Police and councils fail again!

A mother and her disabled daughter commited suicide in October 2007, Fiona Pilkington felt it better to take her own and daughters life after being terrified by youths for many years. They were discovered in a burning car on the A47 near home in Barwell.

Fiona had contacted the police 33 times for help, did they do anything?? er no doesnt look like it! I bet she felt she was all on her own when it comes to these heartless thugs. We have heard the apologies and apparently they have tried to action anti social behaviour orders on the youths, but apparently they didn't work. Surely the police could have done more. I hope it has not got so bad in this world that a mother and her disabled child feels "under siege" in thier own home. This story absolutely sickened me, i know nobody forced her to commit suicide and people will say it was her choice, but she must have been really desperate to do that. There must be someone to blame, the polioce, the council, the parents of these youths. Combined all these three helped this poor lady feel truely unsafe, i would love to hear from these parents to hear thier story. Did they know what thier children were doing, did they care, do they feel guilty....these questions i would love to know. As parents i feel we have a duty to the public to make sure our children are polite and respectful, and that is to anyone and everyone.

The Simmons family, what a lovely bunch of inbreds these people are, drunk parents and four sons 20,16,15 and 12 year olds. Apparently Alex the 16 year old was shouting abuse at Fiona just a few hours before she commited suicide...do they have any remorse for the torture, i doubt it. I really hate this sort of behaviour, why should people feel threatened walking down the street, or have stones thrown at them just because it seems like fun to some people. Disgusting if you ask me i cannot beleive there are people in the world like this.

When reporters came to questions them, they took no blame what so ever or showed any sort of care and consideration for anyone but them selves. This is a family that has a 3 bedroom council house, oh i suppose they deserve that don't they. It is extremely hard to get a council house there are people living in b&b accomodation because they cant get one. I know its harsh but i would chuck them out if it was me, why should they get it over another family, this world is messed up....where is the gratitude eh?

X Factor hopefuls Tru Colorz chucked out of the show

X Factor hopefuls Tru Colourz are no longer allowed to stay in the show...so Louis is short by a group...bless him :-) it appeared one of the girls is still just 15...can you imagine the disapointment going all that way thorugh lots and lots of auditions then them finding out!!! do they not ask for a copy of a birth certificate or something...didnt this happen before...oh no i think that may have been too old before when they had a limit. I understand they don't need to do it at the first or maybe second audition but what about maybe after that...especially if they are saying they are just over 16...! Anyway bless em, i think they are really brave for getting up there at that age...pretty amazing if you ask me, when i was that age i was unconfident and nervous about anything, where do they get it from!

This is them on the X factor

Click the link to see them singing before X Factor. I think they were good i was thinking they would make the final!

You will be pleased to know Harmony Hood has been given another shot at it, Motown boy and girl group were chucked out but fortunately for them they get another go at it. That must be hard, knowing you are filling in because someone lied. I am sure they are not worried though, its a major achievment getting that far in itself!!

Would you eat in these places

I came across these pictures i thought were fantastic and i had to share them!

Anyone wanna be fat??

Or maybe a pile of this owners faeces??

How can you tell a crack is happy?? anybody?

need i say more on this one!

Hope you enjoyed a few pickies, comments welcome as always..i take no credit for the images i just came accross them.

Dont you just hate traffic lights - naked streets

Dont you just hate traffic lights they drive me wildly mad, i was driving down the A4 today and do quite often in fact...and how many sets of traffic lights were there...oh my goodness gracious me i get more and more stressed as every traffic light stops me...can they not work it out so you don't get hit at every single one...start stop start stop! AAARRRGGGGHHH what are thye trying to do to us...especially when you can't even see why you are being stopped, how amazingly aggravating.

Apparently they are looking at creating naked streets :-) sounds good eh? well this means be gone to traffic lights, the trial being done in London....is Boris mad?? no actually i think not, this will entice people to be more conscious when driving and according to recent studies it works!! and i think it is right, today i was at one of the busiest roundabouts i know of and the lights were out, straight away i got out of "autopilot" mode and switched my brain on for the first time in the whole journey. It was great, no queuing just watching what was happening and using my common sense to not go if someone was coming round and when there was a gap i went accross "simples" as those cheeky chappies from conpare the meerkat webiste...i love that advert, shame i hate comparision website..sorry i digress! Anywhoo i really do hate traffic lights and although some people think naked streets are no good i think they are fanbleedingtastic :-)

Farmville on Facebook

Wow how cool is Farmville on Facebook....i now know what it is like to be truely addicted to something on the computer!! I am not the sort of person to usually get addicted but this has got me in the most possible way. the best thing i think is that you save up for different awards and this keeps it all going...some awards seem so out of reach but a little time and dedication i can get there...and i will get there!! lol :-) I do hacve 4 friends who are beating me on the levels but don't worry i am going to hunt them down and somehow shut down thier internet connection...mwaahhhhahaha!!! Okay i am getting a little loopy with this but i just can't help it. I keep trying to get the ugly duckling too but not sure how you get it. If anyone can give me some advice on how to get further up the levels quicker then please let me know.

Sausage Casserole in the slow cooker...

I made a lovely sausage casserole yesterday...even if i do say so myself :-) I am annoyed i did not take a picture but i will do next time!!

Basically all i did was put all the ingredients in the slow cooker for 6 hours and serve over creamy mashed potato.

Sausages
Chopped tomatos
Beef gravy (quite thick)
Pepper
Large Onion
Garlic
Tomato puree
Tobasco sauce
Sage


And thats it, most of this stuff i just found and chucked in...im sure you can adapt however you wish...like using up different veg like mushrooms or carrots...anything really. I love cooking but hate following recipes so i tend to go with what sort of goes together and make up the rest! It is very rare that i will go out and get stuff in for a dish like this as most things you can substitute with other items in the fride/cupboard!

Driving around all day it feels

What a day today i have had...driving driving driving!!!

1st of all i popped into work, how depressing that is...i can't beleive i am gonna be back there in January, it has gone so fast and im gonna hate it when i do go back...i bet everyone has the old "shall i stay at home or go back to work scenario" On one hand staying at home is great, you can structure your days backwards and forwards to different things...nurserys/schools etc and spend all the time possible with your little angels (or devils) or you can go to work and earn money and have the time you do spend with them very precious. Its a toughy, money wise i have to go back, there is no way we could afford to live like we do with me off work and Dean on his salary..not that its a bad salary but we couldn't all live off it. If i had the choice i still think i would go to work though...even part-time, only because my organisational skills are pretty rubbish and my head by the end of the week is absolutely everywhere!!! So back to work i go!!!

Next on the list today going off to Little Angels in Sandhurst with the sister in law and my cousin with thier two little ones!! Bless they are so cute, its lovely to see them at that age 2/3 running around and enjoying the ball pit etc...mine although utterly gorgeous is just eating crying sleeping stage...bless i can't beleive how much she is growing up...and out :-) the little chunky monkey!!

I was in such a state coming back from there though, trying to get back on the M3 as fast as possible to get Liam from school, cor blimey, don't you just hate it when every single traffic light is against you and there are to top it all road works, taking the speed from 70 to 50...arrrr how stressed was i!! They say "average speed check" I am not sure how they do that...i couldn't see any cameras, but everyone else was going at speed limit so thought better of speeding off!!

Susan Boyle - What do we think

Susans first appearance was on Britains got Talent earlier on this year. I loved everyones reaction...people in the aduience sniggering and all the judges just expecting another weirdo loser...! but hold on this one can sing! Amzing voice, absolutely unbeleivable really...this lady who looks after lots of cats and by the sound of it not many friends to shout about does have a wonderful voice. So what happened to Susan Boyle not going to change her look......yeah right how long did that last??? a few weeks maybe if your lucky. To be honest thoguh she now looks fantatic, much better than before but still not too over the top, i would worry if she came on and did a wonder diet and ended up yoga posing like Madonna...that really would be a sight eh?!

So what do we think of this image??  

Last weeks XXX Factor

Last weeks X Factor was a little dissapointing to say the least...i love X Factor but id like to say i was quite bored!! Below see a picture of Rikki Loney who was okay, apparently he was in it last year but didn't make it all the way...to be honest i didn't think that much of him.

 What doe everyone else think?? i thought he was ok but easy to forget therefore not a pop star!! thats my opinion anyway!!

So this week is the last first auditions...are we all excied, i know i am. I know some people prefer these rounds but i like the later stages myself, as im interested in watching decent people not people making prats of themselves :-) I am still going for Jamie the big afro dude, he is so good and unusual...i may even put a bet on, you never know...although saying that Danyl i reckon will have alot of backers.

Who fancies popping to Asda?

I would think at the Asda in Preston there may be a lack in customers right about now, chicken licker...yum!!! has this person got absolutely no brain cells!! I mean come on who licks a chicken and then puts it out for sale....well really who licks a chicken?? what a strange thing to do. To be honest it confirms to me that there really are idiots that are possibly everywhere, this one has been caught but how many others are there?? who can we trust when we buy our food or drink?! There are many companies and people between the making of the products that we buy and us...so where is the best place to buy them? I don't think anyone can answer that, you will always get a bias opinion. I started buying all my fruit and veg from a greengrocer rather than supermarkets after i found out that supermarkets freeze fresh food to store them, hence why they don't seem to last long in the fruit bowl! But is this better?? I know for one thing a greengrocer is generally cheaper, they don't have the offers or 3 for 2 deals but they do overall sell things at a cheaper rate and you are not forced into buying what is on offer. The one good thing about supermarkets is it really is easy to take things back, the customer service person is not likely to feel embarressed or insulted but would Mr Greengrocer?? I personally am rubbish at taking things back but i definately wonuldn't to a small shop...i wouldn't have the guts!!

Good morning - or is it?

Good morning,

I havent blogged much at the weekend i have been in and out all weekend doing mainly wedding bits and bobs and also most of Saturday i was quite hung over...i couldn't face the computer...there was a possibility of seeing food on the screen and i wasn't going to risk it!!

I went into Staines on friday night, was a very nice evening went to quite a few places but i am glad i don't do it too often...! mainly because of the people out and about on a Friday, obviously the people i was with were great we had a laugh but its the other people i don't get especially the young girls that really do think they are gods gift. I overheard a converstaion in the toilets between two girls, talking about these guys they had just met, apparently Joe fancied Amy but Amy wasn't interested, and Amy is being a right cow because she knows Jodie fancies Joe but shes been teasing him all night in front of Jodie....what a cow??!! i don't know...why arn't things simple?! You like someone you tell them...thats it?! I know its not that im totally useless with that sort of thing.

Right girls a question, if you like a guy, you are single he is single would you : -

A - Tell him outright
B - Never tell him, if he liked you he would tell you or make it obvious
C - Get one of your mates to probe him?

On a totally unrelated subject, what do we think about football? i like watching footy every now and again but do you think it takes over our lives? I have an eight year old son who loves it, we all have a fantasy team and i quite like it but Liam is obsessed with it...he changes his team every single chance he gets and is well into it...im so sick already of "do you wanna know whos in my team mummy!?" and its only week 5. I was so proud of him though on Sunday, he played his first proper game of the season, he was captain aswell which was an hounor anyway and he was so nervous bless him....but him and his team mates played so well i couldn't beleive it, for thier age group they were fantastic. They won 1-0 but def should have been more goals, liam had a cracking shot which was on target unfortunately the goalkeeper got it!! Just realised i started off saying how annoyed i am with football and i have certainly changed my tune by the end...oh well even if it is football i can still be a proud mummy!

Netball Part 3 - Passing

Morning!

There are many ways to pass the ball in netball, i have a few here listed with a short description of how to perfom and when they would be used.

Chest pass
How do you do hold the ball? Place your hands on either side of the ball, forming a W with your thumbs at the back making sure the ball is close to the chest to get the most power behind the ball. Release by pushing your arms forward directly towards your target player.

Where should your feet be? They should be shoulder width apart and firm to the ground to get the most power out of your legs.

When should this pass be used? Mostly short distances as they can be intercepted if too far, also short passes are faster and this is definately a fast way to get the ball moving.

Shoulder Pass
How do you hold the ball? You would cradle the ball in you strongest hand and support with the other, you need to have the ball to the side of your strongest side ear. To release you need to spring forward your strongest hand and release the ball. Making sure you release the supporting hand too!!

Where should your feet be? They should be firm on the ground slightly bent, with your weakest side leg in front of the other, as you release the ball you need to straighten your back leg to give you more power behind the ball.

 When should this pass be used? This is used generally in the defensive side, to clear the ball from thier attack and make sure the ball goes as far as possible, without going over a whole third (this is a foul)

Bounce pass
How do you hold the ball? In the same way as chest pass hold the ball fairly close to your chest or perhaps a little higher to get more of a force to go downwards. Release the ball again same as the chest pass although pass to the floor to bounce just in front of the target player (this just takes practice to work out the best distance) i would say slightly closer to them than you but roughly half way.

Where should your feet be? Very firm on your feet shoulder width apart, slightly bent knees.

When should this pass be used? This is a great pass for surprising the oposition, especially if the defender at the time is quite tall. The taller the person the better a bounce pass works, as it is harder for the interception the higher up they are. I like using this pass to get into the semi-circle as our shooter is short and usually the person marking is very tall.

Buses!!!

Im going to interupt my netball series for one rant about buses...me and partner Dean are now sharing a car, which seemed a good idea at the time, apart from when he has the car and i have to reley on my legs and public transport!! I dropped Liam to school which was all good and thought i know i'll pop into town on the bus...! the word "pop" just said it all really you cant just pop anywhere on a bus. Anyway i waited for the bus and it came within a reasonable amount of time which i was pleased about as my patience is litle to none :-) , paid my fare, which was ridiculous, i cant beleive they charge the same whereever you are going..so you can go 50 stops and pay the same as someone going 2...just doesnt seem right to me. I reckon they do that so the bus drivers don't have to think at all!! So i got on and my buggy is pretty wide, not unusually just averagely i guess..i could just about squeeze through the slim aisle to the area where buggies stand. Which is another thing...why oh why is the buggy stand at the middle...so you have to get through all these people who are sitting and standing to be where you should be with a buggy, so bizarre to me. So im through now, not that anybody moved just a little to make it easier for me they just sat there giving me a dity look as if to say "how dare you come on the bus with a baby!" i had one man tut at me as i walked passed, i did say excuse me and was trying as much as i could no to knock anyone but its practically impossible....i wish i'd just rammed everyone, then they would have reason to tut at me! lol. Anyway sorry so im in the middle buggy is now locked, and what happens???!!! the bus slams its breaks on full pelt, i turned to see what was going on and it was just that it was a terrible bus driver that was all he obviously failed to see the massive line of traffic going into town, so i flew forward smacked my head on the pole, which was very painful and the buggy went shunting forward also!! Even though it had had its breaks on, it was still enough of a jolt to force the buggy to move, i couldnt beleive it! with that Scarlett woke up and started crying....oh dear i thought hear comes the tutting again!! And with that i was indeed correct, so i learned not only to avoid buses as they are not particularly children friendly but that people can be complete losers when they want to be!

    

Netball Part 2 - What each position does

Hi All

Today i will be talking about positions...oi get your mind out of the gutter!!! Netball positions that is.

GK - Goal Keeper
Where can they go?  Defending third including semi circle
What do they do? They defend the ball and mark the GS on the oposition, a strong arm is essential for this position as they need to mark as close to the ball as possible making it harder for the shooter to score.
Any more jobs? They would normally take the back line pass if the ball goes out for a thorw in and also any penalty in the defending third.


GD - Goal Defence
Where can they go? Both the defending third and centre third including the semi circle
What do they do? They defend the ball and keep track of the GA, marking when they are shooting and being on the ball when it comes to rebound balls from the shot.
Any more jobs? Keeping the GA out of the circle as much as possible which would leave the GS with less options and put on more pressure.


WD - Wing Defence
Where can they go? defending and centre thirds however not allowed in the semi circle.
What do they do? Mark the WA up and down the court trying to keep the ball out of the circle stopping them scoring.
Any more jobs? Helping the GD  keep the GA out of the semi circle so that  the GS is left with little options, also on the centre pass try and get in front of the WA to intercept the ball from centre.


C - Centre
Where can they go? Every third however neither of the semi circles
What do they do? They are the link between many of the centre court passes, normally receiving from the WD then passing onto the WA when attacking.
Any more jobs? Helping the WD and WA on the edge of both circles either to intercept the balls or help out the shooters if they need it.


WA - Wing Attack
Where can they go? Attacking third and centre third no semi circle entry
What do they do? - Receive the centre pass ball usually and keep passing the ball into the semi circle as much as possible.
Any more jobs? Helping the shooters if they need it at the edge of the circle.


GA - Goal Attack
Where can they go? Both attacking third and centre third inclusing the semi circle
What do they do? Try to get the ball with the aid of WA and C into the semi circle to the GS and aid the GS in shooting and rebound balls.
Any more jobs? Help on centre passes dependant on if the WA is double marked.


GS - Goal Shooter
Where can they go? Just the atacking third inclusing the semi circle
What do they do? Receive the ball and shoot, try and receive the rebound if any misses occur.
Any other jobs? Keep in the circle as much as possible only coming out if necessary, important that you can always get a ball into the GS.


There, a few bits on all the positions and what they do...i will be continuing tomorrow

Lauren

Things to know about Netball

Hi, I am going to be starting a series about different aspects, hints and tips on Netballers and cover as many of the points as possible.

I shall start with getting involved in Netball, I found the best way to get involved and find a team is search for the league that will be closest to you, you can do this on this site please click the lnk, there is a drop down button on the side to find the area then it just liss the leagues for you to choose from. It will then give you details on some of the clubs in these leagues, however personally i would after finding a league go to this leagues website. I will use the Kingston league as an example, as this is what i did. If you click here you will see it gives you a link to the league, if it does not do this then simply Google it and all the leagues i know are online, as this is how you can check league tables etc!!

Which team should i choose??

If i were looking for a club i personally would go for a team that have: -

• More than 1 team
• A good website - to show they are organised
• Local
• Make sure they are not "over-subscribed"

I would also think to myself  "How good am i??" this is extremely important...if you think i am pretty good i used to play and was very confident and played alot of games...go for the higher divison teams however if you think i haven't played in 15 years and just want to learn a bit and improve my skills then the lower down the divisoin the better! Theres nothing written in stone to say you have to stay, if you don't feel right in the club for whatever reason then just move, its pretty simple and everyone always understands.

I would also say that it really doesn't matter on what level you play at, there are quite alot of people who just enjoy Netball for the fitness, as you do get fit without realsiing it as it is so much fun! I know many netballers of all standards and they all would say the same thing, that they do it for the love of the game, of course winning is nice but its not the be all and end all of it all! Plus whether you win or lose you get a nice cuppa at the end of it :-) oh and maybe a few bickies!!!

I shall continue tomorrow with more

Lauren

Jordan and Peter

Well yesterday was the big day...the "DIVORCE" of Jordan and Peter. I must admit when i found out they had split i was amazed...even though everyone has problems they just seemed to have a really nice relationship. Neither of them were in court when it was announced thier divorce, Pete was chatting on the sofa the morning it was all happening...strange you would think they would be pretty devestated really its gotta be a hard day for the both of them. The grounds for divorce was unreasonable behaviour, i beleive they are to be kept secret for now,but im sure one of them will tell us the ins and outs in thier book!! almost 4 years these two have been married, i was quite shocked when i heard that, it really doesnt feel that long! They were wed not long after thier meeting in the jungle in a fairytale wedding which was a massive do! I did think when i watched them in the jungle...what a loada rubbish, they will never stay together! just seemed ver unlikely somehow, but gradually i warmed to the couple and i think most of the nation did...bar Jodie Marsh! has anybody seeen her Michael Jackson tattoo...oh dear you would think she was trying to get attention??!!! lol nooo never not Jodie! and what is up with that girls nose..? it looks really wrong, maybe she is a following of Michael in more ways than one!

Anyone got any views i'd love to hear them.

Sam in Eastenders!!

Sorry but what is that all about, they change a character totally...not only in personality but the actor is different.

So Kim Metcalf who played Sam when she helped conceal the body of Den and then fled to Brazil to get away from a police sentance. Now Sam in those days was pretty confident but fairly serious and business like, if not a little bit dappy! So what has happened, even if we take out the fact that they have now replaced her with Daniella Westbrooke, she would never have behaved like she did in that episode last night...i just dont get it to be honest!! It was like watching your Dad dancing at a wedding...embarressing to say the least!!  Does anybody know why Kim left or was it they wanted to replace her??? i don't understand why i liked Sam before and i dont think she was "unpopular??" who knows...what i do know is Eastenders must be struggling. They Have Bianca and Ricky back fairly recently and now Sam...maybe they are missing the fact that it used to be more popular than it is therefore they are dragging them all back to try and coax more of the older crowd to watch it maybe....?! Don't get me wrong i like Ricky and Bianca and even Sam in fact i used to watch it alot more when they were in it...but its just not the same. You can't reinact something that happened many years ago...not really especially as these characters seem like they are a little bit stuck in the 90's!!!

Can anybody tell me why there is no happy endings in Eastenders, i am no expert or anything but what is that about...if people get married they have to have some tradegy like losing a baby or even being killed by the local Mafia type bloke! Its getting more and more predictible aswell, Corronation street is the same you just know whats coming...not only because you read about it in the paper or hear it from friends but its just so obvious!!

Moan about banks

Theres alot of things we can moan about when it comes to banks....where do we start!! Well i will start with the convo i had with Natwest this morning...oh dear why oh why do we have to be sold something everything we speak to them. I rang up purely to activate my credit card, for a start it took me 20 minutes to get to speak to somebody and by then i had already entered millions of my details via the really annoying automated woman on the other end! So this woman comes on and checks the details again and taking me through all this security...which you can't complain about i guess!!! but then after activating my card she starts trying to sell me anything and everything Natwest do...she used the old..."im just going to see if you qualify for payment protection plan..." what is that all about...of course i do...doesn't everyone??? you just charge us to cover your backs in case we cant afford to pay for whatever reason!! I think its good to have insurances put in place don't get me wrong but i do feel like sometimes we have to insure everything and anything!! why cant we just have 1 insurance...to cover if anything goes horribly wrong!!! why do we need to take seperate plans out for each individual card and loan...!

Now what else bugs me...ahhh yes bank charges, what are they all about come off it £32 for "admin" charge if you go over your overdraft...im sorry but if you are going over your overdraft surely you are in trouble slightly with finances...why do banks make those people even more in the "RED" why...should they not talk to those people and find out why they are over and maybe "help out" or are they purely just out for themselves...??? i would take the latter! After all everything is pretty much automated so what costs £32, if anyone has answers to this question i would love to know!!!

Does anyone have it when you go to the bank to ask them one simple question and you get 1 lonely sole on the desk with a queue of 30 people....thanks we will just stand here like lemons shall we...oh and sweat, thats lovely that is when you're stressed out holding a miserable baby looking at a 20 minute at least wait and starting to really hate the heat!!

Anyway i could go on forever...Call centres, sales calls all hours of the day and evening!!!

Avon and its ins and outs!!

I am an Avon Rep and Sales Leader and thought it might be nice to introduce people and talk about Avon today!!

For those of you who have no idea about Avon have a look at the website, its a great way to earn a bit of cash on the side literally just showing your friends and family the brochure and delivering the goods when they arrive!! i must admit on my first delivery i was sooo excited, it came at around 11 on a warm summers morning..i was just in the middle of trying to do everything...which im sure you stay at home mums/dads are used to!! And it arrived...it gave me such a buzz to sit and organise everyones orders, checking to see if there were any problems with anything...and aswell as the goods along came some new books :-) yay i thought more fantastic offers to look through!! Also as a rep we get online offers and our very own Hello Tomorrow book which has lots and lots of fantastic demo products for us to try at a rduced rate and clearance bargains!!! I couldnt beleive it i gasped when i saw i could buy my favourite Mascara for just £1.

Once i sold to friends and family for the first campaign i thought i want more commision and more customers!! So i got together with my ASM (Area Sales Leader) and we discussed about having some roads for me to drop down...luckily my road was free :-) so i now drop down my road and a few adjacent and the orders just fly in...its amazing really, with a bit of hard work you can be seeing floods of customers, who will order more, maybe not every campaign but i would say most of mine order every other which is great...and especially around xmas when the offers are amazing and gifts are very popular!!

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about Avon and its rewards...to find out more send me a message and i can let you know everything you need to know, hints tips and how much commision you can be looking at!!

Wedding favour Idea!!

I can't beleive it, i stumbled accross a really good idea for wedding favours today and thought i would share it with anyone thats willing to listen. basically we were umming and arrring whether to have sweetie jars as our wedding favours. They do them in lots of different places now, the first place i saw them was on aquarterof.com whre you can have mini jars and fill them with whatever you wanted to match with the wedding theme and/or colour. We were looking at using Green Jelly beans, they also do if you order over 50 personalised mop heads of your special day which i thought was a fantastic ideea. For this we were looking at at least £1.99 per head and more if we wanted the larger size, we are having roughly 80 guests to our wedding day therefore the cost for these would be £159.20 plus the price of the ribbon which would go around the jar to match in with the theme.

Anyway i was feeding my baby girl some loverly mums own recipe baby food and thought, these jars would be perfect size for the favours.......fantastic i thought we could buy these jars for the baby (which we would be doing anyway!!) then take off all the labels ect and fill ourselves...pretty much free :-) so all we would need to do is buy the sweets to fill them and perhaps find someone who does the mop heards or something similar to cover the jars up!!! What a fab idea i thought...im going to share with my fellow Bloggers!!!

The Joys of weaning babies

At the moment we are weaning my 4 month old baby Scarlett, its very entertaining!!! They say its best to start weaning at 6 months and to leave it as late as possible but i just couldnt wait to see her eat REAL food!! I have no idea why they now suggest later as before they used to say anytime between 4 and 6 months, and it never did my Liam any harm or anyone else i have known!! We started her on Baby rice which only lasted a couple of days, then we moved onto banana cereal which she absolutely loves and now she wont touch the baby rice...so that was a waste of £1.50 lol!! Its okay though good tip is to add it to anything you by mistake make too runny!!

Lunch and Dinner

We then moved onto Sweet potato which was soooooo simple to do...i just baked it in the oven for about an hour whilst i was cooking a roast for us. Then once it was done and cooled i peeled the skin threw this away (im sure you could do more with the skin but im not that clever!) mushed up the inside and mixed it with a little of Scarletts milk and VOILA dinner/lunch for 6 portions!! To store i placed in ice cube trays and froze!! no need for these expensive baby food holder trays or bowls!! Just make sure nothings on top to contaminare...you could always place in a freezer bag to protect it!!

I have also made up Parsnip which was really easy...i steamed in the microwave (this keeps nutrients over boiling). Once it was Cooled again i whizzed in a food blender added some milk again and froze like before...this gave me 4 portions from 1 parsnip...this is mine and her favorite as it s very sweet for her plus doesnt stain as badly as sweet potato :-)

My next idea was Carrot and Brocolli, this i was making for us anyway...i just had to make sure i didnt add anything like salt etc as you mustn't give babies added salt at all. Once bolied i whizzed up all together and placed again in an ice tray :-) so simple.

Puddings i decided to leave but i have given her mini yoghurts which she doesnt mind buti think it is a weird sensation as shes used to everyhting being warmed :-) bless..her face is sooo adorable!

I am on my 2nd week of weaning Scarlett and grateful for any tips anybady has to share :-)


   

Kids and food!

YYYYAAAAYYYY its back to school time and do you know what that means??? well yes it means getting my but into gear in the mornings and getting out...but it also means i get some peace and quiet from "muuuummmm, im bored" or "Mummmmmyyyy can i have a biscuit" ohhhh and there is plenty more continuous and annoying throught the day!!! My son is possibly one of the most well behaved children i know, hes helpful and polite....but it doesnt mean that he is not annoying! He is absolutely obsessed with food, he is not big in any way he is growing and only upwards but it is getting to the stage when he is eating more than me at dinner time, definately more snacking throught the day and it drives me mad!! people say "its ok hes growing" but do they not understand that its me who has to buy him adult meals and constantly listen to the fact that he wants more more more...surely its just greed over hunger?? I give him the old "starving kids from Africa" bit when he claims he is "STARRVVVVIIINNN" but it doesnt work...hes like "yeah but im not in Africa and we have food in the cupboards". It does make me look at the bigger picture i mean we do have it good really, we don't need to scrimp on food and we can afford to feed our children fruit and vegetables and i know some people who do not have that luxury...after all junk food is cheaper!!

Is that right?? I mean you have the likes of Tesco/Sainsburys/Asda etc yeah they do try to make fruit and veg cheaper by doing deals on it etc but...you only have to look at the sweet aisle and see that you can get loads of sweets and cakes for the price of a pack of fruit! Now we are lucky the majority of us that can afford both and have fruit everyday and sweets as a treat but there are defianetly those of us struggling parents that weigh it up and think....the sweet stuff will last longer and my kids enjoy it more therefore if i have to choose it has to be that.

Eddie Izzard i love him!!

I absolutely love Eddie Izzard he is by far my favourite comedien of all time so far! If you havnt seen much by him i would strongly recommend it totally! I have selected below a few of my favourite clips and attached them from You Tube i hope you enjoy watching :-)

Cake or Death
Covered in Bees
Stonehenge

I find his comedy not only really funny but quite educational...sounds starnge but i have been known to learn a bit about History and Religion from his shows. I think i must have watched Dressed to Kill 100 times at least...! its definately my favourite out of the set i have...also Definate Article is my second favourite.

I would also like to comment about his film roles, hmmmmm not too sure about these! has anyone seen Velvet Goldmine...the only reason i rented it all that time ago was the Eddie presence, but to be honest it was horribly dissapointing. Its not so much Eddies part as it is very small but the whole filmwas pretty attrocious and not to my taste at all! And there was The Avengers, not too sure about this one either! the plot was a bit hazey and i just can't get ovber the fact that Mr Izzard should be on stage not in a film about some strange tv spin off film! Anyone agree??

I think i may go to see his tour this year please see link for tour dates!

oh i havent seen All the Queens men, which stars Eddie will have to look out for that :-)

Wedding Flowers

Today is the day i go and learn more about Wedding flowers and decor!!! I am getting married next year...very exciting! and am off today to meet with somebody to talk about what i want. To be honest i have no idea most of the time i see something i like and go for it! im not really the type to know much about this sort of thing and my vision is not the best, i am definately not the designer type. I have searched the web mainly google images and found bits and pieces i like but as im not an expert at it and to be honest not managed to find anything.. so where do we go fom here?? being female my partner says to me "flowers are your thing im not fussed" but i reckon my 8 year old son has a better idea than me.

I am going for the theme "country style" i am having Sage Gren bridesmaids dresses but i feel i need another colour! does anyone have any ideas?? Please see here a blog i have found which has fab colours and ideas...any opinions are grateful! Im loving the Cranberry but not 100% sure!!!

Hayfever - Chop off your head or not?

I suffer quite severley sometimes with Hayfever, if drives me absolutely insane. I have tried every prescribed drug known to man for it and also usd all those Nasal sprays and eyes drops...with not much releif :-(. I don't suffer every day or anything i know there are people out there who have it much worse than me I am sure, however it does not stop me feeling sorry for myself when i get an attack of the sneezes or itchy throat in the middle of the night. That has definately gotta be the worst time for me, getting to sleep and staying asleep when i have had a day in the garden or park. Thats the thing really it stops me doing the things i would enjoy doing if I didnt have the fear i would have a fit of sneezes.Obviously it also means that i have to carry around from April to September numerous packs of tissues just in case, and sods law says that i have a major fit the one day i go out and change my bag beforehand, therefore leaving my supply at home...arrrggghhh how annoying. has anyone ever had the urge to seriously shop thier head off or submerge your whole face in a massive bowl of water for the whole day??? im not suicidal honestly...well maybe some days i can be ;-)

I would love to hear peoples stories and possibly even cures of the dreading summer nightmare i have to endure some days.