...the Sunday papers!

In the long forgotten days of yesteryear, pre-children, those golden days when you could laze around on a Sunday morning drinking tea, eating bacon butties and spreading the Sunday Times out all over the bed/ settee/living room floor are sooooooo long gone!

I still buy them occasionally to remind me of what our life used to be like and in the vague hope that those type of lazy mornings will one day revisit our home. The reality is they are now just spread over the kitchen floor to soak up the snow/rain/mud when the kids charge back in from the garden or on the dining room table to catch the glue/paint spillages when the Mister Maker box of delights comes out!

I sometimes happen to glance down and a headline grabs my attention so I just bend down and read it there, on the floor, amongst the wellies or shift a child and their work of art over a bit so I can catch the sports results.

So I guess our life hasn't really changed that much since having 3 children in the last 6 years after all...just a few more bacon butties to be made!

Phew, what a relief!!

Silent Sunday

The Gallery...A Family Story

Ok, seeing as I am feeling a bit fluey with no inspiration for something to blog about today, now would seem a good time to join in The Gallery...best idea I have seen so far of getting people to join in..see Tara Cain's The Photo Gallery 

This week is 'A Family Story' so here is my photo...

...an easy one to choose.  My parents celebrate 50 years of marriage this coming September and are still in love after all these years.  My Dad turned 80 last August and when we asked what he fancied doing for such a momentous birthday, a nice restaurant or a trip to the Opera or Theatre...he said he just wanted to go where our children like to go so he could sit and watch them play and have fun...we all spent the day at Bushy Park and he did just that!

They have been the most incredible loving parents to my sister and I and just inspire me on a regular basis.  Along with fostering many children for as many years as I can remember, they also adopted my sister and I as babies which, in our eyes, makes them even more special.

I can't wait to celebrate their special anniversary with them later this year.

...Whinge on Wednesdays!!

I find everybody always likes to moan on Mondays and about Mondays...understandably as they've usually enjoyed a fun or relaxing weekend with family or friends and now it's all systems go, back to the grind stone etc.  In our household, it's generally just another day with the school run thrown in just to spice it up a bit.

Being a sports photographer, CameraGuy works 99% of weekends so it's just me and the 3 children on a Saturday & Sunday, going it alone, trying to do what the majority of families do...sports clubs/matches, day trips out, endless birthday parties and the like...but with just one pair of parenting hands.  It's fine (knackering, sometimes relentless!) but makes Mondays less of a miserable day.

...so I thought I would try to not moan on or about Mondays...I'm going to wait for Wednesdays!  I figure my moans would just be lost amongst everyone else's if I joined in at the start of the week.  Then I'd count to 10 or hold my tongue on Tuesdays, but on Wednesday...that's when I am going to whinge.  If it's still bothering me by Wednesday then I figure I have earnt the right to get it out and have a little (or a large) rant.

...so Welcome to the 1st of my 'Whinge on Wednesdays'...the only trouble is I can't remember what I wanted to whinge about...point to self for next week...write it down!

...what the 'Dickens'?

Happy Birthday to Charles Dickens then!  I'm sure he'd be delighted that Prince Charles & Camilla were sharing a cup of Rosie Lee to celebrate him being so old.

I feel like I have a small affinity with Charles (...Dickens, not the Royal one!) as my Dad has the full collection of his books and I grew up looking at the beautiful old tomes all covered in dust...it didn't occur to me that I might actually pluck one of the shelf and read one. They didn't sound as exciting as my Nancy Drew adventures or latest copy of Blue Jeans. I don't recall covering his stories in English at school either although I was in more productions of A Christmas Carol than I care to remember (never a decent part..bah humbug!)  I always thought I should read them as it would've been a few extra points at pub quizzes if I knew who Mrs Havisham or Peggotty were.

I then spent a couple of years at college in Broadstairs and everywhere you looked were Dickens related places...mainly the pubs where I spent most of my time, The Charles Dickens & Fagins to name a few.  There was a Museum there too along with Bleak House but they weren't really on the schedule in those carefree days.  So we were both predominantly from Kent...always a soft spot for people from the same county as me!

And now, nearly a grown up, I am finally reading my first Dickens novel, David Copperfield...inspired by the BBC's adaptation of Great Expectations, which I loved, I suggested it to the Book Club girlies and they went along with it. I can't deny there were a few groans when everyone’s Amazon deliveries arrived to find that it was 700+ pages of the smallest print!  I was going to borrow Dad's dusty old copy but was snowed off at the weekend so downloaded it for free on iBooks and have got stuck in.  What a surprise to find out that it is really fun to read, not hard going at all...a bit disconcerting reading it on my iPod as only on p261 of 3893 mind!  I have also learnt what a 'caul' is ("I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas") so I reckon that could be a help in a Pub Quiz too (I don't actually do Pub Quizzes but if I did...!). Tip...if you google what a 'caul' is, don't do google images...yikes!

Having watched Sue Perkins 'Mrs Dickens' at Christmas, it transpires that he was actually a bit of a rogue and pretty awful to his wife (understatement) but I can't deny, he wrote some fab stories and I will definitely dust off a few more of my Dad's collection in the future.

...sunny & snow-free in Suburbia!

I love a Monday morning, me...I am joking of course!

My husband left for Russia for the week (Sports Photographer, to be referred to as 'Camera Guy') so having to wake up (did I ever get to sleep?) earlier than usual in order to get 3 children changed, dressed, fed and out the door in all the attire winter requires is no mean feat...oh, and on time occasionally, not really my idea of fun.

I used to struggle being on time when it was just me...I was the eternal optimist where time was concerned believing I could cross from one side of London to the other in approx 10mins but never quite succeeding. I have slowly realised (it took the 3rd baby to arrive) that you need to allow a minimum of hour an hour to actually make it out the door with everyone and everything. Sometimes I fall back into that unrealistic optimist mode and have the embarrassment of traipsing via the school office en mass, double buggy, school bag, water bottle etc to fill out the 'late arrival' book...love the section where you have to put the reason for your child's lateness, it's a smaller box than where you fill in your child's name...unrealistic really given that I could fill a couple of pages on the reasons why...!

However this morning, 6yr old son managed to squeeze through the gap as the school gate was closing saving me the hassle of writing in the 'book of shame'! To celebrate our achievement we went into town and slumped in Nero's for coffee & croissants.

Now why can’t all Monday mornings be like this?

...so I guess there is no time like the present, even though 'that' time is nearly 11pm on a frozen Sunday evening following 2 sleepless nights. My vision is blurred and my head slightly fuzzy and it's nothing to do with the empty glass of red sat by my side...honest!

Just in case I wasn't 'quite' busy enough, I have taken the jump after vague mumblings on other social network sites, namely FB & Twitter, of starting to blog...I don't know why because I really don't have the time but I am in real need of trying something new.  Having been on maternity for what feels like the last 6 years with a short hop back to work in between the 3 children, I am in grave danger of succumbing to nappy brain and I am fighting back!

I generally have a lot to say on all manner of topics & interests but most of the words that currently come out of my mouth consist of 'hurry up', 'eat up', 'tidy up' and 'CAREFUL!!'...the last one usually yelled after the event..pointless!  I figure no one listens to me at home so why not blog a bit to no one in particular and if anyone actually decides to listen..well that will be a nice surprise.  I'm also a good listener so I am looking forward to reading lots of other peoples blogs.

This feels like a big step into the unknown and I am preparing for the stumbles, falls and full-on face plants that will definitely happen while I find my footing.  I would appreciate any comments & advice from all you experienced bloggers as well as newcomers like myself.  I hope as it goes along, I will find some semblance of order/organisation in my blurb...oh actually, strike that, it's highly unlikely..order & organisation is a distant memory from my work life, I much prefer chaos & disorder, so will continue in that vein.

So that's it folks (how many people have signed off with that old Warner Bros line?)..my humble beginnings as a 'blogster'..improvements & updates soon.