All in a days...

Oh should that actually read 'all in a daze' I am not entirely sure about this title, as I do undoubtedly feel crazily dazed if I'm honest?!

This is my semi Ta-Dah post, I actually started this current housecleaning frenzy yesterday when I spent no little than 8 solid hours blitzing the girls pigsty - how can they live in such squalor is beyond me!

Anyway the chores continued today & over the past 35 hours I have totally annihilated 2 children's bedrooms into submission & they both look habitual now - this included stripping bunkbeds & a midsleeper, making all 3 beds again with fresh clean bedding.

I have washed & dried & put away 6 loads of washing & also put away another 2 loads that had already been washed & dried previously! How these children go through so many clothes is a mystery, some actually don't look like they've been worn & others are hideously dirty!!!

I have vacuumed the house top to bottom, cleaned the kitchen no less than 5 times, found a hidden pile of clean clothes stuffed in the bottom of number one sons wardrobe that needed hanging up, made sure the children didn't starve, arranged a birthday cake, packed an overnight bag for the kidlets, attempted to get a nice meal on the table at a reasonable hour (only for my super powers to fail & one item not being quite cooked in time - epic failure).

I would normally go to karaoke with the Funky one tonight (haven't been in a fortnight, as was away last Thurs) but I'm in no way motivated, it is freezing cold, I've not had my caffeine quota, I'm knackered & still I have an outfit to find for a wedding reception that I'm attending tomorrow night!

I feel absolutely bloated & fat today, hence finding an outfit I can actually fit into. Maybe I should just dress up as a pumpkin, it would hide all the flab on show - lol!!!

My skin feels awful as I've been overdoing the Creme Eggs & Chocolate - Easter should be banned next year... I've decided! I best take my meds in a minute, was very late in taking yesterday morning (it was in fact 2pm by the time I got round to it) Ooops.

I'll rest when I'm dead, either that or fall asleep on the sofa this evening! Fingers crossed I don't have to rush out & buy anything to wear tomorrow!

One of those days.....

Yes the title has a hint of sarcasm, but for me it HAS been exactly that 'one of those days'

Now I guess 'one of those days' could mean a number of scenarios to a number of people, but for me it means a day where I've almost got to the point of saying "enough is enough, I quit!"

I bet you're all thinking why?! Why is today so much tougher than any other day??? In fairness I don't think it is & now I'm blogging to calm myself (strangely for me this is a technique that works) I can reflect & say "is it THAT bad?"

Actually as calm as I'm getting, yes it is! What the outside world sees is what it wants to see: the blissful married couple, 3 lovely children, a nice/safe family home, financially ok... What the outside world doesn't see: a depressed husband, a high-functioning autistic son, a stressed out wife/mother, all the chaos that goes with this too.

So why today? Why 'St Patrick's Day'? Top of the mornin to ya, by the way! Lol

Maybe the moon is in a particular phase, maybe it's the random weather patterns (freak snow showers this morning), maybe it's just a build up of the last few weeks, who knows?!

What I do know is my husband struggles every Sunday & hits a downer with the ever looming Monday morning back to work syndrome, add to the mix a non-compliant/non-conventional thinking autistic son that has been very argumentative & refusing to do homework or he at all helpful in anyway - well it's an all scale warfare to be precise.

Does that sound dramatic?! It's meant to... The morning started ok, but suddenly plummeted. We awoke, hubby toasted hot-cross buns (courtesy of M&S, they're the best in my honest opinion (but I've yet to try my hand at making my own)). We all ate, I had coffee life was good!

Then we ask number one son to do his homework (that should've been started on Friday after school, but alas arguments then, arguments yesterday too) guess what?!? Yep you bet ya, agreements again!!!

It got so heated that both male inhabitants stormed off to their bedrooms... Great! The littlest female inhabitant had a party to get to & I had a cake to delivery for said party - so given the drastic change in weather front, yes we had heavy snow showers at that time... I text my friend to let her know I'd walk the cake & girls to hers, drop lil lady n cake off for party (I'd then planned to take middle child to Costa).

Then cause I go to dress myself, hubby tells me I'm being ridiculous walking with cake, carseat & girls in this weather he'll give us a lift - Arghhhhhh! So I text my friend again, her partner comes to collect cake & we then have issues getting the boy to dress to leave the house.

Eventually he dresses, we get in A snow clad car & head to Banbury iKidz to drop lil lady (who is now The Dark Knight, it's a Superhero party) off for the party.

As is pretty standard these days in our car, the journey is never simple even if it's a short one in town... Kids arguing n bickering, I have no patience left since I quit smoking (Oct 9th 2012) give me strength please???

No, it continues so I start playing Emma B via my phone - hubby thinks it's amusing to change the lyrics & take the piddle out of me... Not happy & very vexed I stare out the window to watch the snow fall.

We drop little Anneliese at her party then head to Banbury centre, Castle Quay do a spot of shopping, some window shopping, then have trouble with hubbys stoopid iPod & Bluetoothing a photo to the printer in Boots (adding to my stress of our darling son being on form today). Before we know it the time has gone, we didn't even manage lunch before collecting Anneliese from her party!

We detoured past McDonald's on the way home, so we could eat... Lil lady was full from the party so just had a carton of milk - but even eating in McDonald's was not stress free & was fraught for me n hubby, as Cam decided the window screen that moved was of great enjoyment so kept sliding it back n fourth with Anneliese tugging the other side too. Tut, tut, much to our annoyance.

We finally finished & headed home in the car, still a few issues on the journey home - turn the stereo up, block it out! Once home we start back on the homework topic, eventually after much debate/protest/arguing we convince Cam to start it... Result!

The girls are playing happily, if a little loud, so they take their toys up to their room. We start to watch Corrie, homework is being started it is going well until - hubby drifts off to sleep, he's extremely tired after 2 nights work & early mornings after... Then the boy starts messing with deleting template pages from the document he is working on, not putting in any content so my stress levels rise again.

This is when I pick my phone up & play Candy Crush, then I start this blog as I'm getting more vexed with my son... Hubby wakes up, gets cross with son & goes to bath the lil lady - eventually son finishes homework, we have crumpets for tea & I have a cuppa then finish this blog off.

I'm unmotivated to go out this evening, but as I skipped karaoke Thursday night for feeling stressy I'm gonna force myself for Paddy-oke as a few silly Irish songs, good friends & bestie too should shove the stresses away.

I think I will tell my children when they hit their teens growing up is no fun, not to waste their time as youngsters with stress, anguish, arguments & just have fun, help one another, enjoy life while they can! So on that note, I'm outta here... Quick freshen up & tie the hair back, ready for some awful singing (from me) & a few decent tunes (from others, I hope) lol.

Master of Surprises!

Yes, that would be me... I'm so sneaky, but only in a good way!


You see I love to make those I'm closest to happy, especially for birthdays... Too many people forget or hide birthdays when they're grown up, I don't see why myself?!


I mean it's worth celebrating because you've survived another year, this day & age we all have far too many stresses & strains which take their toll on us - but we're still here, alive, breathing, with so much to live for & that should be celebrated every year!


I've been decidedly sneaky yet again this year, I wowed bestie on his birthday in Feb with an outstanding 'ham' cake, it's hubby Duncan's birthday on the 7th he has a surprise cake in store for karaoke (created & supplied by the lovely Anne)...





He said he didn't want anyone to know it was his birthday so removed it from view on FB but also changed the date too!


I have obviously made a birthday cake for us at home & posted a picture, but also wrote a status & tagged him, I also wrote on his FB wall! Ooops did I let the cat out the bag?! Lol!!!


                                                                                                                           


I've also arranged another surprise for Sunday, our good friend Nigel is coming down to come to karaoke... So I've booked a babysitter & Dunk is none the wiser - ain't I evil?! Not really, I think these are nice surprises & it really shows just how much I care about those I'm closest to!


I started this blog on Weds 06/06, it is now Mon 11/06 & how did the surprises go down?! I bet you're wondering???


Well, the surprise cake Thursday night was a real hit & much appreciated too (so was my cake that we had at home on Friday) he was treated to a fair few drinks on Thursday night too, but after a few pints of Strongbow, a Gin n Tonic (don't think this got drunk), a fair few shots of various flavours & topped off with a shot of Southern Comfort n Tabasco (forgot what it was called) - Dunk made a sneaky exit from the pub & went home early, lol!


Yesterday was absolutely classic though, timed to perfection... Dunk was cooking the Sunday roast, I was relaxing in the bath, the children were playing nicely & everyone apart from me was unaware of a surprise guest arriving!


Dunk started dishing up, the children laid the table (for 5 as normal), I got out the bath & was drying in bathroom, then the doorbell went... I could hear Duncan say from the kitchen (it's right next to bathroom) "who's at the door at this time? We're just about to eat!"


The next thing I hear is the door opening & a majorly surprised voice on Dunk says "bloody hell, how the devil are you, long time no see, come in!"


Hahaha, got him good & proper, he even commented it was like a 'This is your Life' moment!!!

Nigel & Duncan at bestie Jason's karaoke!

I've surprised him on 2 milestone birthdays in the past, I did a surprise 30th for him in '99 & on his 40th I arranged all his family & friends to surprise him at his then regular Friday karaoke gig that was in '09 - you'd think he'd learn by now eh?!


Last year I aided & abetted my good friend Andy organise his girlfriend (my Wifey) Becky's 30th surprise party too, so if you need any help with springing a surprise on your loved ones I'm a bit of an expert & good at party planning, just ask I'll only be too pleased to help!!!

Monday mornings...

What is it about Mondays??? They're at the start of every week, take exactly 144 hours (6 days) to come round & still they're the brunt of everyone's lives... People who work Monday-Friday hate Mondays after having a relaxing couple of days off & then having to go back to work, housewives/househusbands have to get back into routine of getting the children ready for school & making sure they get there on time, it's just a right old pain to be honest.


I suppose shift workers & people without a regular job or responsibilities of children don't fear Mondays as much as the rest of us though, I wonder if there is a day that those people fear & on what day does their week actually start?!


As for those poor people that do day shifts & night shifts... Well I guess their weeks are just completely messed up so do they even worry at all about any day in particular???


I find Mondays generally ok, a little mundane every other week & complete chaos the weeks in between... But ok in the whole, yes it's a struggle some Mondays after a karaoke night out & uncooperative children, but that doesn't happen every single week thankfully - they're normally very good at getting ready for school & back into routine, only occasionally if we've had a particularly busy or disruptive Sunday do Mondays take on that dreaded 'it's Monday' feeling!


Today was fairly ok, the children were a little uncooperative which meant we were slightly late for school... But only by a few minutes & the rest of the day has been pretty ok on the whole.


Just a little blog for today, more to come soon though blog followers... Enjoy!

Photos, photos, photos...

Photo's capture the memories we want to cherish forever, we can look at them time & time again & remember very good times, they are a fantastic way of keeping memories of important milestones & a way to capture the beauty of nature.


Now I don't get to do as much photography as I would like, but I do tend to be quite snap happy when I am out & about on days out with the family & of course karaoke (I am yet to get snap happy at The Hart, but I feel next year is the year for this now I am well established at karaoke table), I do also like to take my camera to school performances & on other occasions in the past I have been known to take spontaneous photos in the garden, at the church & anywhere else where I can get something not quite so ordinary captured forever.


I own two cameras which both have great qualities, 1st is my Pink Lumix DMC-FS42 Pocket Digital Camera which never leaves my handbag so I always have a camera on hand should I see anything that attracts my eye to photograph... 2nd is my semi-professional camera the Lumix DMC-FZ28 which I absolutely love for taking really good pictures & taking to special events such as holidays, parties & weddings etc.


I don't profess to be the best photographer, as I am just an amateur really but I have been known to take some really nice photos... I think I may just start going out with my Semi-pro camera & just randomly taking pictures when out & about, I may go down St Ed's & take some photos around the church.


Currently I am trying to catch up with uploading various photos to my Facebook as I have nearly 500 pictures on my Pocket camera which I need to get on to my laptop so that it is free for Christmas, no doubt it will come out to karaoke on Thursday & it most definitely will be out on Friday for Alison's 25th birthday celebrations too!


Some of my more creative pictures are on deviantArt if you would like to look at them take a trip to my page Lynda-Jane's deviantART I am rather proud of my work on here, although it is a fair few years old I still rather like it & I will get back to doing more photography like this as I do miss it.  I actually have a lot of photos on my computer that need framing & uploading, but you know what it is like when you have a house to run, children to look after & every day life just getting in the way?!  I am sure one day I will get time to sit down & start doing this again & my gallery over at deviantART will grow with more artistic shots & fond memories.


Just remember, don't shy away from my camera if you see me with it... it's good to remember happy times & those memories last a lifetime, although sometimes we need a gentle reminder in the shape of a picture to bring it back to our minds most vividly!

Lonely...

Well, I thought I ought to write this in blue... but for whatever reason even that won't work for me, I am feeling rather blue at the moment! Duncan left for work this morning just after 7.30am but I won't see him now for just over a week as he is off with the lads to France fishing for a week. He has been in previous years both 2007 & 2008 but the children were much younger then & a bit easier to handle ;)

He will be spending the week with Mark, Alf, Andy & Clive... I am sure they'll all have a great time catching mainly fish, maybe an odd duck or even a rat?! But it's so amazing how much I am missing him already even though today has not been that eventful, it's wierd!!!

I thought I better blog as I haven't blogged since March & already it is June - where oh where has this year gone?!?!?! We're half way through almost, I can't believe it!!! I suppose going to karaoke with my friend Elaine tonight might help me cheer up, but it won't be the same without Duncan doing it... I do love Funky Mike, but not quite as much as I love Duncan!

Trying to keep busy by planning a charity event I have coming up next month, it's almost as manic as cupcake wars although not quite so bad & doing it single handed I will have more time to bake & create, just organising all my packaging supplies ready to order for the event & deciding what flavour cupcakes I am doing... no spoilers though, so if you want to sample some you will have to come along to the event & purchase them! You can find out more about the event here: http://www.bellesboutique.info/

I am now going to have a little bit of chill out time with a couple of games of Bejeweled Blitz or Zuma on Facebook as the little lady has been out with a friend this afternoon & will be home soon & the older two are busy playing LBP2 on the PS3 - so I may as well do something I enjoy before starting the dinner etc!