So, I have set up a page on FB called The Swap Shop UK. The idea is simple: it's a mix of freecycle and ebay, so you list items that you have to offer, and people who want that item contact you directly, offer you something of theirs, and arrange a swap. Lots of people seem to think it is a good idea, and after joining a couple of networking sites, in less than a week, I have over 150 Likes! I just need to get more people to actually start offering things, because it is a bit slow atm.
The Swap Shop UK doesn't make any money from the transactions, and it is free to join and list your items; it just provides a platform for the transactions to take place. There is a list of items that are banned (animals, alcohol and products, tobacco and products, adult material, fake designer things, and anything illegal, amongst others), so I need to work out a way of keeping those off from being offered.
Meanwhile, I am also looking at setting up a separate, non-FB site. It will have higher security, and better features, and though I will be paying, personally, for the domain and hosting, I still will not be taking any money from the transactions. Instead, if the website gets a fair amount of traffic, I will try to cover costs from advertising, so I am not out of pocket. DH is worried about the legality, but I will have t&cs such that The Swap Shop UK is not liable for anything, and it is up to the individuals to declare (where appropriate) any gains to the HMRC. I now have got to the point, where I want to move forward with this. I don't think it will be a huge money spinner, tbh, because I am not charging to register, nor charging per listing (like ebay). The idea is that you swap stuff, not cash, and in the same vein, it won't cost the individual anything to list and swap their items either.
I do want to get this going, and I have found a company that I can get hosting for £8.50/yr and a domain name for £10/yr, so if I do decide to add adverts to the site, I need to make at least £20/year, but I'd hope that would be possible. I then need to work out how to direct any FB traffic to the new website, but hopefully that would be ok!?!
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Swap Shop - a trial.
So, I've been giving this some more thought. Incidentally, DH thinks it's a silly idea, and that if i should do anything, I should try and promote one of the existing sites. I, however, have a tendency not to take the easy route. lol. And anyway, I need a project to keep me busy. So what that I'm a SAHM and pt tutor, there's always more hours in the day, right? And as I'm discovering, if you want anything done, then do it yourself!
So (again), I initially thought about starting up a separate website, and use FB to try and promote it - you know how things go viral. But, paying for a website, and then using FB seems a bit silly, so as a trial I am going to set up a FB Page or group to see how it fares. if the interest is huge, then it probably makes sense to set up a separate webpage.
Now I'm going to have to go about doing this. My first point of call is to do some research on pages vs groups. I'm not sure which is better? If I have to set up a new FB account to do a page, then I will have to get a free email address, as I don't want to link it to me (yet. Of course, if it's successful...).
Then once the page/group is set up, I will have to link to it and share as much as possible to try and get members/'likes'. And I have to hope that some people will start swapping. It will be not for profit, and no money is to exchange hands. In the research I was doing yesterday, I saw some info on tax, so I may reproduce/link to it. In the same vein as ebay, I think you only need to declare if you are a frequent swapper or have made capital gains, but clearly I'm no lawyer or tax expert, so I don't know.
Anyway, I'll start researching now, whilst I'm waiting for dinner to cook, and maybe you'll join me in my quest for swapping.
----------------
Edit: if you are on FB, please search for The Swap Shop UK and like it. It is a cashless swapping site, and I need 25 'likes' to have a better/more direct address.
So (again), I initially thought about starting up a separate website, and use FB to try and promote it - you know how things go viral. But, paying for a website, and then using FB seems a bit silly, so as a trial I am going to set up a FB Page or group to see how it fares. if the interest is huge, then it probably makes sense to set up a separate webpage.
Now I'm going to have to go about doing this. My first point of call is to do some research on pages vs groups. I'm not sure which is better? If I have to set up a new FB account to do a page, then I will have to get a free email address, as I don't want to link it to me (yet. Of course, if it's successful...).
Then once the page/group is set up, I will have to link to it and share as much as possible to try and get members/'likes'. And I have to hope that some people will start swapping. It will be not for profit, and no money is to exchange hands. In the research I was doing yesterday, I saw some info on tax, so I may reproduce/link to it. In the same vein as ebay, I think you only need to declare if you are a frequent swapper or have made capital gains, but clearly I'm no lawyer or tax expert, so I don't know.
Anyway, I'll start researching now, whilst I'm waiting for dinner to cook, and maybe you'll join me in my quest for swapping.
----------------
Edit: if you are on FB, please search for The Swap Shop UK and like it. It is a cashless swapping site, and I need 25 'likes' to have a better/more direct address.
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Swap Shop!
I'm really trying to find new ways that will enable us to move house. My short-term plan of winning the lottery, so far, isn't succesful, so I'm trying to come up with other things.
My first thought was a house raffle, where people buy a ticket for the raffle (say £1000 each), we only need to sell 200 tickets, and then someone can win our house! Whilst there are a couple of site that will help with that such as http://win-house.co.uk/blog/running-your-own-competition.html, house raffles are actually illegal in the UK. This can be overcome by setting up a competition, rather than a raffle (eg to enter you have to pay however much and answer a question), but it seems like a lot of effort. Especially considering that many houses that you can win are over £1M and many of them haven't sold enough tickets, so have remained unsold (though the winner gets a cash prize of the profits). Given that our mortgage is currently £120k and our house worth approx £105k, I'm guessing that people probably won't be up for spending £1k for a chance of winning it. Even if we dropped the price of the ticket to £10, then we would need to sell 14,000(!) just to make the recommended 15% to cover costs!
So, now I'm inspired by The Red Paperclip story (http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/). You know the one - a guy starts with a paper clip, keeps swapping it until finally he has a house! Simples! So, now I've been looking at various swapping websites.
My first difficulty, is that most 'swapping' websites are nothing of the sort, but rather are selling websites. That is fine, but I'm cash poor, but have lots of stuff. I freecycle a lot (as ebay generally costs me the listing fees, but doesn't make much money), and maybe just maybe I can swap my old things for something better?
The only true swapping sites that I have found are http://www.preloved.co.uk/ and http://www.u-exchange.com/. (I have come across a few skills-swap sites, but atm I'm reserving my 'skill' of tutoring for paying customers! lol) Even http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites (which the red paperclip guy used) is mainly selling.
Whilst browsing the first two sites, I discovered that you can swap your house! Most of the sites, if you type into google, are links to swapping council houses. Not being a council tenant, that's not what i'm looking for. However, there are swapping sites for owners of houses. Some of them are proper swaps, some are selling sites (but without estate agent fees). Still, I'll list them all here, as it's interesting to know what is about:
http://www.houseswaptogo.co.uk/
http://www.swap-a-property.co.uk/index.php
http://www.uk-auction-websites.co.uk/
http://www.ukpropertyswap.com/
http://www.switchproperties.co.uk/
So, now I am going to raid my stuff, and try my damnedest to up-swap my things. TBH, I am tempted to set up a pure swapping website, as I do feel that is lacking. the main thing holding me back is lack of interest/awareness. I'm sure the interest is there - just see how popular freecycle is! - but setting up a website, and relying on other people to share it, word of mouth; will it work? Or will it just end up being a list of my junk (sorry, I mean 'highly desireable stuff') and nobody interested at all.
If i did set it up, it would require free membership and absolutely no money to exchange hands. All 'adverts' would be 'offers' and it would be up to the 'wanter' (that's a T, not a K - hehe) to make an offer. All adverts expire after 7 days, at which point the 'giver' can choose from the offers that has been made, that which is the best for him. If there have been no offers, or nothing that he wants, he can relist the item, which again, would automatically expire after 7 days. Regarding actually swapping, it would be up to the 'wanter' to arrange delivery/postage/collection etc; so it may be better to set this up regionally perhaps? Maybe not at first, I'll wait until there were enough members for things to start moving. Maybe have ratings (ebay stylee) of 'givers' so that people know who they can trust, and if someone doesn't swap/send the item, they will get removed from the site. Not sure how the details will work, I'll have to give it some more thought, but if you are reading this, do you think it'll be a good idea? Would you be interested in something like that?
My first thought was a house raffle, where people buy a ticket for the raffle (say £1000 each), we only need to sell 200 tickets, and then someone can win our house! Whilst there are a couple of site that will help with that such as http://win-house.co.uk/blog/running-your-own-competition.html, house raffles are actually illegal in the UK. This can be overcome by setting up a competition, rather than a raffle (eg to enter you have to pay however much and answer a question), but it seems like a lot of effort. Especially considering that many houses that you can win are over £1M and many of them haven't sold enough tickets, so have remained unsold (though the winner gets a cash prize of the profits). Given that our mortgage is currently £120k and our house worth approx £105k, I'm guessing that people probably won't be up for spending £1k for a chance of winning it. Even if we dropped the price of the ticket to £10, then we would need to sell 14,000(!) just to make the recommended 15% to cover costs!
So, now I'm inspired by The Red Paperclip story (http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/). You know the one - a guy starts with a paper clip, keeps swapping it until finally he has a house! Simples! So, now I've been looking at various swapping websites.
My first difficulty, is that most 'swapping' websites are nothing of the sort, but rather are selling websites. That is fine, but I'm cash poor, but have lots of stuff. I freecycle a lot (as ebay generally costs me the listing fees, but doesn't make much money), and maybe just maybe I can swap my old things for something better?
The only true swapping sites that I have found are http://www.preloved.co.uk/ and http://www.u-exchange.com/. (I have come across a few skills-swap sites, but atm I'm reserving my 'skill' of tutoring for paying customers! lol) Even http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites (which the red paperclip guy used) is mainly selling.
Whilst browsing the first two sites, I discovered that you can swap your house! Most of the sites, if you type into google, are links to swapping council houses. Not being a council tenant, that's not what i'm looking for. However, there are swapping sites for owners of houses. Some of them are proper swaps, some are selling sites (but without estate agent fees). Still, I'll list them all here, as it's interesting to know what is about:
http://www.houseswaptogo.co.uk/
http://www.swap-a-property.co.uk/index.php
http://www.uk-auction-websites.co.uk/
http://www.ukpropertyswap.com/
http://www.switchproperties.co.uk/
So, now I am going to raid my stuff, and try my damnedest to up-swap my things. TBH, I am tempted to set up a pure swapping website, as I do feel that is lacking. the main thing holding me back is lack of interest/awareness. I'm sure the interest is there - just see how popular freecycle is! - but setting up a website, and relying on other people to share it, word of mouth; will it work? Or will it just end up being a list of my junk (sorry, I mean 'highly desireable stuff') and nobody interested at all.
If i did set it up, it would require free membership and absolutely no money to exchange hands. All 'adverts' would be 'offers' and it would be up to the 'wanter' (that's a T, not a K - hehe) to make an offer. All adverts expire after 7 days, at which point the 'giver' can choose from the offers that has been made, that which is the best for him. If there have been no offers, or nothing that he wants, he can relist the item, which again, would automatically expire after 7 days. Regarding actually swapping, it would be up to the 'wanter' to arrange delivery/postage/collection etc; so it may be better to set this up regionally perhaps? Maybe not at first, I'll wait until there were enough members for things to start moving. Maybe have ratings (ebay stylee) of 'givers' so that people know who they can trust, and if someone doesn't swap/send the item, they will get removed from the site. Not sure how the details will work, I'll have to give it some more thought, but if you are reading this, do you think it'll be a good idea? Would you be interested in something like that?
Friday 15 July 2011
Library Books
Quick update, as I'm meant to be logging off...
- Smart Aunties
- Where's Wally
- The green queen
- I'm hungry!
- Panzee plays hide and seek
- Who's there, spot?
- Goldilocks and the three bears.
Feeling stressed
Yesterday was a bad day. I was feeling stressed and overwhelmed and sad, so i posted the following on one of my many forums. Then people started saying, maybe I had signs of PND, which stressed me out some more.
I will reproduce what I wrote here, but am happy to say that I am feeling much better today, and me and the kids have been for a long cycle ride/walk, had pizza hut buffet for lunch, and am now back home having fun.
I will reproduce what I wrote here, but am happy to say that I am feeling much better today, and me and the kids have been for a long cycle ride/walk, had pizza hut buffet for lunch, and am now back home having fun.
As I said, I'm feeling better now. It's good to know that i'm not the only person who feels like this sometimes. And in turn, if you're reading this, it's good for you to know that other people (ie me) feel like this too sometims.I've feeling sooo stressed and frustrated and sad and angry atm. And the worst thing is I keep taking it out on DD1. It's not helped that she keeps winding me up and deliberately going against what i have said - but then she is only 3 still. I'm overtired, running on empty and i know i snap when I haven't had enough sleep. Again, DD2 ended up in bed with us last night, and was screaming and howling for far too long. Even magic BM isn't working atm. I don't know if she's teething (she was showing signs, but they've seemed to have stopped now) so I gave calpol which did seem to help. Then this morning, DD1 woke up at silly o'clock and starting shouting 'help help' and ended up waking DD2. She always does that for attention, and doesn't understand the consequences, even though I keep telling her not to should 'help' or 'emergency' . She's too young to understand Peter cried wolf, and as I have bad memories of it, I don't want to introduce the Matilda poem yet.
So, all i'm doing is screaming like a banshee, getting myself more stressed, feeling carp that the house is always a mess, and I can't do anything right. DD2 has been screaming all morning, DD1 wants to do painting outside, so i said yes, as soon as she has put the blocks away. (There are toys all over the floor, and i've only asked her to put 1 away.) Cue more cries of 'help help'. She's 3 fgs, and has done it a million times before - she does not need me to watch her every second of the day, especially when i'm trying to do what she asked for in the first place!
So, i spend ages trying to get the table out of the shed. As you'd expect, our shed is a complete mess, and DH has dumped his bike on top of everything, and caught the pedals round stuff, so i can't even move it. I eventually wrestle the table free, and think i'll set up the parasol (that we bought last year and never used) so DD2 can be outside too. So, i find the parasol base, eventually manage to wrestle the small table free (to stabilise the parasol) and somehow manage to lift DH's bike and tent bags and DD1's bikes all at the same time to squeeze the still-boxed parasol out from underneath everything. I put it on the grass to set it up, and immediately gets swarmed with ants (we've about 6 diff nests in the garden), so I move to the patio. The parasol, doesn't fit into the base we've got. DD1&2 are still screaming inside, through all this. Anyway, I try to set the parasol up, and the sodding thing has bent so the umbrella bit doesn't fit into the pole. It's never been used, and i feel carp. I've had a look on argos thinking i could take it back for an exchange as i still have all the packaging, but i think that because it's from last year, the catalogue codes have changed.
so i come back inside, and DD1 hasn't put a single block away, and is still shouting help. DD2 is still screaming, so i sit down to feed her, and DD1 goes outside, and i explicitly say not to touch the paint stuff until I go out there. Then I here 'mum, mum, the paint as spilt'. She's opened all the bloomin bottles (there's only 3 there) and split them all over the floor. I haven't been outside yet, as DD2 is still feeding, and just hope that she hasn't got paint on the parasol as i'm hoping to exchange it. So I'm still screaming, and i want to cry. I'm doing my best, but clearly my best isn't good enough and i just feel so rubbish. I can't see a way out of me feeling like this. i feel like I'm running up a down-escalator and not going anywhere, but if I dare stop for a second, things just get worse and worse. And I know I spend too long on forums and things when i'm stressed, which doesn't help matters, but it's an escape, especially when everyone is screaming. And on netmums there was a thread about a lazy SAHD who only had 2 kids to look after, and couldn't even manage to keep the house tidy, and all these bloomin perfect mums who have a million kids, a proper routine, spotless house, dinner on the table for when OH walks through the door etc etc etc, all suggesting the OP kicks her hubby out! He does more than me, so I must be truly rubbish. And i keep living in a dreamworld, dreaming ridiculous things, wishing my life were different, when i should really get off my backside and do something, but i'm too lazy and stupid to do anything about it. Meanwhile, I'm back here again, ranting away in my own self absorbed thread, whilst DD1 is yet again 'cuddling' DD2 (ie pushing her to the floor) and 'patting' (hitting) her whilst DD2 cries and i feel out of control of the situation. I was going to suggest DD1 invites nextdoor round (they've 3yo twins, and we go round there, but they never come round here) to do painting outside, but the room is still a mess and i want to cry. And after all that, i don't even feel better, just sorry for myself. sorry. And my temper is getting shorter and shorter, and i'm getting more physical with DD1 which I don't like (like grabbing her arm when she goes to hit me or DD2) and now if I tell her off she's started shouting back "don't hit me" which makes me feel even more carp. And it's not helped that DH (who suffers with anxiety depression) is wishing he never took this job as he hates it, and wishes he worked where he used to, even though their jobs are on the line every few months. I wish i could be content and happy and useful.Sorry for the moan. i don't feel like I can talk to anyone in RL about this, because everyone seems to be better than me and i'm so embarrassed. I can't even get my house together for when people arrive expectedly, let alone if i don't know about it in advance. My mum thinks we live in a pigsty, as does DH, and i do try, but obviously not hard enough. I've got so many things going on atm, even with this mammoth ramble (sorry about that) i haven't got half of it off my chest. I need to blurt it out, i'm not expecting anything in return.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Dear Diary,
I want to move! And because we didn't win Euromillions yesteday (not even the £2-something prize) I should be resigned to the fact it isn't going to happen anytime soon. And it is not helped that I keep torturing myself by looking at homes. I have yet again, found some more homes that i would be more than happy to live in. This time they're by Persimmon and I've looked at Persimmon's offers, and we still can't afford anything. And, on top of it all, i'm starting to feel angry towards my parents (in my head, not in RL) for not having enough money to loan me the deposit. One of the offers is a Parental Loan scheme, where the 'rents pay the deposit and earn 5%pa interest on the loan, which will be repaid after 2 years. Not bad! But mine, nor DH's parents have that kind of money.
And I'm feeling jealous of my sister. She's getting married in 10 days, and her ILs have paid for their honeymoon - a cruise round the caribean. And the ILs paid the deposit on my sister's house. And after around 3 years working (as a teacher) my sister is earning more that I was when I left employment; and probably more than I would've been earning now, even if I had stayed.
I feel like I have been sold a lie: that you can have it all. Or that getting a good education (I went to Oxford uni, don't you know) means you'll have pick of the jobs. Or that by working hard, you can work your way up within a company. Definitely that we needed to get on the property ladder. If we hadn't, and we were still renting, we would have by now a huge deposit and be in a much better position to move. We could even move into a bigger/better rented property, if we didn't own this place.
This place, back in 2007, was a fantastic house for the price, and a really good 'first house'. Now, we're stuck in one of the worst/poorest areas in the town we live in. As I don't work anymore, there's no need for us to live here and we'd be much better off living closer to DH's work. We're in negative equity, with zero deposit saved. (Well, we probably could scrape together £3-4k, but that's nowhere near 5%, let alone the 15-20% you need for most mortgages these days.)
I sound really ungrateful and bitchy. I don't mean to be. I know there are a lot of people worse off than us. I just wish I could be content with my lot, instead of always dreaming. Thing is, I don't think dreams in themselves are bad things. I think it is a good thing to always want to better yourself, or your environment, and to aim high.
On the positive side, though, my desperation to get more money in order to move, means i am actually moving stuff around my house myself, rather than waiting for DH. Our study, is the small box room, and that's the room I intend to tutor in. (My thoughts are that if I can tutor at home, I can get more people through the door so can make more money. and even if i can't get more people through the door, at least I'll be at home and switched off for longer, rather than having up to an hour's drive there/back.) However, atm there is zero space to tutor, as the desk in there is very small (only 2ft wide, I think) and you cannot even sit under it as it is a computer desk. There is a sofa bed in there, and 3 book shelves, which are cram-packed with books, overflowing and messy. And no room to swing a mouse, let alone a cat! So, the plan is to move the bookshelves into our bedroom, move the sofabed to where the bookshelves were, and buy a folding, wall table from which I tutor.
That's all good in theory, but we have no space in our bedroom, so we're having to change everything round in there too. As I've recently lost a lot of weight, i've been giving away all my size 16 and 18+ clothes (to my sister, mum and freecycle), so i can get rid of one of my two wardrobes. Then, we're moving the two other wardrobes (mine and DH's) out of the cubbyhole, into the space where the first wardrobe was and where my chest of drawers were. My chest of drawers have now been moved to next to my bed, where my bedside table and dirty clothes basket were. These two have now been moved from beside my bed, to in front of our existing shelves. In the space in the cubbyhole that has now been vacated, will be where the 3 bookcases from nextdoor will be moved to. Phew! Understand any of that? Hehe.
So far, I have moved my chest of drawers, emptied the wardrobe we're removing, and moved DH's wardrobe. That's a lot more than I thought I would be able to do on my own, when I'm trying to entertain two children and ensure they don't get in the way or in trouble.
Whether it will work in practice, especially given that we have 2 preschoolers here and have to hope that they will be quiet or go to bed good, is another thing. I'm still working on trying to get DD2 into some kind of bedtime routine. Tonight she fell asleep in my arms after 8, and I went to put her upstairs at 8.30ish. Unfortunately, DD1 who should've been in bed already, was screaming and woke her up. Fortunately, though, the presence of DD2 seems to have a calming effect on DD1 (she's going through a phase atm of not liking being alone) and I managed to get them both settled in bed by 8.45. DD2 was nearly back to sleep, and DD1 was reading to herself.
I can only hope. Unless you, dear blog-reader, want to donate a few thousand pounds to me?
Yours,
LBP.
And I'm feeling jealous of my sister. She's getting married in 10 days, and her ILs have paid for their honeymoon - a cruise round the caribean. And the ILs paid the deposit on my sister's house. And after around 3 years working (as a teacher) my sister is earning more that I was when I left employment; and probably more than I would've been earning now, even if I had stayed.
I feel like I have been sold a lie: that you can have it all. Or that getting a good education (I went to Oxford uni, don't you know) means you'll have pick of the jobs. Or that by working hard, you can work your way up within a company. Definitely that we needed to get on the property ladder. If we hadn't, and we were still renting, we would have by now a huge deposit and be in a much better position to move. We could even move into a bigger/better rented property, if we didn't own this place.
This place, back in 2007, was a fantastic house for the price, and a really good 'first house'. Now, we're stuck in one of the worst/poorest areas in the town we live in. As I don't work anymore, there's no need for us to live here and we'd be much better off living closer to DH's work. We're in negative equity, with zero deposit saved. (Well, we probably could scrape together £3-4k, but that's nowhere near 5%, let alone the 15-20% you need for most mortgages these days.)
I sound really ungrateful and bitchy. I don't mean to be. I know there are a lot of people worse off than us. I just wish I could be content with my lot, instead of always dreaming. Thing is, I don't think dreams in themselves are bad things. I think it is a good thing to always want to better yourself, or your environment, and to aim high.
"Aim for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars."I just wish my dreams were slightly more realistic and achieveable.
On the positive side, though, my desperation to get more money in order to move, means i am actually moving stuff around my house myself, rather than waiting for DH. Our study, is the small box room, and that's the room I intend to tutor in. (My thoughts are that if I can tutor at home, I can get more people through the door so can make more money. and even if i can't get more people through the door, at least I'll be at home and switched off for longer, rather than having up to an hour's drive there/back.) However, atm there is zero space to tutor, as the desk in there is very small (only 2ft wide, I think) and you cannot even sit under it as it is a computer desk. There is a sofa bed in there, and 3 book shelves, which are cram-packed with books, overflowing and messy. And no room to swing a mouse, let alone a cat! So, the plan is to move the bookshelves into our bedroom, move the sofabed to where the bookshelves were, and buy a folding, wall table from which I tutor.
That's all good in theory, but we have no space in our bedroom, so we're having to change everything round in there too. As I've recently lost a lot of weight, i've been giving away all my size 16 and 18+ clothes (to my sister, mum and freecycle), so i can get rid of one of my two wardrobes. Then, we're moving the two other wardrobes (mine and DH's) out of the cubbyhole, into the space where the first wardrobe was and where my chest of drawers were. My chest of drawers have now been moved to next to my bed, where my bedside table and dirty clothes basket were. These two have now been moved from beside my bed, to in front of our existing shelves. In the space in the cubbyhole that has now been vacated, will be where the 3 bookcases from nextdoor will be moved to. Phew! Understand any of that? Hehe.
So far, I have moved my chest of drawers, emptied the wardrobe we're removing, and moved DH's wardrobe. That's a lot more than I thought I would be able to do on my own, when I'm trying to entertain two children and ensure they don't get in the way or in trouble.
Whether it will work in practice, especially given that we have 2 preschoolers here and have to hope that they will be quiet or go to bed good, is another thing. I'm still working on trying to get DD2 into some kind of bedtime routine. Tonight she fell asleep in my arms after 8, and I went to put her upstairs at 8.30ish. Unfortunately, DD1 who should've been in bed already, was screaming and woke her up. Fortunately, though, the presence of DD2 seems to have a calming effect on DD1 (she's going through a phase atm of not liking being alone) and I managed to get them both settled in bed by 8.45. DD2 was nearly back to sleep, and DD1 was reading to herself.
I can only hope. Unless you, dear blog-reader, want to donate a few thousand pounds to me?
Yours,
LBP.
Sunday 10 July 2011
Nudefest
Last month we returned to Nudefest, a week long naturist holiday in Cornwall. This was the first year it was a week in length, previously it was a long weekend, and it was our second visit. Somehow I had got roped into organising kid's painting, which meant in the week beforehand I had to buy paint and paper, and all the accessories for a total of £30, so there was enough for an hour's painting a day, for an unknown number of kids. This was also our first time camping with DD2, and our car was FULL!
But we got there alright, and although the weather on that first Sunday wasn't great, we eventually managed to get the tent set up, even with the DDs screaming in the back of the car. It was windy and pouring with rain. Newperran had a new restaurant, but we had missed dinner time, by the time we arrived, so we had a few sausage rolls in our tent and snuggled up for the night.
Over the week there were some new activities, and even though we did have the children with us, DH and I did our best to do what we wanted too. DH had a go at archery, and I had a go at Zumba. I'm sure it was probably because I'm half the age of some of the people there, but it was not as fast paced, or hard work, as I was expecting. I'm sure, if it was a 'normal' Zumba class (rather than one catering to the guests) I would have found it much more hard work! DD1 loved painting everyday, and it was a good thing it was a naturist holiday, because she literally ended up covered head-to-toe with paint! The campsite has really good facilities, so we would head off straight for the shower, and we looked as good as new.
There were also some 'world first' naturist trips. We went to Newquay Aquarium, one evening. Unfortunately there were far too many people there, for the size of the place, which menat lots of waiting around. DD1 was easily bored, and with DD2 in her pushchair meant it wasn't much fun for us either. Not to mention there was lots of press about (and as our family don't know we're naturists, we certainly don't want to appear in any papers!), which meant we were on guard and couldn't enjoy ourselves. And because it was an evening trip, both children got overtired, so we left early.
The following day, they did a trip to the Zoo. Given how the Aquarium visit went, we didn't fancy that - sillily, we had already mentioned it to DD1 and she was looking forward to it. So, we went by ourselves during the day, rather than on the organised trip. It was much better and much more relaxed. Friends who went said the Zoo was much better than the Aquarium trip, but I think we made the right decision.
We also went to Paradise Park ourselves, and have a lovely photo of DD1 with a parrot on her arm collecting money. This was very expensive though, but it did have a soft play (thankfully as it was pi$$ing down with rain!) so we spent a fair amount of time there. They had 'death slides' which took me straight back to my childhood as I was petrified of them (I'm still scared of heights). I did go on the bumpy slide with DD1, but for some reason she prefered to go on with DH than me. That was a shame, because I really enjoyed it, but felt silly going on it on my own - so I didn't.
And we went to Perranporth again. We spent a brief time on the beach, but it was very windy. We bought a windy break, in the hope it would protect our tent - it didn't work. We did have ice cream, which was nice, and spent a fiar amount of time in Newquay too, and bought too much fudge and too many cream teas. Yum!
The wind was atrocious, and by the end of the week, our tent (thanks to only 1 high guy-rope and the poles that are designed to bend) was practically flattened. So much so, that we were tempted to leave a day early, but we stuck it out and our tent did last. We did promise ourselves to get a more wind-resistent tent, though. Our tent wasn't the worst, though. Some actually broke, and another friend had the infamous floating tent - a pop up tent, with not enough pegs to hold it to the ground when the wind blew!
Despite how this probably sounds, we did actually have a good time, and will hopefully be back next year (with hopefully better weather too).
Incidentally, we have now bought a new tent - an 8 berth (our previous was 4-berth) with more wind protection and is large enough that if we are in bad weather again, we don't feel too cramped. We freecycled our old tent, and it was really popular. Despite me saying that it has been collected - twice(!) - I'm still getting emails requesting it. Hmpf. If they continue tomorrow, I may contact the email-group owner.
But we got there alright, and although the weather on that first Sunday wasn't great, we eventually managed to get the tent set up, even with the DDs screaming in the back of the car. It was windy and pouring with rain. Newperran had a new restaurant, but we had missed dinner time, by the time we arrived, so we had a few sausage rolls in our tent and snuggled up for the night.
Over the week there were some new activities, and even though we did have the children with us, DH and I did our best to do what we wanted too. DH had a go at archery, and I had a go at Zumba. I'm sure it was probably because I'm half the age of some of the people there, but it was not as fast paced, or hard work, as I was expecting. I'm sure, if it was a 'normal' Zumba class (rather than one catering to the guests) I would have found it much more hard work! DD1 loved painting everyday, and it was a good thing it was a naturist holiday, because she literally ended up covered head-to-toe with paint! The campsite has really good facilities, so we would head off straight for the shower, and we looked as good as new.
There were also some 'world first' naturist trips. We went to Newquay Aquarium, one evening. Unfortunately there were far too many people there, for the size of the place, which menat lots of waiting around. DD1 was easily bored, and with DD2 in her pushchair meant it wasn't much fun for us either. Not to mention there was lots of press about (and as our family don't know we're naturists, we certainly don't want to appear in any papers!), which meant we were on guard and couldn't enjoy ourselves. And because it was an evening trip, both children got overtired, so we left early.
The following day, they did a trip to the Zoo. Given how the Aquarium visit went, we didn't fancy that - sillily, we had already mentioned it to DD1 and she was looking forward to it. So, we went by ourselves during the day, rather than on the organised trip. It was much better and much more relaxed. Friends who went said the Zoo was much better than the Aquarium trip, but I think we made the right decision.
We also went to Paradise Park ourselves, and have a lovely photo of DD1 with a parrot on her arm collecting money. This was very expensive though, but it did have a soft play (thankfully as it was pi$$ing down with rain!) so we spent a fair amount of time there. They had 'death slides' which took me straight back to my childhood as I was petrified of them (I'm still scared of heights). I did go on the bumpy slide with DD1, but for some reason she prefered to go on with DH than me. That was a shame, because I really enjoyed it, but felt silly going on it on my own - so I didn't.
And we went to Perranporth again. We spent a brief time on the beach, but it was very windy. We bought a windy break, in the hope it would protect our tent - it didn't work. We did have ice cream, which was nice, and spent a fiar amount of time in Newquay too, and bought too much fudge and too many cream teas. Yum!
The wind was atrocious, and by the end of the week, our tent (thanks to only 1 high guy-rope and the poles that are designed to bend) was practically flattened. So much so, that we were tempted to leave a day early, but we stuck it out and our tent did last. We did promise ourselves to get a more wind-resistent tent, though. Our tent wasn't the worst, though. Some actually broke, and another friend had the infamous floating tent - a pop up tent, with not enough pegs to hold it to the ground when the wind blew!
Despite how this probably sounds, we did actually have a good time, and will hopefully be back next year (with hopefully better weather too).
Incidentally, we have now bought a new tent - an 8 berth (our previous was 4-berth) with more wind protection and is large enough that if we are in bad weather again, we don't feel too cramped. We freecycled our old tent, and it was really popular. Despite me saying that it has been collected - twice(!) - I'm still getting emails requesting it. Hmpf. If they continue tomorrow, I may contact the email-group owner.
3rd World Glasses Collection Service
I've recently had my eyes tested again. I go to specsavers and because I only go once every 2 years i use the voucher then send, so the eye test is only £7.50 (did you know it has gone up to £22!). However, I find their glasses ridiculously expensive, so I buy my glasses online from www.spex4less.com. They currently are having a sale on, so I've bought 2 pairs of normal glasses plus some sun glasses. It will take some getting used to, as my current glasses are transitions, but at least I won't be squinting when I drive anymore (transitions don't work behind glass).
Anyway, they are currently doing a collection service of old glasses to give to the 3rd world, and are asking people who write a blog to spread the word - which is what I'm doing. So if you have old pairs of glasses hanging around the place please send them off for a good cause. There are more details here.
Anyway, they are currently doing a collection service of old glasses to give to the 3rd world, and are asking people who write a blog to spread the word - which is what I'm doing. So if you have old pairs of glasses hanging around the place please send them off for a good cause. There are more details here.
Friday 8 July 2011
Photoshoot
As part of a fundraising thing for DD1's gymnastics, we made a donation to the club, and got a free professional photoshoot plus a picture worth £60 free. The photoshoot was on Wednesday, and I'd love to get a canvas of DD1 and DD2 together for our living room wall. Both DDs were in their best clothes (though we had to pretend it was Christmas, because DD1 only wears her purple dress at Christmas, lol) and they had lots of different shots done, together and separately, as well as a few 'nudie' shots of DD2. Afterwards we booked a time to view the photos with DH (next week, 8pm. Unfortunately we can't get a babysitter, so we'll have both DDs with us) and I was given the pricelist, with various options.
Wow! The free photo worth £60 is only 7x5inches. A 24x24 canvas/print is £445! and having only 5 images on CD is £395! We are desperately trying to save moeny (and were planning on buying a new tent this week) so really cannot afford those prices. We've looked online and have found that some art printers will put a photo (as in an actual photo, rather than a digital photo) onto a large canvas for around £60, so we're tempted now just to get the free photo and get someone else to blow it up. Of course, the quality may not be worth it, so I'm not sure what to do for the best. A friend also recommended another photographer (and her website says an hour photoshoot plus 10x8 print is only £25) so I've contacted her to ask approximately what cost the larger prints would be, as I don't want to waste her time. Hopefully she'll get back to me, before we view the photos next week. That way, I'll be more confident that we're doing the right thing, by not buying the expensive ones. Shame, really, as the photographer was really nice and good with the children, but we really cannot afford it. Nevermind.
It has put in my mind, though, that I would like a nude portrait of all of us, once DD2 is walking. Nothing obscene, but DH holding my hand, holding DD1, holding DD2. All of us standing in a row, and the photo taken from behind, in black and white, and maybe just a 10x8 print. I think that would look good on the landing, or in the hallway. I also wonder whether anybody would realise it was us, or whether they just thought it was an arty shot.
Wow! The free photo worth £60 is only 7x5inches. A 24x24 canvas/print is £445! and having only 5 images on CD is £395! We are desperately trying to save moeny (and were planning on buying a new tent this week) so really cannot afford those prices. We've looked online and have found that some art printers will put a photo (as in an actual photo, rather than a digital photo) onto a large canvas for around £60, so we're tempted now just to get the free photo and get someone else to blow it up. Of course, the quality may not be worth it, so I'm not sure what to do for the best. A friend also recommended another photographer (and her website says an hour photoshoot plus 10x8 print is only £25) so I've contacted her to ask approximately what cost the larger prints would be, as I don't want to waste her time. Hopefully she'll get back to me, before we view the photos next week. That way, I'll be more confident that we're doing the right thing, by not buying the expensive ones. Shame, really, as the photographer was really nice and good with the children, but we really cannot afford it. Nevermind.
It has put in my mind, though, that I would like a nude portrait of all of us, once DD2 is walking. Nothing obscene, but DH holding my hand, holding DD1, holding DD2. All of us standing in a row, and the photo taken from behind, in black and white, and maybe just a 10x8 print. I think that would look good on the landing, or in the hallway. I also wonder whether anybody would realise it was us, or whether they just thought it was an arty shot.
Tuesday 5 July 2011
My Sister's Hen Night
This seems like ages ago now, as it was the start of June. There was a bit of stress about me getting there, in the first place, as we didn't have anyone to babysit DDs 1&2. My mum was invited, My dad, and FIL were both on holiday (separately), which left MIL who refused to come here on her own, as her husband was working. DH couldn't take the day off work, because he didn't have many holidays left and the few days he did have, he had to keep spare for my upcoming hospital appointments.
In the end, this was resolved by me going on the train to MILs with the children alone, when DH was in work, staying overnight, and the next day (Friday) I would then go back to Bristol, to my grandparent's house to pick up all my stuff and get a lift with my sister's best friend up to Manchester, whilst DH goes to work on Friday and after work, he'll drive to his mum's to look after the girls.
I was also *really* nervous about taking the pushchair on the train by myself. I had DD2 in the wrap, and DD1 is more than capable of walking, but MIL was adament that she wanted the pushchair too. My mum said MIL should buy a cheap one (like my mum has done). The Thursday came, and typically, DD1 (who never sleeps during the day) was asleep at 11am! So, I had no choice, but to load her into the pushchair asleep, with DD2 attached to me, and go on the bus to the train station. And walking to the trainstation was the next bit of stress because there were a million coaches outside, and i had no idea what I was menat to do if there was rail replacement. Fortunately, it didn't affect our service.
We were an hour early, though, because we had to get a specified train, but to be fair, both girls were really good, even though they were bored, and didn't run off or anything. And even though we were early, it was good that we had to catch that train - the train before was an hour late, and the train before that was delayed by 2 hours (!) so they all arrived within 15mins of each other. Our train was still busy, but somehow I managed to get on without losing anything. (I have a fear of losing things under the train, and between the platform edge.)
Anyway, we arrived and everything was all hunky dory. That night, DD2 was ina room with me, in the travel cot and DD1 was in MIL's room, as usual. Unfortunately, our room was ridiculously hot, so DD2 ended up in the single bed with me, so she could have loads of BFs. She still woke up drenched in sweat and really hot, so I had to wet the muslin square to keep her cool and get her body temperature down. It worked, thankfully, as I had no calpol with me - DH was bringing that with him in the car.
The next day, I left and caught the train to my grandparent's house. It was meant to take 3 hours, but we hit traffic as soon as we got of the sliproad onto the motorway, so ended up taking 4 hours. Nevermind, we were there at last.
The Chief Bridesmaid laid on this buffet, which was fantastic. She's Argentinian, and there was a host of various foods and flavours. My favourite was the chorizo (which I really should get the recipe for); it was cooked with white wine and sugar, and absolutely to die for! And the chief bridesmaid gave everybody a Hen Party champagne flute, so we can remember the weekend, which was a lovely touch.
My sister, being a teacher, had made badges for everyone, haha, and planned the first game which was an icebreaker. Each of us had to come up with 3 sentences of what we had done with my sister: 2 false and 1 true. The rest of us had to guess which was true, and 'bet' our drink whether we were right or wrong. My sentences were: Sister and I used to eat worms in the garden. Sister and I used to watch ET everynight before bed. Sister and I used to float down the stairs. Well, sister and I used to rescue worms from the garden, and put them in the composter. I've never seen ET all the way through, because my sister was terrified of it growing up. But we both have the memory of floating downstairs, without touching any of the steps, in our old house - so that was the true one.
After that game, it was my turn. In helping prepare for the night, I had done 2 things: Mr & Mrs, and also party bags for everyone, but they weren't coming out until the Saturday night. For my Mr & Mrs game, I had already asked my sister's fiance 15 questions about them/their relationship from where did they meet, to what was my sister's fantasy - admittedly a couple of questions were TMI for my liking! haha. I did ask "would you go on an all expenses paid naturist holiday?" to which both my sister and her fiance answered "no", so I won't be telling the family that we're naturist yet! Finally, I ended with 5 "what am I?" questions. Eg. a. I'm wet. b. I smell fishy. c. Men like to plunge into me. What am I?
The sea, of course! Tut, tut, tut, all you with naughty minds. Hehe. And as with the previous game, eveyone else had to place bets as to whether my sister would know the answer or not. My sister, depending on whether she got the answer right or not, got a 'nice' present (eg chocolates, smellies etc) or a 'naughty' present (dressing up stuff for the saturday, and a few things for her and her fiance). After more drinks, shots, and chat we played I have Never, though, tbh I found that a bit boring because nothing particularly juicy came up.
The next day, we had a Bridesmaid dress fitting - all because I have lost weight. I got down to 64kg, and my sister has banned me from losing any more weight now until the wedding, as there's no time for another fitting. We also saw my sister in her dress and she looks beautiful, of course.
The we went to the spa. I had hot stone massage for my treatment, which was really nice, but not as long as I was expecting/hoping for, as it was only 30mins. As I was having the same treatment as my mum, we went in together. We had to take pull our swimsuits down to our waist, and lay front-down on the table. My mum commented that she was glad to share a treatment room with me because she didn't mind me seeing her boobs, and she didn't mind seeing mine either. Yep, more proof that my family are not yet in a place to know we're naturists, haha. The other thing, is that because I still breastfeed, being away from DD2 this whole weekend, I needed to express fairly regularly, one of these times was in the spa itself. I went to the ladies' changing room and sat on the seat, and expressed. A lady was in there, and asked me to help with the zip of her dress, and then we had a brief conversation about expressing. She left, and my mum came in (this was just before our treatment, as I needed to empty my boobs before I could lie on my front!). My mum basically said [I can't remember her exact words now] that should I be doing that in here? I just said yes, but where the hell else am I meant to be. I was in the women's changing room ffs! Although I was tempted to express on the side of the pool (it was only our group there), #I wasn't going to because I know my mum's reaction. And then, she went on to say what if other people had come in? Well, one person had come in and talked about it, and a few other people came in briefly to change their clothes and either didn't notice, but didn't comment in any place, so clearly nobody - except my mum - minds. Argh. I find my mum's attitude to me BFing so bloomin' frustrating.
Anyway, I managed to get 30 lengths of the swimming pool swum, and had a shower first, so I could get some more expressing in, before our evening. We got the taxi back to my sister's house, and the taxi driver drove down a road that was blocked, so attempted to do a 3 point turn, but hit a bollard, showering my sister in glass! He didn't even stop to ask if everyone was ok, but continued driving! Needless to say, pictures went straight up on facebook! The three people in the back row, moved forward (we were in a 16seater minibus, but with only 10 of us in), which was a good thing too, because throughout the rest of the journey, glass kept splintering off, and shattering on the ground.
We got to my sister's in one piece, and got dressed quickly. I handed out a sash for everyone (green with pandas on) and a party bag each. The 'Hen Night Survival Pack' contained:
That's all there is really to say. We went back for yet more drinks. Had a good night sleep, and had breafast before getting a lift back to my grandparent's house in Bristol, where DH picked me up in the car (with DD1 and DD2, of course) and I drove home. Very tired, but had a good weekend.
In the end, this was resolved by me going on the train to MILs with the children alone, when DH was in work, staying overnight, and the next day (Friday) I would then go back to Bristol, to my grandparent's house to pick up all my stuff and get a lift with my sister's best friend up to Manchester, whilst DH goes to work on Friday and after work, he'll drive to his mum's to look after the girls.
I was also *really* nervous about taking the pushchair on the train by myself. I had DD2 in the wrap, and DD1 is more than capable of walking, but MIL was adament that she wanted the pushchair too. My mum said MIL should buy a cheap one (like my mum has done). The Thursday came, and typically, DD1 (who never sleeps during the day) was asleep at 11am! So, I had no choice, but to load her into the pushchair asleep, with DD2 attached to me, and go on the bus to the train station. And walking to the trainstation was the next bit of stress because there were a million coaches outside, and i had no idea what I was menat to do if there was rail replacement. Fortunately, it didn't affect our service.
We were an hour early, though, because we had to get a specified train, but to be fair, both girls were really good, even though they were bored, and didn't run off or anything. And even though we were early, it was good that we had to catch that train - the train before was an hour late, and the train before that was delayed by 2 hours (!) so they all arrived within 15mins of each other. Our train was still busy, but somehow I managed to get on without losing anything. (I have a fear of losing things under the train, and between the platform edge.)
Anyway, we arrived and everything was all hunky dory. That night, DD2 was ina room with me, in the travel cot and DD1 was in MIL's room, as usual. Unfortunately, our room was ridiculously hot, so DD2 ended up in the single bed with me, so she could have loads of BFs. She still woke up drenched in sweat and really hot, so I had to wet the muslin square to keep her cool and get her body temperature down. It worked, thankfully, as I had no calpol with me - DH was bringing that with him in the car.
The next day, I left and caught the train to my grandparent's house. It was meant to take 3 hours, but we hit traffic as soon as we got of the sliproad onto the motorway, so ended up taking 4 hours. Nevermind, we were there at last.
The Chief Bridesmaid laid on this buffet, which was fantastic. She's Argentinian, and there was a host of various foods and flavours. My favourite was the chorizo (which I really should get the recipe for); it was cooked with white wine and sugar, and absolutely to die for! And the chief bridesmaid gave everybody a Hen Party champagne flute, so we can remember the weekend, which was a lovely touch.
My sister, being a teacher, had made badges for everyone, haha, and planned the first game which was an icebreaker. Each of us had to come up with 3 sentences of what we had done with my sister: 2 false and 1 true. The rest of us had to guess which was true, and 'bet' our drink whether we were right or wrong. My sentences were: Sister and I used to eat worms in the garden. Sister and I used to watch ET everynight before bed. Sister and I used to float down the stairs. Well, sister and I used to rescue worms from the garden, and put them in the composter. I've never seen ET all the way through, because my sister was terrified of it growing up. But we both have the memory of floating downstairs, without touching any of the steps, in our old house - so that was the true one.
After that game, it was my turn. In helping prepare for the night, I had done 2 things: Mr & Mrs, and also party bags for everyone, but they weren't coming out until the Saturday night. For my Mr & Mrs game, I had already asked my sister's fiance 15 questions about them/their relationship from where did they meet, to what was my sister's fantasy - admittedly a couple of questions were TMI for my liking! haha. I did ask "would you go on an all expenses paid naturist holiday?" to which both my sister and her fiance answered "no", so I won't be telling the family that we're naturist yet! Finally, I ended with 5 "what am I?" questions. Eg. a. I'm wet. b. I smell fishy. c. Men like to plunge into me. What am I?
The sea, of course! Tut, tut, tut, all you with naughty minds. Hehe. And as with the previous game, eveyone else had to place bets as to whether my sister would know the answer or not. My sister, depending on whether she got the answer right or not, got a 'nice' present (eg chocolates, smellies etc) or a 'naughty' present (dressing up stuff for the saturday, and a few things for her and her fiance). After more drinks, shots, and chat we played I have Never, though, tbh I found that a bit boring because nothing particularly juicy came up.
The next day, we had a Bridesmaid dress fitting - all because I have lost weight. I got down to 64kg, and my sister has banned me from losing any more weight now until the wedding, as there's no time for another fitting. We also saw my sister in her dress and she looks beautiful, of course.
The we went to the spa. I had hot stone massage for my treatment, which was really nice, but not as long as I was expecting/hoping for, as it was only 30mins. As I was having the same treatment as my mum, we went in together. We had to take pull our swimsuits down to our waist, and lay front-down on the table. My mum commented that she was glad to share a treatment room with me because she didn't mind me seeing her boobs, and she didn't mind seeing mine either. Yep, more proof that my family are not yet in a place to know we're naturists, haha. The other thing, is that because I still breastfeed, being away from DD2 this whole weekend, I needed to express fairly regularly, one of these times was in the spa itself. I went to the ladies' changing room and sat on the seat, and expressed. A lady was in there, and asked me to help with the zip of her dress, and then we had a brief conversation about expressing. She left, and my mum came in (this was just before our treatment, as I needed to empty my boobs before I could lie on my front!). My mum basically said [I can't remember her exact words now] that should I be doing that in here? I just said yes, but where the hell else am I meant to be. I was in the women's changing room ffs! Although I was tempted to express on the side of the pool (it was only our group there), #I wasn't going to because I know my mum's reaction. And then, she went on to say what if other people had come in? Well, one person had come in and talked about it, and a few other people came in briefly to change their clothes and either didn't notice, but didn't comment in any place, so clearly nobody - except my mum - minds. Argh. I find my mum's attitude to me BFing so bloomin' frustrating.
Anyway, I managed to get 30 lengths of the swimming pool swum, and had a shower first, so I could get some more expressing in, before our evening. We got the taxi back to my sister's house, and the taxi driver drove down a road that was blocked, so attempted to do a 3 point turn, but hit a bollard, showering my sister in glass! He didn't even stop to ask if everyone was ok, but continued driving! Needless to say, pictures went straight up on facebook! The three people in the back row, moved forward (we were in a 16seater minibus, but with only 10 of us in), which was a good thing too, because throughout the rest of the journey, glass kept splintering off, and shattering on the ground.
We got to my sister's in one piece, and got dressed quickly. I handed out a sash for everyone (green with pandas on) and a party bag each. The 'Hen Night Survival Pack' contained:
For a good night out:And everyone seemed to appreciate the time, and humour, of the bags, which was good. (If you haven't guessed yet, my sister is obsessed with pandas, which is why there was a big panda theme throughout.) We then went to the salsa night. For one price, we had champagne on arrival, a salsa lesson, tapas meal, and free entry to the club all night. And it was a proper dancing club, rather than a meat market, so people were up and dancing all night. I had a good time, even though I stopped drinking fairly early, but I do regret not asking anyone to dance. I do Ceroc dancing, and though the beat is slightly different, many of the moves are similar to salsa. That said, I did get one dance and he was awful. He couldn't dance and couldn't lead. I know everyone has to start somewhere, but he was friends with the best dancer in the place, and I wish I had the chance to dance with him instead. Admittedly it was not helped that I was wearing a white dress, the club had UV lights (so I was the brightest thing there, lol), and I started leaking milk. I couldn't wear breast pads, as they showed through the dress, so from that point on, I was wary about going to the main dance floor. Again, with hindsight, I wish I just didn't care - it's not as if I'd see any of these people again.
Panda Mask
Badge
Cocktail Can
Party Poppers
Sweets
Stickers
Nail File
In case you get lucky:
Toothbrush
Clean pair of pants
Condoms
For the morning after:
Can of Full-fat Coke
Alka Seltzer
Chewing Gum
Hair bands
That's all there is really to say. We went back for yet more drinks. Had a good night sleep, and had breafast before getting a lift back to my grandparent's house in Bristol, where DH picked me up in the car (with DD1 and DD2, of course) and I drove home. Very tired, but had a good weekend.
Monday 4 July 2011
Dear Diary,
"Things are always a problem with you." They're my mum's words which are now left ringing around my head, after I asked her for some advice/comfort.
I don't like talking with the plate in my mouth. I can talk pretty much normally without it in, but am still practicing with it in. I don't like the feeling of eating without the plate in, but at the same time, I don't like the feeling of it in either. So, I'm practicing eating with the plate in, but it is hard and slow. My mouth is slowly getting back to normal, so I can open my mouth wider - which has helped - but i'm still scared about swallowing the plate, or doing something silly. It all feels odd and unusual. As my mum has worn a plate for years, I thought I'd ask her advice about how soon things will start to feel normal, and that is when she made the above comment. I was taken aback, so i asked her to clarify, and she helpfully said that my entire life nothing is ever simple and things are always a problem. Great. Thanks then mum.
On the good side, though, I had a smear today, and it didn't hurt! I can barely believe it, as I find them agony, and I had been dreading it for weeks, knowing that these things need to be done. I had both children with me; DD2 slept through as I had fed her just before (we were in the library) and DD1 was good drawing a picture of a skeleton.
In the library, I restricted DD1 to 2 books, and she decided that that would be one book for herself and one book for DD2. Then she said, she couldn't leave me out either, which is why we borrowed three books today. Hopefully, though, she'll actually read them, as she has been going through a phase of borrowing books and not wanting to read them at all atm.
* I'm hungry.
* Who's there, Spot?
* Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Then this afternoon has been a mixed bag. DD1 has gone from being an angel, to hitting, kicking, pushing, both me and DD2. I'm struggling atm, which I'm sure is because I am tired, and with the house being a mess, i feel like i can't cope. On the good (bad) side, this isn't unusual, so i know these feelings will dissipate soon. I have a busy week this week, so the anticipation of that probably isn't helping either. Nevermind, there's always tomorrow. Or maybe my mum is right - everything's a problem with me?
Yours,
LBP.
Oh, and I've made the decision NOT to apply for that job. Whilst, I potentially could have been earning mega-money, getting back in the rat-race, putting the kids through school, and 'doing everything that you're supposed to' is the easy option. You only live once, and if I think I could 'put up with' working for a few years, to get some money, in the same vein, I could put up with living in the house for a few years, and have more of an adventure of teaching my own.
I don't like talking with the plate in my mouth. I can talk pretty much normally without it in, but am still practicing with it in. I don't like the feeling of eating without the plate in, but at the same time, I don't like the feeling of it in either. So, I'm practicing eating with the plate in, but it is hard and slow. My mouth is slowly getting back to normal, so I can open my mouth wider - which has helped - but i'm still scared about swallowing the plate, or doing something silly. It all feels odd and unusual. As my mum has worn a plate for years, I thought I'd ask her advice about how soon things will start to feel normal, and that is when she made the above comment. I was taken aback, so i asked her to clarify, and she helpfully said that my entire life nothing is ever simple and things are always a problem. Great. Thanks then mum.
On the good side, though, I had a smear today, and it didn't hurt! I can barely believe it, as I find them agony, and I had been dreading it for weeks, knowing that these things need to be done. I had both children with me; DD2 slept through as I had fed her just before (we were in the library) and DD1 was good drawing a picture of a skeleton.
In the library, I restricted DD1 to 2 books, and she decided that that would be one book for herself and one book for DD2. Then she said, she couldn't leave me out either, which is why we borrowed three books today. Hopefully, though, she'll actually read them, as she has been going through a phase of borrowing books and not wanting to read them at all atm.
* I'm hungry.
* Who's there, Spot?
* Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Then this afternoon has been a mixed bag. DD1 has gone from being an angel, to hitting, kicking, pushing, both me and DD2. I'm struggling atm, which I'm sure is because I am tired, and with the house being a mess, i feel like i can't cope. On the good (bad) side, this isn't unusual, so i know these feelings will dissipate soon. I have a busy week this week, so the anticipation of that probably isn't helping either. Nevermind, there's always tomorrow. Or maybe my mum is right - everything's a problem with me?
Yours,
LBP.
Oh, and I've made the decision NOT to apply for that job. Whilst, I potentially could have been earning mega-money, getting back in the rat-race, putting the kids through school, and 'doing everything that you're supposed to' is the easy option. You only live once, and if I think I could 'put up with' working for a few years, to get some money, in the same vein, I could put up with living in the house for a few years, and have more of an adventure of teaching my own.
Saturday 2 July 2011
Teeth extracted!
I am finally without my last baby tooth. :-(
My teeth are strong, and my baby tooth was no exception, so rather than falling out when the adult tooth came along, it pushed the adult tooth into the middle of the palette of my mouth. When I was 18 I was given the option of having the baby tooth removed and the adult tooth pulled into position, but given that I was an overweight brown-haired girl with glasses, I really didn't want to add wearing braces for 2 years into the mix when heading off to uni! So, I didn't have the work done, and was told that the tooth could fall out next week, or last till I'm 50.
Fast forward to now, and I'm 29 yrs old, and my baby tooth was finally wobbly. As I'm on maternity, I've got a maternity exemption certificate, so I don't pay for dental work, so my dentist recommended I get the teeth out now. Coincidentally, my adult tooth has started erupting through my palette, so that one was coming out too, AND when they did an X-ray, they found one of my wisdom teeth (which hasn't come through yet) had an infection in the root (not that it bothered me), so that one is coming out at the same time for good measure.
So yesterday, off I went to hospital for an op under GA. I was advised to have a light breakfast before 8am, and then only drink water until 12 (not a problem for me, as I only drink water anyway), but I'm gladd i had the breakfast. I had to be at hospital for 12, but didn't get operated on until 4.30! I'm so glad I had 2 books with me. I finished 'How to talk...' and re-started 'Lady Chatterley's lover' for the third time. I've finally got to the sex scenes hahaha.
Now, I've had 3 teeth out, and I have a plate in my mouth with the 1 incisor on it, so I don't have a gap. My mouth is sore, most of the pain is from the wisdom tooth removal, and I'm nervous of eating. Last night, when I got home, I was starving, so I sent DH to the shops, and I ate a whole tin of custard, loads of rusks with milk, and frijj (sp?) milkshake. I also have to rinse my mouth with salt water after every time I eat, which isn't too dignified, and I've no idea whether that is just for today, or until the stitches dissolve (2 weeks).
And, I'm left not being able to talk properly, and given I'm doing a reading at my sister's wedding in 3 weeks time, I have to figure out what to do. At least I'm now an adult with only adult teeth.
My teeth are strong, and my baby tooth was no exception, so rather than falling out when the adult tooth came along, it pushed the adult tooth into the middle of the palette of my mouth. When I was 18 I was given the option of having the baby tooth removed and the adult tooth pulled into position, but given that I was an overweight brown-haired girl with glasses, I really didn't want to add wearing braces for 2 years into the mix when heading off to uni! So, I didn't have the work done, and was told that the tooth could fall out next week, or last till I'm 50.
Fast forward to now, and I'm 29 yrs old, and my baby tooth was finally wobbly. As I'm on maternity, I've got a maternity exemption certificate, so I don't pay for dental work, so my dentist recommended I get the teeth out now. Coincidentally, my adult tooth has started erupting through my palette, so that one was coming out too, AND when they did an X-ray, they found one of my wisdom teeth (which hasn't come through yet) had an infection in the root (not that it bothered me), so that one is coming out at the same time for good measure.
So yesterday, off I went to hospital for an op under GA. I was advised to have a light breakfast before 8am, and then only drink water until 12 (not a problem for me, as I only drink water anyway), but I'm gladd i had the breakfast. I had to be at hospital for 12, but didn't get operated on until 4.30! I'm so glad I had 2 books with me. I finished 'How to talk...' and re-started 'Lady Chatterley's lover' for the third time. I've finally got to the sex scenes hahaha.
Now, I've had 3 teeth out, and I have a plate in my mouth with the 1 incisor on it, so I don't have a gap. My mouth is sore, most of the pain is from the wisdom tooth removal, and I'm nervous of eating. Last night, when I got home, I was starving, so I sent DH to the shops, and I ate a whole tin of custard, loads of rusks with milk, and frijj (sp?) milkshake. I also have to rinse my mouth with salt water after every time I eat, which isn't too dignified, and I've no idea whether that is just for today, or until the stitches dissolve (2 weeks).
And, I'm left not being able to talk properly, and given I'm doing a reading at my sister's wedding in 3 weeks time, I have to figure out what to do. At least I'm now an adult with only adult teeth.
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