Mummy at the School Gate

God, wasn't yesterday hot?  The most skin I was prepared to bare was an sliver of an ankle. I find the fashion of longskirts and maxi dresses very useful for disguising lumps and bumps, especially the empire lines which fall straight from the bust.  However, mine was topped off with a cardi to disguise the fat.  Bart was surprised when he saw me.  The combats and the T-shirts replaced with a lovely flowing (black) boob tube dress....could I really go through the day without  my uniform and still get "down and dirty"? "Mummy, you look nice" he said  "Are you wearing makeup? You normally look like a boy". BH countered it with  "Woah, where are YOU going, hot lady! " I must say, I felt nice.  It felt good to wear a dress and feel feminine for once. It wasn't restrictive and I could move quickly even if the flip flops kept flipping off in my haste to get somewhere fast. I was able mow the lawn, do the washing, and walk the dogs.  I co

Now Mimi is a beautiful child. She's the kind of child that people come up to in the street and exclaim "Oh my goodness, isn't she pretty!" It's not a question but a statement of fact. When she was a baby, she wasn't so pretty...in fact she was a bit ugly, looking back. But as my ma-in-law would say, she's grown into her face. To look at her one would think that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Her curly hair and her chocolate brown eyes melt many hearts and she's going to be absolutely stunning. Mimi can do no wrong. She's also a "mean table layer!" She does it properly; making sure the knives and forks are placed correctly.  Unlike her brothers she clears the table of the debris before laying.....and puts it away.  Her bothers just slide stuff to one side or lay the places on top of the piles of papers.  But she's more than just her face.  She has a personality. She's feisty. She's funny, and she has a great turn of ph

It's nice to know that there are some things that will make me happy no matter what.  Some things can change from week to week, but there are somethings that make me sigh with utter contentment. The static things that will always be there gives me  the greatest sense of peace. I puff up with pure joy when I visualise them in my minds eye. I guess these are the same for most people. Beach at West Wittering For me they are: My familyThe sea A blue sky A great book. On any given day there might be any number of things that brings me joy. Today my reasons to be joyful, thankful or just plain grateful are: Any coffee chain where I can go and drink my coffee in peace and read the papers without a child asking me questions. Guilt free me time!  I jump on the Internet and check my mail...for free!  I used to be a Starbucks freak, but have since decided that their ethical stance is not as ethical as I once thought..plus their coffee in the UK has gone right down the pan!! U

You may have noticed (or not) that I have a sidebar on my page which indicates weight that I will/have lost in preparation for the next few weeks. I have been preparing myself for the inevitability that my clothes no longer fit and that it's cheaper to lose the weight than it is to buy new clothes. We've had BB (nephew) staying with us for some time and he has been extolling the virtues of eating properly, organically and with lots of protein.  As an ex vegetarian, my diet is pretty awful.  Hangups from a bygone era still play a major part in my choice of food, but after listening to BB for the past few months and watching him pop his supplements with regularity I became interested.  He was healthy (OK...so he's young) fit (he's young) and has so much energy (he's young) that I wondered whether I was ever like that.  BB showed me some stuff from the legendary Charles Poliquin, and to be honest, I have taken it all on board.  BB didn't want to train or coach

OK, I promised that I would do a book review in return for the book!  Well, I couldn't really do a book review without it could I? It's taken me an age, as I really needed some time to sit down and take it seriously...and I'm so glad that I did.  Normally, I just plough through them, with no thought to the work and effort that has gone into writing, but wishing I could write as well and wondering how I could fit in the time between the shopping, cooking and cleaning, to write my best seller.. ..not a chance!!  The Making of Us by Lisa Jewell .  Thought provoking in the main, Lisa Jewell's portrayal of a children alone, reuniting and  forming their own nucleus. A reality that many will face now and in the future. Lydia, Dean, Robyn and Daniel all joined in a search, to find the truth, themselves and each other. Each of them are told of the circumstances surrounding their births, and each of them have walked a separate and traumatic path to adulthood.  The story

I need a new bike, and I want a Pashley Princess.  I'm fed up with the great weights of mountain bikes, and bikes where I have to lean so far forward I'm practically laying face down.  I don't want 25 gears or an aluminium frame so light I could carry it across the lake.  I want to ride on something sedate and be fitting of someone of my age. I want to get on a bike in a dress, with the wind in my hair and a basket to put my flowers in after I've plucked them from the hedgerow.  I want to pedal effortlessly through the maze of the woods, and I don't want mud up the back of my calves. Pashley Princess-image kindly supplied by Pashley. Then I came down to earth with a bump!!  Have you seen the prices of those beauties?  I could buy 10 pairs of good shoes for the kids, or  a holiday (for me solo!) at a health farm!  I could pay off my credit card bill in one foul swoop, or I could buy at least 3 pairs of vertiginous heels from coveted designers...ones I can only

My mum has always popped out wise sayings at appropriate moments and when I was younger, I couldn't understand what she was going on about.  It's only now that I have kids myself, I find myself repeating the same phrases that she did and actually understanding the meaning behind them.   My kids have no idea what I'm going on about as they take each sentence as something which is said by their mother when she's trying to offer advice. They have to question me a million times about what I actually mean.  Very often Bart will say "Why don't you just say what you mean?  It really is annoying when you don't get to the point!" Mimi will look at me blankly then just carry on with what she's doing.  She has no idea what I've just said, but doesn't question it.  She knows it means something, but isn't really bothered about it. I can see it in her eyes. I can read her like a book.  "Ma, I have no idea what you're saying....and really I