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!

Claire at Dandelion lounge (who may or may not have had her baby by now!) sent me this very special Gift of Life meme.

As you probably know, Pampers and Unicef have been joint forces for a number of years now in their “Gift of Life” campaign to eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus.

It’s a sad fact that tetanus kills 128,000 mothers and babies each year in the developing world.  Thanks to the UK’s vaccination programme which starts when babies are 8 weeks old, it’s something that we don’t need to think about and possibly take for granted.

How Pampers supports Unicef’s programme is by donating the cost of a vaccine for every one pack of nappies sold to Unicef. They have been running the campaign for three years and have so far donated the funding for 200 million tetanus vaccines.

You can read more about this on the Unicef website.

If for whatever reason you don’t buy Pampers  you can still support Unicef directly by clicking here. Supporting the cause and raising awareness of the issues and Unicef’s work is priority.  Whatever your views, I ask every reader of this post to click here for a free song download which will donate a vaccine to the Gift For Life campaign at no cost to you.

Claire asked me to keep the meme going and pass it on to other bloggers.

Here are my chosen ones and all you have to do is this:

1 Open the virtual Gift For Life by going here
2 Write a small post on the campaign
3 Pass on to at least 5 other bloggers
4 Add the campaign badge to your sidebar
5 Feel incredibly proud that you are helping to make a difference!

So I’m passing this onto you:

Tums2Mums

icklebabe

MummyWhisperer

rachelpattisson

myfunnybunny

I’ve got another award! Yay! This is a really cool ‘Zombie Chickens’ award from Lorraine at www.ramblingsofamumontherun.blogspot.com

It goes like this:

“The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.”

I don’t want zombie chickens pecking at my back door so here are my five bloggers and the reasons why I’ve chosen them:

First goes to the lovely Helen at www.icklebabe.com . How that woman makes sparkly cakes, paints fabulous pictures and runs a business while tweeting, blogging and being generally fab, I’ll never know.

Next is Carol from www.mummynew.blogspot.com for all the great ideas that she comes up with, especially her new Midlands Mums and Dads site.

Third is Josie at www.sleepisfortheweak.org.uk for providing a great read for all us sleep deprived Mums and Dads

Fourth choice is the ladies over at http://www.domesticsluttery.com for making me salivate over all their gorgeous recipes, tea sets, cakes, cushions…I could go on.

Last, but not least, Keris at Keris Stainton for making me laugh, liking the same TV programmes as me and for having one of the most gorgeous baby’s I’ve ever seen.

Well done ladies…don’t let those chickens get ya!

My first award!! Wooo Hooo!

I received this Meme award challenge from Sharon at http://www.tishtashtoys.com

I have to compile a list of seven of my personality traits and then pass this meme onto seven other bloggers, whom I would like to learn more about !!!

I’ve been having a good old think but could only come up with negative ones! O.H has helped with the positive ones.

So here goes:

Organised:

To a point where I’m ahead of myself. But then surely you’ve got to be organised with a lot of  (male) children. Unfortunately being organised (or controlling) often leads to me feeling…

Anxious:

Being organised (and/or controlling) can lead to anxiety when my lovely little monkeys won’t put shoes on/coats on/turn TV off or anything else that they see as high priority 2 minutes before we have to go to school!! Grrrr!!

Honest:

I am a big believer in honesty. I think uncovering lies is far worse than just being honest up front.

Determined:

Certain events in my recent history (I’m sure I’ll blog about them one day) made me realise what a determined little begger I am.

Creative:

This is a biggie for me. If I can’t be even a little bit creative I get a bit cross (and anxious!!)

Funny:

I like to think I’m funny. I like to think that I can make people laugh. My O.H tells me I make him laugh. In a good way I hope! I found a profile that my eldest had written for school. In it he’d said… ‘My Mum and Dad are two of the funniest people I know’. He obviously doesn’t know many people!!

Empathetic

I can’t help it, it just comes naturally. I’m also a very good listener which helps with empathy.  I have to stand and listen to my neighbour talk about her arthritis for an age and I’m very patient!

And I pass this on to:

www.labellemereuk.blogspot.com

www.cafebebe.co.uk

www.icklebabe.com

www.mumstheblog.co.uk

www.dandelionlounge.co.uk

www.ramblingsofamumontherun.blogspot.com

www.sleepisfortheweak.org.uk

Ok…so it’s almost Mothers Day.

Now to some It’s probably just hype and another way for card companies to make money!

To me, it’s very important and when you read on you’ll see why.

I have three boys and OK the youngest doesn’t even know what day of the week it is and is only concerened about where the next plate of food is coming from, but the other two on Mothers day they actually do stop and think about all the ‘stuff’ that I do for them.

Well, not even all the ‘Stuff’ that I do for them but they take it upon themselves to do ‘stuff’ for me and to say ‘Thanks Mum.’

I love the home made cards and attempts at making breakfast and the kisses and hugs that kids don’t always remember to give out. I think it is so important to teach kids to say Thanks and this is one way of doing it so I’m all for Mothers day”!!!

Our tagline at BeingaMillionaire.com is ‘Being a Millionaire, it’s more than having a Million.’

You’ll find it on our website, it’s written throughout our literature and if you’ve ever had an email from me, it’s how I sign off!’

So…my question is….if it’s more than having a Million, then what is ‘IT’?

Ok, I’ll start. ‘It’ for me is feeling good.

‘And what Andrea…’ I hear you say..’makes you feel good?’

This week, I have been feeling good about my new bread maker.

I have been banging on about having one of these for years, so last week I bought one…reduced…of course. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I never pay full price for anything. I also love telling people, whether they want to know or not, how much it cost!!

So…my breadmaker was reduced to £34.00 which to my mind was a bargain!

We unpacked it and placed it in it’s own little spot on the kitchen worktop and promptly and proudly produced our first loaf. Now if any of you out there are building anything at the moment, this loaf would have made an excellent brick! It was horrible and rock hard!!!

So there I was, straight on the internet finding bread recipes. After a week of trial and error I have found the perfect recipe that makes beautiful bread and you can find it here, http://www.carrsbreadmaker.info/recipes/wholemeal_flour.html.

If you’ve got any recipes that you think I’ll like, please post some here or email me on andrea@beingamillionaire.com.

Thanks

Andrea.