Climate Change Collective Post 8: Six Ways to Reduce the Environmental Cost of Experiences
The wonderful Michelle, founding leader of the collective, has shared the eighth post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. We’ve been hearing for years that younger generations prefer experiences to material possessions. Fuelled by FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and YOLO (You Only Live Once), millennials in particular show a definite…
Having a clear out
I am genetically not predisposed to letting go of stuff. I am biologically prone to keeping hold of things. Maybe it’s nurture too. My mum and her mum both have houses full of many many bits and bobs. For my grandma, that’s fair enough; she’s been on her own since the mid-80s. However, my dad…
News apps for kids
Large boy wants a news app for his phone. He’s been reading the Google suggestions and it’s all junk, he’s set it to tell him about superheroes and gaming. But he’s been reading First News at school and loves that, so I’ve been doing some investigating of the options available. We want something more global,…
Year 6 Horrors: 2 Social Media
I’ve decided to document large boy’s journey through his year 6 experiences with a series of posts sharing a tongue in cheek assessment of what it’s like having a 10 or 11 year old child. Social Media We held out for so long. Lots of other children in large boy’s class seemed to have phones…
Learning hurts
Since last May or so, I’ve been participating in a leadership development program at work. It’s been an…. interesting process. After self-awareness and emotional intelligence, we’ve moved on to situational leadership. I’ve noticed a pattern in the way that I’ve reacted to each new area. It seems that I don’t like it when I don’t…
Start of an era
Last summer I wrote about large boy’s last meeting at Cubs. He started Scouts a few weeks later and has been loving it. Now, though, we’re back to having a Cub in the house. Small boy finished Beavers last Monday and swiftly moved on to his first Cubs meeting on Wednesday. I sincerely hope that…
Inspirational Women
Disclaimer, I wrote this post in summer 2019. However, I wanted to share it again because today is International Women’s day. My thoughts and feelings about these women haven’t changed. They remain examples that I work towards. There was a question on my Twitter feed a couple of weeks ago, about real women who inspire.…
Climate Change Collective Post 7: Residential solar panels
The wonderful Krista from Sustainably Simple Life has shared the seventh post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. 2022 was an interesting solar year for us! It was our first full year with the additional panels that were installed in May 2021, and they really made a difference to our power…
February 2023 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! We’ve all really struggled with reading this month. Small boy has an absolute Beast Quest obsession and has read almost nothing else for weeks. Large…
Year 6 Horrors: 1 The Attitude
I’ve decided to document large boy’s journey through his year 6 experiences with a series of posts sharing a (mostly tongue in cheek) assessment of what it’s like having a 10 or 11 year old child. The Attitude Me oh my this child has developed a whole other way of behaving and communicating. My lovely,…
A litany of injuries
We’re all a mess Everything hurts Nobody sleeps Bodily comfort is for the lucky Large boy has been writing couplets and sets for a rap at school. I think he’d be utterly horrified with my spontaneous attempt at letting out my frustrations with our physical defects through the medium of Sunday morning poetry. Well, himself…
Reasons to Have a Truck
This is pretty much the opposite of an eco-post. Sorry about that, I promise I’ll touch on the environmental side of the story before the end. We bought a big massive Isuzu D-Max in June 2019. Honestly, I was really quite sceptical, especially as the truck is “my” car. Here she is, Talulah the Truck…
What does a rugby mum need?
Yeah, so this probably doesn’t only apply to rugby mums. I’m sure football mums and all sorts of other winter outdoor sports parents need the same sort of stuff too. After four years of standing on the side lines on a Sunday morning, I’ve got preparing to watch the boys train or play rugby down…
Climate Change Collective Post 6: How You Can Reduce Your Energy Consumption and Save Money by Saving the Planet
The wonderful Christina from Crisbie Coach has shared the sixth post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. …by taking small steps at home, not only you can save energy (and money) but also you will help to protect the environment by reducing your emissions. Households generate roughly a quarter of all direct CO2 emissions…
RED January 2023 Review
Well RED January is over again. I quite like to look back and reflect on how I coped and what I achieved. My efforts DateDistanceTimeNotes1 Jan 20235.10km30.03minGot wet, felt good2 Jan 20235.74km33.48minNew shoes rubbed3 Jan 20233.25km20.07minRain started half way round, got wet4 Jan 20233.66km23.49minBleugh5 Jan 20233.29km20.57minLess bleugh6 Jan 202311.01km1h09.37minMassive puddle avoidance7 Jan 20233.26km19.29minNew shoes better,…
December 2022 and January 2023 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! I think I’ve done well extracting reviews from them this month, especially from large boy. Large boy The Novice, The Inquisition, The Battlemage, and The…
Fog of Grief
Yesterday (31 January 2023) marked four years since baby boy3 made an unexpected and far too early exit from my body. I’m not someone who dwells or wallows in the grief I feel for his loss. I acknowledge it, I’m honest about it with myself and with others. I don’t shy away from talking about…
Self-Discovery and Understanding
At work over the last couple of years I’ve been lucky enough to have had some amazing mentoring and leadership development opportunities. Through 2021 and the start of 2022, I was involved in a one-to-one mentoring program, which was exciting and scary. Then, mid-way through 2022 I was surprised to be nominated for a much…
Car disaster
We’ve had a car disaster. Well, it could have been worse. No one is injured and nothing’s broken, no crash and no emergency services have been involved. However, while watching junk TV last night, himself and I heard a weird click. This was followed a couple of minutes later by the alarm on himself’s Focus…
Snowy Scenes
I’m going for the lazy route in today’s post. We’ve had snow this last week in the North West of England. Not particularly unusual, there’s often a white few days at this time of year and compared to many places the snow quantity is fairly trivial. However, it’s infrequent enough that both the infrastructure and…
The Trouble with Isms
Between the stuff in the new about the “self-proclaimed misogynist” arrest in Romania, comments about autism and criminality, and various other things that have been going on in my real world lately, I’ve been thinking about the trouble with all the isms. Here’s my conclusion. All the isms are based on the precept that different…
Running Review 2022
At the start of 2021, I did a round up of 2020 and included some running stats. In 2022, I wrote a whole post about it because my running had got a bit more serious I suppose. However, 2022 did not go to planning on the exercise front. Total Stats Comparison 20212022Active Days278165Total Time239 hours113…
New Schedule
Towards the end of last year, I shared that I was feeling generally fed up and uninspired about blogging. Lots of lovely people shared their sympathy and suggested a break – which I duly took over the festive season. I’ve been thinking (and avoiding thinking) about this blog and its future for several months now.…
Climate Change Collective Post 5: How Our Need to Shop is Ruining Our Planet
The wonderful Alison from Sustainably Simple Life has shared the fifth post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. We live in a world that is dominated by capitalism and consumerism–and it is ruining our planet. Not everyone reading this post will live in a capitalist society, but I bet a lot of…
Taking A Festive Break
Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. I’m taking a few days off to enjoy some cuddles, laughs, and lots of food with my family. I might be back on 30th or I might not. I hope everyone has a joyful and peaceful few days. But I know Christmas can be awful for some of us…
Making stuff 22: needle felt gonk
By large boy (the gonk, not the blog post), entirely his own design made up as he went along. Yesterday’s advent activity was “crafts”, which drew a disappointed sigh. I’d bought a couple of kits to make a wreath and pompom gonks because I am not crafty myself. But the boys were thoroughly unimpressed. So…
A Friday story
A few weeks ago, I had a Friday that was a VERY busy day. I didn’t manage to squeeze in even the shortest run. I’m sharing this to illustrate the mental load, and overload, that falls on us sometimes. I fear mums experience this more than dads perhaps. I’m sure that’s not true in every…
Christmas Tree Poem
Last year I shared large boy’s Christmas poem from 2020. This year I’ve got the one he wrote in 2021, I wonder if he’s been writing one at school this year. It seems clear that the teacher tasked them with writing it in the shape of the tree, but I love the alliteration and use…
Warning, Eleven Incoming!
This time of year always brings a nostalgia trip for me. I think back to the surprise of my waters breaking at 36 weeks and then spending another four days waiting to meet large boy. Remembering that induced first labour, my body completely ignoring my plan. The jaundice, the reflux, the exhaustion, the sore boobs,…
Hope
In one of the last episodes of the final season of The Walking Dead (yes we’ve watched them all, I’ve had zombie fatigue at times but himself as pushed me through), Ezekiel and Negan have a discussion about how to revolt in a prison camp. They discuss fear, but ultimately decide that hope is a…
November 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! I think I’ve done well extracting reviews from them this month, especially from large boy. Large boy A Crystal of Time by Soman Chainani A…
Climate Change Collective Post 4: How climate change impacts animals
The wonderful Caroline from Enviroline has shared the third post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. Phenology is the timings of animal and plant yearly cycles. As the climate changes, these timings change too. For example, birds are starting to breed earlier because the peak insect abundance is happening sooner. This puts added…
Thankful
I’m very thankful to know many lovely folks from the USA. Some are friends from my university years, some are ex-colleagues, some are current co-workers and some are virtual friends I know from blogging. I’m thankful for them all. Having had a bit of a writers block lately and felt sorry for myself, I’m particularly…
My Christmas Posts
Sometimes events conspire to make something happen. On Friday I wrote about feeling fed up and uninspired and lots of people were supportive, suggesting a break might be needed. I suspect they might be right and I’m going to review what I do in the new year. However, just writing about how I was feeling has…
Fed up and uninspired
I’ve got to confess I’m struggling with blogging lately. My inspiration is limp and floppy. I’m fed up in general, just a bit frustrated and unmotivated. I haven’t got a post for today. I’ve got three or four drafts that are just a title but it’s Thursday night, 6.30pm. Himself is about to take large…
Advent Calendar Activities 2022
For the last couple of years I’ve used a beautiful fabric advent calendar that my mum made to plan out a set of activities for the boys. Of course they never all go quite as planned, but we have a great time not eating chocolate. Previously I was more organised and bought them each a…
Remembrance Day
Parts first posted in November 2019. Usually, around this time of year, I see a bunch of posts, profile decorations, photos about Remembrance day with Union Jacks and St George’s crosses. Actually, this year it’s been a bit less I think. Maybe, with Brexit and COVID there’s a realisation that we rely and owe a…
Sweet chestnuts
When I was a little girl, and indeed a teenager, my parents would buy sweet chestnuts on a stall at their town market. They’d roast them and then we’d burn our finger tips deshelling them. I’ve had, very occasionally, roast chestnuts from a street seller. But they’ve always been coated in sugar and way too…
Migraine
Ouchy! And that’s putting it lightly. This week I had my first “full blown migraine that I just couldn’t cope with” in years. My period started on Sunday so I knew that a headache would follow a few days later, it always does. So on Tuesday morning, I wasn’t bothered by the dull ache. On…
October 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! I think I’ve done well extracting reviews from them this month, especially from large boy. Large boy A World Without Princes, The Last Ever After,…
Climate Change Collective Post 3: Travel With Climate Change
The wonderful Jamie from JamieAdStories has shared the third post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. Many people operate as if they are on islands these days. They have a home island, a work island, a ‘going out’ island and a shopping island. They hop in a vehicle and whizz between…
On holiday (again)
Sorry folks. We’ve taken another holiday. The fourth this year somehow! It’s very much needed after either himself or I have been away with work for most of the last two weeks, with a Scout camp, a Beavers camp, and two rugby matches thrown in too for good measure. We’re a bit frazzled and ready…
When a Work Trip Goes Wrong
Wow, after two years of a virtual replacement, we’re back in person for our annual workshop for the leaders in technical writing at my company. I’m almost at the end of the week of intense discussions on every possible topic. I’m exhausted at this stage. It started with a 7am alarm on Sunday, then a…
No more babies
It was Baby Loss Awareness Week last week. I almost managed to avoid it altogether. Last year I wrote about what coping looks like, the year before I discussed our loss. Before that I looked at different ways we react to loss. But personally and in my real life, I don’t engage in BLAW. I’ve…
My downstairs loo smells of pee
My downstairs loo smells of pee was it himself, large boy, small boy, or all three? My downstairs loo smells of pee again whatever I say, they just can’t aim. My downstairs loo smells of pee when I sit down, the whiff comes up. My downstairs loo smells of pee sometimes they even leave a…
Cucumbers and cats
Apologies in advance for the brief post. Himself has buggered off on a work trip and the kids have three million activities this week and I’m travelling next week. So yeah, writing anything meaningful is a stretch. Large boy came out with what I thought was absolute gibberish at tea time: Then he said that…
My 12 Favourite Costume Dramas
If you’re familiar with my regular reading matter, you might be surprised that as well as Inspector Morse, Young Wallander, Blue Bloods, Bones, Dexter, and many more police-centric TV series, I also love a good costume drama. Here are my favourites. 12. The Empress I’m watching The Empress on Netflix at the moment. It’s in…
Pre-teen independence
Oh me oh my, large boy is growing up! He’s heading for 11 years old and has just started year 6, his final year at primary school. Part of me is shocked and horrified, baffled as to how we got to this point so fast. Another part of me is quite enjoying watching him grow…
September 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! I think I’ve done well extracting pretty wordy reviews from them this month. Large boy Grimwood by Nadia Shireen It’s about two foxes who live…
Climate Change Collective Post 2: Understanding How Climate Action Redefines Our Future
The wonderful Molly from Transatlantic Notes has shared the second post in the series being run by the Climate Change Collective. The decisions we make now will impact our future; a reality we likely can all understand because we’ve experienced this within our personal lives. We frequently make choices based on how to positively influence…
Looking back on our holiday
So we’ve arrived at the grey middle of September. I can hardly believe that it’s over a month since we returned from our long awaited holiday in France. We took all the stuff, and didn’t need some of it. We had an amazing time though. I ate all the cheese and patisseries, sat in the…
Making stuff 21: gin and jam 2022
I think we’ve established by now that my only claim to any goddess-like levels of domesticity is my habit of making gin, jam, and chutney. Last year (2021) focus was on the gins, with a bit of hedgerow jelly for completeness. In 2020, I made a ridiculous 6 gins but just one jelly. The year…
To friend (verb) or not?
I follow the wonderful That MidLife MaMa Donna on Facebook and she’s ace. In particular, one of her posts caught my eye recently. WordPress seems to trim the text there, here’s what Donna said: Find your daughter’s teacher on social media and friend her. This is the advice I received last night. Immediately I said…
No post today
I usually do a post on a Friday. Today, I had something to write, but then the death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced last night. I’m sure there will be lots of tributes and posts mourning her passing, but I’m not jumping onto that thread. I’m just going to take a day off. The…
Dilemma Resolved
This is a work post. I don’t post about work very much because, well, it’s generally pretty boring to people outside of my domain. I mean, seriously, I work in software, duller than dull right? Most people think software development is as obscure and highly technical as chemistry (doh, PhD chemist here too, double trouble).…
Back to school 2022
Back to school 2022 feels normal again, more like 2021. Which is a far cry from 2020 but back to how 2019 was. It’s been sort of normal, at least it’s only been 5 weeks away from their friends compared to the 20 or so in 2020. Next year will be very different again, with…
July and August 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! Sorry, we skipped the July post at the start of August because we were away and I couldn’t be bothered. Large boy Hurrah! He hit…
Silverstone Classic 2022
It feels like we’re only just back from our France holiday and we’ve packed up again, loaded the car, strapped on the bikes and set off to Silverstone. I’m going to semi-live report on our progress and antics throughout the weekend. We were last here for the WEC in 2019. How much has happened since…
I ought to be…
I ought to be blogging but I’m playing Lego Star Wars I ought to be working but I’m doing the laundry I ought to be reading for my leadership training but I’m absorbed in detectives I ought to be running but I’m working through lunch time I ought to be making dinner but I’m hugging…
Plank Challenge Time
I’ve come back from holiday (did I mention we went on holiday? we left the country and everything! I mighthavebeengoingon aboutthata bit, sorry) having eaten all the cheese and ice cream and chocolate. This means that running is hard again (because I only did a tiny bit while away, despite my best intentions) and my…
Stuff we didn’t need on holiday
Before we went on holiday (for lots of pictures, visit #smellysocksgoestofrance), I wrote a list of everything essential to take (and added the stuff we forgot). We had an absolutely bloody brilliant time. This was the holiday we’d waited three years for. However, amongst the very many things we took, we did not need some…
On holiday
I was going to at least do my July reading post today. But, you know what, holidays are for doing nothing. I’ll be posting on Instagram regularly if you want to see what we’re up to. Otherwise, I’ll be back 19th August. Instagram.com/andsmellysocks Catch you on the flipside folks.
Ideas for big birthdays
My parents are both facing big birthdays this year and himself’s will follow suit in the next couple of years too. Yep, the big 7 0. We wanted to make sure they got some treats for their important birthdays that show how much we appreciate them. Here are some of the ideas we looked into.…
What to pack for a Eurocamp holiday
We’re off next weekend, for our first big holiday since 2019. We love a Eurocamp caravan, even doing our first fly-drive at the beginning of June. Every time we go, I think of things we didn’t take. So, I’m going to write a list of things I’m packing in case it’s useful to anyone else…
Almost there
Are we nearly there yet? Almost holidays Almost the end of daily routines Weekly clubs already over Taxi service to sports is done with Peace and quiet looming, stretching to the horizon Or Kids off school, bored and nagging Interruptions, requests for snacks and screen time Organising activities and friends to play Money leaking to…
Teachers’ gifts 2022
Ever since large boy started school and I discovered the joys of making my own fruit gin (coincidentally the same year, or was it a coincidence?), I’ve made gifts for teachers and TAs for Christmas and the end of the summer term. I love giving them something we’ve made at home – if I’ve put…
The Aesthete Blogger award
The very lovely Kayleigh at Confidently Kayleigh nominated me for this back in October last year and I’ve been very slow responding. Sorry Kayleigh. You can see her post here. I love Kayleigh’s blog and her instagram, she posts a wonderful mixture of the serious and the silly stuff. In particular, she features the realities…
Love Thyself
This isn’t going to become a regular thing, long-time readers have probably picked up that I (we) am (are) not religious in the slightest. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think the bible or any other religious text of any denomination or faith don’t have value, truth, or wisdom. They absolutely do. So, here goes.…
Boris is Going
It’s all over the news and the culmination of several days of mass ministerial resignations on the top of months and years of scandal after scandal. Here’s the thing though. I’m seeing a lot of social media posts, from usually reputable sources or groups, declaiming Boris as an immoral narcissist, for example: Now, I am…
Three failures (and why that’s a good thing)
I’ve been reading How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong by Elizabeth Day recently. I’m not sure how I stumbled across it but it’s a really interesting read. It’s definitely taking precedence over my reading homework for my future leaders initiative: I think we all dwell on our “failures” but what…
June 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! Large boy Dragon Mountain, Dragon Legend, and Dragon City by Katie Tsang Oh this boy does love a series. He sped through all these ones…
Small boy is 7
It’s time to look back again and wonder, baffled, how small boy has arrived at another birthday. It was the same last year and the year before. The years seems to be flying past, it feels like no time since he was the baby who would only sleep wrapped in a fleecy blanket in my…
5 Reasons not to go running
I recently wrote a post about 6 reasons to get into running. The lovely One Dot Short of a Smarties Box pointed out that I made it sound like “those of us in the latter category have some puzzling glitch that needs to be fixed”. Sorry! So here’s a list of reasons not to go…
Exciting and much scarier
Last year, I wrote a series of posts about an exciting and scary mentoring opportunity at work. That came to an end in February, eventually unproductive but very interesting. Then, just over a month ago, something much scarier happened. The beginning It started with an email from the HR training lead for Europe. Now, emails…
Another year passed
Here we are again, June 17th. This was the date in 2019 that boy3 was scheduled to be born by caesarean section. So even though it’s four and a half months after his actual birthday, today remains an unforgettable date for us. We’ve just made it through another holiday where we seemed to be surrounded…
My Garden 2022
I love growing veggies. I’ll never forget the first year that I grew 5 courgette plants in a sun blessed garden and a friend gave me 8 tomato plants. Himself took a long time to come back round to considering courgettes acceptable on his plate after 3 months of me sneaking them into almost every…
Le Mans 24 Hours 2022: Our Picks
The Le Mans 24 hours race takes place at the Circuit de la Sarthe this weekend (11-12 June 2022). The experience watching from home is rather odd – no crowds, no smoke from the campsite barbecues wafting around, and of course the whole atmosphere is missing. We managed to get invested in 2020 and last…
No post today
We’re on holiday. It’s beautiful and hot and we’re having a lovely time, so there’s no post today. Probably not on Friday either. Also because I need to write a guest post for TBC. Normal service will be resumed next week. Have fun everyone. Xxx
May 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! Note: terrible light weight reviews this month, sorry. Large boy Against All Gods by Maz Evans Large boy was very pleased to find this at…
6 Reasons to Get into Running
I was out running and thinking about why I run, about why other people run and why they might not want to. If you’re in that last category, maybe these reasons will inspire you. 1. Outrun others when the zombie apocalypse comes Or outrun any other disaster. Indeed, I have a couple of tee shirts…
End of an era
Well that’s it. Large boy has had his last meeting at Cubs. It’s been a strange experience for him (not that he realises this). He joined in February 2020, made his promise and promptly went into lockdown. Our Cubs pack didn’t do anything virtually for a long time, then they took part in weekly Zoom…
7 Things to do in Kent
At Easter (2022), we spent a week exploring Kent. Here’s a quick round up of our favourite things that you should do if you visit the “garden of England”. 1. Explore a seaside town Kent has a lot of coastline, it’s all sticky outy at the East end of the the South coast of the…
Kids TBR piles
We do a monthly reading round up, but what’s in the kids’ TBR piles at the moment? Bearing in mind that some of the books in these piles have been there for quite a while, there still quite tall. Mine is less substantial and, besides, mostly on my Kindle. There’s no pretending we aren’t all…
Year 2 SATs
Small boy, mainly obliviously, is doing his year 2 SATs at the moment. I’m rather sad for him. Not because of the testing, not because he doesn’t enjoy them. But because he’s only “mainly oblivious”. When large boy did his, we didn’t even have any idea. School made so little fuss about it that the…
My running playlist 2
I haven’t blogged about running for a while. There’s a reason for that, as I’ve mentioned on my Instagram feed lately. #smellysockscantrunanymore I had a dreadful cold in February – himself had COVID, I was testing daily and negative throughout. One false negative I might understand, but not 7 in a row while I felt…
I’m going to work
Not that interesting? Well, I’m actually going to work at work. In the office. In Cambridge, 150+ miles away. For the first time since November 2019! (I think, I can’t really remember) I’m both excited and kind of anxious. I can’t wait to see everyone, and the drive doesn’t worry me. But, I have no…
What happens on Cub camp
I was a Girl Guide and a Brownie before that, then a Young Leader. Guiding and Scouting were a big part of my growing up, I don’t think I realised it at the time or really even thought about it until I had kids. I certainly didn’t realise how it affected me until quite recently;…
April 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! Large boy A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison The three Widdershins sisters had to go back in time and stuff to get magical items…
Snatched moments
Snatched moments A few minutes of company Pleasure in easy companionship Mundane chatter about nothing Twenty minutes of a return to before Being friends is no longer an everyday pastime Long lunches distant memories Yoga classes no more Because Children change everything And, most days, it’s a fair exchange I managed a short lunchtime walk…
7.30am on a Sunday
Seriously, who voluntarily sets their alarm for 7.30am on Sunday morning? And why? Sleep Surely it’s just not a sensible move. I mean, once upon a time anything before 10am on the weekend was “early”. Then kids happened and now any and all sleep is precious. Even six and three quarter years since small boy…
Lessons in Loss 19: Virginity
I don’t really remember how I came across Rachel’s blog at Musings of the Mind. Rachel is from Trinidad and Tobago, a far flung distant dream for me. But that distance represents, to me at least, the real value in blogging – bringing together people from all over the world who wouldn’t otherwise meet. Rachel…
Our Easter Break
This is just a bit of a round up post as I return to the blog after a wonderful, chilled out Easter break for 2022. Friday 8th April The boys and I had a busy day. First off large boy needed new school shoes, PE trainers and a summer waterproof. So we went to a…
Taking an Easter Break
We’re off for a little UK holiday for the next week, so I’m going to take a break from the blog to enjoy some fabulous adventures with the family. Wishing everyone a lovely chocolate holiday full of eggs and fluffy bunnies and free of vomiting, over-chocolate-filled children.
A maturity landmark
Large boy has just hit a landmark in his growing up path to adulthood and independence. He’s 10 and a bit, relatively sensible most of the time but also capable of being a prize plonker in the company of his best mates. What’s going on? This is the first week of two weeks of the…
March 2022 Reading
I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only! Large boy The Finisher by David Baldacci It was about somebody who lived in a village surrounded by darkness filled with monsters, before TVs were…
Overwhelmed
I’m having one of those days or weeks where there are just too many things going on. I knew what I was going to write a post about, but here I am at 5.30pm the day before publishing and I haven’t started it. I refuse to let the blog be one more pressure on me.…
Lessons in Loss 18: Miscarriage (Three Years On)
Molly is one of my absolute favourite bloggers. Her blog is Lovely Local Indie, with a focus on food, days out and places to stay in and around Derbyshire, UK. She’s quite local to me so there’s always something for me to store away for use one day. The boys are particularly excited to visit…
Springtime 2022
I’m totally loving this beautiful weather lately. OK so it’s still pretty cold in the morning, with a bit of frost, but the blue skies and sunshine are making me happy. So I wanted to share some pictures I’ve taken out and about recently. What are you looking forward to as the days get warmer…
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Smelly Socks and Garden Peas 
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