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Warm My Cockles

By Mum's the Word on April 23, 2013 in Uncategorized

The other day, I was talking to one of my Mother in Laws; she’s from Arkansas, where by next Monday they’ll be enjoying highs of 29°c, and has only lived in the UK for a couple of years. Our weather doesn’t sit hugely well with her, understandably, and she said that our winter has been so long and so wet that she feels like the damp has soaked into her bones. I TOTALLY understand that feeling, this winter has been far too long and it really doesn’t seem to be getting much better.

Last weekend, we had a day of nice-ish weather and because we live by the sea (or an estuary, if you want to be picky) we took Sausage to the seafront for an afternoon of arcades and doughnuts. When we got there we realised that not only had the majority of our town and the surrounding areas descended upon the prominade, but that most of them were very scantily dressed! It may have been sunny, but there was still a nip in the air, and I was shocked that everyone was so under-dressed. However, it got me to thinking; if people are thinking that this is all the summer we’re going to get, maybe they should be taking this opportunity to soak up some vitamins from the sun!

What we really need is a holiday, go somewhere where the sun is warm, the food is good and the sea is blue. Somewhere where we think more about suncream than raincoats, eat outdoors without worrying about getting soggy sandwiches and visit the beach in beachwear, not thick coats and hiking boots! It’s not all that easy for us to get away because we have Chuck to think about, but if we were to go aomewhere I’d be doing some serious discount hunting on the internet! I don’t know if it’s because I was born in the summer, but I’m definitely more of a fan of the warmer weather. My underactive thyroid means I’m cold most of the time but as soon as it gets to the end of March, I start to wonder when I can get my Birkenstocksand Havaianas out of the wardrobe and onto my feet.

Anyone got any good tips on how I can warm my cockles without spending a fortune or needing a dog-sitter?! Answers on a postcard, please…

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SPAMALOT! – Or “How To Save Yourself An Hour A Day”

By Mum's the Word on March 23, 2013 in Uncategorized

We’re having a quiet weekend at home after a hectic week and getting hunkered down against the cold. We’re doing lots of family things but we also have time to ourselves when Sausage likes to watch a film, Husband likes to play a game on his PC and I attend to blogging bits and pieces.

One thing I have vowed to get a handle on is the amount of spam that lands in my inbox. I don’t mean the ~~fake~~ cheap Viagra or Cote D’Ivoirian princesses offering to share their gold that Gmail deals with on my behalf and that I don’t even see; I’m talking about the countless newsletters, updates and notifications that I get everyday.

Most days, I wake up to at least 40 emails in my inbox and while I may not be the tidiest person in real life, I’m not the sort of person who can let her inbox build up. Having masses of unread emails drives me to distraction, so I tend to deal with emails as they come in, or at the very least read them and leave them in my inbox to be dealt with later. I also subscribe to a lot of blogs and often wake up to emails of new posts, many of which I’ll save to remind me to read properly when I have the time.

The ones that are getting on my nerves are things like ‘Daily Digest’ emails from LinkedIn groups (which I NEVER read and tend to immediately delete) and sales emails from the likes of Pixmania, Amazon, Jessops and Photobox. I’ve come to the conclusion that, far from saving me money or showing me great deals, these emails are eating into my life and wasting my time EVERY SINGLE DAY. I reckon, on average, when I think about the sheer amount of emails that I’m deleting every day, I probably spend about an hour altogether dealing with crap.

So I’m taking a stand. I’m going on a mass unsubscribing spree and reclaiming the time that I spend everyday dealing with what is, essentially, unsolicited and useless information.

I challenge you to do the same.

Look at your inbox when you wake up (or at your busiest time for emails) and assess how many of them you ever open. If you automatically delete a certain email every time you get it, UNSUBSCRIBE! I know there’s a temptation to stay subscribed, just in case you might save yourself a few pence on a really great deal, but the time you save is actually far more valuable to you and your life in the long run. I guarantee you’ll feel a sense of relief when you start to notice the difference it makes to your day and it’s a great start to decluttering your life.

This even extends to Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels – I’ve massively streamlined who I follow on Twitter as I found I was reading about 10% of the tweets that were showing up in my feed and missing stuff that I actually wanted to see. Same with Facebook, I skip past SO many things on my timeline and it didn’t even occur to me to unsuscribe from things. Now is the time to take a stand! If you still get updates from pages you liked in 2007, the chances are they are no longer relevant to to and just waste time that you could be spending looking at things you enjoy.

Anyway, I’m off for a spring clean of my online world!

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International Women’s Day – A Letter to My Daughter

By Mum's the Word on March 8, 2013 in Uncategorized

To My Darling Daughter,

It seems only fitting to me that on International Women’s Day I should write to you, the single most important female in my life. You will, one day, be a woman and I hope that you have daughters too, for having a daughter has been the single most rewarding experience of my life.

You are my world.

I cannot express my gratitude at being blessed with a daughter who has the kindest heart of anyone I have ever met, a daughter who carries the weight of the world with her and wants to make it all better. Seeing the sadness in your eyes when you think of those less fortunate than yourself breaks my heart and mends it all at once when I see your determination to make a difference to the world. Quite remarkable for someone of less than five years old.

You have filled my world with laughter, happiness, dancing, art, singing, stubbornness, worry, frustration, wonder, joy, sadness. You make me feel in a world that is so often numbed by external forces, and for that I cannot thank you enough.

It’s my job, as a mother and a woman to make sure that you know certain things and while I may not know everything just yet, my 28 years of life have taught me the following:

Never allow yourself to feel owned by anyone or anything. You belong to you and you alone. Always take the time to find joy in the smallest things. The light of the moon, the miracles of nature, a smutty joke. It’s all good. You can be anything you want to be. Your Dad and I will always be here for you. We’re your biggest fans and you are our single greatest love. Beauty is whatever you want it to be and you can see it everywhere if you only look hard enough. Friends are important. Never take anything for granted. Be happy.

As a woman, you may find that you’re underestimated of overlooked. Being underestimated is just fine. Enjoy the look on people’s faces when it dawns on them that you are SO much more than they expected you to be. Being overlooked is not good. Kick and scream until you get the recognition you deserve.

Forget the labels. Be it the ones in your dress or the ones people put on you. They don’t matter. All that matters is that you have total agency over yourself and your body. Keep it that way.

There are no ifs and buts when it comes to love. Your Dad and and I met and married within 6 months, despite everyone’s objections. Our mantra is “when you know, you just know”. It’s a good thing to remember.

I can only hope, as a woman speaking to someone who will one day be one, that I’ve done a good job, raised you with confidence, intelligence, empathy and grace.

Trust me kid, you’re going to need those things to make it in this world.

Love, Ma xxxx

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A Postcard From #TeamHonk!

By Mum's the Word on February 7, 2013 in Uncategorized

Hello Jayne!

This morning we visited the Virtuous Women’s Bakery in Accra, a project where women can make, bake and sell bread to provide an income for themselves and their family. In this snap you can see Veronica carrying the dough from the local building where the dough is mixed to the ovens in the main bakery site – there’s a lot of dough in there, she is one strong lady!

This is a digital postcard sent from TeamHonk (Mammasaurus; A Residence; Mummy Barrow) during their travels with Comic Relief in Ghana celebrating #goodwork. For the past 25 years the money raised through Red Nose Day has been changing the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa. Let’s Keep Up the Good Work. Find out how at rednoseday.com For other digital postcards please do check out the linky on Team Honk