I can’t believe my last blog post was back in May!
Where has the time gone? I’ve been so distracted by camping holidays, day trips, writing, kids and my other blog over at The Coventry Evening Telegraph.
But no more….I have made a resolution to myself to keep the blog up to date, even if it’s just to get all the stuff out of my head that’s in there!
So be prepared for ramblings, random thoughts and a new business venture!
Beingamillionaire.com finally has a new product!
The £1Million note has been around since 2006…something I can hardly believe! Last week we launched our brand, spanking new product which you can see in all it’s glory over at www.shinyshack.com
We’ve had some fun as it’s being manufactured in China, so the language barrier can cause a few problems. It’s certainly been a learning curve for us, but we’re really pleased with the end result.
We hope that you like it too?
Finally the easter holidays are over! I thought they’d never end!
Eldest always gets more time off than any other child I know and was flopping around the house for almost three weeks until he made his way back to school yesterday.
For a change the weather was pretty good, and we made the most of it by visiting the park and going for walks.
On the cold and wet days, we turned to the Wii again. I was lucky enough to be sent a game by Activison called ‘How to train your Dragon’ based on the Dreamworks film of the same name.
Eldest wasn’t the slightest bit interested. If it’s for the Wii and not the PS3, he doesn’t want to know.
Middle son, on the other hand , loves playing Wii games. Probably because they’re a little easier to play than the more complex games his older brother enjoys.
After he’s spent a couple of weeks playing, he invited one of his friends over so that they could play on it together. My son hasn’t seen the film although his friend has and this is what they both had to say. (They’re 8 remember!)
Son “It’s really good with lots of adventures in the game though I found some a bit hard to do. The graphics are awesome, really colourful and I liked the way you can change parts of your Dragon so that you can make it your own. I want to see the film now.” He gave it 8 out of 10
Friend: “I’ve seen the film and some of the things they say are the same as in the game. It was easy to play and there was lots of adventures and the Dragons are cool and awesome!” He gave it 9 out of 10
OH and I had a little play while the kids were in bed and had a great laugh, although we had drunk a bottle of wine!
Essentially a fighting game, I enjoyed the mini games which involved solving puzzles. I also liked the way you can customize your own Dragon. With sharp graphics and easy game play, which I suppose is the beauty of the Wii, it certainly did a good job of keeping a little boy happy on his easter break.
And while I’m here, if Activison have anything that needs reviewing for the Nintendo DS….I’m your woman!
How to train your Dragon is available to buy in all the usual games formats, RRP £39.99
Have you ever been ‘un-friended’ on facebook? I don’t mean by someone you’ve never met before, but by someone you know and you thought was your friend?
If you have, how did you feel? A little strange maybe..or confused?
I was ‘removed’ from a friend list. Not by a great friend or anything, but by someone my OH knew from way back and then had met up with again.
This guy came and ate dinner with us, stayed over-night and then came to OH’s 40th. He ate our food, drank our wine and flirted with all of my single friends! Next day he’d made us all his friends on facebook!
Great stuff! We exchanged messages, had some banter and looked at each other’s photos. As the months went on a few of my friends told me they had been culled from his list on Facebook. Oh! I checked and I was still there! Maybe it’s because he felt he didn’t know them very well…..but it was only a matter of time before both me and OH disappeared too! And then you start to get a bit paranoid.
Since that time I have begun to notice how when my friends change their status from ‘In a relationship’ to ‘Single’ it becomes big news. One friends husband hacked into her profile and changed her status!! The comments she got were unbelievable! People were ‘devastated’ and were going around with bottles of wine to console her…but it was all a big joke!
A few weeks ago, one of my best friends split up from her boyfriend. “I couldn’t believe it”, she said, “I broke up with him and by the time I got home he’d already changed his status to single”.
I think that upset her more than the relationship ending.
So you know what I did? I took him off my Facebook friends list! That’ll show him!
But here’s the most disturbing thing yet. OH was updating his Facebook yesterday evening when he exlaimed, “Oh my God!”. He does that alot, so I did what I do alot. I ignored him!
“I can’t believe it!” He continued. “One of my old work colleagues has died…it’s here…on Facebook.”
And there it was, the death had been announced on Facebook. OK….that’s not so weird, after all that’s a good way of letting people know.
Here was the strange thing. Even though he had sadly passed away, people were still leaving messages for him. Stuff like “It was a great send off mate, you would have loved it” and “Sorry I couldn’t make it to the funeral”, and finally “Lovin’ the profile pic!!! Love all the pics with you in!!!!”
I know that people want to pay their last respects, but I just find it a little weird. Another friend of my OH’s was killed in a helicopter crash last year, and we’ve heard that her family closed her Facebook page because they couldn’t cope with the messages that were still being left for her.
Is it a good thing though? A way to keep someone’s memory alive maybe? I’m not so sure, what do you think?
This morning when my OH woke up I knew something was wrong. He’s usually such a happy chap but this morning he seemed…well…flat!
“Are you OK?” I asked
“Not really”, he said. “I’m feeling a little flat.”
So I decided it was best to leave him alone and that he’d tell me what was wrong in his own good time.
About half an hour later he found me and told me the problem.
Part of his work requires him to make a minimum of 25 cold calls a day. A cold call meaning he has to pick up the ‘phone, talk to a complete stranger and invite them to one of his seminars. It’s a toughie and I certainly couldn’t do it.
“I feel like I have a huge mountain to climb each day”, he sighed “And it’s hard.”
“A bit like my ironing pile?” I suggested not very helpfully, but at least it got a smile out of him.
We carried on chatting and talked about what completing the calls would actually mean in terms of business and that all mountains are tough to climb but getting to the top is a joy!
We came up with an idea that he should put a favourite photograph in his office of something he enjoyed doing. He now has a photograph of the time he went sky diving and hopefully that will provide the focus he needs to make the dreaded calls.
I then got thinking about what my favourite photo would be, so I went through my virtual photo album and came up with this:
This is a photo of us outside the Rockerfeller Centre during a long weekend spent in New York a few years ago.
That’s what would get me to the top of my mountain and I’d love to know what would get you to the top of yours?
I chose a gorgeous pair of red flats which I was sure would look great with some skinny jeans.
I could hardly breathe when they arrived! Ok…that’s maybe a small exaggeration…but wouldn’t you be just a little excited about getting some fabulous free shoes?
It felt like getting an early birthday present and as I put them on I did a little skip around the kitchen. The kids were of course, looking at me like I was mad! But the shoes were just so comfy…I mean REALLY comfy.
That day we all went to Birmingham and went for a really long walk around the shops. My step-daughter thought they looked a bit old fashioned, but then she is only 8!
When we got home my feet felt great, not sore or achey…and I’m not just saying this!
So, that’s it. I’m now a convert to Hotter shoes, though the heels will still come out occasionally, so long as I can sit down!
Last weekend saw my Fortieth birthday come and go. My OH asked how I felt about it and I had to admit I was quite looking forward to it, not like my thirtieth when I spent most of the day crying and mourning the loss of my twenties!
I feel fit and healthy, I have three lovely boys ,a great partner and a step daughter that I have a good relationship with. I love my home and where I live and I have a supportive and loving extended family. What more can I ask for?
Clothes!
If you read my last post, I’ve been fretting over what to wear just lately. I was especially fretting over my fortieth birthday outfit. I knew what I wanted but also knew that I had no chance of finding it in the shops.
There was only one thing for it. To get on the good old t’interweb and search for ‘made to measure dresses’, then up popped www.styleshake.com.
It has to been one of the most fantastic websites I ‘ve ever come across. You get given a choice of sleeves, necklines, bottom half etc. and you design your own dress/skirt/top.
It’s brilliant! It was like playing a Wii game except that 60 quid and one week later my outfit arrived at my door.
I opened the package and there it was. The dress that had been in my head was now in front of me. I felt really nervous as I tried it on. What if I’d got the measurements wrong and it didn’t fit? It took me a while to pluck up the courage to try it, but when I did I was as pleased as punch.
I’ve been looking for a photo that shows it off the best, but decided to post the one above of me and my OH. The theme for my party was purple and silver, which explains the amount of purple in the picture!
We had a great time and the dress got plenty of compliments and I have been raving about StyleShake ever since!!
I love fashion, I always have. 20 years ago I trained as a designer and pattern cutter and spent 5 years or so in the industry as a designer and buyer.
15 years and three children later and I’m two weeks away from 40. I’m not that bothered by my age, 30 was worse, but I’ve recently found myself stressing over what to wear.
The problem is that in my head I’m only 25 and feel myself drawn towards clothes for the age group. I spend ages in Topshop salivating over dresses, tops and trousers only to find myself miserable after trying them on a realising they aren’t made for middle aged women with post caesarean tummies, bingo wings and droopy boobs!
Yesterday, it all came to a head when I went shopping with two girlfriends of the same age. We were all excited and full of hope about our shopping trip to Solihull. After 4 hours of wandering around the likes of River Island, Topshop, Miss Selfridge and H&M my friend piped up. ‘I feel old!’ Oh thank god one of us finally admitted it!
So what happens now? We all agreed that we’re not ready for Boden and Wallis, but what is there for ‘young’ 40 year olds.
Despite the three children, I have always tried to look resonably trendy and have never succumbed to tracksuit bottoms and trainers but I had to admit yesterday that I always wear the same black skinny jeans, baggy tops and coloured scarfs and I need a change!!! NOW!!
Please someone, come and give me a fashion makeover.
‘MY name is Andrea and my 8 year old still wets the bed!’We feel like we’ve tried everything. Using night time pull ups, not using pull ups, stopping all drinks after 6pm, no dark drinks, getting him up for a wee, not getting him up for a wee, seeing doctors and health visitors but we are honestly no further forward.
And I’m not talking about a little patch of wet, I’m talking soaked from bottom to top. Even his hair gets a drenching!
Although my OH and I are sympathetic and don’t make a big deal of it, it doesn’t stop his evil older brother teasing him, despite our pleas.
Accompanying the bed wetting, are night terrors. It seems that when he wants to wee he tries to wake himself up but instead has a night terror. We’re talking full blown shouting, crying, sweating, shivering and then remembering absolutely nothing about it.
We do seem to have cracked this though, by leaving his radio on as he falls asleep. It may be a fluke but the night terrors have, for the time being, stopped.
We’re now at a stage where he’s starting to be asked for sleepovers and so far he hasn’t been brave enough to go. Then a couple of weeks ago, I saw a request for parents of bedwetters to try out a new product called ‘UnderJams‘.
I put forward my request and soon received a pack of UnderJams. Made by Pampers they are similar to ‘Dry-nights’ which we have used before.
I am aware that the general advice seems to be, that the bed should be protected and not the child. But trust me….after years of ruined mattresses, disrupted sleep, a distressed child and shares in plastic sheets…..I am more than happy for him to wear night time pull ups. As is he!
Underjams are slim,discreet and when I asked middle son if he would be embarrassed wearing them to a sleep over he said, ‘No, because I could hide them in my bag, put them on in secret under by bottoms and no one would know. Would you know mum?’ And with that he performed a little pirouette!
And no, I couldn’t tell he had them on at all! They didn’t make a crinkly noise, they weren’t bulky and he said they were very comfortable.
Also, if it hadn’t been for UnderJams, I wouldn’t have heard of ERIC or Education and Resources for Childhood Continence.
Pampers are working with ERIC. It has a great website with loads of information, advice and best of all a helpline to call. It also made me realise that we weren’t the only ones and it’s actually a very common problem, especially in boys.
We’re now trying a hypnotherapy CD designed especially for children up to the age of 9 who are still bedwetting. He’s listened to it 4 times now and last night he was dry. So I’m hopeful that with the help of underjams, ERIC and the CD we may at last be getting somewhere.
This blog post can also be read at http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/fromdawntillrusk/2010/02/bedwetting-issue.html
I’ve just been reading Claire Lancaster’s blog over at Dandelion Lounge and apparently that means I’m now tagged with a meme!!
The theme is favourite photo and as OH and I were sifting through photo’s last night, I thought I’d join in with one of my favourites although we have way too many to choose from!
I really liked Claire’s photo because it had such a great story behind it.
My favourite photo was taken in a tiny pub in deepest darkest Wales on New Years Day 2009. We’re all looking a bit cold (my red nose!) and had just spent a fantastic evening with my cousin and her husband. The pub we were in was literally someone’s front room! The bar looked like a dining table and they had a few dusty bottles on a shelf behind them. It was hilarious! There was an old portable TV in one corner and kids toys in the other. It felt like we’d been invited over to the house of a great aunt! So here’s my photo and what a bedraggled bunch we are!!
