Just a little update........

I wish that this was a picture of Lauren with her new bed, but obviously it isn't!! I have finally had enough of the company that I ordered it through and I have cancelled it and asked for a full refund, as I think that the time I have had to wait is just awful ~ poor little Lauren still with no bed (ha ha!!!). Anyway ~ I have reordered with a different company ~ the bed is slightly different, but it is £20 cheaper and the matress is included (I had to order that seperately with the other company) ~ so all in all I have saved myself money and the best bit of all ~ IT SHOULD BE DELIVERED NEXT WEEK!!!!!! YIPPEEEEE!!!!! They will e mail me with the delivery date and time ~ so that is great. The other company were still unable to give me a delivery date ~ and I have had every excuse, from a manufacturing delay to the latest ~ it is out of stock!!!??????? Lauren is very pleased ~ there is a version of the bed with a princess turret and a slide on the side ~ but I decided against ordering that one ~ it is not practical in the room (because of the space the slide takes up), and also in a few years she will no longer like the idea of having a slide on her bed and I don't want to have to buy another one that soon!!!!!

On the diet front, this week it was a rather more steady 2 lbs off (I was a bit dissapointed after the 5 I lost last week!!) ~ but that is half a stone in 2 weeks ~ so I am still happy!! The total loss so far is now 35lbs (2 and a half stone!!!), so the trousers are well and truly falling down now (a great excuse for another shopping spree!!).

My 2 little tennis stars have been out playing tennis again this afternoon ~ Daniel did a bit of foot stamping when he missed the ball and there was the odd temper tantrum from both of them ~ so they are looking more like Wimbledon finalists each day (ha ha!!!).

I have had a relaxed day, the sun has been shining and it is just lovely ~ so we have been out in the sunshine enjoying ourselves most of the day!!

This evening I am planning on looking online for some new clothes (I love shopping on line ~ I love shopping in the shops ~ infact I just love shopping tee hee!!). I also have to tackle the rest of the ironing and have a general clean up ~ although I don't know why I bother ~ as soon as I tidy up ~ the children just mess it up again!!!!

New Balls Please!!

Daniel and Lauren have had a great day, out in the sunshine playing with their new Tennis rackets. They both did really well ~ it was more of a hit the ball about session ~ rather than a real game ~ but they have to start somewhere!!!!

The only small problem was that they managed to lose 3 out of the 4 balls that I bought for them this morning!! I have no idea where they went ~ but now they are down to one lone tennis ball!!

So in good Wimbledon fashion they will be requiring "New Balls Please!!"

Tennis madness...

My children have become tennis mad since they started watching Wimbledon!! They are no longer bothered with all the childrens programmes that they beg me to watch ~ they are now addicted to TENNIS!!!

Lauren already thinks that she plays to professional standard, thanks to the wii ~ even though she very rarely hits the ball even on virtual tennis (tee hee).....and after yesterdays conversation with Daniel, she obviously does not understand the concept of sweatbands either ha ha!!

Once her Ballet and Tap rehearsals were over today (Lauren is in a dance show over the weekend of 26th and 27th July ~ she cannot wait to be on stage!!! ~ but the weeks leading up to it are pure madness, rehearsals, dress rehearsals, practicing hair and make up!! ~ the list goes on.....) We had to pop to the local town so I could pay some bills and get a few things for up coming birthday parties (Lauren has so many invites it is mad!!!!). We passed a few sports shops and Lauren and Dan both moaned that they would love a tennis racket ~ but they were all too expensive. We did however visit a great little shop that sells alot of sports items very cheaply and luckily there were 2 rackets there, exactly the same and just perfect for my 2 little stars!! The look on their faces was priceless when I said they could have them!!

Anyway ~ they have both been playing with them this afternoon (luckily we had an old tennis ball knocking around the house!!), and they have now come inside and are both back infront of the TV glued to Andy Murray (Britains Wimbledon hope for this year!!!) ~ which suits me just fine ~ it gives me a chance to write my blog and maybe even jump in the shower ~ without them
noticing and having a moan (ha ha ~ I do love them really!!).......I have promised them that I will take them to a local park tomorrow which has a couple of tennis courts attached and let them have a knock about (anyone have a spare crash helmet hanging about? The way Lauren has been swinging the racket I feel I may need one !!!)......I am off now before the peace ends ~ I think that Wimbledon will be alot less exciting soon ~ as DR WHO starts in a while ~ which they both totally love!!! (even though Lauren watches most of it from behind a pillow ha ha ~ She is definitely taking after her mother !!!!!!!!) XX

PS ~ As you can see from the photo ~ Lauren still does NOT have her bed ~ the latest is that there is a problem with production and I am seriously thinking of cancelling and ordering one with another company!!!!!

Sunshine through the sadness.....

Today has been a very sad day for my family. My Uncle (My Mums Brother), passed away this morning ~ following a long battle with cancer. He will be very sadly missed and although we have all known for some time that the cancer was not treatable and that he was not going to get better ~ his death has still left us all totally devastated.

My Uncle Eric was the reason that my Mum and Dad met and married. Eric and my Dad were in the army together and became great friends. They would visit each others houses during their hoidays ~ and it was during one of these visits that my Mum and Dad met. My Dad took an instant 'liking' to my Mum and my Mum took an instant 'dislike' to my Dad!!
After my Dads first visit ~ he was leaving to return to his Regiment, he turned to my Mum and said "Oneday I am going to marry you!". My Mum just stood in disbelief, disliking my Dad even more (ha ha!!!). BUT ~ as the years went on they became firm friends and fell in love and 3 years after that first illfated meeting my Mum and Dad were indeed married!!

It is so sad that both Eric and my Dad are both no longer with us ~ they both died too young and it is at times like these that I firmly believe that the world is totally unfair.
I also believe that they are sitting together somewhere ~ each with a pint of beer and laughing and sharing their old 'army' stories ~ that is the picture I hold in my heart!!

Through all the sadness of today ~ my children somehow still managed to make me laugh (as only my 2 could!!). They were both sitting on the sofa ~ watching (would you believe) ~ the tennis from Wimbledon.......Lauren thinks that she is a tennis professional after playing the wii sport and was discussing with Daniel how well the 2 men were playing ~

Lauren "That man is really good Dan ~ look he is jumping high like this" (does actions)
Daniel "Yeah ~ he is hitting the ball......."
Lauren "Ooohh he missed that ball ~ did he mean to do that?"
Daniel "How do I know?" (at this point getting a bit fed up!!)
Lauren "He must be very brave playing tennis ~ that man....."
Daniel "Why?"
Lauren "with that bandage on his head........"
Daniel "What bandage?......"
Lauren "The white one on his head......."
Daniel "That's not a bandage ......it's a sweatband......"
Lauren "oh!!"

Mummy ~ Tries her hardest not to wet herself laughing............

So, you see ~ even though today has been yet another one of the saddest days of my life, there was a little bit of sunshine shining through ~ thanks to my precious, sweet , funny little children....

LOOK WHAT WE GOT!!!!!

Rob, The Postman came down the path today with a pile of mail for me. In amongst the usual bills and junk mail ~ offering me double glazing and life insurance!! ~ there was a brown envelope for me!! Wondering what it was and knowing that I had definitly NOT been feeding my ebay addiction again (ha ha), I quickly ripped it open.

Inside was the cutest little card, which has a hamster on the front ~ who is the spitting image of the hamster we used to have!!! The card was from Amanda ~ over at pennynpounds. Also in the envelope were 2 really really big pencils with pictures of Scotland on them ~ Amanda had sent them for Daniel and Lauren (so they would have no excuse for not doing their homework ~ ha ha!!). The pencils are a big hit and Dan and Lauren have been drawing with them since they got home from school!!

Thank you so much Amanda, for the lovely card, the lovely words and for the two great big pencils ~ which the children love!! You have made our day!!

LOOK MUM ~ THE TOOTH FAIRY CAME!!

For the second morning in a row, I was woken by my daughter shouting from her bedroom (this time it was 6am!!).

The excitement this time was because the Tooth Fairy had been to collect her latest lost milk tooth and had replaced it with a shiny £1 coin!!!

Infact, Lauren is very lucky that she got anything from the Tooth Fairy at all ~ as the Tooth Fairy was very tired last night, and almost went to bed without leaving anything!!!!!

If Woman ruled the world..............

OH!!!! WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD IT WOULD BE (TEE HEE!!!!) xx

Guess who lost another tooth!!!

I was woken up this morning by Lauren shouting to me!!! I wondered what the heck had happened and went through to see her ~ only to be met in the hall by Lauren, holding a tiny little tooth in her hand and excitedly pointing to her mouth (where there was a gap!!).........

"Look Mummy my tooth fell out ~ I didn't pull it, I just sucked like this " (Does strange face!!)

"and it came out, look look!!"

Never has a tooth falling out been such an exciting event!

She has now lost 5 milk teeth and assures me that she has not been kissing any boys (tee hee).

She has the tooth all ready to put under her pillow when she goes to bed ~ ready for the tooth fairy to come and collect it!!

(I just hope that the tooth fairy has got some change in her little fairy purse ~ or there could be a small problem LOL!!!).

Back to reality.....

I had such a wonderful day yesterday ~ my 38th Birthday will be one I will remember for a long time!! Unfortunately I was brought back to reality with a bump today ~ as it is back to the cleaning and washing and ironing ~ all the usual things that HAVE to be done. My ironing pile has got so high that I decided that I had better do some........I made a start on it last night ~ but needed some sleep ~ so the rest had to wait until today!!!

How times change!!!! Yesterday I was a birthday girl dancing with Daniel Craig...........today I am Mrs Mop!!!!!!..............................

A little update for you on the diet ~ this weeks weigh in makes me another 5 pounds lighter and with a total loss now of 33 pounds ~ I think all that dancing with James Bond definitly had something to do with it!!!! XX

A very happy birthday ~ Thank you!!!

What a great birthday I have had today!!! I would like to say a big THANK YOU!!! to all my blogging friends for their birthday wishes. I had a lovely message from Elise, wishing me a lovely day. I had gorgeous cards from Tania, Tanya and Amanda (Amandas card also contained a butterfly ~ which you wind up~ and when you open the card it flies out!!! What a lovely suprise ~ although it did make me scream when it came flying out tee hee!!! )

I also had a very special gift over on Danis blog ~ a dance with Daniel Craig, Mr James Bond himself!!! If I had the slightest idea how to get it over on my blog I would!!! But seeing as it has just taken me 2 hours to get the slide show on here ~ I think it best you pop over to Danis blog and have a look ~ it will make you smile ~ it did me, and I haven't stopped all day!!!!

I also had a birthday message over on Tanyas blog ~ which was lovely and I am truly grateful to all of you for the birthday wishes!!!!

My day started this morning, with the children bringing my presents and cards through (at 7am ~ god love 'em!!!), and we all sat on the bed and opened them. I had some lovely cards and presents ~ I had flowers, some smellies from the body shop, a perfume set and bodyshop goody bag from Lauren, 2 pottery cats and some candles from Daniel, a top, a book and bookmark, gift vouchers, book vouchers, money , a little pottery teddy and some gorgeous little fizzy muffin bath bombs ~ which smell yummy and contain no calories ha ha!!!

After Judo was over, we had lunch and went to the local bowl plex and had three games of bowling ~ Dan won 2 and Lauren (who has never bowled before!!), won the third!! Yes ~ poor me won none ~ but they did have the guards up at the sides when they played ~ so the ball never went off the alley for them!!! Unfortunately I didn't have the same luxury ha ha!!!

We are all sat watching a DVD at the moment (National Treasure 2 ~ Book of secrets ~ Nicholas Cage YUM YUM ~ god listen to me ~ is there any Hollywood actor I am not a bit partial to!!!???).

I have had a fantastic day ~ spent with my 2 favourite little people in the world and have had so many lovely messages from all of you ~ I will remember this birthday forever!!! XXX

A moment in time....

Yes, they did have cameras when I was a little girl and to prove it ~ here are some photos of me when I was but a little tiny girl (3 I think!!!)
(Unfortunately these photos are SOOOOOOOOOO old that I couldn't get them out of the albums ~ so excuse the bad quality!!! If you left click on these photos you may be able to see them better!!!!!)



It's my party ~ and I will cry if I want to!!!

College days!!! Check out the earrings and the black eye liner!!! I was cool (NOT!!!)

My 21st Birthday ~ a trip with my mates to see the chipendales (well, it has to be done!!!)

Thought I would share these photos with you ~ have been on a trip down memory lane today (well ~ a small walk really ~ I found 3 old photo albums and spent this afternoon looking through them!!).

Yes ~ I was young once (LOL!!!!) ~ those were the days, I remember them well ~ anyway ~ onwards to the future and incontinence pads and walking frames!!!! Just got to go and park my Penny Farthing in the garage !!!!!!

Do I really look that old?........On second thoughts don't answer that question!!!!

I got up early this morning, had a coffee, jumped in the shower ~ dried my hair and styled it with the hair straighteners.....put on my make ~ up and got dressed ~ I was in a happy happy mood!!

Looking in the mirror ~ I didn't think I looked that bad ~ hopefully not doing too badly for the 38 years that I will be on Sunday!!!! (My goodness ~ I am sure I was only 18 yesterday!!!).......

My Darling children got up ~ breakfast started and the usual breakfast table chat started......

For some reason we got onto the subject of bikes (both Dan and Lauren want new bikes this Summer ~ better plant that money tree quick!!!!).......

Suddenly Lauren said "Did you have a bike when you were little Mum?"

I replied that I did and it had streamers on the handlebars and a basket on the back.

She looked a bit bemused and continued ~ "Was it one of those ones with one wheel bigger than the other?"........I thought for a while, thinking maybe she meant a chopper bike (I think they have different sized wheels )~ so I said that no, I didn't have a chopper bike.

She them looked even more bemused ~

"No, not one of them Mum, the one with the really big wheel and really small wheel!"

At this point daniel looked up from his bowl of cornflakes and said "I think she means a Penny Farthing Mum"..........

Lauren nodded, "That's it a Penny Farthing, was that what you had?"

Well ~ I nearly chocked on my coffee "NO I DID NOT, I AM NOT THAT OLD!!"

"Oh" The little darling continued "Was just wondering!"

Penny Farthing!!! ~ I ask you!! ~

(Am off to the shops tomorrow morning ~ for the largest tub of anti wrinkle cream that they stock!!!! XX)

Just popping out to the bank.........

I read in the paper today that the Producer of James Bond ~ Barbara Broccoli has spent £19,000 at a charity auction ~ for a kiss with James Bond star ~ Daniel Craig!!!

(she also got a kiss with Hugh Grant and Robbie Coltrane ~ neither of whom I like) ~ But Daniel Craig ~ dripping wet, coming out of the sea in those tight trunks.......aaaahhhhh ~ that definitly does it for me (sorry Ty, Brad and Harrison!!!)..........Anyway ~ I am just off to the bank before they close ~ to see if they could maybe, just possibly lend me £19,000 for a kiss!!!!!!!

Just a singing in the shower~

Lauren decided to have a 'little' shower tonight, before she goes to bed!! She is a real water baby, loves the bath, loves swimming and loves the shower most of all!!!

She has completely cracked me up this evening, with her rendition of a whole array of High School Musical songs ~ while dancing in the shower with her pink shower cap on (No ~ we didn't want to get our hair wet tonight!!!!).......

The only problem is ~ the little darling has been in there (pretending to be Sharpay!!), for SOOOOOOOO long, that all the hot water has run out ~ so while her ladyship takes herself off to bed, Daniel and I now have to wait for the water to re heat, before we get our turn!!!

You will be glad to hear that there were no 'Fruit and nut chocolate' nightmares last night, mainly down to the brilliant e card that Amanda at penny and pounds
sent to me last night, to congratulate me on my weight loss so far!!! It had a body builder blokey on it, doing some very athletic moves around the screen ~ if I knew how to get it on the blog, I would, as I laughed so much when I saw it ~ and it obviously took my mind off the chocolate ~ as I slept soundly !!!! (Thanks for that Amanda ~ it was very nice of you!!).X

28 pounds and counting.......

I have finally lost the 4 pounds that I wanted to, meaning that I have now lost 2 stone (28 pounds), in 7 weeks!! I get the feeling that the next 2 stone will not come off as easily or as quickly!!

Losing the weight has alot of advantages ~ I feel so much better ~ I feel fitter ~ it is making a real difference.......BUT ~ it has it's down side too ~ mainly that none of my clothes fit me and my trousers are all falling down ~ I nearly completely lost my jeans on the school run this morning (believe me ~ that would have been shocking!!!!). I have also started to have weird dreams about giant bars of fruit and nut chocolate (compared to dreams which involved Brad Pitt!!!), so that is a bit strange!

I have completely worn out my trainers from the power walking ~ and am getting fed up of listening to the same songs on my ipod as we walk around!

SO ~ I have formulated a plan of action ~ that being ~

1. Buy some trousers that fit ~ before I have an accident and scare lots of children....

2. Buy a new (decent) pair of trainers.

3. Change the music on my ipod ....

4. Try my hardest to think of Brad Pitt every night before I go to bed ~

in the vain hope that fruit and nut chocolate can be banished from my dreams FOREVER!!!!!

Curtains ~ but still no bed...

Lauren decided she 'needed' these foam animals for her wardrobe!!



Curtains ~ at last!!

Storage units for Dan and Lauren ~ they have filled them already!!

The childrens bedroom is now taking shape ~ the only item still missing is Laurens bed ~ which seems to be taking forever!! She is more than happy where she is and judging by the loud snoring every night when I go to check on her ~ she is snug and comfy!!

The curtains and lampshade are now up and Lauren has chosen some foam animals that she just had to have for her wardrobe doors!! I also bought them some storage boxes for under their beds (they are both under Daniels bed at the moment).....and they have filled them up already. Each storage box came with 4 free clear boxes ~ which Daniel has put his cars and bits in and lauren has stashed away her hair bands and other treasures!!

We had a quiet weekend ~ no painting or rushing around. Daniel had a friend over for a sleepover on Saturday night and they had pizza and popcorn and all kinds of other treats and then stayed up and watched a movie ~ Dan had such alot of fun and has made a list of who he wants to stay next!! Lauren actually behaved herself ~ she did her best to annoy the boys at every available opportunity ~ but gave up in the end and went to bed (she slept in with me ~ to give the boys some peace!!).

Monday morning again ~ and back to work!! I don't start until 10am today ~ so I have got half an hour to have a coffee ~ grab a quick bite to eat and then prepare for the madness ahead of me (ha ha!!).

Missing you on Fathers Day ~ missing you everyday....

Me and my litle stars!

After posting the snow globe story yesterday (there is still a glittery effect to the livingroom today!!), and the photo of me in stressed mode (apologies to anyone who I scared with that hideous image.....), I had a comment from Amanda over at Penny n Pounds who mentioned that I look like the children ~ especially Daniel!!

I have never really thought about this much before ~ I supose that Daniel looks more like me in a way (he has the dark hair), but lauren definitly has my personality and is just like me when I was younger (A Right Little Madam ~ quoting my Mother!!!). She is the more outgoing of the two ~ more likely to say what she thinks, where as Daniel is more placid and quiet (so there are parts from me in both of them there!!!).

I got the children to take some photos of each of them with me this morning ~ the main reason was because there are not many recent photos of me and them (together) in the memory boxes ~ so it was time for an update!! I thought that I would post them here and let you decide which one (if either) looks more like me!! Lauren was in full ballet gear ready for her lessons ~ so excuse the rather severe headband (and the fact that she couldn't just pull a natural face ~ but every other face you could think of ha ha!!!

I look forward to hearing what you think!!

PS ~ Just uploaded the photos and they are worse than I thought (ha ha!!!), never mind ~ these are going in the memory boxes ~ as a snapshot of this day and time!!!!

Glitter ~ Glitter ~ Everywhere!!!

The finished cards ~ at least some glitter actually stayed stuck on.........



Yes ~ this is my usual look for a Friday ~ slightly stressed, tired and in need of a family sized bar of chocolate.......(which I would kill for at the moment....willpower where have you gone? Do not leave me now!!! LOL!!)


I made fathers day cards with the children that I look after today ~ something that I do every year ~ usually with great success and the end results are usually really great!!......until today that is.......

Everything was going fine ~ I gave the little girl I care for the card and some crayons and she started to colour away happily ~ the little boy I care for was in the highchair ~ again with the card and crayons colouring away .....we stuck stickers on the cards and I helped them write a sweet message inside ~ they continued with their colouring .......then came the glue and glitter part.....well ~ let the disaster begin!!

Things started quite promisingly ~ I put the glue on the front of the cards ~ spelling out "Happy Fathers Day" ~ again because they are both quite young ~ and we got the glitter out. As I turned away ~ the younger of the two (the boy), had taken it upon himself to lick the glue off the front of the card (I wouldn't have minded ~ but he had just had his lunch ha ha!!), NO PANIC ~ it is non toxic childrens glue which I have bought many times before ~ and know is safe ~ I gave him some juice and cleaned his face and proceeded to re~glue the card and put it out of his reach!!
They both excitedly watched as I got the glitter tubs out and took off the lids ~ then with help they sprinkled glitter over the glue ~ so that the card was completely covered ~ there was quite a bit of glitter on them there cards!! WELL ~ at this exact ~ critical moment in the process ~ the little boy sneezed ~ a huge great big sneeze ~ which was aimed straight at the glitter ~
The whole place was covered ~ it was like being in a snow globe that someone had shaken LOL!!
He was very pleased with himself and was saying "OH pretty ~ pretty!" ~ I couldn't help but laugh!! My living room table was covered and there are still bits of glitter lurking around ~ even though I have cleaned and hoovered (I just got changed to go in the shower and there was even glitter down my top LOL!!)......The joys of childminding !!

The cards did look nice in the end and the chidren took them home tonight for their dads (both very proud of their achievements!!)......hopefully the cards will still be in one piece come Sunday!