Every day I am pretty sure I do at least one thing wrong. Most days I do more. I used to think I was alone, until I talked to other parents who were honest. Here is a place for more parents to feel less alone, and more "good enough".

Thursday 21 July 2011

"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
Malcolm X


It's pretty hard to keep up with your blog when you can't talk about the thing that is foremost in your life at the moment. Or more to the point, when there is nothing that can be said about it because it is pure conjecture, made-up fantasy land stuff from the realms of a nightmare. What can I say?? Don't believe anything you see or read or hear in the media, I personally won't be buying a paper or watching the news for a long while, and I now understand where people are coming from when they say they don't read/watch the news. It's pointless. Inaccurate scare stories feed people's imaginations, make money, and ruin people's lives.
I have nothing to say, not because I know nothing, but because nothing has happened. All I will say is that I work in the best workplace I have ever worked in, with the most supportive staff team I have ever known, the best up-keep with regulations I have seen anywhere, and the safest most happy children ever. So no, to answer all the people that have asked me, I am not looking for a new job, I have one.

Saturday 16 July 2011

The July List

Ok, so I have really let this blog slide. Which is understandable, I moved house. But now my life is fairly settled, my house is finally feeling tidy (enough), a home and a place to be, and I've caught up with work paperwork, and only have one week left before the summer holidays, so I think it's time to jump back on it before I get lost all over again. Now, the list for July has some questionable things on it, such as:
2. Get freckles - I don't get extra ones
and 4. Go skimpy - No, I don't think so
and especially 6. Pull a sicky - Again, no, not an option
So, as it's half-way through the month, I figure I can miss up to half the things, so 3 knocked off is no trauma :D Here's the new list:

10 (or now 7) Do-it-just-do-it Things to Do in July

1. Grab life by the round things
3. Have extra cream on your strawberries (or extra strawberries on your cream if you are that way inclined)
5. Cut the crusts off your sandwiches
7. Stay out til it's actually properly dark
8. Party
9. Finish the icecream
10. Be lovely

Friday 8 July 2011

Just a Little Moment

Last night, I got caught in the thunderstorm. Walking through the back streets of Bradford, with rain dripping down our faces and the flashes lighting up the skies, counting the gap between the lightning and thunder, and wearing only a thin cardigan and open ballerina shoes. And as we walked, and laughed, and counted, this is the song came into my head


It is not the big things, it is not the holidays and big nights out and house warmings and music festivals and birthdays. It is the small things, it is walking in the storm, it is making up a triop kit, it is eating cheesecake on the same day as shedloads of other people just because some dude on facebook created an event telling everybody to, it is playing Star Wars Guess Who and trying to figure out whether my character is on the Jedi Council or not, and most of all, it is being with the people you love and loving yourself being with them.

Make the most of the moments, because that is what life is made of. I'm hoping to have a bunch of them this summer, and for many years to come.

Saturday 2 July 2011

Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You

So I'm rather thoughtful at the moment. I kind of lost June, and that's ok. Sometimes it's better to just skip something than put pressure on yourself to do everything and anything. I'm tired as it is with keeping up at home and work, without putting silly pressure on myself to make up for a missing month on here. June 2011 will be forever the missing month. A month of moving and working and sports days and sun, of park visits and allergy meds and cocktails in Leeds and first time chilli making. There's a glimpse for you ;) I'm not skipping it because it was bad (it wasn't), so it's allowed :) You never know, the odd June photo might turn up every so often just to tantalise you!

So, back to the thoughtfulness. I have a lot of friends and family at the moment who are going through hard times. Obviously their own privacy is foremost here and it is not my place to divulge secrets, but I just wish, wish, I could take all their pain away. Money doesn't solve everything, but if I won the lottery I don't think I would have much of it left by the time I sorted myself out and helped everybody I would want to. But that would be fine with me, who needs money sitting in a bank account anyway.
I do think, that people need to think more. It is important to be honest, but that still can be done with tact. It is important to have your own opinions and not just run with the crowd, but that can still include being open minded. And, this quote has sprung to mind many a time this month:

"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Niemoller

It doesn't matter if somebody is "different" to you (though what is different anyway?), everybody is people, and everybody deserves the chance to live and be treated with decency. On another note, whilst searching on youtube for videos relating to this quote, I came across real life Holocaust deniers. Wow, I didn't know they actually really existed in such a way as to be putting their views on youtube, I honestly can't believe that in this day and age people can STILL believe that it was all made up.

So, I found this:



I hope, one day, if I ever need to be spoken up for, that there will be somebody left to speak for me, as I have done for many others. I used to be prefer to be neutral (or Switzerland as somebody once put it), but now, now I prefer to be Me.

Oh, and talking of speaking out for people, this month, and next (and quite probably quite a few months after to be fair), are pretty tough months for my sister and her boyfriend, Katy and Justin, who became Mummy and Daddy to my gorgeous little nephew Isaac Edward Munford on August 10th 2010. Unfortunately we were only to have 2 weeks and 6 days with him before he was called up to Heaven.

Now, here is a picture of Isaac:



And here is a picture of his resting place, taken on the Royal Wedding Day:

My sister would love to be able to give him a headstone, and is currently raising money selling Mini Cakes to save up for this. If you would like to help, please take a look at Isaac Inspirations. All money raised from Mini Cakes goes to Isaac's Headstone Fund, all money raised from other items goes to the NeoNatal Unit at Leeds General Infirmary where Isaac was looked after by lovely nurses and doctors xx. I can testify that the Mini Cakes are extremely yummy :D

Now I am off to find other ways to help all the people that I care about that are having rough times xxx.


This song is stuck in my head at the moment. Whenever you see somebody suffering, think "There but for the Grace of God go I", and see what you can do to help.