As many of you know I have M.E and with that brings symptoms of IBS unfortunately. This can be a real pain as I am a total latte addict and literally cannot walk past a Costa without buying my favourite vanilla latte as a treat. But as you can imagine this occasionally has unpleasant consequences ( I’m sure no more detail is needed!).
So when I was approached to try this new A2 milk I thought I might as well give it a go. Now apparently this milk haven’t got a certain protein in it that would appear in normal milk that can have a nasty affect on your digestive system. I found out that they dell it in my local Tesco store which although I don’t normally shop there I thought I would take a trip and check out this milk.
First of all I took a note of the price and a 4 pint bottle is priced at £1.99 so it’s a little more expensive than normal milk. I was lucky enough to have been sent vouchers for enough for a 2 week supply as they were trying to get people to switch for a 2 week period to see if they could feel the difference.
I haven’t been around much as I made the decision to invest some money and get some super tech person to upgrade and overhaul my tired little blog.
I had no idea what I was after to be honest but I wanted a more professional, clean cut look rather than something I had thrown together myself. It was time to get someone on the case who actually knew what they were doing! This is where Geek Fairy comes in. She was absolutely fab, gave me links to look at colour schemes and sorted out the header etc. As we emailed back and forth the idea evolved where I wanted muted, almost vintage style colours. Then when I saw it I had the idea of the knitted stitches which fitted in with my craft side of things as well.
I say occurring as it is still happening. The phenomenon started almost a month ago now ( not that I’m counting or anything) and seems to have become the norm in our house. The very strange thing is that this phenomenon has never occurred before in our house, and when I say never I mean NEVER.
Oh I have heard of it of course but never actually experienced it first hand and was almost jealous of those who had. In fact I had resigned myself to the fact it would never happen and was open an honest about it.
This post has taken me a few weeks to write as we have had a few things happen all at once that have made me feel old and decrepit!
Anyway this was still a joyous occasion, my little baby, turning 16…………………still very hard to believe. But as I look at him now I see the older boy he is, something I have denied for a VERY long time ( I’m sure I’m not the only one here that has done this). He talks of exams and A levels and university. He talks of trips up to London with friends and recently wanting to stay at home on his own so he can get a ‘bit of independence’. He has asked to be shown how to use the washing machine ( I know great isn’t it LOL), cook things for himself, organise outings with his friends etc, really something he hasn’t even shown an interest before- he even started shaving. So this is great, really it is *weeps into my coffee*.
So to celebrate this he wanted a paintball day with some of his mates which they all loved and Dad got ‘hero points’ for taking out the exterminator guy in one of the games!
I have been reading lots of posts this week about what you all have been up to keeping your young kids entertained over the half term. trips to the park, crafting, building dens, walking in the woods/ beach etc and I remember the days when each school holiday ‘day’ was planned to a tee!
We have never been flush with cash so it has always been keeping the kids entertained on a budget. We have done the beach days, picnics in or out depending on weather, friends for tea, meeting up at the park and so on.
But my boys are now teenagers! This brings a whole new way of looking at things. They are no longer ‘excited’ to go to a park or a walk in the woods or picnics or God forbid ‘crafting’! Those days are long gone and I can mourn for those all I want but it wont bring them back. I have to now embrace the teenage style holidays which in itself is another kind of torture.
So to prepare some of you for the years to come…..
Ways to know you are a mum to teenagers on holidays
* Your eldest is the one who makes your morning coffee
* Your teens of a certain age will stay up later than you can manage most evenings
* Your weekly food shop will only last 3 days if your lucky
* The smell that hits you as you ‘take your life in your own hands’ to enter their rooms to check if they are still alive will knock you on your back and haunt your memory forever
* By the end of the day you have no idea how many extra bodies will be sleeping in your house
* Your life will totally depend on whether you let the bottles of Coke run dry!
* It doesn’t matter what you plan it will be met with a grunt- if your lucky
* Your expectation of any gratitude for feeding their friends, providing a free taxi service and having a ‘magic wallet’ full of money is no longer on your radar
* You become less of the organiser and more of the ‘payer’ when it comes to any arrangements
* You get immense joy from the fact you have secretly managed to get their bedding off, washed, dried and put back on while they were out and didn’t notice
There are many, many more but I will save those little gems for later. I used to let this worry me but not any longer. After talking to lots of mums I realise this is the world of the ‘teenager’ so it’s not something I have done wrong- it’s just LIFE!
I’m not going in for all the new Year resolution crap this year. Diet, exercise, less alcohol blah blah blah!! I’m not knocking those that are- more power to you but I NEVER keep my resolutions so I’m not going to even bother.
I can’t exercise due to the M.E and my diet will get back to normal after all the Christmas food and goodies are eaten. I no longer drink like a fish although I give it a good go on occasion I don’t feel I drink enough to say I need to cut down ( no I’m not an in denial alcoholic- honest).
So with this all in mind I put my own mind to things that I want to learn or achieve this year. I have also kept the list small and very simple so it’s more than possible to achieve and therefore maybe spur me on to do some more.
Since dealing with long term illness I have increasingly become better at appreciating the smaller things in life. Yeah don’t get me wrong I still want to win the Lottery and live the life but in the meantime it nice to find happiness in the LITTLE things.
**So first on the list is to learn to CROCHET!! I know ‘go me’ next I will be at the WI ( did contemplate it actually!). I’m an avid knitter but cannot for the life of me teach myself to crochet. So I have today booked myself on a one day course at a local yarn shop in just over a weeks time- YAY. There is another follow on course in Feb so that will definitely be my next step if I get the hang of it.
Maybe that isn’t the right thing thing to teach your teenagers to play poker ( but my 2 are both dab hands at Texas Hold ’em *coughs*)
But this is a different style of poker, more like poker stakes with a difference- no money changes hands!
I’m totally sick and tired of my two whinging, whining, woe is me teens. Honestly I don’t know how on earth I got to the ripe old age of………43 without them. It’s a total miracle that I have made it in one piece with their infinite wisdom. C’mon all you with teens will know- THEY KNOW EVERYTHING!!
Well here’s my Teenage Poker game :
* I ‘see’ your 700 channel, 24 hour on demand TV ( in your own room) remotely controlled so minimum of movement is required- and I ‘raise’ you a one telly per household, with an amazing 4 channels to choose from, with kids shows only available on certain times AND you had to get off your arse to change channel, adjust the volume and switch it on and off!!
* I ‘see’ your health and safety gone mad child safety toes including padding for everywhere for anything used on the move, trampolines with total surround safety nets and barriers to stop you getting even remotely close to anything that could possibly damage you precious little bodies- and I *raise* you the Pogo stick, metal adjustable skates that went on your shoes and homemade go carts with no brakes and a rope to steer! ENOUGH SAID
* I ‘see’ your named brand clothes that are a ‘must have’ where literally NOTHING costs less than £60 even though the ones you are wearing are absolutely fine and still fit- and I ‘raise’ you the 80’s fashions!!!! We have been scarred for life and we have the picture evidence to prove it.
* I ‘see’ your games consoles, laptops, Ipads, tablets and Iphones with everything at an instant touch of a button teaching you nothing but lack of patience- and I ‘raise’ you……….The Atari with the exciting Pong game!!! Graphics at it’s best LOL
* I ‘see’ your door to door on call chauffeur service to all your extra curricular clubs so your precious little legs didn’t get worn out and so are kept safe from all the horrible nastiness that is on our streets today – and I ‘raise’ you the if you cant walk there your not going and the the journey to school in an easily recognisable protestant uniform across town on the bus through a predominantly catholic area starting when I was 11 years old going to secondary school. I looked danger in the eye on a daily basis and still made it to my ripe old age!
* I ‘see’ your on your person 24hrs a day phone in touch with your friends and family wherever you are at any given moment- and I ‘raise’ you the one telephone household. A phone normally situated in the hall that had an attached receiver that stretched all of a metre if you were lucky and no privacy to talk what so ever- with everyone listening in to your conversation!
Therefore, I win hands down and if anyone should have Childline on speed dial then it should be US- your old, know nothing, haven’t lived parents.
Tennis is one of those sports that you either love or hate. I don’t think there is an in between and you definitely need to know the game and scoring to get the full enjoyment from watching a game.
Although I am now in my *cough* forties I actually started to watch Wimbledon from the age of 16 or 17. My era of players were Becker/ Lendl/ Edburg/ Graf and Navratalova. I thought that era of tennis was exciting to watch, there were great rallies, different styles of shots, coming into the net more and a lot of variety which made watching the games exciting.
Then along came Sampras! Not that he doesn’t deserve his titles, the man was a machine, strong, fast and obviously unbeatable.
However, tennis then became boring. It became all about the biggest strongest serve and Ace after Ace…………not my idea of a match in any description. It became dull and not worth watching no matter how great the players were.
I have started to get back to it in the last few years. It certainly has had something to do with following Andy Murray’s progress through the ranks and tournaments. He has completely outranked the likes of Henman and Rudedski in my eyes. He is serious about his game and unbelievable competitive.
His game is very like the era of tennis I used to watch, a lot of the great players now are fabulous to watch, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and lots, lots more.
This years Wimbledon has been amazing to watch. I have always watched the women as their game, with exception of the Williams sisters, have always been interesting to watch- especially now that they have almost stopped the grunt and scream with every shot!
This year I have been able to catch most matches, although I had to record the men’s semi-final as I was here and was so chuffed to escape hearing the score and watched the game the next morning. It has been, exciting, riveting and interesting tennis to watch and long may it last.
So now my aim is to eventually grab a seat in centre court for one of the big matches ( yeah dream on LOL) so I’m relying on winning the lottery between now and next June!
WISH ME LUCK!
WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLAYER FROM YOUR TENNIS ERA?
With all the recent lovely ‘summer’ like weather it was that time of year again- Time for the Summer Wardrobe.
I don’t live in a mansion with a walk in room/wardrobe were everything stays in order *dreams*, no, I live in a squished 3 bedroom terraced house where my bedroom is in a loft conversion. This has one BIG problem………….my wardrobe will only hold so much at any one time! Therefore, I pack my summer stuff away at the end of the warm weather an get all the winter woolies out. This week I have just done the opposite, cleared through the winter stuff and sorted through all my ‘summer’ style clothes.
THIS YEAR THERE WAS A PROBLEM!!!!
A big problem as far as I am concerned…………………….a weight problem.
OK I’m not huge, but I am vertically challenged and so any extra weight is VERY noticeable ( any vertically challenged comrades will know what I am talking about). So I decided that I wouldn’t keep anything that was properly tight with obvious ‘muffin tops’ showing………………………………………………This left me with very little * huffs a little but see’s the chance to buy some new bits*.
I have gone from an 8-10 which I have now been for many years to a 10-12 (more of a 12 on the bottom!). Like I said it’s not sumo wrestler size but enough to make me very uncomfortable.
So this is the lot that has to go *weeps*
But YAY for good ol’ Primark who came up trumps with bargain linen trousers, a gorgeous pair of chino slim fit on sale, and some great shoes ( no my feet haven’t grown but come on…….they have to match don’t they?)
So now I don’t feel so bad…………………surprising how a few new items can make you feel, right?
I can vouch for this as I am a true sufferer. It starts a few hours after the kids finish school for the holidays and then subsides the day they go back!! Weird I know.
It starts small with the odd feck just in my head. However, the longer the kids are off the worse the condition gets, until I’m shouting/ screaming……..
F**k, Sh*t, B**locks…………….in my head of course!
Ok, Ok I admit the odd one MAY just pop out uncontrollably.
There is no cure for this condition (story of my life) however, there is a management treatment that seems to help…………………………………..It’s called ALCOHOL.
I have tried and tested this to the full and can definitely say that it does help the situation.
Anyone else suffer with this VERY SERIOUS condition?
