What a great way to start the day than to recieve  a box of Green & Black goodies through the post? Which brighten up my usually dry Friday. So thank you  Tara and thanks to the team at Green & Blacks for sending me my choccies at lightning speed!

The pleasures of blogging

Just as well as I’m a HUGE Green & Blacks fan, I have the recipe book to prove it.

Even the cover looks tasty

Something I'd like to try one day

And to top the great day I was having, here is a ‘bunch’ of flowers that my two year old picked for me this afternoon.  He came running in from the garden with something crumpled in his hand, then showing me and saying in the most adorable way…

“Wub you mummy!”  You know, moments like these makes you realise how great it is being a Mom Have a great weekend everyone!

Flowers from Sam

So, if you FV, then you would be glad to know that it’s finally here!

New features and a widget will be added shortly. We’re also on the process of creating other Zynga game timers for Android so please subscribe to get the latest news!

FEATURES:

• Set personalised ring tones and sounds for your notifications
• Shows crops ready on notification bar
• Adjust time and date of your crops
• Delete multiple expired crops
• Precise date, time and minutes of when your crops harvest time

Download code:

I initially wanted to be ‘off’ only for a week or so until my family has gotten over the summer cold, but with work and other commitments I seemed to have over looked my blog and concentrated on the more ‘important’ stuff instead.

Lots to tell, lots to write about, but first things first. Just some of the things I’ve been doing since the last post:-

- Web Design projects. Recently, I have been inundated with clients so obviously that’s my first priority. A few projects are finished and a couple I’ve decided to start on.

- Keeping the kids occupied – it’s the summer holidays, and yes, we have not made any plans again this year. So I’ve been stuck at home with 3 kids trying to prevent them to say ‘I’m bored’ 100 times a day! For the past few weeks they have driving me crazy. I also spent the weekend at my brothers, which was cut short due to unexpected illness (again!).

We ended up driving home a day early with the kids throwing up at the back of the car for added effect! Does anyone know how to take that vomit smell out of your car? It’s been quite pungent for the last two weeks.

- Helping my husband develop an Android FarmVille Crop Timer App - well, as you know, I’m FarmVille‘s number one bitch, so begged hubby to develop an app to time my crops. Talk about obsession… yeah, yeah, I know I’m sad. But might as well make the use of our geeky knowledge to share with the world.

The app has been released. Will follow on with more details on here very soon!

- Reviews! – I know I should be grateful to be given the opportunity and getting paid for it, but I’ve been asked to do a few reviews which I’m pondering about, I don’t really want to my blog to be mostly reviews (even though they’re the things I like). I don’t know… something to think about. How do you feel about writing reviews? Does it shadow the main content of your blog and prevents you from talking about the things that you really want to talk about?

So the’re you go folks. That’s my month in a nutshell, nothing exciting as usual. But, one thing for sure… it’s nice to be back!

But for now, well wishes our way please and will be visiting my dailies as usual. Mwahh! xx and if you really miss me you can always follow me on Twitter

My first camera was a Nikon F401 bought second hand in a car boot sale, I loved it that much that I slept with it for months. I didn’t think I was brilliant at photography, but it gave me a sense of peace and independence knowing that I can just go off and search and capture things that captivated me at the time.

This weeks Gallery prompt is about ‘Nature‘.  So here is my entry . Enjoy

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

In the new millennium, we`re fighting against the icon of the perfect mother. I don`t know about here, but in America you`re not allowed to talk about how it`s driving you crazy, or how you don`t like it, or how, if you have to give a bath one more time, you`re going to pull your hair out. Because then you`re considered a bad mom.

There`s a very established conversation or litany, which is, `Isn`t motherhood the best?` To me, that question just isn`t applicable. You can complain about your job, you can complain about your husband, you can complain about your friends, but God forbid you complain about your kids.

-Felicity Huffman

You know, I think it’s a bad idea writing this post while I’m so down with myself. But what the heck, as I said, this blog is about everything that is going on in my life; the high and the lows, and I’m the kind of person that likes to get things out in the open. Even though you probably don’t want to hear it. But this the only space where I feel free to write and let out some overdue frustration that has been bugging me for a while.

I’m tired. I feel over worked. I feel like I’m battling something that can never be won. I love my kids, I really do. But everyday is so much hard work. I feel such a drama queen telling you all about this, but at the moment, I look forward to the end of the day when I can finally unwind and have time for myself. The constant bickering and fighting between my son and daughter is getting me down. I’m mentally drained and physically exhausted. Not to mention my 2 year old who needs constant stimulation every hour of the day.

I admire my brother for always reminding me that being a mother is the hardest job of all. Of course, it’s a well known cliché.  But to hear a man tell you how it is, specially coming from your own brother means a lot. Sometimes, it brings tears to my eyes knowing that someone out there apart from my friends know how it feels and how much effort, love and consistency goes into bringing up considerate and well balanced kids.

I’m looking forward to doing my degree this September, but at the same time I’m dreading the idea of having to face another work load. How do I divide my time? How do I stay sane? Am I taking on too much? Am I too impatient? A control freak? Some would probably agree.

I want to do well on my business venture, I have a steady flow of clients that are demanding my time. It’s hard to juggle work, kids, being a wife and home at the same time. Specially when your work place is at home and having a husband who also works from home.  There is no getting away from the monotony or the screaming or the demands of a 2 year old. I have to learn how to divide my time between everything. And its fucking hard!

I dont want to fail. I’m not a failure, I don’t even consider that an option.  I have aspirations and I want to do well in what I do. Whether it would be at work, my family and my kids. But I cant help but feel that I’m loosing control. The guilt is always there, nagging at me. My kids comes first, but what about me? Do I put my dreams in the back burner and concentrate on being the perfect mother and a wife (if there is such a thing?). Or do I just say, fuck it, I want to do well, I want a life!  Take it or leave it.

I confess now, if I had my time again, I don’t think I would have stayed at home for as long as I had. I think I would have gone back to work as soon as my son turned one year old. Funny how the social criteria of being the ‘perfect mother and wife’ has a habit of making you feel guilty. I don’t think I’m being selfish or love my family any less, but as modern woman, I think it’s also my right to be myself and not forget that even though I’m a mom and a wife, I am also a woman named Maria.

Note to self: Never forget that.

My kids got me into it last year when they started raving about ‘this great game’ and that I really need to play it because they needed more neighbours. So wanting to ‘help’ my children and being a good mum and all, I decided that being a ‘neighbour’ wouldn’t hurt. I’ve never been in to on-line games and I’m never going to go on it anyway so, what’s the worse that can happen?

It started with ‘Mom, can you send me a tree please!’ OK, no problem, I’ll send you a tree.

‘Mom can you send me a sheep!’ OK but that say it’s locked until I’m on level ‘blah’.

‘Well, just play a little so you can get to level ‘blah’ and send me the sheep.’

You see it started that way, and then I found myself really getting in to the planting and harvesting. Oh look! I have 5 neighbours… hmm I need more so I can get that ribbon I’ve always wanted!  I really want that olive tree… need to play more!…and more…. and more…. and more.

Then it became a competition. So and so friend was only a level 5 yesterday, now she’s level 6.  Plant, harvest, fertilize. Must beat the biatch!

So there you go, that’s how my addiction started. After 5 months of sneaking a few minutes/hours in between house work/kids/husband,  I knew I had a problem. I final straw was when I began seeing the farm fields as ‘My Farmville’ and when I started to say to the kids, ‘I’ll find your P.E kit later, my melons need harvesting first!’

It took a lot from me to give up Farmville, I was clean for 6 months.  I stopped logging on, friends and gift request were deleted. Until now… apparently they have ‘new things’ and it’s a lot better than last time. I’m on level 15.

DAMN YOU FARMVILLE!!!

This week has been one of those weeks (again), but thankfully blogging has kept me somewhat sane. All that angst that has building up inside me needed to be shared with the world (whether you like it or not!). What a great way to whine about things that has happened over the week and to tell the world to Flip-Off!

So here goes:-

Flip off  to DOG SHIT! - Yep it’s happening again. Actually, it’s been happening for the last 2 years! Ive never known anything like it. For the last 24 months I’ve been trying to find out who’s been responsible for letting their dog or dogs foul on my lawn.

The dog warden have been called, the council had been informed, but the doggy doo offender still haven’t been caught. I’ve even gone to the extent of doing a dog shit vigil but yielded no results.

So feeling rather tired of it all, I shoveled every single one of those offensive doggie doos and strategically placed them on the painted sign NEXT TO MY LAWN (yes people are also illiterate as well as ignorant!) just to subtly hint that I do not appreciate their dogs shitting all over my front yard!

Dog owners that let your dogs do this, SHAME ON YOU!

Flip Off  to lack of sleep and feeling tired all day! – This week I’ve been walking around like a zombie. The lack of sleep is really getting to me, every morning I wake up like a bear with a sore head. Sleep deprivation has been known to be used as a form of torture, so why me?

Flip Off to the weather! – We were teased with a few weeks of sunshine in June, and now July (nearly August) the British weather has not failed to disappoint. It’s been raining, cold and grey for the last 2 weeks and really I could do with the sunshine now that the school holidays have begun. There’s only so much ‘indoor wet play’ I can take, I need sunshine please! And make it last- all summer preferably! That’s all!!!

Flip Off to not having time together with my husband! – All work and no play makes Fairyboo a pissed off mofo! The days and nights are getting repetitive (that’s marriage for you). I was telling a friend just the other day, that the last time that me and MrB had a time alone for more than a day,was when we had our honeymoon. Ermmm 3 years ago?! Yup, it’s all about the kids and work now, and the over time that MrB is doing is not making things any better. I need a break – we need a break – I expect it in a few years or so….. *sigh*

Well…. that was theraputic! Thanks Kludgymom

Here is my first attempt on The Gallery and I hope I do it some justice, so here goes.

This weeks prompt is A Novel Idea where I am required to post a photo that represents one of my favourite books. It’s a rather tricky one, as I have so many favourite books, but finding the right image to exemplify it is another thing.

I’ve looked through my photos and this one in particular caught my eye. These were taken last week at our local park.  I don’t know about you, but at first glance it reminded me of a tranquil Japanese garden, which immediately reminded me of  ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’.  If you have seen the film or read the book then you would know or would have imagined the ending scene with the Chairman and Sayuri.

When I read the book, the descriptive writing plays havoc with your imagination; and the film portrayed this in a positive way and it has totally enhanced what I was expecting from the novel itself.

So, here it is… my first attempt.

You cannot say to the sun, “More sun.” Or to the rain, “Less rain.” To a man, geisha can only be half a wife. We are the wives of nightfall. And yet, to learn kindness after so much unkindness, to understand that a little girl with more courage than she knew, would find her prayers were answered, can that not be called happiness? After all these are not the memoirs of an empress, nor of a queen. These are memoirs of another kind.

‘It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.’

~Barbara Kingsolver