Yummy? Mummy? In the Winter? YES!

How on earth can we be yummy and still be a mummy in the winter! 

Happy New Year! 

The cold spell continues (though so far without the dreaded  's' word!) and the school run is fraught enough, without the added pressure of looking good whilst doing it! 

And so, as my last post of 2011 I want to share some pictures with you.  These are real mums on a real school run, doing what they do best, looking yummy despite the weather in the last month of 2011!

I am not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination, as previous posts will testify.  But even with a camera phone, the smiles of these mums is clear to see.

If you have some similar pictures of mums doing what mums do best, (no smut please; you know what I mean!)  Email them in and we'll perhaps display them. 

We need to remember that we are all yummy, regardless of celebrities trying to persuade us that we can't step out of the door without 5 inch heels and a designer buggy.

We need to remember that it's only 5 degrees Celsius out there, and it's nigh on impossible to find winter coats that keep us warm but also make us look red carpet ready.


We need to remember that its a miracle if we even remember to put our shoes on after the children have ran us ragged from 5am until school drop of time.

We need to remember that simply brushing our hair some mornings is a major challenge.

We need to remember that we face similar challenges to millions of other mums, that we are not alone, that we have friends, family, children who love us.

We are yummy mummies!

Really!

Even this dodgy looking one in the bright blue coat!

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Parking on the Pavement - A hazard for pedestrians, and not so yummy!

This week my hubby and I strolled out for a walk and came across a lady stood still on the pavement, her guide dog not moving beside her.  A car had driven across the pavement to get onto a drive, but because the drive already had a car on it, the car had simply stopped across the pavement.  Clearly the guide dog wasn't sure what action to take.  The only way past was to take the owner onto the road, around the bumper of the car, and back up onto the pavement.

Being pretty considerate as a family, we, of course, stopped and asked if she needed help.  My hubby offered his arm and led the lady around the car.

Just over a year ago I had a little rant on this blog about cars parking halfway on pavements.  Drivers were parking half on pavements in a suburban area of Nottingham where the roads were perfectly wide enough for cars to park both sides of the road and not infringe the pavements. But of course they did; because a large proportion of drivers park their cars where is convenient for them and in a position they feel most protects their vehicle.

This means that "avoiding potentially being clipped by other cars on the road" trumps "blocking the pavement to such an extent that a pushchair (buggy) or wheelchair can't get past without stepping onto the road to get around the other side of the vehicle."

My feeling about this issue was exasperated when we came across this poor lady this week.

I was struck again by the blinkered nature of the human species.  Because, if I'm honest, I'd never considered the impact that this particular parking method would have on the blind.  Just like I'd not considered the impact on those with pushchairs until I myself had one.

What is amazing, is that this kind of parking, halfway on the pavement, is only technically illegal in London.  The  Pedestrian Liberation piece on this subject is particularly useful for guidance on the relevant rules and regulations.

In this particular case though, the car appears to fall foul of the Disability Discrimination Act, in that disabled people should not be discriminated against in accessing everyday goods and services.  Like the pavement!?

I wish I had thought to take a picture.  But I was so amazed, I didn't even think of it.

It turned out that the car was parked on the drive NEXT DOOR to the house that this lady lived in.  Her neighbours, knowing her disability, hadn't considered the impact the obstructive parking would have.

Her neighbours!

I'm now speechless.

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Tupperware is NOT just for food!

I absolutely need more Tupperware.  Not for food, but for toys.

I use Tupperware for food all the time.  Batch cooking is definitely a good plan when you have two children under 6 years old, so the freezer is full of various labelled up meals - bolognese sauce and lamb hotpot are the current favourites.

But at this time of year, when you are desperately trying to work out where all the new stuff is actually going to live on a daily basis, Tupperware is used for toys.  Honestly.

Got a new dolls head for hairdressing practise?  Great.  With all the accompanying hair slides, brushes, tongs, bobbles and ribbons?  Pop them into a Tupperware box.  Nice and tidy.

Got some new jigsaws?  Lovely!  Nothing beats jigsaws inside on a cold winters day (except maybe a quiet glass of sherry and "It's a Wonderful Life" on the TV). 

But if it's a child's jigsaw (a Disney princess one for example) I bet the box came with more than one jigsaw actually in it.  Fine until you take them out of their plastic.  And then those dots on the back of the pieces are only of help if you haven't got at least six others with the same dots already! 

Tupperware saves the day again.  Nice and neat. 

It's handy that the local Chinese takeaway delivers its food in perfect size plastic boxes.  I don't even need to buy new!

Toomanycuts.com... My humble words on a different site today!

My humble words will also be appearing on the Frothers: Too Many Cuts site today on the "First Day of Christmas my trust love gave to me: a useless Labour Party."

The Frothers site is a new website set up in response to the huge response a post on the Mumsnet parenting forum who said that she was "rather cross with the Government messing with the good stuff"

The site's aims are to:

- to open the general publics' eyes to the injustices being created by the government

- to inform those who are facing cuts about their rights

- to link with other activists and charities, in order to put pressure on the government

Click here to find out about Frothers. Follow at @TMC_Frothers.  And it's #Frothers on Twitter!

Click here to see my first post for them.

Christmas Eve Eve Fun!

So it's Christmas Eve Eve (That's the day before Christmas Eve - just to be clear!) and the children are having a whole day out with Grandma and Grandad to go to the pantomime.

My hubby books the day off and we spend the whole morning screwing.

The first screw was a bit tricky.  It wouldn't go in.  But in the end a bit of fiddling did the trick and in it slid.

After quite a few more screws, and three hours later, we were getting blisters.  So we had to have a lie down on the bed we'd just made.

But it wasn't all that comfortable to be honest.  Our old mattress was too big for the bed, so I braved the awful rain and dangerous driving conditions on the M1 to travel 30 miles to IKEA and back to collect two new mattresses.  Very comfortable they are too.

It's a good job the eldest appreciated her new bed that Santa delivered early whilst they were at the Panto.

Apparently it was too big for his sleigh.  I can't imagine how hubby and I missed him.

Too much screwing I guess!?



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