End of the Week :-)

Friday at last

Ending the week on a happy note though, as I’m really looking forward to the weekend and my Friday night G&T .

Graham’s out all day tomorrow working, however he is going to drop Summer of at his parent’s for the day. That way they get to see her (living a bit further away they don’t see as much of our children as their other grandchildren) also it gives me a bit of time without chasing a hectic 3yr old around the house all day. It gives me a little quiet time to spend with the older ones too, Ben is 14 months and quite a quiet little man so him being home doesn’t make a lot of difference.

I plan maybe to walk in to town with the kids and treat them to some lunch out, or watch a movie at home with them all or do a bit of baking with them OR do all three We could have a quick mooch to the park too and let Ben have a little run a round. The older kids are brilliant with him which is lovely to see.

Makes me realise how lucky I am that I got to start over again with Graham. After I had my first 4 children with my ex and we split up I never in a million years dreamed I’d have more children. In fact I quite liked the idea that I was done having children and I’d done all the hard early years and could sit back and enjoy them growing a bit. Now though I just feel so very lucky to have had another little girl and boy to enjoy it all over again with. I loved shopping for little polka dot navy leggings and yellow frilly tops yesterday, and little woolen cardigans and dinosaur jumpers. I do find the toddler years tough especially with having Paige to care for, it can be just exhausting but I wouldn’t change a thing. All my son’s and daughters ae so different to one and other, I absolutely love having my larger than average family, good job really isn’t it

Anyway I’m very much looking forward to a quite day with them all tomorrow and then just a family day Sunday, Sunday lunch and maybe a dog walk and some time down at the allotment, Paige’s leg pain permitting (some day’s she can’t sit in her wheelchair for long).

This afternoon Graham is finishing work a bit early so I can go and pick up some portrait pictures of Ben, can’t wait to see them, Graham took him to have them done so I don’t know what they look like but I’m sure they’ll be cute. He attracts a lot of attention when I take him out bless him because of his super super blonde hair, it’s so blonde that when you wash it it goes almost transparent and he looks bald lol. Kyle, my son who has always had the blackest, thickest hair often say’s he can’t belive how light his brother’s hair is. Owen used to be blonde up until about the age of three, he had blonde flowing ringlets lol because he wouldn’t let anyone cut it. It is now dark and short however, only trace that he was ever blonde are his very light eyebrows. That’s why I love the baby gallery I have hanging in the hall of them all, sometimes I even find it hard to believe that I had so many babies !

Speaking of having had so many babies, the Shred is working ! Yay, 2 inches of my waist, an inch of each thigh and half an inch of each arm. I should add it’s not just since I started the Shred, I’ve been exercising and doing Zumba and dieting a while now too so I bloody well should be losing weight lol. It is actually making me feel a little better about the appearance of my body too, not always pulling my top down over my jeans to try to hide my muffin top because it’s more cupcake than muffin proportion now, still a bit yet to get rid of though.

I chaired another charity meeting this week and next week we have another important meeting in which we will adopt a constitution which is quite exciting because then finally we’ll be able to get on and register with the charities commission. A lot more work involved than any one of us had anticipated however, worth it in the end I’m sure.

I am still in the very important process of shortlisting dresses to order for the weddings in April and May, I used to like shopping, not sure what happened but I’ve rapidly gone of it lol.

Well I should stop blogging for today really as lunchtime is almost over and I’ve medication to order and to do list’s and phone calls to make.

When I get chance hopefully next weeks posts will be a bit more cheery than those of the past week or so, I’ve bookmarked myself some topics I’ll be writing about at some point too, rather than just blathering on about my day or my week as I mostly do !

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and keeping my fingers crossed we get to see a bit of sunshine

Help Me Look Like A Lady !

I am aware my last few posts have been a bit miserable, especially my last one ‘Ups & Down’s, so I’ve decided to change the tone slightly and talk about something completely un child or SEN related in this post ….

In a few weeks time I’ll be going to 2 weddings with my husband, firstly his brothers and then his friends. His brothers is in a city registry office and his friends is here !

http://www.hengravehall.co.uk/home   I have never been to Hengrave Hall before but it looks lovely.

Weddings though, it has to be said present me with a MASSIVE problem. Having been nothing more than a Mum for the past 14 years or so I do NOT do dresses or dressing up, and certainly when I do it I don’t do it well. Taking advice hasn’t always proved the best course of action either, I think sometimes people have a different vision of me in their head than the one I see when I look in the mirror !. I’m very aware of my shape and when I look at dresses I often realise that they’d only look good if I was tall and willowy, or had boobs to put in them, or lovely elegant slim arms and legs. Meh…I just don’t like dresses and when I put them on I can see the feeling is mutual lol.

Anyhow as a dress is a must I have been browsing, my criteria as follows, just above the knee but not to short (this is the most flattering length for my legs). Not long-sleeved as the wedding is in May so MIGHT be warm, as I hate my arms though I must be able to wear a silk wrap or some sort of shrug/cardigan with it. I don’t want the dress to be all black, I would but I know it’s not really the done thing at spring/summer weddings. Not cerise, or dark purple or any bold colour really, i do NOT want to stand out in any crowd or pictures. Nothing to low-cut, don’t want to look like a butchers window, not high neckline up to my chin either though or I’ll look every bit my age, sadly. With these things in mind I have been dress hunting. After about 3 weeks it seems I have absolutely exhausted Google’s search results for evening wear, occasion wear and ladies dresses. After much deliberating I ordered these three dresses.

I didn’t really want to do the floor length dress thing of which there were many, they’re just not me. I liked the dresses I chose because they’re quite pretty but without being standoutish. Well, the dresses arrived and they are not as pictured. The fabrics look very cheap, the first dress is see through on the bottom half ! The second the frill across the bust is huge and uncontrollable, keeps flapping up ! the third is very pretty but the netting puffs right out under it and makes my hips look huge and my shape very frumpy ! So all are going back

My search will continue but if anyone would like to be my personal shopper without the pay lol I could really use some help. I see other people at weddings wearing beautiful dresses and I often wonder where they get them from. £130 is my absolute maximum spend on a dress mind you, because then I’ve got to buy a shrug, shoes a bag etc and I don’t have many pennies this is why Net a Porter and Coast are a bit out of my range that said I’m not loving all the bold colours at Coast at the minute anyway, I though pastels were in !). Oh and what’s with all this ruching on the front or side of dresses, makes your stomach and hips look bigger than they are, what women wants that !

Oh well struggle on I must, with my short, boobless, dumpy excuse for a feminine figure that I’ll have to stuff in a dress and then spend the entire two weddings avoiding people’s gazes and bloody camera’s. You can see now why I was over the moon to get married to my husband on our own with no guests thousands of miles from anyone or anything lol, perfect I was sipping cocktails by the pool just 3 hours before our wedding and enjoying a bit of steel drum and Bob Marley not worrying about a thing, as the song suggests, now that is the way to get married in my opinion, and my wedding dress I will never part with because it is truly the only dress I have ever absolutely loved

Up’s & Down’s

I am feeling a bit low at the minute, ok quite a lot low. I’ve a little too much on my plate, even my subconscious is telling me this if my weird dreams in which I keep losing things or people are anything to go by.

Yesterday I had the wind knocked out of my sails a bit by such a silly little incident really.
On Monday, my son Owen who has Global Developmental Delay, ASD & hypermobility came home from school clutching some fantastic number (money) work he’d managed to do independently and got an award for, I was super proud of him. This is the up part of the roller coaster, then Tuesday came the down. My friend dropped him home from school for me as she passes my door with her own 2 boys that are the same ages as mine and are in the same classes. Anyway Owen pushed passed me, threw his school bags on the floor and marched straight upstairs slamming his bedroom door behind him and then I heard him burst in to tears. I said a hurried goodbye to my friend and headed up after him. ‘Its not fair’ he yelled, ‘Alex* is younger than me but he is allowed to go to the shop by himself and just because I am autistic you won’t let me, it’s not fair, it’s not’ and then lots more tears and a face full of hives because he’s allergic to his own tears.
It turns out his friend was popping to the shop for his Mum, the shop is just around the corner from us, down a wooded path by the river. The problem is my son is so innocent and naive that it would only take one person to say ‘come here’ and he’d be gone, despite knowing about the dangers of strangers etc. He was once walking ahead of me on the River path when he’d strayed on to the bicycle side when a horrible young man called him a ‘f***ing idiot’ and actually punched him in the side of the head as he sped past. I ran with the pushchair to pick my son up, I’d shouted ahead for him to move over but he hadn’t in time. I wish I could have caught up with the ‘man’ he would have had 15 yrs worth of pent-up frustration vented on him. So, anyway, you see why I don’t feel I can let my son just pop to the shop like his friends of the same age. That and the fact he does have quite severe learning difficulties. A long cuddle and a warm drink and he was ok again.

Just the day before I’d had a lengthy phone call with an old best friend, it was a catch up call and she was asking how Paige was doing. A question I hesitate to answer. It’s the old adage that when people ask how you are, the answer they’re hoping for is ‘fine thank’s how are you ?’. Paige isn’t fine though, obviously, she has a lot of pain and a lot of problems. I briefly muttered to my friend that she gets pain but it’s ok, we’re managing it, my friend had just told me she was of to the Seychelles on holiday. Despite me not having said much she went quiet then said, ‘don’t you ever just feel like screaming, that life is so unfair, surely you must get days when you just feel like crying and being sorry for yourself’. I explained it’s hard to feel sorry for myself and not be crushed with guilt for doing so because then I look at my daughter and if anyone should feel sorry for themselves it’s her and not me. My friend said, ‘you see, you’re not even bloody well entitled to feel sorry for yourself, I’d go mental and be in an institution by now’. We both laughed because I told her I’m surprised she’s not been put in one by now anyway. Not making light of mental illness btw, don’t want to offend anyone, we were just trying to make light of the conversation.
Of course any regular visitor to my blog will know that I do still selfishly feel sorry for myself some days, the thing is I do this on my blog, or privately in my own home, never in front of anyone outside of it.

Outwardly it seems I project an image of total calmness and I’m always smiling, at least that is what I’m always told. I never see myself this way, oh yes and many people tell me I’m ultra organized hahaha my husband would have a fit laughing at this. I should be organized, but erm, I’m not ! I have retained my sense of humour though, maybe that’s what people pick up on. I do care a lot about other people too.

Right on that cheery note I think I should end this blog post. I’m of to do a much more frivolous light-hearted one now I promise, about dresses (even though me and dresses don’t really go together well !) bfn

30 Day Shred….30 Day Dread

A post Monday post, had the Monday blues a bit yesterday after a lovely but exhausting weekend. Sunday I was up early getting my eldest daughter ready, washed and dressed (quite a lengthy task with her being quadriplegic). Then I left my husband to it with her and the other children while I took my 8-year-old to his football match, he’s his team’s goalie. He was wearing his new birthday present, a Liverpool goalie shirt with his name on the back with pride .
I take him to his home games and my husband takes him to the away games and training.
Anyway he did his team proud, he did a fantastic job this week. I did enjoy basking in his glory a little unashamedly lol. He’s a fantastic little lad, kind, thoughtful and sensitive, it was so nice to see him feeling really good about himself.

After the match we dashed home so I could get Sunday lunch on while Graham did some garden tidying (we’re having our patio sorted out sometime this week).

Sunday lunch done it was then time to take Paige of to her monthly party at the Leisure Center. The parties are run by the local child development team at present (for children with disabilities/SEN’s) but come April when the funding has run out they will be ran by a committee of parents as a charity. This is what I will become the chair person of and is what I am currently doing, turning the parties in to a registered charity. We have a secretary and a treasurer and a few other committee members on board but registering with the charities commission is a lengthy process. The parties also have mainstream helpers from local schools who are there to provide friendship to the children that attend (this helps provide socialization within the community for a lot of the children which is really important). My daughter loves it as she gets to hang out with some teenage girls she might not otherwise have met or had the opportunity to do so. The helpers/volunteers are really lovely with all the kids that attend,it’s really nice to see. Also children with disabilities or SEN’s often don’t get invited to to many parties and are often excluded from friends birthday parties because other’s find their behaviour a bit confusing, or for one reason or another. There is also a party tea provided afterwards too. The parties are free, and are good not only for the children to meet and socialize in a relaxed environment (with a bouncy castle, arts and crafts, sensory equip etc) but are also a good opportunity for the parents and siblings to meet and mingle. I’ve been parent representative for the past year and it’s been brilliant. A lot of fundraising will be required to keep the parties going (they are held once a month) but we’re going to give it our best shot for the children’s sake.

Anyway Sunday evening we got home and both myself and Paige were exhausted.
Unfortunately I still felt exhausted when I woke up Monday morning lol.

Last night just to punish myself further I started the 30 Day Shred with my neighbour, god knows if I’ll survive it ! I am determined to lose this last 5lb that I’ve been saying I’d shift forever. We’ve got 2 weddings to go to shortly and this time I don’t want to resemble Miss Piggy in the photo’s not that I plan on being in any photo’s I should add. Want to know how to make a Jo disappear, just get your camera out and point it in her general direction, never fails

Ahead this week I still have a medical engineering appointment, physio appointment and charity meeting. Next week I’ve another host of appointments to look forward to and same again for the next few forthcoming weeks. If I had a fast forward button I’d press it about now lol. Lost my ooommmpphhh at the moment, if anyone see’s it then please do return it to this blog address, thanking you kindly

The New Forest

We had our first trip in to the New Forest of 2012 today, it was lovely. The sun was out so we packed our wellies and of we went. The eldest 2 girls were at their Grans so it was just the 6 of us but it was still fun.
On the way home we stopped of at the High Corner http://www.highcornerinn.co.uk/home.php (one of our favourite stop of’s) for a lovely lunch to finish things of nicely. I had a gorgeous ham terrine and real ale chutney starter.
Right of to get ready for the cocktail party tonight…if only all weekends were like this lol

Back To School

Another school project !

A quick post now that half term is almost at a close.

It’s been a busy one, with illness, Kyle’s 8th birthday, Valentines day, model making failures and more.
I’ve felt a bit like I’ve been meeting myself coming back, I’ve been trying to be organized fitting in bit’s of charity related admin here and there and I managed to remember that it was also my best friends daughter’s birthday on Valentines day (although they live 400 miles away). I found a great site for horse riders (her daughter’s hobby and used to be mine) http://www.thehorsediva.co.uk/ I sent her a lucky horse riding hoody, even managed to choose her favourite colour !. Managed to remember my cousin’s birthday and my godson’s birthday too. For me and during half term that’s good going lol.

Back to school next week and back to a barrage of upcoming appointments, I groan when I look at the calendar. A 6 monthly meeting with my daughter’s social worker, orthodontists, a cardiology app, a general disabilities review with a Dr, a medical engineering app,a physio app, some charity meetings and if I actually got of my backside and looked at the calendar I’d see many more I still need to make a start on visiting SEN secondary’s for my son too and get him reassessed. These are the most important things that spring to mind.

As a happy distraction I am busy thinking up Easter plans, have been for a while actually and I’ve been covertly buying lots of lovely Easter decorations. Graham has yet to find the many easter chicks and bunnies that have been stowaways in various locations around the house for a couple of weeks now Although Summer was telling her Daddy that ‘Mummy has bought lots of eggs that she’s going to stick all over the windows’…to which my husband replied ‘eggs on windows darling ? you’re funny, what are you talking about’ !,sshhh, best he doesn’t know lol. The kids are going to help me make some decorations too. I’ve got a few ideas that are still in the infant stages of planning at the minute, of course there will be the annual easter egg hunt as well.

Oh now I’m recovered I’m back on the princess project, I am Flumbering tonight and working out my flabs and canckles (Zumbaring & working out my abs and ankles). I have ordered some dresses for 2 forthcoming weddings….now I’ve just got to be able to fit in them nicely. My usual look is that of an over stuffed sausage, you know lumps and bumps and bits sticking out everywhere. This year I hope to avoid this unflattering look, hhmm, maybe I should have ordered size 16. When the dresses arrive I might take pics and let people vote on those that stay and those that get returned

Right well the house work awaits…as always. I’ve had trouble getting motivated today, I had a really strange dream last night, a really vivid one too. I was in a lovely garden having tea with family and friends but the bottom of the garden was flooded and swampy looking and I could see a huge crocodile half submerged near the bank just watching us. It watched for a while and I told everyone, only when it started to launch itself and make its way towards us did everyone run, tipping the table and chairs, cake and tea over. I ran inside a house carrying a baby, looked round and everyone was gone, the table and chairs and everything was still on the ground and it started to rain ! http://www.dream-interpretation.org.uk/free-dream-interpretation-dictionary-c/dream-interpretation-crocodile.htm  Very Odd !

On that very odd note I will sign of for the weekend. I am of to a cocktail evening at a friend’s house tomorrow night. In the 16 years I’ve lived here this is the first time I’ve been invited out to this type of thing with some school Mum’s. I’ve even bought a dress for the occasion. It will be really good fun, just a girlie evening with cocktails but an excuse to wear a dress and do my nails. I’m a dab hand at french manicures on myself given I can hardly ever afford to go and get my nails done. They actually look every bit as good though, even if I do say so myself. People often say ‘oh you’ve been and had your nails done’ in a tone of surprise because I have 6 kids) and are really shocked and start to examine them closely when I say no I did them myself !

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend before back to school Monday

Lemon Drizzle Cake

This is my Mum’s updated version of my Gran’s Lemon Drizzle cake recipe. It is super easy and has never turned out wrong for me yet

The Ingredients

8ozs Butter
8ozs Caster Suger
10ozs self raising flour
2 level tsps of baking powder
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons of milk
finely grated zest of 2 lemons

For the topping

6ozs granulated suger
juice of two lemons.
roasting tin 12inches x 9inches and 1.5 deep

Place all the cake ingredients in a large bowl the butter needs to be warm and soft, then take your electric hand mixer and beat for2 minutes the using a plastic spatula scrape all the cake mix into the grease proof lined cake tin, level it off and place in oven for 35-40 mins Oven temp should be 160 degrees.

When cake is golden and springy to touch it is done take out and place on wire wrack to cool, in the time between mix the sugar and lemon juice together till the sugar has fully dissolved, the cake should be just warm as you pour over the lemon jucie mix, leave to cool completely before cutting it into squares, this cake freezes really well.

Dear Teacher, Please Don’t Judge My Parenting On My Model Making Failures

It may look like a half arsed attempt to you dear Teacher but we tried our best. We started our amphitheatre by trying to build steps/seats out of lego but halfway through we realised we’d need at least 2 more boxes of lego. We then tried to use modrock, laying it over card stairs. The wet modrock made the card stairs wet and floppy though, then it all fell a part. We started again from scratch. Kyle painted some card while his 3yr old sister kept pinching his paint (she was supposed to be sat painting her own picture nicely). I left the modrock dry on the work top…I forgot, I then had to peel it of ! Then my husband rang and we had an amphitheatre related domestic. He suggested I pop to the shops to buy more material (I don’t pop anywhere with 6 children and a wheelchair), he also suggested I go out and buy loads of play dough, make the steps out of play dough and let them dry. He is not well versed in how brittle dry play dough can become, one over zealous childs finger and it’s an ancient ruined amphitheatre (one I would have been better making). We then decided to use some play sand for the amphitheatre floor, squirted glue on the bottom and pinched some play sand from my toddlers sand table. I left it outside to set for a few minutes while I changed the baby’s nappy. Ten minutes later I went to check on it, my toddler had snook in to the garden and actually buried it in the sand table, like treasure and had returned indoors like nothing had happened. I only discovered this when she told me to dig to find the treasure box ! The wooden Roman figures I had cunningly ordered some weeks ago had arrived last week…they sent me Moshi Monsters by mistake ! I decided although Dustbin Beaver and Pooky were cute they were not up to the job. I mailed the suppliers and was sent new Romans, they arrived just the other day. They are lovely, as you will see, they are also FAR bigger than anticipated and certainly not in scale with the model.
These were just a few of the little hiccups that disrupted this most thoughtful ‘family together time’ project you set as homework this term.
I would hate for you to think I didn’t appreciate your kindness in getting my 8yr old and myself and family to enjoy this quality time together. It’s just that well we have lots of fun and informative quality time together and I really think tasks like building an amphitheatre are best carried out in the hands of an expert like yourself NOT a Mum of 6 who has a baby, a toddler, an autistic 10yr old, a 14yr old quadriplegic daughter, a slightly hormonal 12yr old and a chirpy 8 year old to look after. I am all for project based learning but it was only just before Xmas I made an air raid shelter and then just a couple of months prior a Tudor house complete with furniture. I am no model making wizard so I am hoping we will enjoy a nice spell of respite from this…but I’m doubtful.

I hope you manage to stifle your giggles at my best effort, if only for my poor son’s sake, as other mothers I’m sure will have been working diligently and have created architectural masterpieces.

Many Thanks,

Yours Truly

One Harassed Mum

Out Of Action

I have been temporarily out of action, struck down with a horrible virus Baby Ben and Kyle have suffered it at the same time too. Ben has been screaming A LOT. My husband took him to the doctors but got a standard response, ‘it’s viral, treat with calpol’ despite him being on it for 3 days previous. Still I don’t want to speak to soon but he seems to be on the mend today, as do Kyle and myself. My throat still feels like I’ve swallowed a packet of razor blades and I was so dizzy this morning I toppled in to the wall a few times. Must be affecting my inner ear & balance. Kyle also said he felt like the room was spinning.
Saturday and Sunday were the worst, one minute I’d feel freezing cold and couldn’t stop shivering (but was actually running a temperature) then in the next turn I’d actually feel like I was burning up. I was so achy all over I could hardly sleep and my throat feels sooo swollen.
So yes ! the weekend was fun….not.

The one thing worse than being that ill probably has to be being as ill as that at the same time as 2 of your children and also having to haul yourself out of bed and do your 14yr old daughters personal care and get her dressed etc. Mind over matter, gritted my teeth, wore a smile for her and did what was needed. It was my father in-laws birthday on Sunday too, we were all supposed to be going to my in-laws for Sunday lunch and to take his present, but being so ill I stayed home with some of the children. My husband took the others, it really helped as it meant I could just lay on the sofa and get some rest.

I’ve not been having the best of times these past few days. I paid a small fortune at the hairdressers last Thursday and OMG, what a disaster. I came home in tears with hair the colour of a lemon….and I mean a lemon. On Friday I mailed the hairdressers and said how unhappy I was so they offered me an appointment for today. Despite my dizziness and swollen throat I swayed my way in to town (looking like a drunk probably) and had my hair toned down and corrected. My Mum thankfully looked after the kids for a couple of hours while I had it done. I realise I probably sound crazy getting my hair done while feeling so ill but I have such limited opportunities to leave the house without the kids I have to just take appointments when I can get to them.

Anyway this evening I think I’m on the mend as I haven’t run a temperature all day, very relieved. I have managed to read Summer a bedtime story too despite her chosing the Princess and the Wizard (not the shortest bedtime story) and even though my throat is super sore. I never take my health for granted because I know how many people depend upon me so it is so good to be getting better.

The big plus is that I’m getting better in time for Valentines day and Kyle’s birthday the day after I know some people don’t ‘do’ Valentines day and say it’s just commercial but me and my husband do He has taken tomorrow and the next day of work, it helps out a bit during half term too.

I’m not anticipating getting much blogging done in the next day or two although I might get chance to put a Lemon Drizzle cake recipe up before the end of the week. My gran gave it to my Mum a long time ago. If we weren’t half way up a fell on a Sunday afternoon then we’d be at my Gran’s at tea time for afternoon tea and there would always be lemon drizzle cake. She was such a lovely Gran, she passed away after suffering Alzheimer’s for to long when I was about 10 I think. My last memories of her are of her laid in her bed in her livingroom not knowing who anyone was, what a cruel disease. Still I over look those memories where I can and try to remember the many happy times instead, her putting on her costume jewellery before going dancing at the luncheon club. Playing in her pantry. Her meeting me from school and taking me to the bun shop and just what a warm, kind lady she was, always with the biggest smile…as you’ll see on the pic below (me with my Dad, Gran & Grandad)

An A,B,C meme of me…A silly something for the weekend !

This post is thanks to my husband ! He asked me to take part and do a meme. It is a little self-indulgent, but hey sometimes blogs are and it’s just for fun. I enjoyed reading my husbands, he has two blogs, he writes for MMA news etc and maintains http://veinofgalen.wordpress.com/, on top of training Jujitsu and his day job as a programmer and being an inspiring father to our 6 children. He’s my very own Clark Kent, suit and glasses one minute (although stylish small ones I should add not actual Clark Kent style ones of course ) and then changes in a flash at the mention of MMA in to his shock doctor sports cup and grappling pants hahaha, he will love me for that !. This is from his blog that’s on my blog roll under lunch break blog. He started it ages ago but got a few posts in and became busy with his MMA stuff so he’s only just started back on this blog. Anyway as I said this is just a bit of fun (though mine is sentimental in parts), but I’d love to read other’s if you decide to indulge and take part….I did but only because I can resist everything but temptation lol. Hope I get to read some other’s !

Here it is, A, B, and C….

A is for Antigua, the place we got married, just the two of us. We had the most wonderful week, I couldn’t have dreamt of a more perfect wedding or to have been marrying a more amazing person.

B is for Benjamin, now my new favourite word, thanks to my little blonde baby Ben. That and babies, I just love babies, as the saying goes ‘babies, what a wonderful way to start people’.

C is for Carolyn, the beautiful Auntie I miss so much, taken far to young (from breast cancer leaving behind her husband and my 2 cousins). She was a lady in the true sense of the word, and the epitome of strength and dignity. I think of her every day, daffodils will be out shortly everywhere, she loved them and I remember her teaching me the poem by Wordsworth, she loved literature. I love daffodils too but the sight of them often makes my heart feel sad that she’s no longer here to see them.

D is for Disability, because it plays such a huge part in my life and has taught me more about life than I might have learnt had i lived 6 times over.

E is for Egypt, I took my daughter to Taba one year, we visited Petra (a dream come true for me ) but the best part, seeing my 7-year-old daughter snorkeling the reefs all day with parrot fish. Wonderful. E is also for elephant, i just love elephants, they have a lovely sense of family too !

F is for Fairytales, I love a good fairy tale and I make no apology.

G is for Graham, he turned my life in to a real life fairy tale, he is my better half and my best friend and means more to me than he could know. My (almost) teenage daughter said to me the other day she hopes that one day she has a husband who cares about her as much as Graham does me, lovely to hear from a 12yr old

H Hedonism…I’ll be honest I love a bit ! lol

I is for Imogen, my beautiful whimsical daughter who I feel so proud of.

J is for Job because I dream of being able to earn mega loads of money for my family.J is also for Joanne, my name although I see myself more as a Jo or a Joey because I’m not the shiniest penny in the pot !

K is for Kyle, he is just a 5 star son in every way.

L is for Love, the only thing that has kept me here despite all the grief and heartache life sometimes throws (at all of us), is how much I love my children, husband and family.

M is for Mountains, one of my most favourite places to be is half way up a mountain, ok, in my case more a fell, but I used F for fairytale M is also for memories, the only thing we leave on this earth of any value to those that we love. My love of photography is capturing a memory.

N is for Night, often the only time I get alone with my husband.

O is for Owen my son, he teaches me about what it is to never give up despite the odds, he makes me so proud. O is also for Orchids because I had them in my bouquet and on our wedding cake and are my favourite flower.

P is for Paige, she is a real life miracle and makes me feel very humble and blessed to be her Mum. P is also for Penguin, I love Penguins and loved frozen planet.

Q Ques of course, I love and hate them in equal measure, more often than not they’re just a pain in the backside but then occasionally they provide a lovely little slot of time in which to indulge in random conversations with strangers, people watching or earwigging Q is also for quotes, I love them !

R is for Rainbow, who doesn’t love marvelling at the beauty of a rainbow.

S is for Summer my lovely sunny little girl so full of life, and of course the time of year. S is also for service stations, I know very few will understand this but I find them quite exciting, like airports, people coming and going and over priced nick knacks. My parent’s used to drive from the North East down to Devon and Cornwall with me at least once a year when I was growing up, think that’s when my affection for them began !

T is for Time, never enough of it !

U is for Up if ask my daughter who is 3, she loves this film and so do I actually.

V is for Vino, I love a glass of wine. V is also for Vena, my Mums middle name and her Mums name, we don’t know where it came from or the story behind it but wish I did.

Vena is in the center.

W is for Whitby, I introduced Graham to Whitby and he also fell for its quirky charm and rugged beauty….or could just have been the magpie fish and chips lol. Either way we both agree when those lottery numbers come up we’d buy a little bolt hold in Whitby.

X is for Xmas, my favourite time of year, also Graham proposed to me on Xmas morning in 2007, and Ben was born on my Grandads birthday Xmas Eve (2010). Plus it’s the one time of year my husband tolerates my irrational love of fairy lights, they are not tacky, they are beautiful little twinkley things that I’d adorn every room in the house with if Graham would allow it !

Y is for Yes…..because I say it way to much !!! honestly tell me you’ve had a busy week and you wish I’d come and clean your house for you and I’d say ‘yes, I’ll do that’ and then actually turn up with gloves and cleaning spray in hand, only at a time of convenience for you of course….D’oh, can’t help agreeing to do all sorts of things and then thinking ‘oohhhh’ afterwards !

Z is for Zazzy but my husband beat me to it with this one (fans of the Big Bang and Sheldon will get this) so Z is for Zizz meaning sparkle and vim, just because well I love a bit of sparkle and vim,who doesn’t !

And that concludes my A-Z of me silly meme