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In one of those bizarre twists of fate, just as I was thinking "gee, I'm not really a very good blogger, blah, blah", along comes Tattooed Mummy to tag me in a meme. I haven't done a meme in ages, and I as it seems like a good bloggy thing to do, I guess I should give it a go...

I have to list 7 blog posts I admire

Then list 7 things about myself

Then answer 7 questions set by that my "tagger", set 7 questions of my own and pass on the whole shebang!

Ouf. Nothing like a nice "easy" meme to get used to them again then!


Where do I even begin on 7 POSTS I admire? Seven blogs would be tough enough...but seven POSTS?


1) Probably a more inconsistent blogger than even me, the lovely "I now consider her a real-life friend" Nicki managed to write a simultaneously amusing-yet-harrowing account of her breakdown. She's very readable, and I wish she'd carry on!


2) Muddling Along Mummy sums up the permanent struggle of the working parent better than I ever could


3) I'm cheating with the third one, as really I could have chosen anything from this blog, but Lou's Things of Beauty  is always something lovely and soothing to glance at - she has a wonderful eye for slightly wistful photos, and there are some lovely words accompanying them.


4) London City Mum was the only person who could explain the Euro Crisis in terms I could understand.


5) I'm still in awe of Ms Alliance's Christmas Round Robin


6) I loved Helena Halme's How I Came to Be In England series of blog posts chronicling her journey from her native Finland to the UK via the romance with her Englishman, so I was thrilled to see that not only will she be publishing the series as an e-book, but that she is also now posting extracts of her diary from that first year. 


7) One of the best thing about blogging is finding someone with similar experiences to yourself - especially when it comes to parenting. I found myself nodding my head and positively weeping with relief and recognition when I read Battles with my seven year old ... you're never on your own in the blogosphere...




7 Things About Myself:


1) I've been afraid of fireworks ever since presentations at junior school by the local fire brigade with a slide show showing all the horrible injuries inflicted by them. I'm not too bad with organised displays, but it's only recently that the thought of going to someone's house hasn't filled me with horror.
2) I am both tonsil-less and wisdom-tooth-less
3) I don't like olives
4) The number of people who have no idea that I have not one, but four, pictures of me in my Twitter avatar still surprises me...
5) I've always fancied red hair, but have never dared as my mother is a natural redhead, and we already look too similar!
6) I once had a goldfish called Bryan Robson...it died after two days...
7) I have a scar on the index finger of my right hand from a go-karting accident when I was 5 ot 6.


Questions asked by Tattooed Mummy:

1. Do you have a favourite child? Either one of yours or someone elses! Why?
• Of course I have to say I love both my children equally - how could I not!! As for other children...I'll let you into a little secret...I'm not really a huge fan of other people's kids...
2. What was your first pet (not family pet - your own)? if you have never had a pet which would you most like to own?
• I've always wanted a cat - they appeal to my introverted, no-messing nature. Sadly, I'm terribly allergic!
3. Can you play any musical instrument and if so what?
• As a child, I learnt the recorder, the classical guitar, the violin and the piano. I don't think I'd be able to play any of them any more though...
4. Do you speak more than one language? Which ones?
• I grew up in Germany, and can do a pretty passable impression of a German. I'm also fluent(ish) in French, and know smatterings of Finnish and Italian. I also did a couple of years of Russian and Japanese at school, but a reasonable knowledge of Cyrillic script and a basic greeting is about all that remains of either of those!
5. How old were you when you had your first proper kiss and what were the circumstances?
• I was 17 (yep, late developer)...away at a church retreat. There was a group of Italian teenagers staying in the same youth hostel. One of them took a liking to me, and we kissed under a staircase. I remember it being cold, wet and clammy and wondering what the fuss was about, and spent the rest of the weekend avoiding him!
6. How many and which countries have you visited?
• In all honesty, probably too many to list - I've been very lucky. The only continents I haven't made it to are the South East Asia, South America and Australia. 

1. If you cold only eat one meal over and over again for the rest of your life what would it be?
• My love of cheese is no secret...it would have to be a selection of cheese and biscuits...mmmmmmm

The questions I'd now like to pass on to others are:


1) When was the last time you told a lie?
2) Is there any food you've not tried, but would really like to?
3) What posters were on the wall of your teenage bedroom?
4) Groundhog Day is real. Which day would you choose, and why?
5) Which is the one room in your house you'd make over, if money were no object?
6) Would you ever consider/have you ever had plastic surgery?
7) What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done?

And with that, I'd like to tag the following victims:

Julie at Kailexness in the hope it fits into one of her boxes ;)
Nicki in the hope that she might pick up the blogging thing again
and
Ms Alliance, because I'm lazy and I'm just using the list up there... ;-)
Corinne at A Journey Through Motherhood 
Random Pearls of Wisdom - because we need a male perspective

Random Thoughts from Inside my Head, the 2 year Blogoversary Edition

So, last Saturday was my two-year blogoversary. Apparently it is customary to mark such things, although I seem to recall I missed my first one as well...still, it goes nicely with my general "I never remember birthdays or anniversaries" haphazardness.

Of course, the only reason I remember this particular anniversary, is because the Annual Ski Disaster  Trip is looming next week, and I seem to remember this being close to my first post on this blog. (I think I have documented my general fears on the subject enough, but suffice to say, I am approaching it with my usual mix of trepidation, fear and excitement. I am fully expecting the usual week of gritted teeth and "why did I agree to this", to be followed by the euphoria of "I'm not dead, let's do it again". )

Looking back, it still amazes me that I managed to maintain an average of two posts per week in my first year of blogging, when these days I barely manage two a month. Still, that's what being busier at work and having children with more demands as they get older does, I suppose.

Anyway, to those of you who have stuck around - thank you, and have you considered seeking psychiatric help?

Memory Loss

I keep a little book in which I jot down ideas for blog posts when I have them, to write later. There's a title in there called "Memory Loss".

To be honest, I can't remember what it was supposed to be about.

The Gift of Time

There's a phrase I've recently become conscious of muttering a lot, and I am starting to hate myself for it:

"We haven't got time"

Yes, I'm a full time working mother of two, so it's logical "time" isn't going to be on my side. The mornings involve rushing the kids to either breakfast club or school, then straight back to my desk to log on. Evenings three days a week involve picking up the kids from after-school club and pretty much starting the end of the day routine straight away. Not much time for "mummy, can I make a rocket", or "mummy, can we bake some cakes".

Of course, winter is worse, when the evenings are dark. At least as the evenings get lighter the pressures of bedtime somehow never seem as pressing. The truth is, I've always got very stressed about timekeeping. Friends laugh and say that I spent too many of my formative years in Germany, and that their reputation for punctuality has rubbed off on me. This may be true, but whatever the underlying reason, I hate being late for anything, and it makes me horribly agitated.

In the spirit of opposites attracting, I therefore of course went and married a man who is perpetually ten minutes late for everything. The kind of man who insists on starting something just as we're getting ready to go out or as food is on the table. Also, as every parent knows children have no concept of time, or what it really means to be "late" for anything. You might therefore appreciate that circumstances conspire against me 99% of the time in my quest to be both relaxed and punctual. Heck, even most of my blog posts are rushed!

However, I am very conscious of the fact that I don't want to be one of those mothers who is forever screaming at her children to hurry up. Do I really want them to remember me as someone who used to rush them from place to place, never letting them do what they wanted to for "lack of time"?

I'm going to try picking up sticks and looking at leaves on the next home run, but in the meantime, if someone could please invent a time machine, I'd be most grateful.

Review - Just Dance for Kids (Wii)

I've always loved my copy of the original "Just Dance" for the Wii...well, I say "my", technically it was a Christmas present for DD1 for Christmas 2010, yet in reality, it proved that actually I was the one that used it most. Much as the kids love the songs and the routines, they are not quite yet at the age where losing comes easily to them, and sessions would generally get competitive and end up upset...When I was therefore offered a chance to review the version aimed specifically at kids, I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, I have to say at this point that we probably haven't played this as much as we should have done since DD1 broke her arm a few weeks ago...

What We Liked:
- Definitely easier dance moves than the adult version, which makes for much more enjoyment for the kids
- "real life" children doing the dance moves, which made it easier for the kids to relate to
- good selection of game modes, and fact it goes up to four players
- two different sets of songs aimed at slightly different age group, from the nursery rhymes for the very young to hits for slightly older children

My biggest "but" in all of this not really related to the game itself...but more to the fact that I also received Just Dance 3 as a Christmas present, which in my opinion improves on the "problems" with the original Just Dance (duet mode, group dance mode meaning you don't necessarily have to compete against each other). Because the selection of hits is slightly newer (Katy Perry, anyone), it also appears that DD1 (age 6) prefers playing this to the kids version as she knows more of the songs...

In summary, I would therefore say it is still perfect for DD2 (age 4), or for any children that don't have any previous experience of any of the Just Dance franchise. For older children, or anyone that has played before, personally I'd go straight for Just Dance 3...