Geek Mama

When I was a child, The Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton were my absolute favourites. I’ve recently started reading them to The Boy after a chance find of the collection in our local charity shop. (where I had gone to hand in 2 bags of books - why do I always fail to come away empty handed?) This is our first adventure into non picture-book storytelling, and I’m quite surprised at how taken he is with it all.  I love how he has to pull his ideas from the words and his own head rather than being guided by the pictures on a page.  It makes for interesting discussions.  We’ve not even made it up the Faraway Tree yet, and he’s already full of ideas of what magical creatures Jo, Bessie and Fanny might meet next.  I think he might actually puke with excitement when they eventually meet MoonFace, as I’ve been telling him about some of the characters and he is just fascinated by the strange man with a moon for a face on the back of the book.  He was none too pleased when we finished our first chapter and there had been no mention of him.

My favourite of the collection was The Enchanted Wood.  I had a beautiful illustrated version when I was younger which I am desperate to try and find again.  It may actually still be in my mum’s loft, so if I can get over my fear of heights I might take a torch up there and have a hunt for it one day.  I was searching for some illustrations to add to this post and came across a photo of the cover of the edition I had (1979 Dean reprint)  and it instantly brought a load of lovely childhood memories flooding back to me.

I used to read this every single night in my bed, sometimes by torchlight after my light had been turned out, and as soon as I finished I’d go back and re-read my favourite parts before starting all over again.  The illustrations are just beautiful and really add to the magic, so I would love to find for The Boy to experience too.

Oh, and in tonight’s chapter we met the brownies for the first time.  He jumped in with “Oh, I love brownies, sure I do mummy?” and so I had to explain they weren’t the chocolate kind you ate.  I do still wonder if in his head he pictures lots of  little baked chocolate sponges running around their toadstools in a magical forest.

January, courtesy of my mother and Edward Monkton

Soooo… it’s been a while.  I’ve been reading alot of blogs recently. Some old favourites, some new favourites, and most of them seem to have been given a new lease of life for the new year so I thought I’d give it a go and see if I can ride on the inspiration wave too for a while.

Everyone seems to be talking about resolutions at this time of year. New year, new start and all that jazz, but I feel more in limbo than ever.  My life, or my future life, more accurately, is still pretty much on hold and will be for the majority of this year. But it’s not all about me, there’s someone much more important who’s got a very exciting time ahead.

At the end of 2009 I moved house to somewhere we will hopefully be for a long time to come.  The main reason for the move was to be in the right place for The Boy to attend the perfect school (for him!) come August when he’ll be starting primary one.  (*gulp* primary school, my baby, can you believe that?) . So we certainly ended 2009 and started 2010 on a positive note, and it’s a huge relief to know that schooling is sorted.  He enrolls next week.  He’ll be going to the same school that his nursery is attached to, with lot of his friends moving up with him. He’s had some separation issues over the last 6 months which we’ve worked on with the nursery, and we finally seem to be coming out the other end of that.  I’m very grateful to the nursery and expecially Callum’s keyworker for all the work they’ve put in and concern they’ve shown him, and I’m just very glad he’ll be staying there for the next few years.  It’s such a lovely school, very friendly, and they really seem to genuinely care for the children’s wellbeing.  There’s a really nice sense of belonging there.  Ofsted results are all cool, and it has a lovely reputation, so everything’s pretty much hunky dory there.

Our new flat is lovely, it felt like home from the moment we moved in, even when all we had was a sofa in the living room before the removal men came with our furniture.  It just seems cosy, homely, safe and just “us”.  The Boy loves his new room, and has been sleeping brilliantly since his first night here. He hasn’t woken in the night once, that in itself is a good enough reason to never move again.  His new room is teeeeeny though, and is full to the gunnels with toys, especially since Christmas, so tomorrow’s job is shopping for some toy storage.  We moved very close to Christmas and all the hustle and bustle that goes with it, so I still have alot of little things to do to bring everything together and put my stamp on it, so expect some design inspiration posts from me  soon.

As for me, well I’m doing good, for someone in limboland.  Am desperate to get back to work, but can’t realistically do that until The Boy is in full time school which won’t be until mid-October, so I feel a bit like a greyhound waiting for the barrier to down so I can fly round the track.  Only problem is, I’m not sure what rabbit to chase.  I have no idea what I want to do with my life, workwise at least.  I think the first step is getting back into the swing of working, and having something to put on a CV while I decide what direction to take, but even that is something I can’t realistically pursue until the end of the year.  In the last 6 months of looking, I have not found even one job with hours that would suit us.  By us I mean fit in with nursery and my childcarer, which would be my mum. It’s just not feasable yet.  So still I wait….

Anyway, enough waffling from me.  Oh, I can’t go without mentioning the weather which is the hot (or not, har har) topic of the moment.  The UK at the moment is in the throws of a mini ice-age.  Heavy snow and Siberian temperatures have hit the whole of the country, which predictably has come to a standstill.  Councils are under fire for not having a small country put aside to store all the grit that would be needed to keep us from slipping and falling over, transport companies are under fire for failing to have buses equipped with ski attachments to take the children to school.  Oh and working parents with no childcare are up in arms at schools closing, non-working parents who fancy a lie in are up in arms about schools not closing. Ahhh, good old Britain eh?  And on that note I shall leave you with a phone snap from this afternoon of the boy on his way to nursery (the temp was -5 at 1pm!).  Look at his wee red cheeks <3

Brrrrrrrrr

I have another vampire obsession. This time it’s the HBO series True Blood. I watched all 12 episodes of season 1 (in 3 days!) and love it.  I love the grittiness of it, the dark humour, the sleaziness and although he’s no Edward Cullen, am quite fond of the lead vampire Bill Compton.

Am even more fond of the sadistic boss guy vampire Eric Northman. Yum.

Anyway, my musical Monday song this week is the song from the opening credits. “Bad Things” by Jace Everett:

This weekend The Boy and I are off to Blackpool with some friends. Quite alot of friends. At the last count there were 15 adults and 21 children coming, and that is after taking off the recent cancellations due to swine flu. We’re all staying in a little hotel, and I think our booking is practically filling the place. We had the first “annual” outing to Blackpool last year, and it was a huge success (only a few very minor hiccups, which have been errr, solved for this year), so we couldn’t wait to book up again for 2009, and we’re glad to include some people who couldn’t make it last year, but also sad that a couple of good friends from last year can’t make it.

We have a loose itinerary for the weekend, which includes The Pleasure Beach (I’ve got my tickets for here already, thanks to a chance find of lots of Tesco Clubcard vouchers in my drawer, so please let the weather allow this visit, storm-gods) and possibly the zoo. Should the weather not be suitable for a day wandering around the zoo with lots of children, we’ll probably visit the Tower instead. Last year, we had sunshine on the Friday, which allowed the kids to play on the beach for a while when we arrived, then torrential constant rain on the Saturday which made for a very dull and miserable Blackpool. By the Sunday the rain had stopped but was replaced by gale force winds that made walking along the prom impossible (I kid you not, we attempted it and turned back in defeat). The optimist in me (there is one!) is thinking that even with a few rainshowers, the weather this weekend can’t be any worse than it was last year. I’m clinging onto that hope.

So this week will consist of list-writing, laundry, ironing, organising, and trying not to spend any money while keeping a manic excited 4 year old occupied and happy. Should be fun We’re going Friday to Monday, and already my suitcase is almost full with clothes for the boy, covering every eventuality with the weather. I’ve yet to pack the washingmachine and clothes airer full of clothes, any of my clothes, or any toiletries/hairdrier/GHDs. We’re gonna need a bigger bag.

I’ll leave you with a photo of our gaggle of kids on the last day of last year’s trip. Trying to get them all to sit down, smile, and look at the camera was pretty much, well, impossible as you can see.

I was tagged by Laney agesssssssssss ago, but stupid little me forgot to add my blogging email address to my email client and I had no idea there was a comment telling me this. Ah well, better late than never eh?

What is your current obsession?

I’m unashamedly obsessed with the Twilight series of books/films, and in particular Edward Cullen. (and the actor who plays him) I’m a 33 year old mother who’s obsessed with teenage fiction and has a crush on a 23 year old actor. Oh dear.

What is your weirdest obsession?

Probably obscure deep sealife, in particular the elusive Giant Squid. I get so excited when I hear of sightings of live giant squid, and almost pee myself when there is video/photo evidence.

What are you wearing

Black and white polka dot jammy bottoms and a black vest top.

What’s for dinner?

I made salmon fillets with new potatoes and green beans. It was delicious.

What would you eat for your last meal?

Chicken Lalpuri with saffron rice and naan bread.

What’s the last thing you bought?

A memory card reader

What are you listening to right now?

My stupid bloody hamster chewing her stupid bloody cage.

What do you think of the person who tagged you?

Laney is the coolest, calmest parent of 4 I’ve ever come across, she seems to take everything in her stride and manages to juggle kids, work, uni work and growing her own food without breaking sweat. She’s a better woman than me!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Rottnest Island. (Even though it’s not residential, you did say ANYWHERE)

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

A warm empty beach somewhere, anywhere.

Which language do you want to learn?

Spanish, I’d love to live there.

What’s your favourite quote (for now)?

This too shall pass.

What is your favourite colour?

Green

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

Black boyfriend cardigan type thing.

What is your dream job?

Something geeky, internet based. Poss web design or maintenance.

Describe your personal style?

90s throwback with a bit of studenty vibe.

What’s your favourite tree?

I don’t have one. Oh dear, I couldn’t tell you the name of any tree unless it’s a Christmas tree. I could possibly identify a Willow.

What are you going to do after this?

Go to bed with my laptop, might watch a film before I go to sleep.

What’s your favourite fruit?

Melon

What inspires you?

The ocean/beach, sunny days, calm and quietness.

What is your favourite photo that you’ve taken?

Too many to choose from, but I really like this one of The Boy on the beach on holiday. I just love the attitude in the walk, and his wee sandy bum.

What are you currently reading?

From Potters Field by Patricia Cornwell. I’m a bit late in the day getting into her books, but read one on holiday and really enjoyed it, so am going through them all now.

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:

“This fish is also known as the Saddlehead. It is found further south than most of the stinging fish previously described.” - Venomous Creatures Of Australia (description of a Goblinfish)

What delighted you the most today?

The Boy insisting that he HAS to dance every time he hears music on the telly, he abandons every meal and activity if he hears music, he can’t help himself LOL.

By what criteria do you judge a person?

Well, I don’t suffer fools gladly, so probably intelligence. It’s not a conscious thing though.

What item could you not live without?

Laptop/PC I need to be able to get online. NEED to.

Tagged: Everyone (because I don’t think I have 8 readers hahaha!)

The rules:

1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, then one more question of your own.

2. Tag eight other people.

So it’s time to replace the rug in his bedroom that saw him through the spills and worse (bleurgh) of potty training and the little accidents that have occurred since we embarked on Gina Ford’s potty training in one week program. His little bedroom has been rugless for a couple of months as I realised that his has been shampooed and sponged and disinfected to within an inch of it’s life. I want a large one that will make his room seem cosy, and I haven’t really seen any that I prefer to the previous rug, so I’ve decided to go for the same kind again (although Ikea have updated the design and released a second colourway, just to confuse matters) I can’t decide on red or blue now, I think I’m veering towards red though, what do you think?

This is his room, for reference. (With a corner of the blue version showing)

I think red would be a nice contrast, he has alot of blue in his room already. Hmmm.

Also, while I’m on the subject of his room, I’m fed up picking eleventy-billion books off the floor and returning them to his bookshelf every time he reads a story, and would quite like a book stand that displays the books face on, which will hopefully make it easier to find the particular story he’s looking for (or maybe I should just throw every book out apart from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as that’s all he ever seems to read these days!). I have been looking online, and boy are they expensive! First one I found was from Vertbaudet, £81!!!!! For something that holds about 30 books and he’ll only use for another 3 or 4 years max. I think not. I know I’m a skinflint, but £81 jeez, that’s extortionate. A little further digging threw up these 2 from the GLTC, slightly more reasonable but still a bit on the high side for the amount that they hold I think…

This one for £60 (Is it really small or is it just me?)

And this, slightly uglier one for £45

I’ll keep looking in the hope that the perfect one will appear at my feet. Am wondering if there is a place that supply school/nursery equipment that may sell to consumers too. Something to think about..

I’m also desperate to revamp my living room a bit. I’m getting a bit fed up with turquoise as an accent colour, and would like to introduce some green, possibly doing away with the turquoise altogether. And I want new blinds. And a new rug. And a sideboard. Watch this space for some inspiration links when I get round to it.

At long last I have a shiny new laptop, which means (in theory) that blogging is back on the agenda. I was using a desktop PC that I built up when my laptop died on me, but it was awkward and I just didn’t feel the love with it, so couldn’t be arsed, basically. I’m a bit concerned that Twitter may have sucked the life out of my blogging mojo, but I’ll give it a go anyway.

The UK is in the middle of a heatwave at the moment. Up here in Scotland it’s certainly warm, but pretty much permanently cloudy which gives it all a strange end of the world feel. One up side of no sun is that I can sit while the boy plays with his sandpit and scooter and am able to see the screen of my laptop without a hand cupped over it.

It is the first week of summer holidays here in central Scotland, and I’ve decided we’re having a lazy week to ease us into it gently. The Boy has just discovered the joys of playing outside with friends, so I’ve been not been doing much apart from sitting on the steps in front of our building reading/browsing the net/gossiping with neighbours with brief intervals to make picnics and assist various children in dragging yet more toys outside. If this is what summer has to offer, bring it on! The only concrete plans we have made so far is Lazytown Live this weekend and a weekend in Blackpool with a huge group of friends and their children at the end of the month. We’ve made various loose arrangements to “do something” with various friends and their children at some point, but that’s as far as it goes.

I’m also having a bit of a detox at the moment. We came back from Spain 2 weeks ago, and I’ve just not had the motivation to cook properly. I’ve had far too much eating out, eating crap or skipping meals in favour of junk. I feel constantly lethargic and my skin is awful. My diet coke addiction is getting dangerously out of hand again too. So as of yesterday I’m having a few weeks of healthy eating. I’ve cleared the fridge of crap and filled it up with fruit, veg, salad, salmon, seeds, Muller Light and hummus. I’m forcing water down by the pint glass and limiting myself to one 2l bottle of diet coke A WEEK. I’m also only allowing myself 1 cup of coffee a day, as opposed to the 3 or 4 that I have been drinking recently. Day 2 and I’m feeling fine, hungry and peeing like a racehorse, but fine Well it’s 3pm, 2 hours since lunch and all this talk of food has made me hungry. I’m sitting in my mum’s garden at the moment, so will go and have a rummage through her fridge and see what’s healthy to snack on. She’s also doing a bit of a detox this week. She went shopping last night for healthy food and came back with a BOX of South African red wine. Gotta love my mum!

I have been playing this song on repeat for the last week. It’s renewed my love for proper punk rock and inspired me to dig deep into my hard drive and rediscover some of the tunes I was listening to in the early 90s.

It’s from the Watchmen soundrack, which is a fabulous soundtrack by the way, if you like that kind of thing, and is a (loose) cover of the Bob Dylan song.

I’ve just, in the last 10 minutes, installed wordpress, imported all my posts, and uploaded and modified a temporary theme. AND IT ALL WORKED. Woot!

I should actually be having quality time with my child, so will make this a short one, but just wanted to make sure everything is working as it should be. I’ll redo my blogroll this evening, so if there’s anyone who’d like added (who wasn’t there before!), leave me a comment and I’ll tag you on. Apologies if any of my posts have content missing, I’ll go through them all once The Boy is in bed and check everything over. I need to sort a proper theme out, but I’m actually loving this minimalist one at the moment.