Guilty Pleasures!

I feel really guilty admitting this publicly, but it is a Saturday and instead of the usual hustle and bustle there is peace and quiet, well except for the tap tap of my fingers on the keyboard! And I am really enjoying it!

It has made me remember an occasion when a year or so ago when my clever boy was still only part time at pre-school and my girly whirly was at home full time with me.

I was walking up to school to collect my clever boy (I may be bias but I think he is clever hence my name for him!) and talking to another mum who was telling  me how she had just really enjoyed her couple of hours alone time by having a relaxing and luxurious bath.  At the time I just thought how decadent to have a bath in the middle of a week day afternoon, now I fully appreciate her sentiments.

My girly whirly is at pre-school now and I survive for those couple of hours each day where I can think clearly without interruption, where I can start a job and finish it or just drink a cup of tea in peace.  But for the last week and half I have had either my girly whirly at home or my clever boy as they have been suffering with a virus which has caused really high temperatures and sickness.   So when Gran and Grandad said they wanted to have them both, regardless of health, on a Saturday as the local carnival goes along the road at the fron of their house I nearly cheered.

Hurray for Gran and Grandads, and also for overtime for Daddy as it means I can really have some peace and quiet and catch up with my blogging!

Wow - it was a scary but life changing moment!

I have only just realised how long it has been since I last posted.

I had so many intentions of coming back and updating you after my DS had his suspected meningitis scare in hospital, thank you everyone for all your kind wishes and support - he is now absolutely fine and thankfully it was a false alarm. Sorry I haven't been back sooner.

The whole incident became a rather pivotal moment where I realised life was starting to pass me by and I was just letting it, so I decided to try and start doing something about it.

I thought about how and why that was happening, and mostly it came down to finances, a lack of them.  Now I know you can do lots and enjoy life lots without money but there are just some things that are soooo much easier with some spare cash I realised it was time to start focusing on my business again.  Being a one income family is hard and I had always said that I would aim to start building the business back up when the children are at school, well my youngest is at pre-school now. So here I am.

So far the main thing I have done is reorganise how I use my day, I make sure I fit in all my jobs when I have my DD, as you already know she is a Domestic Goddess so she loves helping me out.  Which leaves my time when she is at pre-school free to work, its not a lot of time but it is better than before!

So what have I done, well the world has moved on whilst I have been a mom so I have been trying to update my skills and bring myself up-to-date and start networking but my most exciting achievement is that I have launched another blog!  lol!

I discovered I love blogging so much and that I find and meet so many wonderful businesses that I wanted to blog about them and offer giveaways.  It is a sort of half way between here and my business, so I can sort of justify it :)

So thats where I have been and what I have been up to, I just can't believe it has taken me so long.  But I am back and I intend to not leave it so long next time!

Oh yes, my new blog is www.nixispeak.com . Look I have a logo and everything lol!

It is still very new but I have launched my first giveaway, which is a beautiful pendant necklace courtesy of www.bridaldesignsweddingjewellery.co.uk .

Don't let her name fool you, her jewellery is suitable for any occasion!  (Sorry let my Nixi Speak persona take over!)    Either please pop and have a look, leave me a comment to say 'Hi!' and enter the giveaway, you have nothing to loose but potentially a beautiful new necklace to win!

See you soon!   xx

I feel officially grown up

Yesterday was my 35th birthday and, thank you for asking :) , I had a really nice day except for the fact that it was my first birthday without a card from either my dad or mom. 

Now for you to understand the situation with my mom requires a very complicated, old and long story which I have no intention of boring you with apart from saying that it all started when I was 17, so as much as I mention it, it is long dealt with and I am actually very accepting of the situation. It has only entered my thoughts because of my dad. 

If you have followed my posts then you will know that my dad had a stroke at the start of the year. 

He is doing fantastically well, I am amazed by his progress, and thankfully he is now back at his home.  Other than requiring his shopping/finances sorted he is pretty much looking after himself on a day to day basis; though he is still struggling with his speech and thought processes.  Everytime he has an appointment, a food delivery or event(including my birthday!) I am writing it on the Classic Cars calendar hanging in his kitchen and he is, so far, managing and has not missed anything.

I nearly didn't go and see him because I thought it would really upset me if he didn't have any understanding that it was my birthday.  But after having had a wonderful, non-rushed, pub lunch with just my hubby (bliss, and I actually don't remember the last time that happened!) we decided  as we had some time before collecting children from school to pop and see him. 

Now don't get me wrong I did not expect a birthday card or gift from my dad, but I was hoping that when he saw me that he would give me a hug because he had seen the date on his calendar.


No hug. No 'happy birthday' greeting attempt. And I didn't remind him as I did not want to risk upsetting him. I am really glad we made the effort though as I was greeted with him communcating to me that his central heating wasn't working; which meant his meter had run out of credit.  So hubby and I raced to collect his gas card, raced to the shop for credit (added lots this time to make sure this doesn't happen again!), stopped to collect children and went back to see my dad.  He loved seeing his grandchildren, it always perks him up, and now he has heating again so he won't freeze.  And I realised it didn't matter to me that my dad had 'forgotten'* my birthday, it was enough to see him.

I am amazed that I wasn't upset or emotional and that I was just pleased to be able to help my dad and see him enjoy his grandchildren. In fact I was more disapointed over a bunch of  broken flowers from someone else entirely lol!  (The picture is for dramatic effect only, they weren't quite that bad, but really why did they bother at all??!!)

So I feel that at 35 I have reached adulthood and become a grown up!




*I know that my dad hasn't forgotten out of choice but out of circumstances beyond his control!

Super Super Fun!

AAAAAARG!   I have just started getting used to having a couple of hours a day to do what I want/need to do as my youngest daughter started pre-school mid January and next week is have a half term .  AAAAARG!  

What am I going to do? 

She loves those couple of hours at pre-school, as she tells me everyday is 'SUPER SUPER FUN!'    My son loves school - he has a fantastic teacher.

I love those couple of hours too because I can run around and clean the house, tidy the toys, catch up with friends and go round the shops in half the time it tackes with my children in tow.  Don't get me wrong I love my children but suddenly I really appreciate that by having two hours a day on my own I am actually able to give them more quality time so it is win win!   Which all helps in my quest to have them always think of me as Practically Perfect!

So how am I going to cope and continue my 'Practically Perfect' mission during my first half term?

I am going to plan each day.  Very unlike me, as I normally just go with the flow but in an effort to keep us all happy and smiling I am making plans!

Not only do I have half term but also this Friday is a teacher Training day so I have 6 days (not including weekends as Daddy is home then too!) to manage to entertain and have fun with my children cheaply whilst also getting all the normal household tasks done.

As yet I have no idea about Friday, as I only remembered this morning that it was teacher training.  I remembered as we were about to walk out of the door to go to school with my son looking pristine in his school uniform, when  I also rememberd that today was a non school uniform day.  We had to have a very quick outfit change,  we JUST made it to school in time!

Luckily last week our school sent out a leaflet detailing a Circus Workshop which will run at our local childrens centre on Monday afternoon.  So that is already booked and sounds like it should be fantastic fun; though how good a four and three year old will be at juggling, walking a tight rope and unicycling remains to be seen!  Added bonus is it is free  -  woohoo!

Tuesday, is Shrove Tuesday so we will make a big deal of making pancakes.  I fully expect my kitchen to be covered in flour and eggs and milk by the time we have finished.  I must remember to buy some maple syrup and lemons though!  (They won't be eaten together I hasten to add!)

On Wednesday I have a friend of mine coming around.  She is wonderful with both of my children and will happily give them all the attention they crave from her.  I just hope we manage to get in a bit of catch up time and gossip time too, because they always seem to think she has come to see them!

That leaves just 2 more days, which I have yet to plan, but will probably invovle Grandparents.  

Over the week we will also read lots of books, play lots of games, and do lots of jigsaws which my daughter has a current fascination with.

So all planned, well close enough, and I will just have to run around and try and keep on top of all the jobs in between.   Suddenly the week doesn't seem so long or daunting and I am looking forward to it!

I'm now actually looking forward to half term, I have a feeling it will be "SUPER SUPER FUN"!!!!