Unclog the Blockage!

Hello! And again it appears it has been rather a sizable period since my last entry and for anyone who care's, I do apologise. Unfortunately I have had a number of excuses, some among them being

• I forgot how to turn on my computer.
• I have no life to write about.
• I have too many unfinished task's... still remaining unfinished.
• My dog ate my computer.
• I had a clog in my brain that no plunger could unblock, inhibiting my writing efforts.
• I'm lazy.

I think that's enough to be getting on with. Now I have officially excused myself, I believe I shall begin an entry. Please, If I may be so bold, read on.

Just plunging back in.

As I previously mentioned it's been a while since I sat down at the keyboard. A number of seasons have passed, I returned to work after successfully weaning my son off the boob. I  sent my daughter off for her first day in Reception class, had a first Christmas with my son, made the decision to not have any more children, (still trying to get the husband to agree to the snip!) and waved goodbye to the allotment. (Still reigning as Queen of all unfinished.) 

I have however become a slightly more organised version of myself. My husband brought me the most fabulous Filofax for Christmas and it's just so bloody wonderful. I have planned and dated and booked holidays. I have remembered birthday's, (some, not all. Don't be silly.) sent cards and gift's in the mail almost on time.

My biggest achievement however is more of a reduction. Since the knicker drawer debacle I joined slimming world and lost a stone in five weeks! Mega impressed with myself and I feel my knickers are quietly thankful. On a serious note, one stone loss is a massive milestone and I feel that the all important size 14 is in the near future. I must stay away from Morrison's bakery section!

Well, I do believe that a quick catch up is just what I needed to get the ball rolling again. Be prepared for more day to day disaster's of the working class wife as, thanks to my fabulous Filofax, I've pencilled you in for an update at least weekly. So if you like what you read stick with me and join me on my incredibly normal life with some incredibly ridiculous happenings and my incapability of completing anything without at least a six month gapping period. Most of the time....longer.

Goodbye for now!

Yay Holiday In More Way's Than One.

The Summer holidays are upon us, well, they have been for a week now, and I've found the rhythm quite nicely. My Girl has been really good up to now and so has my boy which is brilliant! I however have not been sleeping because of the damn heat but I've already had my whinge about that so I won't dwell. 

Here's something cool.....That's right people, me and the family are going on holiday! I don't know where as it's a surprise for me, but I can't wait to jolly well get there!

We did the surprise thing 3 years ago and my husband planned the whole thing. We spent a few days caravanning in Prestatyn Wales and it was brilliant. I have full confidence in the hubby's choice of hols, it will be great! I only have the one worry really, my gorgeous baby boy. The little monster will not drink from a bottle and because he's that good on the breast boob I haven't pushed it, but it'd be helpful if he would just take to it. Unfortunately I'm not the kind of person who's comfortable getting her boobs out in public. I don't care what people think about breast feeding, it's natural, we make it so we may as well use it and helloooo, it's FREE! I just don't like getting the girls out in public for all to see. I'm shy OK!? So that may prove challenging. The only thing I know about the holiday is that I'm going to need my walking boots so I guess I shall be spending time breast feeding in bushes or up tree's. This should be awesome! Talk about getting back to nature. (No sarcasm here, I actually really am excited!) It's going to be great spending real quality time with the family before I go back to work and before my girl goes into full time education. So I think this shows what kind of holiday I really want, well that's it then, the Burnett's are gonna rock it out in the wilderness! (I totally hope anyway, I'll probably end up spending a week in London and coming home covered in soot and declaring bankruptcy! haha!)

Well, just a little whitter from me today so until next we meet, make the most of life as you only get the one! Toodleoo! 

Progress? Moi? No!

Good Afternoon and welcome to Wife Mother Disaster Area of the working class variety. 

I realise that in fact I don't appear to be working class in that I'm not working. Well I am actually, I'm still on maternity leave which finishes in only 8 weeks! *bawls eyes out uncontrollably* And in that time oh my do I have a lot to do. 

     Decided not to plant anything more on the allotment. Everything that we are growing is flourishing which is brill, but we need to research and plan for the spring. This year was always going to be a learning curve as far as that went, but with a new baby on the boob and a full time working husband we've not been able to manage it as well as we'd hoped. Need to research a LOT on the best way to plant things. I've fished out an old subject book which I'm going to fill with plans and advice for plot maintenance. So this years plan, continue with what is growing and clear, fertilise and maintain the rest until Spring hits. Then the baby will be weaned, the eldest will be in school, I shall still have all day to faff and potter. Excellent.

     On the clear out the crap front, as usual I have made absolutely no progress what so ever which is why I am the disaster area I claim to be. If anything I've just made it all worse. I've done a lot of shifting all the crap from one room to another, does that count? Yes, that totally counts, I'm having that! 

     Having said that, the front room is a little better, I have actually hoovered my bedroom and my kitchen and living room are kept clean obviously as I have to with a baby and a 4 year old but the bathroom at it's worst. It's still not decorated (5 years now!)  and it is more of a waste bin than ever before, now filled with bin bags of clothes that either do not fit, are completely threadbare or un-seasonal, all to got to charity shops and clothes bins etc. It's a veritable playgound of adventure for my girl who insists on dive bombing on the piles before every bath time!

If only tidying my own disaster zone was as easy as
sorting out my daughters!

     I really must make an effort to sort this house out! It won't be long before I have to move the baby into his own room, (another room completely filled to the ceiling with junk!)  I left little woman in with us until she was one and that was only because we hadn't cleared/ decorated her room either. Honestly, we clearly need rockets up our bums before we even attempt to get things done.
   Anyone else like me? Any tips of motivation? Any tips on where to begin as far as 'total clear out' operations go? I think I need help, clearance therapy or something. Is there a crystal/herbal tea/magic spell to cure this sort of thing? If there is let me know, I am open to all avenues.

    Must get organised!

Happy Fecking Birthday!

Ahoy there! And what a fecking hilarious welcome into my 31st year. 

Here's the gist, not in any particular order, but all happened today.

• Bubbles thrown all over the kitchen by a hysterical 4 year old with a phobia of ants. Ant on the bubble tub, daughter saw the ant, screamed and launched the bubbles. Cue frothy mess all over the kitchen. Granted, it needed a scrub anyway, but I did not want to be forced into it on my birthday!
• Crushed globe jig-saw by the same daughter. After being told "don't roll it or throw it treasure it'll break." And "It's not like a ball, it won't bounce." Daughter pretends it's a chair instead (naturally!) and caves it in with her petite little bum. Repairable but a serious pain in my own arse to get the last piece in. Still not succeeded.
• Nappy water bowl launched across the bedroom by me, accidental, not temperamental, fecking king size duvet on a double bed! Too much swishing about and SPLASH!
• stubbed toes from myself and my daughter on the ladder in the bathroom, (of course, where the hell else do you want me to keep my ladder?)
•  and finally I forgot to put the effing jeffing bins out this morning so that will be nicely festering by next week especially if the weather hots up.

However, I did get to see the whole thing through wearing a brand new pair of Converse All Stars (apart from the toe stubbing where i was going commando,)  and with a belly full of KFC, Thornton's Moments and brews in my very own 'Star Mum' giant mug. Yummy! I also had a little surprise birthday cake which was great. Lets face it, what is a birthday without cake? Oh, and family of course ;D

Happy Bloggy Birthday!

Woo Hoo! This Blog has reached it's first birthday!

Two birds, one stone.
Cake and big boobs.

Bit of a joke really, I had a seven month gap between posts, still I've averaged 2 posts a month, not too bad. I have no idea what I wanted to accomplish with this blog exactly. Promote earth worms?  Show people I can bake cakes? Promote important political views? Discuss big boobs? Clearly not a 'how to get organised' blog, that sort of thing doesn't tend to be mentioned in the same sentence as me. But, the one thing I do hope is that I gave a few people a giggle in the last year and that'll make me happy.

Earth worm
I promote thee.

I think this blog is largely my sort of journal on a hotch potch of things, as my life is also largely hotch potch and I'm sure there are many a disaster area mother/wife much like myself who also take part in a spot of hotch potchery. And as it is my bloggy birthday, I shall have a glass of wine, (alcohol free wine,oh alright it's bloody Schloeur OK!) and raise my glass to you. Toast! May we have many a happy hotchy potchy day, doing whatever it is that we do. Cheers!

 If there are any disaster area mother's out there and you per chance get to a bit of reading my bloggliness, then please, comment, leave me a link to your blog if you keep one or follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/Kyla_Burnett I would love to share views and swap experiences. So Here's to another, hopefully more regular year of blogging and I hope to speak to some of you soon!

Kyla

Thrill Seekers!

   Hullo there reader! After doing a spot of cleaning the other morning -nothing major just pots, ironing, squirted a bit of polish so it smelled like I'd done some- I decided to phone sister number three of the first batch to see if she and the kids wanted to meet me and my brood for a wee wander. The answer was positive and the plan was to walk and meet up half way. We stuck to the plan and did indeed walk and meet halfway, the halfway line being The Dock Museum of Barrow in Furness, Cumbria. 

    We said our Hello's, and complained about the heat as we trundled along Channelside walk. We admired the lavender which smelt lovely, as we approached Jubilee Bridge. All very tame and normal until.... there came the simply WILD behavior.

  Well my family are obviously adrenaline junkies. We have clearly set a new bar on devil-may-care activities. What did we do? Be patient and I shall tell you. Bungee jump? No. Sky dive? No. Waiting on Jubilee Bridge for a bus to come and make it jolt? Abso-bloody-lutely!!! We take it to a new level of thrill seeking. I should have been more careful of course, involving my offspring, sibling and niece and nephew-ing, in such a reckless activity but hey, I've used it before and I'll use it again, that's just how I roll. 

Oh Look! I actually do bake bread.
Just absolutely not first thing in the morning.

   Nothing else of great importance has been happening over the past couple of days, just the normal day to day malarkey. You know the sort of stuff, waking up get the kids fed, washed, dressed. Put a wash load on, peg the wet stuff out, make pack ups, bake fresh bread and cakes etc. Hahaha! I'm obviously lying through my teeth here, I think we can all safely say that I'm a bare minimum kind of woman. And talking of teeth, I'm lucky if mine get scrubbed before 9:10 a.m! If they don't, I just have to make sure I don't smile or chat on the school run. (Cue thoughts of "ignorant, sour faced cow.") I then have to make time for chin wagging on the pick up,  (cue thoughts of "weird, schizophrenic cow") to catch up on the parent gossip. I have to say though, I've never been to school in my pj's, I mean, you've got to set some standards for the children haven't you haha!

   That my friends is about all I have to share at the moment. I'm off on the hunt for some other Mum and craft blogs.

   Toodleoo!

    

I'm going Bald!!

   That's right people, I'm losing my hair. I'm telling you, it's not like I haven't got a high enough forehead to begin with, I've now been graced with an extra half inch for goodness sake. It happened after my first baby too. Everything is great for about 3 months, then suddenly the bath water drains a hell of a lot slower and you start picking rather long hairs out the crack of your butt. Oh believe me, it's every bit as attractive as it sounds.
 I googled it, (postpartum hair loss, not hairy bum picking) something about your follicles going dormant because they don't rest while you're pregnant, hence the luxuriant locks you get during pregnancy. Children have a lot to answer for, it's a good job my boy is cute bless him.

   Mind you, it's probably a good thing this hair loss malarkey, it's prompted me to get a long overdue haircut. (Just trying to find the silver lining here!) It's about time I had a spot of pampering so I have booked in for the weekend. A cut and colour with a compulsory fringe to camouflage the receding hairline. They better do a good job as well, they're charging me 70 quid! Still at least it only takes about 8-12 months to rectify itself and start growing again. I can then go back to not bothering with haircuts and looking like a bedraggled, land bound mermaid, with only hair and shells to cover my lady lumps. Oh yeah, that's how I roll!

   Well readers, that is about the gist of today's session. Short and sweet, much like my hair will be after the chop! 

    If this is happening to anyone else.... just thank whatever gods you believe in that it isn't your teeth! That's what I'm doing.

Toodleoo!

Clear Out the Crap!

The computer and General Crap

Hello there! Sort of following on from my last post, I've decided to make some big changes to help get things moving along. For starters, clear out the front room. Heavens above! It is a mess and I'm not just talking about a few toys on the floor. I'm talking about toys, play dough, guitars, and general crap ALL OVER the whole room. I would take a before shot of the room but frankly, I'm actually embarrassed, so the before shot is out. I have however stretched to some 'after the before, but before the after' shot's, which still might be pushing health and safety and Environmental Health rules of some kind. 

Some Guitars and General Crap

And now I've got the 'I'm a slovenly minger' point across, lets move on to the plan.

As I was saying, when the front room is cleared of garbage, I should like to turn it into an office come library come crafty area sort of thing. A sort of room of concentration, creativity and business. I'm very exited about it. Once I have at least one room of the house cleared and functional I can then begin formulating a plan for the rest of the house. Mostly one big plan. Ie, Rid the house of shite! But lots of mini (clean the sofa.) and maxi (Career change.) plans will also come to pass hopefully. 

Unfortunately everything that I can plan for has to not involve funds of any kind at all. Me and my little family are completely skint. We have a lot of love under this roof but zero cash. And that takes me stupendously onto my next point. Selling crap.

A BIT OF CLEAR FLOOR!
And Some General Crap.

Anything and everything that I do not need, wear, use etc. Shall be sold or given to charity, depending on the quality of the items or whether or not I can be bothered packing and posting. May as well try to earn a few bob, you know, what with the whole skint thing I mentioned before. I may well earn enough for a new craft table. Oooo that would be nice. Stop daydreaming KYLA! 

Maybe this is it. Maybe it's taken me until my 30th (nearly 31st) year to gain a bit of ambition and motivation! Maybe I might not be such a disaster area after all. Although taking a look around my front room, I may already have bitten off more than I can chew. And I'm a porker, I can chew a lot! 

Wish me luck!

What Should I Be When I Grow Up?

Goodness me this is a question that has been bugging me for a while now. I'd really like to re-train myself in doing something I love. Not so much at the moment because I have my two fab kiddiwinks to take care of and that's going to take up most/all of my time for quite a few years, but I'm thinking when my boy starts nursery in four years, (can't beat planning ahead!) I've got a bit of spare time to educate myself in something new. 

At the moment I'm on maternity from my cleaning job, and while the cleaning job is

• money
• perfect shift hours
• not bad pay
• fits in with my life nicely
• and has the chance of being offered over time.

Let's face it, nobody wants to be a cleaner for the rest of their life. I really want to have a shot at doing something I love. One problem mind... not entirely sure what I would love to do. 

I love getting creative and I already make some little things for relatives and myself, cards, cakes and poetry  mostly, so perhaps taking a leap and starting up my own business. Perhaps that might be too ambitious though as I am officially Her Royal Highness, the Queen of dis-organisation. Call me thick but you probably need to be organized to run your own business. I'm going to take some of those online career quiz's, and have fun seeing what I have the skills for. Watch me come back with 'your skills are suited too CLEANING' and/or 'growing cauliflowers' 

Hug Me!

Well, like I said, I've a while to think about it all. The most important thing in my life is my family and they come first. Not as a chore but as a pleasure. Oh, and my allotment is on the list as a close second, so I shall continue to nurture my children, my husband and my cauli's and live my little life contentedly. 

Bloody Housework!

   Honestly I know not where to begin. My house is and looks like it shall ever remain... a shit hole. Pardon my colorful language choice but blimey. Kids in the house means a constant flow of toys, games, craft materials etc. all over the floor. I have to admit, I'm a big contributor to this constant flow, but that's OK in my eyes. Because I'm the one who has to clean and tidy, I definitely get to make mess. It's only fair.

   Please see exhibit A rather delightful example of what my beautiful daughter leaves for me after a play session. This, and I quote "Mummy, I like making a mess!" Really? I had absolutely NO idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually the kind of person who laughs at this sort of thing. As long as no little pieces go missing, (Note, all boxes are still lidded.) then I am fine. We all have a giggle, tidy up then wait for another tornado to hit tomorrow. Fortunately my husband is also of this temperament, so that saves a whole lot of family aggro.

Exhibit A 

   One particular thing that my husband does that winds me up, has to do with the bath. He NEVER rinses the bath around. I don't know why it irks me so much but it really does. Still, if that's all I've got to whinge about then well, I really shouldn't be whinging should I? 

   I really do need to get back on track with the housework. Since having the wee lad I've been slacking. I can't even blame it on the baby because 98% of the time he's brilliant. I need to formulate a plan of action. A chart perhaps of what needs doing and when etc. Or I should stop writing list's and compiling charts about cleaning and actually pick up a flippin' duster! That way, something might actually get cleaned. NO, I don't think so.

   It's My daughter's sports day tomorrow, one thing I absolutely hated when I was at school even when I was really young. I was very aware that I was utterly crap at all sports available on sports day and I've come to terms with it. I mean, I'm 4 foot 11.75 inches tall,  pear shaped, with zero tolerance for competitive streaks. So anything more energetic than tiddly winks, is completely off the table. 

   I digress. This bit's about my daughter and there I go whinging on again.

   I really can't wait to see her  play. She's told me she'll be running really fast and she going to win! (Well she doesn't get that from me!) Good God! I hope they don't make me do the egg and spoon race again!

  

 Well, as I appear to be nodding off at the computer desk, I'm thinking I should probably sign off. So cheerio one and all and take it easy!

New Allotment. New Baby. New Anti-Wrinkle Cream Needed.

   Blimey it's been a while, and believe me a lot has happened. First things first.
   This is actually something I was supposed to post in November last year, being smack bang in the middle of pregnancy number 2 we managed to acquire one! An allotment that is. One of my little family's dreams, small though it may be, has come true! We can now plant and nurture the cauliflowers that our hearts have long desired!

Planted and ready to grow!

It was not the best time to begin the project. Being half way through a pregnancy was not an ideal time to start picking up forks and digging for your life, but my husband was also excited about it and my daughter has proved a dab hand with a hoe so they were in charge at the beginning. I just picked out seeds and did a bit of research, When should I plant said cauli? For example.

Back breaking work needed!

The Burnett allotment project is now well under way since I had my baby, (Boy, gorgeous! More on him later) the top half is half planted and half waiting for planting, but the bottom half... WHOA! That half is going to need some T.L.C. There is a serious weed situation that needs dealing with....pronto!

Me and my Boy

My new arrival, as I mentioned previously, was a boy. A simply gorgeous boy if I do say so myself and I love the little fella to bits. He's such a good baby I don't know how I got so lucky to be honest. My daughter loves him as well which is great. There's no friction at the moment. A spot of jealousy at the very beginning, when visitors came round. My girl hardly ever spoke to anyone so the surprise on visitors faces when she struck up conversations, (drawing attention away from the wee lad) was really rather amusing.

Another boasting parent moment I'm afraid. My daughter is doing so well at school I'm brimming with pride! She knows all her alphabet both normally and phonetically, she spells out small words by herself and coming on leaps and bounds with her confidence! Chest. Swelling. So. Proud.

   Well, I reckon that's all I can (hopefully) hold your attention with for the moment. Plenty more has happened, but I shall save the 'failed to dilate' story for another time.
Toodleoo!

Good Clean Fun

 After functioning on very minimal sleep yesterday, I'm actually quite proud of myself. I managed to get nothing done which is what I set out to do.
 I nearly had a parental blip though. I bathed and dressed my little girl, dried and plaited her hair, breakfast ready then remembered that she needed to be wearing black. Queue massive hunt for some form of mini goth clothing. Fortunately my mother had just brought her a black top the other day, and girls of all ages own a pair of black leggings, especially a girl like mine who happens to be a dirt magnet. So after a mild panic we still managed to get fed, watered and changed, ready and out of the house on time. Hooray! Other than the mini 'drama noir' nothing at all eventful occured.

 Today after I took my girl to nursery, I had a big ol' ring round to see who will be paying my maternity pay. I read a work letter through only to find out that I'm earning £7.00 less than I should be in order to get SMP but I'll still be entitled to maternity allowance, I know I'll be getting paid just not who by just yet. Midwife appointment has been booked to obtain the wondrous form that everyone seems to need a copy of, my stomach is in a mini knot and will be until I've got it in black and white exactly how much I'm entitled too, and who I shall be receiving it from. I felt very grown up researching on the net and making phone calls to my firm with my special new laptop in front of me.

I realise this is the wrong angle.
Does it make the pile smaller?

 After doing all my business like grown up stuff, I had to face up to another grown up task...... the dreaded CLEAN! I've been so good today you wouldn't believe.
 I went for a wander up town to get some money, and formulated a plan of action. I was probably talking to myself in the process. After i went to the bank, i trotted off to Wilko's to get myself a new mop and bucket, I'm just thoroughly spoilt aren't I?! Now my bump is getting bigger I just can't face getting on my hands and knees to scrub my laminate throughout the whole bottom floor so a mop and bucket is definitely the way forward. My bottom floor is now tidy, extra clean and smells absolutely wonderful. I even bleached my kitchen bin. Next step.....ironing. (yawn.)

 Back to work tomorrow boo hoo. Still it's only for a couple of weeks then I'm off again. I've got loads of hols booked for this time of year which is brill because it's my fave. Autumn walks in the forest, finding leaves and doing sticking with my girl, visiting Blackpool lights and getting chips on the prom, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and finally Christmas. You're off your rocker if you don't love this time of year, even the air smells better. It's just the best.

 Well, I'm off to bed shortly as I'm up at the crack of dawn. My husband has gone out for the evening and so he shall find a wonderful surprise in his side of the bed upon his return, in the shape of a 3 year old girl. Sleep tight one and all.

I Love It How A Plan Never Comes Together

 Well here I am typing at 5:15 in the morning. My little girl woke me up from a not so deep sleep at 3:30 for a wee, then she went back off only to wake again from a bad dream at 4:15 bless her. I went in her bed with her for about 30 minutes but you just really cannot get comfortable in a single bed at my age, so I crept out of her bed and came down stairs for a brew. Then I spotted our new family laptop and decided to have a wee shot on it, hence finding myself on my blog.

 With the early rise and all I've been having a think about the baby coming and such. I have absolutely nothing at all ready and I'm not even sure If I'm on the right pay level to acquire maternity pay, obviously I'll be getting it from somewhere but it's a form filling nightmare which I really need to look into. I'm halfway through the pregnancy now and I haven't got so much as a baby grow out the spare room. (Inner scream! far too early to subject the neighbours to my neurosis yet.) If there is anyone out there who is as completely unorganised as myself, please let me know. I need tips on how to become mother number 1! Well, we all know there is no such thing as that, but I'd like to improve nonetheless.

 (Another wake up from my daughter, not having a good night bless her.)

 I had a little flick through Emma's Diary, but that's really just list upon list of things that I need, haven't got and got no cash to buy. I really should've been more prepared for this. You think, "well I managed last time, we brought everything we needed." Yes, but we didn't already have another mouth to feed! Holy mackerel this is a pickle but the main thing is not to panic. (Queue panic attack anyway!)

 I think I'm going to have a scan through the spare room and see what unisex things I can salvage from my girl being a baby. That shouldn't be too much of a problem because I know I saved all the white's, the things that weren't stained with poo anyway. And there is definitely my lovely moses basket that I can freshen up. I'm definitely going to get a new pram/travel system because our old one is knackered. I'm not a driver so it was very well used. It was a pram/buggy/car seat, the works and I used every attachment to death.

 As far as feeding goes I'm going to breast feed, I did with my first and I shall with this one. It's cheap, always on hand, (or boob!) and I make it so I may as well use it for as long as I can. Well, six months anyway, when I wean onto food, I wean off the boob.

 This shouldn't be too hard to accomplish should it?

 Famous last words! I am the original disaster area so I'll keep you posted as to how my plan comes together, and it doesn't always, I'm not the bloody A-Team after all.

 

Motherhood Mayhem

 Well good day to all who view! I am currently in the middle of;

• trying to plan a birthday party for my daughter next month
• planning my crafting for Christmas tit bit's
• imagining list after list of things that need doing in my house before bundle of joy number two is born, and last but not least
• figuring out how long I should take of work after bundle of joy number two is born.

 

and in all honesty I'm beginning to find it all a bit overwhelming. Not only do I have all of the above to consider, but it has just hit me that not only am I pregnant, but I will in fact have another child to look after!! I realise that makes me a little slow on the uptake, I mean I know how the whole thing works of course,

My first pregnancy bump.

1. you have sex
2. you get pregnant if you're lucky (or unlucky, depending on the situation!)
3. you stay pregnant for a number of months and then
4. you have a baby by pushing or slicing, which you usually keep, love and cherish forever. (this also depending on the situation.)

I obviously just didn't realise it applied to me this time. Doh! So I was just sitting in my recliner last night and had a mild panic attack about the thought that "Oh shit! I'm gonna have TWO kids to look after!!!!" Followed by another thought of "AHHHHHHHH!"

Oh well, it can't be too hard can it? My mother's had six and she managed OK, I guess only time will tell.

 

 The whole 'operation tidy' I spoke of yesterday did not come into fruition. My brother is ill (likely story ha ha) and my Mother is planning a divorce (thank God, the man's a pillock!) so I did what any woman in their right mind would do, sat on my back side and watched anything at all to prevent me from doing the housework.

 After watching crap on the tele I had a visit from my mother with all manor of jargon from the solicitors, council etc. And we had a good gossip about the fact that husband number 3 is a beep beep beepety beep! During this we totally lost track of time, my bath had run to a ridiculous level and my cat had pooped with a ridiculous level of stench. I had to literally dive into said bath, scrub a dub dub and get the hell out, leaving my mum downstairs with the aroma of poo, a scented candle and a box of matches!

 Consequently we had to drive around the corner to pick my girl up, without me even having time to bush my sodden hair. Slummy Mummy or what?!

 

My own playdough creation.

 All serious questions will have to be pondered onlater in the day, the only serious answer I've fallen upon is that I'm going to let my daughter have a full day at her school nursery as well as her free morning sessions. This is only due to he fact that she has been crazing my gear box about having a packed lunch. She wants to take grapes, an orange, a banana and a cheese sandwich. At least I can be thankful that she has healthy taste.

 

 An eventful day and it's not even gone 2:00pm. Love my life, and I'm not even being sarcastic. Big smiles as always from me.

Long Time No See....

Well I can honestly say that's it's been a long time since I last blogged and I apologise to anyone who gives a monkey's. Nearly 3 months have passed and so much has happened and yet I can think of nothing to type! I'm gonna carry on and see if anything comes to me.

Not my husbands best swimmers, but you get the picture.

 First thing's first. I'm PREGNANT! Woo hoo! That happened shortly after the last blog entry actually. (Not the conception, but the finding out.) So that took up a lot of my thought for the first few weeks of July and pretty much the rest of the time too, apart from the time my daughter commandeers. (I'm gonna go 80% daughter, 20% baby at the moment.) 

 

 After I found out I had been impregnated, I then had a  bleed, I wasn't too worried as it wasn't heavy and the same thing had happened with my little girl, still, I obviously had it checked out, went for an early scan and saw the wee flicker of life that my womb held within. It was so cute. The 16 week scan followed, we got a couple of pics, only two mind at £2.50 each!!! No, I'm not a cheapskate, just skint. If I had cash I'd buy more. The husband and the daughter came to the midwife at 18 weeks and we all heard the heartbeat. I cried like a baby myself, my daughter told it promptly to "shut up, it's making too much noise!" (she's in for a rude awakening, and NOT just metaphorically!) and my husband just sat there looking slightly bewildered. The midwives smiles at me and passed me a tissue as I took full responsibility for being an emotional female, it was all very action packed.

 The summer holiday's have also happened and thankfully, Cumbria has had some warm but wet weather, but as my daughter and I are firm belivers in walking in the rain, we donned our waterproofs and away we went to the park, to the Nanny's, to the forest, to the Great Nanny's, and even just playing with the snails in the garden. Plenty of fresh air for us girlies.

 

 And that just about brings us to now. The Autumn has just about kicked in, time for making stew's, hot puddings, forraging for berries, making jam's etc. (I'm not of course talking about me.) I've had the heating on twice, but I'm not quite at the stew and dumpling phase yet. I'm gonna get the knitting needles out soon though, I'm certainly not about to go out drinking so I'm gonna try my hand at a little cardigan for my unborn. I shall certainly let you know how that goes, or not, this is me I'm talking about, Goddess of the unfinished task. I'm off now to not finish something else.

Teapots!

Another fulfilling day in the life of moi! My husband has a few holidays in this week so we can spend a bit of time together, and so he could take me out for some grub which I told you about yesterday. But first things first, the first morning with just us two, (our girl being a nursery for her morning session,) and the hubster gets called in for some blinkin hearing test, I wouldn't mind but I'm the one with tinitus.... not him. Never mind though, I took that time to have a lovely relaxing bath, which I promptly tweeted about, slapped a bit of make-up on and felt perhaps not a million dollars, but I reckon at least $48.

The hubby came home in time to watch me struggle with the stupid buckle on my new wedge sling backs, and then we went shopping. Not boring shopping for sprouts and yoghurt, but the good kind where I get gifts. Yippee!

I seem to be having a bit of a crafty type phase at the mo, so I decided that I wanted to go and get supplies, so what d'you think happened? Well I had free reign of the hubbies wallet and could I get inspired? Could I buggery! Highly irritating I have to tell you. I did however come out with a nice new orange teapot! I got a teapot for christmas, a fantastic pumpkin one, but I obviously can't use it because it's far too special. So this super functional one, an by "super functional" I mean a teapot with normal teapot abilities ie: it brew's tea and water, is orange and I just need to tart it up with a pumpkin tea cosy. I love pumpkins. Something groovey about the shape and the ringlety vines, I just love them.

After the shopping, we went to collect the girl and went out for my birthday meal. We went to the local italian restaurant and as usual is was delicious! (Was going to do a review but decided that wasn't for me.) As we waited for our food my girl was watching nursery rhymes on the hubby's phone and started growling out death metal renditions of 'The Grand Old Duke of York' and 'Humpty Dumpty,' not quite sure the table next to us thought they should call a doctor or an exorcist. I assured them neither was needed.

The service was great and I'm always pleased with the food from Salvana's Ristorante, and today was no exception.

What follwed the lovely dinner was my child screaming in the middle of town for no apparent reason, she obviously thought it was the perfect place to let off some steam. I (pause for emphasis) didn't. What a little monster! Then she kept standing in front of me so I couldn't walk without tripping over,  she tried to pull me into Toy Master, (I think NOT!) screamed "stupid man" at the fellow who pressed the button before her at the crossing, and presumed to walk back into our house like nothing had just happened! Shall we play Mickey Mouse game Mummy?

WHAT?

Unfortunately I continued to have a face like the proverbial slapped arse for the remainder of the afternoon only to be cured by remembering I had been bought a birthday teapot. Tea and cake followed this revelation.

This evening I had a lovely time unwinding with my best buddy, my Mother and Sister Number 3 of the first batch with her baby boy. Mother was doing a spiritual reading for my pal, (my mum talks to the other's, she's a bit spooky and uncommonly accurate.) and then she did a spot of Reiki on her aswell. I sat quietly, took notes and ate chocolate biscuits, I felt it was the appropriate thing to do.

Well I'm off shopping again in the morning, I've had a quick scan for some craft ideas but if anyone knows of any good crafty type blogs/sites please clue me in.

Clinging to My Youth!

What a blow! Tomorrow I reach the big 30! No grey hairs yet but the wrinkles are etching their way onto my forhead, around my eyes and on my filtrum believe it or not. I haven't stooped to buying any "miracle" creams yet, and I'm far to fraidy cat for botox. I'm doomed to grow old gracefully and look whatever age I look.

My husband and I have decided to try for another baby, 30 is still a good age, still got a good bit of spring in my step. My Mum was popping out children until she was 45 (I think) and she's still coping. I think 2 is going to be my limit though. I come from a massive family myself, I'm the eldest of 8. I have 4 sisters and 3 brothers and there is never a dull moment! I have to say I love it. I was thinking the other day how nice it is just having my girl but then my head clouded and i got a bit deep. I started asking myself questions like "When I die who will help her with the funeral?" and "Who will she talk to? I can't let her do that all on her own!" Good God, parenting can be so morbid at times. Obviously I don't think she's going to grow up a total loner recluse, my Dad's an only child and he's the worlds best host, he has loads of friends and will laugh and joke with whoever but I just don't know what I'd do without my brothers and sisters. If I have problem's, need a baby sitter or just want a good gossip, there's always one available on the end of the phone. I need to give her somebody to grow up with I think, it'll be good for her. Oooo! Is this my wisdom coming to me because I'm closing my 30th year?

Another celebration subject..... Christmas! Yes I realize it's only July, (I know that because it's my birthday tomorrow whoop whoop!) but I'm going for an amazing fully hand crafted room this year, and I need to plan early if I'm going to get all the tinsel, card and sticky backed plastic that I'm going to need for this seasonal wonderment! I can't wait for me, my girl and my husband (under protest) toget stuck into salt dough stars, popcorn garlands and gingerbread angels all on the tree. Been looking at some lovely retro Christmas books from the library with things in it like sewing your own stocking, making dried fruit baubles and things, really lovely. I now the net is a fountain of information, but sometimes a book is just.... better. The Ultimate Christmas by Jane Newdick has some lovely ideas. My head is obviously seasonally pickled. All this weird weather has my inner calendar confused. OR IS IT MY AGE??!! Well, at least I'll be full of idea's for Yule and if I find some crafty bargains, I'll be sure to let you know. If I get around to doing any of these things is a story for another day.

A Happy Moment

I've had such a wonderful coulpe of days. I can't really recall the order in which most of the events took place but I have a general Idea.

On thursday I recieved a message from an old friend saying;

  "Hello Kyla. I passed you before with your gorgeous little girl, holding hands and skipping at the bottom end of Greengate street. You made my day mate, you both looked so happy and carefree, it brought a smile to my face and a lump to my throat. Had a tough week work wise but you brightened my day so thank you you lovely mummy you xx"

   It was so lovely it brought a tear to my eye. My friend works as a social worker, mostly with children and I appreciate that it must be quite hard to stay positive at times dealing with the things that she has to, and even knowing that such horrible things go on in the world, so I'm glad I could brighten her day. There are some good parents out there, I'm certainly not saying I'm the best but I do try to be good. We may not have all the money we'd like but you don't need money to have a good skip to the library hey?! Loads of fun.
   Talking of skipping to the library, when we arrived there needless to say, we picked out some books. Little'un opted for a story about peas and I opted for a one pot cookery book, this suggests the truth about the family....we all have a good appetite!

  
  On saturday my husband had gone out from early afternoon until early hours of this morning. He's in a band and so gigs fairly regularly, last night was one such gigging night.

   My little woman and I had a whale of a time and didn't miss him one bit! Well maybe a little. We started off with dancing, my daughter's music of choice is a bit of metal especially anything by early Sepultura, whenever i put 'Roots' on, she goes absolutely crazy and I tend to follow suit. After a spot of groovey moving, it was finally decided that we should have hotdogs, fries and baked beans for tea, but sit on our new picnic blanket in the lounge with it to make it that extra bit fun.
  After that heavy bout of decision making, we then played ball rolling in the living room for a while and I have to you that I find that one of the most therapeutic games ever! No stress just pure fun and I don't know what's so funny about it, but me and my girl don't half giggle. While we were playing that, (with me darting back and forth to the kitchen warming hotdogs and buttering bun's etc.) there was a knock on the door, a bit of a random really. Some fella had moved in two doors down from me, and asked if he could borrow a pint glass?! A strange request, one which I had to decline as I don't actually own one. I have plastic tumblers, halloween tankards, and a few crystal wine glass', which were one of my wedding pressies, so I'm not lending them out to strangers. So I had to send him on his merry way without one.
  Well, me and the girl had our fabulous hotdog indoor picnic and loved it. This was follwed by a desert of buckaroo, frustration, many of our library books being read and a very late night! Extremely bad parenting at 9:45pm, but we were having too much fun to be bothered by such trivialities.

  This morning was also doubly good. Not only was it the first day of my holiday, not having to get up at 4:45 in order to get scrubbing a supermarket, it was also seen in by my husband whipping down to Morrisons for all ingredients needed for a good full English, we are not a vegetarian household so it involved lots of meat! Sausages, bacon, eggs, black pud, mushrooms, hashbrowns, beans and a slab of bread and butter. Lush! He was promptly forgiven for having a social life the night before.

The Egg and Spoon Race!

Let me begin with my daughters Sports day. It was actually the day before yesterday but I'm getting around to it now. I tend to delay things in life, so my blog is obviously going to be no different at all. If I was a super hero, my name would be.... (in a silly voice please) The Procrastinator!!
Anyway, my daughter and her class are mostly 3, and as you can imagine while following certain rules, they tend to go at their own pace which is why i loved the little activities that were set out for them all. Each little game was more of a team effort rather than a "you win" sort of line up, which was very refreshing. The egg and spoon race, being my favourite, had each child against one of their parents/carers and so of course every child won. All the parents were encouraged to take part at some point or another,(apart from the obstacle course which I fear would have been disasterous had our weight been involved.) There was:

• Build a big tower
• Fill up the water tray. Each child had a bucket and each parent had a cup and we were all running back and forth transfering water from several buckets to the class water tray
• Bean bag throwing
• Obstacle course
• Jumping mini hurdles, and of course...
• The egg and spoon race

And I was involved in all of them. I was a Nursery Nurse for about 7 years and it all came flooding back to me. It was like I had my own class again.
My daughter was laughing her little head off throughout most of the events and I loved it. Seeing your child laugh is one of the best things life has to offer, and at the bargain price of doing a silly dance or joining her in a sports day event is something i think all parents can afford. Fun all round methinks.

On another note, after my whinging yesterday about my double cleaning shift, my night turned out alright in the end. When I arrived home at about 10 past 8, (got a lift of my mother in-law) I walked in the door to find that my husband had done me a curry, naan bread and an onion bahji. What a hero! I have to say, when to comes to husbands, mine is pretty darn good! Sometimes you need something small like a tea made by someone other than you, it just makes you feel appreciated. Even though I didn't even wash the pots! I washed them today though. There comes a point, and I'm talking about the point when there are no clean plates in the cupboard, where you really must grab the fairy and a pair of marigold's and take action!

Let It Pour!

Thunder and lightening in the North West today!

 I'm definately not whinging about it because it's my favourite weather of all! I love the sound of the rain hammering down on my kitchen roof. I used to go outside in my nighty and get soaked, because it's still so warm in June, and consequently, the rain is also. I can't really do that anymore however, I'd probably end up being committed which I've got to tell you, I don't really want to happen. Nevermind, when I win that lottery and buy my magical farm house in the middle of nowhere I'll be able to do it again, until then however, I'll stick with going out in my wellies and brolly!

  Thursday is my least favourite day of the week. I have a split shift at work, which is highly annoying. First shift 6:00am-9:00am then another at 6:00pm-8:00pm. I'm a cleaner at a large supermarket, high class I know. It's better than my last job though...pub toilets! Lovely! Fortunately I have an iron gut so not much phases me at all.

  I digress, so Thursday is poop. I just can't get motivated at home throughout the day, I worked until 11:00am this morning so I have even less 'get up and go' than usual. I got home at 11:30 after a dawdle through town, came home took my coat off and sat down for approximately 3 minutes before going to pick my girl up from school. Home again, made sarnie's all the while chatting to the wee'un about her day. Her day apparently consisted of riding bikes and scooters, and painting a picture of stars, infinitely more interesting than mine. We ate out sarnies, got changed into comfortable joggers and chilled out, read books and listened to the thunder and rain. This is where I have stayed for the remainder of the afternoon.

 At the moment I'm typing amidst a mountain of ironing, card crafting stuff strewn accross the table, last night's tea and breakfast pots still in the sink and playdough in a variety of shades, all over the floor. (Laminate, thank the gods!) Do I care? Nope. There are more important things in life than being house proud let me tell you, and personally I think sitting in your pj's, listening to the rain, reading books to my daughter and blogging are definately more important. To name but a few.

  Enjoy your day, don't polish too hard, you'll only make me feel bad for being a slummy mummy.