kids

The Pre #BritMumsLive Post 42

This entry was posted in BritMums Feelings and tagged allergic to alcohol Bart Bloggers BritMums bunnies chickens Dotty Gloucester guinea health kids mental health Mo RSPCA Tikka on

Hiya, if you found me because you are attending Brit Mums and are having a nosey around blogs of other attendees, then welcome to my blog! I’m Julie (Obviously, sorry) and I live in Gloucester. I have two children, both boys, D and Jen. I adore my sons, but I struggle with them.   I do not hide that I have mental health issues – if I smile at you and make eye contact often but don’t speak that means I want to talk, to say “Hiya I’m Julie” but I’m too self-concious, too shy, afraid you won’t know me, and then I’ll be embarrassed even more. Once I get past that, I think I’m chatty, friendly and a good listener. Things I like include cake, coffee, chocolate, cups of tea, and biccies. And this is why I’m trying hard to lose weight now before I skydive for Matilda. Not […]

How Much? Shocking Costs For Starting Big School 2

This entry was posted in Money Worries School and tagged kids School son on

My son D was accepted in to the local Grammer school. The night before last we had to go to the school for a “new parents” evening where they spoke mainly about their laptop scheme. This is where they bulk buy specific computers, software, cases and kit so all the pupils have the same. The word optional was thrown about a fair few times, then the hard sell, in the last few school years not one new starters parents have failed to be on board with this laptop scheme, but it’s still totally optional but if your child doesn’t have the laptop they will be given adequate resources to complete the lesson. Further in to this hard sell section it turns out they mean 25 kids on computers and the poor kid with a paper text book and a pencil. Hmmm, no pressure then! The price? A mere £560! Ouchy […]

#MMskydive – Why Am I Skydiving For The Lullaby Trust? 2

This entry was posted in Charity Good Causes Lullaby Trust Matilda Mental Health Skydive and tagged DDNOS fundraising ideas IT kids Lullaby Trust Matilda Matilda Mae media Skydiving Team Matilda Mae Vertigo on

The last few days Team Matilda Mae have been busy talking about ideas for fundraising and I realised I’ve not really explained why I want to do this. Why am I willing to jump from a plane for a family I’ve never met? Why should I even care? Well here goes, I care simply because I am a Mum too. I saw the tweets from Jennie about Matilda Mae and all my sympathy, and thoughts were with her, I wanted to fix this. Hoped so hard it was a mistake, that She might wake up. I cried reading my screen, Jennie was not just words on a screen, she was a real lady, sharing her real emotions, and I needed to fix it, to help, to listen. But I can’t fix it, there is nothing anyone can do to bring Matilda back, but by doing something mad for The Lullaby Trust charity […]

My Review of Zaggora Hot Pants

This entry was posted in Clothing Reviews Sponsored Posts Weight and tagged clothing kicking kids photo Review shower son washing on

As some of the regular readers will have read, I want to shift some weight trying to get ready for that skydive! Have you heard of Zaggora hot pants? These hot pants are a brilliant idea, and Zaggora sell a range of other clothing to help you exercise better. The idea is it makes certain areas of your body hotter than normal, so if you are wearing them it means your bum and thighs do “more work” and waste more calories, so hopefully lose weight from the problem areas first. I’m sad to admit I do have a wobbly tummy, so I am giving Zaggora Medium HotPants 2.0 a good trial. I have been exercising indoors on my partners cross trainer, and my twice daily school pick up is via bicycle, and I try to wear my hot pants for that too. I can’t say I’ve lost any weight yet but I can […]

A Few Fathers Day Gift Ideas 1

This entry was posted in BloggerOpps Family Occasions Sponsored Posts and tagged Amazon cake coffee Daily Deal Superstore Fathers Day flowers ideas JD KGB kids LED Philips Rechargeable Shaver tv on

Firstly, I know it is only May but it is time to get thinking about Father’s Day. It will be upon us before we know it. The best plan, as with Mother’s day and Birthdays is to buy early and avoid having to buy a petrol station greetings card and a bunch of scruffy flowers. I often forget important days, which is where the calendar app in my Android is so helpful. This year I am informed it falls on Sunday 16th of June. So stick it in your diaries ladies and jellybeans. Here are a few ideas, in no particular order… A personalised Thanks Dad poster, it is unframed but Wilkos sell cheap frames. Thanks Dad!! Image from paperthemes.co.uk If Dad is a gamer-geek then a new controller might be right up his street. A Tardis coffee mug, “ohhh yes!” Tell him that “It can hold more coffee on […]

30 ways to save £1 4

This entry was posted in Advice Competition Entry Money Saving and tagged competitions DIY & home style kids recycling shopping on

I noticed Jax from Liveotherwise blog about this great competition from Money supermarket and knew I had to enter. It’s called 30 ways to save £1, and the great thing about this competition isn’t the huge prize money, it is that they will give you £1 per tip, if you publish your own post on this topic before 17th of May, so what are you waiting for? Pounds, Quid, gold pieces, dosh! The first tip has to be, enter this competition yourself as soon as you have read this post! Always make sure you use the food with the shortest dates first. Throwing out a few items a week could cost you several pounds. Wash your laundry at 30 degrees when you can to save a little bit in electric bills. Try to save a little bit of gas and water (so dosh too) by shortening you shower by 10 seconds […]

Are Smart TVs Too Smart Now?

This entry was posted in BloggerOpps Sponsored Posts Technology Television and tagged BBC children Christmas DVD Facebook ITV kids LED tv on

When I was a kid, TVs were very basic, a few buttons or tuning knobs. It was on-off, channel and volume. No record, save, rewind, pause, I understood the new bits like rewind and fast forwards when they first came in, and it was great. I think now though it has got to a point where TVs are a bit too flipping SMART! It’s like the TV is secretly laughing at me, as I am one of the many parents who get their children to do the set up bits on the goggle box. I’m no technophobe (obviously as I’ve got this blog) but the TV baffles me. So many menus and buttons, and functions I do not understand. In fact the little wall mounted LED TV I bought my partner for Christmas is worse, it has all kinds of functions I can not use, it is almost a pc, […]

D had a Meltdown 6

This entry was posted in Mental Health and tagged children health Jen kids mental health rant social workers son on

For a long time I’ve been saying D is special and I suspect Aspergers or something related to it? I’m no doctor though. But there is definitely something odd, something un-average. He’s charming, super smart and obsessed by maths and Lego but at times he just flips and is like a disruptive hurricane of rage and hate that you can not even communicate with. Today for the first time in months, I think the first time this year actually, I went round someones house for tea. It should have been lunch but I was running late. It was nice for a while. Me and friend were chatting grown up things whilst drinking tea and all our kids were playing nicely on a Kinect doing bowling together, for a short time anyway it was nice! Then D suddenly flipped like he does at home, in front of another grown up. Whilst […]

Stalking Awareness – I’ve Been Stalked 5

This entry was posted in Random Stalking and tagged cold Cornwall fear journey kids shower Stalking Awareness Day on

It’s not just celebrities that get stalked. I’ve been stalked myself. April the 18th is Stalking Awareness Day, and some people with experience on this subject will also be blogging, hopefully I will link to those from my blog shortly. I’ve gone in a bit early, we all know how forgetful I can be.   My Stalker Experience It was over a decade ago, when I lived in Cornwall a man started acting odd. He was a bus driver, I simply said “Hello” one evening on the bus home, it was a half an hour bus journey in silence otherwise. It was a journey I took regularly. The bus route to and from my place of employment, not a great job, just a fast food staff person. The same bus drivers drove on each route but in shifts, so I knew their faces and names from their badges, and they […]

A Warm Day So Off To The Park We Go 3

This entry was posted in Country Kids Kids Photos and tagged boys football Jen kids play on

Today it was sunny outside! *faints* So after lunch we went to the park. By the time the boys stopped debating whether they were going to the park, or just planning on arguing with each other all afternoon, the sun had faded off a little and the wind had picked back up. Chilly, but I was determined they weren’t going to play computer games all day! We went out with a blue football and the parcel I needed to post to the Brolly sheet competition winner. The post office is by the park so it made sense really to do both. When we were in the post office the boys asked for a drink so we got some cartons and drank them as we walked. When I got to the park I was a bit shocked, it was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. We couldn’t use the swings or […]

Travelling with the Kids, In-Car Entertainment 1

This entry was posted in Car Competition Entry Holiday Tots100 Travel and tagged boys Car Cornwall Devon DVD Jen journey kids play Wales on

@travelsupermkt  #JollyJourneys Competition with @Tots100    I read on Tots100 that TravelSupermarket are after travelling tips for keeping little folks busy in the back seats on long journeys. Well, this is right up my street.   We drive to places like Wales, Devon or Cornwall for holidays. We are normally going camping, so the boot is often pretty full.  Where we drive to, Cornwall On the longer journeys we have in car DVD players we recently purchased, but we only take a few films. Its for boredom relief if we get stuck in traffic, rather than the main entertainment option.   Often we talk for the first hour or so. Car Snap is Jen’s favourite game. This means he watches every car we pass and shouts snap as fast as he can if he sees the same make or model. When we are in Daddy’s car we don’t allow the colour […]