I woke up this Mother's Day without Flea - she was with her Dad this weekend. Obviously, I spent my weekend shuffling miserably from room to room thinking of how my life is meaningless without my baby, and definitely NOT taking the opportunity for a quiet swim, followed by skipping dinner in favour of snacks  (mini thai fishcakes and chilli sauce, followed by a slab of brie on crackers), then a few hours playing Candy Crush on Facebook and lolling on the sofa watching Vampire Diaries, beer in … [Read more...]

Over on Tots100 this month, there's a brilliant competition to win a spa day - in exchange for your top Christmas crafts. Obviously, I can't win but it seems like the perfect excuse to show you what is basically our ONLY successful Christmas craft project - home-made snow globes. They're dead simple to make and we like to make personalised backdrops so the globes make cute presents for teachers and relatives. How to make a Snow Globe First, you'll need some nice glass jars. Mason jars work … [Read more...]

Marriage is a tricky business. Not that I'd know, necessarily, only having been married once and then for only a year, but still... It's easy to wonder as a divorced person - where did I get it so wrong? Was it a fundamental clash of personalities? Different expectations of what married life meant? Was it because someone (not me - obviously) was in the wrong? It's a tough question to answer. But at the age of seven, it seems Flea has got this marriage thing sussed. This week, … [Read more...]

I've a sneaky confession to make. I'm not keen on babies. We're running a competition over on Tots100 this month where you can win £500 by sharing your best baby photo, and I've been looking at all the entries. Intellectually, I can grasp that the whole big headed, wide-eyed thing is supposed to be cute, but it doesn't push my "aawww" button the way a kitten might. Kittens are unequivocally cute. Ditto for puppies. Small bush babies, even. But human babies? Not so much. Don't get me … [Read more...]

Flea should have been back at school tomorrow. This was a big moment for her because it's her first year in junior school. Flea's been excited for weeks to try out her new uniform - this year she has a skirt rather than a pinafore, and her PE kit has switched to singlet and tracksuit rather than shorts and t-shirt. There's a new school bag with room for more books, and this term she'll be starting hockey for the first time. It's all important stuff when you're seven. Added to which, Flea … [Read more...]

Growing up must really suck. Obviously, being an ancient critter myself, I can barely remember, but Flea is most definitely growing up. She'll be in junior school this term, and that means all sorts of changes - not least purchasing a gum shield and shin pads (gulp). Flea's also started to call me Mum sometimes - tentatively, as if she's trying out how it sounds on her tongue. She wants to do more, too - taking on the care of the Forces of Darkness (aka the kittens) almost … [Read more...]

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