I. Can. Jump. Hiiiiiiiiggggghhhhheestttt!!!!

Confounding weather….

We had such a busy weekend. It was the school craft sale! I’ve been madly crocheting away at things to sell since February for last Saturday and I sold a few things, which was more than I expected! Sunday was a wash out here, Mr.K managed to rig up a tent to carry on sanding down the rusting heap MGB roadster outside and the little man decided he needed to have his scooter put down to two wheels.

So, by the time my daughter had finished with Gardening Club this evening we all NEEDED to get a blast of spring air and to put in to play our ‘Home Sports Evening’ plan for the Mark Warner Holidays Active Family Challenge!!!

This week is

Week 3 (20th – 26th May)

Get sporty – active family healthy competition!

We had a brief conference about this one. We are (so far) a football free family, I appreciate that might change as the little man gets bigger but Mr.K is totally a petrol head. GP, Moto GP, two or four wheels, he doesn’t seem to care, as long as it’s charging around a circuit and there is (apparently) some skill involved, he’s happy…  I’m happy to keep it like that, so football was out. My daughter would have adored Go Carting, I remember what a speed freak she was on the pedal tractors last year. I’m not sure my nerves could take it!

I asked the small people “What would you like to do for a ‘home sports day?’” and they answered “LETS GO TO THE PARK!” Which is actually a pretty standard answer in this house.

So we went to the park…

There were five of us in the end, the little lady’s best friend and Mummy came too.

They scooted all the way there, the little lady was fastest. She is quite thoughtfully fearless when it comes to speed and has a great sense of balance. Unlike her brother who is cautious and has very little balance (and even less thought so I’m thrilled he is cautious!)Scooting on only two wheels was a first for the little lady’s friend, she did really well testing her balance and getting a feel for it.

All the recent mad sprouting of dandelions have now resulted in lots and lots of dandelion clocks, the race was on to see who could get the most seeds in the air at once! The little lady’s friend won that one…

Then we had, who could balance longest, can we balance better as a team, who can jump highest. Who can push the round-about fastest, who climbs the climbing wall quickest.

Then we had who can whinge the loudest about coming home again…. But that’s just fine because it means they had a good time.

Watch out for the tweets about our activities on twitter (@kailexness) using the tag #mwactive, you will also find the other bloggers taking part of the challenge through that tag.

So next week we ‘Enjoy a splash about ’ with some watery activity…

I must admit, I can wait!

Splish Splash Splosh!

Going for a spin!

Greetings!

Spring has bust out all over hasn’t it! Perfect timing too, as the lovely people at Mark Warner Holidays have asked my family and I to take part in an Activity Challenge.

Each week, they have suggested a theme for us to spend an hour being active together. This week the theme was ‘Go for a Spin’.

We have many ways of spinning here, the little lady wiggles an amazing hoola hoop and is proud of her two wheel scootering prowess, the little man spins a mean fast bowl on wii bowling, its always good to prize the control out of his hand!

As they both had new bicycles for Christmas, and the hints of ‘going around the block’ have been getting really loud since the sunshine came out, it seem the perfect solution! After a brief discussion to map out a route, shorts were put on and legs shaved (only mine though!) and we were off!

The little lady is a bit of a speed freak… I wonder where she gets that from *innocent face*

The little man needed a little more pedal power.

A brief discussion on which was is right… ‘Turn Right!’

Stabilizers are a hindrance on rutted tracks, too much rear wheel spin meant a little push was necessary!

But they both refuse to have them taken off, we are working on that.

We caught up with the little lady to see the ducks and canada geese on the reservoir.

The little man took a topple into some nettles, he was very brave whist daddy applied an emergency dock leaf.  It’s kind of a rite of passage for childhood, isn’t it… I fell in nettles at Goodrich Castle when I was about 8, do you remember where you fell in nettles? I bet you do….

And then we were off again!

With a little more push power for the way home.

With a well earned treat at the end!

Which we shared with Sophie Cat.

We had such great fun! So that was week one. Here is what is coming up over May with the Mark Warner Active Family Blogger Challenge.

Week 1 (6th – 12 May)

Go for a spin – active family on wheels (cycling, skating etc.)

Week 2 (13th – 19th May)

Go green – active family in the park (running, ball games etc.)

Week 3 (20th – 26th May)

Enjoy a splash about -active family in the water (swimming, watersports etc.)

Week 4 (27th May – 2nd June)

Get sporty – active family healthy competitions (football, home sports day etc.)

I’ll be tweeting the activities we take part in on twitter (@kailexness) using the tag #mwactive, you will also find the other bloggers taking part of the challenge through that tag.

BUT!Don’t go yet! I’d love you to let me know in the comments what you have been doing recently to get active, or any idea for the future posts on the themes suggested.

It’s spring at last! Lets get out there and get our hearts racing!

Blown Away by Geocaching!

Bit windy today! It certainly was on top of Cold Kitchen Hill in Wiltshire. Today, after a 1 year and 7 day break, we went geocaching again.

 

It was a long slog up to the top of the hill but the view was incredible!

And thankfully we found the cache, the smalls get despondent if we don’t!

and then we found another one on the way back to the car.

Lovely spot. We will return with fishing nets!!

If you’d like to know how to start geocaching visit the groundspeak website and get out there!!

 

Pussycat pussycat, where have you been!!

You know those times when you know something just happened, feel it in your boots but without actually seeing proof you have to shrug and get on with life?

The school my daughter goes to is 5 minutes away by car. It’s a small village school, the parking is terrible. In the mornings they run a stop and drop so we don’t have to park, just drive up and the smalls get out and go in. They can do this in the evening so we park at the top of the hill and charge down a quiet lane to get to school. It’s really steep and has worked wonders on my glutes

Fellow Instgramers will know where I mean as I’ve taken many pictures on the school run.

Thursday night, collecting my girl, I parked up in the usual spot. Turning off the car I heard a funny noise. I was a little early so I was sitting fiddling with my phone as is my wont. I heard the noise again so I got out and looked under the car, nothing there! One of the other Mum’s asked me what I was doing so I explained “I thought I heard a cat, I must be going mad!” School pick up continued and when we got back up the lane there was no noise, no cat, nothing. We came home.

Later that evening my moggy, Pippa, came in soaking wet and fed up, she’s not keen on coming in but it’s been very wet. My husband and I shouted and shouted for our other cat Sophie but she didn’t come. She’s a creature of comfort and is usually in when it rain. Sophie also has a second home 4 doors up the road where she often spends the day curled up in their greenhouse; naturally we thought she must have found a warm spot and fallen asleep, she’s getting a bit scatty with age.

This morning it was pouring with rain, I mean sheets of the stuff, it did all night too. As Friday is not a Nursery day for my son, I let my daughter have the choice of stop and drop or parking and walking. She does like to be walked down to the classroom and taken in so even though we were going to get soaked we opted to park up and walk. I’m sure if you are a Mum doing a school run, you know how it goes.

1) Park Car

2) Wait for traffic to ebb to get out.

3) Get round to nearside then start yelling at the kids to “Unbuckle, get out, don’t forget your coat/bookbag/lunchbox, get a move on, don’t hit your sister, you can do your own zip” whatever…

At this point, although I was being really loud myself, I could here loud and sorrowful mews from the bushes at the side of the road. I called out “Sophie!” but there was no response, so I bustled the smalls off down the lane to school saying “We will have a proper look when we get back.”

On return to the car, my son said, “There’s something under the car Mummy!” and low and behold, the cat, our cat Sophie, stuck her very wet head out from under the car! She was really pleased to see us! I managed to scoop her up by her scruff (shes not that keen on being picked up) and we all got in the car.

She obviously knew she needed to behave because she sat next to my son on the back seat all the way home!

Daft Mog!

The trouble is I have no idea where she hid under the car to manage to ride so far relatively safely, shes completely unharmed. I really hope she doesn’t do it again!

Bluebell Wood

We are heading off on a round robin of visits this weekend, it occurred to me that I might just need to take my phone. Modern technology is so incredible isn’t it.

So, this is a bit of a test post and a bit of a ‘I love Bluebells post’.

Now I shall run off to the lap top and see if it works….

Narked Shopper…

I went shopping today.

Not an unusual occurrence you’d think.  We have a family party at the weekend and I’d like something new to wear… Trouble is, I have a deeply seated aversion shopping. I hate it. I especially hate it in the sales. Not for me the searching through racks for bargains, all shapes and colours bunched together tightly and mixed up, I shudder at the thought.  If I have to go shopping, I like it laid out neatly in size order, preferable colour coded too… And choice, I like choice.  Not much to ask is it?

Today was particularly bad because I wanted to replace a much loved sundress I’ve had for 2 years, it’s showing age, I should have guessed I was on a hiding to nothing really, can you ever replace a much loved item?I trundled off in my best underwear to the city…

I walked bloody miles…

It seems that this season, the fashion industry has decreed that I either get to wear dresses that just pass my bottom or I have to look like some 1970′s frump in a maxi dress that even in heels I risk tripping over (yes, I’m a short arse). I’m also supposed to look like a ’70′s frump in brown, navy or some garish tropical print that I wouldn’t even wear on holiday….

*sigh*

In fact, most of the shops I have come to rely on having reasonable choice. for many tastes, just seemed to be sparsely filled with cheaply made rubbish, is this a knock on effect of the recession? Money isn’t being spent by the consumer so the shops have to buy cheaper stock, which people don’t like and don’t buy… Terrible downward spiral

I also needed to buy my daughter a pretty cardi. Every shop is filled to the brim with pretty t’shirts, shorts and sundresses. No jumpers or cardi’s to be seen anywhere. Erm This is Britain people. It rains here and not just on Wednesdays!!!

So I came home empty handed (again) and now face the dilemma of where to go tomorrow because I still need something to wear… Usually I love the fact I live in the middle of nowhere, today I’m resentful of the fact I need to drive for an hour to find decent shops, cost of fuel and all that  (It’s okay, I’m not intelligent enough to be a political blogger, I will leave that gem to them.).

I know this isn’t really the fault of the fashion industry but it’s them I’m narked with, so it is now…

The One Where I Cast Out The Bloggyblock Demons and Talk Teeth.

I have blogged a grand total of 7 times this year. It’s April, this is unheard of. I’ve made every excuse under the sun. I’ve been busy, scribbling ditties elsewhere, doing stuff, being other places; but the hard truth is I’ve been blog blocked. I’ve had something to write about that has been burning me up inside but I couldn’t. I’ve felt guilty, I’ve felt failure and I’ve felt shame.  Time has passed and slowly, the stress has ebbed away and I’ve been able to talk to specialists and other people about it. I’ve discovered it wasn’t my fault, I’m not to blame, I did nothing wrong that hundreds of parents aren’t doing right now but the guilt and shame burn.

Someone new told me they were reading my blog this week and I wondered why they were bothering, I mean, I haven’t been here for months! So I came and looked at my stats and the posts people are reading. I was astounded. People still come to this little corner of the internets and read my shit every day! My stats are nothing to write home about in the scheme of things and as I don’t interact with the ‘Mummy blogging’ world very often, I don’t suppose my readership is ever the same person twice but someone comes…

I was touched, really… and I thought to myself, why are you not blogging? My answer again was, I’m blog blocked, unless I get this shame off my chest and out there I may never blog again. So I’m going to do it. Don’t judge me too harshly, I never saw this one coming and I honestly wonder if you have either…

My daughter is an angel, yes, so she has her moments but as a parent I really ‘don’t know she’s born’ as they say. People point out this is to my credit, I’ve worked reasonably hard (without getting all stage Mum) at this parent malarkey for 5 & half years and she is a darling (I’m biased I know). I love her unreservedly as any mother should and I always try to do what is best for them, I guess this is why this whole teeth thing bites so hard.

Last September we visited the dentist, just as school was starting, the dentist advised me that my girl had a tiny cavity in one of her back molars and to take care of it. Anyone who knows my personal hygiene routine will know that I’m obsessive about teeth brushing.  After enduring two sets of orthodontics and having to still wear a retainer at night (attractive fact about me not many people know ) I am almost OCD about caring for my teeth, I brush, floss and mouthwash at least twice a day, I only have one filling (last month) and still have 2 baby teeth.  Installing a good dental hygiene routine in my smalls has been very high on the agenda.  So I was horrified she had a cavity! They rarely have sweets, fizzy drinks are far and few in between and never coke. No added sugar anything really.

At the same time as this School were hammering her with healthy eating, no chocolate (rightly so) in the lunch box, I even wrote a post about it, so thinking I was doing the right thing I started buying those rather cool fruit smoothie drinks, you know, the ones everyone loves (and me, it has to be said) with the rather brilliant fridge magnets, you know, the ‘really good for them’ ones with the ‘part of your 5′ a day tag. Healthy stuff that. I’m a good Mum I am *hangs head in shame* It’s not just those, she has always been a fruit magnet and would still prefer a bowl of grapes to jelly and ice cream and good on her!

Most children would have been fine, my son got the same, he’s fine. I drink it all the time, I’m fine.

Not so my little Angel, she has very weak teeth enamel and her teeth disintegrated. Well two of them did, her top ‘D’s. Ironically not the tooth we had been warned about. Food started getting trapped in the cavities and she started feeling pain. Pain that I helped create. It took 4 months for this to become a very painful problem.

I know you are probably sitting there thinking I’m being melodramatic about this. I can’t stress to you enough how guilty I feel about my baby feeling this pain, having to go through having the remains of the teeth removed under anesthetic. If I was to explain to you graphically what it feels like to hold your child’s hand as they go under anesthetic, to hand them over to other people to put right something you helped go wrong. I’d never be able to capture the feeling in words.  I can’t explain with enough forcefulness how terrible this made me feel, I’m supposed to keep her safe and look after her. Yes, I’m whipping myself. I think I deserve it, though I am coming to terms with it.

Every single dentistry professional has shaken their head and said, fruit is a real danger to enamel. As we parents are encouraged to make our kids eat their 5 a day to be ‘healthy’. My daughters reception class gets free fruit for snack, I’m sure I’m not the only parent who has over looked the acidity issue, the possible damage it can cause.  Yes, of course they have to eat fruit! I’m not saying stop but did you know that a simple swish around the mouth with water can significantly reduce the acid, thus reducing the risk? I didn’t know that. Perhaps I’m naive.

My little girl is a trouper, she has come through this amazingly, she screamed for 30 minutes after she came around, mostly because she was scared and then she wanted to go to the park.

Slowly, I’ve been pulling back the pieces of my smashed up stress head. I know I’ve been intolerable to be around and I’ve lost a few friends in the process due to being at the end of my tolerance.  I’ve opened up to a few people and I’ve been astounded by how many of them have said they have been through this with their children, or been through it themselves. People who I know look after their children extremely well.  I’m believing again that perhaps I do okay at this Mum thing and getting this out into the blog is a major step forward in being able to take ownership of my feelings. I don’t suppose it will ever go away… Not completely, but then I’m a mother and this comes with the territory.

If just one person reads this and thinks, I need to be aware that fruit, whilst an excellent healthy choice, needs consideration, I will be thrilled.

This was a hard post to write, the fact that I have written it is a leap forward for me. I hope to be here more often.

Little boxes…

I am an appalling blogger…  I think to myself, one post a week, how hard can that be? Honestly, how hard can that be! and I sit here in front of the screen and make that ‘uugggghhhheeeegggg’ noise as my brain empties all over the floor, (it’s quite cathartic actually, perhaps I should try to blog before sleeping #insomniac!) and I can think of nothing… So I go to (one of my many) tumblr(s) instead or think of different things more suited to how my brain is working at the time… Then in the shower today it dawned on me that this is my issue, I am a box person and that is just how I work.

My head is full of little boxes.

I compartmentalise, it’s a coping strategy developed from an early age. It works like this.

Wake up – Mummy mode

School run – Shouty mummy mode

9am – 2pm – Adult Female Mode

2pm – 3pm – Panic housekeeping mode due to slacking off in Adult Female Mode

3pm – 7pm Mummy Mode, may include shouty mummy mode

7pm – bedtime Wife mode

etc…

of course each mode contains many many finer distinctions. I like things separate in boxes, this is the family blog, I tried fictional writing here, didn’t work so that is elsewhere, I had to put my resolutions elsewhere too so I could think about them separately. (Yes Jenny, I will get back on track with that shortly, I know, slacker right!)  You only have to look at my tumblr to see how it works, 10 on one feed because they can’t all go on the same one, that would be messy, I need themes…

Little boxes…

I bet you are wondering where I’m going with this? The simple answer is I don’t know. It’s a cotton wool thought from a cotton wool brain, I vent and then I’m happier. Blogging does not need to be all constructive useful postings of the informative variety, well, not on this blog anyway!

I do wonder if this prevents people from seeing the whole picture, the actual Julie beneath the boxes. It’s got to be a bit psychotic in a OCD sort of way and perhaps the whole me would be a happier individual. I’m not sure I will ever know the answer to that.  I also refuse to believe I’m the only person who does this!

I am a real woman.

Curvy women are real women. Skinny women are real women. Women who have had boob jobs or lip enhancements or liposuction are still real women. Size 0 may make no sense mathematically, but a woman who wears that size is as real as the one who wears a size 16. What makes us “real” people is not the shape of our flesh but our basic humanity. And we lose our humanity when we judge – not when we lose weight, gain weight, or make the intensely personal decision to undergo cosmetic surgery.
Hugo Schwyzer

I found this little quote today in my  tumblr feed, I have no idea who Mr.Schwyzer is, perhaps I should google him, but how much sense does he make? I feel like standing up and shouting AMEN! because this quote speaks volumes to me…

Life these days is fast, it’s pressured, we live it at the end of our tethers. I know that these days, the age I am (41) I can sit back in my little rural idyll where the only rush rush is the school run and getting to the many appointments I seem to have on time. In my 20′s it was all about looking good, being fashionable, following the crowd. 30′s were harder still, keep looking young, being active, having a career.  40, to be honest has been a great release to me, apart from feeling the need to loose a few pounds because I feel happier slightly lighter, I feel less pressure to dazzle and amaze and can say f*ck off to fashion should I choose but it’s still always around me, the pressure….

Don’t let yourself go, get a haircut, waxing is best, wear makeup, new clothes.

It’s everywhere you look, TV, magazines, newspapers, off hand comments…
This week I read a rather damning piece of opinion on twitter about women’s anatomy and it annoyed me. This supposedly off hand, supposedly humorous comment is the type of thing that adds to the pressure women feel under, it undermines our self esteem, which can often be fragile enough as it is when we are constantly being told we are too big, need to be sexy, in control… I pointed out to the gentleman in question the insensitivity of his remark and all I got in return was a rant about how I had taken his tweet far too seriously and it wasn’t his fault I had a complex about my anatomy.  I found this extremely upsetting and as the gentleman feels he has nothing to apologize to me for; not his remark or that fact he seriously upset me (I don’t upset easily) I unfollowed him, I lost a friend but frankly I don’t need friends who don’t care if they upset me…

So, yes Mr.Schwyzer, I vote for humanity, I need friends who can see past my packaging to the interesting, intelligent, warm, human person that I am and if you think women should be judged on how fat, thin, big boobed or ugly they are, keep it to yourself.

Garden Project 2012

 

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

 

It’s nearly February!!!! So it’s time to think about what crops we want where, to give in to my daughters desire for flowers and get out in the garden and be an Earth Mother.

I quite like the planning bit, given a cup of coffee and a quiet hour to work out what we are planting, where and when it needs to go in.

This year I have been much aided by Sutton Seeds, as a bit of a novice to the gardening world, I have found their seed packaging to have been most helpful. (Yes, it’s all down to the packaging, clever people!) We don’t have an allotment, just some large vegetable boxes and this year we are enlarging one of the side beds for a bit of extra room, plus potatoes & tomatoes in large bags… It’s quite a lot of space when you add it up!  But it is area restrictive, so the fact that Suttons clearly label their seeds so well is a win/win for us.

I am of the attitude that if you can’t eat it, don’t grow it, vegetables have such lovely flowers that I don’t feel I need to cultivate flowers for aesthetic purposes, my 5 year old daughter is of a different mind, she badly wants LOTS of flowers, so we let her choose some seed packets, I told her to look out for the packets that said “Easy To Grow” but we will see.

We have a bed in the garden that is along the edge of the Koi pond, during the summer we can’t see it from the house due to the mammoth  trampoline, just now it can be seen and will be until after Easter, so we had a bit of fun choosing Spring flowering bulbs; snow drops, crocus, daffs, tulips and the like, all dwarf varieties but in a few weeks we should see a splash of colour.

 

 

My hands were shaking from the cold a little there…

So we have begun, right now the potatoes are Chitting. I’ve gone for First Earlies and a Main Crop this year instead of our usual just first earlies, mainly because I love digging up the spuds and they taste so much better!!!

My next job is digging the hell out of the bed!