone call to my sister where we both measured our Halogen Oven's I discovered that they are the same size.
And so we have come to the end of the January Section of the Blog Dare, a dare to post everyday this year. I think that January has been an interesting month for me as I have used the prompts everyday, but I have also posted my own thoughts and ideas and things that we have been doing. I am hoping that this year I will be able to get rid of the idea that a blog post has to be more than a paragraph, after all if a paragraph explains all that we did then that is all that is needed right?
Baby Boy was allowed to watch a film in bed last night as he went up to bed early.
"'Would you like The Cat in the Hat?" I said
"No!" said Baby Boy
"What about Scooby Doo" I tried
"No!" said Baby Boy
"What about Little Einstein's?" I suggested
"No!" said Baby Boy
"How about Fireman Sam?" I tested
"No!" said Baby Boy
"I don't know then! Which one do you want?" I asked
"Choose Ponyo" said Baby Boy
"Okay I choose Ponyo!" I said
"Hooray I like that one!" answered an excited Baby Boy
For February I am going to make opportunities come to me. Everyday for 28 days I am going to follow a plan that I have created to make sure that I push myself forward, that I reach my fullest potential. I am feeling a little stuck at the moment as I realised that the dreams I had for myself aren't happening because I am no longer actively chasing them.
For most people, the Open University is a far off distant place that they will never see. If they are taking a one off course or are on the path to get a degree (or any other qualification with the Open University) they do most of the coursework at home, or in a local library, or at work in their lunch hour! The whole point of The Open University is that it is a place for distance learning, you never have to visit the head office.
That isn't the case for me though.
For me the Open University is a short drive away, a place I have seen regularly and know well. A place where friends and family work. To me the Open University isn't just a place of distance learning, or a work place, it's a place where Top Ender became a Top Ender. That's right Top Ender's nursery where she got her nickname is on the Open University grounds in Milton Keynes. I have told the story before, but it is something that we still get asked quite often; Just why is Top Ender called Top Ender?
I don't talk about politics, with anyone other than my husband. Why not? I'm a nice person. I think I am a nice person at least and I wouldn't want to offend anyone by listening to what they have to say and then telling them that it is utter tosh. I have friends who belong to the BNP, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Green and all of them are so convinced that they are right that they don't listen to what the other people have to say... and I think that we should all at least listen to what each other has to say.
I regularly play learning games with Top Ender and Baby Boy that they don't actually think are learning games. I have mentioned them before in posts such as Helping your Children with Math Skills and Helping your Children learn to Read. This week though The Play Academy at NurtureStore is hosting a Maths Play Carnival and I couldn't resist sharing a few ways that Baby Boy, Top Ender and I have been playing with Maths this week!
It got back to me that someone thought my children are spoilt. When the news came back to me it came as a shock that this person had said it. And yet I knew immediately why they had said it and I knew why the person was telling me. It wasn't to be malicious or evil, they just wanted me to know to be careful how I was with this person because they were talking about me behind my back.
At the time there was only Top Ender and apparently the way that I played with her, tried to encourage her, teach her things, let her use my "good" craft materials, let her get herself something to drink (without asking) and a snack, the way that I let her choose what clothes to wear, the way I let her have a hand in deciding what we had for lunch or dinner, or where we went for our walk was me spoiling her.
Baby Boy was in bed and as I finished cutting Daddy's hair we could hear him calling for us. As Daddy needed to go and shower to get rid of the hair I went upstairs to find out what Baby Boy needed us for. When I got in there it turned out that not only did he need his drink refilling but he also needed some comfort from the presence of someone to go to sleep with. I climbed into his bed with him, just for a few minutes, so that he could realise I was there and that it was safe to go to sleep. After a few minutes my back was cold from being pushed up against the wall and seeing as Baby Boy's bed is quite small I needed to get out before the contortionist position I was in became permanent. I made an excuse that I needed to tell Daddy that I was in Baby Boy's room and made my leave.
When you blog there are numerous conferences that you can go to. It's a chance to get together with people like you, who do similar things, who are experiencing similar things and a chance to meet people you only know through the words that appear on your screen when they post a blog post. Of course at these conferences there are normally brands who want to work with bloggers and a few speakers who know from experience what it is that they are talking about.
The theme for the British Mummy Bloggers Carnival this week is The Good Life. It really got me to thinking because whilst the Good life is something that nearly everyone aspires to it means something different to everyone. The only common theme is that it is making sure that the life that you lead has more than enough room for the things that are fun, the things that mean the most to you. So why was I struggling to clarify what the Good Life meant to me and my family? I decided to break it down into sections.
This is a sponsored post, but needs your input!
One of the great benefits of having this blog is that I get asked at times to write about things that would help people in similar positions to myself. Most of the people who read this blog are parents (there are a few who aren't so Hello to them!) and some of those who read this blog are looking for work. I am lucky that I have a great part time work from home job that I love doing and that fits in with my life perfectly. Don't get me wrong though, I do still like to check out what jobs are available that are suitable for me even if they are full time in an office sort of jobs. For those that are looking for a job that is right for them, then a company such as Workingmums.co.uk is an invaluable resource. I had a good look round the Working Mums website, and I found that I was able to search through the jobs not only in the part time/full time categories but also in my local area and as someone who wants to be working from home!
When looking for work everyone needs to ask themselves several questions and not just about what sector they would like to work in. It's essential to work out the details of what it is that you want for your working life because getting the work life balance right is important! Some of the questions that should be asked are;
*How many hours do they want to work? This will help clarify if they are after a full time job or a part time job.
*Do they want to work with others in a team or on their own? This will help clarify what sort of position to go for, after all if you work best in a team then you don't want a job where you are on your own!
*How far are you willing to travel for work? If you don't want a long commute don't look for jobs too far away!
Having this information about the work you want to do will mean that you find that your job hunting has more success. What are your top tips for finding a job?
This is a sponsored post, and yet you should read it as it's about online shopping!
With Baby Boy and I having been poorly this week I have spent a lot of time playing one of my favourite games, pretending I am rich and can buy what I like. I find that looking at an online web store such as Very and going through all the categories adding things to my shopping basket from the comfort of my pyjamas and my sofa perks me up. Mind you the idea of walking around a shopping centre in my pyjamas makes me laugh and laughter is the best medicine right?
Daddy and I quite often window shop online for things that we can't actually afford. Daddy likes to look at houses in the exclusive areas of the world (you know where the house costs a few million and the nearest neighbour is someone like Elton John) at exotic holidays and hotels that quite honestly if we were ever to go to we would only be able to afford to stay for five minutes and at cars.
I like to shop at sites like Very because I can afford to shop there and whilst I might dream about buying a whole room full of furniture in one go I know that I can afford to buy a piece at a time... if I plan things properly! Saying that though, this week I have been rather taken with a few items of clothing on the site and I might of found not only a new pair of jeans that I will probably live in, but also a really nice lacy top that just might be making an appearance at Cybermummy 2011!
Here at A Mothers Ramblings we like our media. TV, Movies and Music are key to our entertainment - we already enjoy a Full HD TV, a Projector, and Blu-Ray player. We love to listen to music in the house and on the road. When the children are restless at bedtime, we don't object to putting a short film on for them to watch in their bedrooms on any night at weekends. And while they do that, Mummy and I will happily sit together on the sofa and watch something else. So how will the Western Digital WDTV Live Hub help?
One thing we struggle with is centralising our media. On too many occasions Top Ender has decided to watch the same film at bedtime as Baby Boy - problem, only one copy of the DVD... Or, we've recorded a TV show on my server (that I hide in the loft next to the TV aerial!) and decide to watch it in the living room, only for it to take 30 minutes to transfer over the network - or worse, I have to travel up a ladder to collect it on a USB memory stick!
The first-generation WDTV Media Player that I bought in 2008 didn't really solve these problems. It did allow us to make the main TV, and later the Projector, a media source of sorts - but only with what we'd loaded it with in advance. And by "it", I mean the USB hard disk that we had to buy separately, copy the media to, and then attach to the player. As a result, it was only switched on after intense planning - not something our spontaneous family are known for!
These days you can hardly turn on the TV without seeing an advert for a Reality TV programme. Despite what people think, they have actually been with us for a surprising number of years, the earliest forms of reality TV shows were around in the 50's! They aren't a modern invention, it's just that we have an obsession with them now. If I am perfectly honest some of the shows I do watch and I do enjoy, but most of them? Well they just seem now to be old hat!
So I know that you are all eager to know who won the Cinema Tickets that were part of the competition that Fairy and I were running to celebrate the SEVEN years that they have been supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation® and because I am not one to disappoint here they are!
I used the Random Number Generator to generate my four winners from the 23 valid entry comments and they were 4,18,14 and 3.
Many years ago I used to make Quiche quite often, then when Daddy was diagnosed as celiac working with home made gluten free pastry made making Quiche a chore rather than a pleasure. Top Ender and Baby Boy both like quiche and so I decided to give gluten free pastry for Quiche one more bash. Apparently the gluten free pastry understood that it was it's last chance and it behaved very nicely... I made up the pastry (200g Doves Farm Plain Flour and 100g Softened Butter mixed together using a fork) and instead of rolling the pastry out I just pushed it in to the Quiche dish as a base and pricked it all over before putting it into the oven for half an hour (gas mark 5). I don't use baking beans because I don't have any, but I find a lot of pricking stops air bubbles anyway!
I have been lucky in meeting celebrities in the past, it seemed that at some points of my life I couldn't walk down a street without tripping over one! I have met stars of stage and screen, people who thought they were famous, people who didn't think that they were famous and all the people in between. In fact my autograph book is nice and full and a nice reminder of the time I have spent with some people in the past! There is one person however that really makes me annoyed that I didn't get to meet despite having been in the back of my car!
The other evening Baby Boy and Top Ender were talking to me whilst I was preparing the evening meal, (well actually I was preparing to prepare the evening meal but that just makes the story longer doesn't it!) when Baby Boy just started crying.
"Noooo!" cried Baby Boy between sobs
"What's wrong Baby?" I asked
"Have you hurt yourself?" asked Top Ender
"No it's the worms!" cried Baby Boy still sobbing
We took the sobbing Baby Boy into the living room and sat together and started to calm him down. It took a few minutes for him to stop sobbing and to work out what it was that he was crying about. It turns out that the mince that we were having for dinner was thought to be worms.
Today's prompt for a blog post really stumped me. I have had lots of emails, some interesting, some boring and some just weird in the past, but what is the most interesting email that I have ever received?
When Warburtons asked me to come to London for Breakfast I
was excited. I love Warburtons bread, but we don’t eat a lot of it at home
because Daddy is a Celiac and I always feel really bad eating some tasty bread
products when he has something... well not tasty. To put it bluntly most wheat free bread products taste as if someone has grated cardboard up. Then Warburtons told me the breakfast
they were inviting me to was to launch a Gluten Free range and I got even more
excited as not only would I be able to buy Warburtons Bread again but Daddy
would be able to eat it too! Talking to the Walburtons Team (in particular
Darren Littler who was very kind in talking with me, Amy From Cooking, Cake and Children and Sally from Who’s the Mummy
for a very long time) it was apparent that the new products (Brown Bread, White
Bread, Crumpets, Tea Cakes and Sub rolls) are intended very much to be like
“normal” bread products with even the packaging not being dissimilar from the
wheat ranges.
When I first started blogging, it was because I wanted an outlet to share what I was going through. At the time I was dating Daddy and I had not that long before changed my religion and I was still learning a lot about me and my place in the world. There were a few blogs that I read that were more like diaries about what they had been up to and it really spoke to me. Of course at this time I was still convinced that I was the worlds greatest writer and that one day someone would read my blog/diary and would instantly offer me a book deal that would earn me millions. Of course this never happened. One day I read back over what I had written and realised that I sounded like a crazy person and deleted the whole thing. I have spent hours searching the Internet for even a snippet of a post that I had written and am pleased to say that any ideas that you have about me being crazy are just from the tweets and blog posts that I write here...
Twelve years ago I was at the Dr's for an early morning appointment. I had had a summer job at the Doctors (cleaning) and so the Reception staff knew me well and I didn't even notice anything out of the ordinary when one of them stuck her head out the little window of the reception office and said to me that she just had to pop into see the Doctor before my appointment and could I just sit tight for a few minutes. The next thing I knew my Dad walked into the Doctors and told me that my Grandfather had died.
A year later (to the very day) my Nan's brother died and so did my Gran's brother. Three deaths on one day of the year. I suppose with the number of people in the world and the number of days in the year that it is likely, but it still seemed like that day was cursed to me. Over the next few years more and more people that I knew, that meant something to me died in January. A couple of years ago I was hit very hard when my Gran died on Top Ender's birthday. It just made me think that January (despite being the birth month of both Top Ender and Daddy) was out to get me.
This morning I was in London for a Warburtons Gluten Free Range launch when I saw I had a message on my phone. Daddy had text me to let me know that My Mother-in-Law's 2nd husband had died. I was shocked, we knew he was ill, we knew that he was going to die but we had been told that he had much longer than a few days. I felt cheated and angry and sad and suddenly I remembered that January and I have history.
I'm starting to hate January and now you know why.
I may have mentioned once or twice that we love IKEA. We go to the store to walk around and look at the furniture that we have already brought (honestly I think I own half the store), look at the new stuff and look at the room sets to see what we could do in our house (there is one room set that I reckon would look fab in my house) and of course to buy something. I have never been able to walk into IKEA and not come out with something, mainly because the prices are so reasonable and also because I love stuff from IKEA! I even play the Ikea app on Facebook, where you can make up Toy Stories all on my own without the children! When I was asked if Top Ender and Baby Boy would like to review some IKEA MALA items I said that we would love to and eagerly awaited a small package.
For Top Enders Birthday Party, Disney very kindly sent over a copy of Beauty and The Beast on Disney Blu Ray for the girls to watch. The Girls chose to watch another film and so when Top Ender went back to School a couple of days later, Baby Boy and I decided to watch the film together. We watched it on our TV, instead of on the projector and cuddled up together on the Sofa.
I have a lot of fears for my children, but the one fear that is bigger than the rest is a subject that I have touched on before. I fear that my children are going to pick up the food issues that I have and that they too are going to suffer with weight issues. I know that my weight is causing me to miss out on things, not to wear the clothes that I want to wear, not to have the life that I really want to live, not to be able to do the things with my children the way I want to. I know that the only person who can prevent this is me, I need to change my ways so that my children know the right way to react to food, to treat food and to use food.
I have reviewed Little Dish meals before with Baby Boy and his friends from Toddler group having a giant Little Dish taste session, and the meals were loved by almost everyone! When we were offered the chance for Baby Boy and Top Ender to try the New Beef & Spinach Cannelloni I said we would love too! I then totally forgot that they were going to be sent out to us and as we were about to leave on the School run a couple of days later they arrived via courier in a very nice little bag with cool packs. I quickly threw the dishes in the fridge and went on the School run.
To say that Baby Boy is a Mummy's boy would be an understatement. Don't get me wrong he adores his sister and his Daddy and Baby Boy often tells me that he would rather live with his Granny if I have told him off, but he is still a Mummy's Boy. Every morning (apart from Sundays) Baby Boy and I are the first downstairs and so he knows now that if it is night time it is Daddy that helps him (you know the sort of thing gives him his cup back, sorts out the bugs in his bed) and if it is morning time Mummy helps him.
I don't think I can pick one person who has influenced me the most. I have had several people who have caused me to think about what I want/need, who I wanted to be, how I wanted to act. It is a bit like a polishing act, where I was a dull jewel that was polished and shaped into the fantastic woman that I am... No I am, honest!
I am going to let you into a little secret. Most of you reading this blog post right now know me as PippaD the Family Blogger. I do however have a couple of other anonymous blogs. Ones where I can talk about things that are more personal, more secret, more cutting... but No, I won't tell you what they are called or where you can find them. I told you they are anonymous!
I got a few funny emails after I posted about Making Chores Fun - Clean the Kitchen Floor, mainly people asking if I really did do that, or if it was staged. I really do clean the Kitchen Floor by getting Top Ender and Baby Boy to skate up and down on it with a bit of Water, Washing Up Liquid and a towel... just not every week. Cleaning the stairs and making it a fun chore however is something that we do every week!
There is always a short period after breakfast where nobody really wants to move from the breakfast table, or when someone is loading the dishwasher or doing the breakfast dishes and the rest of the family need something to occupy them with. So what to do after breakfast? Well it doesn't matter if you have had a cooked breakfast or a cold breakfast there is always something to do with what is on the table!
Whilst we were enjoying our Christmas Break we had the time to have a cooked breakfast for a few more mornings than normal. One of our favourite breakfasts was Boiled egg (with Soldiers!) and this gave Daddy an idea to make some egg people on the emptied out egg shells! Top Ender and Baby Boy loved this craft time, not just because it was time with Daddy (although that was quite cool too I imagine) but because they were using materials that were available to them then and there, they didn't need to go off and find paper! One of the benefits of making these egg people was that after we had taken the photographs of the creations we just threw them away into the compost bin. The egg shell people will be fertilising some farmers field in no time at all!
My first blog post on A Mothers Ramblings was on March 13th 2007 and is now titled Swimming and School Worries for Top Ender. I say now titled because back then when I started this blog I didn't have blog post titles, I just used the date! I sort of just jumped right in with a blog post, didn't explain who I was or who Top Ender was. I assume (because I can't remember) that it was because I assumed people who followed my other blogs would just follow me over here and of course they knew who Top Ender was!
One thing that I have always wanted to do is to grant wishes, (I mean serious wishes, not the "I wish we could have burgers for tea" kind of wish) for those in need. I would love to be a Fairy or a Fairy Godmother like the ones you see in Children's films but I would need to speak with someone about the dresses they all traditionally wear! When I was sent some information about Fairy (the washing up liquid!) supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation® I knew that it was something that I could easily talk about, as I know a lot about them both as I have heard (and read) a lot in the seven years that Fairy have been in partnership with Make-A-Wish.
I don't tend to do controversial posts here at A Mothers Ramblings. In fact I am one of those people who sit on the fence on a lot of subjects because apart from the splinters it is safer there! However The Blog Dare prompt for today is to write something controversial, or to get someone else to write something controversial. Now there are a lot of bloggers out there who I know who could write something controversial without even blinking and no doubt they would be amusing and well thought out and everyone would think about the subject they had chosen to talk about. And yet I couldn't hand this post over to someone else. I wanted to write it myself... and so I have. You will have to wait until after the jump to see what I decided to write about though!
Top Ender and Daddy are hoping to camp in every English county before Top Ender is 18. It is a huge undertaking (seeing as they only go camping once a year at the moment), but it is one that they are more than happy to undertake! They spend hours sitting at the PC looking for the ideal camp site in the area that they have decided to go to as they have several criteria even if they are only going to be there for a couple of days. Daddy likes it to have a good 3G signal (or WiFi), an electric hook up, be family friendly and to have a shower and toilet block! Top Ender prefers sites that have a swimming pool, a children's play park and her Daddy... so far they have managed to find ones that fit all their requirements and they have had great fun on their trips.
If they are going to get all the counties stayed in before Top Ender is 18 they are going to have to put some serious effort into this over the next few years! It is great for them to go away for a few days at a time, to explore a new area and to generally have some fun together. It is an extension of the Daddy Daughter Date nights I guess, and a great opportunity for them to develop their friendship and their Daddy Daughter relationship. So far Top Ender and Daddy have visited Caves, Bird Sanctuaries, Castles, Steam Railways, Beaches, Theme Parks, Museums, The National Motor Museum, Farms, National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Beauty. Daddy tries to plan it so that every visit they make is fun and educational and they get plenty of time to relax and enjoy the local scenery too.
I do product reviews here at A Mothers Ramblings, as I am sure that you already know if you have been here before! I do them because I personally find other peoples opinions on products interesting and it does affect what I buy and how I use things and I hope that when I am given products to try out that if a product is a bit rubbish that you will know! I review things honestly and I hope in a way that is amusing and I try not to have too many... do let me know if you think otherwise though!
There are times when I look at my two children and I think what amazing children I have. I think that I must be the luckiest mother ever because they are polite, they prefer fruit over chocolate (not always but enough to make me happy), they prefer to drink water to squash and they don't expect anything from me other than love. There are times when I have to disappoint them (see yesterdays post) and yet they accept it fairly well. They know that I love them and that I am proud of them and that I want nothing but the best for them. I sometimes get big headed and think that the reason that they are such great children is because I must be the best mother ever.
Everyone has at one point thought that they are a terrible mother. I don't care what you say to others, I know that at some point you have done something that made you think just that. I do it all the time. It might be that for dinner I give them beans on toast because that is all we have (it's actually a good meal though!) or it might be because I told them off for something that really wasn't their fault, or it might be because they ask nicely for something and then I tell them that they can't have it (normally because of budget constraints) but all these little things which seem so insignificant to you really make me feel like the worst mother.
When you are overweight and want to lose weight, it isn't just a case of stopping snacking or doing more exercise (although that is a huge part of it!), there are a lot of behaviours that need to be unlearned too. Sometimes it takes more than just willpower and encouragement from friends and family to lose the excess weight and to unlearn these behaviours? Well sometimes you need an extra helping hand. Before Christmas I saw a request from a company called Thinking Slimmer who wanted bloggers to review their product which could help me to lose weight all by listening to a ten minute slimpod (voice recording) every night for 21 nights.
When I was little I wanted to be a teacher. I thought that I might make a good teacher as I was interested in school (despite not being the best student), I got along with children (not just my peers, but younger children!) and I thought that it would be a chance for me to make a difference. I had a very romantic view of what being a teacher would be like and I know now that being a Primary School Teacher wouldn't be a good career choice for me. Thank goodness I found out before I became one!
You can tell that the Blog Dare posts prompts for January are written by an American. I don't mean that in a horrid way, but it's just when I saw the prompt for today I was thinking about beaches and hotels and trying new foods and then further reading saw that they are meaning the celebration kind. I guess that at the moment I am looking forward to the May Day Bank Holiday because we will be celebrating my Mum's birthday and My birthday at the same time... It's going to be a great weekend!
Over at Baby Genie I was mentioned in a post about do we know how to play with toys. Not just using the toys and playing a little game, but actually getting involved in the play process. Instead of using bricks as just stacking blocks, using them to build a rocket, to make a castle, to make a bridge. It made me laugh because yesterday Baby Boy and I were playing a game and I was trying to sort the words out in my head to make it a blog post because it wasn't just an ordinary game, it was a game where we used our imaginations. It appears that Catherine and I were on the same wave length although she got there first!
