Notes from suburbia

You only get one. You don't get to choose who they are. I'm glad that my Mum is the one I got. _________________________________________________ Happy Mother's Day to my Mum, Joy, and to all you other Mum's out there!

I can see my brover goin to sleep. I can heer musick playin quitly. I can smell delishus cakes bakein in the hot uvan. At home I feel relacxed and peasfull. At home I have my Mum and A***, my Dad and K*** , my brover and a gold fish. I play games and read books. ___________________________________ By The Nine Year Old. ___________________________________ I would like to point out that the penultimate line does not mean that these people and the fish all live together in one house.  Now that, would be a differently poem entirely!!

The prompt for this weeks 100 word challenge is this:-  '...the extreme weather meant...'. Along with these words, and a timely reminder from a friend on Facebook to put out food for our feathered friends in the snowy conditions, I came up with this little story...   Singing for his supper   The extreme weather meant that the tiny bird found himself to be in a bit of a quandary.   His favourite hunting haunts had been adversely affected by the cold white stuff that now surrounded him.    At almost every turn, he found himself face to face with cold wet surfaces that covered up, or frightened away,   the food that was usually so readily available. He had no choice but to sit and wait – curled up as tightly as he could, his brown speckled feathers plumped out, he perched on the tip of a snow covered branch and sang as sweetly as he ever had before...     Find more entries at Julia's Place

... is the prompt for this weeks 100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups - week#73 .   Here is my entry:- He was expecting her.   A gentle push at the already slightly ajar door allowed her to enter in to the hallway silently.    The bitter-sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee enveloped   her   senses, inviting her further in to the sprawling apartment.    It was as if he knew her already.   Knew how she would respond.   She stepped carefully out of her shoes and slipped off her heavy winter coat before tip-toe-ing along the parquet floor of the corridor that lay before her.   As yet, unwilling to announce her arrival. All the while, the notes from the piano rose in to the air and danced around her head.   ________________________________________________________   It's been a while since i took part in the 100WC.  I've missed it.  I like the challenge of having to stick to a strict word count wi...

Of all the slippers in all the world, what, I wonder, is it about these slippers that screams to The Female Parent (aka my Mum and usually very good present choosing generous woman who is both loved and appreciated) "BUY THESE FOR YOUR DAUGHTER"!!!!! The call seems to be so loud and clear that I have received almost identical pairs of these slippers for at least the last three Christmases. I know it sounds ungrateful. I don't mean to be. Not at all.  But...they are not only lilac, they also come complete with ribbon bows - pink and MORE lilac, topped off with tiny teeny weeny pink and LILAC buttons.  They are fancy.  Some would say, fussy. Now. Don't get me wrong.  The comfort is all there.  Snugly warm feet when encased in said slippers? Check! But they are sooooooooooooo very very very extremely very girly.  And that's just not me.  I admit to liking some prettiness in some things, but mostly when it com...

It's that time of year isn't it.  The time when we are encouraged to make resolutions for improvement over the next twelve months. Whilst I do feel a sense of reflection on the year that has passed and a feeling of another year bringing with it a fresh new chapter, I'm not fully onboard with the "let's get healthy/fit/more intellectual/more skilled/more cultural".  More more more more more!  Unless of course it's less.   Less food. Less alchohol.  Less telly. Less lounging.  Less of the things you enjoy one might say.  I'm all for a sense of regrouping but I'm not ready to resolve that 'less is more' or, 'more is less'.  As it were. I'm not the only one it would seem.  Increasingly, rather than referring  to 'New Year resolutions', which can be perceived as unrealistic and all too often, short lived, there is instead reference to 'intentions', 'goals', 'aims'. I'm not convinced this...

New Years Eve 2012... it all went a bit like this... 10am  - me and The Husband talk about how we may spend this particular New Year's Eve and come up with a BOLD PLAN. 12noon - we collect The (now) Nine Year Old who celebrated his birthday at his Dad's the previous day.  As The Husband and The Nine Year Old share a 30th December birthday we are having small scale belated birthday celebration at home today. 12.30pm - The Nine Year Old opens his birthday presents which include - to The Husbands horror - a Chelsea Football shirt.  The Nine Year Old is delighted and proceeds to put the shirt on and starts tugging at the tags whilst me and The Husband are looking at him trying to decide whether or not the top fits him.  Too late, the tags are off - the top, therefore, it is decided, does indeed fit. 2pm - I decorate the Nine Year Old and The Husbands birthday cakes - one each as The Nine Year Old prefers to keep i...

"I'm at that inbetween stage" ...texted The Husband from upstairs (yes, ridiculous to be texting each other from within the same house, I completely blame modern technology) where he is rearranging our bedroom furniture.  We had been toying with the idea of rearranging our bedroom for some time but that is all it had been, talk.  We had, however, been propelled into action following a recent leaking roof incident that had found me laid in bed with rain dripping on to my nose!! After not being able to locate the point of the leak in our recently re-tiled roof (don't get me started on that...) we had decided to move the bed and wait for the next heavy rainfall to attempt to catch the leak in full flow.  Basically, we plan to avoid the issue. Moving the bed sounds like a relatively simple thing to do doesn't it?  Not if your bedroom is the room in the house that acts as the base for all the stray objects from all of the other rooms in the house that find...

It is Sunday morning and the four of us are squished into the one bed for weekend snuggles.  The Husband has just finished telling us about a dream he had the night before which featured the ER character Peter Benton.  It is unclear as to whether Peter was a doctor in the dream. The Husband:  "And then I had the best dream." Me:  "Which was...?" The Husband "We were jumping all around the living room, bouncing really high on the furniture jumping from one thing to the next." Me:  "...'we'  being?" The Husband (huge daft grin on his face):  "Me and the gorilla." Me:  "You and the gorilla.  Of course."  I turn to The Eight Year Old who raises his eyebrows. The One Year Old looks on bemused.

I don't know if it's because I'm feeling a bit low on energy, and as a result, grumpy (in general, not about anything specifically), but it's making me more than a little annoyed about stuff.  Stuff that would mildly irritate me usually but wouldn't cause me to react in the way I feel the need to right now. For example.  I feel really cross about this... I noticed on twitter, a conversation between two friends.  A man and a woman.  both married.  It was a typical twitter-friends type of conversation between members of the opposite sex with too much time on their hands - lightly flirtatious with a hint of over familiarity - the sort of conversation that social media so readily accommodates between two people who hardly know each other really but consider themselves friends due to their regular contact. The woman made a joke about the man requiring a 'pass' to go out for a drink.  The suggestion of course being th...

The parents (aka my Mum and Dad) are round dropping our two boys home after kindly looking after them for the day.  We've all been sat together chatting and drinking tea for about half an hour. Everything appeared to be normal... The female parent (FP):  "...so yes it's been a really lovely day, a real pleasure" The male parent (MP) (completely out of the blue):  " As we were pulling up the brakes on the car failed". FP: "Where on earth did that come from?" MP:  "I'm just saying, the brakes have gone on the car". Me: "And did you not think to mention that before now?!" MP: "No. Anyway, it's ok, I'll get us home using the handbrake". Me: "...if you were a rally driver maybe rather than a 74 year old man driving his wife home along a busy dual carriage way...". Sometimes I despair.

Bank Holiday Monday... The Husband: "Ok, so now we've sold the (huge, reclaimed oak, gorgeous, heavy, cumbersome) dining table we could sort out the (chipped, scuffed, scruffy) painted floor before we put another table in there.  We could make a start tomorrow.  I'd like to hire a sander though so we can get a better finish." The Father-in-law (visiting for the day):  "You could sand it right back to the wood and varnish it". The Husband:  "Yeah, it would look nice.  We'd need to do the hall and living room though 'cos it all runs into one with having no carpets in any of the downstairs rooms". Me:  " There's no way I can face all that dust, it would be a nightmare.  The only way that is going to happen is if you send me and the boys on a weeks holiday". The Husband: "Hmmm."  Later that very same day... Me:  I've had a rethink.  In fact, I've had a complete change of heart and think we should sa...

Ok.  Time to own up.  Who stole Summer? I'm not even making reference to the less than tropical weather conditions of the last few months.  No.  I'm talking about time.  Where have the last few weeks and months gone?  The school summer holidays have positively flown by.  We're already having to think about new school shoes and uniforms. I for one am not ready for the onslaught of September.  And no, the promise of a so called 'Indian Summer' isn't helping with that.  Actually, the very idea of it is like rubbing salt into the wound with the Sun grinning and saying "Ha, I refused to shine the whole time you were able to kick back and take it easy but not you're all back to the daily slog then here I am to mock you!!".  With September comes the return to school, nervous anticipation of a new class and the academic year stretching out ahead, seemingly endless.  It's much the same for me in my work at a local...

Me to The Eight Year Old: "So, if a a friend of yours at school was about to become a big brother or sister what would you say to them about what it's like to be a big brother to a one year old?" The Eight Year Old:  "Top three things...having cuddles....playing...making him laugh.  And top three bad things...being asked to watch him for a minute when I'm trying to play on the Wii...him trying to reach my lego...trying to play trains with him when all he wants to do is destroy the track and try to eat it!!"

H ello Baby, Today is your first birthday.   Wow.   A whole year since you arrived safely into this world.     Before that day, when you were growing inside me, I made you a promise.   I promised you that no matter what, I would love you and look after you.   That I would do all that I could to put a smile on your face each and every day for as long as you will let me. What I didn’t tell you was about my concern.   I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to love you as much as I love your older brother.   You see, I couldn’t imagine how I could feel about another human being the way that I feel about him.   And then you arrived.   And you weren’t exactly how I imagined you would be. You had more hair than I had expected. Very dark hair that framed your crumpled little face, your perfect little button nose and those crinkly eyes that searched my face trying to make sense of what was going on. I loved you instantly and my pr...

Hello lovely people.  It's been a while hasn't it?  Life is very busy right now.  Mainly in a good and fulfilling way.  Sometimes in a bit of a manic way.  Always is a mildly chaotic way.  And very occasionally in a 'I may be about to lose my grip on reality' kind of way. Sometimes though.   Things happen in life that stop you in your tracks.  Just like that.  No matter how busy life is.  A thing like that happened to us on  Monday of this week. The Eight Year Old came out of school with a letter that each of  the pupils had been given addressed to their parents.  As he handed the letter to his Dad he said "there's been some very sad news". The 'very sad news' was, and is, shocking.  Too much to take in.  Almost incomprehensible if you're only eight.  A girl in The Eight Year Old's class has died.   It has happened suddenly after her...

I have completed my first week at work. 'Work' being the day job that I returned to on Monday marking the end of my year's maternity leave.  It's been ok.  It's gone well.  Better than expected.  And if a working week is complete by Wednesday lunchtime then I can't complain now can I? The Husband is enjoying a couple of weeks off at the moment which has meant The Baby has had a few days at home with Daddy and I've had the peace of mind that all is well at home and I can just get on with getting back into the swing of this work thing.  In many ways, I think I got the easier deal this week as The Baby has been suffering with more teeth coming through.  As a result he's been a little grumpy and very clingy.  What with that, and the fact that our house is once again in disarray whilst we are having the kitchen floor tiled, then you could say that The Husband has had a baptism of fire to his new part-time role of being solely in...

Well.  Continuing on from the post entitled 'Busy'  I'm finally writing about some more of the busy stuff that is going on at the moment. Not content with my return to 'the day job' next week, we - 'we' being me and The Husband - appear to have started our business - Teatime Vintage .  I say 'appear' to have started because it's all happening rather quickly.  In a good way :) Since we got married last year - when we collected lots of gorgeous vintage china for our cream tea party - we have been plotting and planning Teatime Vintage. Lovely Teatime Vintage .   A business that hires out vintage china and linens, offers an event styling and set-up service along with cakes and afternoon tea catering and pop-up tea parties. But, with The Husband currently studying for a Radiography Degree, and me returning to 'the day job' today, then we kind of thought that over the next couple of years we will slowly attempt t...

I'm sharing this with those of you who have been privy to my thoughts and concerns about returning to work to a job I haven't done before - long story...should you wish to, you could read about it here ,  here , and here . Well.  Don't go telling anyone.  But, I went into work again today for a couple of hours (I'm returning 'proper' in a couple of weeks time).  And.  I almost.  Very nearly. Enjoyed it.  :o Sssshhhh...don't tell anyone. It's just between us. After all, I wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity of sympathy and martyrdom would I ;)

You may have noticed that posting on this blog is a liitle thinner on the ground of late than it has been in previous times.  Life is picking up speed and feeling busier right now, mainly in a good way.  That, and the fact that the sun is shining which always reduces tthe desire to sit indoors tapping away on the lap top - and sitting outdoors tapping away on the laptop whilst being blinded by the glare is really no fun by anyones standards. I am in my final two weeks of maternity leave before I head back to work.  I still have mixed feelings about this butI  am mostly reconcilled to the idea now.  I went in to work last week for a couple of hours, and am aimung to do the same this week.  By doing so,  I've realised there are personal benefits beyond those of earning cash and being able to pay our bills over the coming months.  By going to work I get to wear clothes that are less than baby friendly.  I can wear ...