Today's news

Today's prompt for Blog every day in May is to talk about something in todays news. 

I have Yahoo as my homepage so I see the news and goings on in the World on a daily basis and I must admit at the moment its pretty grim. 

I don't want to talk about morbid things that are happening right now. But this story go us talking today. Ex-solider paints his door in St Georges flag colours. He's had it painted like this for 10 years and has only just been asked to re-paint it.

The locals who live around him don't seem to mind about the door.

Taken from The sun website: 

Ms Hardy also said his conduct breached tenancy conditions concerning those tenants who were "injurious to the interests of neighbours" and those who "cause distress, alarm or interfere with the peace and comfort of any other person."

Mr Rolfe, who served in Northern Ireland, said: “I couldn’t believe it when I got the letter.

"We seem to be losing our values in this country and also losing our sense of identity, all in the name of political correctness."

The father-of-one said he had never had any problems before and none of his neighbours have ever complained.

He added: "I am far from being racist, I’m just proud of England that’s all.

"My neighbours say they would like to see more of the St George’s flag about."

Mr Rolfe has been supported by Muslim community leader Ali Anwar who said: "As far as I’m concerned, a man’s home is his castle, and he should be allowed to express himself as he wishes. This is political correctness gone mad."

Former Labour MP David Borrow, who is now a local councillor, said: "The door has been like that a long time and having spoken to the gentleman, I have no reason to believe that he is anything other than a decent member of the community.

"I do not believe that he has intended the door to symbolise anything offensive, and I have heard no specific complaints."

John Clemence, vice president of the Royal Society of St George, said: "To say that the cross of St George can cause offence needs to be challenged.

I just don't get it. Surely no one would take offence by this? If they are living in our country should they not respect our flag and culture. Should they not be proud to live in Britain aswell even if they are from a different country, if not why are they living here? I think the housing company is just being awkward with this man, I'm sure no one would complain about his door.

I think its silly that he has been asked to have it painted over, I think it actually looks quite smart and nicely done. He is obviously a proud English-man and so he should be. 

What do you think? Would you take offence? 

Traditions

When I saw the Blog every day in May subject for today was traditions I automatically thought of Christmas. Christmas is definately my favourite tradition of the year, we spend a couple of weeks off with the children, see plenty of family and have numerous get togethers. We eat good food, play good games all with good company. Not to mention the presents we give and receive, what isn't there to love?

I began thinking about other traditions we have, as a family. We have our own little traditions, like the unspoken traditions. Things like when we go on holiday we usually stop at the same services, weather we are in England, France, Germany or Italy. Last night we went to the annual Eurovision party at my aunties house... its tradition to go out for a meal for each member of the families birthday, everyone wants to go, everyone expects to go. 

I'm not saying these traditions can't be broken but we do seem to do them every year! Do you have any family traditions?

Best friends

Ok. I have a confession. I am a secret blogger. None of my friends know I write a blog. Is that bad? I don't know why I haven't told them, I guess the subject has never came up. Now I feel like I've been blogging to long to own up? Do you get me?

So this also means i haven't actually told anyone that I'm, on twitter as this is how i promote my blog. Yep all my followers, I don't actually know any of them personally, except my husband but he never uses twitter anyway. 

I don't know anyone else personally that writes a blog, whenever I have mentioned blogs to anyone most people have said 'whats a blog?'. Maybe the people of Macclesfield are behind everyone!

Seem as my friends don't know about my blog I think it would be unfair to post pictures of them. I don't have many close friends at all. However my best friend knows I write a blog, I'm pretty sure she doesn't read it, but she doesn't judge, she's kind, thoughtful, inspiring and just great. The added bonus is that she's also my sister. She will always be there for me if i need her. Shes a fantastic, fun auntie and my children adore her. I've grown up with her and have so many happy memories with her. We have a bond that can not be broken and understand each other in ways nobody else ever could. She also shares my love for disney :)

Me and Alison

(More wedding photos, this is due to my lack of photo taking!)

Is anyone else a secret blogger of is it just me?

My journey to work #BEDM

I work in quite a pretty part of the town. Its situated half way up a huge hill on the way to Buxton. Its got the canal a minutes walk away and fields with horses and lots of wildlife. So from my room at work I've got quite an amazing view over Macclesfield. However I didn't go to work today so I didn't take a picture from work. We did go to Mums and tots though and thats really close to my work and its the same view but not as far up the hill.

So this is what you could see from the church:

Ok so these pictures aren't that great. You can't see the churches over the town, its a really nice view (please believe me!) . I have just inherited a fancy new Lumix. My dad gave me it to try and incourage me to take more pictures but I only use the camera on auto mode. It's a Lumix FZ45 if anyone has any handy tips on how to use them!

Anyway back to my journey to work. I have to pass the iconic Arighi Bianchi building aswell, have you seen the advert on TV? I'm always amazed at how big the building is, it just seems so old. I took a picture of that aswell while a was stopped at the lights but it was pretty naff.

SO here's someone else's photo:

I really should look into the history of this building, I'm sure it must have been a mill though.

I think these are just about the best things I drive past on my way to work. I suppose you don't really appreciate the things in your town when you past them most days.

Pampering

I'm a beautician so my job 3 days a week is to pamper my clients, relax them and make them feel fresh again. I do them indulging facials, make their hands and feel look and feel nice and wax all their hair off leaving them super soft. I like my job and enjoy helping others feel good. I don't go to salons myself very often to get treatments done, but I so have my hair done at least every 6 weeks, sometimes this just feels like part of my job though. I need to have nice hair because I work in a salon.

What do I do for myself? Well I usually have nicely painted fingers for a day until I'm doing 'Mum' things. I always have painted toe nails and I think its a bit gross when i see people with no nail  varnish on their feet! 

Pampering for me is about relaxing. I feel relaxed at night time when I have a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of malibu and maybe a cheeky chunk or chocolate or two!

Lifes Lesson

I suppose I've learnt a lot of lessons in my life. As I've said before I fell pregnant at 17 and moved out into the life of mortgages and bills at 18. I became a Mum at 18 and I guess this is where my life's lessons started for real.

My parents were fantastic help and huge supporters, they gave me the confidence to be a good Mum. The biggest lesson I have learnt since becoming a Mum is patience. Patience can get you so much further, it can get you out of the door quicker and help you to understand things better.

I never considered myself as a patient person before until I started breast feeding my first born, it took about 5 weeks to get him to 'latch' on properly. I realised motherhood was going to be hard and I wouldn't last very long if I didn't have more patience. 7 years later I still often say to myself 'just be patient, just be patient'. For me things don't work out when I don't have patience.

Oreo cookies

Food Glorious food. I love it, all types of it, especially the sweet types. Pretty much the only food I don't like  is mushy peas and beans. I like to cook and bake, baking is my favourite and I bake something every week, cakes, cupcakes, biscuits or cookies, we have something nice for desert a couple of days a week.

This week I fancied cookies and then I saw my favourite chocolate (well favourite at the moment!) on offer I decided to combine the two. 

I made cookies but instead of plain chocolate chips I mixed in bits of oreo chocolate.

Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

100g butter

75g caster sugar

50g light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large beaten egg

150g self-raising flour

120g bar of oreo chocolate

 Mix together the butter and sugars until all blended together

 Add the vanilla extract to the beaten egg and slowly add to the butter and sugar mixture, beating well with each addition

 Mix in the flour

 Break up the chocolate

 Add to the mixture

 Spoon into 'piles' leaving space for the mixture to spread. bake for 10 mins on 190C.

 They don't come out perfectly round...but they are perfectly tasty.

 Leave to cool if you can... or eat them warm :)

These are so quick and easy to make. they are great to make with the kids because they are so easy, they only take 10 mins to cook so they don't have to wait long to see the finished result. You can add whatever chocolate you fancy, or try smarties or M&Ms.

What do you think? Do you like Oreo, I guess these are like a cookie in a cookie!?

Go Green!

As a family I think we are quite an eco friendly family. Sometimes I think it can be hard but I always think its nice to do your bit for the environment. We do the usual green, silver and black bin recycling.

I try and sell things on ebay as much as I can. If I think someone else could make use of something instead of throwing it away I just list it on ebay for 99p. Most of the time it will sell for more than 99p. I buy off ebay aswell and instead of throwing away the packaging I save it and reuse it. I never have to buy envelopes or postage bags. The same goes when I win something in a competition, the prize usually comes in an over sized jiffy bag with a small sticker on the front.

We have the heating on when really need it on, but never on full. We have throws on the couch that we can use if we are cold. When the radiators are on I always out wet washing on them too. Our house is well insulated so when the heating has been on it tends to hold the heat a little longer. I do have a dryer and only use it when I absolutely need to, I have a maiden in the kitchen that gets lots of use.

When I go shopping I take my own re-usable bags. They are much sturdier and much bigger. I always feel so guilty when I forget them or just nip in for a couple of things and end up coming out with half a trolley full. Also while shopping I try and choose things with a lot less packaging. I have noticed companies do try and keep the packaging down now which is great.

The one thing we aren't to good at in our house is recycling water. Our garden is a bit small to have a water butt and recently we have been using the hose pipe to water the newly laid turf. Once it is bedded in properly we won't bother watering it and I feel really guilty about it, luckily the rain has arrived so we haven't had to do it for the past few days. The kids use the same bath water so that's not too bad. But I when you think about it you do use an awful lot of water in the day, for washing, toilet flushes (we do have a small flush option), doing the pots, washing machine, showers, baths, brushing teeth, washing hands. After thinking about it I suppose we just take water for granted.

So that's how green we are. Are you a 'green' person?

Collecting

Todays prompt for Blog everyday in May is collecting. At the moment I don't actually collect anything. I have the usual shoes, bags, scarves etc. but don't all girls have them?

When I was younger we used to travel round Europe quite a lot and my Dad suggested that my sister and I should collect something. My sister went for thimbles and I collected spoons. I have never ever heard of anyone else that collects spoons. but surprisingly they were everywhere we went. I have spoons from various different countries and attractions like the leaning tower of Pisa, Disneyland, Gardaland (in Italy), Swiss alps, Saltzberg. Unfortunately I don't really have a place for them at home, its nice to know I have them in the attic if I ever wanted to look at them but they aren't something that I want on display in the house.

I often think about collecting things but I'm quite a hoarder of 'stuff' anyway. We have so many toys around the house as well I'm on a never ending mission to declutter. Tonight I have listed 30 things on ebay because I'm in declutter mode.

Back to collecting... I absolutely love Disney and often think about collecting little figurines, but I think I would get so carried away as I pretty much love every Disney character and film. (Except new wreck-it-ralph I was hugely disappointed!).

After reading so many blogs, it seems loads of people collect teacups. Now I love this, I have a display unit in my kitchen which currently displays the wonderful Lego creations the boys have made, but I think vintage pretty teacups would look so much nicer. Maybe during the summer I could pick a few up at the car boots. I like the look of this:

and this

But the hoarder in me would probably create something like this: 

Do you collect anything?

My favourite books

Todays promt for #BEDM is about books. This is a super quick post as I'm just about to settle down and watch a film with the husband. Although I don't get much time to read I try and squeeze a few books in a year. My favourite author is Sophie Kinsella. I first discovered her when I won a book of hers a few years ago.

The first book I read of hers was Undomestic Goddess. I liked the title, I read the first few pages and I was hooked.

The story of a girl who needs to slow down. To find herself. To fall in love. And to discover what an iron is for…

After reading this book I knew I had to discover more about Sophie Kinsella books. After talking to a girl at work I discovered the Shopoholic series I got completely addicted and the next book I read of hers was:

She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money.

She spends her leisure time … shopping.

Followed by:

Rebecca Bloomwood has the dream job. She’s a personal shopper, so is able to spend other people’s money all day instead of her own. And she gets paid for doing it. The perfect job, the perfect man - gorgeous Luke Brandon – and now … the perfect wedding.

Then.....

I have yet to read shopoholic and sister, but I will when i get round to it.

Last year on holiday I forgot to organise any books to take. When we stopped off to get petrol I saw Sophie Kinsella Twenties girl and bought it. I wasn't disappointed. I find her books so easy to read. When you have children you really need something you can put down and pick up without forgetting what or where you are in the story. I think her stories are fun and well written yet easy to read.

Lara has always had an overactive imagination. Now she wonders if she is losing her mind. Normal twenty-something girls just don’t get visited by ghosts! But inexplicably, the spirit of Lara’s great aunt Sadie – in the form of a bold, demanding Charleston-dancing girl – has appeared to make one last request: Lara must track down a missing necklace Sadie simply can’t rest without.

I can't wait to read Sophie's new release Wedding night. You can check out all her other books here. Have you read any Sophie Kinsella books?

Where in the World I would like to go

Todays #BEDM prompt is about where in the World would you like to go. This is easy for me, I would love to go to Lake Garda Italy. I love the place, in fact I have visited most years since I was about 5. I love it when I meet other people that have been, and I consider myself quite an expert on the place and love telling people about new places to visit. We got married there in a very intimate ceremony last year. This year sadly we can't afford to pack our car up and take the kids on a road journey for 3 weeks. But I can daydream about it.

We usually stay on a small friendly campsite called fornella, there is plenty to do for kids and adults. Although we do venture out every other day to near by places. We stay in a caravan with either Eurocamp or Thomson Alfresco. You have your own plot and can come and go as you wish. we tend to have BBQ's most nights and eat out a few times a week.

Because i am the worst ever at taking and organising photos I can't actually find a SD card with photos from Italy except my wedding ones.

Most people ask why an Earth do we drive. The journey is fabulous, driving through France, Germany and Switzerland you see so many amazing things. We have a DVD player in the car so the kids don't get to bored on the journey.

This was one of the best days of my life. The day was absolutely perfect. We got married in the town hall in a town called Salo that we had visited many times before. It was really nice when we planned the wedding as we new were everywhere was. After the ceremony we had pictures then went on a speed boat and had a celebratory drink while sailing round the area. Then we headed back to the campsite resaurant for a meal.

The views and the scenery are stunning. If I could go anywhere it would be here. If you could go anywhere, where would it be? have you been to Lake Garda before?

My favourite social Media Channel

Todays #BEDM prompt is as the title says. My favourite channel has to be facebook. I joined it in 2007, its hard to believe I've been on there that long. 

I have quite a big extended family and its really nice to catch up and see what they have been up to and how live is treating them. and same for them, they like to see pictures of the kids and see what they have been up to. I used to upload pictures a lot more often and its really nice to look back and see what we got up to. When we got married in Italy none of my family came so we uploaded pictures the next day and everyone got to see the pictures before we got back. I suppose it like having your own photo album but online. I've just had a quick look and this is one of the first pictures I uploaded:

On Talacre beach in Wales with Leon at 37 weeks pregnant.

Facebook is also great for companies, I always have a look on companies facebook pages before I buy something because more often than not they have a discount code or free delivery code available. They announce sales and promotions too.

A lot of the competitions I won last year were facebook competitions where you had to post a picture of the promoters wall or app. Competitions are often exclusive to facebook so you have more chance of winning.

Thats why facebbook is my favourite social media channel. What yours?

I don't have a facebook page for my blog but you can follow me on Twitter and pinterest if you like.

My Jobs

I got my first job when I was 15 in a bakery in our town.  I worked there on and off until I was 18. There isn't much to say about it so I will tell you about my job that I do now.

I work as a self employed beautician in a hairdressers. I love my job and find it very rewarding. I work 3 days and I can do whatever hours suit me, which fits in perfectly with the children. I have been at the salon for 6 years now.

I do most treatments including facials, manicures, pedicures, waxing, tinting and tanning. I also sell products to clients so they can use them at home. My favourite treatment to do is facials closely followed by pedicures. I know most people will think touching peoples feet is gross but I clean them first. These two treatments you can see an immediate difference that's why I like them. It feels like a job well done.

I don't have much time for pampering at home so I make the most of quiet times at work. I painted my nails yesterday. One finger is covered in black diamanté. The picture on my blackberry doesn't do them justice. 

I used orly's basket case.

What do you think?

Our Pets #BEDM

I never had any pets as a child, so when Leon asked at 3 years old if he could have a rabbit, I said yes without a second thought! We have got 2 girls, they are almost 4 now. Their names are Flopsy and Mopsy.

And in case you were wondering there names came from Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit. I loved Peter Rabbit as a child and knew the boys would too.

Do you have any pets?

Bank Holiday Fun

As usual we made the most of our bank holiday and as I'm sat here I'm absolutely knackered, I would actually like to go to bed! I worked Saturday as normal so we didn't really do much, just went to my parents for tea we were supposed to be having a BBQ but didn't end up having one because the weather was quite dull.

On Sunday we got up early with the kids and headed out to the car boot sale. Its the first one we've been to this year, we whizzed round it and went to another. The kids loved it and picked up some Ben10 toys. I don't particularly like Ben10 (no offence Ben!) and would never buy the toys but I don't mind paying 50p here and there. I picked up a few things that I will sell on ebay to put towards holiday funds.

Just as we got home my parents pulled up and asked if we wanted to go to a farm in Alderley Edge but when we got there it was closed so we decided to go out to a local pub with a park for lunch. Whilst we were there they decided they would have a BBQ for tea! We visit the pub quite often for lunch or tea and its really nice, this is the first time this year we got to sat outside though. Here's some pictures in the park.

 It was really nice yesterday it was also the first time the kids could happy play outside have have all the doors open so they can come in and out as they want. Dave was gardening and I was doing some work. We later headed to Mum's for a BBQ. I had a gorgeous steak on a bap! Mum made ginger cupcakes with chocolate chip, with a ginger frosting topped with crunchie, they were the  nicest cupcakes I have ever had! (Damn I should have taken a picture).

Today we treated ourselves to a nice breakfast (not very fitting with yesterdays blog post). But they were a nice treat.

Pain au chocolate

We have spent most of the day in the garden today. When we did our drive last year we put all the mud we dug out onto our garden and have been slowly taking it round to the brother-in-laws who wants it for his garden.Today we got really stuck in and was determined to get it all moved so we can start making it look nice again. So here's before and after pictures.

They aren't great but the huge pile of mud has gone!

 During all the gardening we got a phone call. 'Mum and Dad are having a BBQ do we want to go'. Hell yes! We really need to make the most of this nice weather while we can! I had pork chops and a cornetto for afters (so disappointing they are teeny now, I'm sure they are actually smaller than last year). Should have took a picture! I'm rubbish!

At some point today, after dinner I think, (its been a blur), we went to B&M and picked up a cute little gazebo. I can't wait to get it up they will love it. And a hose pipe as since we laid the turf last week it has only rained once.

I'm going to have a shower now and get my summer PJ's on and get a good nights sleep ready for tomorrow. I wish we could have a 3 day weekend every week end!

What did you get up to?

Fit and Heathly

I'm not as fit or as healthy as I would like to be or as I used to be. I have fits and starts of being healthy and trying to build up my fitness. At the moment I'm trying to loose weight and get in shape for my sisters wedding in August. I'm also going on holiday in 3 weeks, I'm trying not to think about getting in the swimming pool just yet! I guess healthy goes hand in hand with fitness when your trying to loose weight.

Food:

1. I have really tried to eat more fruit. I have had a glass of orange juice in the morning instead of a cuppa.

2. I have made my portion sizes much smaller and balanced.

3. I have been really good in the week and relaxed at bit at the weekend

4. I have cut out alcohol. This really doesn't bother me in the slightest I only used to have maybe 1 glass a week if that! But it makes me feel better.

5. I have stopped snacking, when I've felt like I've wanted to eat I've made a cuppa instead.

Fitness:

1. I have tried to walk more, now the weather is nicer the kids enjoy going about on their scooters

2. I have ran at least 2 times a week -sometimes 3 times. As my time is limited I only run about 2 miles but I'm going to start running further at the weekends when Dave can watch the kids. Sunday morning is my favourite time to run its so quiet.

3. If I haven't ran for whatever reason I have done the wii fit.

4. I weight myself most days. I know this probably is recommended but it just helps me to keep on track on the weight loss. If I've not lost I will be extra good!!

I envy people who are naturally healthy, some people genuinely like eating salads and healthy fish and chicken. My sister is one of those people! I like pizza, chocolate and McDonalds way too much to find it easy to be healthy. I do enjoy running though!

Do you enjoy being healthy? What do you do to keep fit?

Day 4: Fave 5 Blogs

Day 4 of Blog every Day in May is to tell you about the blogs I love so here's my five fave blogs:

Super Lucky

This is actually the first blog I started reading. I was looking for more people that entered competitions and came across it. Di who writes the blog offers fantastic advice, she puts up the lastest creative competitions and an up-to date blog competition list. She encouraged readers to start a blog so I did!

Memoir Mode

I discovered this blog about a month ago and love Kylie's style. She looks great in everything. It looks like she really takes the time to go out and shoot her outfit posts. She has the most amazing hair too. Her pictures are lovely and her clothes are amazing.

Mummys Shoes

Although the posts aren't regular I love reading this blog. Every time I log into blogger I find myself wondering if there will be a new blog post up. I love reading it and looking at the fabulous parties she has thrown for her daughter. Everything seems to be done to perfection and I like that probably because I'm a million miles away from perfection when it comes to organising.

This fashion is mine

A great little blog I love the DIY Fridays.

victorias-vintage

I love this blog as it's a nice mix of everything. Outfit posts, recent shopping hauls, beauty, fashion, thirfting and DIY projects.

I hope you check out some of these fabulous blogs and let me know if you love them too!

Day 3 #BEDM A day in the life

Like most Mum's my days are busy. All my days are different. Today I was looking forward to the afternoon as Leon had an open afternoon at school and I got to go in and view his work. I'm not going to go through all the details but here's the main topic of the day.

Toby was at Pre-school and Millie had gone to my Mum's for the afternoon as siblings were asked not to go if possible. As soon as I entered the classroom I was ushered over to the teacher I knew by the worried look on Leon's face something wasn't right. In fact I guessed along the lines of what had happened.

Since Leon moved into his year 2 class in September he has had a few problems with a boy just being nasty. Today this boy had taken a piece of bark into the classroom and ran over to Leon and 'stabbed' him in the back with it whilst he wasn't looking.His teacher described it as a completely unprovoked attack! He has a small cut on his back but it didn't make a hole in his t-shirt.

I found it really hard to concentrate while I was supposed to be looking around his classroom thinking about all the things this boy had done and said to Leon. He is the boy that told Leon the delightful words of 'old fucking cow', 'shitbaby' (whatever that means) and 'I'm gona batter you' . THEY ARE 6 YEARS OLD!!! I know this because Leon has said this to Toby my 4 year old. luckily Toby has never repeated them and after explaining to Leon these words are not acceptable he has accepted that and not said them again. But he knows them now. At 6 years old.

I dropped Leon off at home with his Dad and went to get Millie after having a chat about it with my Mum I decided to go back into school and speak with the Headteacher about the incident. Today hasn't been my only issue, this boy has kicked, pushed, punched and said some really nasty things to Leon about him and his family. I asked her if she thought Leon was getting bullied by this boy, she said no. I'm not so sure. She told me not to worry. How can I not worry, someone has hurt my child and drew blood. Today was the first time he has ever cried at school he told me. So for the rest of the afternoon and evening I've felt pretty rubbish.

But I'm watching World's craziest fools now and that's pretty funny in fact some of these fools are hilarious.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of today and we did have a fun morning at Mums and tots. But I did find this and I think its the most effective sign I've seen.

I think this is my first miserable blog post. Have you ever been bullied or have children that have? Leon isn't a very confident child do you have any tips to help stop the bullies?