Adventures of an English Mum

My Family

2012-05-27T21:04:00.000+01:00

I had a huge post written about blended families and how difficult it can be to juggle everything (mainly the parents) but I've decided that actually I don't need to publish it.

Chick and I have spent almost 10 years as a single Parent family which has been challenging at times but happy in the main:

Now our family looks a bit different and yes, I've been told that life isn't all glitter and fairies but now involves dinosaurs and trains too! I'm sure there will be times when it isn't easy but as long as the 5 of us are happy then life is all good :-)

Yin and Yang

2012-05-26T18:31:00.000+01:00

It's good to have a contrast in life but ours tend to be full on busy and hectic. Most of the time this suits me just fine. I like the hustle and bustle of being busy, visiting friends, running to Brownies and Cello lessons, to my Grandma's and eating out:

I also lurve me some rock 'n' roll....preferably as loud as possible so Guns 'n' Roses are perfect for me:

As soon as the sun starts to shine though, I find that I need some yang to my yin.

I crave the sea, relaxation, walks in the countryside and spending time with my girl. I really crave the sea. I lived near the sea as a youngster and every so often I get a craving for the salty sea air. I don't miss the busy-ness and the people but the large open spaces, the wind blowing you in every direction and the way looking out at the vast Ocean (or North Sea!!) can put your problems into perspective.

This week we've both been a bit off colour. Not particularly ill, just exhausted, run down and in need of some time. Time to spend with each other, time to relax, time out! On Wednesday I made the executive decision that both Chick and I would take the time and recover before we both got ill. Originally I was thinking about trying to satisfy my craving for the sea but as the nearest is 3 hours away, it isn't really conducive to a relaxing day.

Instead we headed out to the lake. This is the way to relax:

Uncle Nick joined us too:

We paddled, sunbathed, relaxed, ate lunch, meandered around the lake and Chick took pictures:

Then we came home and had a nap!! The right thing to do? Definitely. My daughter has her sparkle back instead of bags under her eyes, which no 9 year old should have.

Today everyone decided that they had things to do which left me home alone. At first I was a little bit put out that no-one wanted to spend Saturday with me but actually I managed to do the washing and clean the house in peace, listen to some music and generally have time for me. Once I got bored of my own company I headed out to the reservoir for an afternoon snack and some sunshine. It was almost perfect - the sun shone, the breeze blew, the ice cream was cold and if I closed my eyes I could almost convince myself I could smell the salty air:

I also appear to have my blogging mojo back so obviously the combination of sun and water is very good for me!!

Silent Sunday

2012-05-13T21:49:00.000+01:00

Are you off to the Olympics? A few hints and tips.......

2012-05-09T22:30:00.000+01:00

Like many poor old English people we weren't lucky (or rich) enough to get our hand on any tickets for the Olympics this Summer. Instead we got some tickets for last weekend and the 'London Prepare Series'. It was the official opening of the Olympic stadium and also a practice run for security, transport links, staff for the events etc.

The first thing is that there is no parking anywhere near, around or in the vicinity of Olympic park. I was hoping we could park at Stratford Westfield which certainly didn't appear to be an option on the day. We ended parking at Canary Wharf and the getting the tube in.

Prior to the event, I was sent an e-mail from Ticketmaster asking us to use the tube station at West Ham, which we duly did. It was really well signposted to the park and had ultra friendly staff all along the route. I cannot praise the staff enough....everyone we spoke to all day was friendly, polite and had plenty of time to talk to the kids, pass the time of day and answer questions.....something of a rarity in the UK these days!!

The only downside(?) of using West Ham is that from there to the Hockey Stadium was just over a 2 mile walk! Now that's fine for me but if you've got smaller children you may want to be aware so you can plan a route exactly. You have to go through airport style security but in all honesty it was a breeze. As with an airport, you are unable to take fluids through the check point and they will be taken away from you if you try to take them in.

Which brings me nicely to food and drink! Obviously due to the 'no liquid' rule you have to buy all your drinks once there. It was about £2.50 for a diet coke or a bottle of water which is fairly expensive but I guess no more than usual London prices. There was a huge variety of food including sandwiches, jacket potatoes, fish and chips and loads of other stuff. It was all super expensive so I would take picnics with you if at all possible.

The Park itself is pretty cool although I'm not convinced this is worth the millions it cost:

This is Chick and The Punk outside Olympic Stadium:

We went to watch the hockey and had fabulous seats:

Both matches that we watched were brilliant!!!

I thought that we were well enough dressed to sit outside for 4 hours but it turns out that we definitely weren't. We had sun, plenty of rain, wind and cold. I can't begin to describe how exposed the stadium was and the wind properly howled around us. In fact it was so cold that we had to leave before the end as I just couldn't stand it any longer! Knowing how unpredictable the English weather is, I would say be prepared for all sorts and take gloves, scarfs, sunglasses and sun block :-)

One thing that I thought was really odd was that there didn't appear to be anywhere to buy souvenirs from! I honestly thought that the whole park would be overrun with stalls trying to wrestle your money away! Obviously with having the girls with me this was a blessing in disguise but we wanted to buy extra flags (to supplement our meagre, rain soaked, paper versions!!) and also a programme of some description.

On the whole it was a fab day so my main points would be:

Plan your route in and out of the park before you leave home

Wear flat and/or comfortable shoes

Remember there will be a lot of walking involved

Be prepared for all kinds of weather

Take a picnic if you don't have lots of spending money

Have fun :-)

Silent Sunday

2012-04-22T20:35:00.000+01:00

Eighteen Years

2012-04-11T11:43:00.000+01:00

Eighteen Years!

I feel like I’ve come a long way since I wrote SeventeenYears.

Never far enough for forgiveness but I think maybe far enough for acceptance.

I thought that this year I’d escaped the usual crushing grief that follows me around through March and April.

I’ve been busy living life and loving the man and trying to make it count but as I write this I can’t stop the usual flow of tears that leave me unable to see anything but a blur, and the big lump in my throat that is so painful it feels like I’ll never be able to swallow again.

I have come a long way in Seventeen Years but never far enough for forgiveness.

Holidaying in Derbyshire

2012-04-10T16:57:00.000+01:00

Chick and I just got back from a fab girly break in The Peak District that included swimming, walking, sunshine, sightseeing, lots of eating, rain, cuddles, mud, more rain and most importantly some quality time together!!! The weather has been changeable to say the least but we still had a lovely time and made some amazing memories:

Click to enlarge

Silent Sunday

2012-04-08T18:04:00.000+01:00

Easter Egg Tasting with John Lewis

2012-04-04T20:41:00.000+01:00

As long time readers of this blog will know, I have a lovely relationship with the people at John Lewis and every so often they invite us into our local store to do fun stuff. Imagine Chick's excitement when this time they asked both of us if we wanted to go along and 'taste test' some Easter eggs???! What a fabulous way to spend the first day of the holidays.

First up we had a peek at some of their lovely Easter goodies:

Chick was lucky enough to be given a lovely Easter basket of goodies:

So we thought that we'd start by tasting her eggs.....all I can say is that they tasted divine:

Due to time constraints we bought a couple of eggs home with us to taste. I love all kinds of chocolate but for a special occasion I do like to splash out on anything from Hotel Choclat.......Oooo yum!! I wasn't too sure about this one though as it was 'salted caramel' so I took it to work and shared it out among the office:

Actually the egg was A-Mazing!!! The contrast of the bitter and sweet, the light and dark chocolate was awesome. There was also a crackle from the salt and caramel chips. Go buy one and keep it all for yourself.....yum!!! Everyone in the office agreed too.

The next egg was a cupcake style egg:

This one was made of thick milk chocolate and decorated with white chocolate and smarties. I think Chick and I demolished it in approximately 15 seconds between us.

Yummy!

A huge thank you to John Lewis for having us and plying us with chocolate.

Happy Easter.

A Mini Catch Up.....

2012-04-02T20:35:00.000+01:00

Advertorial but still my words :-)

Aaah my poor neglected blog readers. I was just replying to some comments from last week’s Silent Sunday and then realised that, apart from pictures, I haven’t blogged properly for about a month!! What a terrible blogger I am!!

I could put a lot of it down to the usual day to day stuff that we all do........renewing the car insurance, keeping on top of the (never ending) laundry, doing the school run, work, homework, Brownies, visiting the family, ~~too many Tequila nights~~ and celebrating birthdays:

Of course I could also blame my lovely, lovely man for taking up lots of my time but it’s so nice to hang out with him that I kind of forget about blogging, Twitter, Facebook and just cuddle up to him on the couch. Most days he is still completely amazing although obviously he has the odd day where he’s just a typical man!! This week will be 6 months since we first met....how is it even possible for time to have flown by so quickly on one hand and on the other to feel like I’ve known him forever?

I’ve been trying to spend quality time with my beautiful girl as well. Now that she’s 9, I’m beginning to worry what she will remember about my Parenting and at the moment I figure that her main memory will be me yelling at her every morning to get ready and stop being a snail ;-) What I want her to remember are unscheduled stops for muffins , lunches out, curling up on the couch to watch DVD’s, bike rides in the Countryside, trips to the park:

A couple of weeks Chick went away on an activity break with the school so hopefully that built some amazing memories for her that she will carry with her for a lifetime.

That’s about all my news so what have I missed in your world?

Silent Sunday

2012-03-25T21:03:00.000+01:00

My Week in Pictures - Mothers Day Version

2012-03-18T12:54:00.000Z

Making Memories

2012-03-17T21:40:00.000Z

This week Chick went on an adventure with the school. They went off to Norfolk for two nights and three days, with more clothes than they could ever wear, secret teddies stashed away so their friends didn't know and think they were baby-ish (even though they all had them!!) and plenty of chocolate for midnight feasts. This is them waiting to get going:

Chick arrived home last night looking like she had never been introduced to soap or water and with an apparent chest infection!!! On the plus side she has chattered about it non-stop. Telling me about learning archery, the bunk beds, how bossy all the other girls are (!!!), climbing the low ropes, how she didn't sleep a wink!! This has pretty much been her since she got back:

Obviously having that much fun is completely exhausting!

Seeing as Chick was away having a good time, The Man and I decided to go away too. We went to The Cotswolds to a beautiful place called Bourton on the Water. It is one of the cutest places ever! The only downside was the weather.....it was sodding freezing the whole time we were there!!

Even with the rubbish English weather we managed to eat, drink,shop and be merry! We also visited another place not far away called Broadway. It's super cute and has some lovely shops. The Man had asked me on the way there if I'd heard of a Painter called Thomas Kinkade, which I had but only knew him for those dodgy Christmas ornaments that light up and are definitely not to my taste!!! I wasn't expecting to like any of his work at all but we went to his gallery in Broadway to have a nosey anyway:

I cannot begin to tell you how AMAZING his paintings are. The sign says that he is a 'painter of light' but the pictures are just unbelievable!! Even on the website they don't look like my kind of thing but when they are in front of you they are awesome!

One of my favourite ones was a Christmas version and we've said that ~~when~~ if ever we move in together then we'll buy it as a housewarming present to each other! I kind of have high hopes of getting a miniature one before then though.....hopefully one like this....

(I know that it looks really cheesy but I like it!!) I'm sure I could find a nice little corner to hang it in!!

As lovely as it was to both be away having adventures and making amazing memories, for the rest of the weekend I'm going to hug my girl and make up for the three days I missed out on this week. Have a great weekend whatever you may be doing!

Silent Sunday

2012-03-11T19:49:00.000Z

Silent Sunday

2012-03-04T09:03:00.000Z

Silent Sunday

2012-02-26T18:40:00.000Z

Silent Sunday

2012-02-19T12:29:00.000Z

My Week in Pictures

2012-02-18T21:58:00.000Z

Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T11:34:00.000Z

If I were to describe myself, I probably wouldn't use the word romantic, however I seem to have been infected by some weird kind of Valentines bug!! I'm blaming it on the fact that although I have received Valentine cards and presents before I've never really done the whole Valentine thing of meals and being romantic.

This year I am finally going to be that girl. you know....the one you look at and think get a grip woman!!! I have a man who loves me and I'm going to make the most of it and be a great, soppy romantic tart:

When I was young I remember my Mum had this cushion that said 'Love is.......holding hands as you drop off to sleep together'. I don't know why I keep thinking about that this week but for me........

Love is......'The Man' sitting in the hospital with me and holding Chick's hand and stroking her hair for hours on end whilst she was ill.

Love is......Coming home from work to find that he's put together my new table and chairs instead of having a lie-in.

Love is......The Man making me laugh every single day.

Love is......him meeting my lovely but crazy family and pretending not to be bothered by how extensive the family is.

Love is......the fact that he makes me a very happy girl.

Happy Valentines Day!

Silent Sunday

2012-02-12T15:53:00.000Z

The reason for my blogging silence....

2012-02-10T21:29:00.000Z

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how January was kicking my arse for a variety of reasons and in true Brooks style obviously life got much worse!!! As a summary the end of January, following on from my previous post, went a bit like this:

- On Friday Chick threw up so much I called NHS direct for advice and they said they weren't sure what it was but if she was still ill when she woke up to speak to the emergency Doctor.

- By Saturday she was so ill that not only did we speak to the emergency doc but we also visited the walk in centre and the hospital who thought it was Appendicitis.

- We sat at the hospital for (many, many) hours. Her Dad managed 45 minutes, 'The Man' was present for most of the weekend and cuddled her, stroked her hair, let me get food/pee/moan/cry/sleep, chivvied the nurses along and actually gave a f**k.

- The beds for parents in hospitals suck hairy donkey balls and are at least 2" too small for me.....not just 'cos I have a mahoosive arse!!! How on earth Dad's sleep on them long term I have no idea. I haven't been able to stand up straight since!!

- The NHS at the weekend don't seem to care about their patients and I spent a WHOLE lot of time throwing my toys out of the pram and bugging the nurses to actually DO something for my girl! DO NOT upset a Mama Bear! Also children's wards are just like tv programmes/a soap opera!

- I'm sure this is a generalisation but our nurses spent 80% of their time doing nothing/passing the buck to the doctors/eating food that my daughter and I couldn't touch/gossiping about nothing! At least in HR departments we have the good grace to appear fucking busy and if someone approached us that was obviously upset we wouldn't palm them off with 'you must wait for the HR Manager, we know nothing'. Training is a fucking marvellous tool!

- The NHS should maybe also think about the people/family that are sitting there 24/7 with the patients. Now I'm not suggesting for a second that they actually pay/provide for food but on Saturday I had a chocolate bar and a diet coke to last me from lunchtime until my family came on Sunday. When you are a single parent how the f**k do you manage when you can't leave your child? I know that I'm very lucky to now have 'the man' but actually there were only vending machines that had food, we didn't have much change between us and neither of us wanted to leave the hospital to get any!

- When we left the hospital (as we'd forced the issue) we didn't have any advice apart from to see the Doc in 48 hours, so when Chick was ill again by Tuesday we were turned away from the Doctor because 'everyone was out at lunch' and the walk in centre because 'although she's in pain, she doesn't need immediate medical assistance'. Right...............so my 9 year old is suffering and in pain, which you can SEE but it it isn't urgent! WTF???

- We went back to the Doctor (once they'd finished eating!!) and they don't have a clue what's wrong with her! We were supposed to get all the test results from the hospital, some of which weren't there. I asked what I should do with Chick to make her comfortable and the advice was to 'give her calpol/advil and wait until she was better'! Marvellous so I'll take UNPAID leave from work indefinitely, not pay any bills or rent and wait for my girl to miraculously recover!

The end of the saga?? The NHS can kiss my ass and I'm probably going to have to go back to working full time AND extra hours to pay for private healthcare for my family. I've been a staunch advocate of the NHS for many years, my Auntie works for them and MY taxes pay for the service but I cannot be without answers. I wouldn't mind if they couldn't tell me what was wrong but they didn't even seem to actually care or seem to want to be TRYING to find a solution! Even now two weeks later we still have no answers.......

Silent Sunday

2012-02-05T19:52:00.000Z

A Catch Up.....

2012-01-27T16:13:00.000Z

If I'm completely honest January is kicking my arse in a massive way! This week has been yet another fun filled week and so this will therefore be another whiny post......

Following on from my previous oversharing post......I've been back to the Doctors and they now have me on the pill to try and regulate the periods on the implant! Can anyone say 'crazy hormone lady'??? On the plus side my periods are now only every other day so there is a definite improvement ;-)

On Monday I went back to the hospital about my hearing being awful and as I thought, the operation hasn't worked. The Surgeon isn't entirely sure why but it could have something to do with my 'ear drums being as thin as tissue paper'.....great!!! He wants to let my ears settle down for six months, recover properly and then re-do the operation to see if it's more successful. On the plus side, I should get most of August off from work to recover ;-)

Wednesday night we had a ~~Tequila~~ Mexican evening to celebrate a friends birthday. Just as the drink was beginning to flow and we were starting to let our hair down, my poor girl started throwing up and has pretty much only just stopped. Watching your kids be ill is one of the most horrible things in the world but it has given me a bit of a respite from the usual attitude fuelled 9 year old and given me back a cute, cuddly Chick who just wants to sit on her Mama's knee.....I have to take the hugs and kisses where I can get them nowadays.

'The Man' came round last night and even though I looked like hell and smelt like sick he told me that I was gorgeous and that he adores me......that's definitely love as far as I'm concerned and made the whole week a little more bearable. TFI Friday and roll on a fabulous weekend!!!!

Silent Sunday

2012-01-22T18:17:00.000Z

Shoes and more shoes

2012-01-19T19:24:00.000Z

Imagine for a second, if you will, what my ideal job would be???? That’s right, a buyer of shoes!! Now I’m never likely to be offered that particular post and be able to shop for shoes all day but the lovely people over at Sarenza are looking for a Ambassador to review shoes for them!! Holy Cow....could a job be more perfect for me?

The first pair of shoes that I remember vividly is a shiny black pair that I lusted after for ages when I was 8 years old. As they were completely impractical it took me forever to wear my Mum down and get her to buy them for me but in the end she did! I still remember the way they looked and smelt when I opened the box....a little piece of shoe heaven and the beginning of a long relationship with beautiful but crazy shoes.

Each season I tend to lust after a particular pair and a couple of seasons ago these beauties (Melissa by Vivienne Westwood) caught my eye and I just had to have them:

After missing out on them in the first instance I felt like I was on all kinds of waiting lists to get a pair in this particular colour but low and behold, eventually a pair was mine.

They day that they were delivered to work, a hush descended on the office and everyone gathered around to behold the opening of the shoes. The first thing that everyone noticed was the amazing fruity smell....not in a bad way! Opinion is torn between whether they smell like bubblegum or the scented erasers that we used to get when we were kids.

The heels are 4.2 inches and although reasonably high are not too difficult to walk in, even if they make me a Giantess. The shoes themselves are made of PVC (apart from the soles which are rubber) but are pretty hard wearing and even though I’ve worn mine to several parties they still look like new.

It's easy to adjust the straps to fit which is a bonus when you have massive feet like mine and are actually truly comfortable considering the heel is just over 4 inches.

I like the little peep-toe detail and the fact that you can dress these up or down. I’ve worn them with jeans and a t-shirt to the pub, as well as with a dress to a party. As they are slightly unusual and I’ve never seen anyone else wearing them, they also tend to be a pretty good talking point!

This is my entry to be a Sarenza Ambassador and would like to wish everybody the best of luck.