introvert or extrovert???

(my lame photography of a golden statue in Brugge - sorry couldn't resist)


The last week has been manic in my house!!

I had my birthday on Wednesday, which was fantastic and I was very spoilt by my beloved.
Then the weekend bought beautiful weather and we managed to get and about. We went to Mary Ardens house which is part of the Shakespeare trust and had the best day. The trust put on a bit of a Tudor day and with the sunshine smiling down, it was a day filled with smiles.
Now its half term and the weather is turning slightly (apparently tomorrow its going to rain - lots) so I am trying to fit heaps in, things that we have wanted to do for ages but have been too tired to do.

Today we went swimming with one of my sons friends and his mother (of which I get on really well).
Theo is such a cautious kid in so many ways but so extreme in others. He will watch and wait and work things out before, or if, he tries it. Sometimes he has done the thing before but will still get a bit nervous about it.
Take our swimming outing for example, he has never ever liked getting his face wet, hates it and it really freaks him out. He will not, under any circumstances "dunk" his head under water and if he goes down one of the water slides I have to catch him on the way down so he doesn't go under water.
Interesting, the friend that we went with today is exactly the same...and not just with swimming, but his little brother is fearless in the water, throws himself around and loves going under the water...complete opposite.
It got me thinking about how siblings essentially come from the same genetic make-up but have such different personalities.
Me and my big brother couldn't be more different if we tried...I'm rather intense but also (I like to think) extremely loyal, I am fairly out going and will try new things with excitement, I love meeting new people and I put my life out there for anyone to read...my brother on the other hand is a sit at home with his family sort of person, has few friends but has had those friends since school, he holds his cards very close to his chest...intensely private person.
I wonder, if we could have another child, what would their personality be???out extrovert or introvert??

Overall I would describe myself as and an extrovert with slight introvert tendencies!! I like to think myself loyal, I like to think myself as someone who will go to great lengths for those that need it, I do try at these things and yes, sometimes I fail..but don't we all??

So my question / thought for this entry is...what are you..introvert or extrovert and why??

ooohhh its my birthday

tomorrow is my birthday and I feel I need to explain a little about MY birthday.... kind of like the "rules", these are no particular order

Firstly, I have to have presents to open, I need some in the morning to start the day and then I expect some in the evening.

Secondly, I expect everyone that I know to have a smile on there face as I don't want grumpy people bringing my happy mood down.

Thirdly, I do no house work (which is why I am manic tidy person today)

Fourthly, I want cake, with candles, preferably chocolate sponge with chocolate icing with chocolates on top

and the fifth rule of birthdays is to get pampered...big time.

So Tomorrow this is how the day will go...
I will awake to my beautiful wishing me a happy birthday and my husband handing me my coffee.
Open gift/s and cards from my boys
get ready and walk son to school
Home to have a nice long hot bath and then do hair.
Down to beauty spa for a back massage, facial and pedicure
Home for some delicious food
get son from school - play, giggle a lot
husband home from work early
he will cook and then eat more delicious food
play with son some more and open presents - friends will probably pop round, if not see then at weekend
put son to bed and then its time for me and husband to chill out and chat about me me me me me me!!!

I love my birthday, its the one day of the year that is dedicated just to that person, where everyone can make a big fuss of them. I have to admit that I go overboard when its one of my boys birthday - banners and balloons everywhere!!

enjoy tomorrow with me people

So my thought / question for the day is what special things to you demand on your birthday???

happy love Thursday ...this for our small world!!!

Happy late Love Thursday everyone.

This week has been an amazing week for me.
16 years ago I went abroad for my very first time, this week I went abroad again...hmmm constant traveller (this is due to my claustrophobia). My husband had to go to Germany with work so I went with him.

Got the ferry to Calais and then onto to Brugge for a visit and then onto where we were staying....very long journey.

I was like a child saying really mature things like "oohhh a French cow" and "oohhhh look a little French farm house"...after the 3rd country I can safely say that this sort of this was no longer being said!!

5 countries in one day...knackering. England, France, Belgium, Holland and then Germany...wow.

We only got back yesterday so I am still very very tired.

It was a complete adventure for me. I spent the day on my own in a little town where hardly anyone could speak English and I felt very isolated and ignorant at times but was made to feel completely welcome by the town. With lots of hand gestures and miming I managed to do rather alot of shopping and sight seeing!!!

So this love Thursday is to the small world that we live in and also to confidence one gets from doing something strange and rather difficult at times!!!

love Thursday - to my son

Despite being on a high with life recently I have been a tad harsh on my boy, I think slightly hormonal??

You see I haven't been a very good mother this past week and I think I have been a nagging / shouting / he can't do a damn thing right kind of mummy.

For instance, I hate and loath the way he just says yeah instead of yes or lile instead of little...it grates on me when he drops sounds from his vocabulary.
He just drops clothes on the floor instead of putting them where they should go...things like that. But the thing is he is just 5 years old and sometimes, because the child is soooo smart, I forget this.

But, whenever I go overboard on trying to keep him from doing something dumb and shout at him, straight away he just goes back to being his normal cheerful self without holding a grudge.

When I say cheerful self, I feel I ought to explain....the child is hardly ever grumpy and only gets grumpy when he is tired or really really doesn't want to do something. From the moment he wakes up till the moment he goes to bed he is full of energy and life, into everything and is like a little sponge waiting to soak up all the experiences he can.

As an adult, if someone says the wrong thing, or shouts at you for seemingly the smallest thing you get pissed off at that person and will probably react in a stoney silence with them or shout back or anything horrid like that...right?

But with my son, if someone (like me) tells him off he doesn't always necessarily take it on board but he doesn't do the destructive behaviour that adults do, he just treats the person as though nothing happened...or says sorry...he is quick to tell me if he has done something wrong as I have a rule (which is sometimes very hard to keep) that if he tells me what he has done he will not get told off...sometimes if he has friends over he is very quick to tell on them which is slightly worrying for future reference but right now..he is just 5 and cannot distinguish between telling me sonething he has done or telling on someone else.

I envy my 5 year old child. He moves through life without a bad word to say about anyone, he cares for people and their feelings, he tells the worst jokes EVER and is always telling me I look beautiful.
He loves to play at being a super hero or at being Harry Potter and if he is playing at being someone I am not allowed to call him by his name I have to call him by the person he is being. It's so fulfilling seeing him grow and develop and his hunger for knowledge and the ever boring questions "what's that for, what's it do and am I old enough for that yet".
Sometimes as an adult you can get complacent with experiences you can just do like go white water rafting or surfing lessons and it's such fun seeing him want to do this sort of thing (takes after his Daddy in that respect).

He has sooo many facets to his personality of which I would love to take credit for but I think at the end of the day, he's just Theodore.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes he can be a little bugger...but can't they all???

So this is for my son, ever quick to give me cuddles or "sugar" as one of my friends calls it...the every playful boy who I shed a proud tear for and can say "he's my boy".

Please leave your links to your love Thursday or just tell me what you have loved this past week.

some very exciting gossip

Hello my dear friends...I am one excited little bunny!!!

As some of you may know, I don't excel in my job as much as I would like..oh I am good at it and know what I am doing and all that. I Love just talking to people and getting to know them, in my job I can't do this as much as I would like / enjoy.

So with much trepidation I set about putting this matter right...what job could I truly fulfill myself in, one where I could ask questions and poke my nose into other people's business...hmmm hairdresser or something like that???
Then I got chatting with a very dear friend of mine about this conundrum and she light heartedly said...journalism...and so the seed was planted.

I have wanted to be a journalist for as long as I have been old enough to think about jobs in a serious light (not ballarena)...I remember babysitting for my neice when I was about 13ish and looking through a magazine thinking "ooohhh I could wear that when I get a hot new scoop"...but as I wasn't the most accademic person in the world so I never persued this.

I am lucky enough that my very local college runs a journalsim course and its the best course one could go on if one wanted to be a journalist...its run by the NCTJ (national council for trainee journalists).

Me being me, I never thought for a moment that I would get an interview for the course as the application form in itself was pretty long!!! But I did, so off I went with my heart in mouth and I took the interview - 4 hours later and I really thought that I had completely ballsed the whole thing up.
I started to wonder if I could devote that much time to a course / am I too old and will all the others be school leavers making me feel even older / what if I got half way through and the work load was simply too much for me to handle / am I a good enough writer / what if my 'need to survive' love of news wasn't enough???
That was what was going through my mind from the Tuesday when I took the interview / exam until Friday when the gentleman said he was going to call.

I sat on the edge of my seat for the whole of the Friday, every time the phone rang I gulped and thought this is it....it wasn't until 5pm that he called (yes, very long day) he asked how I was and I answered "ask me at the end of the call!", he then told me what a pleasure it was meeting me and what my score in the test was etc etc...this went on for about 5 minutes when I had to say "please, just tell me if I have got onto the course"...he told me I had and I have never felt so proud of myself...I had done it...little me gonna be a bonafidda journalist..who'd have thought!!! I was then able to answer his initial question and told him I was fantastic thank you very much!!

I haven't been able to say anything as I hadn't told my boss, she has been the best boss I have ever had..she is always there for a cuppa and a gossip, gives critism in a way so that you don't feel too crappy about it and is always a shoulder to cry on...so with a heavy heart I told her my intentions today.
My last day will be July 13th as the school holidays start the day after and I really want to spend the summer with my son.

So that's it folks..little old me did it - my advise here is never ever listen to a school careers officer as they generally talk out their arses!!!

I am ever sooo excited and now feel as though I can celebrate.

My thought / question for this blog is what have you done in your life that people or yourself thought you couldn't do but you made a success of / did it anyway????

hmm sunshine and a bit of a moan

I have a confession to make....I love the sun. But this passion is very temperamental.

Right now the sun is shinning but its not too hot. Its the sort of temperature where you can go out and do stuff, like gardening or go for a long walk without feeling like you will get heat exhaustion....my kind of sunshine exactly.

I love the sun but hate having to work in it, I like to sit out in the garden and read a good book whilst lounging around. I hate flies when sitting out reading a good book. I love to get a nice healthy looking tan, I hate getting sun burnt, which I do, no matter what sun screen I use...then go in the shower and feel like a thousand needles are sticking in my skin from where the water hits my tender red bits.
I love to swim in outdoor pools on holiday in the sun, I hate the amount of chlorine they put in the pool and can't stand the thought of swimming in someones pee.
I love lounging on the beach in the blazing hot but hate the way sand sticks to places that you didn't even think you had. I love the fact that the sun naturally bleaches my hair but hate the sticky feeling that you get in your hair line. I love summery clothes but hate the fact that unless you are a size 12 or less you just look like a very white blamonge in said clothes.

So all in all I simply love to lounge in my beautiful back garden where I can wear what I want, do what I want and smell however I damn well please but delight in the fact that if I get too hot or too smelly I can just jump in the shower and get refreshed!!!
A friend of mine said that she is very aware of what she is wearing in her garden as the neighbours might look over, I say sod it...its your land, let em look...they shouldn't be eyeballing you any-way!!!

I feel alive when the sun is shinning and spend luxury time just stretching out my limbs.
People seem friendlier when its nice and warm instead of being cold and rushing to get to their destination and running to get warm again. my husband and I can take our son to the park and spend hours their instead of silently thinking that he will complain he is cold so that we can get back in doors again!!
I laugh at the way ice cream suddenly becomes acceptable to eat again and also becomes a regular in our diets!!!
I love the way the flowers grow from being dormant and I purposely brush pass them so that they release their scent.
But one thing that I do find amusing and mildly affronted at his skinny, ghost white men walking down the street with their shirt off and tucked into their quarter length shorts with socks on and trainer clad feet...please men, I beg of you,only do that if your body is actually worth showing off to the world...the others, only do it in your back garden!!!

A poem I feel is required here...here's a part of a poem by wordsworth:-

The rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the rose;
The moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth...


Oh my dear dear sunishine, please don't leave until the leaves turn golden brown

So over to you, my fantastic readers...give me your thoughts and feeling towards the sunshine.

hair - tis a funny old thing

I had long blonde hair until recently. My hair went to the middle of my back but was in desperate need of a bloody good cut. All I did with it was tie it back.

A friend of mine comes to ones home to cut the hair, so I took her up on her services.
I am a very determined person and once I set my mind on something, its very hard to get me out of what I want to do.

I have what I call baby hair, its very fine and wispy.

All that taken into account I had the lot chopped off. Its now the length of just touching my shoulders and I have a fringe.

I don't like it, my husband in his ever tactful way says that he will "have to spend time getting used to it", or in other words - he don't like it!!

The length I like it's just the fringe. It sort of cuts my face in half!!!!

But it does look healthier (well at least one thing about me looks healthy!).

But don't you think that hair is a bit of an odd one? I mean us girls stress over our hair, does it look good, would it look good another way and if so do I have the balls to go for a complete change? Men on the other hand don't seem to have that much stress do they? I am not including all men into that because I have seen men with more products in their hair than they can shake a stick at...9 times out of 10 they are estate agents aren't they!!!

Come to think of it, when it comes to appearance, men do not stress as much as us ladies, which is weird because with animals its the male trying to impress the females?!?! We watch our weight, how much are our boobs are sagging with age, face creams to keep youthful looks, fashion to make us look nice...all these things add up.
Me, I'm not a trend setter by any stretch of the imagination, I am completely comfortable in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. If I think I look nice I tend to walk with a bit of a spring in my step. I know the critics out there will say "feeling good should come from the inside"...only a man would say that! I do agree with the statement, but in short, if one went out dressed in crappy old clothes then you aren't going to feel like wonder woman for the day!!

SO my thought / question for this entry is....what do you do to make you feel good about yourself, ready for the day ahead???