The bursts of rain we've had over the last week have sent everything into a frenzy of growth and the grass seems to need cutting almost daily! The hedges are encroaching steadily and i can barely see the end of the garden! But it does mean that the Virginia Creeper has finally burst into life and given us a taste of the colour we'll get come autumn! Bernard and I spent a very happy weekend potting up lots of bedding plants last weekend and they seem to have survived so far - which is a good sign I guess. And.....shhhhhh.... don't say it too loud, but they haven't been eaten to death snails … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2013
Do you have the right to judge someone else’s parenting?
I was horrified earlier in the week when a fellow blogger commented that she had been accused of poisoning her child by letting them have cola to drink. And it has made me think quite seriously about how we judge other peoples parenting. Now I will be the first one to put my hand up and tut if I think someone is 'doing it wrong' but it's an internal tut and I would never be so rude as to tell them to their face! Unless of course the child is in imminent danger. I'm fairly sure there are people would be very disapproving of the way I have brought my children up and the things I have let th … [Read more...]
Ranty Friday – Tesco cocked it up again!
Dear Mr Tesco, Is there any chance you could just for once get it right? I told you I moved house - remember? I changed my address online and everything so you could send me my clubcard vouchers so I could save money on my shopping. And do you remember that your system failed to update anything and my vouchers were sent to my old address? So I did it again and STILL you got it wrong? I actually spoke to a human being about a couple of weeks ago and made them change it! And they offered me a £20 voucher to say sorry for getting the address thing wrong. Mr Tesco, do you remember what ha … [Read more...]
#S2S2D – my turn to host!
Dear Emma, Morning! I hope this morning finds you feeling ok! Have you started scratching the days until escape into the wall of your room yet? I wasn't sure what to write for you today to cheer you up, there have been so many wonderful posts already, jokes (not all them good ones of course) beautiful pictures, messages of support, everything you can imagine. So I asked around for people to send me something lovely to share with you. My cousin Karen, thought you would like this, a thoughtful picture to to inspire you when you're feeling down. Helen from Kiddy Charts sent me a l … [Read more...]
Selling your stuff on Ebay – the geek guide to success!
At the request of someone by wife describes as pretty epic, I have written a how to guide for selling on Ebay. Now this is just from my experience, so don't hold me to it. It might not work every time, but I've had a lot of success using these methods and hopefully you can all benefit from them too! 1. Timing. Pick the time you but it up carefully! You want it to finish when your target market is sat in front of the computer. So for baby stuff - don't have it finish at bath time or your buyers will be busy! Don't make it too late at night, they may give up and go to bed! Sunday evenings are … [Read more...]
Dementia awareness week
I'm the first one to make a joke about my ageing brain when I forget something or call my simple mistake a 'senior moment' But I'm also the first person to realise that that it really isn't funny and we shouldn't joke about it. Dementia broke my mums heart. Every week she would go down to visit my Grandmother in the nursing home and every week the frail little lady she had become would deny knowledge of her, claiming that her daughter was a child and never recognising mum. Every week she would sit in the car park outside the home and shed a tear for her lost mum. The vital, … [Read more...]
Exams and how to survive them without Gin!
It's that joyous time of year again! So how do we all survive? Well the teachers will have to answer for themselves I'm afraid, I've never been there so can't help (although the requests for Oreo cheesecake seem to be on the increase from those that I know!) We've survived several sets or varying levels now, so what follows is only our opinion, there is no fail safe way to guarantee success, and what works for us may not work for you. But if we can help you through it, then all the better ! 1. Breakfast, always start exam day with a decent breakfast, a slow release carb, milk and … [Read more...]
How does my garden grow!
My lovely chum Mammasaurus has started a new link for a Thursday and given what a wonderful couple of weekends we've had in the garden I thought it was a good time to join in! Now you'll all know I'm no great gardener, and my past attempts at growing things hasn't always gone well. But this time it's different! We moved here last September at the end of the lovely summer weather and so we never really go to appreciate how lovely our new garden was, but now the sun is shining again we are beginning to realise how lucky we are to have an established garden to live in. … [Read more...]
Sightseeing where I live
Inspired by the wonderful American Resident I have decided to join her link up and go sight seeing where I live! We're very lucky to live where we do in Britains oldest recorded market town. We have a beautiful castle, excellent museums, an award winning town centre park and more history than you can shake a stick at! But if you came to visit me, I would take you to my favourite place, the place where we spent so many happy hours with the children when they were little. Our country park has been the scene of more happy family days out than I could count. Picnics by the climbing tree … [Read more...]