I read a post by coffee and curls a while ago that made me think about what my legacy to my children would be. I saved the link and wrote a few ideas in my drafts folder and assumed that I'd get back to it. In fact, every time I saw a 'yoof' in the street behaving like an idiot, screaming and shouting, or drinking something inappropriate in a park, I vow that my child will not grow up to be like that. But the events of the last few days have … [Read more...]
Cupcake cases creatures
Sometimes it’s the simple things that are the most surprising. Take, for example, the humble cupcake case. Of course, when I was young we made fairy cakes, or just ‘cakes’. Cake cases, along with cakes in general, seem to have been rebranded and are so popular these days you can buy cases that range from teeny tiny petit-four affairs to monster muffin holders and everything in between. A few weeks ago, when I was making Red White and Blue … [Read more...]
100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups, Week #4: After
It's been an incredibly long time since I did any creative writing, something which truly saddens me, given that I actually studied English at University. I've been working at a 'Better' year in 2011: expanding my post-baby brain and improving my skills are part of the challenge. For those of you who haven't heard about it, the 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups is a weekly creative writing challenge where you are given a prompt and can use up to … [Read more...]
Love a Book: Grace Williams Says It Loud
It’s rare that I don’t finish a book. Even when I realised that a book (in this case, Bounce*) was beyond my post-birth intellect, I’d mark the page and start again once the fog had lifted. I have a feeling that this particular book, Grace Williams would still be Saying it Loud by my bedside in fifteen years if that were the case. It just didn’t gel. I don’t think I ever really got over the horror of the way that the disabled were treated in … [Read more...]
We Love #Lollibop
I frankly don’t know where to start. We’ve never been to a festival before, even before children. I was completely blown away by Lollibop. The highlights for us were seeing Rasta Mouse on stage, getting a shout out from CBeebies’ Sid, the giant sandpit, the man who climber inside a ball (just so wrong) and the massive amounts of dancing we did. The park was incredibly well laid out: there were seating areas every few metres, it seemed. Some … [Read more...]
Why you should plan your funeral.
The Mothership recently lost one of her closest and dearest friends. They met in Cairo a thousand years ago when my parents were still married. Dad worked with Joyce’s husband, Mike and the couple were regular visitors to our home. Their friendship has prevailed through thick and thin, from country to country, so that even though they didn’t get to meet up too often they stayed in touch regularly by long phone calls, postcards and letters (Joyce … [Read more...]
Birth and all that.
I never got the natural birth everyone talked about at NCT, which was fine because Lord knows I didn’t want one. I’d have been very happy to have had an epidural at 7 months, just to get me into the swing of things. In fact I went to my first NCT class knowing that I’d be induced at 38 weeks because of the crippling pain I was in from SPD. Sadly one mention of this put me automatically at the bottom of the class (along with a diabetic and … [Read more...]