Helen

Colourful midlife mum to two teens. Determined not to do as she's told and slide off into invisible old age. Much cooler at 50 than she was at 15. Host of the Teenage Kicks podcast, about mental health for teenagers.

Why writing is so difficult – Dear so and so

Dear GG, I didn’t really know what to do. I couldn’t fathom how to help you. You have written so eloquently in the past that I was shocked by your first effort at a book review. Simple one-liners with poor spelling – that’s not my girl, what’s happening here? I tried to suggest improvements. I was met with coldness, anger, even rudeness. You’ve had these phases before, and you always come out of them and revert to the helpful, mature and funny girl we love. Sometimes we find the reason and help you out of them. Others we never know …

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A Series of Firsts

Well I am at it again, having been tagged by lovely newer bloggers My Rusty Halos and Mad Dog Woman of Shackleford to write up my series of firsts, or my first time at various set episodes in my life. I’m not really one for responding to tags, as I mentioned in my Blogger’s Dozen yesterday, but I couldn’t resist the cheeky answers which began to creep into my 7 year old head as I read the questions: First Boyfriend: *Jonas. He was in my Reception class at school. He can skip better than any of the girls, and he …

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A Blogger’s Dozen

Mother. Wife. Me. is a very good blogger I have made a connection with recently and she has gone and done that tagging thing on me, so you are set to find even more about my life – if that is at all possible given a recent #SunFun by one we all know and erm, loved. However, I’m not one to turn down a compliment so here is what I have to do: You must post the rules Tick Post 12 fun facts about yourself in the blog post Answer the questions the tagger has set for you in their …

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Sunday Funny! Yorkshire Pudding and other Bugisms

Today with #SunFun I am going back to my Wot So Funee? roots. Mummy jots down our funny incidents for posts such as these, and has been trawling her note book for inspiration. She has decided to have a good old clearout, so here are some gems from our daily life for you to giggle at: As you know, the Bug is doing very well with his learning to read, but at the very beginning he was a bit of a chancer. He and Mummy were looking at a First Words book, and to get him started she sounded out …

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How to do Valentine’s with kids

"Chocolate Hearts"

Valentine’s with kids Convert this: To this: Like this: Melt a bar of white chocolate and colour some of it pink: Half fill a silicone mould with white, and top up with pink. Chill. You will get these: Which you should place in boxes made by your children, using a downloadable template: As for dinner for Valentine’s with kids: Provide pink champagne: And a great dessert: Then send your other half to put the kids to bed while you make this: Cook anything, it really doesn’t matter. Sigh with satisfaction when you uncork this: Job done: kids and adults happy …

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Photography: 366 52

It’s been a funny old week, during which Mummy neglected to take a picture every day, so possibly this weekly project post is turning into a 52 rather than a 366! Mummy got very excitable about booking herself into a seminar for Social Media Week London. She arrived early (check out the dates on the event brief and the travelcard) and was rather less excited. We visited all of our Grandparent’s, where the Bug demonstrated his newly acquired reading skills to Grandpa, and we fawned over Grandma’s lovely doggies! I played snow tricks on the Bug (he never fails to …

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Star Wars Darth Vader dances to One Direction Sunday Funny!

Star Wars menace Darth Vader knows a great song when he hears it, and has managed to put together a Street Dance style routine to What Makes you Beautiful by One Direction! Go ahead and share your own funny posts by clicking on the linky tool below.You can add the #SunFun badge or a text link, and if you are tweeting your post please use the #SunFun so we can all find yours. Next week the linky tool will be over at Mammasaurus, and we will be alternating hosting with her. If you’re new here, check out the Sunday Funny …

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Saturday is Caption Day!

It’s caption day over at Mammasaurus. Here is our entry (blink and you’ll miss it!).

ABC Award

ABC. Now, am I not the loquacious one? Do I not have a word (or several) for everything I am? Let’s see, shall we?   A=Active B=Bookworm C=Creative D=Delightful (Mummy’s word) E=Energetic F=Funny G=Giggler H=Haughty (Say’s Daddy) I=Imaginative J=Jiggly K=Kind (Mummy) L=Loquacious! M=Maddening N=Natty O=Octosyllabic – where at all possible P=Porridge-lover Q=Questioner (of everything and everyone) R=Random S=Silly T=Tottenham-Supporter U=Unbelievable V=Verbose W=Witterer X=Xanthic Y=Yappy Z=Zestful Want some more? ‘Cos I could go on…. and on…. I tag the rest of you!

Things to do with kids in cold weather – making icicles!

When the snow is fresh on the ground it is the best feeling in the world. Kids whizzing down powdery slopes, squealing in delight, not noticing the cold. Chucking snowballs and building snowmen, until we are breathless and rosy-cheeked with cold and laughter. Then home for hot chocolate and an argument about who got the most marshmallows. But when it gets colder, and snow turns to dirty ice, it is no longer fun. So as the weather looks set to get colder again, here is something you might want to do with the kids this weekend – Icicles! You will …

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A Family Story: The Photo Gallery

* I am linking up this photo to the Gallery at Sticky Fingers again today (10.9.12) because when the theme Yellow was announced, this was the photo that sprung to mind. GG and Bug’s grandad, never one to let fashion sense get in the way of an angle, in his full-on outfit for his and my Mum’s Golden Wedding anniversary. My Mum is in hospital 120 miles away this week, so I hope that seeing this again will cheer her up… This happened before I was born. My Grandma and Grandad’s Golden wedding anniversary. I knew my Grandad, but my …

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A Photo of Something I Love

This is not the first time I’ve used this photograph on my blog, and it probably won’t be the last. It is a photo of something that Mummy loves, and I have to be honest and declare that I love it too. Of course, Mummy loves us, her children. And obviously me and the Bug love the Bluebell woods at Ringshall. But there is something else here that we all love just as much, and it isn’t always in evidence. So when we do capture it on film, it is all the more precious. “I love my brother, and he …

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Inspired: Snow

Lyrics Well the weather outside is filthy, Mud and slush makes us look unhealthy. And sledges to school got stuck So we’ll spend the whole day in muck. Snow all spattered with vile exhaust fumes Has a rather unpleasant perfume. I wish it was yesterday When my Dad stayed at home to play. How I love when it’s fresh and new, When the sparkle and crunch gives a thrill. And for tea we could have fondue, Just one last run down the hill. Well for that we’ll all have to go skiing, Which requires that the school allows skiving. ‘Cos …

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Photography: 366/52 Sunday

Bored with the normality of a daily photo, we have played with editing software – this week it is Photoscape – to add a bit of pizazz to our 366 photos. By way of explanation, there was a school trip, which involved a boring coach journey through London with multiple traffic hold-ups. Then some attempted blogging whilst the Bug got creative with Lego, some not so silent Sundaes, and snow – lots of it! And that was our week! Joining in with photography projects on Mammatography at Diary of a First Child, The Boy and Me,  and  Love All Blogs. …

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Cybher Meet and Greet

My name is GG and I am sending Mummy to Cybher this year whilst I trash the house take care of Daddy and the Bug. I plan to play on the Wii and eat out in restaurants a lot whilst she is gone! You already know all there is to know about me, but here are 5 things you should know about Mummy if you are going to the Cybher conference: She is lovable to her children (I think she means cuddly – Mummy) She likes pink popping wine She is very strict about bedtimes, so woe betide you all …

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Versatile 7×7’s

Right, I’ve just been tagged in a meme by a lovely London blogger; it involves telling you 7 things about me, 7 bloggers and posts I like and tag 7 people. Now, I am very bad at responding to tags, and these people will confirm that for you as they all gave me either the Leibster or the Versatile Blogger award about a million years ago. So I’m going to include them all here and give them the link I should have given way back then. And tag them back 😉 So, 7 bloggers I love (and a few more): Here …

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Sunday Funny! #SunFun

It’s Sunday! And it’s funny! It’s #SunFun! I am super-excited; I have been writing Wot So Funee? for a while now, and rest-assured that most of my #SunFuns will continue along those lines, but for this week I wanted to share with you a video about children that still makes me cry with laughter. Take 5 minutes to watch this. If you are a parent I guarantee you will be aching with laughter by the end. When you’re done, use the linky tools to link up your own #SunFun post or simply tell me in the comment box what has …

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Yummy Dough

Father Christmas never fails to bring something to displease Mummy. Last year it was Whoopee Cushions and Noisy Putty. This year, with the aid of Tired Mummy of Two‘s Christmas list, he brought Yummy Dough. Mummy muttered a square-word and hid it behind the craft (read Yellow Moon) box. Requests to use it were countered with the observation that we still had lots of Christmas chocolate to get through before baking activity could resume. We finally wore her down this week, and the innocuous-looking powder was duly mixed with water to create biscuit dough of such primary colours that just …

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Wot So Funee? The final post…

This is my final post on Wot So Funee? So it needs to be a spiffing example of my literary and phonetic genius so that I can exit this meme in true loquacious style! And if you make it to the end, I’ll let you into a little secret about where I am headed next! My teacher (let’s call her Mrs Coolcross – because she does occasionally read this blog, occasionally gets cross with me, but is actually quite cool) is a fan of craft. Craft, and the big outdoors. She has introduced us recently to Forest School, where we …

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Around the World in 80 Words

I am being lured into the world of linkys again, this time by SAHDandProud, who reckons we should all be able to write about our best or worst destination – in just 80 words. Here goes: Blue ice-cream. Azzurro, like the sky. Never seen it before, but it tastes like holidays. A beach littered with cafes and stalls selling said Azzurro confection. Sea that never gets above my shoulders, perfect for making Mummy swing me round on my Tinkerbell lilo. Rockpools when I’m bored with that, trying to keep up with Daddy as we scoop urchins from hiding places into …

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