Monday 27 May 2013

Four days down, too much to go!

My last post was about my little secret. Maybe not a little secret anymore, my hoarding is getting too much.

Day one (Friday) started off badly. I wasn't feeling good so had a nap when the girls went to school. My "nap" turned into 3 hours sleep, I finally got out of bed at 11.15am when I had originally planned to be up and ready to tackle the smallest bedroom at 9.30am. A big fat OOOPS! By the time I'd sorted the boys with their brunch (which consisted of toast and a bowl of cereal for J, he's going through a faze where he has to have two different cereals in the same bowl, this morning he had coco pops and shreddies, and Baby B had his normal bottle, full to the top.) it was almost 1pm. I had 2 and a half hours until the girls were due home and another hour on top until we had to go out.

Stood in the doorway, I wished someone or something would give me an excuse to not start this now. I look at the pile of junk just in the doorway. How on earth was I going to sort through it all? We had 8 years worth of clutter, stuff I didn't even remember we had, books unread, cds unlistened, and I don't know what else!

I thought to myself, If I don't start now, it'll never get done. So, I picked up a black bag and began filling it. It didn't take me that long either. Over the three days, up until yesterday, I spent about 3 hours in there each day. Once I got past the stuff we had put in there before Christmas, and after (tree and decorations!), it was quite empty. There were three big boxes of stuff which we had from the move that we'd never got round to emptying so I just put the stuff straight into a rubbish bag. 9 black bags full and numerous pieces of wood later, all that's left in there now is a table and two 2-seater sofas. And I can't move them until tomorrow when the Mr has a day off work.

Now onto the kitchen cupboards........


Thursday 23 May 2013

And so it starts.....

For the last few years, our local housing association have been putting in new kitchens and bathrooms. It was going to happen eventually, but I was hoping we'd have a while longer until it was our turn. But we have the planner coming next week to go through what will happen, what colours I want, and to discuss all the bits in between. Now, most people would love a new kitchen and bathroom. Not me. Well, not right now.

I have a secret. I've not told anyone before now, and I need to do something about it.

You see, I am a Hoarder. No where near as bad as those we see on the programme on TV - as I do like to move easily - but my attic is full of junk. Any cupboards that aren't for clothes, are full with junk. I have kept almost everything from when the kids were little. Their first drawings, work sent home from school, toys, books, the list goes on. I've always threatened to throw it all out. I'm good at that. It's the departing with it I don't want to do. But now I have to.

The workmen will need to re-wire the house before starting any work, something that I've been asking them to do since we moved in almost 8 years ago. I've never decorated, purely because when our flat was re-wired, the wallpaper got ripped, marks were left on paintwork and, in my opinion, the place looked worse than it did before they started! For the first 6 months after we moved into the house, I kept on to them, asking them constantly to re-wire the house before we unpacked properly. Since then, the house still stands un-re-wired, un-decorated and un-homely!

 Don't get me wrong, my house isn't dirty. I sometimes let it get messy (I do have four kids you know!) but give it a good clean at least once a week. I think I need more storage, but then that'll be adding to the problem not helping it. And I hate throwing out things that aren't broken. I have sets of books (the girls are avid readers) that are too good to chuck, no local charity shop will take them and I don't drive so can't do a car boot sale. I've tried a certain auction website but with postage prices rises I'll lose money or they won't sell.

So, the "Big Clean-out" starts..... just one small problem.

Where do I start?


Wednesday 15 May 2013

My first giveaway!

After a really good week on the comping front, I have decided to hold my first giveaway, yay!

It's only a small prize as it's come from my own pocket, but you can choose what type you want!

So, for a chance to win a £10 voucher of your choice, just fill in the Rafflecopter below.

Rafflecopter is really easy to use, and there is a daily entry if tweeting. If you have any problems, please see
https://rafflecopter.zendesk.com/home or contact me via twitter or through the facebook page.

Best of luck everyone!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Happy birthday Madeleine


The face no-one could or will ever forget. Madeleine McCann - it was her 10th birthday on Sunday 12th May 2013. Yet, instead of being at home celebrating with her friends and family, she is missing. Where? I wish I knew, as do thousands if not millions of others.

And, sadly, she's not the only missing child.

April Jones, 5 years old, went missing back in October 2012. A man is currently on trial for her abduction and murder. A trial I have refused to keep updated on as I still have hope the little girl is found, just like Madeleine, just like the 1000s of children and adults missing all over the world. And when I say 1000s it is just a guess - we only hear of the high profile stories, the ones the press have splashed all over the front pages, the ones we hope, no matter what we hear or read, that the kids involved will return to their families safe and well.

So what am I doing?
I'm taking part in a campaign called #blogging4madeleine where bloggers blog about this subject. To raise awareness, to encourage, to remind - it's amazing just how easy someone can forget after a while.

I've had so much trouble finding the right words to put down, even now I don't think these are right either, but something that happened today made me realise just how precious a little person is and how much they need protection.

Going through my morning routine; sorting little man J's breakfast, changing Baby B and feeding him, checking my emails and having a nose on Facebook. Whilst look for ideas for a Christening present, I noticed there was a new post in my local area group - it's basically a group for residents who live in my local area and they advertise sale items, inform others of events or have a general moan.
Well today, the new post was from a worried lady, who had found a young boy wandering the street. This young boy had bare feet and had been seen crossing the road a few times. She said he was about 3/4 years old and wouldn't speak to anyone.

Now, what initially annoyed me was one lady wrote "That's disgusting - good thing you spotted him before he was snatched the poor thing. Get onto the police who will hopefully ring social services!"

Ring Social Services? Is this lady for real? I mean, we've all had it - we turn our back for a second, and something goes wrong. Ask my mum, I once stuck my foot in a bath of hot water when my dad turned his back. I remember giving my little sister a good slap (and vice versa) when my mum wasn't looking. My eldest daughter, then 5 years old, went for a little walk when we first moved into our house, over to her nans in dressing-up clothes - whilst I was out the back garden pegging washing on the line!

But after a while, I realised how lucky the little boy was. He COULD have been snatched by anyone. He COULD have been hurt somehow. But is getting Social Services involved when the background is unknown the right move? For all we know, his mother could have collasped and he went outside to look for help. Maybe, like me, she was pegging washing out and he "escaped" without her realising? 

It happens everyday - kids don't understand danger. They need to be constantly reminded that they shouldn't talk to strangers, they shouldn't stray away from mummy's or daddy's side while out in the big wide world. I'm just very glad this little lad was safe, and he wasn't hurt. I haven't heard anything else since so I hope it really was an accident that he was out.

Which brings me back to Madeleine. We've all heard the story of the night she went missing - Thursday 3rd May 2007, whilst on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal. We've all had our own thoughts on what may have happened to the little lady. But, we must remember that she is still missing. Someone, somewhere MUST know something.

If you, or someone you know, knows something - anything -sightings or information - then PLEASE contact either;
your local police force and +44845 8384699 or email investigation@findmadeleine.com
OR
Crimestoppers (in confidence) on 0800 555111 (www.crimestoppers-uk.org)

For more information about this campaign, search #blogging4madeleine and visit the website www.britmums.com/2013/05/will-you-blog-for-madeleine/

You can also visit www.findmadeleine.com for any information I have missed and please visit http://uk.missingkids.com/ to see if you can help in any way.

Here is a recent picture released of what she COULD look like now:





”Blogging4Madeleine”




Monday 6 May 2013

A perfect time for a catch up!

Well, that didn't work very well did it? When I decided to start this blog I made a promise to myself that I would keep it updated and post as often as possible. FAIL! I forgot just how busy I'd be in the run-up to this bank holiday weekend.

So, here I am, led in bed, typing this at 00.15am with matchsticks holding my eyelids open! Apologies in advance if parts don't make sense!

I feel like shouting from the rooftops (yes, even at this time!) as my local Football team, Newport AFC were promoted to League 2 tonight! They have been playing really well and it was a fantastic game which kept me (at least) on the edge of my seat! 0-0 until the 86th minute when Christian Jolley put us 1-0 up, followed at 90 minutes with a goal from Aaron O'Conner - giving us the final score of 2-0! I wish I could have been at Wembley to watch it live - I bet the atmosphere was amazing! The team will be having an open top bus tour around Newport tomorrow, so I hope to go and cheer them on then! It's not very often Newport gets recognised, and when it does, it's normally for the bad things. But it's not all bad! So, well done to the lads and better luck next year Wrexham!



I have actually started typing up a review to post about Divine Chocolates - hopefully that'll be finished tomorrow, and I have a little giveaway to sort out too! I'll leave it there for now, short and sweet, with a promise - I'll be back tomorrow!