The prompt - life without TV?

The Prompt for this week from the lovely Sara over at Mumturnedmom is a topic and it is:

TV: could you live without it?

Yes I could! I must admit that I would rather not live without TV as sometimes it is just nice to chill out and indulge in some me time watching some of my favourite TV shows but if I had to live without it, I could. 

The prompt - Do you take risks?

The Prompt from the lovely Sara from Mumturnedmom for this week is a quote and it is:

Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is. 

Mark Twain

This is a quote that I can really relate to as to me this quote is about the benefit of taking risks. Now I'm not going to pretend that I am a massive risk taker, taking risks on a daily basis, as I am a parent and with that comes the responsibility to make sure that I take care of myself and my family. 

The prompt - rules

The Prompt for this week from the lovely Sara at Mumturnedmom is a phrase and it is:

Rules are meant to be broken

This is one of those phrases which always makes me smile when I hear it. I have always been someone that belives in setting and following rules and I know that some people would rather there be no rules, so that we could all be free to do as we please, but when I think of a world with no rules all I can think of is complete anarchy!

The prompt - Favourite smells!

This weeks Prompt from the lovely Sara over at Mumturnedmom is a topic and it is:

My favourite smell…

There are many smells that I love such as the beautiful smell of a new born baby, I remember when Faith was small and I would hold her up to my nose and breath in her delicate scent that was ever so slightly unique to her. 

The prompt - Time management

This weeks prompt from Sara at Mumturnedmom is a topic and it is:

I wish I had more time…

Time is something that I often hear people wishing for which is funny as we all get the same amount of time in each day but some people do seem to be able to achieve so much more then others in those 24 hours. 

The prompt - Luck

The Prompt for this week from the lovely Sara over at Mumturnedmom is a quote and it is:

Calvin: You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help. 

                        Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

I think that luck is a funny thing, the definition on my computers app says - Luck * Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.

* A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.

The prompt - Surprises!

The Prompt from the lovely Mumturnedmom for this week is an emotion and it is:

Surprise

Being a parent, life is often full of surprises! Life with children is often unpredictable and I have been surprised by so many things over the years. 

The prompt - inevitable?

The Prompt from Mumturnedmom for this week is a scenario and it is:

It was inevitable…

Inevitable is a word that I do not like! I know that it sounds a bit silly to dislike a word but I suppose that it is the meaning of the word that I dislike. Inevitable means that it was bound to happen as if there is no choice available and that is something that never sits well with me. 

The prompt - week 16

This week over at Mumturnedmom the prompt is a topic and that topic is - Guilty pleasures.

Back in November of last year you may remember my listography post which was my top five guilty pleasures. I have linked this post to that one as my guilty pleasures have not really changed very much since then. 

The prompt - week 12

The Prompt for this week from Sara at mumturnedmom is a quote and it is:

Truth is more important than modesty.

Roald Dahl

I know some people that seem to think that they can say the most rude and horrible things to people as they are just being honest and telling the truth and this really angers me.

I try to live my life in a very honest way as I do not like lies and people that are twofaced, but I think that there is a big difference between being honest and being rude for the sake of honestly. I like to treat people with respect and kindness, how I would like to be treated myself.

For example, if I am out with a group of people and someone keeps talking to me that I do not personally like, I would not say to them 'Look, I do not like you so stop talking to me' as that is rude and would really hurt their feelings. Instead I would be polite and answer anything they ask, replying to the conversation that they have started. Now some people would say that this was being twofaced but I do not agree. I think that it would only be twofaced if I actively started the conversations and arranged to go out for coffee etc. but then when she wasn't there, moaned and criticised her to anyone that would listen.

Another example of this honesty is when someone asks how they look. Some people think that it is ok to say something like 'Oh my god, you can't wear that! You look really fat and you can see your cellulite' as they are just being truthful. Personally I would say something like 'Maybe you should try wearing this instead as it really goes with those shoes' so that way I am being honest but also protecting the persons feelings too.

Some of things that I have heard people say are terrible and then after they say 'I'm only being honest' as if that excuses what has been said. They are proud of themselves for 'telling it like it is' and think that it is a perfectly good way to live their lives.

The truth is important but it is not always the most important thing for people to consider. So the next time you decide to be honest with someone, I ask you to stop and think for a moment how you will word that honestly and what impact that will have on the person that you are choosing to be honest with.

The prompt - week 11.

The Prompt for this week from the lovely Sara over at mumturnedmom is a phrase and it is:

That was unexpected…

This prompt is definitely the hardest for me to write so far as I am a planner so there is rarely anything unexpected happening in my life. In truth, I do not deal with the unexpected very well, I am a control freak! I plan every week, day by day, and I have lists of lists that cover every eventuality that I can possibly think of!

I suppose that one of the very few unexpected things in my life is actually my hobby of entering competitions. When I enter I never really expect to win so the few times that I have won have been completely unexpected but in a good way.

Over the last few years I have won an apple Ipad, two tickets to a musical in London, perfume sets, books, and a child's sofa bed. Since starting blogging I do not have much time to enter many competitions but I do enjoy the blogger competitions that are based on skill rather then just being picked from a hat and this year I have managed to win two so far. The first was on a post about Barney cakes which won me £100 John Lewis vouchers and the second was for a recipe made with eggs which won me £100 Asda vouchers.

I do love entering competitions as you never know what the postman may bring so I hope that once I am more organised with my blogging I will still manage to find some time to enter some competitions each week as you have to be in it to win it!

The prompt - week 10.

This weeks prompt from mumturnedmom is a scenario and it is:

If I had three wishes…

I should say that if I had three wishes I would wish for world peace, no more poverty and the cure for cancer but I suspect that most people would say those things and as great as they are, I would like to talk about things from a more personal point of view.

So, if I had three wishes I would wish for;

1) A perfect body.

2) The health and happiness of my whole family.

3) A career in acting or writing my two biggest passions.

I know that wishing for a perfect body is shallow but for me, it is not just about being vain, it is also about my confidence and self-esteem as well, along with eliminating the added health implications being very over weight can bring.

Of course I would want my family to all be healthy and happy so that wish is pretty self-explanatory.

My final wish would be to enjoy a career as either an actor or a writer as I am very passionate about both of those subjects and the idea of 'work' involving those subjects would be a dream come true. I guess it is the same as the footballer who get paid to play football, most young boys dream job and the singer who gets paid to sing. Getting paid to act or write would be my dream come true.

As is most probably human nature, I did consider the wish of more wishes as there are many more things that I would like to wish for but then I remembered in every story that I have even read or seen, the wish for more wishes are never aloud.

That is also probably a good thing as I get the sense that if we as human beings had an unlimited supply of magic wishes we would never run out of things to wish for and I am sure that living life and working hard to achieve your dreams is much more satisfying then simply wishing for things anyway.

The prompt - week 9

The Prompt for this week from the lovely mumturnedmom is a quote and it is:

Spring is the time of plans and projects. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

I like to think that spring is the next step for planning and goal setting after setting new year resolutions.

When we get to spring it is the perfect time to review those goals that we set ourselves and make an action plan on moving forward adjusting our previous goals to fit where we are with them. If those previous goals and plans have got waylaid, now is the perfect time to start again.

Spring brings more sunlight which in turn seems to lift the spirits of most people and the idea of the flowers starting to bloom and the baby lambs being born adds to that feeling that now is the time to spring into action.

Spring is also a great time to start making plans on improving our homes and gardens and of course the somewhat dreaded spring cleaning also comes to mind.

For me, it is this time of year that I really start brain storming about different ways that I can be more organised in myself and with the household chores and planning out projects that I hope to undertake during the year. It is a time that I plan out exercise and health and beauty plans that will help lift my mood and make me feel better in general and it is a time that I take stock of the household finances and work out which projects are realistic for us to try and tackle for the rest of year. 

The prompt - week 8

This week's prompt from Sara over at Mum turned mom is a word and it is:

Reflection

The word reflection can be used in two different ways, the first is the reflection in the mirror and the second is the reflections of your life or things that you have done.

Reflecting on life is something that I have always been good at and that helped me a great deal when I was on my social work degree as we were given a book that was named reflection journal where we would have to take time to reflect on the work we had had done in our placements and the things that we had learned in our classes and note them down.

The only problem that I have had in the past is it is easy for those after thoughts to start taking over your life and very quickly those thoughts can turn into regret for things you should of said or done and this can lead to depression. One of the great things that I have now learned is to keep things in perspective as you can not go back and change things so you need to work through past issues and then leave them in the past where they belong and move on.

When done correctly taking time to reflect each week is actually a really good tool to use, as it can help keep you on track for goals you may have and it can also help you learn and grow as a person when you look back at the different situations and events that have occurred. I like to try and spend about 30 minutes every Sunday going over what has happened over the last week and making plans based on my reflections of the pervious week.

I think it also helps you to take notice of the things that are good in life and the people that matter. It is very easy to get swept through life as there is always something that needs doing but it is good to stop even if just for a few minutes to reflect and make plans to ensure that you get the most out of every day.

The prompt - week 7

This weeks Prompt from mum turned mom is a quote and it is:

Seek the wisdom of the ages but look at the world through the eyes of a child. Ron Wild.

I love the idea of the second part of this quote but I must admit that I am not so keen on the first part so I have decided to spilt the quote into two different topics.

'Seek the wisdom of the ages' implys that the older one gets the more wise they become, but I do not agree with this quote at all as I have met many older people that behave like children in terms of common sense and they are certainly not wise to behave the way that they do!


Going slightly off topic I guess that this kind of thinking goes along with the idea of people respecting their alders. I can never see why someone that is years older then me can be so rude and mean and yet they seem to think that you can not answer them back as it would be disrespectful to do so simply because they have been on our planet longer then myself. An example of this has happened with my mother-in-law who at the current age of 66 years would often shout abuse at me and my husband and call us every name under the sun and has also made it her job to be-little me and pick at everything that I do since I first started dating her son. This is something that for years I would bite my tongue over and say nothing to keep the peace for my husbands sake as after all she was part of his family. Then one day when she phoned and started shouting down the phone at my husband for absolutely nothing, calling him terrible names, I snapped so I phoned her and left an angry voice message where I told her that I would not be putting up with this anymore and I think that I may have used one swear word, which is very unusual for me, but I was very angry.


Anyway, since then (this was about two years ago now) she keeps going on about how shocking it was for me to have spoken to her who is my alder in such a rude way to anyone that will listen. I have not apologised as I do not think that I did anything wrong, under the circumstances, but I have told my husband on several occasions that I would apologise if he wanted me to for him as since that argument she has cut him and me out of her life and I feel bad for him but he does not want me to as he agrees that a big weight has been lifted off our shoulders since she choose to cut contact with us.




So although I seem to have gone off on a bit of a tangent I really do not think that my mother-in-law has gained any wisdom with her age and it is a topic that irritates me.




On the flip side of this, the part of the quote that says 'Look at the world through the eyes of a child' is a concept that I love. Children see everything as an adventure, they do not worry about making a mess or things needing to be perfect. They see the beauty within  people rather then judging them on their size, colour or appearance. Children are innocent and they love and trust without hidden agendas, can you imagine a world where everyone lived that way? I know that it sounds rather Mary popping's and somewhat of a cliché but personally I think that us adults could learn a lot from our children and how they see the world, what do you think? 

The prompt - week 6.

Welcome to week six of Sara's the prompt over at mum turned mom.

The Prompt for this week is a topic and it is:

Pink is for girls

Before I became a parent I would cringe if I ever heard anyone say this as I hate to put labels on people but I must admit that being a mum to three girls does change things somewhat.

I remember before I got pregnant with my oldest and how I would always moan about parents covering their baby girls head to toe in pink and then I gave birth to a baby girl and suddenly it seemed like a great idea and really cute too.

Each child I had, my obsession of pink seemed to grow and at one point during a time in my life that I was learning to drive I even brought myself a pink car!

If having to buy a toy for my kids and there was a choice of blue or pink I would always choose pink and I have even not brought a toy just because it was not sold in girl colours which in my head are pink, purple, red and anything sparkly!

I do not think that I personally would choose to dress my son if I had one in pink although I have no objections to anyone that does.

I guess that society in general has the concept that pink is for girls and as you grow older you are less rebellious so you comply more with the concept maybe?

Whatever it may be, I am a sucker for a baby girl dressed in pink and at the age of 33 years my favourite colours are pink and purple and anything sparkly!

The prompt - week 5

This weeks prompt from Mum turned mom is the following quote.

'Happiness is anyone and anything at all, that’s loved by you.' You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown

I very much agree with the above quote as I know that the biggest thing in the world that makes me the most happy is my husband and my three children who I love the most in the world. Sometimes when life gets hard I sometimes think to myself that if we had more money we would be happy or if we had more holidays aboard then we would be happy or if I had more clothes then I would be happy and so on, but when all is said and done, none of those things would mean anything without my family.

I am very lucky to have met my soul mate at the young age of 15 years. People said that we would never last as I was too young to know what love really was and I am not going to pretend that it has been easy as we have been through so much together, but 18 years later and we are still together and I think that says a lot. I have made no secret on my blog that we have been having problems but we are working through them and day by day things are getting better and deep down inside I know that I would be lost without him. He has been making a real effort since we sat down and talked about how things were just over a month ago and this Valentines it really showed.

Darren brought me a card, a box of chocolate hearts, a single red rose, a framed photograph of the two of us together, a note pad and pen set and a heart shaped box that he filled with rose petals. On each rose petal he wrote little messages like 'I will sit and brush your hair for you' (I love having my hair brushed!) and 'I will give you a foot massage'. Every thing was so thoughtful, I had tears of happiness in my eyes when I opened everything this morning.

I am also really lucky to have my three beautiful girls who also make me so happy each and every day. Lauren is beautiful, clever, doing so well at school, fun to spend time with, popular, and an excellent dancer. Chloe is also beautiful, clever, independent, funny, doing well at school and taking after myself with a love of acting. Faith is sweet, kind, beautiful, keen to learn, smart and loves to be the centre of attention. I am so proud to be their mum and I truly treasure each and every day that I spend with them.

They came down this morning and they were all so pleased and thankful for the little packets of love and cards that I made them. It really did make me smile to see them smiling. It was a lovely way to start the day.

So when asked what makes me happy the simple answer is; Darren, Lauren, Chloe and Faith.

The prompt - week 4

Today's prompt from mumturnedmom is the following headline.

Lengthen school days and cut holidays, says former Tory adviser’ The Guardian (online) 29 Jan 2014

It really does annoy me when I hear headlines like this as children need some time to be children and play. We all turned out fine going to school for the normal amount of hours and having our school holidays so why should it be any different for our children?

When I use to go to school the hours were 9am to 3:45pm and starting the day at 9am didn't do me any harm. Now 'someone' decided that children would learn more early in the day so my children have to be in school at 8:20am which is in my opinion ridiculous as children still want to go to bed at the same time but now they have to get up extra early to get to school on time meaning that they are very tired and I can not see how that makes learning better. My children are always complaining about having to get up so early and when they get home they are so tired. My older girls that are at high school come home with a mountain of homework each night as well so the idea of making the school day longer seems to me to be one of the silliest things I have heard in a long time.

I also find it difficult to fit in time to do fun activities with the children and as a family as it is, without the children having to be at school for even more time. If school days are lengthened and school holidays shortened when do we get to be together as a family? I love my children and I really enjoy spending time with them and I already feel that they spend too much time at school without any time being added to the school day.

The summer holiday was always something that I would really look forward to and back then it was seven weeks instead of the six weeks that they now have and it would be a time of great adventures for me and something that I often look back upon with fond memories. If we were to shorten the summer holidays I really feel that a lot of childhood adventures would be lost.

I also think that as they have now made it illegal to take your children out of school for a family holiday the idea of making school holidays shorter is preposterous! It will just mean that more families have to miss out on going on holidays as the holiday companies will be able to hike up their prices even more knowing that families are under such pressure to fit in with the schools.

I am sorry if this post has turned into a bit of a rant but it really does get under my skin when I hear things like this.

The prompt - week 3

I am joining in with the prompt over at mumturnedmom and this weeks prompt was the following quote. 

Sweater, n. Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. Ambrose Bierce.

This one really threw me at first as I read the quote and thought to myself 'what on earth am I suppose to write about that?!'

After spending some hours mulling over the quote while getting on with other things it suddenly struck me what that quote meant. I think that the quote is referring to us as parents thinking we know best about our children without actually talking to them. In the case of the quote the mother feels cold, so she makes her child wear a jumper without actually asking if the child also feels cold.

This has made me think about the relationship that I have with my oldest daughter Lauren who is now 16. She has had a lot of problems over the last two years which I can't really go into too much details about due to her privacy but I really believe that a lot of those problems are due to the fact that she never speaks to me. When she was younger as with all of my children we really communicated very well on a daily basis. I have always made time to talk to the children both in terms of every day chit chat to more serious issues that may be bothering them so I would never of have guessed that I would now be in such a position. Despite me telling her on numerous occasions to come and talk to me when ever she needs to and despite numerous professionals like doctors and teachers telling her to speak to me, as it is nice for them to be dealing with a mother that cares and is there waiting to help, it is as if she has built up a wall around herself and she will not let anyone in no matter how hard we try.

Because of this lack of communication on Lauren's part I am always left second guessing what is going on and I can only use my own experiences as a teen to do this so I often seem to be getting it wrong and she gets really angry at me for thinking things that are not so but as she does not talk to me I do not know what else I| am suppose to do?

I have read so many books over the years and watched so many TV shows about how to get your children to communicate with you and I have tried so many different things but I really am running out of ideas and as she is nearing adulthood I feel as if I am running out of time.

I am by no means a perfect parent, I have made mistakes, I have cried, screamed, shouted and even sworn, but I hope that the fact that I am still trying to make things better and the fact that I still care so much will one day prove to Lauren how much she is loved by me. If anyone that has been through similar experiences of a teen that will not talk and you have any advice on what I should do then please do let me know by commenting or sending me an e-mail if you would prefer. Any advice really would be greatly received!

The prompt - week 2.

I was saddened by this picture.

In July 2012 this picture was taken at our local hospital where I was misdiagnosed with emphysema. The doctor was very stern with me (actually he was quite rude) telling me that I had not looked after myself and if I carried on as I was then I would not see aged 40.

Luckily I was later told that I do not have emphysema but I should use the experience as a warning to make some positive changes to my life so that I do not end up with emphysema or worse later on in life.

At the moment this picture was taken I was so scared that I was going to die young and miss seeing my kids grow up. I felt like the worst mother/person in the world for letting myself get in such a state. I promised myself that I would change, I promised myself that I would never let myself go like that again.

And now we come to why I am so saddened by that picture. The truth is that we are now in January 2014 and nothing has changed at all. All the promises I made myself were so quickly forgotten, all my positive changes and determination disappeared as soon as I realised that I did not have emphysema. I look at that photograph now and I am filled with sadness as I realise that in 18 months I have done nothing to change. I have tried to give up smoking on numerous occasions but I have not succeeded. I am still overweight and I still do no exercise.

I am saddened to think that I am not doing what needs to be done to ensure that I have many more years with my precious children who I love more then life itself. I am saddened to think that I am not only letting myself down with all of my internal excuses but I am also letting down my children and my husband and my extended family.

Today is the day that things are going to change. No more excuses anymore! Today is the day that I will give up smoking and 2014 is the year that I will implement positive changes to get my life back and my health under control.


** I wrote this post on January 20th and although early days I have not had a single cigarette since the 19th. **