Welcome to my World ... please excuse the mess!

10:58 pm - toys reunited - yes really

I promise you there's stuff going on my life, but at the moment I just don't have the energy to blog about any of it, so instead I'm going to point out a very funny new service offered by the maternity/baby/toddler catalogue people Blooming Marvellous.

You've heard of Friends Reunited, well here's Toys Reunited: http://www.bloomingmarvellous.co.uk/itoys-reunitedMM.aspx

Speaking as a parent of a 2 yr old who can't bear to be parted from his beanie Woodstock, I think it's a great if slightly desperate way of solving the problem. But hey, it won't work if people don't know about it, so spread the word!

05:43 pm - something to make you smile ...

Just got an email from a friend from church. The mail was about something completely different, but as an aside she mentioned she'd had a dream last night that she thought would make us smile. It went like this:

( the dream )

Current Mood: hyper

10:59 pm - quote of the year so far

I usually describe myself as 'concentrated' as an alternative to short. Today whilst chatting to parallelgirl I came out with the comment I may be concentrated, but there's only so far I can be diluted! Thought this was a good way of describing my busy stressed out start to the year.

05:06 pm - me the fashion artist

this is the real me, not the knackered, skint, snot-covered mummy in beige!

<tbody>
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<td align="middle">Fashion Artist
38% Tastefulness, 70% Originality, 54% Deliberateness, 29% Sexiness </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>[Flamboyant Original Deliberate Prissy]

To you fashion is not what they think up in Paris or New York. You follow only your instincts and taste and, admit it, they are far from conventional. Clothes are one of the methods of expressing your personality and being interesting is even more important than being attractive. You pay attention to compose such outfits that would express you best. You tend to shock and though many appreciate your style and originality not many follow in your footsteps. Perhaps your flamboyant outfits are partly meant to hide some of your insecurity but be that as it may, few pass you on the street without looking back. Good job.

The opposite style from yours is Sporty Hottie [Tasteful Conventional Random Sexy].


All the categories: Fashion Enemy Bar Cruiser Kid Next Door Sex Bomb Hippie Kid Fashion Rebel Fashion Artist Catwalk God(ess) Librarian Sporty Hottie Office Master Uptown Girl/ Boy Brainy Student Movie Star Fashionista Glamorous Soul </td></tr>
<tr>
<td align="middle"> </td></tr></tbody></table>

Current Mood: bouncy

10:43 pm - the unfolder

Just had a fabby chilled out poker night! A while ago a couple of our friends really got into a particular sort of poker, called 'Texas hold em' or something. It's mercifully simple: you get 2 cards dealt to you, then 5 cards are dealt in stages into the middle and you choose the best 5 cards (of 7) for your hand. So the only skill is in the betting. We play for fun using funky real poker chips from Las Vegas (our mates got really into it), so I can indulge my reckless streak without paying for it later. I also find it impossible to fold unless I've got a really crappy hand and no chips. That's why my poker nickname is the Unfolder!

Now watching Bill Bailey's live show on C4. So many of my mates have raved about it and now I know why - it's beautifully absurd. Also fits in with my current slightly weird mind set which comes from reading Lord of the Rings in large chunks.

Current Mood: hyper

08:47 pm - new game: spot the white band

Yes I'm becoming slightly obsessive about the white bands of the make poverty history movement, but I think it's good that I'm 'sessing on that rather than Celeb Big Brother! So, from that point of view, I guess it's kind of ironic that the first person I spotted wearing said white band was the lovely Davina on CBB the other day. Now I want to know who else is doing it, both celebs and civilians, so if you spot anyone please let me know.

Current Mood: geeky

08:43 pm - yay I'm younger than I really am!

Current Mood: giddy

10:22 pm - stuff

Just been to housegroup where we were talking about possessions. Seems very topical in a kind of post-Xmas/spring-cleaning/other-people-have-suddenly-got-nothing kind of way. So I've been wondering what I'd find it hard to live without. Haven't got very far with this really; the only thing I've decided is that sentimental value rates highly with me and I don't really care about monetary value. On the other hand, I'm very glad I've got a secure roof over my head and wouldn't want to give that up. I guess you probably don't realise how much creature comforts mean until they're taken away.

Current Mood: contemplative

10:54 pm - what's hot ... and what's not

Time for January's hots and nots to be logged. It's an ecletic list, but probably an accurate reflection of my split personalities. Feel free to suggest additions.

HOT
chicken in cornflakes
Lego magnets (and their provider!)
Eats, shoots and leaves
Hobbits
Playdoh
The Incredibles
Coupling
Bobito's new words (bubbles, please [almost])
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
Pingu
the chocolate tasting club
homemade popcorn
slow release Vit C
blogging!

NOT
winter weather
noisy toys
mouth ulcers
sinus pain
Sean Astin (as a writer at least)
not having enough hours in the day
housework

Current Mood: bouncy

10:39 pm - confessions of late driver

I had driving lesson #5 (of this round) tonight and could really tell that it had been a fortnight since the last one. Still, as I told my instructor, better a two-week break between lessons than a six-year one! I'm not particularly enjoying learning to drive (can you tell?), but I do get occasional flashes of satisfaction and I'm determined not to be beaten by it. Next week we're beginning the dreaded manoeuvres ...

In other news: my sinus pains have mostly gone - yay Sudafed; Bobito and I had a fabby playdoh sesh today and we caught up with some of our pals at the weekly parent and toddler prayer group. (Everyone chats and plays, then the children play noisily whilst the adults try to pray over the racket! Doesn't sound like it would work, but it's really fab.)

Also phoned an old uni friend who I haven't spoken to for a while. Felt very good to catch up.

Current Mood: determined

10:09 pm - back to normal?

I guess today was the day when most people went back to work or school. Not me. I still find it a bit weird when that happens, but hopefully this year I'll cope a bit better than I did last year. Then I was all mixed up and unsure whether I was going to go back to work when my maternity leave came to end in June. Lots of my mummy mates went back in January when our babies were all around 6 months old and I felt a bit left behind in the strange new world of motherhood. Or to put it a bit more precisely, I was actually going a bit crazy and was worrying that the real me would never find her way out again. It doesn't help that if you don't work people immediately put you in a box. (Anyone reading this who boxed me up, be warned I may just kick my way out!)

Anyway, this year I'm a bit more secure: I've been doing this parenting lark for a while, I'm getting more sleep, and I'm actually enjoying it. (Note to readers of bhumbug's lj: that was an Oxford comma I just used! Eats, shoots and leaves reference) Not only that, but I'm doing more things during the day, so I don't feel so isolated. Having said all that today was knackering. I've been having bad sinus pains since Sunday and they aren't really compatible with looking after a boisterous toddler who's just decided he's too big to take a nap!

I haven't got much else to report, we had a quiet Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday mostly due to me feeling crap. Church was really good on Sunday and I actually got excited about the stuff coming up this year. (more on that story later as they say on Dead Ringers) On Monday a friend and I had a small prayer meeting focussing on the Tsunami and its aftermath. I still can't get my head round the scale of it all. The only thought that keeps coming back is that this should be a turning point for the world. I just hope that something good comes out of it, like rich nations cancelling debt, or agreeing to Trade Justice, or even people just reassessing their lives and stopping being so materialistic. My biggest fear is that it will just result in more exploitation of vulnerable people, more cynicism, more political crap.
End of rant.

Current Mood: drained

09:10 pm - new year, new blog

Having created my LJ account ages ago in response to persistent nagging from a certain parallelgirl, I thought the new year might be a good, if somewhat cliched time, to start actually writing a journal. So here goes ...

To make it even more 'Dear Diary', let's begin with a list with a list of lovely New Year's resolutions!

1. learn to drive (again in response to nagging - Humbug take a bow) actually I'm cheating a bit on this one, as I had a few lessons back in good old 2004, but the aim is to actually pass my test this year, so get off the roads now!

2. earn some money must squeeze some work into my busy playing and nappy changing schedule

3. be more punctual seem to have got really slack lately

Enough of the new beginning thing. Feeling traditionally knackered today after a late night and the usual early morning. We had a pancake, poker and Pingu party last night. It was pretty good, but at the same time a bit weird as some of the people who came were friends of friends and we didn't really get to know them over the course of the evening. Finally got to bed just after 2am and were woken before 7 by Bobito. Humbug, bless him, let me 'sleep in' til 9, when we swapped over and he went back to bed. Was quite impressed with Bobito though, he slept right through the party!

Today some friends of ours from church had an open house thing, so we spent a really relaxing afternoon there. They always say there'll be soup and jacket potatoes and as if by magic an entire feast appears. They're also good chilled out hosts who have handy toys and even a rocking horse to entertain visiting small people. Definitely a good way to start the year.

Current Mood: mellow