Wordless Wednesday - Hallowe'en

We are off to Disneyland Paris tomorrow. But most importantly we are going there for Hallowe'en, my eldest daughter was given the choice of the summer holidays or Hallowe'en and Hallowe'en won hands down.
So we have been preparing for this pagan festival as you can see from the photos below.

I think we are ready.

42 - Yikes!

I am 42 on tuesday. 42 the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (according to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)

How did that happen, my Mum and Dad were old when they were 42..weren't they?

Who else is 42....(Imagine a 5 minute pause here whilst I go off to Google. This would be the point where you go and make a cup of tea)

 

OK so it's 10 minutes later just consider yourself lucky I got bored by the letter N.

Benicio Del Toro (this is a good start)

Carrie Ann Moss (her that was Trinity in the Matrix) 

Emily Watson (world renowned British Actress - excellent)

Christopher Judge (Alien off Stargate - look it means something to me, keep your Sci fi geek comments to yourself)

Gordon Ramsey (but he looks so old...UGH)

Helen Chamberlain (she presents the Saturday football thingy on Sky 1)

Henry Cusick (plays the Scottish fella on Lost)

John Barrowman (He can do as much musical theatre as he likes, and he can keep telling himself he is Gay but he will always be Captain Jack to me!)

Kate Garraway (GMTV Lady who can't dance)

Kurt Cobain (well he would be if he was alive and I bet he would be cool, much cooler than being dead, anyway)

Kristen Johnston (From 3rd rock from the sun)

Laura Dern (Do you remember her in Blue Velvet?)

Les Ferdinand (Is he the one who was horrid to Ulrika, I am useless on celebrity gossip!)

Lisa Edelstein (Stern boss lady of House)

Matt LeBlanc (Nice but dim off Friends)

Moon Zappa (pretty sure she is the daughter of Frank)

Nicole Kidman (No explaination required)

Noel Gallagher (the more talented brother of Liam)

OK feel much better now - I am clearly in good company, apart from that Les fella and horrible Mr Ramsey (although his recipe for pannacotta is very good - the book was a present!)

Do you share a year with anyone exciting?

The Picture is me on my 40th doing a Pink thing for Breast Cancer Awareness

A Momentary Lapse in Judgement

A friend of mine recently had a momentary lapse in judgement.

This lapse in judgement has meant I have spent quite a lot of time apologising to people.

My friend created a stupid (and strange and definitely not funny) comment in an email, and hit 'reply all' instead of 'reply'.

In fairness I wouldn't have thought much of the comment had he just hit reply.
Unfortunately by hitting 'reply all' he sent his stupid comment to nearly my entire personal address book (including my 80 year old Mum, people who work for me and some acquaintances as well as close friends).

And although the consequences of this have been difficult, challenging and emotionally draining, it has got me thinking.

This really bothered me, but when I tried to explain this to my friend, he said sorry, but I could see that he didn't really understand (or seem to really care) why I was upset or bothered.

Most people I know live by the motto 'do as you would be done by'. And that's the thing. If I had done to my friend what he did to me 3 things would have happened:

1. I would be mortified

2. I would have apologised - profusely to him and everybody else affected

3. He would have been really angry


So why doesn't he get it - he is an old and close friend, who I know would be up in arms if someone else had done this to me...Has my friendship become something that is such a constant that it's now taken for granted?


So what has happened - I had a couple of sleepless nights, I was angry and quite emotional and said quite a lot of bad words. I spoke to him on the phone and asked him to send an apology out but didn't say the bad words to him. A day later he sent an apology. I tried to tell him how I really felt but did it in such a way that he probably thought it was OK.

So who am I really angry at?

Me, I should have told him how upset he had made me, and all the real consequences of his actions.
Now what?

Probably nothing, we will just move one and I will tuck it away. Let’s hope all these things I tuck away don't make me explode one day.

Picture Perfect Meme

Here are the pictures my daughter's drew of me,  for Tara's Yikes! Is that meme?  - Forget everything nice I said about you in my previous post. I take it all back..this is just cruel.

I have either no arms or clubs for arms...On Lola's I look ridiculously grim.

OK I am passing this task on to...

and 1 more means 4

40 not out

Maternal tales from the South Coast

Snaffles Mummy

ClareyBabbling

I am sorry...in advance

Thanks Tara

Thanks to Tara at Stickyfingers I have been reading lots of blogs this week..My goodness aren't we a clever and articulate lot!

Having babies hasn't fried our brains after all (thank you which every deity or spiritual thing gummy bob you prefer), but released a load of creativity out there in the blogosphere. The blogs make me cry, laugh and realise that whether you work or not we are all Mum's and experience similar feelings and thoughts.

I never really liked all those NCT things or organised baby groups, I used to say that I didn't need new friends just because I had had a baby. I did go to my post natal sessions and I can honestly say that all I got from it was how to do baby massage and resuscitate a choking child (OK - both these things have been handy, but the point is I didn't make any friends).

I was wrong, I was incredibly, cripplingly lonely when I had my first child. I didn't live close to my old friends and the friends I had made through work just wanted to carry on clubbing (the dancing kind, not the one with seals - that would just be weird).

My problem is, as I told Tara, I don't like people...I have to be social, gregarious and friendly everyday at work. When I am not at work I just want to be with my kids and husband, drink wine, eat Twiglets and be grumpy...Is that wrong?



God (Or other deity etc, you get the picture) bless Tara and my other new Mummy friends for persevering with me, when I had my second child, I found out where to breast feed comfortably whilst shopping, I learnt how to lunch** I found out it is quite nice to go for long walks in parks with prams. It's nice to visit friends and chat and not just about babies but other stuff too.

The thing is, I hated the social events, first at nursery where all the parents are pulled in for a 'disco'. Then you start to get the invites to children’s parties, at the local Wacky Warehouse*, again enforced sitting with other parents just because your children share the same room at nursery or class at school, does not make you instantly friends with the parents. The conversational one up Mum or Dadship..I have a TrippTrapp this.. a Mama's and Papa's that..UGH! Then there is the 'knowledge'..not like the London Taxi Drivers, but your little person has given you the full gen on all the other little people - little boy 'Tom' says bad words, Little girl 'Brittany' pushes, Little boy 'Harry' bites etc..So before you even meet these people you have your preformed (mis)conceptions of who they are and what they are like.

So I love this blogging this is a great way for me to be socially acceptable without having to be accepted socially - and I have also realised that I can make new proper friends, out there in the real world.

Thanks Tara. You are a good friend to me; I only hope I do the same for you.

Just for the record - this was not the aim of this blog, to go all sappy and embarrass my friend, but like most of my blogs I start off with a thought that ends up some where else.

*Note to self: must remember to blog about Wacky Warehouse's at some point...like the wire that wraps up children’s toys..soft play areas with adults and alcohol, how wrong is that

**To lunch - a verb, a doing word, a social thing you do with friends - I aspire to lunch all the time, I also aspire to be independently wealthy, so I could lunch everyday, unfortunately my aspirations remain just that. Damn it.

Wordless Wednesday - Sausages

Last BBQ of the season. Here comes Autumn.

To work or to blog..?

I have had a week off poorly from work, was it piggy flu? Possibly, I felt awful.

Second half of the week I realised that I was well enough to sit on the sofa, blanket over me with laptop intravenously attached so that I could feel back in the world.

I have had lovely time reading blogs &Twitter posts, so I could actually follow conversations. It is a great world of bloggy twitteriness out there, which usually work stops me from participating in properly. Silly work.

Then my children would get home, with husband from school and nursery and annoy me as I was engrossed in my laptop world. Silly Kids and Husband.

Hang on ...what is going on here, suddenly all day at home on computer and I am no longer able to socialise with my, right here in the real world, loved ones as I am too busy following twitter..Yikes!

And, my work is not silly, I finally have a job where I make a difference, I protect the public working for a regulator (that sounds rather grandiose, but it is basically true).

But I do love all this social networking, I chat to people I would never of chatted to before and hear interesting thoughts and opinions in blogs. It's kind of like starting college where I knew no one and had to make friends and hear new views and beliefs. I enjoy it because I am learning things from the many bloggers and twitterers out there, I am continuing to expand my mind.

So on Monday I am back to work (assuming I can get rid of this cough). I expect I will get my balance back then. Unfortunately,  there is never enough hours in the day. How do you manage your balance?

This is me (Or hairstyles I have had)

OK, I have been blogging a while and I think the time has come to share...Go on, you know you want to too, I would love to see your photo's.

This is me

1969 (approx)

A time when I was still fit and healthy and cycled everywhere

1975 (approx)

I loved that top

1978

(and yes those are Dulux Dog and Paddington posters.. I was deeply enmeshed in the 70's and an adolescent - not a stylish combo!)
Don't be fooled by the guitar, I am not musical.

1982
This was my interpretation of my school uniform..and I still wonder why they wouldn't let me be a Prefect

1983 ish
It appears I briefly became a Nolan.

1984
 Permed for my A levels
This may look like I was drinking before I was 18...I very much doubt it, although that period of my life is alittle bit blurry.

1988
Gloomy college girl (I did this very well)
 Loved that jacket, brought it off an ex-boyfriend for £30.
Still have that jacket.
 Can't wear that jacket
Jacket has shrunk as I have grown older - who knew leather could shrink!

1990
Still gloomy
And what was I doing to that poor top?

1996 ish
At a friends wedding.
Most of the 90's were pretty dull

1998
Until the clubbing years
(I know, I left it a bit late I was mutton before I even started)
I had a ball!

2001
Got married, continues to have a ball.

2002
Got pregnant, turned into a ball

2008

Back having a ball, but now with bingo wings...classy

Being fab at forty