Saturday 30 August 2014

Uh oh, they're at it again!! ( A.K.A Kids say the funniest things part 4 )

The more I share my funny stories with friends the more I get told about their children, so here is a little collection of anecdotes from friends, feel free to add your own funny stories in the comment box and they might make the next edition!!!


Firstly Squiggle has been using his initiative. We went out the other day and had set off down the street. When we got to the bottom of the hill he asked if the big building with lots of windows was a hotel. I told him it was an old peoples home and explained that when people got old and needed looking after they would sometimes move to an old peoples home. "Hmmm" said Squiggle his mind clearly thinking about this, "Shouldn't daddy live there now - he's old"!!!!

Last month Squiggle had gone shopping with my auntie and grandma, whilst at the checkout he exclaimed that he needed the toilet and set off. My grandma followed him and saw him talking to a member of staff at the toilet door. What are you doing? they asked - "Going to the toilet" he replied. "Where's your daddy?" - "He's at work", "Where's your mummy?" - "Oh she's at home in bed!!!" - Please bear in mind this was at dinner time, and believe me I was up - honestly!!!

Next a friend of mine was telling me about how her 4 year daughter had caught sight of her in the bath and had innocently asked "Mummy why do your boobies point down and mine point up? will mine go like that when I'm older?"


Thanks to Kelly for this one.
Evie says the funniest things. Latest is that as you know she's a little blondie and I have dark hair, I said to her that when she gets older she may well go dark and look more like me to which she replied 'I'm not being racist but I really don't like dark hair, I'm staying blonde'  She once said 'Mom you know those people who don't eat meat, what are they called, lesbitarions? Well I'm not one of them as I like chicken nuggets' I couldn't stop laughing xxx



Thanks to Nancy for this one
My son Aaron told me that the titanic was sunk by an ice cube and he also says he is handbdextrous not ambidextrous ( as in both handed).


Thanks to Josie for this one
Molly said to me on way to playgroup on Friday in the car grandma look I've got 4 fingers up I said I can't look I'm driving I've got to keep my eyes on the road, she said grandma your eyes don't go on the road they stay in your head you mean you have to look at the road!! Well that put me straight didn't it!

Kerrie over at Wife Mum Student Bum had this to say:
Alice (2) said yesterday "Mummy you have a big tummy don't you...have you got a baby in there?" Cheeky bugger x

Emma at Emma's Little World
We were in Devon last week on holiday on and went crabbing. When we got one Ben put it into the bucket and said, he jumped in quickly cos he thought it was the proper sea!! And it wasn't the proper sea, it was my sea in the bucket!!


Thanks to Tim for this one:
On a drive to our local Tesco and whilst stuck behind an elderly couple... I may have muttered something along the lines of "bloody old people, get a move on". During the same trip to Tesco, whilst doing our shop. A lovely elderly couple were cooing over the boys, when our Callum chirps up with the line "bloody old people, get a move on". I nearly dropped through the floor with embarrassment.


Thanks to everybody for their input, please feel free to add your own stories via the comment box, on my Facebook page or email me. I look forward to hearing what your little one's have been saying!

Thursday 21 August 2014

Eureka! & Little Live Pets

We were invited to the children's museum Eureka! in Halifax on Saturday to be part of the launch of the Little Live Pets.

Little Live Pets come in a range of beautiful butterflies and birds and there are 6 of each to collect. When stroked, the birds chirp and tweet, plus they have a record feature which allows you to record yourself for about 10 seconds and they will repeat and mimic you. The butterflies are quite lifelike and will sit in the palm of your hand fluttering their wings.



The Little Live Birds are £9.99 RRP on their own or you can buy a birdcage for £19.99 which includes a special edition bird. The Little Live Butterflies are £12.99 on their own or £22.99 for a butterfly house, again with a special edition butterfly included.

All the children at Eureka! were quite taken with both the birds and the butterflies, but Squiggle and I really loved the budgies, the green one in particular reminded me of Joey, my budgie, when I was younger. Squiggle thought they were just ace, and best of all they won't make a mess in the house ( or be looked at like dinner by the cat!! )

Afterwards we were allowed to explore Eureka!, despite it having been open for the last 22 years, I have never been, what have I missed out on. I turned into a child myself and ran around and interacted with Squiggle and the other kids. I thought it was ace!

Part of the museum is set out like a town, with a bank, a shop, a post office and a garage with petrol station and workshop.

Our first port of call was of course to the bank, where we quickly printed our own Eureka! money to play with and attempt to bypass the security system and break into the vault!


Ever wanted to sit on £1,000,000



















Then with our ill gotten gains we went and played in the shop. Squiggle decided that he was going to charge £9999 for a loaf of bread and milk, despite what the till said. I think he will go far in economics when he is older!









Next we popped into the garage and helped to fill a car up with petrol. There is a replica petrol pump which the children can put into the car and the dial goes up as thought hey are filling it. I was quite impressed that petrol was only 50p a litre and will be taking my car there in the future! There was also a nice bed of tyres, for those "tyred and exhausted parents" to take a quick nap on!!








Finally we called in at the post office and Squiggle tried his hand at being a postman, delivering parcels and letters to the various doors. Even though his uniform drowned him I think he quite suits it!




After the town, we moved into the house and went through all the rooms, the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms and the bathroom and learnt how things work. Squiggle loved the bathroom and spent ages switching the shower on and off and flushing the see through toilet, just to watch it fill up and flush it again!













Upstairs in the museum is the 'All About Me' area where we learnt about the human body. Before we began our journey we picked up a passport and then took part in various activities to learn more about Squiggle. We measured how tall he was, how far he could stretch, how far his stride was, how much he weighed and a lot more. It's a good idea because if you have the Eureka annual pass you can compare just how fast your child is growing up between each visit.



We finished the day by visiting the Soundspace area and spent a lot of time making a lot of noise!

Eureka! is aimed at children 0-11, the ticket prices are FREE for under 1's, £4.25 for children aged 1-2 and£11.95 for everybody else, but if you take your ticket to the annual pass booth you can upgrade to an annual pass and return as many times as you want for the rest of the year.


I'd like to thank Little Live Pets and Eureka! for inviting us to a great day out.

*Disclaimer: I was invited to the Little Live Pets launch and received free entry to Eureka! for the purpose of writing this post, but all views, opinions and photos are my own.






Saturday 16 August 2014

Innuendo Bingo or Cake, Anyone?

I've taken to having the odd dabble at bingo on a Tuesday night, but alas my luck hasn't turned up to win me a cash prize. However today I have won giggles and embarrassment whilst unwittingly playing innuendo bingo. A friend hinted she would like a cake for her birthday, she had seen a minion from Despicable me, dressed in pink dungarees and a tutu, so I said I wouldn't mind having a go at making it for her.

This is what she wants! - I have not made this.

My first problem was I needed a small tin, so whilst looking for a cake tin, I was offered an 8 inch but said I would be happy with just a 4 inch, cue stunned silence followed by sudden realisation of what was said.

HOUSE!!!!

I did manage to find a small enough cake tin but was worried that she would be disappointed as it wouldn't be as grand as the one she'd seen, so I was about to text my friend and ask if she would be happy with a 6" 1 eyed minion, but had to stop myself because the tears had started to roll down my face!
HOUSE!!!

This was all done before teatime, and without the influence of alcohol, who knows what I'm going to be like later!!!

Monday 11 August 2014

Last visit to the Dermatology

Back on the 22nd April, I started my daily treatment for my psoriasis, here's my first post with some not so nice looking pictures.

I was going 5 times a week, Monday - Friday, having ointment every day and UVB light therapy every other day. Over the initial weeks the ointment did its job and by the middle of June I was just visiting for my light treatment.

Today was my last visit for light treatment, I was allowed between 24 & 30 sessions, so with having holidays and missing a few sessions I opted for the maximum allowed. I am glad to report that my arms and body are now clear and I feel so much more confident in myself. I've been wearing short sleeve tops, shorts and dresses. Granted my legs are not 100% but they are a damn sight better than they were, so I'm not so bothered about showing them off. I've also gained a bit of a tan from the "industrial sunbed" so I now have a healthy glow about me.

Even my scar looks better
It's like having a new pair of legs!



















I'm never going to be cured of psoriasis because there just isn't a cure for it, all I can do is try to keep it at bay, unfortunately stress is a major factor with psoriasis as is cold weather and lack of sunlight, which is why during the winter my skin does take a turn for the worse. I'm not being pessimistic when I say I have little doubt in my mind that in 12 months time I could be writing about my next course of hospital treatment, I've had this condition since I was about 6 years old, had numerous hospital visits for treatment and every year just before Summer I am covered head to toe.

The only time I was truly clear was when I was pregnant, which is why I can't understand why I wasn't worse, pregnancy is certainly stressful on the body! Anyway I am clear for now and I am going to try and make the most of whatever good weather we have left to come and get outside, I wasn't really allowed out whilst having light treatment in case it all burnt my skin. And quite typically, I finish my treatment and Britain gets hit with the back end of a hurricane!

So do any of you suffer from psoriasis, what makes it worse? what calms it down? Please get in touch.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Fitness Bands For Kids?

I was watching The Wright Stuff this morning, when they had a discussion about the Leapfrog Leap Band which has been designed for 4-11 years to keep them active and reduce childhood obesity.

I was quite surprised to learn that such a product was needed, I've heard that childhood obesity is on the increase but I don't really know any overweight children. None of Squiggle's friends are 'fat', there were no overweight kids at nursery and I can't say that I saw any whilst we were out visiting primary schools.
Squiggle is very active and very rarely sits down to watch TV. He is always on the go, in fact I tweeted The Wright Stuff to tell them I need a band to tell him to sit and have a rest every now and then.
I got my tweet read out!

Click here to watch!

Despite my initial negative thoughts about it, it would be quite interesting to see exactly how much energy my son expends in a day and compare it to me.
I am a self confessed couch potato who has the odd random moments of mad exercise, but where as Squiggle is happy to run and play all day I am more than happy to just sit down and watch him! I haven't passed on my bad habits to him but will he start to pick up on this as he gets older?

What do you think? Do kids need motivating to exercise? or should we just leave them to enjoy being a child? Let me know your views.

I Just Smiled Politely, Paid & Left! ( A.K.A kids say the funniest things part 3 )

I've had a couple of moments over the past week when I've just wished the ground would open up and swallow me, all courtesy of my darling son.

First we went to put petrol in the car at the supermarket in town. I filled the car up and took Squiggle inside to pay where he took one look at the lady serving and shouted at her - "Why are you sad? Why don't you smile? Why you not happy?"  I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me but instead I just smiled politely, paid and left. I'm not mentioning which supermarket it is, but they have a reputation around here for having slow and miserable staff. I hope she smiles next time.

Next we went into a shop in town. The person behind us in the queue was a cross dresser. Squiggle took one look and asked " Why are you wearing a dress?, Are you a man or a girl? Do you have a tail? ( willy )" I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow, but instead I just smiled politely, paid and left!

Finally we were in the toilets in the shopping centre, having to share a cubicle as I didn't want him wandering off, and unfortunately it was that time of the month, Squiggle caught sight of my knickers as I was taking a pee, "Mummy, why you got a nappy? are you a baby? I'm not a baby I'm a big boy, You wear nappies, you wear nappies" well yes you've guessed it, I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me, but instead I flushed, smiled politely at the strangers queuing, washed my hands and left!


Monday 4 August 2014

Meal Planning Monday - 4th August 2014

So we're in the midst of the school holidays and the meal planning is hit and miss, will we be in for tea or will we be on a day out somewhere? Truth is, I don't really know until we wake up.

So this post is a bit of a willy nilly post, I'm not going to set a determined menu this week, I'll just tell you what the aim is and we shall have to see what we do actually eat and on what day!

So in the fridge and freezer for this week, I have:

lamb steaks
peppered beef grill steaks ( posh burgers )
bits to make a lasagne - mince, pasta sheets & sauce
egg and chips - haven't had this for ages
pulled pork - I bought some from Tesco a few weeks ago and just got round to eating it last week and it was amazing.

I served it in warm pita bread along with a side salad and a few chips, it certainly got the thumbs up from everybody in the Homer house!

I've no food plans for the weekend as we are going out, so might treat ourselves to a pub tea. We're off to Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival on Sunday. It's a great day out, all the village takes part and they all put up scarecrows. There's a trail to follow along with a little quiz and prizes every day for adults and children.



Have you ever been? Or do you have a Scarecrow Festival near you? If so let me know, I'd like to go to other Scarecrow Festivals.


Saturday 2 August 2014

Dinosaur Tourettes

I left the other half to look after Squiggle today, when I returned he was in a bemused state, I asked what was wrong. He said Squiggle had been playing out, stomping, roaring and saying "I'm dinosaur tourettes!"


 I had to point out that he meant dinosaur T-Rex!

Friday 1 August 2014

Thank you to a not so stranger.

Up until 4 years ago, I was fat, I was fat and happy, I was fat, happy and had a bubbly personality. I stood tall, stuck my boobs out, sucked my stomach in ( as best I could ) and walked with an air of confidence about me.
I was half the woman I used to be!
Then I became pregnant, had a traumatic birth, contracted pancreatitis, lost over 10 stone in weight, became a walking skeleton and lost all my hair. That confident girl disappeared and in return I was left a shy, quiet and miserable shadow. I couldn't walk tall, in fact it hurt to hold my head up, my body was so weak it couldn't support my head, so I walked huddled over like a little old lady, not daring to look anybody in the eye.

I became jealous of my friends perfect bodies, well they were perfect in my eyes, they didn't bare the scars I had, their tummies looked normal, they could leave the house and go and do and eat whatever they wanted without fear of being ill in public.

Slowly but surely I got a little bit better, my hair started to grow back, I gained weight and was able to walk a little taller. I started wearing make-up again, although I still have the scars I learnt to dress myself in ways that hid my imperfections, my personality slowly made a comeback and although that daft grin of mine reappeared it still masked so many sad feelings. I no longer felt attractive, and no amount of make-up was ever going to change that.

My husband has never once said I looked pretty or nice, not even on our wedding day, well earlier this year I attended a couple of weddings, and made the effort to look nice, bought a new dress and yet still got nothing from him. However, I did get quite a few compliments from my family and other people, some of the  people were strangers to me but knew of me through my mum and grandma, but there was that one compliment from someone who I only really knew in passing to say hello to and hadn't spoken to much before now, but for whatever reason, they were the one who made me blush and made my day and slowly made me realise that I have come such a long way and it's nice to know that somebody out there thinks I am pretty good looking.

So I'd like to take this moment to thank that person, ever since that day I've walked a little taller, had a little more spring in my step, and smiled a little brighter. I've started to socialise a lot more with friends and I've even made some new friends. My outlook on life is now a lot more positive than it was