What a load of pants

What am I loving today (good times)? And what is irritating me (bad times)? Read on and find out (in a kind of No Likey No Lighty Paddy kind of voice).

Good times: I am liking the weather big stylee! Doesn't it put a total spring in your step?! Everything seems more pleasant. Everyone is happy.

Bad times: Men are in vests again - that's a downside.

Bad times: The Prince found the two secret replacement Noo Noos I had hidden for emergencies. Look how chuffed he is. Oh dear!

Good Times: Chester the cat came back!

 He says he he DOES love us as a family, but would we mind awfully if he just nips in and out when he feels like it, because he does have to spend a bit of time with a family of his own. Basically, could he just use this as a doss house and to get a regular saucer of milk and the odd bit of chicken, be cuddled for a bit and then naff off.

No Chester, that's fine, I reply. As long as you promise to NEVER dart upstairs again and hide under the Princess's bed and scare her half to death at bedtime, or bring a mouse to us like yesterday and scare me half to death. It's a done deal.

Trying to get up the chimney

The Prince is proud as punch (look at his Crocs!! Always on wrong feet)

Good Times: I am also loving the radio. I heard a song which took me back to being very young and saving up my pocket money to get the flexi disc free in Smash Hits magazine. Crush On You by The Jets. Oh I still love it to this day and it gave me a great flashback. My dad refused to let me play the flexi disc on his record player and I was fuming. I've just realised as well that its sampled in a  2 Many DJs album that the hubby and I love. It's OUR album, we used to play it before hitting the nightlife when we lived in Bath, BC (before children).

Do you know the original song I mean? Very 80s, but it just stayed with me. Here is a You Tube link to it - check out that dancing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy10rRJ0Cuk

So this has made me happy and I keep playing it and driving the kids mad. Shame really as I hoped the Princess would love it - she loves our Arcade Fire album after all. And Franz Ferdinand. But HATES Bon Jovi which is a shame (the Husband put her right off, the swine.)

Good Times: I am also loving a bit of down time in the evenings and treble crochet is beginning to make sense again. I do a little bit now and then, in the same way that people unwind with a fag I guess. Five or ten mins every night, lush. Keeps me out of trouble. I achieve most things now I've come to realise, if I just spend ten minutes on each of those things. I MAKE time. I will probably never actually MAKE anything with the crochet, but I do like the mindless stitching, but only for so long!

Good Times: I am kind of loving the fact that Princess came home and announced she has a boyfriend called Valentino. I've met him, he is rather handsome. His parents are about to open a brand new restaurant in the village so I am hoping she'll get us a cheap eats deal! But mustn't encourage boys too soon. They only cause trouble as we all know too well! I want to keep her as gorgeous and innocent for as long as I can.

Good Times: And I am delighted with the fact that I have finally found a replacement cherry tree skirt to replace the one I ripped several months back (which was also a cherry tree one).

This was the one I ripped so badly I binned it (Bad Times). Gutted isn't the word. It was my comfort skirt.



You can't see the skirt so well but I love this pic in any case!
Drinking a Capuccino in a mug on the beach...bliss

 The cherry tree one, however, is much prettier and originally from Miss Selfridge. It is all sticky outy and great with boots and tights. It cost £3.99 from Barnardo's.

I wore it last Saturday and I love it, oh and this is a 100 per cent cherry tree shop outfit.

Will wear my blue tights next time

The skirt, boots, top and bag, all second hand and loved all over again. The top was originally Oasis but I got it from Oxfam for £2.99. Don't think I've featured it before. It's a great colour and goes well with the Sainsbury's Tu necklace which I got in the sale.

The entire outfit cost less than £15!

Bad Times: Men who wear their trousers so low you can see their pants. It used to be a fashion statement where you could see a flash of pantage. Now it is the full pants. It's almost a case of How Low Can You Go? (bet you are thinking of that song in Grease now?!)

It is too much info and I saw a school boy today wearing his trousers so low slung, all I could see were his hideous cartoon pants. I nearly retched. He was about 11. It's all wrong. Who started it and why do they do it? One friend had an idea - she thinks it's to show how long their schlong is! As in the further down the trousers are worn, the longer the schlong.....how silly! This can't be the truth, especially with the young schoolboys.

Anyone got ideas about how to stop men wearing awful vests and "look at my pants" outfits?

Heaven and hell

A mixed bag as standard with this blog.

I could gloss over all the dreary/annoying/boring/negative/bad bits but then this is a blog for me, written by me, and I would know about the gloss-over and it would ruin it. Does that make sense?

Nice bits since my last blog are as follows:

I had a lovely afternoon chez moi with my friend Gabi after school on Wednesday.

Noticed all the cake gone before I could take a pic!

 The children played pretty well together (there are usually far more fall outs) and suddenly it was nearly 7pm and we were still drinking tea. She is one of my most grounding friends and I love her for the fact she is so giving. For a mutual friend's 40th, Gabi gave her "Food for a family in Bangladesh" rather than some material possession. She only told me what she'd done because I asked her. She is top notch and extremely thoughtful. And she is a GP so I often bombard her with health issues that I have! Poor thing must get exhausted, but STILL she comes back for more!

I've been playing a lot with the Prince in the garden now that the Princess is back to school - I treasure these days with him, he is such a good boy its unnerving at times.

Excuse his face in this one. Like a weird Oompa Loompa!

More crumbles to be made 

 Then I bought this lush French Connection denim skirt from Oxfam for £4.99

I decided to return next week as saw more things I wanted but it was packed and the pushchair wouldn't allow it - things that are meant to be mine will still be there....that's my belief anyway!

I sent the husband out to buy some groceries and asked him to buy me a Jif lemon (because I always squirt some in my mug of boiling water whenever I run out of fresh lemons). He came back with this from Lidl, I kid you not.

He even asked if it was the right thing.....(sigh)

Speaking of Lidl, I succumbed to all the hype about its Suddenly Madame Glamour perfume. It swept the perfume awards for smelling like Chanel and apparently Chanel ain't happy. I am not surprised as it's £3.99 a bottle for eau de parfum and is gorgeous.

As you can see, I rather like it, despite the cheesy name.

A lot.

Today we went to Turville, the village where the Vicar of Dibley was filmed, and the village that is home to the windmill featured in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (one of my fave films).

I want to live in Windmill Cottage on the left

The kids are windmill obsessed and it was a gorgeous autumn day for a picnic and a walk. It was heavenly, sitting high on a hill, watching Autumn sprinkle gold on to the tops of trees.

Golden and heavenly (the view, not my boy)

Thinking no one was looking

Eating too many pies, needing a hair cut badly

We went into the church featured in Vicar of Dibley which is a stunning little church.

Love it! Just like in that episode!!!

 Then the Princess brought a tear to my eye when she lit a candle for her great grandparents:

The one at the front is for Nan and Bamps

 I also Skyped my brother Rob who lives in Chicago, he lives in an apartment with the coolest views and I can't wait to go over next year, although going without kids, which will be weird. Have NEVER been far from them and hope I will be able to unwind and enjoy it with the husband.


So all in all, very nice times.

(oh yeah, the bad/sad things...... I found myself shedding tears behind my sunglasses as really missing my grandparents today and told the husband it was the wind making my eyes water, the Princess trod mud in my hair today while I was sunbathing by the windmill and we fell out. She then ran down the steep hill and tripped and fell, resulting in a very grazed torso. I have been laid up since Wednesday with sinusitis and felt sick and dizzy with it which has been dreadful, although on the mend now. Oh and the house is a tip and I don't know where to start cleaning, I am behind with billions of things, Chester the cat has disowned us, something I've eaten has left me hugely bloated and there is no chocolate in the house). 


The last bit bothers me far more than the rest.

Birthday and feline great (sorry, paw joke.....whoops)

I was 36 on Saturday and had a lush birthday, although I can't quite believe I am four years off 40. The whole weekend was a mixture of presents, birthday cake, dinner and a night in the comedy club in Bath, and lots of babies!

Spot my mum singing VERY enthusiastically!!
And I didn't want 36 candles on there. 

We went to Somerset on Saturday to see my parents, I've been really home sick recently and miss them so much.

They kindly looked after the kids while I visited my oldest friend in the whole wide world - Becks. She gave birth to Amelia Elsie three weeks ago and we finally met, and now I am all broody again. We've been friends for 32 years!

Then we went out in Bath and had dinner which was lovely. Not done that with the husband in literally months and months. Dinner was followed by the comedy club in central Bath. I've never been to one and it was a surprise and HILARIOUS!

Afterwards it turned into a Motown disco. We danced til 1.30am and didn't get home til 2am. I was up at 6.30am with the Prince and can't even talk about my tiredness. I may well weep. I shall be in bed tres early tonight. But it was worth it to spend time with my man.

I wore a  Cherry Tree outfit. Blurred pic, soz.

Then yesterday I went for a walk around Longleat with my mum and the Princess while the husband stayed home with my dad and the Prince.

Heavens Gate is quite literally stunning

Two of my favourite girls in the world

Anna and Rob, you were missed pets! But I got to eat more cake, hee hee

 After that, I saw my gorgeous friend Melissa who I've been friends with since we were at sixth form. We drifted apart a bit but then both lived near each other during our days in Bath and re hooked up. She is mum to triplets: Iris, Poppy and Violet. They are so scrummy and I could've cuddled them all day.

So it's been baby city really! And cake city. After seeing Melissa and catching up, we headed home to my parents to scoff more cake and tea and then headed back to Berkshire. I have fantasies about living by the sea and living by my parents. Am hoping one of them will happen. I absolutely love our house in Berkshire but I feel I need a change for some reason. The husband feels the same. Exciting!

I got this Jayne Fisher book from Oxfam  - I used to love reading The Garden Gang and keep trying to encourage the Princess to get one of her stories published so we can live a life of luxury! 50p - lush!

Oh, and the Feline Great bit of my title today? We have acquired a black and white cat who we have called Chester. He isn't really ours, but he came into our garden a few days ago and I stupidly gave him a saucer of milk as he looked young and thin. Now he's back and we just found him downstairs, walking around as if he owned the place. He has no collar on so I really hope he isn't lost. Maybe someone out there is feeling sad, like when the Prince lost Noo Noo...

I have a fur allergy which triggers my asthma but also love cats so it's a bit tricky. The kids are delighted beyond belief. I won't be if Chester piddles on my rug though so I'm banishing him from the house.

I think I love him already - the flash has made his eyes look all weird!

But not as much as someone else...

 It's Evil Tuesday tomorrow. But I have a good feeling about it for some reason!

Have so many blogs to catch up on and not enough time as always.

Something for everyone - Wine, Fanny and charity shop bargains

Ooh it's my 100th post!

Today has been a weird mixture of gubbins. Ups and downs. More rollercoasters than a mash-up of Alton Towers and Michael Jackson's back yard.

The morning kicked off quite beautifully with a planned visit from some Aussie friends. The husband and I travelled around Oz for a year and lived in Sydney with our dear friend James. His brother Dave came over to ours today with his wife and kids as they are on a 4 week holiday. We troughed custard-filled brioche and watched the kids play in the sun. It's made me really miss Australia, I loved living and working there so much. I am literally begging the husband to sort it so we can live over there,  if only for a year or two.

The husband HATES this photo as he is leaning like a giant...ha!

Then the afternoon involved a very pleasant lunch with my work colleagues as two of the dentists are leaving for pastures new.

Me with the dentist and hygienist and some TOMFOOLERY from Taryn behind
Spot a bit of my Cherry Tree bag!

Look at the white dazzling teeth. Natch!

We drank wine and scoffed in the local Italian (the husband was able to look after the Prince for me as he was on a late shift) and I went home in the sun feeling full and skippy - a glass of wine always makes me skippy.

The restaurant has very "interesting" masks on the wall. Made me think of Eyes Wide Shut. Yikes.

Now I keep thinking of Nicole Kidman naked and I don't want to

So that was all good but then after school I was in the park when my friend came over and introduced her new au pair (yes dahlings, but my friend does work full time and is a single mum. It's the mums who don't work but have au pairs, I can't fathom).

"Hi Gemma, this is Vannee," sang my friend in her usual cheery voice. I shook Vannee's hand and repeated her name to check I had it right.

I was wrong.

"No Gemma, her name is FANNY. F.A.N.N.Y" my friend corrected me in a very loud voice. Now my friend is Russian and the au pair is French so they wouldn't have seen the funny side of the fanny side of things, but something very immature washed over me and I knew I was going to snort. So I tried to gloss over it by simply saying: "Oh Fanny! That's a LOVELY name."

Think I was a bit too gushing.

The au pair looked at me suspiciously (do they know the word Fanny over there?!!) The other mums in the park sniggered at my nervous blathering...oh well.

But this conjured up more silliness in my head and it made me think of my dear friend who has pseudonyms for herself and her family. She is Rudolf Hucker (think about it), her hubby is Dan Gleebitz, then there is a Min Geeta, Norma Snockers and Drew Peacock. They use these names in family games, pub quizzes etc.

The husband and I decided to help them out with more names. I am now Ivor Flange (Flange is one of my favourite words!), the husband is Phil McCrevice, and there are also: Tess Tickles, Stu Pidprik - I think we need to get out more...

Anyway, when we left Fanny et al, the Princess came home with a huge mud streak on her school blouse. After two hours something made me sniff it. It was dog's mess. Now, for those of you who don't know me, I cannot cope with doggo (as we called it at school) at all. I am rather OCD about it and have a strict Shoes Off policy in the house as a result. I was so cross. How she got it there, god only knows.


So it's all been a bit mad. Good times (wine), bad times (Fanny and poo).

Changing the subject check out my latest bargains from the Cherry Tree shop. A lush scarf from Oxfam for £1.99:

Lovely colours, like the sky when the sun sets

I also bought Percy/Henry (no idea) from Oxfam for £1.49 for the Prince. He is exceptionally happy with this.