ShowOff ShowCase: Favourite Photo-Post

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ShowOff ShowCase has had an amazing response; over twenty link-ups in each of the three weeks that it initially ran. I had hoped and prayed for ten, knowing that would have been enough to know it wasn't a failure. I never dreamt of that many and am so grateful for each. What was even more fantastic was the wide-range of posts linked; recipes, funnies, emotional tales, craft ideas, etc. I discovered new blogs and found it a really good read.

As I stated in the last SOSC, it was only ever intended to be a 3-week run, but last Thursday and Friday I had people asking me what the theme was for the forthcoming weekend! I tested the waters and discovered that people enjoyed linking up and, here's the important part, reading each others' blogs. The whole point of SOSC is to flaunt the posts that people might have missed.

And so to that end, I intend to run it fortnightly, alternating between a theme, and The One That Should Have Done Better.

Therefore, this week's theme is:

 

Favourite Photo-Post.

 

 


We all like to take part in The Gallery and Silent Sunday. Many of us are completing a 365 photo-journey, me included. This is your chance to ShowOff ShowCase a photo-post from your blog that is your personal favourite. No restrictions of theme or words; that would be infringing upon Tara's and Jay's domains. If you want to repost a Silent Sunday with an explanation about the photo you can; my only restriction is that you must have previously posted it.

I also ask that you add the button to the post using the html which hubby has lovingly created.

Pwese, tar?! (As The Boy would say)

I'll open the linky on Saturday morning, sometime between 8am and 9am.

Inbox Delights

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Since entering into the twilight zone of twitter and blogging, I have been amazed by the warmth and support that is shown in the community. I've encountered people that I am pretty sure I would consider friends in real-life, and have come to regard one or two of these with real affection (you know who you are Missy!).

Every day when I wake up, I spend my initial waking moments checking my phone (like a mad woman whilst hubby is cursing me for not getting a move on. He should know by now that it takes me at least ten minutes to come 'to'); twitter first, then my e-mail. Amongst the detritus of marketing and offers are always nestled some little treasures; two-minute snapshots into people's lives. It is such a pleasure to read about their highs and lows, the adventures that their little ones have been up to, to share in their pain or joy, to be able to comment and offer support.

With that thought, I have decided to share with you my Inbox Delights; those blogs that I will always read every post of, and make a concerted effort to comment as often as I can.

MissLexyWoo

This blog makes me roar with laughter, yet cry with compassion for Lexy's plight in experiencing PND. I have the utmost admiration that she has the guts to share her feelings when she is suffering; the more publicity that any form of depression gets is a positive step in helping non-sufferers to understand it. Aside from that Lexy, is absolutely hilarious, and her post on trying to buy nappies in Spain is a must!

GhostWriterMummy

I adore @Susurem's style of writing, and her frankness about many a subject. As a fellow teacher, I find some of the posts extremely relevant and interesting. Susanne has turned her stories about the birth of her children into a positive thing by creating Maternity Matters with Jayne from Mum's the Word. Both inspirational women are working hard to insure that no-one else has a 'birth trauma' story to tell.

The Crazy Kitchen

Helen is such a dedicated mum to her three children and I love reading about the trials and tribulations of life with her 2 year old little boy, who is very similar to my own bundle of cheekiness. Always full of craft ideas, I love reading about her light-hearted life.

The Moiderer

Now I know, you're reading that in a thick Glaswegian accent like Taggart aren't you? No, she's not a serial killer; to moider is to chat randomly or incessantly. Life with the Little One is quite entertaining and her Saturday Snapshots prove her to be a wonderwoman; how on Earth she fits that much in, I'll never know!

Now, I'd love it if those four lovely ladies above were to complete the same thing as I have just done; which blogs do they look forward to? Doesn't have to be four, can just be one. You also don't have to wait to be tagged to take part. Pinch the html for the funky button and join in the blog-celebration.


'What I did on Saturday', or 'Why my feet are still killing me'.

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About a year and a half ago, I joined my local baby and toddler group. I truly believe that it was my saving grace at a time when I think I may have been heading into the slippery slope of PND. Having a group of mummies who hosted coffee sessions three times a week, who told you that it was ok to bottle-feed and not use controlled-crying, and who were there for a laugh and a joke, was invaluable.

Our group is dual-purpose: a social and support community, but we also raise money for local playgroups, etc. Our major fundraisers are the Nearly New Sales that we have twice a year. In my enthusiasm and newbie wisdom, I volunteered for the role of co-ordinator at last year's AGM. Little did I realise what a daunting task it was!

However, through a team of brilliant helpers we had an amazing response from all the people who came to the sale. We had 331 people through the doors in the hour and a half we were open, which broke the record from the previous sale by 90! The queue trailed down the block and around the corner. And I'd been worried about publicity. I've yet to work out if we've broken the record for the amount we've raised, but we weren't left with much to sort out at the end of the day.

I personally managed to bag quite a few bargains: the Happyland space rocket for £4 being the one that I was really pleased with, as a few weeks before I had thought about buying it for £30.

Here is my stash from the sale, total cost? £31.

For me, Nearly New Sales are essential for several reasons:

  • it recycles unwanted toys, meaning there is not more unnecessary plastic in the landfill sites.
  • it acts as a toy-swap shop. Just because the toys are a year old and little Johnny doesn't play with it anymore, it does not mean that it won't be someone else's best loved toy.
  • it helps parents make money out of unwanted toys, clothes and equipment.
  • it raises money for local children's play facilities.

The next time you see a Nearly New Sale being advertised please think about either selling there or popping along and buying, you could be saving yourself a small fortune!

Listography – Laminated List

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The clever and witty Kate from KateTakes5 has come up with a corker this week. Think of Friends and the episode when Ross meets Isabella Rosselini and declares that she is on his 'list'. As Kate describes it:

'Basically he's allowed to make one list of five famous women that he would be allowed to have a one night stand with if the unlikely opportunity arose.'

And so despite being absolutely exhausted, I have just got to share my Top Five Blokes.

  • Orlando Bloom

  • Johnny Depp

  • Spike from Buffy

  • Keanu Reeves

  • Noah Wyle

I have two things to say:

a) They are all just so phwoargh-some, theirbeauty speaks for itself, I need no words.

b) I appear to have a type: dark hair and dark eyes (with the exception of Spike whose hair is dark naturally).

—

Now pop over to Kate's Listography using the linky on the left-hand side to check out the other links.

Fun in the sun!

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Work this week has been a bit here and there, I've done a fair few half days due to a meeting and a hospital appointment. I'm normally due to work all day on a Thursday but I had the afternoon off which was brilliant because it has been gloriously sunny and hot here all day with a stunning blue sky. I'd say I sauntered out of school, but that would be the biggest lie ever; I near-enough ran (aside from the fact that I don't run!) and pegged it home as fast as I could.

Lunch consumed for both of us, we trotted off to meet a friend across town in a lovely Victoria park. I was running late and my feet were killing me already (never a good sign), so we ended up catching the bus.

The Boy has never been on a bus before and thought it hilarious. A little perplexed at first, but he soon started chatting to all the old fellas and dears, making lots of new friends.

Once we'd got to the park, The Boy and his friend, Little Miss Cheeky, had great fun racing around amongst the daisies. Little Miss Cheeky is 6 months older than him, but they adore each other; she refers to him as 'My (name)' and he just points and grins at her. She's also the youngest child of my oldest, recently reacquainted, friend which is great that we have more of an excuse to spend time together gossiping.

As you can see, Little Miss Cheeky is going to lead my boy astray in the future, but it's ok because we've already agreed that they're allowed to marry each other. I can think of worse in-laws than your best mate!

Following the hijinks in the hedgerows, The Boy and I went down to the beach where he had his first ever ice-lolly all of his own! He likes ice-cream, but everytime he's had it in the past he's squirmed and complained because of the cold. This time I bought him a mini-milk which he did manager to hold quite well, but I wolfed my cone down and popped his rapidly melting lolly into the cone which was a massive success!

We then had great fun playing 'stop, go!' on the pier making all the little old ladies coo in delight. He even investigated his shadow a little bit more.

Oh, and I got sunburn! It's April for goodness sake!

Movie Meme: 80s Classic

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I'm supposed to be going to bed but not before writing this up. (My hubby will kill me, please send a rescue party!)

I'm excited because the ever-so-clever Hannah at Metal Mummy has chosen what could only be one of my top categories for her theme this week:

This week's prompt is The 80s

What’s your favourite film from this decade? Is it a comedy? A Brat-Pack? A horror? You can write about whatever film you want, no matter the genre.

Oh MetalMummy, thank you so much! I can wax lyrical about one of my all-time favourite films ever!

Do you know what it is yet?

No?

Then you should be ashamed of yourself!

Big-city boy relocates with his divorced mother to her small-town home-town to live with her brother. He is cool, he loves music and plays it loudly from his beaten-up yellow VW Beatle. Small-town girl takes an instant liking to him in the rebellious way that only she could, surely she would never do it to wind up her preacher-daddy? Big-city boy gets on the wrong side of everyone with his loud music booming as it is 'banned' in the area, what with it being the root of all evil and responsible for the death of small-town girl's elder brother. (Now't to do with the booze then?)

Ren, for that is the name of Big-city boy, vows to provide the seniors at the High-school with a prom where they have music and can <shock, horror> dance. In order to do this, he must take on the might of preacher-daddy.

Can he win? Will they have their dance? Will Willard learn how to control his two left feet? Will SJP discover straighteners in time? Will small-town girl and preacher-daddy ever forgive each other?

Ladies and Gentleman, in order to find out you will have to watch the 1984 classic:

Footloose

This is one of my favourite scenes from any film ever:

 

Seriously, what other song could I choose for this blog?

—

Now pop over and see the other entries:

More on Monday: Circles

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Yesterday I posted this image to Silent Sunday:

… and confused a hell of a lot of people!

I had over 40 comments that ranged from:

"Am I still drunk?"

to

"Fab pic – slightly confused!! Would make more sense with a drink I think!x"

via

"I don’t get it, but I think I like it if that makes sense lol! x" (my personal favourite)

This rather intriguing photograph was taken on Cardiff Bay Barrage, South Wales and has been the source of much bemusement to visitors that saunter across to watch the yachts coming in and out, for a good few years now. In fact, it's missed by an awful lot of people because it's not actually explained or advertised anywhere on the Barrage!.Quite often, it is only when someone pays attention to why someone else is standing in that exact spot that it is noticeable.

As Honiebuk said in her comment:

"I had to look twice and realised that it’s a bit like the Channel 4 ads – you have to be in the ‘right’ spot to take this photo to see the effect. They must have been very specific where they painted and the angles, width etc."

That's exactly the point, wandering around the vicinity you could be excused for thinking that a Cardiff City Highways representative had been a bit slap happy with some yellow paint! There are yellow lines seemingly randomly painted on everything: tarmac, pavements, dock gates, railings, etc. It is only when you stand a specific yellow cross out of the four painted on the ground that it all lines up to see the above image. There's no reason why, it's art!

This clever optical illusion was painted by 'Felice Varini and uses the Barrage structures and paint to create a collage that results in circles. The art highlights the many parts that are needed to make up the operational structure of the Barrage.' (www.visitcardiff.com)

For images of it out of alignment see here.

Oh and well done to the only person who knew what it was: SAHMLovingIt! Sorry I planted your comment into moderation for a few hours so I could leave everyone else guessing, hope you don't mind?

End of the day

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As I crawl into bed at the end of my second ever Mothers' Day, I have three thoughts in my head:

  1. I've missed you bed, we used to spend a lot more time together, when did we stop seeing each other?
  2. I've had a fantastic day with The Boy and hubby.
  3. Jesus Christ, my back hurts!

My back and I used to get on alright, the occasional objecting twinge when lifting something heavy, but other than that, we liked each other. When did this change? What happened? When did we fall out?

I'll tell you when. When they shoved a whopping great big needle in between my vertebrae to insert an epidural. No hang on, maybe it was when they had to do it again because they'd done it incorrectly the first time? My back has never been the same since.

Do you know what else changed that day? My bosoms, they now resemble spaniel's ears. No wonderbra on Earth can help them.

Don't even get me started on my skin! Six months post-partum and I turned into a pubescent teenager again. I'm 33 for the love of all things holy, I should not be getting acne now.

Have I ever mention that I fell down the stairs a week after giving birth and ripped all of the stitches out of my episiotomy? And that they wouldn't restitch it?

What about the stretch-marks? My flabby stomach looks like a road-map of Greater London.

The only thing that has started to behave itself is my hair. Eventually! It has finally started to regrow and stopped snapping off.

I know that some of you are nodding in agreement to this. Some of you are thinking "oh belt up and stop moaning!" I bet some of you are still wincing about me ripping my stitches out, aren't you?

However, I want you to understand that I am not moaning because I would do it all over again, one hundred-fold, just so that I can be my little boy's mummy. I adore him with all my heart, and my knackered back.

Thank you to The Boy for choosing me to be your mummy!

My Mothers' Day

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"Go and give that to Mummy".

How many other mummies across the land were woken up by that whispered instruction today? I smiled to myself, turned over and stretched my arms out ready. In trotted The Boy quizzically looking at the card in both hands. I prised the card from his reluctant hands ("pwees, tar") with the bribe of my phone to play with and he then proceeded to rip open the envelope once I'd rescued my card.

I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers by The Boy (and hubby because little'un couldn't see where he was going) the flowers of which he chose himself yesterday in the florists. All I can say is that The Boy has good taste and must have inherited my Bampi's horticultural talents.

I also had some scrummy Baileys chocolates (which is good because the bottle is empty) and a book of 'Mothers' Wit' (I hope he's not implying I need pointers!).

After a blustery picnic (which we bought in Tesco, I'm not making one on my day) overlooking Swansea Bay and a play in the park there, we went to Plantasia, which is a mini-rainforest type attraction. It was just the right size for The Boy and us to cover in an hour; it was informative without shoving it in your face, not crowded and fun. He loved watching the fish and catching the raindrops falling from the waterfall. He also tried to give the parakeets some water because he thought they might be thirsty!

In the evening, we had Mothers' Day: The Sequel for my own mum as she and dad came around for dinner. I gave her the canvas that I had made by Alyson at Lucy's Locket which she adored.

All in all a very satisfying day for me. Thank you hubby and The Boy.

ShowOff ShowCase: Favourite Post About Being a Parent

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This weekend sees the return of that annual celebration of being a mum. We're entitled to one day a year where it's all about us, and so we shall be jolly well making the most of it! We're hoping to head west and enjoy the sites, smells and sounds of Swansea; a visit to Plantasia and a play on Mumbles beach.

In honour of that celebration, this weekend's ShowOff ShowCase theme is:

Favourite Post About Being a Parent

It could be a post that you wrote when you first became a parent where you either poured out all the love and devotion you felt for your first-born, or it might be a cry for help after a really bad night of sleeplessness due to the demon teeth. Maybe it was a moment when you were really proud of your child/children for an achievement, or possibly the first time you realised that you were all grown-up and had created another life. Either way, this is your favourite post, it’s not statistics driven this time, it’s not comments related: this is your choice.

Go on ShowOff about being a mum (or dad!).

(If it helps, I've had difficulty choosing one, it transpires that I have a tendency to beat myself, and my parenting skills, up in my posts.)

ShowOff ShowCase

 

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