Month: December 2016

I am extremely proud to have started writing for a fantastic website for mums the Motherload.co.uk. I would love to hear your thoughts on this somewhat sensitive topic of trying to be perfect and failing miserably! X

https://the-motherload.co.uk/search-perfect-mum/

Hi, I’m Lucy and I have a problem, I like to move the furniture around in my house at least once a month. Now this might not seem like a giant issue in the grand scheme of things however it does at times cause anxiety, stress, back issues and that’s not just for me but my husband too!

We have always worked really well as a team and I am massively lucky that my husband pretty much gives me free reign in the house to style it however I think is best. I, in turn offer him the same privilege with outside space and he does as he pleases with the garden and numerous outbuildings we have accumulated over time (he does love a shed!)

This has at times caused much comedy for our friends as often I don’t know what his next ‘project’ is. Over the years I have come home to a large wood store built entirely of old pallets (a beautiful and clever creation but currently we have no fire to burn them on!) Elaborate designs etched into the grass with one of his many lawn mowers and my personal favourite, the day I went to a training course for work and was picked up by some colleagues to return home and say, ‘it’s the one on the left here’ for my friend to say ‘the one with the skip?’ I can’t imagine the look on my face when I saw for the first time what had only that morning been our driveway that now housed a large skip, giant mounds of mud and a very dirty but happy husband who took the initiative to expand the driveway.

Don’t get me wrong, I am quite sure that he would accuse me of being terribly impulsive with my interior design. He has before now come home to rooms being changed round and the occasional wall painted in an accent colour that he has always taken with good humour (honestly!) He particularly enjoys it when he leaves and a piece of furniture is one colour and comes home and not only has it moved but it also an entirely different colour, sometimes two!

Sadly it’s not just Karl who is at times affected by my need to change the ambience and format of a room. The children often walk in and say, ‘MUMMY! What have you done now?!’ We also have a very lovely cleaner who comes to help out once a week for a couple of hours who I am sure curses me and the movement of my ornaments on an almost weekly basis as she can never quite get used to where they are.

We have always owned many tape measures, so many in fact at one point I was tempted to get rid of some as I don’t think there is a need to have one on every available surface, however over the last year they have slowly disappeared. I now have one of my ideas to move stuff around and need to measure and have to ask Karl for a tape measure. He then makes an awkward face and tries to say he doesn’t know where any of them are, can’t recall the last time he saw one and I  had better explain what I want to measure before he looks. I know he knows where they all are and he knows that I know!

This compulsiveness in my interior design comes to the fore at Christmas, particularly in the bit between Christmas and New Year when you look towards a fresh start and the tree starts to look a bit tired. I have hit this in dramatic style today and come up with what I think is a fabulous idea to create a library wall in the living room, a new toy storage and seating system in the boys room and the repurposing of an old chest of drawers into a desk come craft storage system. The issue of course is that I am recovering from major surgery and I can’t actually move anything myself so I will need an assistant. An assistant who doesn’t want me to have the tape measure again.

I will let you know how this latest idea pans out and I will also give you some sort of update on the new car port, fencing and shed system Karl is currently embarking on in our now finished driveway. I think we are both just as bad as each other!

 

 

 

I wasn’t planning on writing much over the festive period and wanted to do a little review of the holidays after the two big days were over however I felt today that I couldn’t leave it. I have to write something about the passing of George Michael.

2016 has truly been a year of loss with some of our planets hugest stars and talents passing away. Last night just as I got into bed I heard the news that George Michael had died peacefully at home aged just 53. I was floored and I actually couldn’t sleep. He was one of the musicians that I have loved since I was small. I am 33 and the days of Wham were around the time I was born and yet I still grew up listening to them.

Only on Christmas Eve we were on a family Christmas Train outing with some best friends and their children and were all singing along to Last Christmas. My boys know it more than any other Christmas song. Who doesn’t recall at some point in their life singing along to that song at Christmas and you can’t deny the emotions it stirs up.

My big sister loved them and she had a video which we watched on an almost continuous basis of all the Wham hits. I remember how much I loved the introduction to Club Tropicana and how rebellious Wham Rap was.

As I got older I began to respect the feeling and thought behind some of the lyrics penned by George Michael. There are lines I have drawn on from songs all the way back to the Wham days that still make me smile and define moments of how hard growing up can be.

We can all recall how gloriously handsome George Michael was and how clean cut he looked, almost like a poster boy of youth and fun. Of course in later life we came to find out that George like so many of us ‘normal’ people had his demons and struggled at times with his emotional and physical wellbeing and sadly in recent times he has been more publicised for this than his amazing and everlasting work.

I always liked him as a celebrity because he never pretended to be perfect, he accepted that he had flaws, struggles and spoke freely of his uncomfortableness at fame and how he wasn’t prepared for what his career had bought him in terms of his private life.

There aren’t many celebrities who will be found getting up to some of the antics that he did and not only get through them without dropping off the planet but write very successful and almost self mocking music about it. His appearance on James Cordons very first Car pool karaoke on Comic Relief was true testament to this.

I didn’t know George personally, I sadly never saw him sing live and the only close story I have is that once he was involved in a car accident with an Uncle of mine and was very grumpy with him when exchanging details and my uncle asked for his autograph!

I have also read about his philanthropy and how he liked to keep it to himself, the small acts of kindness that meant so little to the people he helped. In fact Esther Rantzen has said today that he is one of the bigger contributors to Childline, an amazing children’s charity and yet no one knew because he didn’t want them to.

Doesn’t it just hammer home to us yet again how precious life is and how we really shouldn’t waste any moment. I plan to embrace this ethos fully in 2017 and I hope you will join me.

So part of the soundtrack my growing up and still moving me today, Rest in Peace George and thank you for the music and that voice.

Some of my favourite pearls of wisdom form George and his many amazing songs:

People, you can never change the way they feel, better let them do just what they will (from Kissing a Fool)

The years will come and go, some of us will change our lives, some of us still have nothing to show (from Waiting for that Day)

I never should have looked back, in your direction, I know that, just the same old fights again (from Older)

I guess that cupid was in disguise, the day you walked in and changed my life, I think it’s amazing, the way that love can set you free (from Amazing)

Take me back in time maybe I can forget, turn a different corner and we never would have met, would you care (from A Different Corner)

Wise guys realise there’s danger in emotional ties (from Young Guns)

Make the most of every day, don’t let hard times stand in the way (from Wham Rap)

You put the boom boom into my heart (from Wake me up Before you go go)

Once bitten, twice shy, I keep my distance but you still catch my eye (from Last Christmas)

You take the grey skies out of my way, you make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day (from Wake me up Before you go go)

 

 

 

 

 

It’s funny isn’t it when you think about time, we have all these sayings that incorporate it.

‘Time is a great healer’

‘Time and tide wait for no man’

‘Time can change me, but I can’t change time’

We spend so much of our time worrying about where we are meant to be, when we are meant to be there, how we will get there and who will be there when we arrive. This goes for all walks of our lives.

I am a big fan of the ‘this time in the past’ feature on Facebook which gives you snapshots of your memories from that day for years prior. Mine often include the children and my best friends. People who play massive and important roles and who I am truly grateful for.

Time has changed all of us over the last year and it’s that time of year where we reflect on this and what we want for our next year.

My boys have over the last year grown into even bigger boys who have started to eat us out of house and home and have little concept of time and how it works. They want everything now, whether it be information, outings, food and often can’t grasp the things that tend to get in the way such as waiting until daddy gets home from work, waiting for people to arrive, waiting for me to get th new toilet roll (you get the drift!)

That youthful impatience and outlook on the world is so interesting as of course one of the lessons we have to learn as we grow is patience. We can’t have everything now and good things take time. 

The wait for Christmas is a classic example of time standing still for little ones, they are desperate for it to be the big day and it’s been what seems like months of waiting and it still isn’t here whereas us grown ups are desperately wishing for a few more days to get the food ready, parcels wrapped and house in order. If you are one of those super organised people not only do I bow at your feet but I also beg you to help me next year! 

Time means the same for each and every one of us and yet we all think of it differently. 

How do you feel about time today? Are you rushed off your feet or chilling to Christmas music with a chocolate baileys in hand (I’ve embraced the addiction, I thought it was best!) 

Whatever you are doing I hope you have a lovely time today and time treats you well.
Xx

I have been for around five years now enjoying Instagram, it has been a creative outlet, a place I have made friends, somewhere I can see the joy and happiness people find around them and also to share in life’s varied events, ups and downs and to unite in groups of like minded people.

As most of you who follow my pictures know I love a few things over anything else to take pictures of, one of these things is flowers and the other is my view. Since I was a small child I have loved watching what is going on in the world around me, I draw back the curtains every day and view with wonder. This is wherever I am, at home, on holiday, at work, walking around, you name it!

This is massively reflected in all of the pictures I take of places I see and the world around me. I believe there are almost a hundred pictures in the last year just of the view from the bottom of my garden and the sea at Margate where I work. I get such positive comments from these pictures of my views and it got me thinking.

Life is tough, we are busy, we get stressed, we watch the news and hear of war, terrorist attacks, political unrest and poverty. Sometimes it is hard to just stop and appreciate what is around you. This is what #myhappyviews is about.

A weekly photo tag contest running from Tuesday to Monday with the winner announced on the Tuesday. Your happy view could be anything at all, your children, your family, your home, a rare cuppa, a vista, a quick snap from the car window, let your imagination go free. Tell me about your happy view and why it makes you smile.

The idea is that each week a little prize will be offered to the winner spreading some smiles and highlighting some fab businesses who donate the prizes. We are talking little tokens here but how amazing to say you have won a little something just for sharing something that made you smile?

I have always enjoyed taking part in hashtag galleries and feel that I can thank them for my continued love and progression of my pictures. I hope that the #myhappyviews feed will do the same for others.

I will do a weekly round up and announce my favourite on the blog and on my Instagram page. I would love for you to join in and let me know what you think!

The first week will run from the 27th of December and I will announce the first prize and some more details soon. This will be open to all but the prizes will only be able to be sent to UK addresses.

 

 

 

Hey all, how are you?

So we are on the home straight, the big day is fast approaching, school is nearly out and most of the windows on the advent calendar are open!

I am insanely excited for Christmas as I am every year but I find myself tonight unable to sleep because I’m so excited about an idea I have had. 

Now, I’m not going to ruin the surprise just yet but I will be making an announcement quite soon, I can give a couple of hints, it involves Instagram and one of my very favourite kinds of picture.

You can call me mean all you want, you can beg me to tell you but you will have to wait, probably only until tomorrow as I’m terrible at surprises but I hope you will all like the next stage to my blog and Instagram feed.

I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time, effort and energy to read my blog since I started writing it in May this year. I have just overtaken the 1000 follower mark and although such a tiny number to some it means the absolute world to me.

Good night you lovely people and here’s to the big announcement!

Xx

Hi everyone, how are you all?

Well as you will mostly know I’m back home from the hospital having had my hysterectomy. I’m feeling very tired and in pain but from the second I opened my eyes I felt so much better. 

I had read about lots of other women in my position saying the same and I thought it all sounded a bit too good to be true, how can you feel better in such a short time and how does your body know that quickly. Well I was wrong, I feel stronger and better than I have in a long time despite having just been through a major operation.

I’m not going to go on about the whole thing now for a few reasons, one I feel I will write better when I’m a bit more with it, two I don’t want to bore you and three I’m already getting sleepy!

I managed to drive Karl mad this morning by putting the television on at 0500 and watching some programme about security at Australian airports, the boys loved it (particularly the man smuggling birds eggs in his underpants) and he struggled getting them ready for school. I’m now the bad influence parent, the rebel, should be interesting! 

Loads of love xxx