Redefining our Family

When I started this blog... ok, not THIS exact blog - the previous one: Creating Space- I realised fairly quickly that although I didn't mind showing pictures of my family I still didn't want to include their names. In this day and age of identity fraud, web-savvy criminals and internet paedophile rings, I just didn't want that sort of information floating about. I figured that as the main reason for my blog was to keep friends and family up-to-date with our happenings that it wasn't really necessary to mention names either. Simply because anyone who might need to know that information... well, already knew it! So I settled on calling us Myself, Himself and Herself.

Easy enough to remember. Just a little bit confusing to write!

But then this one arrived!

Now, for a while my blog just referred to her as 'the Baby'... not a problem! But babies have a habit of growing up like this:

Can you believe that is the same child in both pictures? They just refuse to stay small!!

Now, this presents me with a problem. I can't really call her 'the Baby' anymore, can I? She's determined to be 'a big girl' and I feel I ought to honour that. So what do I call her here in blogland?

Myself, Himself, Herself and ..... and?... and? Nothing rolls off the tongue at all! I'm thinking that I might have to redefine ALL our blogland names, but that presents further complications!

Any ideas would be most welcome please!

For all those people out there that think I have completely lost the plot... you may just be right! LOL.

Snowy Birthday to me!

Oh my gosh, I'm 34!! When did that happen?

Almost my whole life I was a summer baby and was used to having my birthday around the pool or on camping holidays with my parents. However, since I moved to the UK I've had to get used to wrapping up warm on my birthday. This year even more so as we are completely snowed in! It's the first time I've ever had snow ON my birthday. It's odd, weird and very very strange. You would think that I would be used to it after living in the UK for the past 14 years, however it still seems slightly wrong.

In some ways its great as my hubby has decided to stay home due to all the trains being cancelled, but in others it's not so good. All my birthday cards and presents that have been sent by family and friends are all stuck at the Post Office because the Postie hasn't been able to deliver in quite a few days now!

Anyway, this is my car today.... despite the fact that it got cleared of snow yesterday!!

Now I'm wondering whether I should try to clear the car again and attempt to go out and do something special for the day or whether I would be best just snuggling down with a duvet and a cup of hot chocolate for the day. Any ideas??

I shall let you know what we decided in my next post! Thanks for dropping by!

Anthea

PS. Can you tell that my writing skills are a little rusty? It's been ages since I last did any sort of post and I'm feeling a little out of practice! 

Prompt #4: Blogging the Mundane...

I'm loving Shimelle's class! Today's prompt is all about blogging mundane things. Things that we think are 'boring' that might actually be interesting to other people. So, life is not always a rollercoaster of highs and lows, sometimes its just nice and flat and uninteresting... so what? Perhaps nice, flat and uninteresting is good - because a rollercoaster life can make you sick! Shimelle was talking about blogging about things like

• going to the library
• doing the shopping
• the school run
• filling up at the petrol station ....

....oooh now there's one that would do me! I nipped there this morning to get some milk after I had dropped herself off at nursery. I filled up with petrol too at the same time... and then came home to find Shimelle's prompt sat in my inbox. It did get me thinking! I remember when I was a kid I used to sit in the car with my parents while the petrol was being filled up! Yup, my Mum and Dad sat in the car too! See I grew up in South Africa where illiteracy is high and lots of people don't have jobs. There is no dole, no benefits or handouts - so if you don't work, you don't eat. Consequently, there are a lot of things that people are 'employed' to do, that here in the UK we do for ourselves... and one of them is filling up at the petrol station. You drive onto the forecourt, open your window and hand a guy the keys. You tell him what type of fuel your car takes and then wait for him to fill up. I remember as a child thinking how it all sounded like a foreign language as my Mom would hand him the keys saying "fill up, 98, oil and tyres" Suddenly there would be three guys rushing around. One would be filling up, one would be checking the oil and another would be checking the tyres. A fourth man would approach the window and ask if she would like the windscreen cleaned. The petrol attendant would then tell my Mom how much it cost and she would give him the cash (before the days of credit cards!) he would take it to the kiosk and bring her the receipt and the change. She would then have to tip him and they would divide it between them. That is how they lived... on tips. I only found out years later that the garage didn't pay them a salary, they did all that in the hope of a tip... and quite a few people didn't give them even that much! The only time my parents would actually set foot anywhere near the kiosk was when us kids nagged them into getting us some crisps or a drink. Quite unlike living here in the UK... where we now have to get out the car (shock, horror!) and do it ourselves. So I filled up the car; watching the numbers whizz by until it clicks. Then I do this "thing", I rock the car - to get the air out of the petrol tank - and then continue to fill it up until it clicks again. Does anyone else do this? I'm not sure where I picked it up from? I think I must be the only person who does this. LOL. I collect my wallet from the car and then head into the shop. Of course it is a *shop* now - not just a little kiosk- petrol stations have now become mini-supermarkets. Our local one has a Marks & Spencers shop, so I often get stuff for tea from there too. I wander around the shop; even though I know I really only need milk -  and pick up a quiche, milk, bread, a snack selection, ham, cheese and sushi. Mmmmmm, yup Sushi. Its a M&S and their sushi is gorgeous. I'm addicted to it! I can happily walk right past the chocolates and crisps as long as I can get my hands on some sushi! I take my stuff to the till and pay.... £60 later I walk out of the shop with a full tank of petrol, the milk I originally wanted and nearly £20's worth of stuff that I had never intended to buy! And sushi. Yum!

I think that the old South African system was probably better, the temptation to buy additional stuff was easier to resist when it was someone else who was handling the money and doing all the work!

(Photo source)

Handbag envy

Ok.... just to loosen up! This is todays blog prompt....

What’s your handbag like? What makes a ‘perfect’ handbag? What do you carry in your handbag? What's in it right now? Do you ever have ‘handbag envy'?

My initial response was that I don't carry a handbag! So how do I function without one?? One word..... Jeans! I always have loose change in my right hand front pocket and my bankcards in one of my back pockets. Keys and mobile phones go in jeans pockets too. I have been known to buy/not buy a mobile phone depending on whether it could fit in my jeans pocket. Ok, so technically I have a handbag... but it mostly sits in my wardrobe and does nothing. I also own a wallet although that generally gets left in the house while I just grab the cards I'm going to need.

Do I get handbag envy?? You bet! Although mine usually consists of... nice handbag! Damn, there's no point buying one cause I'm never going to use it. How do they make one of those things work for them?? So, I figure although I love the idea of a handbag.... I'm just never going to be a handbaggy sort of gal! Pity really cause there are some lovely ones out there!
So why am I like this?? Well I grew up on a farm, or rather, several farms in South Africa. At that time in a girls life where handbags become the 'must have' item, I was more concerned about helping Dad milk cows and whether I was too old to be climbing trees! So while all my friends became real girly girls I stuck with my jeans and wellies. Several years later I'm still in jeans although the wellies have been exchanged for trainers. Would it suprise you if I said : "I never wear make up??" and "I don't really like pink" .... probably not! Strange then that I want these girly things for my Erin. I want her to enjoy girly things and definitely would love it if she carried a handbag when she got to that age!