Child One

Listing badly

It’s full-on headless chicken mode now as Christmas looms ever larger and my to-do lists are …. still unwritten. For someone who spends so much time writing, I am curiously averse to putting pen to paper when it comes to chores. Part of this stems from my old belief that I can easily store such …

Listing badly Read More »

Last parents’ evening

I can’t quite believe it but I’ve finally done my last parents’ evening. ‘Done’ rather than ‘attended’, because it always seems like a chore, even though I’ve always been one of the lucky ones who has been blessed (so far, I’m still crossing my fingers) with hard-working and really rather lovely children. For some reason, …

Last parents’ evening Read More »

Bags of fun

I always feel a sense of rush at this time of year. As darkness creeps up earlier each day, there’s usually a lengthening list of stuff I am not quite getting round to. I think it’s the effect of both Child One and Child Two having autumn/winter birthdays, and as soon as they are out …

Bags of fun Read More »

Cinderella

I was going for a walk the other day – I’m supposed to walk for at least twenty minutes a day to keep my lymph system going and I’m getting to really like it – when I saw this little shoe perched up aloft on a fence post. It seemed so poignant and so lost. …

Cinderella Read More »

Cupcake competition

I’ve just caught up with a great little tumblr site called Is This Feminist? The subtitle, ‘because being a marginally acceptable feminist is a full time job’ says it all, really. There’s no one more critical of women than a woman who’s doing it (whatever the ‘it’ is) better. As Is this …? proves in …

Cupcake competition Read More »

Skipping back to the past

We were pootling along in the car this morning when an ad on the radio caught my ear. I couldn’t quite believe it, but someone was singing the theme tune to Skippy the Bush Kangeroo. You know how it goes, ‘Skipppppy, Skippppppy, Skiiiipppyyy the Bush Kangeroooooo.’ Instantly, I was catapulted back into the past, when …

Skipping back to the past Read More »

The birthday girl

Well, it’s impossible but it’s true. Child One is going to turn 18 over the half term holiday. How did this happen? One minute she was a little tiny baby in a ‘Goodnight Mr Moon’ babygro, now she is a beautiful young lady in Uggs. We don’t always agree. When she was 18 months old, …

The birthday girl Read More »

In pieces

Parenting is hard. Step-parenting is HARDER. As hard as a nasty little piece of Lego that you’ve just trodden on. That was certainly my feeling this morning, when I dropped a precariously-balanced pile of the stuff and got some lodged in my dainty instep when clearing up. How is it that they always find the …

In pieces Read More »

Trading places

I absolutely LOVE the news that a 52-year-old Frenchwoman has been thrown out of a Baccalaureat exam for impersonating her teenage daughter. In a mean-spirited and purely speculative way, I can’t help but imagine this lady as one of those whip-thin, perfectly poised Parisiennes who spend their lives looking fabulous – and cross. The type …

Trading places Read More »