Its a conspiracy!

I honestly think there was / is a conspiracy against me getting sleep!

9.45 pm - I was exhausted yesterday, and decided about 9.45 an early night was in order, so I began shutting down the PC, as I was doing so 2 emails popped in from work, one which I felt was better to deal with there and then and set to send at 8.30 so it was dealt with first thing (if I wait until the morning it won;t be done until after the school run).

10.00 pm - I then toddled downstairs to make the last drink of the night and decided to sit and drink it with t'hubby who had come home in a foul mood and very stressed about work. We had a chat and went through his day and what had gone wrong, by which time it was 10.55.

10.55 pm - I said my good nights still relishing that I would get 8 hours sleep as I was not getting up early to do work and could get out of bed at 7.15 (8 hours is rare for me). I had literally put my foot on the bottom step when t'hubby jumped up in a blind panic and started ranting about forgetting he needed to know about ghant charts and time lines for a big meeting the next day and begging me to go through them with me as I use them - arggghhhh. I did so but this took us until 11.50. So my early night was not so early, however I hung grimly onto the fact I was getting a sleep in (for me anyhow!).

11.50pm - eventually get to bed.

6.10am this morning Mini man appears and climbs into bed.

6.20 am t'hubby gets up to go to the loo

6.25am Little Man appears and climbs into bed too, apart from there is little room so stretches across my feet.

6.35 am - all of us are clearly awake and t'hubby announces he needs to be up at 6.45 sand could I kick him out of bed, at which point I gave up and got up!

Tonight, I am not so tired but decided I would attempt another early night.

7.00 pm I go into the kitchen to clear up and notice a tiny white box sitting on top of my iPod dock, on closer inspection it appears someone has delivered a brand, spanking new iPod nano to me!!  I am a very happy girl at the mo. t'hubby has got me one.

So here I am at 10.45 desperately trying to download some music onto it - so bang goes another early night but for exciting reasons this time!

Lego Starwars cake

Little Man's latest obsession is LEGO, specifically LEGO Starwars, he is desperately saving all his money to get the next thing which at £2.50 pocket money a week will take him ages, so we have relented slightly and now on his reward system he can choose a money instead of a treat so he can build his funds a little faster.

At the weekend we had his birthday party and he asked me for a LEGO cake - I did a little google on these and decided an R2D2 would be within my expertise and got myself all geared up for it.  As i began to bake Little Man appeared with this

And asked me to make a Star Trooper cake - I was a little taken aback as I had R2D2 set in my head but never one to let my little man down, I took on the task!

And so the sculpting, cutting and icing began, I started off with a few square and round cakes and started to cut them out to form the basic shape. The initial bit looks like  duck but bear with me!

I then did a bit of building and building it up to get the basic shape.

I was left with a hell of a lot of spare cake, which is the down side of making a cake like this as you can see below and none of us like trifle so I am afraid this went to waste which I don't like, so if anyone has a good idea of what to do with spare things which doesn;t involve cold, slimy custard then please say!

And finally after a couple of hours of work I got the below which I have to say I was very happy with and my Little Man was over joyed with which made it worthwhile doing.  We had his party at Pizza Hut and did a make your own pizza party, which they all loved, they are a fab idea, but I have to confess to growing about 10 inches and feeling incredibly proud when the waiter took the cake behind the counter and I heard him calling the other waiters and saying 'come over here and look at this cake, its awsome'.

iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod shuffle, iPod classic, iPhone - argggghhhh

OK folks I need some help. As I have mentioned I am 'meant' to be running a half marathon in April and I really, really want to do it, although my training is well behind schedule which is not good news.

In the past I use to run with my iPod touch and I loved it. I didn't have a smart phone at the time so my iPod touch was a substitute as it did everything but the phone bit -t'hubby broke it though so I am now without my music to run.

I currently have a HTC Desire phone which I hate with a passion, it is the biggest pile of poo I have ever owned. I charge it nightly and it is dead by 2pm the next day and I hardly use it a few phone calls and checking my facebook mainly.Vodafone have been great, they have replaced the battery, had it back looked at it, told me they had found fault and done stuff but to no avail, they have sent free stuff, put things on my account to apologise but it is still rubbish. I am due for an upgrade in April and am literally counting my days down. But that brings me to my dilemma

Do I get an iPhone and will it double as an iPod for me, is it capable of letting me play music on it and if so how much? I am interested in hearing about other people's experiences as I do not want the same to happen for the next 2 years and be lumber with a phone I hate.  Its the music bit though that I am unsure about.

I really want something I can listen to my music on and run with but am riled to go and buy an iPod of any description if my new phone can do the job,

On the other side of the coin if I get a music device do I get an iPod nano, iPod classic or iPod shuffle which one best. It is a mine field, I read reviews and am still not sure - can anyone help with their advice please!

Reasons to be Cheerful

As my recent posts have suggested by all their doom and gloom, I have been finding things tough going recently. I always make mention of R2BC as it always makes me see the positives but I have to admit there have been a few weeks I have shied away from even trying to think of those. This week though, I am on an up and I hope it lasts so my reasons:

1. I have had some fantastic and am still getting fantastic support on here,  so thank you.
2. The sun has been shining today
3. I am completing a last bit of work tonight after which things may calm down a little (even if I suspect I am going to have to pull a bit of an all nighter to get it done)
4. I am having lunch tomorrow with a friend I have known since I was 3
5. The said friend above welcomed me back to my home town 18 months ago, and invited me to a night round at a friends of hers to introduce me to a group of other mum's from the school. Last week I was text by one of these mum's to ask if I was up for a girly night at hers, when I text my old friend to ask if she was going she had only just heard about it, which gave me a real confidence boost - I was invited as me, not as her friend.
6. t'hubby and I took a trip down memory lane over half term and took the boys to Liverpool which is where we met at University. we revisited all our old houses, old bars, even the student union and yes we did wonder in and have a good look around! We trod the same paths we had as student recalling lots of good times and it has done us both wonders, it really reminded us of good times, and of us.
7. I took the bull by the horn and went to the doctors about how I have been feeling. I am not entirely sure it is the right outcome yet but I am willing to go with it for now
8. I love my boys to the moon and back - I look at them and realise infact I am the luckiest person alive

Now pop over and include your own reasons to be cheerful x

Dolly Donations

This is a very quick post. I have just seen this on my facebook page called Dolly Donations. it is a drive to make Dolls for children who have nothing and to get them sent to places like Africa, Brazil and to give the children something to love, something to keep as their own. The lady running this has provided a free pattern and explains all about it and I think it is a fantastic idea. Her aim is to provide 200 dolls but if you think about as many people as possible making just one doll, it could run into the thousands and sadly their are 1000's of these children in need.

I would like to get involved, I know for me time is an issue but perhaps making something like this would be good for relaxation. I am going to find out if there is a local dolly drive near me and see if I can get involved.

Can you help too?

Divine Chocolate

Last week I received the most fantastic gift through the post any woman could receive thanks to a competition that I won over at Kate on thin ice. I got a box of Divine chocolate and it is amazing!

This is what was first delivered and I was greeted with.

This was the contents - a massive 30 bars of chocolate (white choc and strawberry (VERY nice), dark choc with ginger and orange, plain dark choc, milk choc with hazelnuts, dark choc with raspberry, and dark choc and mint), 4 boxes of hearts ( 2 white chocolate and strawberry, 2 milk chocolate), 2 boxes of dark chocolate salted fudge, 2 boxes of mint h=choc hearts, 2 boxes of divine after eights, it is amazing and it is all absolutely yum!

Thank you so much Kate for the chance to win this competition and thank you so much Divine chocolate for a fabulous prize. I have sampled the ginger and orange one and it is very nice, you can;t really taste either the ginger or orange neither are overpowering but having said that the combination is lovely. The white choc and strawberry is so nice, its amazing. The dark choc and mint, I have barely had a chance to taste as t'husband likes it. The ilk choc hearts are really nice as well,very creamy. I have yet to try the raspberry one but am looking forwards to it. I believe there is more in their range, which can be viewed here this will also give you a history of their chocolate, which is all fair trade by the way.

This is not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share my enjoyment at this prize!

Another last minute Groovy mum's post!

And here she comes screeching in at the last minute with her Grooving mum's weekly post trying desperately to get it in before this weeks comes out - oops

So this last week has actually been better. I resolved that I had to go to the doctors and sort myself out, I also got myself some St Johns Wart and have been taking it properly and think I am beginning to feel better for it. The doctors was this morning and it was running an hour late. I totally opened up for the first time in 3 years and told her the root of my problem and explained that I don;t think taking anything other than the St Johns Wart will be of help as I need to tackle how I am feeling first. Problem is how can they help, its not quite that straightforward and any old councillor will not do, anything that is more specialised is private and that costs money which we don't have spare, so real catch 22 situation. She was really only interested in getting me to fill in depression scores and wants me back in a few weeks so we can discuss medication. Its the talking, the counselling I really want but hey ho, I need to tackle this so I will go back in 2 weeks and see her.

Last Friday we had a family day out and went over to Liverpool which is where me and t'husband met and did a massive trip down memory lane which was brilliant. We went round all our old houses (much to the distress of the boys!), walked all our old walks, popped into the student union which hasn't changed at all, went into the nightclub bit and that has changed slightly and t'husband dragged the boys over to where the stage use to be and told them that he met me in this exact spot, he was sat there, I came up the steps over there and he saw me and got a mutal friend to introduce us - it was lovely to hear actually. We then hit the town centre which wow has changed so much, it is so much bigger now and really been rejuvanated. Finally we treked down to the docks and had a walk round and reminised about Fred and his weather map and the bonfire night fireworks displays we use to watch down there.  All in all we had a fab day out (very expensive as we also saw and bought a new dining room suite but thats another story!), and best of all I think we both needed it. It has really help rekindle some of the old us, made us remember our roots as such and where we came from together as a couple. Sometimes its good to return to the start of things and remind ourselves of the simple things.

Body – do you love or loathe your body? Celebrate the fact you are a mum by posting here http://cafebebe.co.uk/2012/02/real-mummy-tummies/
I really don't like my body at the moment. While I am not big and I know many would say they would love to have my body shape, for me it is flabby, something I am not use to. Until about 4 years ago, I was slim and very toned, now I am slimish but with a flabby belly, wobbly thighs, muffin tops, rolls when I sit down, and I hate it with a passion but do I do anything about it, nope, that cake, or biscuits or chocolate bar always wins hands down.

2. Mind – who is setting the standard? Is it too high or too low?
My standards or myself are very high and I let it get to me when I fail to meet them, perhaps I need to learn to lower those standards.

3. Spirit – take time out today to reflect on lost loved ones and to remember those for whom Valentine’s Day will be particularly sad this year.
This has been done and I did send a text to my best friend who is divorced to tell her I loved her!

4. Blogging – write a love letter and post it.
I am going to do this and post later in the week.

5. Special Days – It is Valentine’s Day. Show yourself some love this week. Buy yourself some flowers or do for yourself what you can imagine the world’s best partner doing for you. Why not? Go on, do it and see how it feels.

I did buy myself some flowers and do so every now and again when I am feeling flush. I have always said to t'husband that I will know when we have disposable income and are comfortable, I would like to buy fresh flowers every week

6. The Big Question – Do you love yourself? If yes, tell us how and why. If not, why not?
It’s time to feel the love, write a blog post and link up. Please share the love by visiting the bloggers who join in and leaving a supporting comment.
I am trying to love myself, trying very hard and think I am making progress.

So onwards and upwards!