The Gallery: Animals

Since this weeks Gallery theme is animals, i thought i would share some pics of our own animals - our pets Mittens (a cat) and Billy (a Beagle pup)

So here they are!

Meet Mittens - as a kitten

And Mittens as a 2 year old cat

 

And meet Billy our Beagle pup as he was...

And Billy these days :)

Making Friends As An Adult?

I am the sort of person who has always found it difficult to make friends.
Im not really sure why, i just dont have that natural social flair that most seem to possess and i find myself feeling self concious and uncomfortable in social situations.

Im not one to approach a group of people, nor one to like being the centre of attention and having all eyes on me when i am speaking.

I am the one who keeps to myself, who no one really notices is there and when they do discover me, exclaim loudly that i am so quiet and kept to myself they they dont actually know anything about me!

Am i Shy? i suppose i was classed as being shy when i was younger, but funnily enough as an adult i have no problem in voicing my opinion, or standing up for myself and my loved ones. I am also pretty blunt and quite brutally honest and some people dont quite get my well meaning point. I also have quite a dry and witty sense of humour and some of the things i come out with dont always get recognised within the humour i meant them in and this can cause unintended offence.

Risking making myself sound like a socially backward fool, i will say that i always make an effort to smile at people, say hello, make small talk and so on. I am all the old ladies best friend at the bus stop and i would always run to someones aid if they were in need, stranger or not.

So why cant i make friends and relax into the comfortable friendships i see go on around me?

 Maybe its because i dont make a good friend. I dont follow normal friend etiquette. I am terrible for picking up the phone and giving people a call, and i am awful for arranging to meet up with people. I always have so many good intentions but before i know it its 10pm on Monday night and within the blink of an eye its already Friday and the week has flown by. Where it goes i dont know. Its not as if i do anything in particular with my time, i just seem to run after the children all day long and cook, clean and before i know it, the day has finished and its too late to pick the phone up as had been so well intended when i woke up that morning.

Im not very good with words either so sympathetic chats dont come easily to me. I just dont know what to say to people when something terrible has happened. I dont have those comforting words people like to hear and although i do feel for them, i struggle to get that out and worry that i will come across as cold and unfeeling.

Maybe i give off a vibe, or put up a wall. Having been badly let down through no fault of my own in the past by people i considered to be friends, i am very wary of people. Women can be extremely mean about each other and love nothing more than a good gossip and drama. I find that when i invite people into my home, i spend the entire day cleaning frantically before they arrive, and then the whole time they are here shifting uncomfortably in my seat picking faults in my home and my appearence and wondering if they see these faults too and then wishing they would go home so i can relax in my safe haven.

I never just relax back in my seat, open up and be myself. There is only one person i can do this with and thats my cousin Sian but we grew up like sisters so its bit different with her.

The reason for this rambling post was sparked by a mum i know from Tayla's school popping over this afternoon with her little girl who is friendly with Tayla. We only live down the street from each other, we pass each other at school every day, she was in a relationship with my brothers best friend, so therefore knew the same circle of people and we had always said hello, how are you? but never once had we met up, just us and the kids. Why? Neither of us could find a reason.

So over they came today, offered by me since i had heard she was having a bad time of it lately and we had tea (hot chocolate for the non tea drinker in me) and the kids played, we chatted and i think, we had a nice time.

I received a text message a little later that read -

'Thanks hun for having us over, you make a good brew so i'll be back again lol. Shame we've never really spoken before x'

That says it all really. Potential friends are right there to be made and yet i dont make them due to my own insecurities about how i look, how my home looks to the outside world and my own lack of self confidence to make a friend and then make the effort to keep in touch with that friend and make a friendship work.

So.. i think i need to give myself a good talking to about not being so lazy in keeping the relationship going, make the effort and to relax a little and just be myself!

School Uniform Shopping - Take Two!

Up bright and early, i was ready for day two and hopefully the final day of our school uniform shopping quest.
Today John was coming with us, and then leaving us to meet Sian and her two once he had to go to work.

We decided to get the worst bit over with first and went into Clarks. 'I hate this shop' John declared after 5 minutes 'Everyone hates this shop' i replied to the amusement of the sales assistant that overheard me. Oops.
Bumping into another mum from the girls school we got chatting about shoe sizes, rates children grow at and what we had and hadnt bought, where we had and hadnt bought it from and before i knew it, my ticket number had sailed past and we were now on Number 32. Our ticket was number 31.
'Dont worry' I was assured 'We'll just serve you next and then number 33 can go after you and so on'.
This sounded simple in theory but in a shop full of frazzled mothers with several children all needing school shoes at once, it was anything but.

Having single-handedly destroyed the shops ticket and queue system amid complaints and hurried explanations as to why i was being served before the lady with ticket number 33 we managed to get the girls feet measured. Tayla is a 2F and Katie a 10G incase anyone was wondering.

We were then presented with several boxes of shoes. I didnt like any of them on Tayla and only one pair on Katie. Why oh why do they insist on bringing out the patent leather and of course SHINY! shoes for small children? All mothers know that they get scuffed and ruined 5 minutes after being put on and you could almost cry as you watch your money go rolling down the drain as you trudge to yet another shoe shop for replacements.

So feeling quite daring and almost naughty for waiting in line, throwing the shop into chaos, getting the girls feet measured and then deciding to leave the shoes on offer 'To see what i can find next door' (at the local M&S) i looked around for Sophie who was wandering around just a minute ago.

On a quick scan of the shop i realised she was gone. 'Wheres Sophie' I said to John who immediately panicked and began looking around a shop that was plain to see contained no Sophie.

After a few seconds, that actually felt like hours, i spotted a blue t-shirt and brown hair running around outside the shop, in the middle of a busy high street, arms stretched out wide, chasing pigeons.

'Sh*t!' John declared as he legged it out of the shop to grab our devil spawn who had just sent another round of pigeons flapping their wings in panic into the air and i had to agree.

God only knows what could have happened to her in this day and age, and thank god it hadnt.

After a brief row about who the worst parent was, we went into M&S where John loudly wondered why they always put the Children's section on the top floor when alot of people have pushchairs. Fair point i agreed, it would make more sense to put this section on the ground floor. It would save the queues at the lift for a start.

Anyway, i managed to find the missing items from yesterday and got Katie a grey pinafore, and Tayla some white socks. During this time John left us (and his bank card) and went off to work with shouts of 'Bye Daddy!' 'See you soon!' from the girls who managed to be heard all across the shop floor and i completed our purchases.

However i didnt manage to find any better (and cheaper) shoes for Katie so meekly back to Clarks it was where i bought the original pair she had first tried on.

Our next stop was Pizza Hut, where i had promised the girls a lunch buffet. Meeting up with Sian and her girls, we got a table for 7 and settled down.

After the drink orders were done and the waitress agreeing that Sophie and Lacie didnt really need to be charged for a whole childrens meal, we helped ourselves to the buffet one by one.

I was quite impressed with what i found. There was 2 big tubs of hot pasta, 4 or 5 pizzas that were replenished as soon as they ran out, a big pan of garlic bread fingers, and unlimited access to the salad bar which was also restocked as soon as it ran out.

The girls all ate lots, Tayla went up around 3 times or more! But i only managed one plate. I was disappointed in myself but what can you do. I have more of an appetite in the evenings unfortunately as its when im sitting around comfort eating out of boredom and not when im chasing three children around trying to get them seated and fed.

The girls at Pizza Hut today

And Sophie with a bright orange face

When the bill came we were given another surprise. It was around £10 less than we had worked it out to be.

For two adults and 3 children plus 7 drinks it should have come to around £37 something but instead it was £29 something.

At the bottom of the bill we discovered they had taken off 2 more of the kids meals as part of their 'Kids eat free' offer. So we ended up paying for 2 adults, 1 child and 7 drinks all in all. Not a bad lunch if i do say so myself!

After this, Sian decided that her two were driving her too mad to continue on and so took them home while i took mine on a lunch box and school bag hunt. After trying to persuade Tayla that the Rapunzel backpack was a bit too babyish for a girl nearing 8 years of age and to please go with the far more trendy and grown up Fabulous Sharpay or whatever her name is, we ended up £30 worse off in the Disney store but came out with 1 Sharpay Backpack, 1 Rapunzel Lunchbox (Katie) and 1 Rapunzel PE Bag (Also for Katie) but no Rapunzel lunchbox flask to match the lunchbox. Out of stock until next Thursday apparently.

After a minor grumble we headed into BHS where i found Tayla a black PE bag with white hearts on it. Far better than the gaudy looking thing she had picked up and again another lecture about her getting a little older now and therefore needing to aquire a bit more taste in things.

One more stop later and we found ourselves in Next - one of my most favourite shops.

I can spend hours looking round Next at all the girls clothes, and i could easily and happily spend hundreds of pounds in there too for i do love their seasonal ranges! But i had come for one thing only, and i knew i would find it in there - 1 Peppa Pig Lunchbox and Cup for Miss Sophie.

No other lunchbox would have done and no other option would have sufficed, so with more money spent, we now had 2 children with lunchboxes and 1 without.

By now everyone was tired and fed up so instead of trudging round trying in vain to find a decent lunchbox for Tayla i decided to call it a day.

On our arrival home i ordered Tayla the shoes she had tried on yesterday in good old well known supermarket and decided to worry about her lunchbox another day.

So with one child having gone missing, a whole shop sent into chaos, and two angry bank managers later.. we very nearly, have almost finished our School shopping for this year :-D

School Uniform Shopping - Take One!

The day had come. It was time to take two children (luckily mum was available to have the third), school uniform shopping.

Envisaging images of elbows and long queues i mentally prepared myself for this trip and arranged to go with my cousin Sian (you will see her name pop up alot. We are usually always together, cousins that have a bond like sisters, etc) and her eldest child Hollie who like Katie, will be starting Reception in September at the same school that mine go to.

So we set off and reached our shopping destination. Not too bad, i marvelled once we had parked, got out of the car, forgotten a child, gone back to the car to fetch Hollie who was trying not to cry, giggled at our bad parenting to no one in particular, put a £1 in for the trolley and got through the doors of a well known supermarket chain.

Where were the usual crowds, people squeezing past each other and the endless queues at the tills?

This was a strange and alien world i had entered. Still, not one to complain about such a miracle we started to investigate the huge school clothing section on offer at the back of the store.

This year i was shopping for two children. Katie needed new everything. The nursery she attended before hand had its own style of jumper and t-shirt so she didnt already have the school uniform. Its also very hard to judge what will fit now, and what has room to grow/what she'll grow out of quickly when you have sizes 4-5 and 5-6 years in front of you. Katie turns 5 in November. I didnt want to get things that would be enormous on her but didnt want her to outgrow them all within 2 months either.

Holding things up to her body and using my eyes to judge as best i could, (and yes, all mothers do this!) i managed to get just about everything she needed in a mix of 4-5 and 5-6 year sizes.

The only semi problem with going shopping with Sian and Hollie though, was that Katie and Hollie have ended up with the same everything. Same PE trainers, same grey skirt, same polo shirts, and so on. Although i suppose if they get them muddled up, it wont matter so much as we are family who live about 100 yards or so from each other and can easily swap them back over.

Luckily Tayla (my 7 year old) didnt need half as much. She still has items of clothing that fit her from last term so again by holding clothing up to body judging, i got her the things that needed replacing and made my way to the checkout.

£83 lighter and we made our way back to my house where my mum was looking after Sophie and Sian's youngest Lacie.

Part one of the Back To School Shopping was complete!

Tomorrow comes Part two: School shoes, 1 grey pinafore for Katie, White socks for Tayla, Lunch boxes for all 3 children, PE bags x 2 and 1 backpack for Tayla.

Whose idea was it to have kids again??

R2BC ~ Reasons to be Cheerful

My reasons to be cheerful this week;

1. Despite all the rain, we have had lots of warmth and sunshine inbetween. The sun always cheers me up when it comes out.

2. The school holidays are almost over! I love the kids dearly but they, and i, are very ready to go back to school now.

3. I am ready, at last, to pass my driving test! This has taken me a year to get to and i have overcome many fears and phobia's along the way.

4. I have bought almost all the kids school uniforms in one fell swoop! Just a few more things to get tomorrow and we are all done!

5. I have discovered Ben & Jerrys cookie ice cream sandwich. This is absolute HEAVEN on earth and if you havent tried one then do.. ASAP.

6. I also discovered that ASDA is the only place that sells my childhood favourite drink - UmBongo. I quickly purchased many cartons of this today.

7. Eastenders is having a good drama filled week. I love it when i can look forward to watching eastenders of an evening.

8. I have found a cheap obedience class for my naughty puppy Billy close by. Im hoping we can start that soon.

I think thats it for this week!

The Gallery - World Photography Day

This is my first time joining in with The Gallery but given that im a photographer, i thought i should take part in World Photography Day.

This photo to me symbolises alot. Firstly little girls who love to dress up (dont all little girls) but the fact that they were all together (they're sisters and cousins) and were having fun on a rainy day indoors. They then danced around to music after this photo was taken and had alot of fun together during the afternoon.

The relationship between the girls is a special one and one i hope they all continue to have as they get older.



Parenting Sins

For no reason in particular, other than to avoid the tidying up i thought i would compile a list of the sort of parent i am, and the sins i commit. We all do it, this could be fun! I aim to be as honest as i can without causing myself embarassment or having my children taken away (hehe).

So here we go.

1. Sometimes i let the TV babysit my children. I lure my youngest with the promise of a Peppa Pig DVD and the two oldest with whatever latest Disney film they are into just so i can have some peace for a while.

2. I have been known to 'rest my eyes' for a little while during dvd/tv time and catch up on a few well needed Zzzz's.

3. I have been known to let my 7 year old make breakfast for herself and her sisters before i am out of bed. I figured its only a bit of cereal and milk.. what could go wrong? Plus i am promoting independence and valuable life lessons!

4. My children go to bed at the same time in the holidays as they do on school nights. This is mostly due to the fact that they get up at the same time each morning regardless of their bedtime the night before, but it is also because by 7pm i am desperately craving peace, quiet and Eastenders. None of which can be achieved when you have 3 girls running around.

5. I bake with the kids when i fancy a cake. Guilty as charged! If i fancy something sweet and sugary, in a cake or fairy cake form, i have this super fun idea to bake lots of chocolate and vanilla sponge fairy cakes! The kids love it and i get my fix.

6. I over indulge at Christmas. I am famous for it and its not a good thing. I look at their lists of presents that i have bought (this has to be done otherwise id forget half of it and find it 6 months later tucked in a corner somewhere) and i panic that they simply dont have enough and will have a rubbish Christmas. This is then compensated by panic buying on Christmas Eve, getting told off by John and then regretting my actions in the New Year when we a) have no room for all this stuff and b) they are already bored with it.

7. Sometimes i see them doing things they shouldnt and just pretend i havent seen it just because i cant be bothered to deal with it at that time. Very bad i know but if it was dangerous it would be a different story. Its the small things like making a mess, getting a biscuit out of the cupboard etc. Sometimes i just dont want to deal with it!

8. We dont always have a nutritious meal. I have been known to whack in the fish fingers, dippers, waffles and chips on a few occasions. Im sure im not alone in this and i do make sure i cook some healthy, nutritious meals to placate my guilt for a while after.

9. I try to be, but just am not an organised mummy. We are always late for everything. Even our own birthday parties. You can guarantee that the other guests will pretty much all arrive at the venue before we do. We also do not have shelves and big tubs and boxes to store games, puzzles and toys in so that they are neatly stacked away at the end of the day and easily accessible. Ours are shoved under the bed, often in broken boxes or spread across the room so that when ever a game or puzzle is dragged out, half the pieces are missing and it cant be played with anyway.

10. I am not a very pro-active kind of mum. I dont take my kids out all day every day, we are known for frequenting the local park most days to burn off some energy and pass the time (or get out of the hopeless task of housework while the kids are off school). I am not a very arty and crafty mummy either. We bake, and sometimes i will buy craft kits for rainy days but we dont do model making out of loo rolls and toothpaste boxes or decide to turn a random delivery box into a house or car or the like. The chaos and mess it causes in my head is enough to put me off before ive even suggested it out loud.

But overall as with all the other mummies out there, i do try to take them on days out where possible, i try to get the right balance between all the food groups, i teach them right from wrong and to have good manners. I can take them anywhere without worrying that they will show me up and for all my parenting sins, i have three, happy, healthy little girls!

Cant be all bad eh? ;-)