POLITICIANS ARE LIKE DIAPERS.THEY BOTH NEED CHANGING REGULARLY AND FOR THE SAME REASON-AUTHOR UNKNOWN

The house seems so quiet with Anastasia in Vienna and Belle flying home to Florida. I awoke this morning and the first thing that I thought was,'their gone' and yes I miss them already.

Last night I went to a debate at the Senedd as part of the run up to the elections on Thursday, I was surprised how quickly the show went. From taking part in the show I have definitely come to the decision that I was never meant to be a politician, certainly an activist but not a politician. I just do not agree with everything that one party believes in, I could be an Independent but there's not much clout in that. I think I can do more as' a concerned citizen'.
After last night I have definitely come to the conclusion that Wales and The Senedd need a new form of government.I definitely believe in power sharing, hopefully enough people will vote for this on Thursday.

Beauty learnt to say 2 new words today, croissant and broccoli............she ate the croissant but not the broccoli!
He speech is coming along wonderfully but still only limited conversation, there is plenty of time for that though.

We are going on holiday on Thursday to Greece ,though the weather here is so nice there doesn't seem to be much point in going abroad for a tan and some sunshine! I bet I come back after the week and the rains set in again! Just my luck.

ALL MY GIRLS

VISITING DOTTY

ANASTASIA AND DOTTY

BELLE AND DOTTY

SNOWHITE AND DOTTY

ARIEL AND DOTTY

FIONA AND DOTTY

DOTTY'S MUM AND BEAUTY

BEAUTY FISH WATCHING

A POSTCARD FROM CARDIFF BAY

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM OUR VISIT TO THE MILLENNIUM CENTRE FOR SNOWHITES 15 MINUTES OF FAME

THE PIER HEAD BUILDING

ON TOP OF THE TORCHWOOD HUB

CAN YOU SEE ME?

ST FAGANS

DISPOSABLE WORLD - TAKE AWAY CULTURE

Tighter rules on food ads urged

The rules says ads should not encourage excessive consumption

Teaching, health and consumer groups have written to the government urging it to tighten up the rules on food adverts that target children.they said a revised code for non-broadcast adverts, such as those on the internet, did not go far enough.The National Union of Teachers and the British Heart Foundation are among 10 groups highlighting "inconsistencies" with the rules governing TV adverts.The industry said there was no need for more restrictions like those on TV ads.The new code for non-broadcast adverts, including those appearing on websites, was unveiled this month by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP).Its measures - to come into force on 1 July - do not include "rules to restrict the volume or frequency of food advertising to children" and failed to "differentiate between healthy and unhealthy foods", said the 10 groups.

How many children like to go to the supermarket with their parents?
They would rather stay at home....... so the only places they would really see an array of food products is on TV or the computer or in their friends school bags at lunch times.
Food ads need to have tighter rules.
My children may have wanted all these wonderful things in the supermarket when they were growing up but they knew that we could not afford them so they accepted this and didn't ask more than once if they could have something.
Educate the children when they are young is the answer. I KNOW that teachers have a national curriculum but they still need to teach Personal and Social Education and Biology where they can teach about healthy eating, they can teach about healthy eating in Maths and English.
The government should set out regulations whereby only certain products are allowed into schools and make this the same for all schools.
Some times country wide rules are a good idea. After watching Home and Away and Neighbours, my girls have said that they would have loved to have worn summer dresses like the seniors do in these shows if it had been the school rules then everyone would have had to and it would have been OK. Ariel's school made them wear full uniform in the summer, shirt, tie and blazer even in the 5th form during the summer but Belle's school was more sensible and they wore open necked shirts.
I don't think teachers fully realise the power that they have, how many times has your little sweetheart come home and said things like

'Did you know that passive smoking causes cancer?'
'The world is choking on exhaust fumes'

I was taught about the environment in school in the 60's so I am quite happy for my children to be taught now.

'

Monday, 23 April 2007, 05:54 GMT 06:54 UK Fly-tipping spree gives £2m bill

Fly-tipping cost south and west Wales taxpayers almost £2m in the last financial year, it has been revealed.

Almost 40,000 incidents of the crime were reported in the region between April 2005 and 2006 a Countryside Alliance investigation has shown.The worst hit area was Cardiff with 14,125 fly tipping incidents at a cost to taxpayers of £662,108.
A Countryside Alliance spokesman said fly tippers were breaking the law and ruining beauty spots.
Other fly-tipping hotspots in South Wales included Caerphilly where 2356 incidents were reported at a cost of £114,461. Carmarthenshire was also hit hard with 791 reports of dumping at a cost of £128,004.Swansea was second behind Cardiff with 8214 reported incidents of fly-tipping at a cost of £469,483.Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart said the illegal dumping of rubbish was a problem across both urban and rural landscapes.
"Many people believe that fly-tipping is something they can get away with and that the victim is faceless - this is nonsense," he said.

I am quite happy for my daughter's school to teach about healthy eating and healthy lifestyle and about protecting the environment. Who wouldn't be?

THE WORLD IS NOT A DUMPING GROUND

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Plastic-bags/#detail

The above is a petition for the following

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Force supermarkets to use only biodegradable plastic bags and packaging. More details

Submitted by Leanne – Deadline to sign up by: 05 May 2007 – Signatures: 29

Make the supermarkets face up to their responsibilities in the fight against global warming and pollution. They have had the ability and wherewithal to sort out plastic bags and non-biodegradable packaging for years, but have never bothered.

I would be grateful if any Brits who read this blog could please sign this 10 Downing Street petition.
I believe that it is very important for manufacturers to sort out their packaging so that they only use packaging that can be recycled or is bio-degradable. We can not keep filling the earth with rubbish. Could you please email this to as many people as possible .
Thank you.

RUBBISH

I am afraid that reproducing this article in it's entirety was the only way that I could really show why I am so upset.

Tough packaging fines are urged

Many items sold in supermarkets are packaged to retain freshness

Penalties for companies who break an EU directive banning excessive packaging should be made tougher, the Local Government Association has said.Councils say the EU rule has too many loopholes and the maximum fine of £5,000 is not a big enough deterrent.The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment says trading standards are right to encourage firms to cut packaging rather than going to court.About 5m tonnes of annual household rubbish is used in packaging.It makes up almost one-fifth of all household refuse.There have been just four successful prosecutions since the UK adopted the EU law eight years ago.'
Toothless tiger'
They include a butcher whose pre-packed meat was wrapped in two polystyrene trays and an office supplies firm that used large boxes to send very small items.Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Chairman of the Local Government Association, said the law against excessive packaging is a "toothless tiger"."The fact that there have only been four successful prosecutions in the UK demonstrates the law simply isn't working," he said.He added: "Local authority trading standards services find their hands tied by regulations which allow retailers to defend excessive packaging claiming it is what the customer wants or that it is required for the purposes of marketing."

Whilst there is the reference to

5m tonnes of annual household rubbish is used in packaging.

there is no reference to any plans to make suppliers and manufacturers use bio-degradeable packaging! WHY?
My local council's green bags are not bio-degradeable........... again WHY?
I have heard of councils thinking about penalising residents for producing excess rubbish but what are we supposed to do? I have been recycling everything that I can since we lived in Newbury in Berkshire in the late 80's when councils first started to recycle seriously. What goes in my bin cannot be recycled and cannot be composted and I send plastic containers to Beauty's school to use in art work. So what is left I have little control over.For a time I was sending crisp packets back to Walkers asking them to recycle them as I was unable to find someone who would recycle them and there were results in this campaign (not just my campaign-I'm not that vain), Walkers reduced the size of their crisp packets because of public demand.
Every time I put something in the rubbish bin I feel guilty. I frequently think about Michael Palin's visit to the Sahara when they asked for a bag to put rubbish in and they were looked at with bewilderment. The locals had no rubbish, everything was recycled. Vegetables came without plastic, beans and pulses came in sacks and any meat was killed and eaten straightaway so no need for packaging there!
Packaging is the key to dealing with rubbish.
I have stopped using plastic bags to send Beauty's food to school in, I now use tea towels and packaging that cannot be recycled to wrap every thing in and I am in the process of making fabric bags to put the food in. Her food sometimes goes to school in bread bags, pasta bags and clothes packaging!I remember living with foster parents in the 70's and the mother bitching about a neighbours child being sent to school with their food in a plastic bread bag! Well whoop a dee do- if that were the extent of the world's problems. The child in question went to school school washed and with clean clothes and always smiling and people were worrying about the bread bag!
I would be quite happy for anyone to comment on the way that I re-use plastic packaging!

SNOWHITE'S 15 SECONDS OF FAME!

If anyone wants to listen to the radio interview then go to Five Live on the BBC website and they will find a recording of todays lunch time program. It was meant to be done by Simon Mayo but he was off sick and it was done by John Pienaar.

'John Pienaar's first job was as a local newspaper trainee (South London Press), covering the round of courts, crime and sport.
He was a member of the Westminster staff of the Press Association between 1980 and 1986.
John joined the Independent newspaper when it launched under the editorship of Andreas Whittam Smith in 1986, and as a member of Tony Bevins' team he covered the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, and the rise and fall of John Major, writing news stories, features and the Westminster Diary, as well as occasional parliamentary sketch columns.
In 1992 John joined the BBC as a BBC political correspondent, reporting for all major TV and Radio outlets.BBC Radio Five Live, the live news and sport station, has since appointed John Pienaar as its first Chief Political Correspondent.'

And would you believe that AGAIN I didn't get to speak! It seems that they wanted my daughter SnoWhite who is very politically aware to talk on the show..........never mind, we are on another program on Sunday so maybe there is still time. On the program was also Glyn from Big Brother.


















Glyn was just like he was on TV.
He was there because he supported Plaid Cymru, whilst SnoWhite supported the Liberal Democrats (well maybe)

Ross Thomas

And Ross Thomas

who supported Labour.

'A first-time voter, he says he is passionate about politics, unlike many of his age group. He is concerned about the health service and education and the engagement of young people in politics.'

Glyn and Ross were a nice pair of lads.
The interview was about young voters and their views.

I felt that SnoWhite was very good and I was very proud.

15 SECONDS OF FAME

Today SnoWhite and I are being interviewed on FIVE LIVE by Simon Mayo.
We will be discussing the Welsh Assembly Elections and what we think about the Welsh Assembly and what they have done. Perhaps I should calm SnoWhite down with sedatives now! We will be interviewed in the Millenium Centre.
As a mother of six I get the impression that The Wales 6o group think that I may be interested only in things such as benefits but I am more interested in special needs education funding, health provision and green issues. Perhaps I will get my chance to speak today about special needs education.
When I spoke to the Five Live researcher in London she asked me if I was standing for election as a local councillor and I laughed and said ,'Not a chance'.I think the researcher was a bit surprised at my reaction so I explained that my father had been a local councillor and it completely takes over your life. I am so exhausted some mornings that getting up is a herculean task, I just would not have the energy to commit that much time to helping people. I really feel that a local councillor's job should transcend politics but I can't see that happening.
I will update later after our 15 seconds of fame!

MUCH NEEDED R&R

We arrived home from our little road trip safe and well, just!
The first northern exit to the M25 was closed and so we detoured via a road leading to Staines(don't ask me how) and we were nearly killed by a joyrider, I have to admit that I haven't even seen worse driving on Police,Camera, Action.
If asked to describe the little sweetheart I would only be able to say that he was a teenager wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap and driving a red escort.What frightened me most was the fact that as he cut across in front of me was the thought that he was being chased by a police car and we were all going to get hit and be killed by the police car! I have nearly been hit before by a police pursuit vehicle and it was equally as scary. Ali G's portrayal of Staines and the Staines Massive seemed pretty accurate last night. I love living in my small city, we have similar problems to other places but there is definitely no place like home.
We arrived back at 3:30am, I got up at 7am to get Beauty to school and now is definitely the time for a little R&R to help me recover in time for Beauty's return.

ROAD TRIP

Sometimes because I don't consciously think about being disabled, I wonder ,'Am I really that bad?' I have thought about going without my medication for a day or two to see but thankfully thought better of it. My first medication of the day no longer seems to work as well as it used to and my joints take until about mid-day to get going but even then I still feel a numbness in my joints for the rest of the day. The only way to describe it is it is like your face being numbed up when you go to the dentist and it slowly comes back to life except I never quite get full mobility. Beauty's computer is on a small table with a small chair so if you have to do anything for her you have to bend down and getting down there always seems like a good idea but getting up again is just not so easy. I also have damage in my lower back from a fall and walking a few steps is OK but any more seems to irritate and the area of damage becomes swollen and painful. When I have been sitting down for even for a few minutes my joints seize up and getting up and walking around is quite difficult. My children find it quite funny and they say that I look like an old lady hobbling around! I think it is quite good that they see my disabilities in such an ordinary way and accept them( a little help wouldn't go amiss though!) but I think because they can't understand the pain and lack of movement they do not always appreciate the severity. It has even been suggested by one of them that I should go back to work though who exactly would employ me at the moment would be a difficult one to answer! Any wakeful nights with Beauty leave me considerably less mobile the next day and with my lack of mobility I would probably be a Health and Safety risk but then I suppose that I could use my wheelchair. I think the worst bit is that half the week all I want to do is get Beauty to school so I can come home again and lie down for a nap just to recover from the sleepless night!
And who I could get to care for Beauty whilst I worked would also be a problem, I can't get respite care now. Any employer would laugh me off the premises.
Perhaps I could work from home.
Perhaps I could write a 'miserable childhood'(mis lit,painful life,real life) book as they seem to be selling quite well at the moment. Anonymously of course!
I know I hate reading 'miserable childhood stories' but do all these people who write them really do it for cathartic reasons?

Beauty had a small episode of night terrors last night but she went back to sleep quite quickly. Even with the very dark curtains on the window I still think that the window is an issue for her and she is worried by it. Even though Beauty is very autistic in lots of ways she still does some very normal childhood things, she gives hugs and kisses if she wants something badly enough, she is very aware of clothes and loves wearing pretty things and of course she is afraid of the dark. If she sleeps on my bed which is further away from the window then she is a lot happier. We have three living rooms downstairs since the extension was built and the middle room has wooden double doors to the lounge and wooden double doors with large glass windows to the back room but no outside window and Beauty spent a few years sleeping in there with no problems but the room was stifling hot all year round and difficult to sleep in . Perhaps I might have to rethink bedrooms again!

Sorry I am late blogging today but I am just off to pick up Anastasia from Stanstead airport, just a tiny road trip of 6 1/2 hours. I'll be back!

RELIGION

Yesterday we went to the christening of my nieces baby Dotty.
My sister's husband and their girls are Catholics, Dotty's aunty and Dotty's mums cousin were Godfather and Godmother and so was my daughter SnoWhite. The other 2 Godparents are Catholics but SnoWhite is not and I do not have any problem with this. I believe SnoWhite will make a good Godparent, she will encourage Dotty all that she can to follow the ways of the families chosen religion and be there spiritually for Dotty. I believe that SnoWhite will encourage Dotty to go to church, receive her first communion and confirmation and all other necessary things until Dotty is an adult and can make decisions for herself.
My mother's family were high church of England and my father's mother was a Methodist but we did not grow up attending church. As a child I chose to go to an Apostolic Sunday school, though I was christened in St Peter's church in Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan. Even though we did not attend church my mother felt it important that children were christened so if they died they went to heaven.
My spiritual life has taken many twists and turns and now I am supportive of all the religions that people belong to as I believe that they are important coping mechanisms.
At present my life seems to be heavily involved with the Catholic church due to the fact that Belle's husband and family are Catholics, Anastasia's boyfriend and family are Catholic, SnoWhite's friend and his family are Catholics .
From the time I was 14 until I was about 40 I attended a church which had a tenet that said it was important to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. This church believed it was the one and only true church(as do a lot of religions) but the above tenet says that this church believes that all mankind have the right to worship how, where or what they may. I am still searching, whilst trying to lead a good life. My conscience or my mind has not yet found one religion or truth that it can believe in yet so the jury is out. So in the meantime I am trying to live a morally and ethically good life on my journey. I think I would be content with a belief in God. When I think of my loss of faith and belief I always think of this poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

I have lost the God and saints of my youth and like the guy in the film The Matrix, I would love to go back to before that time of awakening. But that will never happen!

THE CHRISTENING

MY GIRLS

BELLE AND FIONA

BEAUTY

ARIEL AND HER YOUNG MAN

BEAUTY EATING FISH!

DOTTY AND HER MUM

BEAUTY EATING CHOCOLATE!

GODMOTHER NUMBER ONE

DOTTY AND HER MUM

GODMOTHER NUMBER TWO

ARIEL AND DOTTY

ARIEL, DOTTY AND BELLE

ARIEL, SNOWHITE AND DOTTY

WE LOVE CHARLIE AND LOLA

Lola is sick and Charlie and Lola are trying to count the germs in Lola's mouth!
A game on CBeebies that Beauty is currently playing. It may sound a little weird but at least it isn't the Terror Tubbies or Die Tubbie Die! Beauty and I now have an understanding, if I hear a 'naughty 'video then I shout CBeebies and she knows she must stop watching the 'naughty' video and turn back to CBeebies. How do you explain to an autistic 6 year old that they must not watch a Tellie Tubbies video because it has probably been made by somebody with way too much time on their hands and the video is just not nice? I may not be the biggest Tellie Tubbie fan(sorry Ariel and Fiona- favourite childhood toys) but seeing a Tellie Tubbie head explode is once too much and don't get me started on Die Tubbie Die!

Today is Dotty's christening, SnoWhite is going to be a Godmother!
I will explain the full significance of this later..................
All the girls will be wearing pretty new summer dresses and I shall be wearing my dress that I had for my birthday for the first time, Fiona says that I 'look like a mother in it'............. as a mother of 6 girls I couldn't possibly begin to fathom what she means by that statement.
Talking of unfathomable statements, we were in the car last night and Ariel had a Tourettes moment and told Fiona that she smelt of bums(don't ask!) , when asked where the rationale (to prove she was not a Tourettes sufferer) came from to say such a random thing she proceeded for approximately five minutes to explain why this insult was chosen and not another! I then joked that she would not be much good in the army as I could see her sat behind a wall, gun in hand and she would suddenly shout something random and bizarre like 'Saddam is dead'!
A confused look came over Ariel's face and she said,' But I wouldn't say that because I wasn't there'.
'You weren't where Ariel?'
'There when he died'
If anybody can decipher that statement............answers please on a postcard!
Oh the joys of motherhood.

On the subject of Ariel, since finding out she was going to be doing an Arabic degree she has been deciding which Arabic speaking country she would like to visit as part of the degree. Having had Anastasia visit Russia for a year, to a town where they repeatedly attacked foreigners, I am obviously nervous about Ariel visiting volatile areas of the world. I did however teach English a number of years ago to mostly Arabic speaking females and so I am aware of the different communities living in Cardiff. One of my best workers when I was working in one nursing home was a Somali women from Cardiff bay and she also worked in the Women's Centre in the Bay and I have been teasing Ariel that she doesn't need to go abroad to get experience of Arabic but can just go to the Women's Centre. She is not happy with this suggestion!
However I did enlighten her this week that it was a joke.......... I couldn't imagine that these women who have come from places such as Iraq, Iran, Palestine etc. would be too comfortable with somebody working with them who was going to be joining the British Army, however good their intentions. I can understand and appreciate this.

I watched Wife Swap on TV this week and it was a swap between a Muslim wife who had come from Pakistan approximately 20 years ago and a a liberal wife who was either atheist or agnostic(sorry I can't remember which!).
The Muslim wife seemed to think that she also was liberal(small l) but that really wasn't the case. I thought it was quite funny the way she talked about her girls, about 6th form age, I thought that she really does not have any idea of the lives that teenage girls live when they go to school. Belle and SnoWhite went to the same 6th form and in the school there were a lot of Muslim girls and a lot of Snowhites friends were Muslims. Control seemed to be a big part of the Muslim families life but the parents just did not seem to be aware that once those girls go to school then their life is hugely influenced by western culture no matter what they want.
The Muslim wife was also under the impression that because the other families 16 year old daughter had a dirty untidy bedroom then that made the other mother a bad mother.
That's it, I am officially a bad mother.
I have promised my girls that I would never go on Wife Swap.
During my nursing career I only came across 2 attempted suicide cases and both were Muslim girls, one was pregnant with her non-Muslim boyfriends baby and overdosed and died and the other threw herself off a bridge and she said she felt 'trapped'. Obviously this is purely anecdotal evidence and it is possible that suicide or attempted suicide rates are just the same in non-Muslims. After researching many religions, I have come to the conclusion that the teachings of Islam regarding the family are brilliant and really are the basis for a happy family life but as the Muslim family agreed on the wife Swap show, it isn't religion that causes problems but individuals.

NEW RULES

Beauty doesn't always get up early, occasionally she does sleep in and usually until about 8:30am and today was one of those days. I got up to find my house strewn with sheets of paper saying PLEASE WAKE ME UP AT 7AM,SNOWHITE.
SnoWhite was meant to be in work at 9:15am, so I managed to dress Beauty and get her in the car and get SnoWhite to the furthest side of Cardiff where she works with 2 minutes to spare! Remember SnoWhite is 21 not 6, I sometimes think that Beauty has more commonsense than SnoWhite, Ariel and Fiona put together. I have to admit that Anastasia and Belle inherited my commonsense gene, 99% good but can have blonde moments(let's not mention the TUMS incident again!).

Does anyone remember my 'pick-up-put down' game? I have mentioned it before. Basically it is the fact that I do not go anywhere in my house empty handed. If I am going to the bathroom then I take towels with me and on the way back I bring dirty clothes and rubbish and deal with them. I am doing this constantly, in fact I find it difficult to sit still if I can see rubbish, dirty clothes and dishes that have to be dealt with. Why then if I put things on the stairs that belong to my children, things that need to go to their rooms, they can step over these things and leave them there for days?
New rule-
Anything on the stairs for more than 24 hours goes out to the garage and is thrown away after a week.

DOTTY

ON BEING IGNORED!

My neighbours dogs are so useless that the slightest noise and they bark. I get up in the morning and make the slightest of noises and they are off barking, they would make useless guard dogs as they bark at me flicking a light switch, my toaster popping, Beauty watching the Dr Who site(the noise of the Daleks), closing a door.............you name it , they bark. Getting up early is not nice at the best of times but for your every movement to be accompanied by the barking of a pair of mutts is just downright irritating. Remember the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
What about The Dogs Who Barked?

Due to circumstances, I had to go out again in the car during the day and everywhere I go I am surrounded by drivers who believe that they do not need to indicate. As I tell my children, I am not psychic and I do not have eyes in my butt!

My day has been no better at home, I feel like Nicole Kidman(though obviously not as pretty or as thin) in The Others.
Am I a ghost and I do not realise it?
I ask my children to put away the clothes I have washed, dried and folded- repeatedly but still at 7:30pm they are in baskets in my kitchen! Also the bathroom is still uncleaned and I have been asking them to clean the bathroom for three days(they are meant to clean it daily!)
Perhaps they would notice me if I locked away all the food or threw it all away.

It seems that in school Beauty has learned a new song and she was heard singing it to herself in the corner,'Hwyl Fawr Frrindiau', she sang it all the way through on her own. I remember my girls singing it when they were little but they all went to Welsh Language schools. Beauty loves singing.

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY AND ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY IN ROME.

COME BACK BBC2 IDENTS..........ALL IS FORGIVEN!

We have a problem with the computer..........through Beauty's love of BBC2 idents she has discovered other videos on YouTube where the idents are stored. This has previously not been a problem as before we have put her on to the Lady Heartily site and she loves to watch the music videos this girl has created. They are videos she has made putting clips of animated films together with music, a lot of power ballads and pop music. Beauty has discovered a rather risque type of video where they use children's cartoon characters and put the pictures to rap, rock and pop music. Actually if it were just the music I would probably let her watch them because they are quite good but it is actually the images that are a problems. I do not know if it is actually an episode of South Park or photo shopped in some way but a Telly Tubby has his head explode in an episode. This is probably the tamest of what she has been watching.
I can see how adults and teenage boys might find this kind of humour funny but it is definitely not suitable for six year olds. Well I suppose it is better than the time we found somebody on-line offering her cyber sex...........in French!
After the Telly Tubby head exploding situation I now think I was overly harsh to the BBC2 idents!

I can certainly see the evidence of getting older.
When I was younger (which seems far, far away in some other life time) my body seemed to naturally take care of itself and healing and repairing seemed quick and easy but as time has gone on it seems to take a lot more effort to keep fit and healthy. Without going in to gruesome details too early in the morning, take my feet. When I was younger they were fine and I never really thought about them but in the last few years they have got dryer and dyer and my heels have previously split which was really painful. Now I am constantly working on the heels and if I were to leave it off for a week then they would get bad again. I LOVE looking on the internet for ways to take care of myself. I found a suggestion on line which I have found works a treat on my feet. After pumicing my feet last thing at night I smother my feet in vaseline and put on a pair of socks and in the morning my feet are so soft. Since Christmas I have also been wearing Crocs and they really are wonderful on my feet, they have a really good arch support and I wear them everywhere.
As I have said before, I really dislike going to the doctors as I always feel like a time waster. What I usually do is when I go to the Doctors for medication updates , I discuss any problems that I might have had since the last visits and how I have dealt with it and the doctor has always said that was fine. Obviously if it were anything serious I would go to the doctor as quickly as possible(!) but as yet everything has been fine.
My children find our doctors mode of diagnosing conditions extremely funny, I actually have no issue with it because I have always said that doctors are 'best guessers'. SnoWhite has vitiligo
and the vitiligo patches are pretty obvious. When she went to the doctor about it initially he used an on line diagnostic tool to diagnose the condition. Remember...........SnoWhite was a lot younger when she was first diagnosed, her reaction was 'I could have done that'.
I then explained the training doctors had to go through and how I wouldn't do it in a million life times and she was a lot more impressed. I personally have a lot of friends who are doctors from my nurses training days and as a family with also have a lot of friends who are doctors and I honestly do not know how they cope. I trained at the same time as one family friend, his eldest is the same age as Fiona and they are also friends so we have seen the father who is Children's Specialist Consultant throughout his working career and I don't know how he copes.
How can you possibly go home and turn off after the kind of day he must have had.
I only worked with adults in the NHS so I do not know what the funding is like with children but I certainly hope that the services are provided a lot faster than they are for adults.

FAT BUT NOT STUPID

Well we had one really unhappy 6 year old at 2am.........she awoke and I wouldn't let her get up. I got into bed with her and made her stay there and she got really angry but she went back to sleep after an hour of fighting the situation. She totally could not understand why I wouldn't let her out of bed when she was awake!

They have just finished the final shop in the new row of stores in Pentwyn............ a BETFRED-just what we needed! I have known 2 serious gamblers in my life and it has not made them happy people, one was massively in debt and the other lost his family because of his gambling.

I have decided that I know why I do not drive my car around town much in the daytime because the roads are filled with too many idiots. On a roundabout an old lady pulled out in front of me and went I beeped at her as I nearly hit her the look on her face was.'oh dear, did I do something wrong'. A taxi driver undertook me and a huge row of lorries were playing convoys and wouldn't let anyone into the dual carriageway. Next time I will avoid the dual carriageway but I had to go out today as I needed to hand in a form at the County Hall.

I watched Half Ton Hospital on TV last night and boy was I really shocked. I know I am over-weight and I am trying to lose weight to live healthily and longer to be with my family and of course like everybody else I want to look good but if this show was meant to shock then it certainly worked. I was shocked!
Whilst I was ill and after I hit my head, I didn't exercise but now that I am feeling better I am definitely going to be exercising more. It must be devastating to be so morbidly obese that you cannot get out of bed. I really do not believe that food addiction is taken as seriously as addictions to alcohol, tobacco and drugs. I love making bread and I love eating bread, I wouldn't need anything else and I really believe that my love of bread is an addiction. I have spoken to other people about food addictions and all those who felt that they were addicted to food felt that their biggest problem was bread and potatoes.
Why is it then that fat people are judged as being stupid but not smokers or drinkers?

COMING HOME

Belle is on her way, jetting her way across the Atlantic but we are still waiting for news on Anastasia. The best part of the journey is the fact that her flight from the US goes to Amsterdam instead of London and from there she flies directly to Cardiff. Getting a bus from a London airport to Cardiff is a nightmare and the journey feels like it takes forever.
After waiting on the runway at 6am, in the snow on a January morning at Bristol airport I decided a couple of years ago to only fly from Cardiff. At Cardiff the majority of planes are entered via walkways directly onto the plane, going across the runway in a warm country is not a problem but trying to manoeuvre a disability buggy, an over excited child and hand luggage on a cold snowy morning puts you off going on holiday not matter how wonderful the destination may be.
As I have really fair skin due to my red hair(or what red is left after the grey set in!), I only go abroad in the winter and I love that. One year I went to Malta for 2 weeks in June, I loved Malta but never again will I go on holiday after May. In the words of Little Cook it was HOT,HOT,HOT. A weeks holiday in January or February really splits up the winter but I do not see the point of going abroad after May as the weather may not always be fantastic but I am quite happy with the weather in the UK between April and October, it is just January, February and March that I would like to spend in Fuerteventura. Fuerteventura is special in the sense that the weather is pleasant and Coralejo where we stay is just like an overgrown fishing village. It might be nice to visit Belle next winter in Florida for a week in the winter, Beauty will absolutely love it.
When Beauty started school I worried about taking Beauty out of school during term time as the government has said it no longer wants parents to do that as they feel it interrupts a child's education. I spoke to the school about this and they have no problem with Beauty going, I think they see it as a life experience. I just couldn't take Beauty on holiday during half term or during school holidays as there would be lots of other children and Beauty is not very good at noise and crowds of children do create a lot of noise! AND we only go for one week! One of Beauty's friends went to visit relatives in Canada and didn't come back until the snows came and another went home with his mother to India in June and didn't come back until November so I think my winter holidays are not too bad.

I am still in shock at the news reports of the killings in Virginia ans I feel very sorry for all those involved and those who have lost loved ones. I lived in Newbury at the time of the Hungerford
massacre and I remember the shock that gripped the town whilst it was happening and the aftermath when every body struggled to cope with what had happened. When something like this happens we all suffer,we lose our faith in the goodness of mankind.
When Dunblane happened I remember thinking about how awful it would be for the parents who had lost their little ones and how they would NEVER recover from it. Imagine a stone being thrown in a pond and how you have the ripples flowing outwards, well that is the suffering caused by these senseless acts.

BACK TO SCHOOL.......HURRAH!

The Easter holidays have finished and Beauty was thrilled to be back in school. I also went back to my computer class today but I spent most of the time printing off photographs for SnoWhite, she has been taking lots of photographs of flowers for a Uni project.
Belle will be home for two weeks from Florida tomorrow so there is a flurry of house cleaning. Fiona is busily painting a kitchen cabinet of mine powder blue, I intend to paint the shelves in the kitchen the same colour. Anastasia will also be back for the funeral as well so I am looking forward to being able to take photographs of all the girls together, it will be the first time in ages that the 6 of them will all be together. The last time the 6 of them were all together SnoWhite broke her nose whilst putting up the fold down seat in the back of the Zafira, Anastasia clicked her nose back into shape! Ouch! I have also caught my head on the seat as it returns to the upright position VERY quickly, not nice!

My nieces baby Dotty is being christened on Sunday so Belle will be able to attend the christening, maybe Anastasia will be able to go too. We shall see.
I took Fiona and SnoWhite to the fabric shop today and I bought lots of fabric at £1 a metre, on the way back we passed the park and as we passed Beauty said, 'ice cream' and she was devastated when we didn't stop. Later on I had to go to the chemist and so I stopped at the garage to buy a tub of ice cream...........she was thrilled-but what a mess!
It is no longer just BBC 2 idents that Beauty is watching but she seems to have found idents from other channels and program theme tunes, she is now word perfect on the Neighbours theme tune. When Anastasia was 6 it was her favourite program!

Children can do such strange things!
I have been quite busy this afternoon so for tea I put some individual soya mince pies into the oven and first of all Fiona said she didn't want any but eventually decided that she would have one. I asked her what she wanted with it and she made herself a tin of sausages and beans and had that with the pie!
Too weird a combination to even contemplate.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON WALK IN THE PARK

BEAUTY AND MAMA AND SUE THE LITTLE RED WAGON



SNOWHITE AND FIONA

BEAUTY

FIONA'S FAVOURITE HOUSE ON THE LAKE

PINKS

PINKS

AND MORE PINKS

FOR A LIFE WELL SPENT

My children's grandmother died yesterday so today has been taken up with many things which left no time for blogging. Their grandmother was 84 and had led a good and full life but it was still a shock and they are of course grieving. Will write again soon.

I AM LIVING IN IDENT HELL!

BBC2 idents are driving me insane! Is this possibly the signs of an 'anorak' future?

She awakens at 4:25 am and that is what she wants to do..........watch BBC2 idents!

I am sure it could be worse but it is way too early to contemplate worse.

And the next question is ,'how did she find them in the first place?'Her sisters all insist it wasn't them(thank you Shaggy!).

Go on, google BBC2 idents.........there are websites to this stuff, I kid you not!

Last night I watched House, and it frightened the life out of me. It was about an autistic child with Pica who was eating sand and through the sand got worms, and became really ill because the child could not communicate with his family what the symptoms were. Beauty is constantly eating sand, at home and in school. Our sand pit has recently been cleaned out but I don't know the situation with the school box so I shall have to check that out.
But then even normally developing children eat things that they shouldn't, Anastasia and Belle ate a tub of Tums when they were younger BECAUSE they tasted like sweets!

Beauty's speech has really accelerated in the last few days and she is really enjoying naming everything, this means we are getting to hear more of her voice. Can anyone explain why she speaks with what sounds like a Russian accent!
Occasionally we could hear it before but now she is speaking more we hear it all the time. And no girls I do not think it is relevant that she visited Russia when she was 2!
She seems to speak from the back of her throat, very low down. Perhaps there were family secrets that I knew nothing about, I have always said that I have the physique of a Russian shot putter because I take after my father. Maybe not.............just kidding.

IN MY PRETTY GARDEN..............

CHALK BUTTERFLY

BEAUTY SITTING IN THE TOY BENCH

IDENT TIME!

SLEEPING BEAUTY

FLASH CARD HEAVEN

FROM CARDIFF WITH LOVE