Birthday blues

Its Little Miss Blonds birthday today. We had a lie-in this morning, and got up at 6.45am following the busy day yesterday. Then we had to wait until daddy dragged his headachy carcass out of bed before we could open the presents. We opened three presents before breakfast: from us (a weeble town), from Nanny (a weeble barn & a winter coat) and from Grandma (a singing book - she always gives a token present & some money, which is more useful as they have so much stuff already). We ahd a little trouble from Mstr A, who was unwilling to accept that it was LM Blonds day, and her toys, but once that wqas sorted out she was in her element. I don't think she really understood what we were all going on about yesterday, but she soon got the hang of birthday's once it started. "My birthday" she told everyone, nodding her head sagely. "My presents. My toys. My birthday. Mine"

Fortunately as it's a Wednesday, she was packed off to pre-school after breakfast. I had planned to write some letters, buy Mstr A's school uniform & tidy up the house today, but as usual, things didn't go to plan. Mr A was home again, so he consoled himself by helping Mstr A play his new computer games (Mstr A's birthday was only two weeks ago, so we're still trawling through all his new stuff). When we finally got out the house I took the short walk to "pop in" to our local supermarket.

Uh oh. It's the last day of the summer holidays. Everyone in the world had descended on everywhere that sells school uniform and there was hand to hand fighting in the aisles. We escaped with a couple of pairs of trousers (which need taking up - eaugh, sewing), but there were no shirts available. So we traipse of into town to a more reputable (& therefore more expensive) retailer. They ahd plenty of everything, so we picked up some shirts & jumpers, and paid for it using the vouchers I was given last Xmas to get something nice for myself. Oh well. I re-fuel Mstr A with some nasty fast food, which he doesn't even finish, then drag him of to Clarkes for school shoes.

Despite the fact that we have gone to the same clarkes shop in Weston for four years, approx a dozen visits in all, as all the little Aginoths have very narrow feet, they never ahve anything that fits in stock. today was no exception, so we traipse back home, pick up the car & drive off to our local shopping mall, near Bristol.

this takes a while, due to the three breakdowns in the roadworks!

OK. So we've gone to the only decent shoe shop, in a mall that serves the whole of the SW of England, on the last day of the school holidays. On arrival we are warned it is an hours wait. Mstr A is not a good waiter. He likes to run. He likes to shout. He prefers to run & shout at the same time. He likes to break expensive pieces of equipment. He likes to accost total strangers and either talk their ears off, or play rough & tumble a bit too roughly.

We wait anyway. So many other people couln'd be bothered, that the hour is reduced to only 40 mins. Horay. Shoes fitted, agreed on, and paid for, we return home. I go off to collect LM Blond & we start opening more presents (from three aunts/uncles).

Finally I get to feed them & do the birthday cake. Bath them & put them to bed. Just think, I can do it all again on Saturday, when we're having a birthday party for her!

No letters written. No tidying done. I'll get started on some work now I think - it should be done by 11pm with luck! The tidying can go the way Mr A's DIY does. Well meant, but ultimately unachievable.

Working Hard

Whew! What a day.

As mentioned in my previous post, we spent the day in Torbay, as I was working there this morning. These trips usually involve myself, LM Dark, sometimes LM Blond & Nanny (Mother-in-Law, Thank God she is available to be dragged around the countryside baby-sitting as niether female Aginoths have accepted bottled milk). However, today we also included Mstr A as it's still the school holidays.

So I packed all children, bags, work stuff into the car at 9.45am, having explained that we have to have left by 10am to get to my meeting on time. At 10.05am Nanny arrives full of apologies & excuses. Finally leave at 10.10. Realise we have to refuel the car, so queue at the local supermarket for 10 mins as we live in a holiday town, and it's the summer holidays! By the time we get on to the motorway, I'm a half hour behind schedule. Add in the fact that traffic into Torbay (always bad) is horrendous, and I don't start my meeting till midday.

Never mind, I skim through everything really quickly while the kids play around us (it is a childrens sporting venue with plenty to play with), then shoot off to grap some lunch and finally make it to the zoo at 2pm.

The prices have gone up since April, as it's now the summer season! The big cats were all hiding as it's mid-afternoon & they've all been fed. Mstr A is complaining that he's tired. LM Dark is refusing to go in the pram, & insisting on being carried by me. Apart from that, the zoo was good. We especially liked the apes & monkeys, the elephants and the water-vole! LM Dark liked the butterflies, but we can see them in the garden at home! LM Blond thought the water-falls were the best things there, but liked the elephant making "bubbles!" in his pond too.

It's a big place, & we didn't see it all, but even so, it was gone 7pm by the time we all got home, and all children had to be put to bed, against their will. Finally I get to sit down at 8pm, to find out that Mr A, who's been off all day cos he's sick, has gone cold turkey from his addiction to caffeine & is not his usual happy, energetic self - and as he's usually a stroppy, lazy so & so, that's saying something.

Looking forward to tomorrow. It's LM Blond's birthday (2 at last), which will be fun, but more importantly I'm off work, Mr A is at work (I hope) LM Blond is at pre-school & I can have some quiet time!

Great British Cuisine

Myself & Mr A had one of the greatest British dinners ever cooked tonight - steak & chips! mmmmm. It's been a long time since we've had this particular delicacy, as it's not too good for you: Steak (brazilian, well hung), cooked to a perfect medium rare on the griddle, chips, made from Maris Piper potatoes, with the skin on, coooked in very hot beef dripping (nothing tastes like it), slow, softly fried onions, with just a pinch of sugar to caramalise them beautifully, with stir-fried sugarsnap peas & garlic in sesame oil & soy suace. Heaven on a plate. Topped off by the fact that I actually ate it with two hands (usually I balance a baby in the other) as LM Dark will sit in her highchair & munch finger food happily now.

Bank Holiday Bliss

Sorry for the break in posting, I do intend to scrawl something everyday, but it's been a long bank holiday weekend, and yesterday kind of got missed out.

Spent yesterday off sight-seeing in South Wales. We went off en masse to see Goodrich Castle, which was hosting a re-enactment group we'd vaguely thought about joining (we re-enact mediaeval life, but are between groups having taken a year off due to LM Dark & having "creative differences" with our previous groups leaders). It was a bit of a disaster as Mr & Mstr A were both suffering from sleep deprivation & too much time together - an explosive mix! Arguaments, screams, tantrums & threats abounded on both sides. The group were not what we were looking for, and there was no food to be bought - which added to strppiness of Mr & Mstr A, and started affecting us girlies too. we gave up at 1pm & headed home.

Fortunately, we took the scenic route home, & decided to stop of at Tintern Abbey. The children had slept in the car, and as there was a car boot sale going on in the field next door to the abbey, we cheered them up by buying some toys that we really don't need. Happier children played in the Abbey, and the day was saved!

Unfortunately it meant that LM Dark had slept for half the day, and she doesn't usually have much of a day time nap at all, so when we got home the older two went off to sleep happily, but LM Dark was wide awake and ready to play. All evening. So no rest for mummy until 10pm!

Today was spent doing the same in different places, but this time the castle was Caerphilly which was stunning - definitely somewhere to go back to, and the group was The Companye of Chivalry, who we liked enough to join. So it'll be busy busy next summer.

Tomorrow I have to go to work down in Torbay, so I thought we might as well make a day of it and visit Paignton Zoo. Mr A & the kids went there last time I was working down that way & said it was great, so I'm quite looking forward to it. Although I'm sure that to pre-school children a domestic cat is just as exciting as a lion and a duck just as fascinating as a flamingo. exotic animals are only exotic if you understand how big the world is, so I'm probably wasting my money. Oh well at least the petrol is paid for by work:-)

A weekend lie-in - not!

Got up at 6.00am this morning! I try to aim for 7am as a suitable time for children to emerge from their bedrooms, but it doesn't work very well much of the time. Mstr A can tell the time now & is a good sleeper, so he is usually ok, unless woken up by one of the girls. However LM Blond is still setting her body clock by the sun, so summer mornings can start as early as 5am - I'm hoping she might learn to lie-in as winter comes round. LM Dark usually wakes in the early hours for a feed, but she's not good at time keeping, and feed time varies alot. If it's after 5am, she tends to stay awake, which wakes up LM Blond, which wakes up Mstr A......

I tried to convince them all to go back to sleep this morning,bjut after 30 mins of dragging LM Dark back from the edge of the bed, shushing LM Blond as she chatted, and avoiding Mstr A's sharp toenails as he kicked me in the back, I gave up & took them downstairs, thinking I'd be kind & give Mr A a lie-in. He better get some DIY done this weekend now - I can't remember the last time I had a lie-in. Mr A has ocasionally got up with kids on a weekend morning, but I still have to get up to feed the baby, then give her to him. Then wake him up again as he'll drop off to sleep irrelevent of chatting, kicking & crawling death-wishes. Then stay awake while he turns on the light, get dressed, and tells me how nice he is giving me a lie-in. Then, before I have a chance to get back to sleep I usually hear the odd arguament/shouting match that has escalated out of control. This will be followed up by one child or another coming in to complain to me about the behaviour of another. By the time I've sorted them out & sent them back downstairs, it's time to feed the baby again! Surprisingly my lie-ins tend to end fairly quickly.

Oh well, hopefully the girls will both learn to sleep this winter. I can remember that once upon a time I would wake up feeling refreshed after a nights sleep, but I can't truely remember what that felt like!

Little Miss Deathwish

It's official, Little Miss Dark has a definite deathwish. Not content with learning to locomote (it's not exactly crawling, but certainly moves her around quick enough) before she was 6 months old, she is now determinedly exploring every nook, cranny, ledge, etc she can find. And there are a lot to be found!

I took Mstr A to his swimming lesson last night, at our local pool which has viewing from the poolside. I sat on the fixed bench, which is raised on a 10cm plinth. LM Dark refused to sit on my lap, so I put her on the floor, with toys to play with. But that was not good enough for her, oh no, she soon worked out how to crawl up onto the plinth, ducking her head under the bench seat. Much to everyone's surprise, she went right through to the other side, happily negotiating the step down. This meant when I glanced down to check on her, she was half way to the main pool, and very stroppy when I made her turn round & come back to safety!

This morning I was not in the most observant mood, having been up three times in the night to feed her, so I plonked her on the floor at 6.30am, curled up on the sofa cuddling LM Blond & dozed off. Fortunately LM Blond is a busy-body, cos I was woken after a few mins by a loud shout of "no baby, naughty baby". Naturally I leaped off the sofa, heart racing to discover that LM Dark had learned how to pull herself up to standing and was proceeding to climb the stairs, each one being chest high on her!

Add to that her penchant for crawling under the desk while I'm working, under the mechanism of our recliner chairs while we watch TV, behind the other kids while they are playing,and eating everything she can lay her hand on (not just puuting it in her mouth, she actually has to eat it), and you'll see why I'm feeling a little unsure of her continued survival.

of course, I realise that if I tidied up more regularly there wouldn't be so much on the floor to eat, and if I watched her properly she wouldn't be crawling off into strange places, but then again, I never claimed to be any good at this paernting lark.

Pay back time

The problem with going off to work today & thinking I am a person in my own right, is that I now have to wade through the many tons of guilt that my children are piling upon me.

LM Dark is the worst, having screamed for virtually the whole six hours I was out, she stopped the second I picked her up & beamed at poor beleagured mother-in-law who had been baby sitting. After a feed (it's not as though I let her starve - I expressed three bottles & and left a choice of banana, melon, apple, parsnip, carrot, fromage frais, toast, and baby biscuits), she has spent the evening no less than 50cm away from me & screaming every time I stand up. Going to the toilet was unforgiveable & resulted in a half hour tantrum. Despite the fact that its now past her bed time, & shes absolutely exhausted from all the crying, she is refusing point blank to go in her cot, and I have, once again given in to the bad parent in me, and let her snuggle up on my chest. I am now typing to contented snores.

However LM Blond was determined not to let me off the hook either, and spent the evening naked (she can take all her clothes off herself), so I would chase her around with a nappy, "falling" off the sofa onto her head so she can get cuddled better, and refusing to eat unless I fed her. She is also refusing to go to sleep unless I sit with her, but after one cuddle I am withstanding the temptation to give in.

Mstr A just had a tantrum when I told him to stop playing computer games, as 8 hours playing is too much in one day! Fortunately he puts himself to bed when in a strop (provided I scare him into going to his room), so it's all quiet there at the moment.

Oh well, tomerrow is another day. I get to be mum again. I can't wait.

I love my work!

I do, honestly. I've been at work today (for me, not my idiot employer), and I've just got back feeling all bouncy & fulfilled. Partly cos I believe in what I'm doing & I know I'm actually helping people, partly because they all said nice things about me, and partly cos it's good to get out of the house and be me sometimes.

It's easy to forget how important "me" time is when your stuck at home 24/7 with three kids to watch constatnly. Just driving the 30 mins journey on my own, listening to the radio was a joy I rarely get - especially as I often work a long way away, and so take kids & baby-sitter with me. However, today was quite close, and just a short course, so off I went, in my own time, from my own house, in my own car.

of course the big cheque in my pocket has nothing to do with it:-)

Dear Bloggers

Dear bloggers of the world. Please let me read you. I've spent the last hour trying to follow various links, but as I use a works computer (I am allowed to in my own time!), about a third of them are blocked due to unsuitable content - that meant either a lot of naked flesh, or serious swear words.

Now I know that we all need to rant & rave & let off steam, and everyone has the right to use whatever languge they like in the privacy of their own home/blog, but what's the point if nobody can read it? Come one guys, thats what asterisks were ******* invented for!

Word verification

I've added this to my comments as everyone seems to be getting spammed, so thought I'd beat them to it.

And no, I'm not turning on anonymous comments. I'm nosy. I like to know who is commenting on my ramblings. If you are embarrassed about what you have to say, don't say it to me - I want to know who I'm arguing with!

The terrible two's & terrible trains

It's not the tantrums per se that I can't cope with, it's the completely randon timing & reasons behind them, and therefore the impossibility of fixing the problem & stopping the little darling in their tracks.

It's been a busy day. Wednesdays are good because LM Blond goes to pre-school, so when Mstr A is at school I get a whole day to work with only the baby to keep an eye on. However, as it's the school holidays that didn't apply today. It is also asolutely throwing it down outside, so cheap activities such as playing in the garden/park/beach are out. So when mother-in-law suggested we come over to her for the day, I jumped at the chance for a free lunch, lots of coffee & another pair of eyes.

Then I remembered that we've sold our second car & bought a great big 8 seater thing, so I have no transport. M-i-L lives in a tiny village about 25 miles away. So, walk through the rain with all three kids to drop LM Blond at pre-school, walk through the rain with Mstr A & LM Dark in pram to get my hair cut, walk through the rain with my new hairstyle to to the train station, wait in the rain for train.

Train arrives a good 1/2 metre from the platform edge, so struggle to push pram onto train, keep hold of Mstr A (who thinks trains are a great adventure & need to be explored), and carry sreaming, squirming baby, while dozens of other passengers watch. get to Bristol Temple Meads - a fairly large station (15 platforms), & repeat process in reverse. discover it's a 40 min wait for the connecting train. Find a cafe & buy cheapest thing there just to sit inside. Wait 35 mins. go back on to platform. The train is there, but no letting anyone on. The train leaves. Everyone looks at each other & I assure Mstr A that we have not missed the train, it will be back soon.

we wait

and wait

after a further 15 cold, wet & windy mins I ask a guard what's going on. Appaerently they tried to couple a coach onto the engine at the platform, but couldn't as there was a bend in the track, so they've moved the engine to try again further down the track. So, despite the fact that BTM is the oldest railway terminus in the world, they have only just discovered today that you can not couple coaches to engines on a bend!

Finally the train returns, correctly coupled, 20 mins late & we travel the 10 mins to the nearest town to M-i-L. She meets us there & drives the last few miles. The whole journey has taken 3 hours.

A good couple of hours pass quickly & the I do the whole thing again to get home, although the rain has stopped, the train isn't late, & I've left Mstr A behind (deliberately - he's coming back tomorrow). As I walk in the door I hear a cheerful "hello mum" from LM Blond, immediately followed by a wail as she throws herself to the floor in floods of tears.

I try to find out what is wrong, and get a sob of "my 'puter". So I turn on her computer, load up the annoying prgramme, sit her in front of it. "NO mum", I try each of the different parts of the programme "NO mum". Mr Aginoth goes through exactly the same attempts "NO Dad". I turn the computer off. "My dummy" she sobs inconsoleably. I behave like a terrible parent & aquiesce, giving her the dummy that is only for sleeping. "NO Mum" she shouts, throwing it on the floor. I remember that I have given the same advise to loads of parents regarding tantrums, and leave her kicking & screaming on the floor. she kicks, screams, sobs & whimpers for 5 mins, then abruptly gets up & comes for a cuddle. Five mins on, she's happily playing with her socks. It takes me a while longer for my stress levels to decrease - just in time to start the going to bed fight:-)

Moo Moo & Bloody moo

WARNING: Anyone who doesn't want to hear about bodily functions & how motherhood ruins your life (sex-life, social-life, fashion-life, work-life & just life-life) miss out this post.

Breast feeding is S**T. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, and in fact I am a militant breastfeeder. All my babies have been/will be fed for exactly one year (here in Brit-land employers have to allow you to feed for a year & I'm damn well going to squeeze every last day out of them). I know it does really good things for both mother & baby. I know it's the most natural thing in the world. I know that bottled milk is missing most of the vital ingrediants that human beings need. I know that I'm beating breast cancer every time I feed my baby. I know that anyone who has a problem with seeing me breastfeed is stupid & bigoted. I know that I'm way too disorganised to take bottles, teats, sterilisers, milk powder etc with me when I go anywhere. I know that bottle fed babies puke more, and that it smells worse. I know that they are fatter. I know that they poo more & that its smellier. But no-body told me I was going to be a cow for five years!

When I went into hospital to have my first child, my mother gave me a dozen disposable breast pads, and told me I'd "probably need them for the first few days until my milk settles down". This was the first inkling I'd had that breast-feeding wasn't the simple, sanitary & sensible process I'd thought of.

Well that dozen pads lasted me about one day once my milk came in. Apperently I am a F****ing cow. Science tells us that your body produces as much milk as the baby needs, but whereas there are a few people who really don't produce enough, I am one who could feed half of the known world. i wouldn't mind if it was just for a few days, but LM Dark A is nearly 7 months old now & I still haven't got any kind of handle on the leakage problem. She's eating three meals a day of real food & I still dribble while watching TV! There's not a lot ickier than having a nice relaxing bath, only to look down after 10 mins to see it's turned an opaque white colour. Yick - into the shower to ensure I don't stink of gone off milk all over! And I can definitely think of more interesting ways of getting a wet patch on the bed! Although come to think of it, that's how I got into this situation in the first place.......

It's the little things

Why is it that children can have endless fun over the most mundane tasks? We've just spent almost an hour getting dressed, with shrieks of laughter (and occasional bouts of crying when it goes wrong), at least half a mile running around per person, and sporadic shouting by me as they get sidetracked into playing with something else completely.

Of course, I blame Mr Aginoth. On the few occasions he gets a child dressed, he always makes a game out of it, putting pants on his head & socks on his hands etc. Which the kids think is hilarious, and is just fine if you've got unlimited time to dress one child. The problem is, most days I have very limited time to dress three children, so I tend not to stand for that kind of nonsense. @However, today I just let them got on with it, so Mstr A spent half an hour running around holding his clothes, but not actually doing anything with them, LM Blond took her pyjamas off quickly enough then stood in the middle of the room shouting "I'm naked", and baby deliberately waited till I took her nappy off before widdling all over me, my clean clothes and the sofa.

Once dressed, Mstr A decided to clean up the breakfast things (I don't know where he gets these ideas from!), so took the bowls out to the kitchen then reappeared with a single sheet of toilet paper to clean the table with. Obviously this was not suitable, so off he trotted, and came back with.........a single piece of toilet paper. he cleaned a few cm of table then repeated the process a few dozen times till he was happy with the result. While he was busy doing that, LM Blond was spending her time navewl gazing. Literally looking at her navel! Sometimes she is worryingly like BB's Jade: "I like blinking, me"

A good nights sleep

A miracle has happened - I had a full nights sleep (almost)! I was in bed by 11pm last night (having failed to make any phone calls all day), and didn't get up till 6.30am! Well, actually there were couple of brief breaks - one at 1.30am to find LM Blonds dummy, and one at 5.30am cos my body automatically woke up then expecting the baby to be screaming for milk, but no real wake ups! I actually feel awake for the first time in a very long time.

On top of that, mstr A is still asleep at 8am, which is fantastic as he really needs to catch up on his sleep too, and hopefully he won't be such a tempremental little sod today. Mstr A needs a good 12 hours sleep each night, but when we stay at grandma's he has to share with LM blond, who is quite happy with a lot less, and she encourages him to play all night & wakes him up early. As we spent all of last week there, he has been a misery for the past few days, so I'm looking forward to a mood change.

Took LM blond to see the physiotherapist yesterday, as she's pidgeon toed. Fortunately the physio said there's no problem, she's just hyper-flexible - we watched in amazement as the physio gently bent LM blond knees 90 degrees left & right (as well as the expected backwards). She should grow out of it as her muscles strengthen. This is really good news, as I also walk pidgeon toed, but mine is due to a deformity of the ankle structure which causes me quite a few problems, so I'm glad LM Blond won't have to go through the same.

It's supposed to be good weather today, so I think we might take a stroll down to the beach later unless you are my boss, in which case I will be working hard from home all day, honest.

The couch potato generation?

As it's my first day back at work after a week off, I actually have to do some admin catching up today . I usually do most of my admin after 7pm, with phone calls squeezed into nap time (ha ha, like that ever happens). lunch time (stuff enough food in their mouths and even my lot will shut up for a few seconds) or while in the car (I have a hands free, but mostly call people half way through a journey, when the little darlings are sleeping - what did parents do before cars?).

However, I awoke this morning (at 6.15am - a lie in), to the sound of rain, 26 emails, and 11 answerphone messages. So I thought I need to keep the little darlings amused, quiet & safe while I catch up - no problem, we all know what couch potatoes this generation is, so I started by turning on one of the numerous pre-school TV channels.

Now the kids do like these, and stood and watched it for about two minutes before a fight broke out over who stood in exactly the best spot (we have a 44" TV, you'd think they would both be able to see it easily). Naturally, just as the fight got physical, the baby decided to start eating the computer leads, and screamed when I took them away.

Half an hour later all was calm again. TV was off, but not to be deterred I agree that Mstr A can play Mario races on daddies nintendo (considered a special treat cos I can't do it), LM blond A can play "doggie" on her computer (Knowledge Adventure Toddlers Cd - wonderful programme), while I feed the baby, type, help LM blond & make a few phone calls.

I manage to sit at the computer, settle baby, read emails, then mstr A runs in shouting about how he came 4th. I answer an email, help LM blond with her mouse skills, hear how mstr A came 3rd! Pick up phone, hear how mstr A is on the beach, dial number, put phone down before it connects to take LM blond to the potty, pick up phone, hear how mstr A shot someone ("good", I mumble, hoping he is talking about the game.....), dial number, disconnect, restart LM blonds computer cos she likes to press buttons & has turned it off, pick up phone.......... Well you can see the problem. Maybe I'll try again later.

Off to change babies nappy now. It's great working from home.

Introducing me

Well this is just going to be a collection of my thoughts, actions and mostly rants about my life as a 32 year old mother of three, typically juggling life, kids (1 at school, 1 at PT pre-school, 1 at home), work (employed), work (self-employed), husband, parents, siblings, keeping the house/garden, and a few bits of voluntary stuff too, cos I appear to be unable to attend any kind of meeting without offering to do something!

Some background to me: I live in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, UK in a big house that I don't keep clean, with my husband Aginoth (you can see his blog here - he's been at it for a while now!), Master Aginoth aged 5, little miss blond Aginoth age 2 (nearly) and little miss dark Aginoth aged 6 months. I work half time for a sports governing body, and also run my own training company teaching 1st aid & sports coaching (please look here to give me some work). I have 3 sisters (1 elder & twins younger) and 3 brothers (1 elder, 1 died aged 25, 1 I rarely hear from), seperated parents, both still alive & kicking, and a large number of in-laws that I can't really keep track of.

As it's the summer holidays here at the moment, life is comparitively easy, as there are no time contraints (school pick up at 3.20pm - it's the middle of the afternoon!), and both work's are slow at this time of the year. Of course it means I'm very skint at a time when all & sundry are asking me for money, but that's what overdrafts are for........

I spent last week at my mothers in London. Just me & the kids, Mr Aginoth had to stay home and work (lucky b*****, a whole week without kids). Apart from the screaming row we had on the way there (my mother & me), it went quite well. Now I have weeks of school hols at home on my own to look forward to - I'm sure you'll being hearing about some of it soon, but I'll stop rambling now and wait till I have something specific to say.

I hope people enjoy reading this, but really it's going to be a way for me to let off steam, so comment if you want, but be aware you may get dragged into a completely off track argument:-)

A-Z of me

Age - 32
Booze - vodka, baileys, alcopops for taste. Wine will get me drunk very quickly though!
Career - Well, back when I had what I thought of as a career it was leisure centre manager/local authority head of department. Then I had kids, so now I have jobs: Sports development officer & trainer in my own company. Future plans are pretty fluid at the moment, but will probably follow a completely different route!
Dad's name - Michael
Essential Item to Bring to a Party - Well back when I went to parties it was questionable substances & sexy underwear, but now it tends to be food & family. How sad is that?
Favorite Song(s)/Music - I'm one of those rare people who never did get into music (being tone deaf may be partly responsible), and I tend to listen to whatever the people I'm with like. I guess I like a memorable beat, so lite punk, rock, blues and ska are good, but I can't really name any tunes.
Goof Off Thing To Do - read, go to the theatre & cinema, read, argue (oops, I mean debate), read, watch people going by, read.
Hometown - I grew up in Chingford, East London (best known for producing David Beckham) but was born in Harlow, Essex (best known for nothing!).
Instrument You Play: My mother tried hard and while I was at school I failed to learn how to play the recorder, piano and cello.
Jam or Jelly You Like: Strawberry jam on scones, rasberry jam on toast. Jam should have bits in!
Kids - 3: boy (5), girl (2 nearly), girl (6 months). That's it. Definitely. I mean it. No more kids ever again.
Living Arrangement - Married 6 years
Mom's Name - June
Name of Best Friend - Not sure I can pick out a best friend at the moment.
Overnight Hospital Stays - A couple of interesting operations on my nose aged 12 & 14. Caesarian section in 2000, and one night after baby no.3
Phobias - I'm not phobic about anything, but I don't like fluttery things (butterflies etc), and not keen an sheer drops.
Quote You Like - "nothing is so simple that it can not be misunderstood" Jr Teague
Relationship That Lasted the Longest - My current husband - 13 years (ohmigod has it been that long? let me just grab my suitcase......) previous longest relationship: 3 months!
Siblings - six! 3 brothers, three sisters
True love, ever had? - I don't believe in it
Unique Trait - Emotional laziness (this is a good trait - it means I forgive all sorts of things, cos I can't be bothered to carry the hurt through a nights sleep)
Vegetable You Love - Carrots
Worst Trait - impatience
X-rays you've had - lots on my nose, a few on my ankles, one on my foot, one dental.
Yummy Food You Make - I bake nice cakes, I do honey roast veg for Xmas, but mostly I make good wholesome family meals (& did so long before I had my family) - Lasagne, Cottage Pie, Spaghetti Bolognase, hmm I think I see a mince thing here.
Zodiac Sign - Scorpio, I think, but it might be sagitarius, nobody bothered to look at the clock when I was born somewhere near midnight. I was a month early & I expect they were more interested in keeping me alive. I don't believe in it so it never really mattered. I'm definitely a rat though.