Transfer Window

Any footy fans out there reading this blog,if so raise your hand if you know what the Transfer Window is?

As a household of boys transfer window day is hugely important.

Its the day when all the football players who want a new club are shiftied around and Sky Sport spend the whole day reporting every single thing that perspective 'movers' do.

The Sky Sports reporters go and haunt the footy grounds and try and interview anything that moves.You see them early in a morning till late at night,just stood there...come rain,sun,wind,snow,probably even tornado or earthquake those guys would not move from their given spot because you never know when a amazing transfer deal may happen.

I hate Transfer Window day.I don't like the clock ticking down,I don't like the repetitive music they play,I don't like the same old news being played hour after hour after hour,I just find it oh so over the top and a lot of fuss over nothing but T loves it and has it on at every given chance.

Me and S really take the Mickey out of it.

I mean what is a transfer window?

We imagine a window that is open that the player has to climb through and when the reporter starts saying that the window is closing,we imagine a player scrambling frantically through the window,desperate to get to the other side.

S said he thinks of a Stars In Your Eyes kinda thing,where the player climbs through the window as a Man U player and walks out at Anfield as a Liverpool player... tonight Wayne Rooney you are going to be... a Liverpool player... 

ta daah.

I think of it like a anomaly in Primeval,a shining glittering light that the players go through and come out the other side wearing a new footy kit and swapping allegiances to a entirely different footy team... tah daaah again!

I can see a certain humour in it but you can bet by evening time I will want to put my earphones in and zone out from it for sure.

Any views on the transfer window?Does anybody else even know what I'm talking about?Or is it just in our house that the transfer window rules?

You Will Never Notice The Difference...

Well actually he did!

A couple of weeks ago Sharky said we should swap Chipmunks favourite cereal

to these.......

''He will never notice the difference,'' he said.

''Think of the money you will save,'' he said.

''We don't have expensive proper cereal'' he said ''oh no we have to have the own brand stuff.''

And I had to agree...he was right!

So I took the plunge and bought the cheaper box of Shreddie type cereal and talked myself into believing he would never notice the difference.

On Sunday morning I poured the new cereal into Chipmunks dish and took it through to him.

He took one bite and looked surprised,then another bite and burst into tears.

"Mummy there is something wrong with my cereals" he said tearfully.

How bad did I feel!!!Worst mother in the world bad! 

I asked him why he didn't like his Shreddies and he said they tasted wrong.

So I swapped him back to the original Shreddies and felt slightly awful that I had made him cry.

He then ate all his Shreddies up without any problems.

Meanwhile Sharky was grinning away in the corner!Not gonna listen to you next time matey!

Good job he's not a taste taster isn't it!

Giggles

Had such a funny start to the morning today.

Well it amused me...lots... I was laughing out loud for real,all on my own in the kitchen,really giggly laughter that makes your tummy ache.

I guess to most people it will not seem funny,it was just how it caught me at the time and how my brain works ( pretty random ) at times,actually most of the time.

I was chattering away on Twitter and someone mentioned the word Nazgul and I said

"What's a Nazgul?"

Their reply came back as;

*tuts VERY loudly & rolls eyes*

"Tell me, have you ever really actually ever maybe sort of watched Lord of the Rings?"

And that was when the penny dropped...of course a Nazgul came from Lord Of The Rings and I have always said how much I love Lord Of The Rings...how could I have been so dense....

I just laughed and laughed.

I thought of my Tiger loving Lord Of The Rings and dressing up in cloaks every school dressing up day and pretending to be Aragon and co,along with his friends pretending to be the other characters and his cousin being a Nazgul himself!How they used to dash around that playground wearing their cloaks and replaying death defying stunts from the book and the film.

I thought of me being so enthralled by the film and then not knowing some of the main characters in it!What a dingbat!

And then young Chipmunk walked down the stairs and blow me down,he was wearing Tigers old Lord Of The Rings pj's. That set the giggles off again!

Tiger came down stairs and I said

"What's a Nazgul?"

And he gave me the look, the one that says

"Mum are you real!!!!

Its 7.30am,I can hardly open my eyes.

I have a full day at work,I don't even know who Iam yet.

 And of course a Nazgul is from Lord Of The Rings!"

If looks could transfer to physical feelings,I would have just been melted on the spot!

So then my dad comes in and I ask him the same question and he didn't know!

But he's not a Lord Of The Rings guy...however he then started repeating the One Ring To Rule Them All poem to us and my lasting memory was him walking out the house chanting the poem!

And it just made me laugh so much!The knock on effect that one simple statement had made and the memories it had bought back and the fact that I was so deeply entrenched in dream time I had totally forgot something I really do know about.

Perhaps the lesson should be not to talk on Twitter before Iam fully awake...then again it really did make me laugh and that has to be good...doesn't it....

Slip,Slop Snow!

Apparently this is just the best, slippy,sloppy,snow...what grown ups call slush and as far as I know,not many grown ups like slush...not so kiddos,they seem to adore slush!

I see nasty wet slippery stuff and as if to compound it,it's grey not the most endearing colour to be honest,perhaps if it were pink or lilac I may find it slightly more appealing,but grey,nah that colour does nothing for me.

It's horrible to walk in,unless you are in wellos or fab waterproof boots you are going to get wet and wet feet are just yukko.

So for all the above reasons slush is no friend of mine.

But my youngest kiddo was over the moon about the slush...truly so... words like 'cooooool' 'perfectimondo' 'wheeeey' were used a lot and very loudly!

He was truly excited and I did stop and smile at his enthusiasm.

He slipped,splashed and whooped all the way to the shops

and in general,had a fab old splashy mucky time.

I expected him to be thrilled at snow but hadn't anticipated the thrill of slush. I was soon put right!

And it's a good job that he had his fun out as today the slush has all gone,washed away in the night by the rain.

Here today and gone tomorrow.

Linking up at Country Kids

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Six Word Saturday

Are Memories Stored In Your Heart 

Or Do You Need Tangible Reminders

This is a biggie for me because for most of my life I have needed 'tangible' evidence of my precious memories.

Call it sentimental but I must be the worlds worst collector of itty bitty items that I can place a meaning too.

Children's drawings,photos,birthday cards and I can see why i want to keep some of those but perhaps not all of those,which I tend to do!

 You see when I have a real item I front of me I can actually touch it,it seems to zing the memories right back to me.

Items of clothing from the boys,little hats,shoes,bibs,bottles,beakers even dummies ...I look and think 'awww' and marvel at how tiny they were and how much I loved them.

Memorabilia such as their paintings,drawings,little clay dishes they made,sticks and stones they gave me,anything to be honest!

 And then it gets more suspect,as I seem to have a uncanny knack for placing a memory to anything and if someone who I consider special gives it too me the item becomes keepable.

Point one...how many keepable items can one person have before their house and space turns into a cluttered jumbled mess

Point two...why do I place a memory on these items

And those are the reasons for my six words

Can memories be truly stored in the heart or is sometimes a real touchable tangible item a legitimate thing to want?

What do you guys think?I would be really grateful to hear other people's points of view

Linking up with Cate who hosts the fab Six Word Saturday over at her blog Show My Face
Pop over and read some of the entries they are a great bunch of people.

My Dad

I have thought about this subject for quite a bit and this morning me and my dad got talking and it jogged my thoughts...

My Dad And Music

My dad has always liked music I guess.

In the past I can picture him receiving presents like CD players,headphones,LP's (anyone remember those) and radios.

When I was growing up my lasting memory of being at home with him was his love for classical music.

Many,no make that every Sunday morning I would be woken by the sound of the 1812 crashing through the floorboards.Of course as a teenager I hated this music and it just confirmed my image that oldies listened to old,old music, music without words how strange,how weird,how so very old.

My mum and him would go to concerts to listen to orchestras and just slightly better 'ballets' I mean even I could see Swan Lake was passable,as a ballet you understand,not as a piece of music,music to me in those days meant The Police or Duran,Duran or Paul Young,real music obviously!

I accepted my dads choice in music,I didn't have much choice did I?!?As my young un says to us 'My game my rules' well in my dads case it was 'My house,my music' 

But here's where it gets amazing,shamazing to me,times have a changed!

Example one was just on Christmas Day,we were all sat at the table scoffing Christmas Dinner down and my dad turned to my Sharky and said;

"What tee shirt is that you've got on?"

Sharky answered; 

"The Foo Fighters"

And my dad said....

"Ahh The Foo Fighters,good band that,I like their stuff especially Times Like These"

 

I could have died!!!!!!!

I did literally choke and yell out 

"WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!"

My brother was sat opposite me and I was yelping

" Can you believe it!Listen to dad!Foo Fighters!He likes the Foo Fighters!No way!!!!

And my dad was oh so calm

"Yes I like a lot of their stuff"

Really dad!?!Whatevers changed you from the 1812 to the Foo Fighters!

And he also likes the Mumfords and so does my T and it creases me up to hear them discussing the newest album.

He likes Adele too and listens to quite a bit of what I call 'up and trendy' radio shows.

It's just too much for me to take in,the older he gets,the trendier he gets!

If you had said this to me this 30 years ago I would never have believed it!

It seems you can teach a old dog new tricks ~ no comparison meant dad!

He Says....I Think.....

The scenario on this mornings walk to school was this...

He says

"Ooo I hope it snows again soon"

"Look at the shiny snow"

"I wish our snowman would last forever"

"This is fun" ( walking in the slush)

"I hope the snow doesn't melt"

"I can remember when we played on the snowy field Mummy"

All said in a bright,excitable little voice,with his eyes shining.

I think

"Agh snow why are you still here"
 "Slush...yuk..horrible slippy mucky stuff"

 "If I slip infront of everyone I will feel sooo stooopid"

 "As if mornings aren't hard enough and now we have to trip trap through this mess"

 "I'm gonna collapse" ( carrying two school bags,drink cup,spare shoes and trying to keep Chipmunk balanced on the ice sheet that is our road) 

"DONT tread in the yellow snow"

"Are we safer on the road,it's not as slippy but we could get run over by a car or shall we stick to the slippy pavements,we won't get run over but we could break a leg when we slip and fall over"

All thought in a frazzled,stress head kind of way!

And as I walked I knew why I thought what I did but I also knew why he said what he did.

Different perspectives... I wish I could have seen it through his eyes tho!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Playing Dead

And so we ended up on a beautiful but chilly snow covered field at the weekend.

The snow was deep and it seemed to stretch for miles.

I was fascinated by the trees

they looked so pretty with all the snow on their bare pointy branches,I think winter trees are so interesting to look at anyway and with the added effect of snow they become magical

Chipmunk learnt how to make a snowball and we had fun splatting the snowballs at a tree

And then the fun began!

We began to snowball fight and this turned into running around the field whooping and yelling

I can remember Chippie shouting "Game on Mummy" and me running as fast as I could in size ten wellies and I got breathless and started to laugh and when Chipmunk threw a snowball that hit me I just collapsed to the floor in a dramatic pose and yelled out "Dead!"

It was cold lying in the snow but strangely peaceful and so very,very soft.I actually liked it down there!It was so restful lying in the snow and I embraced the feeling and just lay there,there was no noise on the field,just a feeling of peace and quiet and a fair bit of coldness!

Then the sound of Mummeeee shattered the peace and Chippie was stood over me,wanting prove that I wasn't really dead!

My big wello's and a snowballed Chipmunk

We played this game for ages...snowballing each other and falling down dead.Luckily the snow was soft and there weren't many people around!

I was counting giggles and I heard plenty!

Every time Chipmunk got hit by a snowball he would giggle and then he giggled so much the giggles turned to hiccups.

That's the sound I want to remember, a giggly hiccup...fun must have been had when you get a case of the giggly hiccups!

Soft cold snow

''Get me Mummy!''

Splat!

And then we went home and got warm coz now we have got heating we can get warm!Ain't life grand!

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Snowy Saturday Smiles

My smiley little boy

Appreciation

Things I Will Appreciate About Heating! 

Hanging my washing on the radiators!This is a biggie for me as its how I dry my clothes in the winter,to say I'm missing warm radiators is the understatement of the year! 

Walking from room to room and feeling warmth.At the moment you walk into the kitchen and freeze and as for upstairs... it's not worth even thinking about it...seriously!

The shower! Ah the bliss of getting out the shower into a warm room,instead of stepping out into the equivalent of a ice box,oh it's so nasty,it really is!

Warm water!!!This should have come further up my list!The feeling of warm water when you turn the taps on..unbelievable! I'm so used to washing in cold water and boiling water up for the dishes I will be ooohing and ahhhing when I get hot water from a tap!

Reading a bedtime story in warmth!These days I lie on Chippies bed dithering and just wanting to get back downstairs to the gas fire!It is not a relaxing experience!

And I know that it won't be long once everything is sorted for me to take the heating and warmth for granted but at the moment what I wouldn't give to have the things above solved!

*******************
This was written before we got the heat back on,we are sorted now and feeling toastie,phew!

Six Word Saturday

'I Can Already Feel The Heat!'

Yay,just 10 minutes from having the boiler reinstated I can feel the heat!!

The house already feels different...not as sharp,more restful if that's the right word.

Before it was cold,freezingly icy cold,it was not a nice feeling,it made me want to curl up in a ball and never move from my spot on the sofa and it went on too long...eleven days too long!

But after just 10-15 minutes of warm radiators I can feel a difference,it's obviously warmer and that is fab but it's more than that,it's as if the whole atmosphere of the house has changed and for the better!

It does seem a more softer,peaceful atmosphere,we are more relaxed and things are flowing easier.

Before we were just coping I guess,moving only when absolutely necessary and the cold was getting to us badly especially after such a length of time and at such a cold snowy time of year.

So yay to the new boiler!Yay to warmth!And a big yay to the gas men who worked so hard trying to make us warm again...Iam so,so grateful!

Linking up to Six Word Saturday hosted by Cate at Show My Face

Splashy Smiles

Ages since I did Splashy Smiles but there are some ickle teeny tiny things that have made me smile big style this week so it's time to write them down.

In no particular order....

Chipmunks face as he played on Mathletics this morning,every time he got a sum right he smiled,such a proud little smile,as I sat watching him I smiled too and it gave him lots more time on the laptop... win win really...he gets maths practice and I catch smiles and I like to catch smiles.

I have SO smiled at Chippie and his Tudor project and the term 'Bloody Mary'... to say its caught his imagination would be a BIG understatement and although I don't really want him running round yelling Bloody Mary at the top of his voice,there is no getting away from the fact that it has made me smile lots and lots. Obviously I must be a very inappropriate parent...oops!

Watching Tiger go out today in just a tee shirt made me laugh.Ah the beauty of youth!They don't care about feeling cold,they care about looking good.

Maybe all the outdoor work he does is toughening him up,all I know is that he walked through the lounge without shivering in just his t-shirt while we were sat in vests,t-shirts,jumpers,hoodies and holding hot water bottles and warm beddy bears,our heating is broke and it is cold here,5days without heat kinda cold,and off he strolled into the freezing dark night,no coat,no body warmer,just bare arms,brrrr,it did make me smile tho,we breed em tough in this house! 

I have smiled at the kindness of my friend who has loaned us beddy bear,a blue bear that goes in the microwave until he feels toastie,it has really helped Chipmunk cope with the Siberian conditions here.He likes the warmth of Beddy Bear and the fact that it is his best mates makes it even more special.

Watching Tiger and his girlfriend go out last night made me smile,they looked so glam,off out on a Friday night after working hard all week,I love to see them go and enjoy themselves,it really makes me smile! 

Seeing my workmates has made me smile.I know I didn't want to go back to work after Chrimbo but it has been great to catch up with my work friends,even though we have been run off our feet busy we have laughed and laughed too and seeing all the nursery children has been lovely too,lots of new faces to get to know and children who we have had for a king time to say hello to,it really has made me smile,Iam really lucky to have such a good job and to be able to work with such fab children and I really do appreciate it.

So lots of things that have brought a smile to my face this week.

Splashy Smiles - Jan 15th 2013 

Sometimes We Don't Always Dance In The Snow!

Do you know what,after much soul searching I have begun to accept that sometimes we don't always dance,play or even frolic in the snow,we just don't.

Sometimes life gets in the way and no matter how much you think you should be playing happy families in the snow,you just can't bring yourselves to do it.

And my head tells me to cut myself some slack,coz I have got a lot of things going on at the moment and to be honest the snow is just a added burden to me.

Yes I know kids love the snow and yes it's pretty and how magic is it too see soft white flakes falling from the sky and transforming everything around into a magical snowy scene just like the ones you see on Christmas cards or in storybooks BUT then there is reality and the reality of it for me is that I have to get to work...on time and get Chipmunk to school all togged up

with his school bag packed,lunch box made,PE kit sorted,snack ready and then you add the snow and I have to find wellies and gloves and pack his school shoes in a separate bag and it's all extra work and if things are running right then I can maybe cope with a bit extra work but if things are running slightly off kilter then just a bit extra tips the balance and sends my life into overdrive and when that happens I just can't dance in the snow,I just can't and I feel bad...I see photos of snowmen being built and hear people saying how they are embracing the snow and I feel a right grump but I still can't bring myself to play in that snow.

Normally I would build a snowman with Chipmunk but having no heat has really started to get to me.

We are cold,desperately cold..we stand dithering in a morning almost unable to move,it's beyond a joke.

We all see the irony of us having a boiler breakdown at such a cold time of year,it's the stuff nightmares are made of and being like it for well over a week has wore us down.

I'm having headaches every day and I never have headaches and I'm more emotionally fragile,any extra little thing is just too much for me,so the snow just tops it off...badly.

The thought of getting even more cold and wet playing with snow is unbearable,especially as it would be really hard to get warm once we came in and where would I dry all the clothes!!!It doesn't bear thinking about!

So at the moment I'm going to try and accept that this is the way it is and huddle up and keep warm as much as possible.

I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities to build snowmen when we are not feeling like snowmen ourselves!

Heat

We have been without heat for a whole week now!

One whole bloomin week!

And yep we have seen temperatures drop during that week and snow fall!

Could it get any colder...probably but it's pretty freezing as it is!

No hot water,no radiators,washing piling up and nowhere to dry it.

Shoes wet through from the snow and no radiators to pop them on,so they stay wet...yuk.Coats,gloves all damp!

It's that cold here you can see your own breath!

I put Chipmunk to bed and it's like taking him to Siberia!He has a warm borrowed Beddy Bear and a hot water bottle so his bed is warmish but the atmosphere in his bedroom is horrible....icy cold,not nice at all and reading him a bedtime story is a nightmare!

We have a small fire for the lounge so that takes the chill of in there but every other room is deathly cold.

We are wearing layer after layer after layer and yet still we are cold.

Doing the dishes is fun and games,I have to boil several big saucepans of water up before I even start to wash them,ho hum... sighs loudly.

Iam on countdown until Friday when,fingers crossed,we may be sorted out with a new boiler and heat will enter our home again,I can't wait!!!!

Sticker On The Nose Kid

Not the best of days today....Monday and it was snowy and I couldn't find the wellies and things did get on top of me.

I walked to pick Chippie up from school and met my friends on route,I had a good old moan about how I was feeling and I did feel a pretty rubbish mummy,yep I had a Dobby moment of immense proportions and then the little boy with the sticker on his nose came out of his classroom.... a happy,cheery little boy with a smile as big as the ocean and a contagious bubble of happiness.

He ran up to me,showed me the sticker and then ran out into the snow and proceeded to run around the playground whooping happily.

He didn't look traumed,he didn't even look the slightest bit unhappy with his lot,instead he was happy.

Happy to be in the snow,happy to be finishing school,happy to be with his peers,happy to be going on the x box,happy that he had a sticker on his nose!

And as for me....I was just happy that he was happy...what a relief!

The sticker turned out to be because he had done great maths work and he had been sent to the headteacher to show her,he also got a Golden Ticket!He's never had a Golden Ticket before so we were thrilled and on Friday those Golden Tickets are counted up and the class with the most Golden Tickets wins a trophy for a week so Chips feels really proud that he has won his class a Golden Ticket,great stuff Chippie!

Silent Sunday

Six Word Saturday

"Need To Be Organised...Any Tips...."

So it's January...the beginning of the year and I so need to be better organized this year.

Last year was a blur and life seemed to rush by with me chasing after it and never quite catching up to the extent I needed.

Everything was last minute and I got through barely,hanging on by the skin of my teeth.

It was a horrible feeling,I spent most of the year on permanent catch up or that's how it felt.

Birthdays,work deadlines,school projects,Easter and especially Christmas just seemed to swallow me up and eat me alive and I didn't like that feeling at all.

The house reflected all this too,every drawer and cupboard was,erm is stuffed full of 'stuff' all waiting to be organized.Its like a giant jango game,you touch one thing and 50 million things will come falling out.

And while all this was happening what was I doing...working hard with the kids,working incredibly hard at work where the workload I bring home probably more than tripled,getting dins ready,doing laundry which in this house,as in many I guess,is a near on full time job in itself!Not sitting still much and when I did sit down I would just fall to sleep through exhaustion.

This year I need it to be different,I really do,I don't want to feel like I'm chasing myself so hard,it's not a nice feeling.

SO and it's a heartfelt big SO how do you guys sort life out?I know we all have busy life's but some of us seem to be organized and coping.Whats the best way forward?Any helpful tips will be gratefully received

Love Jess

Linking up with Cate from Show My Face 

for Six Word Saturday

Splash

Its been nearly two years since Chippie started swimming!

I can still remember that Feb half term when I first took him for his first swimming lesson.

I was petrified,I mean really petrified!

I worried about Chipmunk slipping on the swim bath tiles,I worried that he wouldn't get into the pool without badly struggling,I was just panic stricken to be honest.

That first lesson, I can remember standing at the corner of the pool watching the clock and wishing,no willing away the minutes,I don't think I hardly dare breathe throughout the whole 30 minute lesson! 

Survive though he did and slowly but surely he has learnt to swim.He can now swim without armbands and just before Christmas he got his 10metres badge.

Both of his swim teachers have been fab,Jenny and Diane,I can't praise either of them enough,they taught my boy to swim so of course I love them both.

Today Chips had moved up a class,he was a bit anxious, as in this class sometimes you go in the big pool and this was on his mind.

He did well though!The class was busy,lots of children,lots of noise,starting with one teacher and finishing with another,lots of quick instructions,lots of concentration needed.

To say Chipmunk had not swum for a month he took to it well and powered his way across the pool,listening carefully to what the teacher said.

So we are back! Let's see what 2013 brings swim wise,I'm sure whatever it brings will make me proud of my young un,as with everything he does,no matter how long it takes,Iam always so very,very proud.

Fire Fire

Last night Chipmunk and I saw a car on fire.

it was pouring with rain and we were nearly home after a long traipse up to the hospital and then the supermarket,I was carrying tons of heavy bags and I had just about given up with trying to keep my hood up,so the rain was lashing down on me and it was dark and I just wanted to be home and dry and to be able to put the blooming shopping bags down and all of a sudden a man stepped infront of us and said that a car was on fire and we couldn't go by it.

Well I wasn't happy with that!I needed to be at home,right then if not a moment sooner,so I carried on walking and the man said;

"That car could explode at any moment,you cannot walk past there"

And still I quavered....I needed to get home,surely I could sneak by,my house was not far away,I needed to put these bags down,I SO needed to just be home.

Then I looked at Chippie,was I really going to take him by a burning car....a car that could explode at any minute...nope...course not.

So I crossed the road to assess the situation and when I saw the car I understood...it was in flames and I saw that we needed to get away and sooner rather than later,I grrrred at the shopping bags and began the long walk round the back way home,across the dark field and through the dark alley way,great stuff,just what I needed after the afternoon we had been through,best of two evils tho...the burning car that was about to explode or the spooky alley way where anybody could be lurking,nice choice,not!!!!

As we walked away we heard sirens and a police car came screeching round the corner,the traffic was backed up terribly and it was obvious that some people were going to be very late home that night.

We did the long spooky walk home and once the bags were dumped down we just flopped down with quite a tale to tell all and sundry!

Dressing Gown Days

Chipmunk summed my thoughts up perfectly at bedtime today...

"No more dressing gown days" he said.

No more dressing gown days it almost hurts to say the very words and it especially hurts to think them!

You see we have thrived on dressing gown days here over the Christmas hols.

Lazy daisy days where we have cuddled up in our beloved dressing gowns,probably for too long and for too many days but it has restored us.

We have all had time to do what we wanted to do and I think,no I know that has been for our good and we have benefited from winding down as before Christmas was horrendously busy and stressy.

So no I don't want to be dragged screaming into reality again but the holidays are over and so it must be.

How many weeks till half term....

Spinning

climbing

in

ready

steady

spin

Linking up at Country Kids

Six Word Saturday

Love,Love,Love My New Boots

I love them because....

They are warm

They are soft

They are so comfy

They fit like a glove

Oh and .....

My son bought them for me...no reason... just polled up with them ... for me.

Now do you see why I love these boots and why I don't want to take them off and why I will probably wear them until they drop to pieces.. simples

Linking with up with Cate and her fab linky Six Word Saturday

Funny Old Day

It has been a funny old day,we have been for a fab walk,just me and Chippie,yet again on our own,good job we like each others company!

The walk was good and we laughed a lot.

I wished I had a dictaphone so I could have recorded some of the things Chipmunk said,some things were so sweet I melted and some things were so comical I laughed and I knew that I wouldn't remember them all and I stood in the woods and thought if only I could record this stuff but as usual the moments tick on and the words disappear into the air and slip through your fingers like wispy clouds.

I do know that you never stopped talking Chipmunk,from the moment you stepped out the door to the moment you rushed from the garage back in the house in just your socks because your trainers were to muddy to even come close to the house!

We were out for nearly two hours,so thats a lot of talking and that makes me feel good.I want to listen to you more this year,not that I didn't last year but I want to do even more listening this year and more answering,I want to communicate with you better,with less hindrance from any techy stuff!And how that works out I shall have to see coz at the moment I know this phone is in my hand more than I Iike it to be.

Yep,me,the very same one who is so set against people ignoring real life in favour of online stuff.Ironic isn't it!Laughable!I know...I laugh at myself about it...kinda laugh...coz deep down I know its bit me on the bum but that's not to say I can't turn around and bite it right back,right?

I do set myself limits and never or almost never use my phone when I'm out with people but I still see the look Chipmunk gives me when this phone is in my hand and I don't like the look,I feel it's meaning,no words are needed,the look goes straight to my heart.

Anyway I digress :-) 

The day ended with us spending a lazy daisy afternoon just snoozing,eating Christmas chocolates,the X box been blasted out,Chipmunk and Sharky arguing over the X Box,me downloading photos and arguing with the laptop and the phone and the camera and the camera wire coz it just wasn't working for me and Sharky giving me his look of mother fail on the laptop....again Grrr!A simple job made complex by me,yes Sharky is absolutely right,I DO always muck it up BUT practise makes perfect watch this space!

We played a stop/start game of Scalextric which was fun but would be so much better if those cars didn't fall off the track so easily,it drives us all bonkers!Young Squeaker the hammie was rolling around in her ball at the side of the Scalextric track,she had a few close calls and she must have thought she was at the side of the M1!

After Chippie went to bed we watched Waterloo Road,we never got into the last series but we have made a pact to try to watch this new series as we used to love it and then we finished off by watching Corrie,love,love,love Corrie...full stop.

So a sloppy sort of day,a walking,talking,loungy in and eat rubbish kinda day,pretty cool I guess.

Seen and Felt

This year I have seen and felt lots of different things

I have watched as people that I love have seemed lost and struggled to find their way in a world that is not always easy to navigate.
This has been hard to watch,to see someone you love dearly, lose their way is not nice in anyway,shape or form.
And to know deep down that this is their journey and only they can do this..whats the old saying..you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink...oh so true.
Luckily I think the said person is getting back on track and while the lost phase made me sad beyond belief the new phase makes me smile,grin and just love what I'm seeing...phew!!!

I have seen the power of a inspirational teacher.The true difference that a inspirational teacher makes to everything they touch... the children who they teach and the parents of the children.

How different it is to a child to be truly liked and to know that they are liked,the difference is immense,I have seen this.

How different for parents to be told,possibly for the first time 'your child is great,I love these children and won't hear anybody say any different' it makes a huuuuge difference believe me.

I have felt the kindness of people that I have never even met and yet I can call them friends.

My Internet buds who have indeed through thought and deed shown me true care,through emails,chats and a real tangible act that floored me by its kindness.

I know people may find all this Internet marlarkey a bit hard to fathom and in the past so would I but I have felt people's care this year and I have indeed come to realise that it can be real.

I have seen the Internet community come together on a number of occasions this year, for Multiple Mummy and for Clara at Boo and Me. Unbelievable as it may be, these friends you have in your phone are pretty real and a fab lot they are too,choose your online community carefully and if you do you will discover pure gold dust.

I have watched people grow up and take such a mature outlook to the path they have chosen,showing dedication beyond what I have ever seen before.This wows me!It makes me smile and I marvel at how forward thinking they are and I hope that a bit of their organisational skills will rub off on me,coz I bloomin need it too!

And it so hits me between the eye that I wouldn't have predicted this one and that in turn leads me to know that no matter what you think you know may not necessarily come true ~ a learning curve for me that I have digested and taken on board.

I have felt the emotions of one who feels things strongly.... happy... woohoo let's say we love you and smile and run round excitedly with the biggest smile in the world,let's go on walks and throw sticks and be so choochily adorable,best friends forever, pinky promise friends 

or

unhappy let's stop right there,it's not great,it doesn't need documenting but it has taught me such valuable lessons,like it or not....

How to stay calm under severe provocation,I now honestly think the world could crash down on me ,thunder and lightening very very frightening kinda stuff and I would react in a calm way... ok Mr Lightening I can see you are cross I appreciate your pain,can you please go and throw your lightening bolts somewhere where no one can get hurt,there's a good chap and Mr Thunder I know you are angry and if you want to make loud noises go ahead,yep get it out your system,loud as you can,it doesn't worry me and we both know you will feel a lot better when you have calmed down

It's also taught me about basic human emotions,the cycle of anger,how people loose it or as the old saying goes the red mist descends.

And it's given me more fire myself and I have to grin at that because I'm basically not a fiery person and it does take a lot to rattle my cage but after working through some tricky situations I feel a spark of that fire has landed on me and I'm actually glad that it has!

I have seen someone who has worked all his life take on the role of retirement.

He is busier now than he has ever been in his life!

Chief taxi driver for all!He gave up bus driving to become a taxi driver and that is no exaggeration!

But he seems happy,tired but happy.

No matter how busy he is,it's not the same as having to answer to a boss or live by a strict timetable where you have to be where someone else says you should be or else.He doesn't have to have the general public to deal with and have to remain polite and civil under,sometimes extreme provocation and he doesn't have to do early mornings and late nights in every kind of weather that God sends.This is all good and our family loves having him around!

I have watched as work relationships change,friends for many years who are suddenly transferred to a different work area and although physically we are literally under a minute away from each other everything has changed.

That daily contact has gone,simple as that,just like we knew it would.

No more cuppa's,no more outside duties together,no more singing on the carpet and doing frantic action songs that would leave me breathless and her looking like a M&S model with not a hair out of place,no more intense discussions of our work records when we used to thrash our ideas out together and always come away feeling better and more settled,no more hearing the little things about each others families,the little stuff that may only come out to a close friend if they are there at a certain moment in time ~ no more of that and this has made me sad.We had such a history together,babies born... my children,her grandchildren...her sons growing up...my sons growing up,she was ultra amazingly tidy whereas I'm ultra amazingly messy and we both knew and accepted that,we kinda complemented each other like good friends do.But things changed when she left,we still are good friends but life is busy and we don't get time to speak as much,in my heart tho I still feel the same.

Such a lot of things I have seen and felt throughout last year,things that were good and things that were bad and now a new year starts,I'm hoping for a good dose of the good stuff and I hope that we all get that,wouldn't it be nice,not lottery wins for all,although if possible I'd go for that too,but realistically if we could all feel at ease with our lot and have enough of everything that makes life bearable,it would be oh so nice.