The Gallery: Home

This week's Gallery theme is 'Home'.

Easy enough you may think. The problem is which home to choose. (I hasten to add that unfortunately this does not mean I have multiple homes in New York, LA and the Bahamas).

Do I post a photo of the home that we own. That all our children were born in and that I still love?

Or do I choose the home we live in now - which isn't ours but is where we have lived for the past year and where we will be for the foreseeable future? 

Or do I choose my childhood home which I'm lucky enough to live up the road from, which my mother has lived in for over 40 years and still lives in today, which we visit weekly, which every Christmas is spent in, and which holds more happy memories than I could ever describe? 

Not really a tough decision after all. 

My childhood home that I wish was my family home but sadly is not. 

If you want to nose around some other homes check out Sticky Fingers. 

Blog Gems - School Daze

As mentioned in a previous post, since I've now reached the ripe old age of 1 I am going back to my archives with Blog Gems.


I wrote this post about this time last year when it was back to school time. Unfortunately I can't say that this year has gone much better....


My 6 year old daughter started in a new school this year. We've just moved back to my home town and thankfully she was accepted into our first choice school, which has been wonderful in welcoming us into the community. 'You're not going to regret this' I thought to myself when we first got the approval letter, 'we are going to be a model family. We will go to every AGM, join the parents committee, get involved with fundraising. Our daughter will be perfectly groomed and well behaved every day - this is going to be the best decision you ever made!'.

And now back to reality.

Kaya needs to take her inhaler to school and someone small has taken it from the kitchen shelf. Along with the spare one. After a half hour of searching I find half of it and stuff it in her bag. We're now late.

I get all 3 kids strapped into the car, drive to the school, park as close as I can, get all 3 out, baby in buggy, run the rest of the way and finally get to her classroom, where I see 23 of her classmates in their tracksuits whilst she is dressed in her uniform (which now I see has a yogurt stain all down the front). Kaya looks at me like I've just put the cat in the microwave.

You see, poor girl has only had 3 PE days so far this year and I have forgotten her tracksuit on, em, 2 of those days. Not good mother statistics. So, once again I have to apologise to the teacher and promise to deliver her gear asap.

Just as I leave the school I remember the inhaler so I go back to explain to the teacher that Kaya might need it today, but you know, well it's kind of broken, but nevermind hey, it still works. Kind of.

As you can imagine I'm feeling pretty flustered by this time, but I race back home, collect her kit and fly back up the school with it. Sorry Reception, sorry Teacher, sorry Class, sorry Kaya, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Is it time for a coffee yet?

So having dropped the 4 year old off to playschool (late) I finally sit down to my well earned cappuchino, and what the hell - lets have a cookie too. Mmm, cookies, I put a cookie in Kaya's lunchbox today, which is SITTING ON THE COUNTER IN THE KITCHEN.......NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Knock, Knock. Who's there?

Today there was a knock on my door.

Now usually when there's an unexpected knock on my door in the afternoon it's either my mother or someone looking for money. Sometimes it's even my mother looking for money. *

Anyway, today was no exception. As I opened the door there stood a man with the dreaded clipboard.

My mind started racing for excuses before the poor guy even had a chance to open his mouth. Normally the kids would provide me with my escape route by screaming or fighting or breaking something but annoyingly they were all behaving for a change.

'Have you seen the new ad on RTE?' the man said

'I don't actually watch Irish TV' I replied, truthfully.

'Except when you're on it' the 7 year old pipes up.

So we got to talking. About the day I was famous, about my blog, about Facebook, Twitter, how broke we are, and how difficult it is to raise money for charity in a recession.

Anyway, this lovely man who's name I failed to get was collecting for the Irish Heart Foundation. The Irish Government can't afford to help them because they've spent all our cash feeding a tiger that they couldn't control, so it's up to us to keep charities like this afloat.

Donating is easy - just click to the website. You may even get to see the new ad that's on Irish TV without even having to turn it on.

Which in fairness can only be a good thing.

Image: Irish Heart Foundation

A big thanks from me and the big man if you do decide to donate. x

*That was a joke Mum. You can put down the phone now.

Silent Sunday

Listography - Top 5 Celebrities I'd like to go for a beer with.

Way back in January of this year, when we were shovelling snow from our driveways and downing port by the vat full (or was that just me?) Metal Mummy hosted Listography with 'Top 5 celebrities I'd like to punch in the face'.*

She's nice like that.

Not that the rest of you were shy in joining in or anything....

Anyway, I thought it was about time that we showed those poor, misunderstood wretches a little love with this week's Listography - 'Top 5 celebrity's I'd like to go for a beer with'.

I should say here that this post was brought on by a moment of unadultorated sappiness when I was in the hairdressers last week. I was flicking through a recent Hello magazine when I came across some holiday snaps of George Clooney with his new squeeze Stacy Keibler.

Now normally I wouldn't 'read' this magazine, and if I did it would be a quick flick through in the doctors \ dentist with an air of 'I'm not really interested in this nonsense but I'm going through the motions just to make the receptionist feel better about keeping me waiting for 45 minutes'.

This time however I was completely drawn into the photos of the couple laughing together - clearly rich, clearly beautiful, clearly in love, clearly fun, clearly someone I should be having a drink with instead of being berated by a Scandanavian autocrat for having a 'fringe' that didn't belong to the rest of my hair (I had cut it myself in a moment of spontaneous ineptitude but was too scared to admit it).

Aaaaanyway........that's a rather long run in to a very simple listography. So let's continue from

1. George Clooney (with or without the girlfriend).

He's there on the right - see? Looking all loved up. *sigh*

  
2. Mickey Flanagan.
Ok an odd choice - but watch this and then tell me it wouldn't be fun.


3. Johnny Depp.
Because then maybe he would realise we're made for each other. (#stalkeralert)

Image: Collider.com

4. Dara O'Briain.
He's funny, he's Irish, he's funny - what's not to like?

Image: ComedyCV.co.uk

5. Lauren Laverne.
My girl crush. I love love love love love her.

Image: Ilikemusic.com

So that's my list. Time to add yours now. Just write your post on your own blog and then come back here and add it to the linky below.

Want to know more about Listography - click on the tab at the top of the page.

Enjoy your virtual drinks!!

*Maybe it was just 'punch'.' In the face' may possibly have been my addition.

Oh shit I missed my birthday.

I knew it was around about now but it seems I have missed it completely.

A little bit lax seeing as I'm only 1.

Anyway, on the 14th September last year I sat down at my computer and Googled 'How to start a blog'. Actually that's a lie. I sat down at my husbands computer and Googled 'How to start a blog'.

Turns out it's pretty easy. Turns out there are loads of amazing bloggers out there that I never knew anything about. Turns out it's a teeny weeny bit addictive. Turns out I've spent the past twelve months writing, chatting, laughing, crying with some fabulous people. Turns out I got to work with Disney Jr, Netmums, eBay and landed a part-time job. Turns out there's more to this blogging lark than sitting at a computer on your own sending self-absorbed witterings out into the unknown.

Turns out I love it.
______________________________________________________________________________
Since I've now reached the ripe old age of one I've decided it's time I started participating in Blog Gems on The King and I, so I'll be posting an old post from the archives every week. You may scoff and think it's because of a lack of material...well to that I would say 'ha! do you not realise that my two most prolific material generators have banned me from writing about them?' 


So it turns out you could possibly be right. 

Overheard...

5 year old: 'How do animals get dead?

7 year old: 'The same way that queue-mans get dead'

5 year old: 'Well how do queue-mans get dead then?'

7 year old: 'They get squashed by a car, or get really, really, really, really old'

5 year old: 'And then they go to heaven'

7 year old: 'No silly - then their bones go to heaven'

Simples.

Serious Sunday

Once upon a time there was a little boy in Ireland who got sick. His mummy tried her best to make him better but when she couldn't she got very scared and so, in the middle of the night, she bundled him into her car and drove him for one hour to get to the nearest hospital. The doctors looked after the little boy until he got better, and they all lived happily ever after. The End.

Credit: Save the Children

Once upon a time there was a little boy in Africa who got sick. His mummy tried her best to make him better but when she couldn't she got very scared and so, in the middle of the night, she bundled him into her arms and walked for three days to get to the nearest doctor. She didn't make it and the little boy died. The End.

Shocking isn't it? And yet this is happening on a massive scale this very minute.

Is this acceptable?

No.

Is this preventable?

Yes.

Do you want to help?

Then take 30 seconds to Sign the petition that will be given to David Cameron this week at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Save the Children and Christine Mosler of Thinly Spread will be there to ensure our voices are heard.

It worked before, it can work again.

Want to do more? Then visit Mummyfromtheheart and read on.



Some good news: Here's the story of little Bishara pictured above:

Listography likes Porridge

Or Mother Porridge to be exact.

Which is lucky as she's minding him this week. Coincidentally Mother Porridge is also one of my favourite bloggers - she never fails to raise a smile and at times reduces me to snorting out my tea through my nose.

Most attractive.

So anyway...all going according to plan, by the time you read this I will be shoulder to shoulder with @chritinemosler and @nickie72 and @jenhowze as we take on the Save the Children's Blogging 101 Workshop in London. I'm only slightly terrified but I've got my survival kit containing a bottle of Rescue Remedy, a hip flask and a get out of jail free card just in case.

I'm also counting on Nickie being more nervous than me which always helps.

So if you want to jump on over to MotherPorridge's Listography I'd be delighted. Hopefully I'll get to add my own post and visit yours once I'm home on safe soil again.

The Blame Game

This morning I dropped a bottle of perfume into the bathroom sink and as it smashed I instantly whirled around to see who I could blame.

Sadly there was no one in sight. Actually there wasn't even anyone on the same floor as me so I had to admit defeat and suck up the fact that it was all my fault.

I hate being at fault.

I think I must have got it from my father. I distinctly remember watching him in the garden as he set to work on some or other mad contraption with his hammer. When he whacked his thumb instead of the nail he shouted out in pain, and then whirled around to see who he could blame.

Or the thousandth time he got lost on route to a family day out destination and realised that he had no idea where in the world he was, and then whirled around to see who he could blame.

See a pattern here?

When I get all shouty with the kids it's because they've been misbehaving all day - nothing to do with that bottle of wine the night before and the fact that I didn't sleep well.

Angry Mum

When I forget to pay for the bin collection and they don't collect our overflowing bins it's their fault for not reminding me. I mean really - could they not make a simple phone call first?!

When I have arguments with my husband he is always the one that is in the wrong. Well naturally he is, because it couldn't possibly be my fault could it?

Or could it?

Could it be possible that there are instances - few and far between of course - where I am in fact the one to blame? That it's me that drops the perfume, hits my thumb, gets lost, gets shouty, forgets bills or starts the argument....?

Could it??

Nah. I didn't think so either.

Get busy with the fizzy!

We've been drinking lots of bubbles these past couple of weeks.

No - unfortunately I don't mean Champagne. But it does come a close second. Yep, it's the one and only..... SodaStream!

Now as a child of the 70's SodaStreams were the epitome of cool. Families that had one were those that had made it in life. They were the families you wanted to be apart of and to my shame I did indeed have one particular friend whom I hung out with solely due to her owning one. (Sorry Mary).

Deplorable behaviour I know, but when you're seven you're willing to sell your soul for a bottle of your very own home made cola. It's practically the law.

Fast forward thirty years and I guess not much has changed, because when I spotted a review for the all new SodaStream on Here Come's Trouble's blog I dangled my soul on a stick until the lovely people at SodaStream took pity on me and sent me this:

Yesssss! I'm finally in the cool gang.

We were also supplied with a couple of their all new flavours:

Each 500ml bottle is priced at £3.29 and makes up to 12 litres of fizzy pop.

Both of these went down well but I'm looking forward to trying the Ginger Ale and the Dandelion and Burdoch ones.

Oh - and maybe the Tonic one too. But only in the interests of research of course. Which naturally will necessitate a large gin.

So the conclusion is that SodaStream is a hit with adults, loved by children, and also good for the environment  as you don't need to buy all those nasty plastic bottles of pop and mixers.

So apologies Mary from two doors down but I won't be out to play for awhile - I'm busy with my own fizzy now.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however the views held are entirely my own. So there.

Listography - Games I used to play.

Ah the youth of today. Wrapped around their games consoles like an alcoholic round her evening gin.

But it wasn't always like that you know (she says putting down her gin). In my day it was all BMXs and building dens. In and out of friends houses and back in time of tea.

But I'm not going to get all misty-eyed.

Well maybe just a little...because the purpose of this week's Listography is to keep alive those games you used to spend all day playing outside, only to get up with scratched knees and do it all again the next day.

This week it's Top 5 Games of my Childhood.

1. Mob Mob.
We called it Mob Mob, the rest of the world called it Tip the Can. Like an over ambitious game of Hide and Seek the rules are that one person seeks whilst the rest of the group hide but there's a 'base' involved that the seeker also needs to guard. 'Hiders' who are already found can be freed if someone 'Tips the Can' or touches whatever the pre-agreed base is before the seeker does. It's very simple, though you wouldn't necessarily think so from that description.

2. Red Rover.
A great party game that never fails to end in tears. Two teams of players line up holding hands and facing each other. Team 1 calls on a player from Team 2 by name. The chosen player has to run at full speed and break through the weakest link of the 'chain'. If they break the chain they get to take a player back to their team. If they don't the join the new team. Good for turncoats with weak wrists.

3. Bike Hockey.
Ok so this is a makey uppy one but weren't they the best kind? Everyone grabs a bike and a brush (I know, I know). A goal and a football is then all you need. We never bothered with having teams - every man for himself was so much more dangerous.

4. Sevensies.
I have no idea if this is the proper name or if I'm listing them in the right order but here we go:
All you need a tennis ball and a wall.
 - Throw the ball at the wall and catch it  x7
 - Throw the ball at the wall, let it bounce and then catch it  x6
 - Bounce the ball like a basketball on the ground x5
 - Bounce the ball then 'bat' it against the wall then catch it  x4
 - Throw ball under one leg, hit wall then catch x3
 - Bounce the ball from ground to wall and catch x2
 - Throw ball in the air, turn around once, then catch x1
I'm not sure if there was a next stage once that was completed...
(Mo if you're reading this maybe you could enlighten me?!)

5. Building Dens
We spent days in our garden building more and more elaborate dens. The last one I remember was in the middle of a hedge by the gatepost, had enough room for about 5 people, a roof, seats and an actual chimney. It didn't work though, every time we lit a fire in the 'fireplace' we were smoked out of it. Thinking back on this I'm rather concerned no one ever stopped us from getting inside a dry flammable bush and lighting a fire whilst we were still inside...

Maybe our kids are better off with their video games after all.

Want a trip down memory lane? Linky up by writing your own Top 5 childhood games and then adding your post below.

Tag, you're it!

Is so much choice really such a good thing?

The following post is written by Arthur of MenUsual.co.uk and explores the idea that more choice in life does not actually equal more freedom (as is custom to believe), but in fact paralyses our abilities to make a decision.

Now as someone who actually has to ask waiters to choose my meal for me when I go out and who frets about whether to pick the quilted embossed toilet roll or the aloe vera scented one I know what this guy is talking about. 

Oh - and my posting this has nothing whatsoever to do with the rather gorgeous models that are on view when you click the link. 

Choice is fundamental to our well-being. More choice equals more freedom, and more freedom equals more welfare. This is so deeply embedded in the core value system of western societies that there is absolutely no doubt to whether this is true or not. Or is there?

American psychologist Barry Schwartz has little hesitation on the matter. Except he is quite certain the above-mentioned dogma is wrong. In his book The Paradox of Choice he states exactly the following: excessive alternatives not only make it more difficult for us to make a choice, but it often prevents us from making one at all! And even if we do make up our minds, we are less happy with the choice we made than if we were to choose from just a few options.

Think about it. You need to buy a new TV. If you only had to select from 3 it would be quite easy to compare them side-by-side, evaluate picture quality, compare technical parameters and prices and eventually choose the best one for you. The problem is that nowadays you have to make a choice from 50 or more alternatives. You can't compare them side-by-side and by the time you finish reading technical details of the fifth you will have forgotten those of the first one. This vast amount of information often makes us postpone the decision for another day, week, month and very often we don't make a decision at all!

Let's suppose you do make a decision eventually. How happy are you with it? The differences between various TV models are so marginal that you are never fully sure you made the right decision thus restricting you from feeling genuinely good about it, and very often in fact feeling rather unsure and miserable about the choice.

Still not convinced? Look at Apple and its iPhone that offers a selection of, that's right, one. And iPhone owners are clearly among the happiest phone owners out there.

Luckily, there are more companies that are ready to help you save time shopping and feel truly satisfied about it. One of such is an online store www.MenUsual.co.uk that sells men’s basics: socks, underwear, and undershirts. Using convenient navigation and filtering options you can narrow down results to the level that will never make you choose from more than 3 alternatives. And bearing in mind that all goods are already preselected and high quality, it makes the shopping experience even more enjoyable.

That's all great, but… what is an article about men's basics doing in a women's blog in the first place? Sure we can say that it's our men's business to restock on new underwear, socks and other basics. But the truth we all know is that they do so when it's a little too late. They wear holey socks, but it's their wives \ girlfriends who see them at home or get embarrassed when this happens during a dinner at our friends' house! Therefore maybe it's best we sometimes give our loved ones a gift without waiting for a holiday season.

(Disclosure: This is a sponsored advertorial, but none the less rather interesting. Well I think so anyway).

Save the Children's Free Blogging Conference - Sign up here! (2011)

Exciting news!!

Save the Children are running a free blogging conference on 17th September in London which is open to all bloggers and vloggers. There will be inspirational speakers, workshop sessions, plenty of blogging tips and even a free lunch (so there is such a thing after all...)

Save the Children are also hoping to raise awareness of their health worker campaign which follows their hugely successful Vaccines for All campaign.



Save the Children is part of a growing global coalition calling on the world’s leaders to invest in health workers as the best way to achieve the goal of reducing child and maternal deaths. 
From September 19^th to 24^th the United Nations General Assembly is meeting in New York. World leaders, including David Cameron, will meet to assess progress on women and children’s health and discuss ways forward. You can learn more and find out how you can get involved at the blogging conference on the 17th.


You can read more about it and sign up now at Save the Children or here:



Oh - did I mention that I'll be on one of the workshop panels alongside the wonderful Christine Mosler of Thinly Spread?

Yikes.

Want to feel better about your day? Here - read mine.

I should have known it was going to be a bad day when I came downstairs this morning and found cat poo on the living room carpet.

After three kids my gag reflex is pretty good. But not that good.

Then - during the mad rush to get school lunches made and the already misplaced school uniforms on - the toddler has a meltdown because, wait for it, he's NOT going to playschool today.

'But you get to spend the day with Mummy darling'

'NO! Yucky Mummy'

Okaaay.

Having deposited the older two at school I popped around to another family members house (I'm not allowed to mention the person anymore - she's actually bribed me financially not to. Seriously.). Anyway - that resulted in the boy dropping a book through the banisters onto her favourite pot plant and her shouting brought on the fifteenth waterworks of the day. (You can see why I'm not allowed mention her can't you. Or him. It might be a him...Ahem).

On school pick up I learned that my middle boy who had started school three days ago had been slapped in the face repeatedly by the two kids on either side of him. And one was a girl.

Two hours later I collected my daughter whilst toddler had yet another tantrum and she burst into tears because her BFF couldn't come with us on a playdate.

So that's me walking through the playground with two out of my three kids screaming and the other one suffering from post traumatic stress.

The rest of the afternoon didn't fair much better as toddler had missed his nap and was reveling in his new role of the anti-Christ.

They're all in bed now though. I think I deserve a drink don't you?

PITY THERE'S ONLY FECKIN' COOKING WINE IN THE HOUSE!

I should have known.

Listography - Things I did this summer

Way back at the beginning of the Summer Reluctant Housedad hosted Listography with 'Things I want to do this Summer'. This week he's come back with the suggestion of 'Things I did this Summer'. 

Don't ever accuse him of a lack of imagination.

That's my job.

Anyway, I've taken his theme and run with it. Here we go...Top 5 Things I did this Summer.

1. Baked some birthday cakes. 

For the first time I tackled something more challenging than a chocolate cake with smarties on top. And pretty chuffed I am too:

2. Went to Cybermummy.

And had a great but overwhelming time. Read about it here. 

3. Had some lovely family days out. 

4. Went on my first trip away without the kids.

(And just about lived to tell the tale.)

5. Went on a last minute trip to beautiful Wales

 (Ok so maybe that one shouldn't actually be in the Top 5 but I thought it deserved sharing)

Over to you guys now. Take a look through your photos and remember the Summer. You'll be surprised at what you've forgotten about and how much fun you actually had (though not if you were in Wales of course).

Here's the linky to add your details to - just don't forget to add the url of your actual post not just your blog.

Da Bo Ti.



(Big thanks to Penny at Alexander Residence for babysitting Listography last week whilst I was away. If you haven't read all the inspired Seasonal Survival Tips do so immediately. I mean - who doesn't need a Teasmaid and a large shot of gin before tackling back to school antics?)