Honest Scrap Award

I have been lucky enough to receive an award from my friend gaelikaa. The idea is to list ten honest things about yourself and then pass the award onto seven other bloggers so here goes;

1. I trained as a teacher and taught for four years before leaving the profession to be a mummy and follow my dreams to be a writer.

2. I met Mr T on millennium eve, I went to his party with a friend and we got chatting. We walked down to the River Thames to watch the fireworks and he held my hand because mine was cold, the rest as they say is history.

3. I have given birth naturally to all three of my children with only my TENS machine for pain relief and gas and air for the stitches, they have all been breast fed.

4. My first book was published in January 2009 and I am now working on a second novel, with plans for another and trying to craft some short stories as well as publicise the first novel.

5. Being a Mum is the hardest and most varied job I have ever had, but also the most satisfying.

6. I got married in Trinity college Cambridge by special licence as Mr T attended there, it was a wonderful place to get married and I hope that when we get to twenty years we can renew our vows there!

7. I am trying not to be such a control freak as I hate it when I am not in control and this leads to the most problems in our house as I am also stubborn and do not like admitting when I am wrong.

8. My guilty pleasures include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, I also like medical dramas, crime dramas and soaps! I like Disney films too.

9. I wish I had better general knowledge, I am studying for a second degree with the Open University and plan to follow it up with an MA. I would like to do my PHD but I am not sure I am brave enough, I hate to fail or give up on anything that I start.

10. I have overcome both annorexia and bulimia and hope that my own battles with food and weight will enable me to give my children a better balanced view. I have discovered that it is the person inside that provides the beauty not the shell in which they hide.

Now seven bloggers to pass it onto;
Melroxx, http://melroxx.blogspot.com/
Leigh Russell, http://leighrussell.blogspot.com/
http://tawny75.blogspot.com/
Tim Atkinson http://bringingupcharlie.blogspot.com/
Tara Cain http://stickyfingers1.blogspot.com/
Lil's so very sweet pictures, http://lilyamber.blogspot.com/
Caroline Whitney http://withenay.blogspot.com/

Mummy, what do teachers do on their holidays?

'Mummy,' Heather said with a serious face sitting down beside me, eyes wide, back straight, hands in her lap, her serious pose! 'What do teachers play when they're on holiday?'
'Well they relax' I said, this was clearly not a good enough. 'But Mummy, do they play with their brother and sisters in the garden?'
'Well no, I expect they go on holiday and read books and things.'
'Do they go shopping?'
'Yes?'
'What for food?
'Yes'
'And toys?'
'Well maybe not toys'
'What about books?'
'Yes'
'Why do they play with their children?'
'Well because they like to, like I like playing with you'
'Oh' and then she wandered off.
What had sparked this sudden interest in her teachers? We ran into one of them at our local Tumble Tots sessions with her daughter, who is the same age as Lucy and her Mum, this was also of great curiosity to Heather. The teacher was brave enough to say hello to Heather and for the first time this holiday she lost her tongue!

It reminded me of my own teaching days, the children would invest huge amounts of energy into finding out how old I was, what my 'real' name was and where I lived and who with. On two occasions I dodged children in the supermarket as they followed me about eager to report back on the contents of my trolley.

Perhaps the most embarrassing incident occurred shortly after I had returned to work after the birth of Heather, we were preparing for her Christening and had popped over the the cash and carry so our trolley was piled high with champagne, wine, crisps, and so on... The look on the child's face was priceless and the whispers whizzed around the school on Monday.

It reminded me that teachers are never really off duty, once spotted out of the classroom you kind of have to say hi or risk the child being upset or spreading rumours. It also reminded me how intrigued children are when they see their teachers in a public place when they least expect it!

IN other news I was excited to find that my book is now stocked in twenty one local libraries and has been borrowed by people! Must keep up with the next one!

All Change

We have been despairing in out house, Matthew doesn't sleep well, the kids have to sleep downstairs because of the layout of the house and none of them seem to have enough room. Mortgage deposits make it difficult to move and so we are stuck, so it seems! Well while we are away all five of us had to share a bedroom, we feared it would be hell on earth! It turned out to be OK!

This gave us an idea, we now after lots of heaving books, furniture and beds about have all of us sleeping upstairs. It seemed the two older children didn't really like sleeping downstairs so until we can afford to move, we now have a sleep room for the kids. Heather still has her own bedroom and we were even able to shift the sofa bed into it so she has somewhere to sit and read, she now has loads of space to do her dancing and we have a spare bedroom should we need it.

Matthews room still has all his toys but is also equipped as a study so Mr T can work from home, I can write in peace and Matthew can build train tracks and play with his road map to his hearts content. It is not an ideal solution but it is the best fir at the moment, we are hoping in a couple of years we will be able to move and then have a more conventional layout and individual bedrooms as the kids get older and less able to share.

They love it, perhaps a little too much, they each still have their own space and even in the shared bedroom the different areas have been personalised according to their preferences, Winnie the Pooh for Lucy, Thomas for Matthew and fairies for Heather. The house suddenly seems to have opened out, just as well as the children are on the school holidays for another five weeks!

The rain now seems relentless and the garden is sodden, thank goodness for libraries where the kids can while away an hour just flicking through books, often the same ones they have at home. The sibling rivalry seems as relentless as the bad weather and I am hoping that is just a phase. The games they play are now focussed around the holiday, they are taking Mickey and Minne mouse somewhere or saving them from some terrible fate.

School will be with us again soon and we seem to have a fair few sheets of homework to get through, as well as trying to encourage Matthew to get used to the idea of going to school every day wearing a uniform. Still next week we have our appointment to get said uniform, could be interesting, watch this space...