" HOLD MY HAND FOR IT IS COLD"

IT'S HAILING AGAIN!

WEATHER AGAIN!
Yikes it was cold this morning when I got up, having a very large stone kitchen floor doesn't help! I definitely think the Romans had the right idea with their underfloor heating. We have an area between the front and the back of the kitchen where the hot water pipes run under the floor and that spot is really good to stand on, it is a pity the rest of the floor can't be so warm. Well at least the hailstorm has finished! My neighbour,The Weatherman would be impressed at my increasing ability to discuss the weather, his ability far surpasses my own however and I am sure if requested he could discuss isobars and The Beaufort scale.

WHEN BEING COLD CAN BE A GOOD THING

Duck survives two days in fridge
A duck in the US state of Florida has survived gunshot wounds and a two-day stint in a refrigerator. A hunter shot the duck, wounding it in the wing and leg. Believing the bird was dead, he left it in his fridge at his home in Tallahassee.The hunter's wife got a fright when she opened the fridge and the duck lifted its head, a local veterinarian said.Staff at the Goose Creek Animal Sanctuary who are treating the bird said it has a 75% chance of survival.

So Pianoman, when is it a good time to eat duck? NEVER!


Last night I watched the drama The Trial of Tony Blair and whilst it was hugely entertaining and very funny in parts, I have decided that teaching your children to be constantly questioning can sometimes be a pain in the butt. We sat there saying, 'Ooh that wouldn't happen' and Ooh it wouldn't quite happen like that,' but even still we did find it accurate enough to watch a lot of it
through our fingers.


I would like to say however that in the University Hospital of Wales, before they had the Casualty Unit(Emergency Room) I worked on the Emergency Admissions Unit . Here we had patients who did not need to go through the casualty(more medical emergencies) but straight to specialist wards such as patients with continuing conditions, women with gynecological and obstetric problems, heart problems etc. Within minutes of the patient entering the unit their observations(Bp, pulse, resps etc) were started and continued throughout their stay in the department. They may not have seen the Doctor straight away but their conditions were monitored by the nurses throughout their stay. The staff in the Emergency Admissions(which is now combined with the casualty unit) were totally professional, efficient, friendly and kind and you couldn't have wanted for better staff to take care of you. AND the walls were always clean!
I do not believe that Tony Blair would have been left so long unattended and the situation implied that he wasn't seen by anybody. However, I was glad to see it portrayed this way, I was glad that the reality of long waits in a casualty unit were shown and also Mr Blair seeing faeces and blood splattered on a wall and an almost total absence of staff due to them being being busy elsewhere. And all this as a result of the government mismanagement of funding. I also believe that Tony Blair watched this program because there is no way he wouldn't want to see how he was portrayed and I hope he was suitably shocked and warned about the future.

The acting in it was absolutely brilliant but I do not think that there will be a Knighthood any time soon for Robert Lindsay who portrayed the prime minister!

"Night has brought to those who sleep, only dreams they cannot keep"
Enya

Good news on the sleep front, Beauty fell asleep at 9pm and awoke at 8:30am! A few wriggly-wakes during the night but she pretty much slept through the night! Perhaps with this increase in sleep time my memory and clarity of thought might return...............nah! I think that my ability to think clearly and remember things went long ago, about the same time as my knees!
At the moment Beauty is playing on the computer whilst reading my Knitting and Crochet book, Beauty loves to turn pages of books and look at pictures
.

SATURDAY JANUARY 21,2007

WOW! Yep I'm late writing tonight, sorry girls!
Uninspiring day spent doing very little but then that is what weekends are for thank goodness.

The weather has been appalling, rain, thunder, hail and wind. And it is definitely getting colder though I am sure it is not as cold as Vienna at the moment, any snow Anastasia? Any sun in Florida Belle? See I'm a true Brit, always talking about the weather!
17 years ago the roof of SnoWhites nursery school blew off in a storm, luckily the children got out in time but since then windy weather has left me less than impressed. I have a flat roof extension and it is definitely making noises! Think what I would have been like if I had been visiting Belle in Mississippi when the hurricane hit, I would have been a nervous wreck.

I JUST CAN'T WIN
Jade Goody has been evicted from the BB house and I don't think she seemed sorry at all and yes I still think she was a bully and being racist but I feel sorry for her. From the start of this furore I have felt that Big Brother was guilty of allowing the situation to escalate and not putting a stop to it. Big Brother seems to have been glad of everything that has happened but I think in this case that not all publicity is good publicity.Let us hope that Endemol and Channel 4 learn from this situation.

Beauty has had a good day singing, dancing and playing on the computer. In the last few months Beauty has improved dramatically with speech, understanding and processing. As I have said before her speech seems to be confined to set phrases but she has enough speech to let everybody know what she wants. I am convinced that Beauty's talking will get better and better. I read a blog daily called Whitterer on Autism and the writer has 2 sons who are on the spectrum and their speech is brilliant and very entertaining. I really hope that Beauty will get to be so good. In lots of ways I feel that Beauty has greater understanding and intelligence than some other children locally who are the same age as Beauty, Beauty's problem is communicating what she knows.

THE END OF THE MAELSTROM! (HOPEFULLY)

Excuse for oversleeping(and no the cat did not eat my alarm clock!)
Uncharacteristically, I awoke this morning at 8:16am and I was able to feed Beauty, wash her and dress her in clean clothes AND get to school by 9am(I was meant to be there by 8:55am).Well I was impressed!
I returned home to do a pretty convincing impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop,the scene where he returns home from his first day as a nursery teacher and passes out on the bed.I overslept due to elbow pain keeping me awake through the night, Yes I know, pretty lame excuse! AND I have a zit on my face! I know even old people have zits on their face but in my entire life I can count on my fingers how many zits I have had on my face, I know it sounds unbelievable but it is true. My children are envious because their skins is pretty much the same as any other person who suffers with skin eruptions , however I tell them they are lucky as my back used to be covered with the kind of acne that only medication could deal with! Too gross too even contemplate on a Friday morning!

Windy weather calms down( but hot air and wind involving the Big Brother house continues to create a maelstrom).
The weather in South Wales appears to be calming down and the drive to school this morning was a lot less blowy though the bad driving continues, others as well as me-I have been accused of 'confusing the car' by pulling away to fast and this from the person who thought perhaps the birds poop so much on my car because they are attracted to the colour of the car!( don't even try to figure that one out!).
Politicians continue to add their little piece of hot air to the melee that surrounds the Big Brother house

Government Chief Whip Jacqui Smith waded into the furore, urging people not to watch Big Brother because of what she described as "racist bullying".
In the strongest condemnation of the show by a minister so far, she said the behaviour had been totally "unacceptable".Ms Smith also attacked the programme-makers, saying that the editing had been wrong and that it was "shameful to make money and publicity out of that sort of thing'

and if any politician is out there composing a rap in response to the situation( as they seem inclined to do but why I don't know!).................for our sanity and your dignity, please do not do it! Stick to what you do best..........what is that again?
Thankfully the beginning of the end should be in sight this evening as Jade Goodie and Shilpa Shetty are both up for eviction in the Big Brother house. I am sure that Big Brother will be disappointed when Jade is evicted as there will be less opportunity for fighting and arguing in the house. Here again I was wrong.........I discussed the possibility of this year being the most boring of all Celeb BB years but the three witches and their spitefulness has changed my opinion on that.

BLUSTERY DAY

Reassuring to know that even though the weather is pretty torrential out there the usual standard of driving is not affected.Speeding, undertaking and crazy parking goes on unabated and that is just from what I have seen on my short drive to school and back.

However it is also reassuring to know that the hosepipe ban in many areas has just been lifted.

Water companies lift hosepipe ban
Four water firms in the south east of England are lifting their hosepipe bans after months of above average rainfall.Thames Water, Southern Water, Three Valleys Water and Sutton and East Surrey Water have lifted the ban, which affected more than 13m customers.The restrictions were introduced last year amid concerns following record dry winters for two consecutive years.But the Environment Agency warned groundwater levels are still low and there is a risk of drought next summer.Both South East Water and Mid Kent Water said they would review their ban at the end of January.

Like the saying goes,
It makes as much sense as a fish riding a bicycle

COME ON GUYS...........PLAY NICE!

'Pay for surgery' option dropped
Plans to offer NHS patients the option of paying for their surgery to avoid waiting lists have been abandoned.Chief executive of Northampton General Hospital, Andrew Riley, has withdrawn a letter sent on 8 January which outlined new plans for minor surgery.People were offered an option of paying certain amounts for their treatment but the move was completely unacceptable to the Department of Health.In a letter Mr Riley said the hospital trust had withdrawn the option.

I wonder what changed their minds?
Public opinion perhaps?
Common sense tells you that the above idea could not work. If reduced price operations are offered in NHS hospital because of long waiting lists them it means that those 'jumping the queue' make the queue even longer for those who cannot afford to pay! And if the hospital had said,'Oh no, it wouldn't have affected the list because these would have been extra', my computer class were of the opinion,'Would you really want a major operation done by an already overworked, overtired NHS workforce?'.Had they even considered that some staff who remain in the public sector do so because of ideological reasons and do not want to participate in the private operations. Some Doctors do not have private patients or do any private work.

I wondered how long it would take for the pompous self proclaimed intelligentsia to rear their superior heads.
According to the views on the BBC website regarding the Celeb BB debacle ,I am any one of the following because whilst I am exercising, embroidering or doing housework, I use my free agency to watch Big Brother.

I just can't believe that anyone with a functional intellect bothers to watch this dumbed-down lager-swilling, kebab-munching, chav fodder. This must be the sort of television that the feckless watch, whilst their unappetising offspring are out yobbing.

We all need to get our own lives so this kind of programming will end.

The people who watch big brother do so in the hope of watching something horrific unfold before their eyes, much like this incident. They are the sort of people who slow down on motorways to get a better view of a car crash. Why? Who knows, perhaps something is sadly missing in their lives. There is a big beautiful world out there - get outside and enjoy it and help break the cycle of morons idolising morons (who will sadly go on to breed morons!!)

I am amazed that there are 4.5 million people sad enough to watch such a programme

These reality shows are silly. Why would anyone waste their time watching them when there is always something better on the History Channel?

This is pathetic! Anyone dedicated to watching this programme needs to get a life!

According to the above comments on the BBC website because I watch Celebrity Big Brother the functioning of my intellect is called into question, I am feckless and my children are out yobbing.
I am told I need to get a life, I am the sort of person who slows down to watch a road accident and there is something sadly missing in my life. I am also sad and pathetic.
The BBC has allowed these comments to be published about me and others like me and I find it unacceptable. Which proves that you can be bullied in or out of the Big Brother house, by stupid or (allegedly)intelligent people.
I am an individual disabled by arthritis and Dercum's disease and I use my free agency to watch TV as an enjoyable form of entertainment as my capabilities to 'go out and do something less boring instead' is just a little bit limited. Come on guys, play nice!



The Colour of Beauty
Today I watched Beauty play a game with colours and she was able to pick out red, yellow,
green and blue quite easily and then she went on to play with a game about time and she had no problem telling the time either. Yep! Not only is she beautiful but clever too!

SIGN OF A TRUE MOTHER!

Sleep in heavenly peace
I seem to have spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in a tired haze and any writings for those days should be regarded with suspicion. I seem to have spent Saturday and Sunday asleep with brief attempts at wakefulness, each waking episode spent asking,'How is Beauty?'and the rest of the time spent filling and emptying dishwashers, washing machines and the tumble dryer.........the sign of a true Mother! I was lucky enough to have Fiona in the house to take care of Beauty and of course the child minder took Beauty out for three hours on Sunday afternoon and if I remember correctly I slept the whole time she was out. The tiredness is probably just life catching up on me.
Beauty quite happily bounced off to school today leaving me free to tidy my house, last night I watched an episode of Wife Swap(when I wasn't nodding off!) and I promise I would NEVER participate in that program and why? Because my house is too much of a hovel! However as SnoWhite pointed out, if I were to do something like that I would clean the house from top to bottom AND get in industrial cleaners. How people allow strangers into their house when it is so filthy is beyond me.
Once again to my shallower side!
I also watched The Baby Borrowers and I an convinced that Sam and Fisnik are RINGERS, there is absolutely no way that two individuals can behave so badly. I believe they are older than they make out and really graduates from acting college! I'm sorry Sam you gave it away when you performed over the poor child being sick, no real person behaves like that!
And as for Ceeleb BB are they being racist? I couldn't say because I do not know what they were thinking when they made the comments they made(but the comments did seem more than just unkind) and when they impersonated Shilpa's accent but in the last few days I have found myself trying(not very well!) to impersonate Danielle's accent just because I love it so much. Am I being racist? Danielle is English and I am Welsh and Wales and England have quite an historically volatile relationship and even now wearing a English rugby shirts at the wrong time in the wrong place can be seen as rather unwise.
However I do believe that Jade, Jo and Danielle are just being typical girls who when they get together can become very catty and very spiteful and I do believe their behaviour is inspired by jealousy and does border on bullying but when they get out of the Big Brother house they will be appalled at their behaviour and regret a lot of what has happened. I really feel that BB needs a house meeting to discuss the situation before BB and the Celebs get themselves into anymore sh*t.
Celeb BB update
Not having watched BB properly for a number of days I have updated myself on what has been going on by accessing BB videos on YouTube and reading written extracts and I can say that my opinion of what has been going on has changed. Before I wasn't sure but now I am, the behaviour regarding Shilpa is unacceptable and should not be allowed to go on. This evening I watched Jermaine comforting Shilpa about the situation and he believed they were doing what they were doing because of the colour of Shilpas skin. It seems that Act against Bullying has taken pictures of Jade Goodie off their website, they said it was because she had not been acting properly. I no longer think it is bordering on bullying, it is bullying.

I know it seems as if I only ever watch TV but I only seem to manage to watch TV after 9pm and even then I am exercising or feeding the machines(dishwashers, washing machines etc!). As I have explained before I have quite wakeful nights with the adorable but active autistic 6 year old who wakes a few times in the night and then when she goes to school I catch up on my sleep.
Whilst I nap I have the washing machines, dishwashers and tumble dryer running and then I am awake in the evenings and that is when I do a lot of my house work(well I try!). So in theory I work nights but I do not get any nights off. Even when I was a night nurse in a nursing home I only worked 4 nights a week, apart from the week when Belle got married and 1 night when I attended a church camp(don't ask!) I have been with Beauty constantly since she was born and since we knew about her autism it has been really difficult to leave her with anybody who doesn't understand her.
I am sure that there are other mothers on their own at Beauty's school but I have just never seen them , I seriously wonder how they all seem to cope with relationships. Where do they find the time and the energy?
Talking about rubbish!
This morning I drove SnoWhite to university to do a presentation and to get there we had to go along the dual carriageway and the traffic was nose-to-tail because there were council workers on the verges picking litter and so for their safety one lane was coned off. Most of the dual carriageway has deciduous trees along it so as well as litter there are also a lot of leaves, now I understand the leaves but who in their right mind throws rubbish from a moving car because apart from being thrown off the bridges there seems to be no other explanation for where the litter comes from. I know my children would never drop litter and they also feel strongly about people dropping litter so what kind of person does this? Years ago when I was 15 I remember walking home from church with two other girls and one of them threw a large piece of rubbish on the road and we insisted that she pick it up and bin it, we were both shocked that she had no idea that what she was doing was unacceptable.
The song of 2007?
Since I found a CD of Daniel Bedingfield in my car(it belongs to one of the girls.......I think!) I have been playing it constantly and I know when I have become obsessive about a piece of music because Beauty knows all the words when she hears it being played.
My favorite track is If your not the one and this morning it was playing as I parked up in Beauty's school and as the car stopped I turned the CD off and Beauty kept on singing! Not as embarrassing as one of the other boys in Beauty's school, his Dad likes show tunes and they appear to be played a lot in their home as the boy is word perfect. I just can't help thinking about the song,'I'm just a girl who can't say no'.

BEWARE OF PARKED CARS!

A few years ago whilst doing my teachers training we discussed examples of student confidentiality. I was surprised to find out that my children could be exposed to quite dangerous individuals and the teachers and the parents and the students did not have a right to know this information. Hopefully this is no longer true.
One lecturer discussed a situation whereby he had taken a group of students on an Outward Bound weekend and whilst away the students had shared a dormitory type bedroom. There had been the usual high spirits and bickering but nothing too serious. Later on the lecturer found out that one of the students that he had taken on the trip was on bail for a serious knifing incident! He confronted the Head of Department who it turned out knew nothing about the situation. A decision had been made by higher powers in the college, they had decided that the confidentiality of the student on bail was most important! There were 16 and 17 year olds in the group, surely The Children's Act would still have applied to these young people. As a parent I feel it is my right to know if dangerous people are in contact with my children.
It seems that the Conservative party does not agree with proposals to share information between government departments.
I do appreciate some of the arguments against the proposals,

The Liberal Democrats accused the government of stripping the public of its privacy.
"Blair's Britain now has the most intrusive government in our history," leader Menzies Campbell said.
"There is no part of people's lives which is free from snooping.
"State intervention and control expands every day. It is time we put a halt to this." he added.

and also the comments made by the organisation Liberty.

Human rights group Liberty said the government had contempt for people's privacy.
"This half-baked proposal would allow an information free-for-all within government - ripe for disastrous errors, and ripe for corruption and fraud," the group's director Shami Chakrabarti said.

I do not believe that the government has the capabilities, the intelligence or strong enough ethical base to implement their plans effectively. So where does that leave us and our children? As always, at risk because of a lack of a cohesive safety system for our welfare. Our children can go to school and come into contact with individuals who have been police checked but go to church and be taught by individuals who do not have to be police checked.
I have been a parent now for almost 25 years and I have learned to ask the right questions.
Questions with YES and No answers are the only ones I ask and I let them know if they put my child at risk then I will sue their ass. Obsessive? HELL YES!
The year before my eldest went to school there was the tragic school accident whereby children were drowned at Land' End which subsequently gave me a fear of all school trips. I have never felt happy letting my girls go on school trips but I always let them go apart from Anastasia's first summer school trip. At the age of 5 they wanted to take them from their local school in Newbury in Berkshire to London on the train and then catch local transport buses and walk across London roads to the Natural History Museum. I said NO but they still went and nothing happened thankfully, Anastasia says she does not remember the situation but as an adult is glad I did not let her go.
Ariel was on a train to London when the bombs went off on7/7, Anastasia was in Russia when the Theater siege took place, I was in Spain in a resort where bombs were set off by ETA and I was also in a resort in Turkey where bombs were set off on a local transport bus. Poo happens I know but doing your best to minimise the risks to yourself is so important.
My personal mantra is

BEWARE OF PARKED CARS-
for me this means always be aware, trust no one but yourself to take care of you and your loved ones

And why beware of parked cars? In Russia parents tell their children not to walk past the parked expensive cars as they belong to the new Russian elite and they have been known to be blown up in the past!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
The three paintings at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff that I would love to own.

Number 1

SINNOTT, Kevin (1947 - ),

Running Away with the Hairdresser

Number 2

MONET, Claude (1840 - 1926),

Rouen Cathedral: Setting Sun

Number 3

RENOIR, Pierre-Auguste (1841 - 1919),

The Parisian Girl [La Parisienne]

Sigur Ros - Glosoli

>

AMAZING!

ON BEING BEAUTY.

OH Hello! Here we have a proof that 'you can't wear a crucifix around your neck because of heath and safety' is a load of rubbish.

School row over girl's crucifix
A Roman Catholic schoolgirl's desire to wear a crucifix necklace has led to her religion clashing with her school's health and safety policy.

Look at the Robert Napier School prospectus ,the uniform includes a tie, so you can wear a tie around your neck but not a small chain! The school also says that in years 10 and 11 you can wear 'discreet jewellery', so why in years 10 and 11 but not in years 7,8 and 9? How are you safer when you are in years 10 and 11. So they are telling her that she cannot wear the chain NOW but when she enters the fourth year of high school she will be ok!
I personally would not wear religious symbols BUT I do believe in any individuals right to do so if that is what they wish.
I believe that central government, after consultation with religious leaders and members of the public,needs to make a decision as to what is acceptable to be worn within in schools, with regards to religion. For many religion is part of their every day life and this needs to be accepted and their needs met within the school environment. Everywhere you go you hear people talking about 'an holistic approach' but denying an individuals religious expression is hardly 'holistic'.

AND NOW TO MY SHALLOWER SIDE
Words fail me as to the departure of Leo Sayer on Celeb Big Brother, his behavior was worse than a toddler! Jermaine Jackson was gutted at his departure, Leo could have at least said goodbye properly to people who had been good to him and his language was shocking. And the papers are printing the story that Donnie wants to go back into the house.........look Donnie wasn't 15 minutes enough? Oh go on then, eek it out to 15 1/2 as you really were quite entertaining! I am also gutted that Dirk fancies Shilpa, Dirk is really quite cute(I am so sad, I sound like a teenager!).

HOW TO CHEER UP A CRYING SIX YEAR OLD
Just casually say Charlie and Lola and she instantly knows it is her computer time and will be at the computer faster than the speed of light.Whoosh.......she's there.
SnoWhite has been at the house over the weekend so computer time has been even more limited due to SnoWhite's need to do research for her ART Degree Project. Try explaining that to an autistic 6 year old who only talks in phrases such as-WELL DONE, I TOLD YOU TO LIE DOWN, THE END,ONCE UPON A TIME, SCHOOL,STOP IT, DON'T,THE CAR, ASDA (LOVES THAT WORD) etc.
It is so sad to watch Beauty cry when you say NO because she just does not understand and her face goes really blotchy with weeping. Autism is such a hard thing at times.
We also have a slide lock on the outside of the living room door, it is a split stable door with a glass window in it. When somebody is in with her(usually watching TV), and somebody is sat at the computer which is close to the door, we sometimes lock the door to keep Beauty in with the person in the living room( Beauty has no sense of danger and has to be watched 24/7). To get out the person in the living room has to knock on the door, now when Beauty knocks on the door she just doesn't understand why nobody opens the door for her.It is so sad to be so small and
not understand the world that you live in.

Things are getting worse with my left arm, I cannot even pick up a cup without it really hurting. The pain is constant so I think it is time for a return to the Doctor, I have become quite expert at one finger typing. It will probably be a week before I can get an appointment anyway and if the Doctor thought something was really wrong it could be 18 months before I was able to be seen in the hospital. The worst thing is I can no longer knit or crochet, I find it impossible to sit without doing something so I think I shall do some cross stitch and if I were to buy a large frame I could do it mostly with my right hand. And of course I haven't done any painting or collage or photography in a while so I need to start on those again.
BUT I have started writing again and I have completed a children's story and if I were to do some paintings to go with the story perhaps I could start selling some of my work. I have thought about using the skills learned in my web design class to create a web site to be a self-representing artist and sell my work online through places such as ebay W ell it is January and time for new beginnings, we shall see what happens!

NOT ENOUGH PURPLE!

AM I SHALLOW................HELL YES!

BUT I CAN DO DEEP!

Take David Beckham for instance, he has always wanted to end his football career in the 'relative soccer backwaters' of the USA and that is where it appears his playing career will end.Is he going with his tail between his legs? Hell no!
I am impressed at the business acumen of the guy and if that's what he wants and it makes him and his family happy then I am pleased for them. I believe there is nothing shallow about earning as much as you can before your retirement to provide for your family later. Good luck to them.

The 275 million dollar man

"Golden Balls" - as he has been nicknamed by the tabloids - may not have a golden share but he will make money from LA Galaxy, possibly as much as $10m (£5.14m) a year in profits.
BBC sports editor
By Mihir Bose

The above resulted in the following family discussion..........what would we do for approximately half a million a week. I was very surprised at what my family would be prepared to advertise or do for the above named figure!I was very impressed at the matter-of-fact way they viewed money though. We did not however discuss the 'oldest profession' as I feel quite strongly about the difficulties that people find themselves in and what they are prepared to do to get out of it. Plus Snowhite was in the house and she has an even more dogmatic opinion on the subject(well any subject really!) than I do.
With everything that has happened in Suffolk recently regarding the murders of the 5 prostitutes I would like to see extra funding for nurses and guidance counsellors to help these young people who feel they have no alternatives in their lives to receive better care and move on in their lives. Will it happen? Probably not but I would love to be proved wrong.

Back to my favourite relaxation activity at the moment...............TV!
I cried last night when I watched the new program with Colin and Justin, it is about how they are trying to help transform a council housing estate in Glasgow. The situation is dire and nobody should have to live like that- the flats were squalid and nobody should have to live like that. Colin and Justin visited a flat occupied by a young mother and her 2 children, she had lived on the estate for 26 years, due to damp her flat was appalling yet when Colin and Justin visited she had prepared tea and sandwiches. Which just goes to prove that because we live on a council or housing association estate does not mean we do not have good manners and we shouldn't have to put up with sh*t (literally). Luckily the estate that I live on is going through serious regeneration work but I was shocked to see the flat that Colin and Justin were offered to decorate into a show flat to attract new tenants..............the balcony was a foot deep in bird sh*t! And no these flats do not come for free, you work-you pay the rent. Let us hope that politicians responsible for housing watched this program and were suitably ashamed. Something tells me though it would be like water off a ducks back.

The Baby Borrowers never ceases to shock and amaze!I am shocked at how badly behaved and selfish some of the teenagers are but on the other hand some are an absolute delight and their parents should be very proud. If nothing else I hope this program serves to show the powers that be that being a teenager, with a baby, living alone or with a partner is no bed of roses.
I would have no qualms having them look after my 6 year old, though even the wonderfully capable Lauren or Alex would be on the edge of a nervous breakdown after 3 days with Beauty.

Beauty's language skills are increasing daily, her teacher today told me that when Beauty wants people to leave her alone she says, 'I told you to lie down and go to sleep!' and thankfully the teacher thought it was very funny. In the two weeks up to Christmas and over Christmas Beauty was unwell with a viral infection so I moved the furniture around so there would be a sofa in her bedroom and at night I would sleep with her to make sure she was ok. When I took Beauty to bed I would lie down to sleep on the sofa with her on her bed and get up when she fell asleep. Each time she sat up I say to her,'I told you to lie down and go to sleep'. Thankfully I try very, very hard to use correct language in front of Beauty though unfortunately SnoWhite and Fiona have very little control when they fight. Fortunately there have been no reports home of bad language!
Her favourite TV programs include Charlie and Lola and when I take Beauty to bed she says,'GoodnightCharlie, Goodnight Lola' every night. Charlie and Lola are also he favourite games and stories on the CBEEBIES website and one story about the grandparents makes Beauty giggle and giggle and giggle.

"in the interests of truth, tolerance and justice."

Activists to march on Guantanamo
Protesters are gathering at the US Guantanamo prison to demand its closure ahead of the fifth anniversary of the first "war on terror" detentions


Ok
So the US government has these alleged terrorists in custody and from what I have read they seem to have a lot of evidence of their crimes. As I have said before, I am not the brightest bunny and sometimes I do have a problem with memory retention but I don't understand why if they have all this evidence why the accused have been in custody for so long without coming to trial.

I am a member of Amnesty International and I have written letters for them for 15 years and I never fail to be shocked at the atrocities that occur in the world but I just can't rationalise how something like Guantanamo prison could happen and still be happening in the 21st century. I do believe in the law and justice but this just does not seem like justice to me.

Whitehall: We may never hit superbug target

By Celia Hall, Medical Editor

Last Updated: 2:14am GMT 11/01/2007

The Telegraph
The Government target for halving cases in England of the hospital superbug, MRSA, will not be met next year and may never be met, according to a secret Department of Health memorandum.

It makes it clear that a second infection, Clostridium difficile, (C. difficile) is responsible for more deaths than MRSA, that there has been a "significant increase" in cases and that it is "endemic" throughout the health service. Cases increased by 17.2 per cent in 2005 over the previous year.
The memorandum suggests that £270 million needs to be spent on ward sinks for handwashing, specialist cleaning kit and isolation facilities in the battle to stem the rising rate of C. difficile infections.

Doesn't the above make you feel so confident!
Runningman broke his neck and he ended up with MRSA (his named nurse had the infection in her ears for 2 years and was unable to get rid of it and was allowed to continue working!)
He also has Clostridium in his ears which he can't seem to get rid of.
I had a baby and ended up with MRSA and the reason why people don't sue..........because they can't prove who gave it to them. When I had MRSA my Doctor did not think I would recover and I'm glad he didn't tell me that until afterwards!
I hate to use the phrase BACK TO BASICS but the Health authorities just do not have enough money to pay for adequate cleaning. When Pianoman had his stroke I was shocked to see how dirty the hospital was, I noticed overflowing bags of rubbish and laundry and Doctors, Nurses , ward staff and other medical staff who either did not wash their hands or did it inadequately. Medical personal who wear their uniforms outside of work also pi** me off, they are either bringing infection from work or taking it in.

Doctor ties 'to go in MRSA fight' Tuesday, 21 February 2006,
Medics should ditch ties in a bid to combat hospital superbugs such as MRSA, doctors' leaders say.

The British Medical Association has urged its members to shun the neckwear as they are rarely cleaned and could be a source of infections.
But the BMA said hygiene standards had been compromised as the number of cleaners in the NHS has fallen over the past 20 years from 100,000 to a low of 55,000 in 2003-4.
The report said reduced bed numbers and higher patient turnover to meet performance targets had also made good infection control more difficult.

It said the most important measure that could be taken was for patients, staff and visitors to clean their hands regularly.

This is how the Royal College Of Nursing feels in their Wipe It Out campaign on MRSA
Uniforms: infection control issues

Minimum professional and personal standards

• Staff must change out of their uniform promptly at the end of a shift.
• Staff must presume some degree of contamination, even on clothing which is not visibly soiled.
• Hands must be washed and dried after handling fabric.
• Uniforms must be carried separately from other items - clean and dirty uniforms must not be transported together.
• Hand washing clothing items is ineffective and unacceptable.
• Entering commercial premises in uniform/clothing is unacceptable.
• Community staff should travel directly between locations.
• Staff must follow an organisation’s dress code and guidance on the wearing and decontamination of uniforms
• Staff should not wear jewellery; fingernails should be short and free of nail varnish (false nails are unacceptable) and hair should be worn neatly in a style that does not require frequent re-adjustment.

So the next time you see a medical professional in their uniform in ASDA or TESCO remind them that they are either taking infection into or bringing it from work.

I LOVE TV.............AM I SHALLOW? HELL YES!

After 2 days of blogging on politics I have decided to return to my shallow roots and discuss 'something less boring instead'..............that's right TV.
Joy of joys Shameless is back and still one of the funniest shows on TV and yes it still reminds me of where I live. Mostly because it is filmed on an estate in Manchester that is similar to our estate, though our estate is smaller of course. It is constructed on the Radburn type estate which originated in the USA

Radburn was founded in 1929 as "a town for the motor age" Its planners, Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, and its landscape architect Marjorie Sewell Cautley aimed to incorporate modern planning principles, which were then being introduced into England's Garden Cities, following ideas advocated by urban planners Ebenezer Howard and Sir Patrick Geddes.
Radburn was explicitly designed to separate traffic by mode with a pedestrian path system that does not cross any major roads at grade. Radburn introduced the largely residential "superblock" and is credited with incorporating some of the earliest cul-de-sacs in the United States.

So what does that mean? It means that people come and go through your back door because that is where the road is and councils up and down the UK are now re-designing the estates to incorporate pavements on the outsides of the estates. We live in what locals call a back-to-front house and you do not answer the front door because it is only people selling things!
Rumor has it that drug dealers live in the flats, of course we have the 'burglar boys' in the flats behind us but for them I think it is really a part-time hobby as they are really not that good at being burglars.
Like 'Shameless' we do have funny moments on the estate, we have one resident who chases cars like a dog when he is drunk and he also goes to the local garage which is also a 24 hour shop and picks up what food he wants and walks out without paying for it! Neighbors regularly call the ambulance to come and get him as he is lying comatose in the road. Apart from that he is no trouble really.
When husband number 2 died we were leaving for the funeral and the people at the end of the road were having a fight in the road, the wife could see the funeral cars coming but not the husband who continued to shout and scream . The poor wife looked as if she wanted the road to open up and swallow her. However, I think husband number two would have found the situation highly amusing.........most definitely!

Shameless saw the return of Monica, Frank's real wife. Marty shows up with a baby that Kev and Veronica have bought in an Eastern European country and the Maguires move into Kev and Veronicas house(imagine living next to the Maguires)...........oh yes and the Maguires give Lip a silver knuckle duster for his 18(19) birthday!
And scarily I find this funny.

We also watched a show called The Baby Borrowers it is a reality show where youngsters who want more independence are given a house for a month to see how they will cope with house keeping, jobs, babies, toddlers, pre-teens, teens and finally seniors. One girl had previously looked after a pretend baby as part of a school project, when the baby wouldn't stop crying she put it in her wardrobe under clothes to keep it quiet! Funnily enough the pretend baby died BUT the girl got 33% for the project! What the FLIP! I call a dead baby a 0%, a FAIL even if the baby is pretend. She was very proud of her achievement. In the show she started arguing with the baby(a bit one sided I know) because the baby would not stop crying. Thankfully the mother, who was watching on CCTV , stepped in and explained the correct way to deal with the situation.
Sam on the show bosses her boyfriend around constantly and does as little as possible and is always having a paddy and walking off , Fisnik is a male chauvinist pig and is constantly telling his girlfriend what to do and is always having a paddy and walking off(see a pattern forming).
Compared to these youngsters my 15 year old is a star, she is brilliant at multi-tasking. She can clean(sometimes without being asked), watch her 6 year old sister Beauty who is autistic and will even change nappies(not poop ones though-I am the official 'poop checker'). Beauty and Fiona are best friends but I don't know how long it will last as they now compete for computer time. Yes that's right, a 6 year old and a 15 year old fighting over a computer(guess who always wins!).

I HANG MY HEAD AND WEEP

My blog yesterday was written after a very sleepless night! That is meant to explain the viciousness of the attack against Mr Blair and his government and his policies, I still believe all those things but usually I am not quite as vocal(well not on the internet anyway). I apologise to my keyboard and the way that I pounded out yesterday's entry but yesterday's news report was quickly followed by a date from the school for Beauty's Annual Review which I now feel should be renamed A MEETING TO SEE HOW MUCH MONEY I CAN SCREW OUT OF THE COUNCIL TO GIVE TO THE SCHOOL FOR BEAUTY'S EDUCATION or if it were the council naming the meeting it should be titled A MEETING TO STOP YOU AND YOUR KID GETTING A SINGLE PENNY FROM US BECAUSE YOUR KID DOESN'T DESERVE A PENNY. And this is how I feel after sleeping!

According to a report in the Daily Mail
regarding Ruth Kelly
"Her claim that her son has "substantial learning difficulties" was contradicted by local authority sources quoted in The Sun who claimed he had only "mild dyslexia".

What did Ruth Kelly really think that the LEA would do for her child? I have been saying that my 21 year old has had problems since she was 2 but did THE lea do any thing .........NO! she was diagnosed with dyslexia in University.

RUTH KELLY SNUBBED SIX STATE SCHOOLS
Kelly goes private despite 'excellent' local record
By Oonagh Blackman, Political Editor

RUTH Kelly rejected six state schools that help children with dyslexia to send her son to a £15,000-a-year prep school.The former Education Secretary's local authority has an outstanding record for supporting youngsters with learning difficulties. Of 20 specialist primary schools, six are rated as "excellent" by Ofsted and 14 are "good".A spokesman for Tower Hamlets, East London, said: "We have a strong track record in helping children with a wide range of learning needs."Ms Kelly defended her decision, saying: "Like any parent, my first thought was for my child."

So does this mean that the former Education secretary visited 6 schools in Tower Hamlets and thought that their provision for Dyslexia(mild dyslexia) was not good enough?
Does this mean that the children in these schools are receiving an inadequate provision for their dyslexia?


Cartoons to aid autistic children By Jane Hughes BBC News, health correspondent
Whilst reading this article on the BBC website all I could think about were the other autistic children that I knew and their obsession with Thomas The Tank Engine and when going to pick Beauty up from school I always see at least one Thomas backpack or toy. Yes this sounds like a good idea.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen is director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University.He said: "We've got to somehow find a way to get autistic children to overcome their fear of looking at people's faces so that they can start learning about how expressions arise.
"This is a way to ease them into reading faces."

When Beauty looks at me directly in the eyes I worry as this is a very rare occurrence. Once on holiday when Beauty was about 2 we were sat at the dining room table in the hotel and for the first time ever Beauty looked me full in the eyes and I was so pleased UNTIL she lunged for my face and grabbed both of my cheeks with her hands. Her nails were small but razor-like and my face started to pour blood-it was like the bit in the OMEN films where Damien's parents try to take him into a church. The restaurant came to a shocked standstill whilst we tried to get her off my face.

Acts 9:5-6 - "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks"

Whilst in university I studied some(not a lot) psychology and was very interested in
the Milgram experiment which was a series of famous scientific studies of social psychology, intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant's personal conscience.
The experiment was first described in 1963 by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, and later discussed in his 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View.
The experiments began in July 1961, three months after the start of the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised the experiment to answer the question "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?"

I also remember learning about the
The Stanford prison experiment , it was a landmark psychological study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life, and the effects of imposed social roles on behavior. It was conducted in 1971 by a team of researchers led by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. Volunteers played the roles of guards and prisoners and lived in a mock prison built in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. However, the experiment quickly got out of hand and was ended early.

And then there was the BLUE EYES/BROWN EYES experiment
In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jnr Elliot developed a simple exercise that explored the nature of racism and prejudice Elliott's method for exploring racism in the context of an all-white classroom consisted of dividing her students into two groups on the basis of eye color, blue or brown (those with other eye colors were assigned to the group that most closely matched their own.)On the first day, Elliott told her students that possessing blue eyes indicated superiority in intelligence and conferred extra classroom privileges while having brown eyes indicated inferiority. Quickly, the students of the "superior" color began to oppress those of the "inferior" color, while those of the "inferior" color exhibited negative feelings of self-loathing and fear.The next day, Elliott reversed the exercise, telling the students that her statements the previous day were untrue, and that the reverse situation now prevailed. The same children who had been oppressed the day before quickly took on the oppressing role, and vice versa . As a school teacher in Riceville, Iowa she tried to explain the meaning of King's death to her all white students. Riceville was and is today a predominantly white, Christian town with a population of 1,000 people. Elliott devised the exercise -this is not an experiment, she emphasizes- in which one day the brown eyed children are on top and the next day the blue eyed. "I chose a physical characteristic over which they had no control and attributed negative elements to this characteristic." Elliott chose eye color because she was under the impression that during the second world war eye color was one of the ways for the Nazis to determine if someone was sent to the gas chamber or not.

I am the first to admit that I am not the brightest bunny and my memory is not brilliant but I feel that I was able to read the data presented in the above experiments and understand the basic concepts and results.
I feel that the evidence showed how weak and fragile mankind is and easily susceptible to the influence of society and peer pressure. I know all these things and yes I do realise that evidence can be manipulated and how the ethics of experiments have to be taken into consideration so the validity of any experiments can be questioned but it brought me to a frightening awareness of how I as an individual could so easily be influenced. I would love to think I wouldn't!
I love watching reality TV shows and yes they do make me laugh but I never cease to be shocked at the way people behave. OF COURSE in my ivory tower I always think,'oooooooh I would never do that!'
Pleeeeeese, I would probably be a right cow I am very ashamed to say.
I quite frequently watch reality shows and watch from behind my fingers, cringing, thinking ' oh please say I wouldn't have done that'. However, let me make this point clear, I am not talking about the Jade BB's KEBAB type moments, that would be a definite NO-NO. I am talking more about the reality moments where the contestants fail to put brain into gear before speaking moments. Save me from my gob! Yes I have the ability to think quickly in conversations and say funny things but afterwards I think things like ,'Oh I hope I didn't say something to upset them'.
I was appalled to watch Ken Russell on celeb BB talking to Jade Goodie, his behaviour was just unacceptable. He ridiculed Jade and was insulting because he didn't believe she was in the same class as him.When Jade told Ken"You've got no respect and consideration for these people," yelled a fuming Jade', after Ken ate food even though he was told not to by the other house mates.
"They aren't people, they're Servants,"
"Servants!" "Trash! Slaves!"
"That's just nasty, they helped you put your socks on," responded Jade. The sad thing was that Ken really seemed to mean what he said.
Jade was right , the house mates had been good to Ken and he showed no respect for them. Ken was so pompous and pretentious, his behaviour was summed up when he said in response, 'AM I BOVERED?' Obviously not!

AND TO THE MAIN REASON WHY I HAVE HAD A BAD DAY!

As the character Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply said, 'I blame the government!'
When Beauty went to school I was not happy with the inadequate educational provision contained in Beauty's statement of Special Educational Needs. So I had to go to a Special Needs Tribunal and beg, yes beg and grovel for what I knew was my child's needs and right to have. The local education authority did not believe that Beauty needed a one-to-one helper in a
special needs school but she did because she wasn't safe to be without one. She would drop and refuse to move, climb , eat small objects and engage in a million and 1 other dangerous pass times. Whilst looking after Beauty the staff would not be caring for the other children who would then be put at risk. Those in charge of the tribunal when making the decision told me that Beauty had to have the extra helper in the class but THEY DID NOT WANT TO START A PRECEDENCE BY GIVING HER ONE TO ONE, I believe that this was an illegal thing for them to say because other cases are not meant to influence their decision.
I also had to get them to state in WORDS visible from space that Beauty also needed all her therapies because if they didn't say it then the school would not get the money for it. Notice that I did not say SHE WOULD NOT GET THE THERAPIES because no matter what, she would get the therapies , care and education she deserved because the head teacher, teachers, teacher's aides and therapists who(IF THERE IS A GOD AND IN THIS MATTER I PRAY THERE IS) will be seated on the right hand side of God for doing everything for Beauty and giving her all the therapies regardless of receiving money for it(but when they spend time with Beauty they are not with every other just as deserving child). So the answer is money, YES MONEY, everyone knows this , accepts this and deals with it apart fro the government, the LABOUR GOVERNMENT headed by TONY BLAIR and the local education authorities around the country. I believe that the educational officers who attended my daughters tribunal are people without a soul, without shame, without common decency, I believe that they were just downright mean. They made me feel that we had no right to ask for anything. Yes it is true that THOSE WHO SHOUT LOUDEST GET THE MOST and that stinks. In one interview I was told that there was only a certain sized, 'pot of money' and if I had that money then somebody else wouldn't. NICE PEOPLE!
I told one education officer that if it was their child then they would get everything, she told me that she was shocked that I should suggest such a thing and I told her that I didn't care how shocked she was and not matter how much she denied it it was still true. Hence, I am not popular with the local education authority and 'DO I CARE?'
HELL NO!
SO WHY AM I SO UNHAPPY TODAY?
Yep you've guessed!
Former Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has defended her decision to send her son, who has "substantial learning difficulties", to a private school.
I believe it is every parents right to do the best for their child.
I am not upset with Ruth Kelly, I am upset with a government.

''Ms Kelly said it was not uncommon for pupils with substantial learning difficulties to spend some time outside the state sector to help them progress. Sometimes this is paid for by the local authority. In my case, I have not and will not seek the help of the local authority in meeting these costs,"

THE LEA WILL PAY IF THEY AGREE THAT THE PROVISION IS THE RIGHT ONE AND YOU HAVE BEGGED AND GROVELLED ENOUGH AT A TRIBUNAL.

Although she did not say where her son had attended school, Tower Hamlets Council issued a statement about its special needs provision.
It reads: "We are confident that our schools are well resourced and provide high quality education for all learners, including those with special needs."

"Ms Kelly said Acting on professional advice - which the local authority accepts - I am placing my son in a school that will be able to meet his particular needs."

OK SO THEY 'ACCEPT 'WHAT YOU HAVE DONE MS KELLY BUT IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THEY DO NOT AGREE WITH YOU. THEY BELIEVE THAT THEIR PROVISION IS GOOD ENOUGH.

SO THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY THINK THAT THEIR PROVISION IS GOOD ENOUGH BUT THE FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY DOES NOT.

But Labour MP Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Commons education select committee, said: "The state system at its best should be able to provide for every kind of special education need - but at the moment in some parts of the country that's not true."

OH REALLY!

SO WOULD MY CHILD RECEIVE A BETTER EDUCATION IN A PRIVATE SCHOOL?
IF THIS WERE THE BEST OPTION WOULD I GET GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR IT?
LET ME SEE!
WOULD I HAVE TO BEG AND GROVEL FOR IT?
DO I HAVE TO STAND ON TOP OF A TALL BUILDING AND SCREAM,
'LOOK AT ME, I AM ORDINARY, MY CHILD IS AUTISTIC, MY CHILD HAS SPECIAL NEEDS, MY CHILD IS THE LOVELIEST , SWEETEST 6 YEAR OLD IN ALL THE WORLD AND I WANT THE BEST FOR HER'


DO YOU THINK ANYONE WILL LISTEN?
WHAT DO OTHERS THINK?

CHILD MINDER RESUMES NORMAL SERVICE

Christmas and the New Year are well and truly over, Beauty went out with the child minder and Beauty looked thrilled when she realised what was happening. Beauty has little or no sense of anticipation so when she turned the corner and saw the child minder, she loudly proclaimed , 'bye, see you soon' . I have watched Beauty on the computer and I am very impressed with her computer skills. Considering the fact that the last psychological report placed her emotionally at 12>18 months, I am very pleased at the way she is developing in other areas and educationally she appears advanced in certain ways. Her speech isn't clear but then 4 out of 5 of her sisters had speech and language problems and saw therapists. From what I am able to understand when she is chatting away with her toys, I can tell that she is making up stories. She is also able to name lots of animals, insects, colours ,shapes and food. Some of her speech is very appropriate, when I bought her bongo drums she said,'now that's a good idea'. She is developing daily and I am grateful, she has come so far from the day when she would sit silently rocking in a cot.
Welcome back Anastasia, even with the lack of natural snow I hope the skiing was good, oh and the company amicable! The sign of a good holiday.................would you go back?
Nice to hear from you again Belle, I would love to comment on your blog but it won't let me, can you add me? My love to Beau and Woody and the in-laws. Does the mother-in-law have another email address as she never opened the card I sent her?
3 weeks Wednesday I will be in Feurteventura, perhaps next winter will be the one where we stay for the winter!
Maybe.
But could I get to watch Celeb Big Brother? I remember watching the summer Big Brother in Turkey so I am sure satellite TV in Spain would, they have Coronation Street and Eastenders (save us!).
Life in the BIG BROTHER house goes on and is as entertaining as ever.
Jade's mum has a bad case of wind! Oops!
The usually placid Jermaine is not at all impressed "This flatulation is killing me. I can't deal with this passing of the gas," "Right in the kitchen!"
According to ken "Jackiey is upsetting everyone. She is unreasonable and seems to not have control of her tongue or her brain, if she has one." Ouch!
Like daughter.......... like mother!


Book says Smith came from Jesus' family tree
writer considers his latest work a rebuttal to The Da Vinci Code

OK!

DONNIE ESCAPES THE BIG BROTHER HOUSE!
So Donnie Tourette the singer from THE TOWERS OF LONDON has climbed the walls of the Big Brother house and legged it because he doesn't want to be a servant for Jade Goody and her family!
OK.
Though personally I think that is a load of rubbish! On entering the house Donnie was quite worse for wear..........in fact I think that Nissed as a Pewt would describe him better. My personal opinion on why the ROCKER WITH A REPUTATION TO KEEP left is quite simple. HE SOBERED UP, and with his newly acquired clarity he thought, 'Why am I doing this?', 'I don't need to do this','Who are these people?'.
Remember, in Donnie's youthful naivety any one over 25 is redundant and has nothing useful to contribute to his Brave New World! I love Donnie! I agree with the consensus of opinion amongst his fellow house mates and that is that he really is just a pussycat. I also think he probably misses his Mum! I honestly believe that the only appliance in the kitchen he is capable of working is the Chicken DING machine(microwave!) He will be missed and Celeb BB '06 will be way less entertaining without him. Will this be the CAMERON(boring) year of Celeb BB?
SIDE NOTE TO BB'06
As a nurse I was really worried about Ken Russell, he was perspiring profusely and so exhausted he was unable to put his clothes away and Shilpa and Jermaine had to help him. I also noticed Jack Tweedy worriedly looking over.What was BB thinking? The man is 79 and on the third day he is unable to cope. Ken said that at home he usually goes to bed at 9pm! I think they need to keep an eye on him.

School for Beauty resumes Monday and Beauty and I have missed it! I think that Beauty enjoys the daily routine of changing activities as she does bore easily at home(when not on the computer!). Her boredom at the moment is exhibited by taking toy boxes out of her toy shelves and just emptying them out onto the floor and Beauty shouting, 'No, you stop it'. AND the fact that again she has broken the DVD tray so she is only able to watch videos. OH DEAR that means no more Barney! How will we cope?..........wonderfully!

15 MINUTES OF FAME!

CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER IS BACK!
I'm sorry I do find it entertaining, I probably watch less than 50% of the shows however at times it can be highly amusing and compelling .MP George Galloway pretending to be a cat, licking milk from the cupped hands of actress Rula Lenska however was not amusing, just vomit inducing.

I love Dirk Benedict from the A TEAM, also on the show are Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine, model and former Miss GB Danielle Lloyd.Also on the show film director Ken Russell, singer Leo Sayer, Bollywood actress ShilpaShetty, S Club 7 singer Jo O'Meara, Steps star Ian "H" Watkins, Kenny Everett Show actress Cleo Rocos, and newspaper columnist Carole Malone.
When considering the psychotic behaviour of the majority of the contestants , I have always wondered how Big Brother could find so many people for their normal Big Brother shows who did not take medication,vitamins or any supplements of any kind as I have never seen the contestants take anything apart from special medication for the likes of headaches etc. They may have but I have just never seen it.Well this morning Fiona had the TV on when I got up and within a few seconds two of the celebs took what appeared to be supplements of some kind.I take all sorts of supplements, vitamins, kelp......you name it, I swear I must rattle but if it makes my life healthier then it can't be bad(and stops any desires of a psychotic nature that would induce me to want to be on something like Big Brother!).

BIG BROTHER UPDATE 14:53
I received the following update in my email...........
Danielle burst in and interrupted with a news-flash: "Listen to this...Ken just got changed...I was facing the room and he took his underpants off and bent over..." Cringing, she finished: "...meat and two veg between his legs and I've seen it!"
Oh save us please, John McCririck was bad enough, seeing Michael Barrymore and George Galloway in their red Lycra flashing their 'lunch boxes' was way,way too far but do we really need to see a 79 year old in all his glory? Before I watch Celebrity Big Brother again I shall make sure that I eat VERY early!

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Remember this one Anastasia? It lives on, still going strong after 10 years! I found it at the bottom of the clothes cupboard in the back kitchen when I was looking for something to wear whilst I was exercising.

Thank you Belle an Beau for the Christmas present, as you can see it is being used. Beauty loves it!

UK14..........US10

A BIG thank you to my side stepper exercise machine. Today I bought a size 14(US size 10) pair of jeans and they fit perfectly. I have not been a size 14 in trousers or jeans since the mid 1980's and I am over the moon. I am finally get rid of my tummy fat and I know that dieting alone could not have sorted out my stomach muscles.Boring news for everyone else but monumental for me.
I would NEVER want to look like a super model..............being a UK size 12 would be fine.

Today I took Beauty to town and I bought her a set of bongo drums and I put them in her lap and she said,'That's a good idea'. A set phrase I know but she said it knowing the meaning of it and using it in the correct context. It brought tears to my eyes.
I also bought her a butterfly shaped tambourine which she loved.


On the way home it poured with rain and Beauty and I got soaked.TYPICAL!
We arrived home looking like drowned rats.

'Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.'

But why so many dreary days?
Give me a break I say.

IN SEARCH OF TOMORROWS..............

New Year is such a funny time, Christmas is over but the decorations are still up until 12 th night but the spirit of Christmas has gone. Not that people are outwardly different but the buzz that led up to Christmas has gone and people are going their way in the cold and wet in a sense of isolation(sorry, I know I'm being deep!).
Today I took my recycling to Wedal Road , just lots of green bags, however I was shocked to see how full the place was and I don't mean people. The place was filled with a near mountain of rubbish and old appliances, I realise that appliances wear out but the amount was just amazing. I know this is a bit of a side track but one of my microwaves is 17 years old, Anastasia refuses to use it but Ariel loves it because it was bought with insurance money when she was born. Wedal Road is not a proper council dump just a refuse receiving centre in the middle of the city, this I find quite scary as there are a number of receiving sites around the city so the amount of stuff just dumped and not recycled is phenomenal. My washing machine had died so after Christmas I bought a new one because life with Beauty would be impossible without one. My washing machine is constantly on and when I can it is a short eco-wash.I am very interested in sustainability and places like Brithdir Mawr
and I would love to live like that but with Beauty, life would be impossible. They are off the grid-for electricity! I would be spending my entire day washing.
I certainly need to think a lot more about the way that I live with regards to the environment.
My biggest guilt trip are crisp packets! If there are bio-degradable plastic bags why can't they be used for crisps? Beauty, like many autistic and non-autistic children for that matter has food obsessions , one of those being Walkers salt and vinegar crisps.I want the packets to be recyclable or bio-degradable. Carrier bags are recyclable so why can't crisp packets be?
I recycle most things that come through my house but it is the sheer volume of plastic packaging that annoys me, perhaps if taxes were raised on products using non-recyclable or no bio-degradable packaging then manufacturers would be forced to use alternatives. I try to use products without plastic packaging but it is damn near impossible most of the time, manufacturers need a financial slap around the head to wake them up to the damage they are doing.
11:45PM
Beauty is still bouncing around like Tigger, wearing a pink stripey Hello Kitty sweat shirt, pink wings and flourishing the wand of all wand, not only does the wand flash but it makes a noise! She looks like a very energetic pink bumble bee!

2007...........SO BEGINS A NEW YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A MOTHER OF MANY

Do children ever really grow up and stop being children?
Tonight(after previously asking and being told that everything was in hand) I asked SnoWhite who is 21 , if all her paperwork was in hand for her appointment with the Passport office for tomorrow. She said yes, so we quickly went through her list of what she needed to take with her. All in order apart from the identification signatures of a professional! And why didn't she have them? Because she thought they were only needed for children! This is the politically aware one, philosophically aware one and religiously aware one. The one who wants to put an end to all wars, promote peace and educate and feed the world. She is totally aware of the world situation and KNOWS all about the security and all the risks that are out there but this one just went floating over her head. When I explained the situation she said,'oh yes, of course'.
Imagine the following for one second SnoWhite...............
A person from Humpty Dumpty land, wears a dress and puts a brunette wig on and uses an illegally acquired copy of SnoWhite's birth certificate to get a passport to go to Far,Far Away and destroy the Gingerbread man's house. I know it sounds a bit far fetched(well the bit about the wearing of the dress other than at a prom or whilst holidaying in Lanzarote) but reality is so much stranger than fiction!
Thank you to my friend of thirty odd years who let us into her house at 8:40pm on NEW YEARS DAY! to sign the passport form, you can always rely on a nurse.

Remember the 'what a coincidence'?
Well I have another one. I am not a soap or TV fan but I whole heartedly agree with peoples right to live this one life and enjoy pleasures that do not hurt anyone else. So many times I have heard pseudo-intellectuals proudly saying they have never watched a soap or certain TV program because it is a waste of time or that only people with no intelligence watch it. Well bully for them.
In my life I have watched a lot of soaps, hundreds(thousands probably!) of hours of TV and for the most part enjoyed it (apart from the Design Development of the Bollard-an OU program I watched years ago on a Sunday morning when the variety in TV programs was severely limited!)but now I tend to be so busy in the evening that I only get to watch TV quite late, just before bed.
However, myself and my children seem to have an aversion to watching Emmerdale

(though Marlon is a brilliant actor-we love him), Coronation St, Eastenders , Heartbeat, Where the Heart is and The Royal(but we are up on all the story lines and gossip-hey what more do you need?).They may be entertaining programs but they just don't interest us enough to sit down and watch them, however they are Runningman's favourite programs(though he tends to watch Sunday night TV at his own flat as TV in my house can be unpredictable-usually a choice between The Tweenies or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer at the moment). So we let him watch them on New Year's Eve as it was a special occasion (and Beauty was diverted with her toys!) and I sat and watched Heartbeat and YES I did enjoy the time spent relaxing which is a rare thing. I named Try And Catch The Wind as my personal song of 2006 and it was the song that Heartbeat played their final episode of the year out to. It was particularly poignant in the program as it linked the problems and losses of the characters.

CATCH THE WIND
by Donovan

In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty, I want to be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.

To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand, along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while, behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.

For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing, 'twould make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind.

For standin' in your heart,
Is where I want to be, and I long to be,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

Chords:- C,F,G

To many these may be sad lyrics but to me they make me think of a book that I read years ago by Richard Bach called THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS FAR AWAY

The book explores the following
Can miles separate us from friends?
If we want to be with someone we love are we not already there?

My parents, my sister, my husband, my son and some friends may be dead but I no longer feel sorrow for not being with them because I feel close to them in my heart(though accepting their passing was not overnight and in some cases took many years). I do feel sorrow sometimes for them though, for what should have been and for their lives being cut short.