sat on the sofa because it’s doing that rain/snow/hail thing out there and I refused to go out in it.
Also, I ate cake.
Category Archives: Personal
My God, Where Have I Been?
I have no idea. Just not writing, I guess. Sorry.
So, what’s the craic…we had snow and ice. Adam managed to go to school for an entire week after missing at least one day a week since Christmas. Some illness, some weather related.
My family, except us, got together to celebrate my step dad’s 80th birthday, which is actually next Thursday. A good time was, apparently, had by all.
I’m 44 this coming Tuesday. Adam thinks my birthday cake should be blue. We are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate said birthday.
And Adam has started insisted he’s not a baby. He’s Adam.
Indeed.
After Slipping And Sliding To Adam’s School Today
I headed to City Centre to run some errands.
I have what is know as Mummy’s Never Ending Shopping List. It gets added to all the time and never completely goes away. Today it included stuff we needed from Boots and some groceries along with a handbag, a sauce pan, a train, modelling glue, wine glasses and an ice cream maker.
Interesting list, no?
The handbag has been on my list since The Great Banana Incident of 2012. You see, one day on the way home from school Adam handed me his half eaten banana. Which I stashed in my handbag. And found four days later. I had been using my Fossil Cross Body bag, as I usually do, which is 100% fabric with leather trim. I contacted Fossil to see if it could be cleaned and their answer was yes, but no. In other words, sure, try it, but they sure as heck don’t recommend it!
So I turned it inside out, put it in a pillow case and washed it in the machine while spinning my prayer wheel and praying.
It actually came out usable, but hardly in the best shape and the seams started to wear away. So the hunt for a handbag began.
It should be noted that I am picky picky picky about my handbags. For one thing, I won’t spend more than about £60 on one. For another it has to be a cross body bag as I hate shoulder bags. It has to have at least one inner zipped pocket for my passports (yes, plural) and these days my Kindle Fire HD must fit into it. It has to zip closed. And it would be nice if it was water resistant, if not waterproof.
So The Great Banana Incident of 2012 was in October, I think it was. My mom came to visit not long after it and she gave me my birthday money (even though my birthday isn’t until two weeks from now) and I knew I would spend it on a new handbag.
So I started looking. And looking. And looking. Too small, no pocket, only a snap closure. Handbag after handbag.
Well today I bit the bullet and headed to House of Fraser (no relation) and Handbag Mecca. And lo and behold it’s their Blue Cross Sale and up to 75% off.
So I’m wandering Handbag Mecca and looking and peering and feeling and zipping and get to Radley.
Now anyone who knows me knows I couldn’t give two figs about brands, fashion or otherwise. I buy what I like that I can afford. But it did occur to me that I bought a Radley purse about a year ago because I loved the way it was designed. So I started to look at their sale rack. And found it:
My new handbag, by Radley. Ya know, the ones with the dog? Them.
It is perfect, cross body, inner zipped compartment, holds my Kindle (of course I had it with me, don’t ask silly questions) and water resistant. I’m also pleased because it’s not obviously a Radley as the dogs are just a part of the fabric pattern and it has no hanging dog that needed to be removed.
So what else did I get from my list?
A train – Adam’s reward for going without his dummy during the day for 10 days. It’s Percy from the Mega Blocks Rail Road and also has a piece of track.
Wine glasses – Simon keeps breaking ours. It’s either a ploy to get out of doing the washing up (which isn’t going to work) or we had very fragile glasses. The new ones have titanium in them. No joke. They are also huge.
I did not get a sauce pan (because I forgot to put on the list what size I wanted) an ice cream maker (we aren’t exactly sure we want one) or modelling glue (the girl at the shop said the stuff we already had should fix the broken Lightening McQueen).
Also?
A haircut:
I’ll be 44 in just about two weeks. I think the grey suits me.
My Week In Review:
Monday: Usual day, Adam off to school, Simon off to work. I started to design the new Designed To A Tee Website.
Tuesday: Adam woke up with a horrible rash all over his face and a fever. Off to GP. Not impetigo, thank god, but not sure what. Put this cream on and send him back to school if fine on Wednesday.
Wednesday: Adam back to school as perfectly fine. I clean the house from top to bottom. It *so* needed it.
Thursday: I’m about 10 minutes from Adam’s school after dropping him off, heading for coffee and minor surgery when school calls. He’s pooed himself. I turn around and go clean him up. I then head straight to GP’s office to have the mole on my neck removed. Simon took the day to work from home so he could sort Adam after my procedure. Wasn’t too bad, but my neck ached and it wore me out.
Friday: Horrible weather. For the first time ever Adam and I take a taxi to school and it waits and brings me back. I had a horrid nights sleep thanks to my neck and my brain being stupid again. I spend the entire day doing *nothing*. Simon goes to get Adam, in the middle of a snowstorm!
By bedtime our back garden looks like this:
Saturday: Wake up to slightly melted snow. Get text from Adam’s coach that the physical education centre is closed because it’s flooded. YAYAY!
So we’re spending the day at home.
And that was my week.
Introducing: The Forgetful Cook
Anyone who follows my Twitter knows that I often Tweet using the hash tag CookingForTheForgetful.
More than one person has suggested to me that I should write a book, as they find them quite funny. Nothing like a little memory loss in others to brighten the day. 😀
Instead of a book, I’ve given The Forgetful Cook it’s own Twitter at Forgetful Cook.
You can also follow it over there < on the left hand side of this blog, along with my regular Twitter, Tee Tweets.
I hope you enjoy it!
The Things I’ve Lost
because of my chronic pain: –
- Shopping all day long. Now shop ’till you drop means about an hour, two if I’m lucky.
- Fountain pens. Can’t hold any sort of pen for long now. Writing on the computer just isn’t the same.
- Beautiful notebooks. No point in having beautiful notebooks if you can’t write in them.
- FM heels. I haven’t worn a heel higher than about an inch in about a decade.
- Dancing the night away. Only if I want to not move for two days afterwards.
- Working full time. I do miss it, sometimes. Having an actual job in an actual office. Not that I don’t love working for myself, I do. But it would be nice to have more money. But that would mean more work. Which I can’t do.
- Playing on the floor with my son. Lately my leg has been so bad (Ortho referral being waited on. Again.) that I can’t even sit in the bean bag chair for long. Makes it hard to help him lay out the 1,000 pieces of train track he got for Christmas.
- A full nights sleep for more than one night in a row. I honestly don’t remember when I’ve felt rested for more than a few hours. I get one good night and then four or five bad in a row. And I can’t exactly nap in the afternoons. Except on the weekends.
- The knowledge that doing something today won’t mean I can’t do anything tomorrow. Especially if I sleep badly.
What brought on this maudlin post? The fact that I’ve been awake since 0345, again, after several nights in a row when I appear to have slept all night but didn’t feel like I did, so I must have been at least partially waking up every night. Most likely brief bouts of awakeness, if not awareness, when I’ve rolled onto my bad leg.
And the fact that Simon is away to Dublin until very late tomorrow night. So no rest for me. Adam is at daycare for a half day today, I need to go get him in about 45 minutes and then, of course, tomorrow is Saturday. He has his class in the morning, so we’re out of the house by just before 10. I may get some ‘sitting around doing nothing’ rest if he sleeps tomorrow, but won’t get a sleep in the afternoon myself because the grocery order is due and I have some work to finish.
So I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself. Okay?
One Day At A New DayCare
and Adam is feverish and vomiting. So much for hitting the ground running today getting things checked off my to do list.
I’m getting some bits and bobs done, but mostly giving cuddles and soothing cool clothes on forehead.
I’m hoping for a good nap time so I can make some phone calls.
And if they don’t make some new Fireman Sam episodes soon I will not be responsible for my actions…
Christmas!
This post is part of Belfast Bloggers over on Tumblr. Twelve Belfast Bloggers. Twelve topics for 2013.
If you’re on my Facebook or Twitter you’ve probably seen the pictures already, but I thought I’d add some text here for context.
See? Helpful!
We started, as most people do, with decorating our tree about 3 weeks ago, I think it was. Adam was, for the first year, helpful in this!
Done!
And he seemed to have fun as well. I managed to let go of my ‘it must look like *this*’ tendencies and just let him (and, I admit, Simon) hang the ornaments wherever they like. I usually like to make sure they are well spread out and that the lights are on better and the branches more spread out, but everyone was impatient to get to the decorations part so I dealt with it. Barely. Next year maybe I’ll put the tree up myself, add the lights and *then* invite them to come help. Me? Control freak? Nah!
I’m also still very annoyed with the top strand that claims to allow you to set it to *not* blink, but we’ve never been able to figure out how to do that, so just the upper third of the tree flashes. Again, have had to just live with it. New lights next year, I swear!
So we enjoyed our tree for a few weeks and started getting excited because Granny and Grandad (Simon’s parents) were coming down to spend Christmas with us. Until Grandad got ill. Nothing serious, but it hung around for a bit and he just didn’t feel up to travelling or staying in someone else’s house and who can blame him? So it wound up being just the three of us. Not nearly as much fun, but we had a nice time anyway.
We started, as many do, with our stockings:
Snake and chocolate coins!
Where to start?
And then Adam moved on it his actual presents. We don’t exchange gifts among the adults in my family, just from us to the various kids and we get things from Simon’s parents. My mom sends money (which she actually gave us when they were here earlier in the year) and my dad sends a cheque for me to spend on Adam. Simon’s parents get us things but since they didn’t make it down, we’ll have to wait. What this meant is that everything under the tree was for Adam!
He had quite a haul with a lot of train track, some DVDs, an easel and some Mega-Blocks. All in all, a very good Christmas for a small boy.
Adam and Simon started setting things up right away while I went to work cooking Christmas dinner.
Playing with daddy
Our Christmas dinner was all the traditional things: turkey, sprouts, stuffing, sausages, bacon, roasted potatoes and cranberry sauce. It was yummy, if I do say so myself!
So it was a good Christmas, if quiet. Perhaps some excitement next year?
I Will Document Christmas At Some Point
But for right now:
I hope you and your family have a happy, healthy holiday of your choice and a very lovely New Year.
Railway Children, Mumsnet and Aviva – Please Help
People tell me, sometimes, that they can’t believe how much I put on the internet. My real name, the name of my son and husband, my general location, my health issues, both mental and physical.
But what they don’t realize is how much I don’t put on the internet. About my childhood. About my parent’s divorce. About my journey from being a troubled child and teenager to being an adult with those mental illnesses.
About my running away.
I’ve run away twice in my life, once when I was about 13 and once when I was 25.
30 years on I have no idea why I ran away when I was 13. A fight with my mom and step-dad no doubt. About…who knows?
But run I did. Out the door and down the street and, I remember, to the left. To the right was known and led to major roads they would be able to find me on. To the left was unknown and led to I didn’t know where.
I was just looking at a map and I can’t remember how far I went or where I ended up. I do know a nice lady stopped and tried to help me, but I jumped out of her car at a light, stories of kidnapped children in my head. And then was picked up by the police and taken home; the nice lady had called them. It was dark and cold at that point. I was gone for at least a few hours.
My parents were, of course, relieved. My step-sister, who was home from college, was really mad, but still ran me a bath to warm me up.
I have no idea what my mom said to the police to get them to just leave me and not investigate further. But that’s what happened.
And I was lucky. I was on the street for hours. Not days or months. And at this point, I don’t remember the aftermath. In what way, if at all, I was punished. All I remember was thinking I had to get away from them. From myself. From my pain.
My second running away at 25 was the beginning of my mental breakdown that led to my diagnoses today. But that one was by car, with my cat and isn’t what this post is about.
It’s about runaway children. It’s because Mumsnet and Railway Children and Aviva have come together to help young runaways. The ones who don’t get taken back home in hours. The ones who are on the streets. The ones whose home lives are probably filled with horrors I can’t even imagine; horrors that make the streets better than home.
For every blog post, every Tweet, every Facebook status, every comment on this blog and all the others writing about this, Aviva will donate £2 to Railway Children, up to £200,000 by the end of 2013. Money that will go towards helping runaways, like I might have become.
If not for one nice lady and some police.