notSupermum

Our favourite children's books for World Book Day

2012-02-27T14:17:00.007-08:00

If you have school-age children I'm sure you already know that it's World Book Day on Thursday (1st March). Most schools organise something or other to celebrate the day, and at our school we usually encourage the children to dress up as their favourite book character.

I love children's books and started collecting them long before I had my own children, but when my girls came along it gave me the chance to indulge my love of children's books. My girls are now 15 and 12, but over the years we have found some new favourites and kept some old ones too.

When I was little I loved the Wishing Chair stories, by Enid Blyton, but thought they might be a bit old-fashioned for my girls. I gave them a try anyway, and they absolutely loved them! And each chapter is just long enough for a bedtime story and leaves the reader on a cliffhanger for the next day.

I remember hearing both girls talking about it one day, trying to guess what might happen next.

Of course, once we'd finished the Wishing Chair stories it was natural to move onto the Magic Faraway Tree. Fabulous, innocent stories. Love them.

Scarlette Beane by Karen Wallace is a magical tale of a little girl who dreams of making the most incredible garden, and finds she has special gifts that help her dream come true.

This was The Teenager's absolute favourite book when she was younger, and never tired of hearing the story and poring over Jon Berkeley's beautiful illustrations. A really lovely book.

Image from Amazon

Tall Daughter's favourite book is probably No Matter What by Debi Gliori, although she's such a book worm that it's difficult to choose just one.

No Matter What manages to be both funny and moving, and is the story of a mother fox explaining her unconditional love to her cub. This is the perfect book for confirming that no matter what your child does you will always love them, and the illustrations are both fabulous and witty.

When Tall Daughter was about 8 or 9, we started reading The Sophie Stories by the fabulous Dick King-Smith. They're about a small but very determined girl, Sophie, who loves animals and wants to be a farmer when she grows up. Once again, each chapter is just the right length for a bedtime story, and there are 6 books in the series. We were really sad to finish these books, and that there were only 6 of them.

From about the age of 10 or 11, The Teenager started reading books by Cathy Cassidy. She read all of the ones available at the time. Tall Daughter is also a fan and is currently reading Marshmallow Skye.

We have shelves of lovely books and enjoy reading them but it's easy to forget how privileged we are.

In Kenya, for example, hundreds of thousands of children never finish primary school, whether because of their own sickness, or because they must tend to a sick relative, or simply because they need to work to survive. Extreme poverty and HIV/Aids are commonplace. Those who do finish primary school often don't have even a single book in their classroom. Unsurprisingly, reading and writing skills are poor, and the children's chances of fulfilling their potential are slim.

Book Aid International works to change all of this.

Of the more than 500,000 books sent to sub-Saharan Africa last year, about 330,000 were for children in schools and libraries. Winnie, one of those Kenyan primary school children who would otherwise not be learning to read or write, goes to the Kisii library in Kibuye. She told Book Aid: “I like reading books because books are the things that motivate us and let us be what we want.”

If you'd like to support World Book Day and be part of this change, there are many ways to get involved and can find more information on Book Aid website.

Of course I've left out lots of books from our favourites list, and my daughters wanted to also mention Guess How Much I Love You, You Choose, most of Jacqueline Wilson's books and the Rainbow Fairy series.

What are your children's favourite books or favourite book characters?

Happy Sunday

2012-02-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Morning walk with Tessie

Perfect roasties

A bit of Bob Marley

Tall Daughter cleaning the car

Hope you had a good Sunday!

Stepping out of my comfort zone

2012-02-20T14:27:00.002-08:00

Image source

Yesterday I did something I haven't done for years.

I went on a date.

Yes you read that right. Me, on a date. Bet you never thought you'd read that did you?

The man in question is a man from my past. We hadn't spoken to each other for 8 years, but recently on a complete whim I emailed him to say hello. He replied within ten minutes and since then we've progressed from emailing to talking on the 'phone, and then yesterday we had a lunch date.

It went well. Very well in fact. It was lovely to see him again and we talked for nearly 4 hours before we had to go our separate ways.

And yes, we're already planning to meet up again.

Exciting.

Win custom-made business cards from Moo.com

2012-02-15T09:12:00.004-08:00

Last year when I was planning to get some blog business cards to take with me to Cybermummy, I asked for recommendations from my twitter friends, and the unanimous verdict was that I couldn't go far wrong with Moo.

Moo was born from a love of beautiful, high-quality print and design. They pride themselves on their range of business cards and MiniCards, and I can personally vouch for the fact that they make it easy for people to create and upload custom artwork, or choose from a library of designer templates. Their 'Printfinity' option allows you to print a different image on every card in the pack, which is a great way to make your business cards stand out from the crowd.

When I ordered my cards I was really pleased with the quality and service, and since then I've ordered a second set and both times it has been quick and easy to do. Their website is very user-friendly and it doesn't take long to design cards to your own specifications.

So when Moo asked me if I'd like to offer a giveaway of their business cards on my blog, I didn't need any persuading and they have kindly offered 3 sets of 100 business/blog cards to giveaway. If you're planning to go to one of the many blogging conferences this year - Cybher, Britmums Live or Blogcamp - then these cards will prove invaluable for networking.

To have a chance of winning a set, just leave a comment telling me why you want to win. Couldn't be easier! Just make sure you leave an email and/or twitter name to make it easy for me to notify you.

I'll pick three winners after 8pm on Sunday 19th Feburary.

UPDATE: the winners of the Moo cards are @christinemosler @gidders1 and @kairenv - well done ladies, please email or DM me your full name and email address. Many thanks to everyone who entered.

Terms: UK entries only. Winners must get in touch with me within 7 days or I will choose again. There is no cash alternative.

Recipe ~ Lorraine Pascale's chocolate fridge cake

2012-02-14T02:35:00.001-08:00

I was recently given a copy of Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy, and so far I've tried out a couple of recipes and both of them have given fantastic results. She is my new favourite tv chef, and I'll be delving into the recipe book again soon - but in the meantime let me share this quick and easy-peasy recipe with you. It's not the prettiest looking cake/biscuit you may have seen but, oh my, they taste wonderful! The whole thing takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook before leaving to cool in the fridge. Couldn't be easier and a nice recipe to make with a child.

Makes 16 small squares
125g of butter
400g good quality milk or plain chocolate, grated or chopped (I used one large bar of Bournville, and a bar of Dairy Milk, which are both conveniently 200g each)
2 dollops of golden syrup
250g digestive biscuits (I thought this was a bit too much, I'll use about 200g next time)
135g bag of Maltesers
You'll need a 20cm (or thereabouts) square brownie tin and baking parchment/greaseproof paper

Line the tin with the baking parchment.
Put the butter in a large pan and melt slowly over a low heat.
Add the chocolate and golden syrup and allow to melt for a couple of minutes, stirring.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the digestive biscuits and Maltesers until evenly mixed.

Tip the mixture into the brownie tin and flatten down evenly with a spoon or spatula.
Cover and place in the fridge for a couple of hours until it hardens.
When ready to serve, remove from the tin and cut into about 16 even-sized squares.

They are very rich, but delicious and they won't last long!

Guest post: Being a single mother today ~ Gappy Tales

2012-02-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

I've got an absolutely cracking guest post for you today - one of my favourite bloggers, Gappy Tales, has very kindly donated this thought-provoking post about being a single parent. I remember reading the original post on her blog and agreeing with every single word.

If you haven't read Gappy's blog then you should hot foot it straight offer there (after you've read this of course!). She writes beautifully, you won't be disappointed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am really pleased to have been asked to write a guest post for notSupermum. As fellow single parents and anonymous bloggers, I feel that she and I share a natural affinity. I will confess now though that I have cheated slightly. The post you're about to read is one that I actually wrote and published on my own blog in April 2010, and as such the personal circumstances that it describes are a little out of date. I still stand strongly behind the message though - perhaps now more than ever - so apart from a few revisions and tweaks, this is still my take on what it means to be a single mother today:

In spite of the title of my blog I would always have said that being a single mother specifically was not actually a huge part of my identity. About two years ago however, I was commenting on another blogger's post about how mothering is not generally considered to be real work, and it inspired me to finally write a post about my experience of being a single mother in today's political climate, and how I feel it is different to that of being a married or partnered mother.

What I find is that there tend to be two polarised stereotypes of the single mother. The first - and by far the most popular - is that of a feckless young woman who deliberately "gets herself pregnant" in order to ensure that she is prioritised for a council house, and who then brings her children up to be ASBO ridden hooligans, feeding them entirely on chicken nuggets and coca cola, all courtesy of an over-stretched tax payer. The second is that we are noble martyrs in the face of bleak adversity and cruel stigma, and that we are - and I think I might possibly be quoting the actress Emma Thompson here - "The brave heroines of our society."

I can't say that either one of those stereotypes sits particularly comfortably with me (although if I really had to pick one I know which one I'd plump for - thanks Emma.) Of course I can only ever speak from my own personal experience, but I don't actually find being a single mother hugely different to being a partnered one in practical terms. It's the social aspect that brings the changes, I have found.

I became a single mother through choice really. It wasn't that I particularly relished the prospect of bringing up three children on my own, but rather that the alternative - which was to stay in a relationship that had become unbearable - was much much worse. I have to say that I have been more than pleasantly surprised in a lot of ways. I really don't find the practical side of mothering any harder now than I did when I was living with a man who worked full time. I was doing the vast majority of the childcare and housework anyway. My partner would often come home and cook the dinner and wash the dishes, but he so bitterly resented having to do what he viewed as women's work, that rather than his contribution being helpful, it would just make me feel incredibly anxious, knowing as I did that the next time we had a row it would be used as ammunition against me. A few extra bits of cooking and washing up seem a very small price to pay for the relaxation and peace of mind that I am now able to enjoy in my own home to be honest.

We were a traditional family in the sense that although we were not married, my partner went out to work and I stayed at home to care for the children. I still stay at home to care for my children most of the time. I do odd bits of temporary paid work at Women's Aid covering peoples sabbaticals and sick leave, but for the most part I am still a stay at home mother whose day to day work has not really changed much at all in the last decade or so. What has changed though, crucially, is that I am no longer living with a man who buys my food and pays my bills and so I am now often reliant on state benefits to pay for those things instead. That is all. I have gone from being David Cameron's wet dream of a traditional 'wife' to being the scourge of his broken Britain. And the only thing that has changed is that I no longer have the financial support of a male partner.

I find this contradiction almost impossible to reconcile. The same people who blame the so called breakdown of society on women choosing to work outside the home rather than dedicate their entire lives to bringing up their children, also seek to label stay at home single mothers who need to claim state assistance to help with the cost of bringing up their children as being worthless scroungers; terrible burdens on society whose children will grow up to be the criminals of tomorrow. Only one thing is clear, and that is that mothers - whatever choices they make - can never win.

The government are at the moment slowly working towards scrapping income support altogether (the age that your youngest child has to be in order for you to qualify is getting lower and lower) with the idea of eventually replacing it entirely with job seekers allowance, which is not as much money, plus requires that you be actively looking for work in order to qualify, and so will serve to force single women with dependent children out into the work-place. It will be interesting to see where the government suggests we all go to find part-time jobs that will pay enough to support our families and that will also fit around school hours. I want to work. I want to give my children something to aspire to and I want them to see me working hard to support them. I've got skills and some experience that I can utilise but I can't find reasonably paid part-time work that takes into account my caring responsibilities. I can't find it because it's not really out there. The only outcome of these radical reforms that are being implemented by stealth will be to simply plunge yet more women and their children into poverty - and this from a government who rode to power on the promise of cutting child poverty in half by 2010.

Never doubt that the success of the traditional nuclear family has often been built on the backs of women's misery. Over the centuries women have been forced to stay with husbands who were violent and abusive, persistently unfaithful, or who treated them like servants simply because they had no choice. Women survived and guaranteed their children's survival by sticking with a man who, whatever else, was prepared to financially support them. These days women no longer have to endure relationships that make them miserable and destroy their self-esteem. If we want to leave we can, indeed the majority of divorces are now initiated by women. If we are lucky we can earn enough money to be able to financially support ourselves and our families on our own - if not we have a benefits system to fall back on while we find our feet. But instead of this being seen as progress and as evidence of how our society has become more free and humane, politicians everywhere are wringing their hands, wailing about a broken Britain, and seeking to gradually remove the safety net of the benefits system for mothers who do not have a male partner to financially support them and who, due to their caring responsibilities and circumstances are unable to pay their own way.

I am neither a feckless scrounger nor a brave heroine. I'm just an ordinary woman trying to raise a reasonably happy family. Without access to single parent benefits I would have had no choice but to remain in a desperately unhappy relationship. Any woman can find herself suddenly in the position of needing the safety net of income support. All this talk of getting lone parents back to work might sound positive on the face of it, but it actually cloaks a hidden and dangerous agenda, which is an attack on all of our freedom.

Blogging, privacy and being outed

2012-01-31T03:56:00.000-08:00

Last year I wrote a post about losing my anonymity, and my concerns about my blog name becoming known within my friends and colleagues. My anonymity was something important to me, largely because I didn't want my ex-husband to find it but also because I wanted to restrict the number of people from my real world finding about about it. Even as an increasing number of people found out that I had a blog, few of them knew its name.

I suppose it was inevitable that sooner or later my blog name would be 'outed' as it were and - finally - I think it's happened.

I'm off work today with a bad cold and a chesty cough (if I were male, it would be called man flu) and earlier this morning whilst doing some blog admin and checking my stats. I noticed that someone at the ISP from work was logged onto my blog. I kept refreshing the stats, and they were still there. For nearly two hours.

I could see all of the blog posts they'd read, and it felt really unsettling.

The thing is, I really like my colleagues - all of them. After a few tricky years with a psycho headteacher (who's thankfully long gone) we are a happy team - friends even - and they've been a tower of strength over the past few years when I've dealt with my own personal crises.

And just to be clear, I have never discussed work-related issues on here - even in the darkest days of the psycho head I never shared it on here. Too risky. I mean we've all heard of people who have lost their jobs because of that sort of thing. No, the nearest I come to the is when I write about some of the funny things the children say - and even then I change the children's names.

But my blog has always been my personal space and now the content will be compromised.

Why? Because I'm not sure I can be as open about some things. Over the past few years I've touched on so many very personal feelings and experiences, most of which I wouldn't normally discuss with a colleague, not even friends in some cases. But the blog is my way of getting it off my chest and receiving advice and support from my online friends.

I'm really not sure what to do. Do I continue as before and pretend I don't know they're reading it? Do I censor the private stuff and keep it very general? Even then, there's all the older posts where I talk about the personal stuff.

What would you do? Any advice would be very welcome.

How I survived a week in heels

2012-01-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

I dress for comfort. I wear flat shoes, boots and comfy clothes. I try to look smart for work, but I admit to wearing the same thing over and over again. I like shoes though, but I buy them then never wear them. No, I go back to the same comfy boots in winter or flat sandals in summer. The heeled shoes stay in the wardrobe, unworn and unblemished.

This week, for some reason, I decided to set myself a challenge. Yes, not content with denying myself alcohol for a month (a bloody month!) I set myself another one - I decided to wear some of the unworn heels I've been storing for months, and in some cases, years.

Two pairs of the very sensible heels I wore this week.

This is my heel diary for the week.*

Monday: I thought I'd start off with heels I'd worn several times before, although not for a long time. It was time to get the ankle boots out with the 2" heels - not too high, nice solid heel, easy! Erm....well, not quite.

I got to work and almost immediately a colleague asked "Have you lost weight? You look different."

Kept feeling like I was going to topple forwards, I'm so not used to this.

By 3pm, and after being on my feet for a large part of the day, the balls of my feet were BURNING and I couldn't wait to get home and take the boots off.

Tuesday: Not only a pair of heels, but also a skirt! Wow, I had my legs out for the first time in.....well, I can't remember. It felt weird feeling the air around my calves.

As we were getting ready to leave for school I was singing along to the radio and the Teenager asked "Mum, have you got a boyfriend?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"Because you're very happy, and you've worn heels two days running."

Got into work and was greeted by a group of colleagues who were amazed by a) another pair of heels, and b) a skirt! That got them talking.

Wednesday: Another day, another pair of heels. The morning went well, but I had a lunchtime club so didn't get much of a chance to sit down. By mid-afternoon I would have cheerfully thrown the heels out of the window, but I gritted my teeth and carried on. After school I realised I had to go to the supermarket. By this time my feet were crying for a rest!

By the time I got home my feet were throbbing, but oh! the bliss of taking them off was the nearest I'll get to an orgasm anytime soon.

Thursday: Why am I doing this again? I don't know if I'm getting used to the heels, or if the shoes I wore today are just more comfortable. I've realised that I don't walk very gracefully in heels, I'm more of a clomper - not an attractive quality. Tall Daughter asked me today why I had been wearing heels, "Is there something going on?"

By the end of the day though my toes are in pain, and I need to soak my feet to stop them throbbing. I'm such a lightweight!

Friday: thank the Lord! Last day wearing heels and I'm back to the heeled ankle boots I wore on Monday. I don't work on a Friday, so it doesn't seem too bad today - I'm not on my feet as much - so the heels are bearable. I won't be repeating this challenge next week though. My toes have been through enough hell this week.

Over the course of the week almost everyone I work with including the caretaker (and some of the children) have commented on how nice I looked. It made me realise that because I was wearing heels I took a little extra care with the rest of my outfit and it made a difference. Even if I don't wear heels everyday from now on, I learned something this week - people really do notice if you make a bit more of an effort.

I'm interested - do you wear heels everyday? Or do you save them for special occasions?

*as far as I'm concerned a week is 5 working days. I couldn't face any longer than that :-)

New house, new bedroom

2012-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

When we moved into this house I decided my bedroom had to be one of the first rooms to be decorated. I took these first two photos the first time I went to view the house (to send to my brother, who was still at sea at the time) and although the room was a decent size it was decorated in a dreary blue wallpaper and was very cluttered.

Still, I could see the potential. It's now been redecorated and I love it. Apart from the main part of the bedroom there's what was described in the estate agent's details as a 'small dressing area' (sounds grand, but it's not much bigger than a cupboard), but the room's best feature is the big, south-facing window which overlooks the park.

Wallpaper and bedlinen from Laura Ashley
Cushions and bedspread from Homebase
Bed from M&S, table lamps from Next

I also revamped an old chair to fit with the new colours

I really pleased with the final result, and glad I did it so early on - I just couldn't live with the blue wallpaper. The next project is already underway - the spare room. I'd better get a move on with that because I can't wait to invite our first guests.

Why having an alcohol-free January was a rubbish idea

2012-01-19T11:35:00.000-08:00

Image credit

Since 1st January I've been having an alcohol free month. In fact, for the whole of January not a single drop of wine - or my favourite organic cider - will pass my lips.

For some reason, mainly because I overindulged over the Christmas holiday, I decided it would be A Good Idea not to drink during January. I did it last year and I survived in one piece, but this month has been more difficult for some reason. Maybe I just realised it's a completely rubbish idea.

Now the thing is, I don't drink very much and usually only have a drink on a Friday evening but I really look forward to that Friday evening drinkypoos. I mean, I spend time choosing my drink of choice and perhaps a snackypoos or two to go with it, and then I'm set for the evening. (Okay, so I don't get out much...) Did I mention that I really enjoy my Friday night drinkypoos?

What was I thinking? No drinkypoos for a whole month? It's probably one of my worst ideas EVER.

Oh, and did I mention that a random tweeter informed me that if I felt the need for an alcohol-free month, then perhaps it should be permanent. The cheek! Don't get me wrong, I'm all for restraint when it comes to drink - and there was a lot of news coverage recently about having 2 alcohol free days each week (just two?) - but I think a weekly tipple does not an alcoholic make.

To make matters worse I persuaded 9 other bloggers/tweeters to join me on this insane alcohol-free month and so now I feel obliged to complete the month, especially as most of the others seem to be enjoying it. Damn.

Just do me a favour though, next January if I mention that this ruddy idea again TALK ME OUT OF IT!

I'm just going to check how many more dry Fridays are in store for me....

Tesco mobile phone tariffs: win a LG Optimus 3D

2012-01-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

Tesco recently launched their innovative capped mobile phone contracts which you may have seen featured in this TV ad. The idea is so simple I'm surprised nobody else thought of it - a phone contract that is capped to avoid unexpected phone bills. Genius eh?

This is how it works:

the Tesco contracts ensure your monthly bill is never more than the cost of your tariff
This is done by fixing your tariff so you can only use your inclusive minutes, texts and data
The ability to top-up your account with a Pay as you go top-up, if you run out during the month
The choice of Capping any contract on any phone across the whole Tesco mobile phone range – a unique offer in the mobile market

If you're the proud owner of a phone wielding teenager, or just want to keep tabs on your own phone usage this is a brilliantly easy way of doing so.

I'm always looking for ways to save money, and shopping more economically and saving money is the top of my resolutions for the new year.

Tell me what your money-saving resolution is, and the person with the best one will receive a brand spanking new LG Optimus 3D mobile phone which would normally cost £420 SIM free.

Enjoy crystal-clear, eye-popping 3D imagery courtesy of the Optimus smartphone from LG. There’s no need for glasses with this handset, just shoot, show and share videos or pictures all with the added bonus of High-definition 3D.

The Optimus is the world’s first mobile to feature dual core, dual channel and dual memory technology. This means high speed smooth processing for games, movies and other applications. What’s more as this HTC mobile is installed with Android 2.2 you can be sure of a reliable and powerful operating system.

With a huge 8GB of memory also included, the HTC Optimus is everything you could want from a smartphone.

To be in with a chance of winning, just leave a comment below with your money-saving resolution. Make sure you leave either an email address or twitter ID to make it easy for me to get in touch. Good luck!

Terms: I'll choose the winner on Monday 23rd January. There is no cash alternative. UK entries only please. The prize will be sent directly from Tesco.

UPDATE 24th January: The winner of the mobile phone is TiredMummy. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Disclosure: Tesco have sent me a shopping voucher in return for running this competition.

New house, new garden

2012-01-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

We moved house right at the end of October, and today was the first day I had a proper root around in the garden.

This is a bigger house than the last one, but the garden is considerably smaller - which I prefer. And, as an added bonus, there are no lawns to mow! Mowing the lawn in the old house - with its front and back gardens - was my least favourite job and I had grown to loathe that particular chore. So much so, that by the time the grass had been cut and I'd done a bit of tidying I didn't have any more time or enthusiasm for anything else.

This garden is mostly paved, gravelled or has wood chippings. There's also a lovely little raised deck area with a working fountain.

There is quite a bit of structural planting, and a gorgeous bamboo plant next to the shed. Most of the other plants aren't in flower, but there's already one or two showing some colour. I really like the small shrub with the tiny red flowers, does anyone know what it is?

We've only seen the garden in the autumn/winter so it'll be nice to see how the garden develops over the year. I don't want to make any big changes until then, but there's quite a lot of pruning to be done and a very large, tall shrub was knocked over in the recent gales so that will be my first job.

My Green Man plaque is just propped up against the wall, along with some of my Dad's old gardening tools. I've got a collection of terracotta pots and some metal tubs ready to be planted up, and I'm already looking at gardening websites and magazines to get some ideas for a smaller garden. Now, I need to go and find my old gardening books....

Teaching Tessie to say I love you ~ YouTube via Xbox Live

2012-01-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

Not long after we first got our gorgeous hound, Tessie, we saw this video clip on YouTube:

Now, I'm not saying we're competitive but the first thing we thought was "How hard can it be?" So we had a go, and here's the result. This is Tessie responding to the Teenager saying 'I love you'.

Okay, so she's not quite there. But watch this space, that's all I'm saying.....

I love trawling through YouTube - who doesn't? All I need is a few ~~hours~~ spare minutes, a cuppa and Youtube and I can keep myself amused.

And did you know that you can search for YouTube clips on the voice activated Xbox Live? No? Well you can!

If you want to try it out I've got a special discount which gives you 3 months Xbox Live Gold membership for half price. Just enter this code - N0tSprM3m - into the Go Gold box on this page, and get cracking!

Guest post: silicone implants, the NHS and you

2012-01-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Image source

This guest post is written by a very good friend of mine who has worked in the NHS for over 30 years. She began her career in nursing and is now a senior NHS manager. Please take a couple of minutes to read what she has to say.

There has been a lot of coverage in the press about the poor quality silicone implants, which have been used in breast "enhancement" surgery. This has sparked debate in many quarters on what should be done for the women who've had breast enlargements. On Mumsnet, for instance, one contributor wrote "let the vain bitches die of cancer", but most were sympathetic, and many thought that treatment, including surgery to remove the implants, should be undertaken by the NHS. One thing was clear; people trusted that the NHS would do it right.

People tend to feel very strongly about the NHS. Admittedly there are many negative, some appalling, stories in the press, and perhaps you've even experienced some poor care yourself - but in the perspective of a lifetime most people probably have very good care. In 1948 when the NHS was created they talked care being provided "cradle to grave", but with advances in technology it became "sperm to worm" and now its "erection to resurrection".

Some of us who work in the NHS understand what the so-called "health service reforms" mean - but it's all so complex, most members of the public don't. So I'll try to break it down to some very clear messages: it is privatisation. It will take away the duty of the state to "provide" care, the state will just provide the funding, i.e. an insurance system. This will allow care to be bought from any hospital, clinic, or community service. The big multinational companies are waiting in the wings, rubbing their hands with glee - a great-untapped market they can make profits from. They will be outcompeting hospital and community services run by managers who have not come from the world of business.

This reform is also coming in at time when cuts are being made - oh yeah - they don't call them cuts, but the hospitals have to return "savings" of about 4%. So the NHS hospitals will be struggling to survive economically, and some will be bought up by private companies. The companies exist to maximise return for their shareholders, so we have a scenario where cheaper, lower quality products will be used, patient to staff ratios will be increased, and the amount of regulation and scrutiny will be reduced.

I think the story of the silicone implants should signal a warning about the danger of privatising the NHS. The private company that manufactured the implants has gone out of business. I don't know what influenced the private clinics' choice of implant - but I suspect cost had something to do with it. No one is clear where responsibility lies now and the private providers are unable to supply adequate records of what they have been doing and to whom. The same private clinics are charging exorbitant sums to those women seeking information on what happened to them.

Thankfully we still have the safety net provided by National Health Service for now. Let's hope the House of Lords, which is currently considering the Health and Social Care Bill, will now think twice. The Bill provides much less protection for patients than is available to people booking package holidays. This cannot be right. I hope you, like me, are doing all you can to stop the NHS privatisation, by contacting your MP or local Lord and spreading the word.

Why we need to keep quiet about Xbox Live

2012-01-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

As you know we share a house with my brother who works away from home for most of the time, but he's due home at the end of the month.

Usually when he gets home he likes to catch up on sports coverage, seemingly episodes of Top Gear and his choice of the latest films. And he tends to hog the remote control until he realises that actually, there's nothing much to watch.

That's why we won't be telling him about Xbox Live.

If he knew he could watch back-to-back episodes of his favourite TV shows we could have a problem. And if he had the faintest idea that he could have his fill of sport courtesy of ESPN (including his beloved motorsport) then it could spell disaster for me and my girls.

For a start, we wouldn't have as much time to watch our favourite films (we like romcoms, he doesn't), listen to music, watch videos or just simply watch our favourite TV shows.

And we definitely won't be revealing that we can do it all using the Kinect voice search which means we don't even need a remote. We just ask Xbox to find what we want, and it does.

No, we won't be mentioning that at all.

Let's just keep this to ourselves. Okay?

My mood board for 2012

2012-01-01T00:38:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, and instead of making resolutions that I won't keep I'm going to do another mood board. These are a few images that will, hopefully, give some idea of what I intend to focus on this year.

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Happy new year! Fancy doing your own mood board? Go on, you know you want to....then add your link here so we can visit your blog to see it.

Goodbye to 2011

2011-12-31T06:42:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of my brother.

My Christmas in tweets.

2011-12-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

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21st Dec: It's not a good sign when you agree with everything on The Grumpy Guide to Christmas is it?

12yo is in the kitchen making cupcakes. The Teenager is at another party, and the hound is asleep at my feet. Life is pretty good right now.

22nd Dec: POA for today: breakfast, walk hound, wrap presents, paint bedroom ready for decorator to wallpaper tomorrow. Better get a move on.

Worst thing about being a single parent: you don't get a present from your husband/partner. Best thing? You get to buy yourself a present.

23rd Dec: So glad I've done my food shopping, all the supermarkets will be like hell with the lid off today and tomorrow. #smug

I feel obliged to tidy the house. Damn servants taking Christmas off again. #downtonwannabe

24th Dec: Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Is anyone else watching the lovely Nativity drama on BBC1?

@kateab Awwww, that's so sweet. I really miss when my girls still believed. It really changes things. Enjoy their innocence x

@LadyOfTheLattes the Teenager is still sulking about the fact Santa isn't real, she says it ruined Christmas when she found out.@kateab

I think I'm going to have to lock myself in my bedroom and wrap the girls' presents, cos they won't go to bed until late tonight.

25th Dec: It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiistmaaaassssss! Merry Christmas everyone. My girls are still asleep, so sitting here having a quiet cuppa.

Bloody hell, my ex-husband has just rang and wished me a happy Christmas. #stunnedsilence

Turkey's cooking, girls are at their grandparents, just talking to my cousin in Oz on Skype. A good day so far.

Absolutely stuffed after a lovely dinner, listened to Mickey Bubble's Christmas CD and had a quiz. Nearly time for pudding :-)

I want to watch The Gruffalo's Child but my daughter is insisting on watching a rerun of a Friends episode. #sulking

Highlight of our day so far: daughter doing the worst ever charades mine for Harry Potter. Truly awful/hilarious.

26th Dec: Got an email wishing the notSupermum team all the best. Erm..that'll be me and the dog then?

Our real christmas tree hasn't shed any needles at all. NONE! Must just check that I didn't buy an artificial one by mistake.

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Do you have any tweets that sum up your Christmas?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T01:01:00.000-08:00

My blogger CV

2011-12-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

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Okay, Jay and Tara have been throwing their weight around asking us to write our own blog CVs - so I thought I better do mine before they slap the back of my legs. Plus I'd also like a blogger calender which I remember being a chaotic but hilarious part of Cybermummy.

Reason for blog name: notSupermum? Because I always seemed to be saying to my demanding girls "Just a minute, I'm not supermum!" Geddit?

How long I've been blogging: I started around June 2008 purely as a hobby. After years of keeping a written journal I liked the idea of this new fangled style of journalling.

I deleted most of my posts towards the end of 2008 after a minor panic over whether my ex-husband would find it but then restarted it with all personal details kept anonymous.

Blogging has changed a lot over the last couple of years, but I still enjoy it and have made some truly lovely friends - you know who you are. I've had a couple of times when I've considering giving it up in the past, but now it's an important part of my life. I love blogging.

Most popular posts:
The good, the bad and the single parent
My mood board for 2010
My family's recipe for Scouse

Inspiration for blogging: everything really, although this is a vague thread of being a single parent throughout the blog. The rest of it is about life, home, my daughters, my dog, friends, films....nothing specific. In fact I'm constantly amazed that people actually read all this nonsense - so thank you!

Blogging plans for 2012: more of the same nonsense I'm afraid, although because we've just moved house I'm planning to do regular updates on how we're decorating and furnishing the place and doing the garden. I also really want to do regular recipe attempts. I say attempts because I'm not a brilliant cook, just an average one, and sometimes things go awry, but I'll still include them. Nigella I am not, although I do have a big bum like her.

Christmas in the new house

2011-12-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

The first time I came to view this house one of the things I liked was that there was an ideal spot for a Christmas tree in the living room. Funny how those sorts of things make all the difference.

Well, we moved into this house at the very end of October and now we're going to be spending our first Christmas here. And yes, there is a Christmas tree where I thought it would go.

This is the first year for a while we've had a real tree.

The Christmas cactus

Every year we make a display of our Christmas cuddly toys
but one of the Rudolphs always goes missing....

Merry Christmas from our house to yours, hope it's a good one!

The Britmums Christmas Carnival

2011-12-20T00:23:00.000-08:00

About a hundred years ago I offered to host one of the regular Britmums blogging carnivals, and at the time the 20th of December seemed a loooong way off. And yet, here we are - we've already had snow here and it'll be Christmas in a few days.

So, without further ado I present some humdinger blog posts, so why not make a cuppa and enjoy a mince pie (or two) while you read them. We've got crafts, songs, traditions, a bit of reminiscing and the odd (very odd) present idea.

Curly Mum is getting a bit stressed in the run-up to Christmas. I wonder if the secret stash of goodies will be safe behind the sofa? Let's hope so.

Perhaps Elinor Wilde has the answer, with her 5 Steps to a stress-free Christmas. I'm taking notes...

Mammasaurus offers us her version of the Ultimate Christmas Song with possibly the cutest video clip you'll see this week.

The very talented Maggy at Red Ted Art shows us how to make gorgeous little walnut babies. I take my hat off to you Maggy, you're a genius.

Looking for a Christmas present that's just a little bit different? Cocktails at Naptime have just the thing, including yodelling lederhosen and dolls that look like a demented David Lee Roth. No, really it's true.

I don't think you can beat giving a homemade present at Christmas, and Nova at Cherished by Me has a recipe for Chocolate Coconut Truffles which she'll be giving to some lucky person.

Laura at Adventures of an Ordinary Parent has had a busy year! Not only has she had extensive building work on her house but she's had a baby, but finally she's looking forward to Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas!

When you have lots of visitors it's good to have some homemade cakes to offer, so how about a Christmas Angel Cake recipe? Here's a very colourful one at Here Come The Girls.

I'm not very good at last minute cooking or baking, but when the Domestic Goddesque has to make last minute treats she doesn't panic - oh no, she does something very clever with chocolate digestives and makes Christmas pudding biscuits. I, on the other hand, would just shove the packet of biscuits into the child's school bag and hope for the best.

Life, Ninja Killer Cat and everything else reminisces about a fabulous trip to Lapland and has lovely photos of reindeer, huskies and smiling children. What a wonderful memory for her son to have.

What will you be doing on Christmas Day? Nicki at Curly and Candid knows exactly what she'll be doing, and it sounds so good I'm thinking of inviting myself along for next year!

Liz at the Mum Blog is in Christmas denial. I hear you Liz, and I wonder if it's something that happens when our children don't believe anymore?

Victoria at It's a Small World After All is enjoying being home for Christmas after spending last year visiting penguins. I wonder if they sent a card this year?

Madamding is enjoying listening to Christmas carols and I must admit to having a soft spot for O Holy Night - and this version is particularly lovely.

If you prefer something a bit different, then Kelloggsville might have just the song for you with 'Zat you Santa Claus?

Sandy at Baby Baby is getting all crafty on her blog and shows us how to make a very attractive Christmas wreath. If only I'd read it before buying one!

And Super Lucky has compiled a list of Christmas competitions for children - that should keep the little ones busy over the holiday!

At The Life and Times of the working Mum, Laura tells us about some of her Christmas traditions which she hopes to pass onto her son Leo.

I used to love it when my daughters wrote letters to Santa, and on The Anamumblog there's a very sweet one from Miss N, and his reply! Now that's what Christmas is all about.

I hope you enjoy reading them all, and perhaps finding some new favourite blogs to follow.

Merry Christmas!

On becoming a recluse

2011-12-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

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I think I'm becoming a recluse.

Not out of choice you understand, it's because I can't face social situations. I'm fine if it's home or going to visit someone else because that's usually a more relaxed situation, but as soon as it involves getting dressed up and going 'out' out, then I start panicking and thinking of ways to avoid it.

Last week I had a great weekend and genuinely enjoyed having friends over on Friday and then visiting friends the next night.

This weekend was the Christmas staff night out and I started dreading it this earlier this week. Of course, it didn't help that I didn't want to leave Tall Daughter home alone (the Teenager was going to a party) and the only person who could look after her was my ex-mother-in-law who didn't want to stay late. That meant I could only go for the meal which meant driving myself there and back and not drinking. Not the end of the world, I know, but it's a pretty miserable night when you have to leave before everyone else while they're having a good time. It's not the first time I've had to do that, afterall it's difficult to get childcare sometimes, but having said that I am the original party pooper. I've never been into late nights and prefer to go home early.

As it turned out it started snowing in the morning so by early evening there was thick snow everywhere and I really hate driving in snow, so it was easy for me to cancel. It was a huge relief to cancel it but even so, I felt like I'd let my work friends and more importantly, myself, down.

I don't remember when or where this fear of social situations began, but it's fair to say that I've never been a party animal. Even so, I've used to enjoy going out with friends and meeting new people but that seems like a long time ago now. I bet most people just think I'm a miserable cow and that's why I don't go out and maybe they're right.

I think one of the main thing that puts me off is the need to get dressed up. I just never look any different because I put absolutely no effort into it. I just don't know how to do it anymore - how did I lose the ability to get dressed up for a night out? I'm so overweight I can't get anything remotely nice to wear, and compared to my colleagues who all look amazing when we go on nights out, I just look like I'm going to work in a slightly smarter outfit than usual. It's a huge part of the problem.

I don't get that many invitations to go out, but it's hardly surprising that the invites dwindle as time goes on. Who can blame people for not inviting me out? I make excuses as to why I can't go - some genuine and some down to my crushing lack of confidence in social situations.

I don't know how to break out of this, although sometimes I just feel like retreating even further into my reclusiveness. It's easier not to have to deal with it all but I worry that I will end up with no friends and so it has become something that needs to be dealt with. I have no idea where to start.

Our Christmas tradition: films, food and fun

2011-12-16T04:43:00.000-08:00

Each family has its own Christmas traditions, and for us a lot of it revolves around eating pizza, opening yet another tin of Roses and watching back-to-back films.

And now that I've finished work until January 3rd I will be indulging in my love of film by using my Love Film subscription to watch films via Xbox Live.

Not only does Xbox Live have oodles of entertainment for you but it's now voice activated! Yes, you tell it what to do and it does it - how many objects in your house (including children and husbands) do that?

Just so you can check for yourself how cool it is, I've got a special discount code which gives you 3 months Xbox Live Gold membership for half price.

Just enter this code - N0tSprM3m - into the Go Gold box on this page. All that's needed then is to order in your pizza, chocs and drink of choice and away you go!

Enjoy!

My Top 5 Christmas films

2011-12-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

I love watching films, and Christmas films in particular are best watched at...erm, Christmas. Who knew?

Anyway, because I know you hang on my every word and just because I like making lists (it's therapeutic. What?!) here's my top 5 Christmas films.

The Holiday (2006)

I only saw this for the first time a couple of years ago but it's already one of my must-see Christmas films. Okay, so it's got Jude Law in it but even he is bearable in this and I love Jack Black and he's playing a straight(ish) role (well, for him anyway.

White Christmas (1954)
C'mon, it's not Christmas without watching this one! I'm a huge fan of film musicals, and I love, love LOVE this which has to be one of the most famous Christmas films. It's musical perfection, and the combination of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye is one of the best film partnerships ever. There are so many great song and dance sequences but one of my favourites has got to be this one - Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen dancing - and just look at how small her waist is!

The Family Man (2000)
Nicholas Cage plays a man who appears to have everything but essentially has nothing. Nobody loves him y'see? So an angel gives him a chance to see how his life might have been had he made different choices. Sounds familiar? Well, it's a modern day version of It's a Wonderful Life and (whispers) I actually prefer this one. See what you think.

Elf (2003)

This has become a Christmas classic, and rightly so. Funny, charming and heartwarming - just the way Christmas films should be.

Scrooged (1988)

Bill Murray is a modern day Scrooge. I think that just about covers it. Hilarious, and Bill Murray is fantastic as always.

Do you have a favourite Christmas film?