Flowery's girl

I did it! I walked the flora women's mini marathon in 2 hours and 14 minutes and if that doesn't sound like much of an achievement to anyone else, then please keep in mind that I cut the lawn the day before and had to lie down for half an hour afterwards. That is the level of my unfitness. A group of my friends from the mother and toddler group had decided to so it and although I know that the true purpose of the day was to raise much needed funds for various charities, I have to admit that my first thought was 'Yes!!! - an entire day away from the kids and lots of adult company to boot'. I couldn't sign up fast enough. I arrived at the bus with my friend and neighbour Isabel bright eyed eyed and bushy tailed and it was then that we learnt that there was only the two of us and one other girl from our immediate circle of friends who had actually shown up on the day to do it (excuses ranged from illness, to lack of babysitter to "Well, it sounded like fun at the ...

If you have not already watched the movie Sex and the City 2, then do not read any further as the chances are after reading this that you never will. The following piece is full of spoiler alerts. So like most woman my age I used to absolutely love the television series. It was edgy, funny, quirky, gave a fabulous insight into living in New York and best of all, people could relate to the characters (Who has never claimed to be a Carrie/Charlotte?). I wasn't keen on the first movie as I felt that in order to make it suitable for a wider audience they had to play down a lot of the edginess that made Sex and the City what it was and instead of giving us four, sassy, sexy independent ladies, we were now watching characters that in my opinion had become a little bit like spoilt brats. Amidst very, very mediocre reviews from friends and family, I decided to give the second movie a chance but came away feeling like a battery hen who has been force fed a truckload of corn. Where do I star...

It's worse than cigarettes. It' s more perilous than beer and while I don't know any heroin addicts personally, I am pretty sure that the enslavement quality of Facebook must be right up there with it. It is the 21st century's equivalent to peeping through your front curtains into the house across the road from you or peering over your neighbours fence into their back garden to see what they are up to. To concede that you like Facebook is pretty much the same as owning up to liking Big brother. You are admitting to the world that you have no life of your own so you are reduced to living vicariously through other people with the added bonus of being able to share pointless and meaningless information about yourself ("Rachael is getting ready to watch telly." "Rachael is eating a big mac for dinner" - that sort of thing). It is just so completely and utterly self indulgent. It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I have not gone back to work sinc...

STOP! Do not read any further if you have not already watched the finale of Lost as if you haven't, I am about to ruin it for you. I am just disgusted at the last episode ever of a show that I loved so much. It is the equivalent to being in a wonderful marriage for the last six years only to discovered that your husband is a lying cheating bastard who you never really knew anyway. Now I understand why all recent interviews with JJ Abrahams and co. are full of phrases like "Not all questions are going to be answered" and "We have tried to be true to the characters but unfortunately we won't be able to please everyone" and "Of course there will be always be some people who will be disappointed". What a load of cr*p!!! Sorry Mr. Abrahams but what a cop out. It is now so clear that you and your writers never had an idea where this story was going and it was simply made up as you went along. Those of us who expected to be rewarded with answers (many, m...

My daughter is addicted to sugar and I know that I am to blame. After all, I put on four and a half stone while I was expecting her due to my own sugar addiction so how could she not crave the white stuff after swimming in chocolate flavoured amniotic fluid for nine whole months. However, it is definitely getting out of hand. The other day I took herself and Andrew to the local indoor playground so that I could sit and relax and let a few slides and a pit full of balls entertain them for a couple of hours. The children also get a free lunch in this place of either toast and scrambled eggs or toast and sausages so I don't even have to cook lunch when I go home. It's win,win! However, the toast is made out of white bread and as we only have brown bread at home (due to my own eternal struggles to keep my weight below ten stone), Charlotte literally begins to drool the moment we enter the door and starts to shriek "Toast, toast, toast" until it is brought over to her wher...

My fellow blogger (and one of two people who inspired me to write my blog in the first place) nominated me yesterday for a gratitude award. Basically how it works is that I have to list five things that I am grateful for and then pass on the award to five more people who then write what they are grateful for (Is that right Susan? Have I got it?). Well of course the first things that come to mind that I am eternally grateful for are my kids, my hubby, my parents and family, my home and the fact that my husband is employed but then I thought - nah! Too obvious. Isn't that what every single person in the world (who are lucky enough to have those things) is grateful for? So I've decided to take that previous list that I've mentioned as a given and think of five more slightly unusual things in my life that I get down on my knees and thank the fluffy clouds in the sky for every day. No. 1 I am so grateful that I didn't get married to some gobsh*te in my late teens/early twen...

There must be a million books on how to discipline toddlers and I must have read them all. Taming toddlers; The toddler years; When loving your children isn't enough (that one is hilarious - if you fancy a good laugh at bedtime then get this one, I insist!); 1,2,3 magic; Adventures in discipline.... the list goes on. And it's not because my children are uncontrollable brats (far from it in my completely unbiased opinion). It's just that I see how so many of my generation blame their parents for all of their life failings and I am terrified that my children will do exactly the same thing to me so I read every single method of discipline technique on the market and because they all completely contradict each other, I end up using my own techniques which I am fairly sure are causing untold amounts of mental scaring to my two little darlings but I have no idea what the right thing to do is. Take the current current form of discipline which I employ to encourage my children to b...