Completed!

With one day to spare I completed my first Flickr Monthly Scavenger Hunt!

Here is a mosaic of the final set. Come and join in!

Gadgets

So today I got an iPod touch. I have always been a bit of a gadget freak and now I can add one more to the list.
This post comes from my latest obsession and I hope that the wonderful wordpress app makes me blog more!
Watch out for more random posts soon!

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Find more Wordless Wednesday posts at www.wordlesswednesday.com

The happiest day of my life

Anthony is listening to some very cheesy music from the ’80’s this evening. Music from 1989 to be precise (I’m not sure why that year inparticular!).
In 1989 I was in my last year of primary school, we then moved house and in the September of that year I began my first year at secondary school. It wasn’t an easy time for me. I knew nobody at the school apart from my sister. I missed all my old friends and wished I could have gone to the same schools as them. I struggled to fit in at secondary school and started eating by way of coping with the stress I found myself under. Food became my comfort when I felt sad, and I did feel very sad.

While Anthony is playing these tunes from 1989 I’ve been singing along and logging into itunes and downloading a couple of songs. Richard Marx: “Right Here Waiting” is one of them along with Boy Meets Girl: “Waiting for a Star to fall”. Then he played Angry Anderson: “Suddenly” and tears filled my eyes.

Why?

Not because it makes me sad. It used to but not anymore. Now it makes me so incredibly happy.

When I (along with the whole of the UK I think) first heard the song it was while watching Neighbours (Wiki tells me in 1988, not ’89). Scott and Charlene got married and I was a happy 10 year old girl. The wedding on TV was between my two favourite characters. Jason Donovan was my hero and Kylie Minogue was playing a tomboy. I could relate to her. She was a mechanic and she wore trousers, not skirts. That was me!
I watched that wedding open mouthed. It was like a fairy tale. Every little girl dreams of getting married and the song that played in that episode stuck with me. “One day… one day”, I thought, that will be me. I will get married to the man of my dreams and it will be my very own fairy tale.

Fast forward then to when I started secondary school. Life was not rosy. I was that tomboy like Charlene in neighbours but there was no “Scott”. I was not popular and I pretty much hated life if I am honest. Like I mentioned before, I turned to food. I grew overweight which just made things worse. I was the already unpopular girl who was now fat. Oh fabulous. Two years later we moved house again and I started another new school. I already had no confidence and I was already fat. Fitting in was just never an option. I carried on the only way I knew… by eating and by putting my head down. I had a couple of good friends but there was never going to be a “Scott”. I wasn’t interested anyway. I knew nobody would be bothered with me so there was no point trying.
I used to listen to that song and cry because I had so much hope and it was all gone. I honestly thought my little girl dream would never happen. The song reminded me of all that I wanted but was out of reach. I’d never get that I thought.

Fast forward again to May 26th 2007. My wedding day. The day I thought would never happen. I found my “Scott” and he is the man of my dreams. When Anthony and I got married it was my very own fairy tale. Now I could listen to that song and cry tears of happiness, not sadness. My dream came true. The first verse of this song I keep harping on about goes like this:

I only dreamed that I would find,
A loving heart and open mind,
To see the real me,
And I hoped that you would be the one…

We had the song played at our wedding reception. It wasnt our first dance, it was too much of a song for me and not us. It is a song I will never forget. It is a song that reminds me to never give up.

Good things happen to good people 🙂

Affirmation

Today someone said to me “Wow! How much weight have you lost?!”. I hadn’t seen this person for a good few weeks and she said I looked fab.
For me to be able to reply “I’ve lost a stone!” was wonderful, really great!

We also had a meeting today all about Katie. We discussed what will happen for her development and needs from now on. It was decided officially that she has some special learning needs and has been placed on the SEN register. While talking about her it came across from all 4 professionals that we were meeting with that Anthony and I do a great job as parents.
How fantastic to be recognised by different professionals that in with all the difficulties we have with Katie we are infact doing a good job. We are good parents.

Affirmation is a wonderful thing. Good things happen to good people. Have I mentioned that before?! 😉

Childhood Memories

I am very lucky to have many happy childhood memories of different things. Holidays, Christmas, family times, events and friendships. For me one of the best things about being a parent is having the chance to give my children the happy memories that they will grow up with. I want them to be able to smile and reminisce about the same sorts of things that I do.

We do our very best to provide our girls with a happy home life and I am confident that they will look back and smile when they think of our holidays and moments of silliness. Robyn has a very good friend. She recently described her as her “BFF” (Best Friend Forever!). They are in the same class at school, go to Rainbows & church club together and we try and get together outside of school as much as we can.

Last week we invited her “BFF” home for tea. After Katie had gone to bed we treated them to a DVD, popcorn & chocolate while they wore PJ’s and snuggled up in quilts and blankets. It was a sleepover party without the actual sleepover part! That bit won’t be long coming though, Robyn is staying overnight at her friend’s house in a couple of weeks time!
As I sat and watched the two girls laugh, sing and dance together I couldn’t help but smile. I reckon they will remember that evening forever. They were so happy to be sharing a good time together. The stuff childhood memories are made of for sure.

I am a part of making those memories for my girls and that makes me feel fantastic. Really, really fantastic 🙂

More snow

The snow just keeps on coming. We have had quite thick snow outside for 3 weeks now. I’ve never known anything like it. More is forecast so we’re just trying to get on with things.
That isn’t so easy however when the council has run out of grit. None of the main roads are now being gritted and we live down in a valley in the middle of the Pennines. Since we are relying on benefits at the moment we are entitled to a £25 cold weather payment when the average temperature is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days. Today has seen a 3rd payment of £25 be triggered. That means that for 3 consecutive weeks the temperature here has been an average of below freezing. That is a long time to be cold!

Our car broke down the day after Boxing Day anyway so we’re reliant on public transport and good old Shank’s pony. Yesterday I thought I’d stick an Asda home delivery order in to come later on this evening. I ordered all the heavy stuff on there so we wouldn’t have to lug it back from the shop ourselves.
This morning, 12 hours before our shopping was due to be delivered we got a phone call from Asda to tell us that because of the untreated roads all deliveries for our little town and the next one along have been cancelled. Next available slot is Friday. We need the stuff before that so we cancelled and tomorrow will walk down to our little supermarket and get a taxi home… if there are taxis running in the snow that is.

Katie was supposed to have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow but we have had to cancel. We were all set to get the train and then taxi to get us there but the snow has made us rethink. Public transport is being cancelled all over the place. The appointment has been cancelled and we will get a chance to rebook soon. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long!

My sister has had no hot water or heating since her boiler broke down on Christmas day. She rents the house and it needs a new boiler. It was supposed to have been fitted yesterday but because of the snow it couldn’t be done. It was rescheduled for today but yes, you guessed it, couldn’t be done because of the snow. BT have managed to get out to install her new phone line though, it is being done at the moment. She should have internet by this evening lol.

Schools all over the country are closed. Robyns remains open thank goodness. They pride themselves on keeping open in all weathers. If we chose not to send Robyn in that wouldn’t be a problem. They stay open for the kids that want to go/have no choice. Some working parents are very glad of the school’s policy, I’m not sure all the children are lol. Robyn loves school though, she would rather be there with her friends than stuck at home.

When will things get back to normal?! It is rather good fun to play in though!

Monthly Scavenger Hunt

My fixation with Flickr continues. A while ago I joined a group called “Monthly Scavenger Hunt”. I have lurked but not yet joined in until now. I’ve decided to give it a go as it looks fun! It might provide me with inspiration for my 365 project when I’m struggling for ideas and I like the prompts on the list!

January 2010 Scavenger Hunt

1. Mas Que Nada (Please tag as msh0110-1 and msh0110) Here
2. Air Mail Special (msh0110-2 and msh0110) Here
3. String of Pearls (msh0110-3 and msh0110) Here
4. Ornithology (msh0110-4 and msh0110) Here
5. On the Street Where You Live (msh0110-5 and msh0110) Here
6. Born to be Blue (msh0110-6 and msh0110) Here
7. Close your Eyes (msh0110-7 and msh0110) Here
8. All the Things You Are (msh0110-8 and msh0110) Here
9. Smooth Sailing (msh0110-9 and msh0110) Here
10. Tangerine (msh0110-10 and msh0110) Here
11. Four (msh0110-11 and msh0110) Here
12. Squeeze Me (msh0110-12 and msh0110) Here
13. God Bless the Child (msh0110-13 and msh0110) Here
14. Time on my Hands (msh0110-14 and msh0110) Here
15. Three Little Words (msh0110-15 and msh0110) Here
16. I Got Rhythm (msh0110-16 and msh0110) Here
17. Fever (msh0110-17 and msh0110) Here
18. Ain`t Misbehavin` (msh0110-18 and msh0110) Here
19. Love for Sale (msh0110-19 and msh0110) Here
20. How High the Moon (msh0110-20 and msh0110) Here

Robyn returns

Robyn came home today. This made us all very happy. Katie came down the stairs grinning from ear to ear. She came up to me and said “Mummy! Robyn there!”. She has been looking for her all week. They love each other to pieces those girls. It is really lovely to see.

This afternoon they have had so much fun together. They have dressed up as “Weeners” (Ballerinas) and worn their “gink gwasses” (pink swimming goggles). My family is back together again where it belongs. That makes me all warm inside 🙂

Here is todays picture for my 365 project. I know I said I probably wouldn’t post them here but I might be changing my mind lol.

Happy New Year!

I love New Years Day, especially when I’ve had a lovely quiet evening in the night before, no hangovers and extreme tiredness here!

The day feels fresh, there is anticipation in the air and you can sense the new beginnings that comes with a brand new year. We have just taken down all of our decorations. They are now packed away and stored back up in Robyn’s attic bedroom. The living room feels a bit bare but at the same time it feels brighter. Now comes the task of sorting out all of the toys. We  need to go through them all and decide which ones will go upstairs to the girls rooms, which ones will go to my mum and dads house and which will stay down here. We sorted out the toys that needed throwing away/rehoming just before Katie’s birthday so at least we know one task is done lol.

I’ve just started a 365 project on Flickr. Here is my first shot:

From now on I’ll probably only post my monthly mosaic here but feel free to keep an eye on the project on my Flickr page. You could even join in. The group I am doing it in is one set up for members past & present from my OU course but there are lots of 365 projects on Flickr.
We’ve also started a new savings scheme… £1 a day for 2010. Hopefully we will stick to it and by this time next year we will have £365 to treat ourselves with!