The Big Feastival and a lovely weekend

I have had a lovely busy weekend, filled with enjoyable things rather than the usual catch up on laundry, cleaning and kids stuff and I realised that the world does not actually fall apart if I'm not here doing everything!

My weekend started on Friday Afternoon with The Big Feastival!

The Big Feastival is hosted and organised my the wonderful Mr Jamie Oliver and according to its website The Big Feastival is the first of its kind: a summer festival combining top-class food with the world’s best live music and the best and most amazing thing is 'all' yes I did say all the profits go to charity!

The charities supported by this event are The Prince’s Trust is a charity for 14 to 30-year-olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law. Through practical and financial support, The Trust helps young people develop the skills they need for successful employment, education and training.
The Prince’s Trust ‘Get into’ programme is a series of short vocational courses in sectors such as cooking and hospitality. Last year, 1,837 disadvantaged young people took part in a ‘Get into’ programme and 74% of those who completed the course achieved positive outcomes including employment, further education or training and voluntary work.
The Prince’s Trust other key activity is ‘Get Started’, a programme of arts and music designed to engage young people who are significantly alienated from education, training and employment and lack the confidence, motivation or skills to move forward. ‘Get Started with Music’ gives young people unique opportunities such as working with professional musicians and developing their skills in vocals, instruments or music technology. Last year, 76% of the 1,238 people who took part in a ‘Get Started’ programme achieved positive outcomes.
www.princes-trust.org.uk
The Jamie Oliver Foundation who's mission is to empower, educate and engage as many people as possible to love and enjoy good food. This means learning how to cook, understanding where food comes from, and recognizing the power it can have on our health, happiness, and even finances. We do this through teaching, training and employment, and also by making good clear information available to as many people as possible. The Jamie Oliver Foundation is a registered charity .
The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees who have been recruited on the basis of their shared passion – that food can make an empowering and lasting difference to the lives of every person. To date, the Foundation has worked with a range of ages, from kids as young as four to the elderly.
Jamie is the driving force behind the Jamie Oliver Foundation. Under the UK Foundation, there are three charity activities:

• Fifteen’s Apprentice Programme
• Jamie’s School Projects
• Jamie’s Ministry of Food

Fifteen’s Apprentice Programme

In 2002 Jamie founded ‘Fifteen’, a restaurant group that uses the magic of food to give unemployed young people a chance for a better future. The group is made up of three restaurants: the flagship Fifteen London (established in 2002), Fifteen Amsterdam (in 2004) and Fifteen Cornwall (in 2006).
At the heart of the business is a desire to encourage young people to believe in themselves, to show each one of them their past can be left behind and persuade them that they can create their own future. Every year, each restaurant takes on unemployed and under-qualified young people in the local area and trains them to become qualified chefs through a unique Apprentice Programme.
To date, more than 220 apprentices have graduated, many of whom have carved out successful careers in the restaurant industry all over the world. In fact, a 2002 graduate, Tim Siadatan, was named as one of the ‘Top 10 Young Chefs in Europe’ by The Wall Street Journal, following the opening of his restaurant, Trullo.

Jamie’s School Projects

In 2005, Jamie’s Channel 4 television series ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’ highlighted the poor quality of meals provided by the majority of UK schools. Jamie’s ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign, which ran alongside the series, led to major investment by the government as well as policy changes to improve school food. 


After Jamie took a petition with more than 271,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street, asking for major changes to what children were fed in school, £280 million of investment was promised and the School Food Trust was set up to help improve the quality of school food.
Jamie continues his campaigning role in relation to the school food agenda: watch this space as work continues behind the scenes on the School Kitchen Garden project.

Jamie’s Ministry of Food

In 2008, Jamie launched his Ministry of Food campaign with the aim of getting people cooking again. He wanted to encourage people to share their cooking skills and teach their friends what they had learnt. The campaign was inspired by a nutritional programme during the Second World War in which cookery teachers offered the population help and advice, to make sure people knew how to feed themselves properly.
When Jamie set out to make the Ministry of Food TV series, he wanted to prove that anyone could learn to cook – and that it was fun, cool, could save them money and help their family and friends to live healthier lives.
To date, there are three Ministry of Food centres in the UK, and one mobile outreach programme. A further two centres are due to open in late 2011. In late 2010, a Ministry of Food subsidiary was launched in Ipswich, Australia, in partnership with ‘The Good Guys’. The centres are places where local people can learn the basics of cooking and get friendly advice on recipes, ingredients, menu-planning and nutrition, and how to make good, simple meals on a tight budget.

From the minute we got there to the minute we left we had nothing but an enjoyable time, this was the first Festival or Feastival that I've been to that I truly felt was as family friendly as it said it was and with children under 12 able to attend for free and 12 to 17 year olds only charged £25 a ticket and that included 3 dishes of food! for the adults there was the choice of standard entry with all dishes at £5 each or VIP which included 5 dishes an exclusive VIP area plus unlimited wine, beer, soft drinks and BBQ all day!

The atmosphere was lovely , the Common was kept clean even the toilets were kept stocked with toilet tissue and cleaned something rare for most festivals!

As well as the pop-up restaurants and food stalls there were cooking demonstrations , wine tasting, Romany Caravan complete with tarot and palm reading, The little dudes den for children which had it all art, crafts, entertainment, face painting even a quiet reading area!

 
And there was my daughters favourite The Fairground! Beautifully traditional rides safe for children of all ages and all FREE! My little ones favourite was the Ferris Wheel she's very adventurous for a 2 year old!

The ranges of food, the smells, the tastes all amazing we tried Malaysian food with delicious chicken satay and roti, beautiful fresh seafood, gourmet burgers, amazing gellato and of course BBQ ! 

Then on to the entertainment! before the headline act 'Soul II Soul' Jamie Oliver came on stage to thank everyone for coming, explain a bit more about the charities and where the proceeds would go and then introduce the Brilliant Soul II Soul! I did try to upload a video but technology hates me! though I will try again later!

We danced, we enjoyed the music and the atmosphere , we enjoyed more food and all in all had the most fabulous day and hopefully this wasn't just a one off and it will be on again next year as I can really see this going from strength to strength there was definitely room for growth and I can see this becoming one of the big Festivals or should I say Feastivals!

 *all information about the charities supported was taken from The Big Feastival Website

Some tlc for my Hayfever Courtesy of Kleenex

I do not suffer from Hayfever! I stamp my foot in sheer defiance that I will not accept the fact that I have Hayfever, how can I possibly have developed Hayfever at 39! it's just not fair!

That's what I tweeted earlier this week, or words to that affect and the lovely people at Kleenex or @KleenexHayfever if you're on Twitter, heard my cry of disbelief and upset at the very thought of Hayfever and sent me a link to a Hayfever checklist and guess what I checked every box! Itchy eyes, sneezing, blocked nose, itchy ears and headache I have 'em all!

So I responded to @KleenexHayfever to thank them for the checklist and tell them yes indeed, I do have Hayfever and they offered to send me a Hayfever Survival pack! How lovely!

It arrived today, a beautifully packaged present of helpful loveliness! My gorgeous gift box came with a gel eye mask, ideal for cooling tired itchy eyes, lip and nose balm (does exactly what it says on the tin!)a lovely supply of Kleenex tissues, some teabags, a very affective little battery operated fan, a little Frisbee and a lavender oil pulse point to aid relaxation and reduce stress, this is particularly nice and I used it straight away!

So now with all this to hand although finding developing Hayfever at this time in my life extremely annoying and horrible it might make it all a little bit more bearable so thank you Kleenex!

GLEE!

On Saturday night my eldest daughter and I went to see Glee live at the O2, now I love Glee but I wasn't sure how well it would translate to live concert.

For those that haven't been to the O2, it is an amazing venue, absolutely massive and filled with experiences, bars and restaurants, ok everything apart from the chains that are in there are a bit overpriced but for a venue like that unfortunately you come to expect that from such places but why seriously I know you have a captive audience so to speak( see now I have images of being held prisoner in the O2 being held against my will until I buy all their overpriced merchandise, " you will buy that silly key-ring at a silly price and then throw it in a drawer never to look at again! or you will never leave here! I have explained how my brain works haven't I?)but surely if you charged reasonable prices people would buy more, they'd feel better about what they'd been able to buy and you'd probably make a bigger profit! Or am I just being silly? Oh and don't get me started on the tickets prices!!! Ggrrrr! That's the sound of anger and annoyance by the way not me pretending to be a tiger , that's more of a raaarrrr! Just for clarification, anyway back to Glee!

So like I said I love Glee, I love the cast, I love the songs and I love the story lines but how would the show compare? Well let me tell you it was bloody brilliant! They have amazing voices, amazing stage presence especially Chris Colfer, he is now firmly on my crushes you shouldn't have list! And Mark Salling aka Puck if you ever feel like you'd like an older English lady, I'm right here baby!

They performed well known song after song staying true to the tv series while showcasing their talents, I came home with a bigger love for Glee, a crush on most of the cast and an I'm with Stoopid T-shirt! see even I can't resist merchandise if it was over priced!

All in all my daughter and I had a fabulous time and it was too much money well spent!

We're having a heatwave!

Well not so much of a heatwave as one hot day! The hottest day of the year so far to be precise! And what do we Brits do, we complain! "ooh it's too hot" it's one day! There are places all over the world that consistently have high temperatures And I mean really high in Libya they have reached 56 before now , Australia have temps recorded in the 40's, As has Texas yet we here reach 32 and everyone goes on like it's the end of the world all this after complaining just last week that it was too wet, windy and cold!

Me personally I love it , I embrace it, I know it won't last long so I fill the paddling pool for the little one (and me!), I stock up on ice lollies and lovely chilled wine and I enjoy!

I strip off to a bikini( not a pretty sight, I know it's wrong to scare small children and animals ) slather on the sun block and sit in my garden and enjoy!

So tomorrow when it's raining and you're complaining about that, think about how much fun you could have had if you'd stopped complaining and just enjoyed yourself!

Silent Sunday

What a weak week

I have seriously neglected my blog this week something that I had said I wouldn't do anymore, I could blame writers block, lack of inspiration but if I'm honest it's more about allowing my chaotic life to get the better of me and by time there is a bit of peace in the evening I've just been collapsing in a heap on the sofa and watching a little bit of TV something I very rarely get to do!

So I thought today I'd have a little catch up but guess what there is nothing to catch up, my week has really been about kids, house, stress, chaos, doctors, schools, pets and gardening so just an average week really and I am still at loss of what to actually blog about!

God, what if I can never think of anything interesting to write again? What if I can't find inspiration? It just doesn't bare thinking about!

But I am writing this so at least I'm keeping my hand in so to speak even if it is really boring!

So on that note I won't bore you anymore, I will go and try and find a muse or some inspiration or drown my sorrows with a bottle glass of wine!

My inspiration has run dry

Name that song!

Seriously though my brain today has turned to mush! I can't actually think of anything worthy to write about today so rather than bore you with endless drivel( is that even a word?) I'm going to put it out there to the world or at least the few that read my blog to inspire me , give me something to think about, rant on about or even research and I will do my best to please!

Oi, keep your mind out of the gutter(unless it's funny) and I'll give anything ago!

Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician

Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.  ~Mark Twain

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.  ~Chili Davis

Youth is a wonderful thing.  What a crime to waste it on children.  ~George Bernard Shaw


Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.  ~Caryn Leschen

There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.  ~Author Unknown


 I have had a rough few days when it comes to sleep, my 2 year old seems to have decided that sleep is indeed for the weak and her sleep pattern is all over the place the end result being a totally knackered me!


And when I get tired not only does it show in my movements and sluggish reaction times it shows in my face! Seriously I looked in the mirror this morning and thought 'why has my mum dyed her hair bright red, she's far too old for that' then after splashing my face with water and waking up a little more that was replaced with 'Shit, that's me!' Shortly followed by 'Oh My God, how can I possibly show my face in public looking like that? Bring on the blue rinse I'll pretend to be my mum until I've had the plastic surgery!'


"Quick someone get mummy the number for a good Botox place" is what I actually shouted but as is usual in my house anything I say falls on deaf ears!

So I stood there staring at this alien face in the mirror, looking at my dull skin and tired eyes and I wondered where have I gone? inside I feel the same, that's a good thing right? but on the outside some bugger has replaced my face and body with a saggy , melting down from the top, mess! seriously if gravity carries on like this there will be a pile of folded skin collecting round my ankles as I waddle down the street ( walking inhibited my saggy skin you see!)

And if all that wasn't bad enough I'm 40 this year! no longer in my 30's , 40!  deep breath Emma, in, out, in, out!

Ok, panic attack over , Isn't life supposed to begin at forty that's what they say isn't it? Someone please tell me it does and where I get started?


I know right now I'm over reacting a bit, ok, alot! but aging is hard I'm not really about to go for botox or plastic surgery, although if anyone's offering to pay I wouldn't say No, all in the name of a review of course!


On a good day when I've had sleep and I'm wearing make up I still look reasonably good , some would say Hot! ok by some I mean me but there's nothing wrong with a little self praise is there! but on a bad day like today I wouldn't even want to hazard a guess at how old I look and if you see me on one of these days neither should you!


But seriously they say you're as old as you feel, so why can't you look as old as you feel! wouldn't that be cool (accept for days like today) if all chameleon like, your face and body took on how you were feeling, you'd sure as hell make sure that you embraced life and had a positive outlook, wouldn't you?

But in reality we have to accept what we've got or artificially enhance or change it so how are you going to deal with aging? go under the surgeons knife or grow old disgracefully like me?

Silent Sunday

Wear that frown upside down

Today's post isn't my usual sort of post its something more serious, more personal, I want to talk about mental health with the focus of that being on depression, 1 in 4 people in the UK alone will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, mixed anxiety and depression being the most common and lucky us, women are more likely to suffer but also more likely to seek treatment than men, perhaps this is no surprise then that British men are 3 times more likely to die by suicide than women.

I talk about this today because I have suffered from depression at times in my life and today I'm having a bad day. I'm guessing that most of you at some point have said "I'm feeling a bit depressed" without actually knowing what real depression feels like, that being said we do all have sad days and no one should judge or tell you that you should just get on with it because everyone feels differently and no-one can actually truly feel how you are feeling know matter how empathetic they may be.

My depression started after the death of my daughter , it's what they used to call Reactive depression, Its now been given different classifications and the diagnosis and treatment for depression has changed but I know why mine started it was as reaction to grieve and loss so I'm happy to talk about it as reactive. My depression also shows itself in the form of anxiety I worry about everything but when I'm feeling low these small worries become big and all I think about is worse case scenarios , I've jokingly talked about these before about how my mind works but the reality is I joke as a defence mechanism at times, I smile and laugh as a way of protecting myself mainly from sympathy because for people feeling sorry for me is the worst!

I'm known as the one who is always smiling, always happy, the strong one etc, etc and for the most part I am happy I love my children, I have good friends but even with all this there are just times when I want to run away for a while and be alone but I never act on that , I breathe deeply, meditate on how and why I'm feeling this way and sometimes have a damn good cry, it all helps.

5 years ago I decided to train to become a counsellor, I wanted to facilitate other peoples therapeutic journeys to be able to accompany them on their road to understanding and dealing with what was going on for them in hope of better mental health and on my journey to becoming a counsellor I actually learnt so much about myself , about how I deal with situations and people, I'm not saying that becoming a counsellor is the way for everyone to deal with their depression far from it you need to be in a positive place, not undergoing any stress or difficulty when you begin your training otherwise you would never cope with it as it very in depth in terms of looking at yourself and your experiences but the process helped me understand myself and enabled me to stop and think about what's going on for me and explore why I feel a certain way, so on days like today when I'm feeling low and a little bit lost I can stop breathe and objectively ask myself, "ok what's going on here?" instead of blaming everything else (I used to do that) and try and deal with it and find a way forward.

Really I wrote this post not just as a form of self therapy , though it does help to express how you feel! but to try and break down the taboo that depression still is, as a society in general we in the UK are embarrassed about depression we view it as a sign of weakness, we wonder what people will think of us so we try to pretend its not happening.

So what I'm saying to you is don't feel embarrased or ashamed , talk to someone it doesn't have to be your G.P it can be a good friend you trust, someone at your church anyone you trust to listen. Schools and colleges all have counsellors and more and more work places are realising the importance of mental health and have a counsellor you can contact and anything you say to a counsellor is confidential but if you are feeling really low and its affecting your everyday life I would suggest you see you doctor or find a good therapist one that you feel comfortable withand worse case scenario you are feeling suicidal then ring Samaritans or go in to your local A&E.

Please don't suffer in silence , It really is good to talk.




Samaritans In the UK dial 08457 90 90 90
or email : jo@samaritans.org

you can even write freepost to

Freepost RSRB-KKBY-CYJK
Chris
P.O. Box 90 90
Stirling
FK8 2SA

Sometimes we find it easier to express how we feel in writing and everything you say is in confidence.


And if you'd like to find a counsellor or phsychotherapist a good place to start is

http://www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk/

Here you can learn more about counselling and therapy and find a list of  BACP accredited therapists

Its actually working!

Last night my was my weekly weigh in at WeightWatchers, its the end of week 4 and last week as you know I had gained a pound and was a little upset (ok extraordinarily upset) and this week I had been very busy and hadn't really been keeping track of what I had eaten so I was more than a little hesitant in going to the meeting, My mind works like this, I've paid this money to go and have someone tell me what to eat because I haven't got enough will-power/commitment to do it by myself and if I've gained weight again then I'm just wasting my money so I'll just go next week and try extra hard this week, In my mind that all made perfect sense! but then I thought, ok, you're an idiot you're paying this money because you're too weak willed to do it by yourself so don't to it by yourself, go and face the consequences of your actions or lack of them! so I did! and I'm glad I did because wait for it ..............................................................I lost 3.5lbs this week! yay me! that's 8lb in total since I started, ok I might not reach my ideal weight by my big 4 0 like I had hoped but a lot can happen between now and August.

I think even though I hadn't tracked my points the whole process has made me a little more aware of what I'm eating so onwards and upwards or in my case hopefully downwards and lets see what I can achieve this week, I can honestly say that this little accomplishment has made me feel much more positive and motivated and with that in mind I'm off to do Zumba!!


Wish me luck xx

Really, I just said that!

Firstly I would like to start today's session by apologising about the lack of blogging over the last few days, I made a promise nay a pledge to blog every day even if it was just one word and as is my life I have failed you! I will take my punishment like a man! That is if my punishment is being put in the corner or isolated alone in a room, frankly I good do with the break! But if it's say 50 push-ups you'll find me snivelling in the corner, I have no upper body strength!

So I've been away for a few days because my daughter has been suffering from a headache/migraine for 5 weeks and we have been to and from hospitals, doctors and this week has been appointment after appointment which is horrible and we're no closer to finding an answer but the doc's are pretty sure it's nothing sinister so until the CT Scan results are back we're being as positive as possible while trying out 3 million pain meds and preventative mads, she now rattles when she walks! But all this leads me to this..... The lines we utter as parents that out of context sound absolutely bizarre! Or maybe it's just me that has to utter those lines, oh god is it just me? Someone tell me, please?


This is the line that initiated my little thought process

"No, I don't think decapitation is the answer!"

Could be talking about the death penalty in some far off country, next assassination attempt by trained assassin perhaps? No this was my response to my daughter saying "I'm so fed up with this headache, can't we just chop my head off"


"Please stop poking your sister with that horse"

First thought perhaps, how does one poke someone with a horse perhaps visions of someone astride a horse making said horse head butt someone? No just my twisted mind!
This was me having to tell my 17 year old to stop poking my 2 year old with a hobby horse, trying to make her laugh but instead of just making her laugh it was making her screech at decibels only audible to dogs!


"that's a bloody cat not a parrot"

Ok, that's stating the obvious but one of my daughters insists on walking around with the cat sat on her shoulder!


"stop throwing zombie sticks at your sister! Wait, what the? Zumba they're zumba sticks!"

That was in response to "Mum!!!, tell her to stop throwing zombie sticks at me!"

See how I have to live! There are loads more and as I think of them I will add them. Please add some of your own and let me know that I'm not the only Mum that has to utter these strange sentences, I'd like to think that my family is like everyone elses! I know right who am I kidding!

Why oh why can't our children just be children!

I wasn't going to comment about this as I thought so many bloggers would have done so and probably done a far better job that I at expressing the rage caused by pole dancing classes for children not just children, small children from the age of 3! but the more I think about it the more angry, annoyed and outraged I get so I need to vent that!

Here in the UK at a dance studio in Northampton, Pole dancing for children as young as 3 are being offered, the instructor defends her decision to teach this class by saying that it keeps them fit and gives them confidence um so does a drama class or gymnastics for that matter! This comes on the back of a week where we heard about a beauty parlour again here in England for under 13's offering fakes tans and makeovers to children as young as 1!

What the F*~k is the world coming to? Seriously this is how much this angers me! Let's start with the Pole dancing, what child would ask to do pole dancing? Seriously I'm asking you? Because this really worries me, children talk about and ask to do things they are exposed to, things that they see and want to emulate. My 2 year old has started asking to do ballet( hard enough to find a local class for her to do that ) we're pretty sure that this is because Peppa Pig went to ballet class, it's what they see! She's talks about going to the gym because I go to the gym! She wants to be a cadet because her dad is a cadet instructor, it's all about what they're exposed to! So what the hell are these kids being exposed to?

Now on to the beauty parlour, most little girls want to try on mummies make-up I'm sure most of you who have daughters have had the scenario where you're getting ready to go out and they're sat with you and ask for lipstick too so you let them have a little dab, you pretend to put eyeshadow on them you let them join in with you, see again back to what they see! You don't take them for a full makeover! They are children!!!! Children are supposed to play,they're supposed to get dirty in the garden making mud pies, digging for worms, not get a facial and a fake tan!

God this makes me angry, but who am I angry at the companies that provide these services? They see a niche in the Market and aim to fill it, the media for giving us sexualised images everywhere we turn, you only have to look at most music videos to see some semi-naked young girls writhing about in such a sexual manner that it would make your mother blush! No it's the parents, I'm afraid on this one it really is, it's the parents that pay for these classes, the parents that pay for theses services and it should be the parents that make the decisions about what their children are going to do or take part in but it seems that there are far too many parents that either have forgotten that they are the parent or are giving in to child and peer pressure we've all had the line "but so and so's mum let's them do it!", my response has always been well good for them but I'm your mum and I don't think it's appropriate! See it's called responsibility!


Then I wonder if these are the same parents that are buying their children bra and knicker sets at 4, future footballers wife t-shirts and of course let's not forget too many boys, too little time! All these clothes actually exist! But again they wouldn't exist unless there was a Market for them and again who has the money, the parents!

God this has me outraged and I'm not usually one to blame the parents, I look at contributing factors but on this there really is no one else to blame, We as parents have choice, we can choose what our young children watch, I still vet programmes for my 14 year old in case I find them inappropriate!,we have choice in what they wear and even if they beg and argue about an item of clothing when they get to a certain age, we are the ones paying for it so have a right to reach a compromise or simply say "no I don't think that's appropriate for someone your age" you can tell I've had to say this line more than once it also goes with the line "your dad would have a heart attack if he saw you in that! You don't want to kill your dad, do you?" see, parent of teenage daughters! But it's my choice, that's the point I'm trying to make there is far too much awful stuff going in this world, far too much that our young children don't need to be exposed to, children should be allowed to be children for as long as possible shouldn't they? And it's our duty as parents to let them be just that, surely?


I'm really interested in your thoughts on this so please tell me what you think and I feel so much better for venting my frustration! so Thank you.

Silent Sunday

Accidental Parenting 101 plus a lot of hot guys!

 When I initially set out to write this it was simply to share a game/bit of fun that my daughters and I play, something that we find fun and makes us laugh but the more I thought about It the more I realised that this 'game' that we play is actually a way that my daughters and I bond, I'm lucky that I have a good relationship with my daughters anyway but they're teenagers and we all know how volatile a period of our lives can be! So anyway to 'The game' not sure how it started or when it started but I think a comment while watching a movie started it and progressively it has become our lists game it goes something like this, we have 3 lists a Dude list- this is all the men that we think are hot. A chick list ( we're an equal opportunity family and hot is hot after all) same as the first but obviously women and our favourite The crushes you shouldn't have this is a list of all those people that you inexplicably have a crush on they might not be good looking but there's just that certain something about them so I'm going to give you our lists there is a reason to this not just the sharing of our crushes which is always fun but something else occurred to me while we were doing this and drum roll if you please here are our our lists!

Mine goes a little something like this,Oh and I've done this as we do it, we quite often don't know their real names so be warned! and the list are absolutely massive so we've just given a few of our favourites
And in no particular order may I present

Dude List

Ian somerhalder (ridiculously hot)
Eric Dane, Mc Steamy Grey's Anatomy
Justin Timberlake
Paul Rudd
Jonny Depp
Jessie williams again Grey's anatomy ,
Justin Chambers, Karev Grey's anatomy , seriously doing the job of casting for that show must be a bitch!
Justin timberlake
George clooney
Taylor Lautner
Vin Diesel

Chick list

Ellen dengeneers
Pink
Megan fox
Rihanna
Eva Longoria
Eva Mendes
Fergie
Gwen Stefani
Gloria from Modern Family

And our very favourite list of all, My Crushes you shouldn't have!

I know, we just can't explain it!

Nick Frost
Simon Pegg
Paul the alien

Bear in the Big Blue house       
Burt from Raising Hope
Benedict Cumberbatch

And my 14 Year Olds List

And Now my 17 year olds List

 When we did our lists we realised that we shared a number of the same people which leads me in to the realisation that I made as we did this, It just goes to show that beauty, sex appeal call it what you will is not age specific it's about beauty that certain something, attraction and that sentiment  'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' really does seem to ring true!

So who's on your list? We'd love to hear!

Gained a pound shame it wasn't cash

So as you know or don't know depending on whether you read my blog regularly! 10 weeks ago I set myself a challenge which I like to call my 3 F's challenge! Fit, Fabulous and Forty! Not neccessarily in that order! By my birthday in August,it's all about being fitter, thinner and having some seminance of style that doesn't just involve a pair of jeans and Uggs or Birkenstocks ( though I love my Uggs and Birkenstocks with all my heart and always will!)i realised it had become my daily wear so I thought enough is enough it's time for a change! And I have to a big extent done something about the fabulous side of my challenge, I now regularly brush my hair, actually moisturise and wear make-up ok not every day but seriously do you really need to wear make-up everyday? And today I went to the hairdressers and had a complete new look, check out my new profile pic! I love it!

But and it's a big butt! I am having a big issue with the weight loss, I love food! I do, I adore it! I love to cook and you have to try what you make, don't you?

So I joined WeightWatchers and this is the end of week 3 doing it and I have gained a pound, :-( ok a pound might not sound a lot to you but to me it's massive and upsetting and I feel quite sorry for myself :-( so what did I do, I comfort ate! I came in, had a bacon sandwich with cheese and tomatoes, then to add further insult to injury I found the bowl of leftover coffee buttercream that I had iced a cake with 2 days ago and I had a big old spoon full of that, ok 2 spoons or was it 3!*Hangs head in guilt and shame* See it takes a special kind of stupid to eat more food because you're miserable that you gained weight, because that really makes sense!

So now with that realisation I'm going to Zumba my ass off, eat properly this week, try my hardest to avoid wine well maybe not quite as much wine as usual and aim for a much better result next!

Wish me luck x

A very social experiment!

More and more these days we hear how as a society we're becoming more and more detached from our real world and spending more and more time in online communities, online games, social networking and spending less time in our real communities and with the people around us. Well I was on twitter today( See what I mean! ) and I thought to myself, we follow all theses people and all theses people follow us but how many of them have you actually said "Hello" to? So then I thought to myself, I wonder what will happen if I say "Hello" to everyone I follow and who follows me, so instead of wondering about it, I did it!

I wondered what would happen, Are we friendlier online talking to people we hardly know or even complete strangers? or can we be just as distant and aloof? In a way twitter is possibly one of the worst or possibly best places to try this after all where else do we stalk  follow celebrities and their like, living vicariously through them but I thought what I have got to lose apart from maybe all my followers for filling up their timeline with my little experiment!

Little did I know when I started that it would be such an arduous task and how many times I'd end up in Twitter Jail!

So I follow 1036 people and as I write this I have 362 followers, since I started my little project 2 days ago, yes its taken 2 days to complete, I've lost quite a few and I've gained quite a few followers but it's been fun, interesting and I was actually surprised at how many people did respond back, I had no negative comments and obviously not everyone responded but I had some lovely conversations( you know who you are ) and I enjoyed being social on what is after all a social arena, now as for who responded,  a few celebrities responded more than I actually thought would ,  I don't blame those that didn't respond they probably
think I'm a mad stalker type fan but a few other thoughts crossed my mind are they perhaps too full of their own importance to say Hi to us normal folk? Are they too busy? Are they worried about forming a relationship with a 'mere mortal'? Do they think that if perhaps they respond to one they would have to respond to all or can they simply just not be bothered to reply?! But then again that can be said for everyone, I think I might be a little dubious about a complete stranger saying Hello!


But after all that the results are in! after saying Hello to all those  people, It taking 2 days, ending up in Twitter jail not once, not twice but 8 you heard it 8 times and developing what I think is repetitive strain injury (seriously my wrists and fingers ache)  270 people responded to my friendly 'Hello',  of those 23 of those were well known celebrities, stars, authors , should I name drop? not sure at the moment as I feel if I name one I should name them all and would that bore you? seriously you tell me?  Quite a few were people who tweet on behalf of their companies and it showed their human side not just the promotional side of the company which I thought was lovely! I also had 10 direct messages and started 23 conversations with lovely people with whom I hadn't previously spoken and one invite to come and have a cup of tea!


And like any other good experiment, here is my conclusion.............. It is easier for people to talk online or by text without that face to face contact, people for the most part are friendly and perhaps we should learn to say "Hello" a little more often online and in our communities! what's the worse that can happen? people might think you're insane and walk on by or ignore you online but you might make someone smile , you might brighten someones day, who knows you might even make a new friend!

So Hello World , lets make it a friendlier place! Now its your turn , go on you know you want to!

Intermission

I'm working on a little social experiment *cue mad scientist laugh* I'll be back with the results soon , I hope, really I do , Its taking a lot longer than expected!

Raspberry and Amarreto cheesecake

Now as I've mentioned before,I'm not really a measurer (is that even a word?), I make recipes up as I go along and quite often adapt them to use what I have in the house and this is how my now favourite baked cheesecake recipe came about, I fancied cheesecake but I didn't have enough digestives and I wanted to make it a little bit alcoholic ( who in their right mind wouldn't ) and the only alcohol that I had that I thought would give a nice flavour was Disaronno! This is how I cook! I hope it works for you if not, do what I do......make it up as you go along!


the recipe is of course a bit of a guesstimate for some of the ingredients ( I will buy kitchen scales honest ) and it's for a 10 inch spring form cake tin, so you're all clever people adapt it for your cake tins, families etc and I'm sure it will turn out beautifully, do let me know!

Ingredients

200g crushed Amarreti biscuits
200g crushed digestive biscuits
Around 50g of butter, but use your eye it should be enough to keep all the biscuit crumbs together without making it wet.
250g soft cheese
250g ricotta cheese, remember it's up to you you could just use one kind of soft cheese whatever you have or is easy to get.
2 eggs beaten
200g caster sugar
And Amarreto or your favourite alcohol, to taste
Raspberries for decoration, my favourite, flavour also I had them in the fridge! See what I mean!


Turn the oven on to around 170
Grease your cake tin
In a saucepan melt your butter then add your biscuits crumbs, mix until combined then pour into the cake tin, press down to form the base. put in the oven for about 10 minutes while you prepare the cheesecake mixture.

In a bowl the cheeses, the sugar, the beaten egg and your alcohol of choice( if you want to make a plain one just add a teaspoon of vanilla extract) try not to over beat as you don't want the mixture to become too sloppy.


Take your biscuit base out of the oven and pour your cheesecake mixture in on top, return to the oven for around 50 mins. The top should just be turning a light golden brown ,come away from the edge of the tin and perhaps cracked a little on top.

Pop it in the fridge for a few hours to cool down and set properly then decorate as you wish!

we sometimes add popping candy to the decoration its a nice a surprise in the mouth!

Enjoy x

Silent Sunday

A loss of lbs and pounds

Last night was my weigh in for the end of week 2 at WeightWatchers and I have lost just 1 lb this week I know I should be happy that it's a loss but I was secretly a little dissappointed I guess I was hoping for another 4 lb weight loss but I did realise that I hadn't been quite as meticulous about recording everything that I had ate and I had baked a birthday cake and about a 100 cupcakes and of course I had to taste 1 or 3 to check that were ok, it would have been wrong not to wouldn't it!

Don't get me wrong I am taking WeightWatchers seriously, they're taking 20 quid a month off me after all but you have to live too , don't you? and life is too short to deny yourself everything, my 3F's challenge isn't just about losing weight by time I'm 40 it's more about being fit for the next forty years and looking more like the person I feel on the inside and I realised today while looking for an outfit for a wear to a reception (I will tell you more about this later) that I have a lot of clothes that are perfectly suitable for everyday wear and are far more stylish than my usual Jeans, t-shirts, Birkenstocks combo that I seem to have adopted as comfortable and practical and ok they are but and it's a big butt ( do you like the little play on words?) I have lovely stylish dresses that would be equally comfortable with the right shoes or sandals so why do I consider it wrong to wear anything other than jeans? Seriously I'm asking you?

I hope by time I'm forty I'm closer to finding the answers and losing the lbs quicker than I'm losing the pounds but for now I shall persevere and I'll let you know next week how I'm getting on! Xx

Oops I did it again!

No I'm not channelling Britney and neither is this an ode to said popstar, but given the amount of stress I have of late I may be having a Britney style melt down, shave my head and sit in a corner rocking back and forth! No the oops again is because I missed another day yesterday * hangs head in shame and disgust for my lack of time management * , that's not to say I missed a whole day that would be worrying and concerning, I mean how would that happen unless of course you took travel sickness pills went to a wedding and drank far too much wine and champagne without reading the do not drink alcohol while taking this medication warning on the box, True story! Still have no idea what I did or what happened and quite frankly I don't think I want to know! It was a long time ago and if you were at said wedding or it was your said wedding I am very very sorry but what I said/did/kissed/puked/_________ fill in blank as necessary and I promise it will never happen again!

No I'm talking about blogging, I said I would write something everyday but it's haarrrd! *said in whiny teenage voice* not hard to think of something to say, that I never have a problem with, once again I apologise, it's finding the time with kids, house life etc etc.

I so admire everyone out there who manages their house, kids, work and still find time to blog! How do you do it? Seriously you are amazing and I bow before your superior organisation skills!

But I made a pledge and I will try harder so please all you lovely bloggers out there give me some tips on managing my time and getting it all done!

Oops

I've been a bad bad blogger and I should be punished! I broke my pledge already *hangs head in shame* I said that I would blog everyday even if it was only one word and yesterday I missed a day but in my defence I have been really busy, it's school holidays, it's my daughters birthday today and I spent most of yesterday baking and sometimes life just gets in the way of living and doing anything!

Today my sweet sweet daughter is 17 so in a moment of gushy muminess I just have to say I am so so proud of my beautiful daughter and all she has achieved and the wonderful adult that she is becoming.

I made her a cupcake tower with a giant cupcake on top, I have baked and baked and iced and frosted till I can't frost no more but it was worth the finished result was lovely

And she was really happy with it so that my dear friends is the most important thing!

I'm a bit of a Biblio Invertabrate

I love reading, I will read anything and everything, no cereal box or leaflet is left unread in my house!

I can't help myself, maybe it's the words I love, I love plays on words, I love phrases, expressions I love all things expressed through word!

When we read, we paint pictures with our minds we use our imagination, probably why no film ever compares to the book!

But what really annoys me are literature snobs! Those that look down their noses at the likeS of us that might read a trashy novel over a so called literary masterpiece.

Don't get me wrong I love the classics but not all of them! I will admit that I haven't read all that I am apparently supposed to have read but I'm also not one of those people that would pretend I had!

All books have worth, they mean something to the author and given the chance to read it, there will be someone who enjoys it.

I have heard people knock the Twilight series of books but I would personally like to thank Stephanie Meyer, thanks to her my severely dyslexic daughter is never without a book or 5! There was a time that my daughter was quite literally scared of reading, it caused her such distress then came 'Twilight' wonderful, wonderful Twilight, my daughter heard so much about it she wanted to read it so I bought it, she slowly read through it finding ways to manage the words, she loved it so I bought the next one and then the next and this made her want to read different books , she developed methods of coping with the words, she gained confidence and now she, like me is never without a book.

I choose books that I think I will enjoy, I have no specific genre that is 'my thing' I read the blurb, I read book reviews and if I like the sound of it I buy it, I don't use the library I don't download a book, I like the physical act of holding that fresh tome in my hands, opening the first page , I love the look, the feel and I love my walls being lined with books.

My favourite book, well that's a hard one, it just seems so unfair to choose a favourite, no one would ask you to choose your favourite child would they?
There are so many books that I love and for different reasons, I love Terry Pratchett books because I love his use of guess what...... words! I love The Time Travellers Wife, A Thousand Splendid Suns made me cry and will stay with me forever, Of mice and men stays in my memory as my children like me have had to read it for school, A redbird Christmas makes me happy, I love books that make me laugh, I'm partial to sci-fi and fantasy and I like biographies.

And in telling you all that I have avoided choosing my favourite because I just can't!

Can you tell me your favourite? Or what books mean to you? I'd love to know!

Silent Sunday

That Friday feeling

When I was younger, so much younger than today, sorry can't help myself, seriously now when I was younger Friday meant the weekend! The weekend meant clubbing! More often than not on a Friday and Saturday night now Friday means "Thank God I haven't got to get up at 6 in the morning!" I'm just so Rock and Roll!

Seriously the thought of not having to get up fills me with joy you wouldn't believe! of course theses days a lie in is more like 8 o'clock or whatever time I hear that lovely cry of "Mummy I need you!" from my 2 year old but still anything is better than 6 !

But how to fill the weekend?

Lazily doing nothing? I'm quite good at this but then feel guilty for not having accomplished anything.

Doing all the things round the house that I never got round to during the week? Boring! Mundane! And then I feel guilty for not doing things with the kids!

Kids activities? Ok this is one that we should do but in all honesty this usually ends up stressful as not everyone agrees on what to do, one of them is always 'bored' , the little one gets tired and cranky and all I think about is getting home to that bottle of wine!


So what to do, suggestions on a postcard please?

Seriously though, how do you spend your weekends and more importantly what shall I do with mine?

The big weigh in

Well as you know as part of my 3F's challenge I joined WeightWatchers and tonight was the end of my first week. I must admit that I was a little dubious of the whole thing, I thought how can paying to join a group to lose weight possibly work? Surely if you're ready to lose weight you just eat less and exercise more, well yes you do but that hadn't been working for me so I thought what have I got to lose! Apart from the 20 quid a month it costs me! Well let me tell you what I lost was 4.5 lbs this week, I am so happy!

Whether it's the thought of not getting your money's worth or the competitive side of me I don't know but for this week at least, it worked!

I hope it's not just a fluke and it's the start of something more positive but only next weeks weigh-in will tell.

More news on the fabulous part of my challenge I have dyed my hair bright red and it looks good if I do say so myself, I always used to have it bright red ( Rihanna obviously copied my style!) And my daughter was dying the back of her hair bright red and I thought why not, so I went for it before I get too old and look like mutton dressed up as lamb ( I love sayings like that, please tell me yours! ) it really brings out the green in my eyes and it makes me happy so right now, today, all is right with the world!

Wednesay

That's all I have right now hopefully there will be more later!

Miserable me!

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel utterly miserable, annoyed with everything and everyone?

I am having one of those days.

I feel all of the above and a little bit lost and I have no real explaination why, I have many theories as to why I might feel like this but no definite fix on any one thing, I guess we could just put if down to being 'One of those days' , you know the ones where you just feel a bit sorry for yourself and then all the little things accumulate and become one big thing!

Or is it just me that gets that way?

They say a problem shared is a problem halved, so if you're having an off day feel free to share maybe we can help each other.

On a serious note I am actually a trained counsellor so maybe if I can't help myself, I can help you.

I don't like Mondays!

Mondays suck! They herald the start of early mornings for 5 days! The morning chaos of "MUM" I can't find, can you iron, where's my bag/shoes/p.e. Kit/ blazer? the only good thing about Monday is tomorrow is Tuesday then so on and so until the weekend.


As you can no doubt tell I had a bad morning, I actually have nothing personal against Monday's it the school morning madness I really have a problem with!

What about you? Is there a particular day of the week you don't like and why?

Silent Sunday

I'm still here! Are you?

Well I'm still here! As I'm sure are most of you!

The thing is there was this tiny part of me who actually did wonder what if? And what if all the good have been saved without much fuss and all of us here are up for 5 months of torment!
Are we all here? Has someone you know suddenly disappeared? Quite literally off the face of the Earth, No, Are you sure?

People have made money from all this, People set up businesses to care for the animals left behind most with a no refund policy and of course you had to pay up front!
Seriously this is the site you have to go read it for yourself


http://www.eternal-earthbound-pets.com/


I couldn't stop laughing but it's serious not a joke at all

There is always someone out there willing to exploit someones religion or gullibility or are they?

So what are your plans for the next 5 months?

It's the end of The World as we know it

So apparently tomorrow is the rapture and then on October the 21st the world ends something to look forward to then!

When I did a search this is what I found

Judgment Day! May 21, 2011
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. Revelation 9:5
The End of the World October 21, 2011

---

Not sure what I think about this apart from "Damn I do have to face my 40th Birthday then!"

Seriously though what do you all think? I mean The Bible is open to interpretation isn't it? but if the world is going to end I'd much rather it happen quickly than have 5 months of torment but then again I have suffered teenagers so what's 5 more months of  torment!

Same Challenge , different approach

So tonight in my continuing quest I decided to join weight watchers well technically I joined online yesterday,I did try and get some kind of sponsorship from weight watchers in return for reviewing them on my blog but alas and alack I didn't even get a response to my email! So I paid my £12.95 for my first month and then after that it's £19.99 a month and in return I get a membership card that entitles me to attend as many meetings as I want in a month and access to their online resources.

Tonight is my first meeting, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting before hand, images of Marjorie Dawes from Little Britain did spring to mind

But thankfully it was nothing like that! It was held at local school and by time I got there it was pretty packed , the weight loss industry is big money! I already knew that though we all crave to be thinner anyway I digress, I lined up to weigh in , was greeted by our lovely Leader Claire, nothing like Marjorie! and she herself is a weightwatchers success story having lost 5 stone and looks fab, then the part I dreaded the actual weigh-in! I weigh, not sure if I want to share this but a staggering 14st 7lb! I was given a personal record card which has some small achievable goals first of all which are losing 5% of your weight then 10% of your weight and then with your leader you choose your goal weight.

I was given my daily points total, and lots of literature and handy guides then Claire talked to us about this weeks topic, planning ahead, then we split into groups to discuss different scenarios that might hinder weight loss.

All in all a positive experience, so let's see if it pays off!

I am creative therefore I create

I was thinking today , I do that sometimes, not often enough according to some people! But anyway I digress I was thinking about creativity and how some of us are and some of us aren't and how those of us who are creative in one way are often creative in many ways, make sense? Well hopefully it does.

Take me for example I love to write, one form of creativity but I also love to paint, knit, crochet, cook, make things, I generally like to create, I thought I might share a few of my creations with you, a bit of a show and tell if you will.

Well obviously I created this little cutie! but I created the cardigan she's wearing too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

my daughters bedroom as lovingly painted by moi!

My sugar pot, see I just can't stop myself!

this is from my serious art days and one of my favourites

These are just a few, don't want to bore you just wanted to share a bit more of my crazy creativity

So I've shown you mine , now you show me yours! Ooh er Mrs!

Tell me if I'm on to something, are you creative in more than one way?

When did life become so cheap!

One of the first things I heard when I turned the radio on this morning was that yet another 'child' has been stabbed in London, the radio used the word teenager , the word young man was used on another station but he was a child, I still call my 14 year old my child and that's what they, they are our children and instead of focusing on knife crime, black on black crime, gang crime or whatever title the media have decided to call it Today,we should be asking ourselves and our children why they seem to think that the way to solve an issue, prove themselves or their status or their gangs status is to take a life!

As a society we immediately start to place blame, we blame the parents, the environment, the lack of discipline, they weren't hugged enough, computer games glorify violence you name it and someone somewhere will blame it for the breakdown of values but what happened to personal responsibility? We need to figure out why our children and they are 'our children' they are the next generation of adults who will either choose to be a positive member of society or continue on the path of negative behaviour and attitude are choosing this life.

I live in one of these so called crime hotspots, I've worked in the education system and I can tell you that for the most part these children that have been labelled negatively when you speak to them one on one they are not bad kids, they have hopes they have aspirations but all too often they feel a little lost and unheard by those around them even by some of the do-gooders who think that by taking them horse riding or to the theatre they will turn themselves around, I think and this is a personal opinion that we need, especially in London to be asking questions of our children from a young age not all families work as a unit, not all parents care and nuture as much as they should but the one common place where we get our kids is school and the government should put some REAL funding into making sure that from as young as nursery age in a safe age appropriate way we talk about consequences, empathy, communication
and the value of life!


You may think I'm talking complete codswallop if so please tell me , I'm genuinely interested in your opinions.

But what do I call it?

I made this yesterday, it's not quite what you'd call a terrine, it's not quite what you'd call meat loaf so if I tell you what's in it and how I made it can someone name it please?

I first made it 15 years ago and to I haven't made it for about 5 and quite randomly when I asked the kids what they would like for dinner my daughter said what about that thing you used to make with bacon and chicken and apricots so I made it , here it is!

And here's the recipe!

You'll need a 2lb loaf tin , no need to grease it .


Ingredients

Around 16 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
500g sausage meat
2 chicken breasts sliced to fit length and width of tin
250g soft dried apricots


This is so incredibly simple yet so incredibly tasty!

Heat the oven to 170

Line the loaf tin with bacon, including both ends of the tin, leaving the Bacon overhanging as it will be folded in across the top when finished.
Next fill with a layer of sausage meat, then slice your apricots and lay on top of the sausage meat, next layer on the sliced chicken breast, then another layer of the apricots and finally a layer of the remaining sausage meat, then simply fold the overhanging bacon across the top to cover the sausage meat completely

Now place the loaf tin in a roasting tin and fill the roasting tin with water up to about half up the loaf tin then just pop it in the oven for about an hour.

When you take it out of the oven drain off all the fat then turn out, if you wish to brown it a little more simply pop it under the grill or in a hot oven until brown.

Leave to settle for about 15 mins then slice and serve! We had ours with new potatoes and wilted spinach , delicious


Now all you lovely people have to do is make it, enjoy it and please name it for me!

Just a little break from the norm

Monday is usually the day I give you an update of my 3F's challenge and quite frankly at this the end of week 8 all I can think of are another 3F's that I can't repeat in polite company or yours for that matter!

In case you were curious this weeks weight loss in a big fat ZERO! Now I have questioned myself greatly about all of this, by this point I had hoped to have lost at least 16lb and be waxing lyrical about how fabulous I felt but instead I infact weigh slightly more than my start weight but hey if you're going to fail do it big, right! so in all my questioning and thinking I have come up with either I wasn't in the right place emotionally to do this( I'm a serious emotional eater, pick an emotion any emotion and I will eat my way throughout it!) or quite simply I love cooking and eating!

The thing is I started this challenge not only to get myself out of a post baby fashion rut that has lasted 2 years you know the one comfort over style but I had also forgotten how to apply make-up and use a hairbrush let's be honest half the time I don't even know where the hairbrush is! Paint a pretty picture don't I? But to do something about my future health before I turn 40 in August, there are many health implications connected with being over-weight and with a little one to take care of I wanted to be in the best condition I can be and of course the idea of turning 40 sends me into a state of panic and hysteria , I'm not coping very well with the idea of turning 40, you'd never guess would you?

So seeing how absolutely fabulous Jennifer Hudson looks I have decided to join weight watchers! The first meeting is Thursday so from now on my 3 F challenge update will be on Thursday evenings.


Wish me luck and if anyone out there has tried or is doing the weight watchers pro points then get in touch! I love to hear your experiences and maybe we can support each other!

Silent Sunday