WASHDAY BLUES

'Stranger to blue water.............'
It may be officially summer time but my spring cleaning is gathering momentum. The last duvet is in the wash and the kitchen floor is strewn with cushions from the bedrooms. I wash my duvets at least once during the winter but in the winter I dry the duvet over the front hall door-the house is so warm in winter that the duvet is dry over night. In the nice weather I can wash and dry at least 3 duvets in one day + the rest of the washing. Listen to me-Do I make you proud Anthea?
Quite normal dreams last night, I dreamt that I met Nancy Green in the street and we talked about not shopping on Holy days and I was also having a conversation with my mother over a pint of milk. I also dreamed about 504 Kevin Street-where or what that is I don't know.
Did you read Blubomat Anastasia? I thought his blog on the mormons and the gays was very good. He has other chuch related entries that you should read.
OOOOOPS there goes another duvet on the line-now for the cushions......wow I live such an exciting life.
Beauty has confiscated Anastasia's sand coloured trilby and she wears it everywhere-even to bed! Good investment there Anastasia. Beauty tipped a drink over herself in school so she came home wearing a 1980's pair of girlie shorts, I told Fiona and Sno White that they looked like something Anastasia had worn in the 80's - and being children they didn't listen properly so all evening they have been convinced that Beauty has been wearing an actual pair of Anastasia's shorts. Sorry Anastasia - however they are quite cool in a vintage kind of way. Will post a picture.
Piano man and I are having serious issues - he is having great difficulty understanding cross infection and the need to clean the bathrooms properly(come to think of it he is having serious problems cleaning everywhere properly).I put a poster up outside his downstairs toilet which gave him a point by point way of cleaning his toilet in 15 minutes, so what did he do? he took the poster down and put it in his file(to keep it safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and cleaned the toilet in 5 minutes missing out most of what he was meant to do. He said,' it looked clean' and I said,' he was taking the p----'. He has promised to do it properly (or I will have to hurt him).
My 15 year old has informed me that I need to get off my computer as it her turn,thats ok as Lost is on now.
wow this was such an interesting blog entry(not)
Hywl
for now
Mother of many

'YOU SWEAR?......EVERY GOD DAMN DAY'

It's party time Anastasia!

Ariel, sensible suggestion, don't join the airforce-they get up at stupid o'clock. This morning I got up and went outside at 7am to find the sky full of vapour trails and the sky was like a chess board. It is probably the pilots from RAF St Athan, having grown up in Rhoose I recognise their handiwork.
Last night I had another stupid dream,(this one is for you Anastasia)I dreamt that Anastasia came to me and told me that she needed a fancy dress costume for a party and she said she wasn't sure what to wear so I suggested she look at the Vogue magazine. I thought she might want to go as a stylish film star but no, she decided to go as Alice in wonderland but the costume she chose made her look more like Heidi. Don't worry Anastasia, I have a new sewing machine so any costume you want, I'm your seamstress(even Alice in Wonderland/Heidi). OMG I've just realised , perhaps the costume I made was the Sound of Music, now it did look like that-sorry Anastasia.
Today I went over Piano Man's house to help him clean, I took him two schedules that I had made and put one on the wall in the kitchen and one on the downstairs bathroom wall. How to clean the kitchen in only 15 minutes and how to clean the bathroom in only 15 minutes each day. When he read the kitchen schedule he said 'you mop the floor every day?',
I said 'YES',
he said'you swear',
and I said ,'every God damn day.'
One stressed bunny! Welcome to the real world.
Two more schedules tomorrow, upstairs bathroom and living room. Remember, I am your Nemesis.
Very hot and sunny today so I did lots of washing, duvets,pillows,bedding,towels etc.
Hope it gets warmer with you Anastasia gets warmer soon.
Hwyl
for now
Mother of Many x

DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

Diamonds are definitely a girls best friend unless of course you have over a billon £'s worth in your thumb! Yes this is one of my dreams and I think it is time I considered the sleeping pills because my dreams are getting wierder and wierder.
Last night I dreamed that I had somehow discovered over a billion in diamonds that had been stolen in the war and it was my job to give the money from the sale to the poor, why the poor and not the real owners I don't know(remember this is one of my dreams!). Anyway. Robin Hood here was saved from the enemy(not clear who they were) and saved by the americans but later found out they only wanted the money for themselves, however I totally understand why someone would want to keep that kind of money so.... I escaped in the back of a taxi to carry on my Robin Hood work.
Question ? - How when I cut my thumb to hide the diamonds in my thumb did my thumb not bleed(don't worry I am a nurse so no need to explain technicalities-? really rhetorical)
Question ? -How was my thumb big enough to hide over a billion in diamonds and no one notice?
I have always believed that dreams are a product of the experiences you have had in the day before the dream but the only connection I can find is me watching My name is Earl( I love Randy, he is a brilliant actor) and Earl thinking Kharma wanted him to give back his money and that's it. I need some seriously refreshing REM sleep, no dreams. Beauty seems to be sleeping less and less, I think it is possibly related to all the extra daylight with the summer. Anastasia and Belle never wanted to sleep during the summer as children, they would lay for hours in in bed reading Ladybird books whilst Snow White was asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.
Imagine this dear family-leave the estate in the car and drive down Holly Bush road and turn left onto Cyncoed road, then drive down Celyn avenue and turn left to go to the post box near Hetty's, turn right into Carnegie and at the bottom turn right and drive back to the junction with Celyn avenue. Then have an elderly asian lady who is driving in front of you in an old beat up white car, reverse for no good reason into your lovely people carrier. I think she was trying to park on the corner over the junction as in front of her house was full of white vans(extension being built). Thankfully she did not speak english as from in side the car I called her a silly ' fresian' and luckily her ?grandson did not hear me. However, when I beeped the horn to make her stop(she couldn't see me as she was not looking in any of her mirrors) a posse of about 10 policemen looked around, they were all learning to ride pedal bikes. The whole situation was very farcical but thankfully no damage done. As I have always said I do not worry about my driving , just the driving of the other idiots on the road.
Short entry today as I am exhausted from lack of sleep and I feel like Alice in Wonderland when she came across the little cakes which said EAT ME, well all I can hear at the moment is my poor sleep dreprived brain screaming LET ME SLEEP.
Hwyl
for now
Mother of Many x

'I can't find the Pope'

Deep in my sub-conscious there is the realisation that to awake to the words,'I can't find the Pope' is deeply disturbing and wrong but in my house this has become a daily experience and seen as normal.
Beauty is able to work the DVD player better than I can so I am awoken every morning to a different episode of Popetown- in quite a lot of episodes father Nicholas seems to have lost the Pope. Popetown is a DVD that Beauty found near the DVD player and has now claimed as her own. Popetown is a fictional Vatican where the ever good and long suffering Father Nicholas trys to keep a very youthful sounding and acting Pope happy. Popetown is meant to be a very naughty look at the Vatican but I actually find it quite sweet, and Beauty loves it. I am sure the Vatican is not impressed but funnily enough I think it improves the image of catholocism, Father Nicholas is a good man and of course he is Beauty's favourite character. There is one episode where the reporter keeps getting Father Nicholas' name wrong so Beauty keeps shouting 'Nicholas' at the tv. Go for it Beauty!
Addition to my Karma list, apologise to Connect to Cardiff phone operator for being a little too harsh. When I ask are the council black bags and green bags biodrgradable I really want to know whether the black backs and green bags are biodegradable not what can you put into a green bag. In October the council intends to issue me with a black wheelie bin and a green wheelie bin, I must contact them and ask if they intend to issue me with a bigger back garden to keep them in.
Beauty has just had her Hobbit second breakfast, yoghurt eaten minus wearing a t shirt-well the weather is warm and it saves washing a t shirt. Beauty seems a little quieter this am, no sitting in the china cupboard, no eating cake with her feet and no trying to lick the soles of my feet. For those of you who thought picking your nose and eating it was disgusting, Beauty has now cornered the market on disgusting with sole licking.
My favourite tv show is back - Anthea Turner Perfect Housewife, it is car crash tv at it's best. The women is so OCD she puts a new spin on anal - she even recycles washing up liquid bottles to make pencil holders(thank you Blue Peter).
If anybody thinks it would be funny to send Anthea to my house as a surprise-think again- I would hunt you down for the rest of time and make you suffer.In the same way I have promised Ariel's future employers- Ariel would like to join the army(or maybe the airforce) but I have decided that when she graduates I will tell the army(or the airforce) that I remember Deepcut and if anything happened to Ariel I would hunt them down until the end of time and make them suffer too. see no pressure!
Long, hot day and I am very tired and Beauty has decided that sleep is not an option.
At present she is playing her guitar
Pray for me to your ultimate deity,
Hwyl
Mother of Many

Baa Baa Black Sheep.....Where the hell is my wool?

How can I have lost a Shaw's bag and three 150gm balls of the most beautiful rich red/maroon wool? I am making a throw for Piano Man's mother's chair, I have finished one ball of wool but now I cannot carry on as I can't find the rest of the wool, this is the black hole that is my home. So I am back to knitting my pink baby blanket, I am convinced that one day I will wake up and think, 'Where is my mind', and I shall answer myself,'oops I have lost it in the black hole that is my home'.
After yesterdays blog I felt a compulsive need to go to IKEA(as you do, like the time we watched Supersize Me and afterwards all I wanted was a Big Mac meal........go figure that one). As any addict of any standing will admit it wasn't for me of course, today is the day that I tackle Piano Man's back toilet/store room and so I will need lots of storage and IKEA of course is tub/basket/box heaven. My plan is to send Piano Man around his house with four carrier bags and to fill them with books he does not want and then we will drop them off at charity shops. I also plan to send him around his house/kitchen to find any gadget(including the square boiled egg maker) or appliance that has not been used in the last 20 years and also consign them to the charity shop. Piano Man believe......I AM YOUR NEMESIS.
I realise that this will be difficult for him but counselling will be available to get him through this emotional and stressful time.
I also intend to take my Dyson cleaner to the house as it reaches the parts other cleaners do not reach(more suck you see), Running Man's friend has also said we can use his industrial carpet cleaner for free.
Fiona will also be coming with me so she can help to tidy the back garden at Piano Man's house, it is a bit( a lot) of an untidy wilderness and needs a good sort out. It is the sort of place that would give Diarmud Gavin palpatations, you could grow something illegal in it and no one would ever notice( come to think of it Piano Man would probably not notice either).
Piano Man has a piano lesson later on so on the way I shall introduce him to my new found joy, Wedal Road, closer to my house than Lamby way and so much better organised, and what may you ask is Wedal Road?................. a local authority receiving centre for refuse and recycling-a perfectly organic experience. A very small plot but perfectly planned. The access road is U shaped, you Q on the left and follow the road around and down the right hand side are about 10 parking spaces and in the middle are the huge skips and at the end(my favourite place of all), the recycling area. An experience Piano Man will be initiated into today anf hopefully a place where he will become a welcome regular visitor.
Had another dream last night- do not worry family it was nothing to do with IKEA or Darfur but George Clooney. We were involved in a long term on- off relationship, and for the record I am quite happy for this dream to come true, not a problem.
Hwyl Mother of Many

WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE AND IKEA?

I had the wierdest dream last night?
I dreamt I saw Hitler in an alpine village asking the locals, 'what is it with you people and Ikea' and you know if he could communicate with us now and as daft as it might sound, it is quite possible that it is a question he might ask. Remember however that this was a way wierd dream, a cross between a Python film and a Carry On film. Just for the record, I have dreams that have a wierd way of coming true( remember the Barney video, sorry Beauty), however dear family I want you to know that this is on a par with my going to work in Darfur dream, not going to happen.Ever. I prefer to sit at home and crochet for charity, my Dercums and Darfur just would not mix. Back to the point, Ikea, as a young wife I would have loved the possibility of shopping in Ikea, my views on Ikea are the same as watching poo tv, go for it if it floats your boat. I have an Ikea day bed in my lounge as well as antique cupboards and a secondhand couch(thank you Track 2000), in the 5 year olds room are Ikea wardrobes, Ikea bookshelves and an Ikea bureau and of course a Thucka(pronounce it right guys) cot bed. In the dining room I have Ikea bookshelves, my mothers table and an Argos filing cabinet. In the kitchen an Ikea bench and in the back kitchen at the piano Beauty's old high chair which is now her piano seat. In the hall a Thucka chest of drawers and in the shower room an Ikea Billy bookcase, as the Borg would possibly have said,' assimilation is inevitable' and do I care? In the words of that great philosopher John Howell, 'to be honest and candid with you,NO'.
I love Ikea like I love poo tv.
And talking of poo tv, I am finding Big Brother unpleasent viewing, Grace,Sezer and Imogen are just not nice people. Last night I crocheted and read my emails rather than watch BB, a lot more entertaining. PETE TO WIN.
Yesterday was spent cleaning the Piano Mans house,(Piano Man now home from hospital and recovering slowly), spring cleaning continuing in the kitchen. It took me two hours to clean the kitchen tops and wash the dishes which shows how bad the situation is, and another two hours to scrub the kitchen floor and make a start on the back toilet/store room. I am also cleaning all the paint work in readiness to paint through the kitchen. Tomorrow I am taking over my Dyson to clean the carpets, Piano Mans vac is almost suctionless, then we will be ready to hire a carpet cleaner and then the fun will begin. I have come to the point where I now just throw rubbish in his house away without consultation, yesterday we were in Asda and he was looking at more rubbish to buy so I told him to WALK AWAY.His kitchen is filled with every unused gadget you can imagine down to the gadget to make a square boiled egg. I despair. With Piano Man quality is not an issue, it just has to be cheap and gimmicky. At the right price he is the kind of tourist you could sell London Bridge to. Yesterday I took Piano Man to the Doctors in my car as he is unable to drive for at least 6 weeks, Piano Man doing well but I wore my new sparkly Dorothy style ruby slippers from Asda into the surgery and I swear the locals looked at me as if I were a serial axe murderer. I am sure I would have caused less of a stir if I had shown up in Janet Jacksons stage costume and had a wardrobe malfunction.
My healthy eating is going fine and I have lost another pound(yes in weight Fiona) however increase in fluids and vegtables for me means increase in bathroom trips and I now know how a racehorse feels. If I go on holiday this year then my goal is thatI should be slimmer(and healthier of course!!!!!!!!!) however at the moment slimmer looks good. Looking at a size 8 dress yesterday in Asda, Piano Man asked me if it would fit me, my reply was,'in an alternate universe', I think this must be the same universe that men come from. I am definitely addicted to carbs, do you think there is an organisation such as Carbs Anonymous as all I seem to think of is carbs. At the moment all I seem to desire is thin, white bread toast with a small scraping of margarine and spread with brown fruity sauce(something I loved as a child}, yes I know that is wierd and no I could not possibly be pregnant. If I believed in a God or in a heaven then heaven would be a place where I could eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about every morsel that passed my lips and of course not put on weight and I would not be afflicted with this bizarre affliction that whenever I put on weight it went straight to my stomach. I have my fathers bone structure and colouring which means I have sandy red hair and a shape like a man which means no hips or arse, I have been asked if I have a scandinavian heritage. I personally think I look like a female Russian shot putter.
Beauty is watching 100 toddler tunes for the 7,000,000th time( I know, if I have told you once I have told you a million times. do not exaggerate),ok then 6,000,000th time,and having her 'EAST IS EAST' style breakfast, biscuits.
Beauty may be quite selective with her food but she does have quite a varied selection now, her favourite foods being Jettas, fish fingers and crisps, my heart goes out to the mother of the little girl with autism who will only eat chocolate.
Ronald Reagan said,'You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans', well I personally think you may not learn a lot about Beauty's character from the way she eats anything but she is definitely my role model for someone who has no hangups about anything she eats. That is my goal( I also wouldn't mind having Beauty's beautiful frizz free hair).
hwyl
Mother of Many

EAT,DRINK AND BE MERRY

Piano Man has had 3 strokes since friday but he seems to be doing well, speech is back and paralysis gone but just a little weakness left in his right side. He always said he had a constitution of an ox and could eat anything and I always told him that was a load of bloody bollocks AND now he believes me. I am tring to convert him to the way of the organic vegetarian but for the meat eating killing machine(ex-army bandsman) it is just a little drastic. He keeps threatening to discharge himself and I keep threatening to take all his clothes, shoes and money whilst he is asleep and he knows that I mean it. It has been 6 years since I worked at the University Hospital and the work force seems to have changed so much.I started nurses training in 1980 and there were always lots of asian doctors but now the makeup of the nursing force is diverse in ways it never was before. On the ward that Piano Man is on there is a nurse who is probably fom Malaysia, a nurse who I think is from India, a British born nurse of Pakistani descent a nurse who is muslim and wears a long sleeve top and the scarf and the cleaners are from Poland. The work force are very caring and very efficient and this city has always been very cosmopolitan but I was nursing before the nurses came from other countries in such large numbers so for me it is just so different.
I love the summer, Big Brother is back, hurrah!
I am not a religious person so I believe that you only have one life and so I feel you should make the best of it and live it to the full. If you want to watch Big Brother, Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale( one of the funniest tv soaps and Marlon Dingle is an amazing actor) and any other non-pseudo intellectual bullshit then go for it. What is the point of living a grey, miserable life devoid of all fun but being able to say, ' ah but I never watched rubbish tv'. Well good for you, all my adult life I have been a mother and a nurse( and I am happy with what I did) and I feel I have contributed to society but I am beginning to feel like I missed out on having 'ME time fun'. If you don't hurt anyone else then go have fun, I read a report that said by doing lots of different things it makes your life seem longer and following a boring pattern week in week out leads to the feeling of a shorter life.
I love Pete in Big Brother,he is so sweet and there is no way he is being exploited for his Tourettes, he seems one of the happiest most well balanced individuals I have come across. I hope you win.
I had the wierdest text message today, it said 'Mi3 is brilliant', ok well I'm really happy for you whoever you are, just take me off your speed dial.
The Bubbles Baby Blanket at Crochet Pattern Central is meant to be really easy to make and can be done very quickly and my answer to that is 'WHATEVER', I have tried and tried and tried again but it just doesn't look right, it looks good but just not like the photograph. I have decided to make it up the way it is going now and when I see my Crochet Expert then she can show this idiot how to do it properly. I have just finished crocheting car seat covers, very hippy 60's looking, cool man.
Remember, live and love life.
Eat, drink and be merry ...............
Hwyl
Mother of Many

SICKDAY EXCUSE #2- MY STIGMATA'S ACTING UP

According to one of the other mothers at school this morning, if I had these symptoms
and I were a man, then I would have the flu and would need to take to my bed. Unfortunately I am a women and I have a really bad head cold, at times my head feels as if it is about to explode.
As for todays sickday excuse from the Sickday Excuse Generator, the funny thing is on Easter Sunday I had a wound in my right palm that would not stop bleeding. It really looked like a stigmata however it was definitely not spontaneous but the result of 2 glasses falling into my hand as I tried to get a glass from the glass cupboard. I will never again attempt to catch a falling glass, let it smash. It probably only cost about 20p in a multi-pack from Asda/Walmart.
However if it were an antique I am sure I would think differently.
Can you imagine though going to church on Easter Sunday with a bandaged bleeding palm,
now what would the rest of the congregation think ?
1- You accidently cut yourself(most normal and sane guess)
2- You cut yourself so you could have a stigmata
3- You had a real stigmata
I personally wouldn't go back to church until it had healed, I may be a fruit loop but I'm not that bad. Come to think of it however it might be worth going just to see the reactions and the swing on the fruit-loop-a-meter.
Awoken unceremoniously this morning at stupid o'clock to find Beauty sat by my head poking her finger into my cheeks and eyes, she wanted to watch a DVD and couldn't get it to work.
I don't do mornings.
Last night Beauty spent hours going through her toy tub finding toys she could sing about, InceyWwincey Spider, This little fishey, Old MacDonald(of course) etc.
This is something I have always done, the girls say that I have a song for eveything and that I only need to hear a word and I can find a song with that word in it. No testing please, I am sure there are words that I could not fit into a song for example - tourettes(oops I didn't mean this to be a challenge), there may be a song out there but I don't know it.
It must be the bad weather and my cold but I keep thinking that a holiday in the sun would be nice.We have had two days of rain but I doubt that it will make any difference to the drought predictions for the summer, I remember the dry, hot summer of 76 and that kind of summer is nothing to look forward to. It makes you wonder though how countries like Spain cope every summer yet a few dry weeks and we have a drought. A bit like the wrong kind of snow I suppose!
Mary Poppins said,'I never explain anything', this is a quote I toltally believe in. I feel that you should only share what you feel comfortable with as you never know when something you say might come back to bite you in the butt. Look at all the celebs and the kiss and tells that have been written about then. I desire no 15minutes of fame.
My mother was born in the late 20's and was brought up by a great aunt as her mother and grandmother were dead. My mother was a very superstitious person and I think it was to do with being brought up by older relatives in an isolated country area. She was brought up on a small-holding in Lincolnshire and I once read the Country Child by Alison Uttley and that's exactly how I picture my mothers childhood. During my childhood I remember my mother having lots of superstitious sayings such as 'stir with a knife,stir with strife', 'never do washing on New Years Day', 'never touch the window sills when there is thunder and lightning', etc.
Today I followed a link to an Icelandic group called Sigur Ros, they have videos on their website so go listen to them. They are really amazing and the photography work is stunning. Their work is beautiful and haunting, a definite must to listen to.
Hwyl
(for now)
Mother of Many

SICKDAY EXCUSE-THE VOICES TOLD ME TO STAY HOME AND CLEAN ALL THE GUNS

I'm not really that interested in celeb gossip but if it's happy happenings type of celeb gossip then I'm your girl. I'm just fed up of people getting divorced, people going off with someone else(don't get me started on Brian McFadden) and people being just nasty to each other. I've never been that keen on Heather Mills McCartney, I don't know why I felt that way as she never did me any harm but today I read that she and Paul McCartney are to separate and all I want to say to them is just stop it. I just want the two of them to be happy together.
I feel quite miserable as I have a mega head cold, thanks to Beauty who is great at picking up any bug that is going around and then very generous with sharing them with the rest of her family. I am using a decongestant, painkillers and throat tablets but they don't seem to be doing very much.
Perhaps I should play Pollyanna's Glad Game, you know the one she played with her Dad when a pair of crutches came in the Ladies Aiders barrel instead of the doll she wanted, he said be glad you don't need the cruthes. Well, here's the rub, I do need the crutches because of my arthritis - but you know I'm sure as hell glad that I only need the crutches and not the wheelchair that is gathering dust in my hallway at the moment. So what's a snivelling cold in comparison to a lot worse illnesses that I could have. I 've just re-read what I wrote and I sound like a right sap. However I am a sick sap, that's my excuse. I just looked up the Sickday Excuse Generator and it says my excuse for today should be,
The voices told me to stay home and clean all the guns.
Now that is scarey!
Oh yes and it's raining again so of course I am grateful for my tumble dryer. It is very difficult to live without a tumble dryer when you have a 5 year old who just loves Wotsits.
So whilst you lot are out there cold free, spare a thought for me lying on my sofa, aching all over with an inhaler up my nose and still working to finish off cleaning my guns, even though I am ill.
Hwyl
Mother of Many

Religion.............it is the opium of the people

'Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.' Karl Marx



If religion is the opium of the people then I must be a recovering addict.It is sunday so my thoughts are turned to religion.

When I think of relgiion I always think with saddness of this quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee

'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 think of the faith I had as a child and the pure joy I had at knowing that Jesus was born the 25th December,all those years ago.In it's own way it brought it's own mystical specialness. Knowing that made christmas real, not having large and expensive presents didn't matter.
When I found out that Jesus had not been born on the 25 December it was like a physical assault that I never recovered from. I was 14 years old and it was the beginning of the end for faith and belief.
However the search has continued for it but the major doubts set in when I did a history degree. I studied the crusades which led to the same links that Dan Brown found, the real crunch came with reading A History of God written by Karen Armstrong(many thanks). The circle was complete.
In between came The Church Of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints (the Mormons),which I must add I am no longer a member of and I requested they take my name off their member lists.I love the website DOOCE, I am not sure if she has left the mormon church or is just no longer attending church but her reflections on life growing up in the church and being an adult with family who still do attend is so like my own experiences that her website is like reading my own thoughts and re-living my own memories(apart from the stone washed denim covered furniture of course). I laugh at her blogs in the same way that Catholics laugh at Father Ted and black people laugh at Chris Rock, I may no longer be a member but they are still family(and they are persistent beggars who still 'want me for a sunbeam').
At times in my life I have been asked if you could have one thing what would it be, I am sure everybody has been asked this at one time. My answer is always the same, I want to go back to a time when I had perfect faith and never to lose it.I think that religion is a wonderful thing but also a terrible thing.I want my faith back but I know it will never happen because my mind now will always see it as too imperfect a thing to believe in. My mind is very straightforward, I see things very literally, perhaps that is partly where certain aspects of Beauty's autism originates from.It has been said that everybody is somewhere on the spectrum. Perhaps it is true.
When I think of the beauty of religion I think about places like The Basilica in Valencia, a place I just happened upon once on a trip to Spain. We walked in to the Basilica in the middle of mass, it was like stepping back in time. It was as if nothing had changed in hundreds of years,the priest in his vestments,the incense and the beauty of the paintings and religious ornaments. I may love Brutalist architecture but there is a time and a place for eveything and The Basilica in Valencia is definitely a spiritually provoking place because of it's glorious antiquity.
Now for the deeply philosophical questions.
Why when the Tweenies are being filmed in their playgroup/studio setting are the characters played by actors but when they are fimed on location,i.e visit to the park, they are played by puppets?
Is Jake really 2 years old? He's most intelligent 2 year old I have ever come across.
Is it possible the Tweenies playgroup is really some alternate universe? Normal things such as the Children's act just doesn't seem to apply.
And the answer is ...................
Follow the way of the Bella and enlightenment shall follow(you can tell I was awake way too early and still feeling sleep deprived).
Spirituality can be found in all things,
not just in attending a church.
Follow the way, whatever your way may be.
Hwyl
Mother of Many

ANALYSE THIS


In the film AMERICAN BEAUTY one of the characters is portrayed as being homophobic and later in the film goes on to express homosexual urges. This is a theory that I have heard before, some men express homophobic views because they are confused about their sexuality and are really in denial about possible homosexual tendancies.
So ANALYSE THIS, is it too much of an impossible leap to possibly conclude that a person who very loudly and forcibly makes it their mission in life to be critical of all forms of mental illness and it's treatment, possibly be so critical because they fear they themselves have mental health issues?
Go on then, ANALYSE THAT.
Perhaps that is too deep a comment for the start of my blog on a saturday morning in spring.
So how is it you may ask am I lucky enough to be blogging anyway on the computer on a saturday morning, well for once the computer is free of children talking to their friends on MSN. This has been achieved by sheer luck, SnowWhite is out doing her least favourite thing- working, whilst Ariel and Fiona are doing their most favourite thing- shopping. Anastasia of course is somewhere in Europe(location censored), whilst Belle is attempting to catch the unreliable and expensive local transport home. A rare moment of peace if you can call it that, just me and 5 year old DEMOLITION GIRL . I was lucky enough to have a lie in this morning until 5.45am. We
watched CBEEBIES, The Tweenies are quite entertaining after the endless loop of the Care Bears movie. Bella is a girl after my own heart whilst Fizz is just a little bit too pink for me
Hwyl
Mother of Many

HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY
OR
How green can one family be on a council estate in a city suburb?

I never say 'thank goodness it's friday but thank goodness it's monday'. I really appreciate that teachers need the weekend to recover but having the '2nd naughtiest child in the school' home during the day time really interferes with sleep recovery time. I really am impressed with the ability of my 5 year old to be up watching DVD's from 2.30am, then catch a nap from 6am until 7am and then still be able to get up and meet the new day with gusto and a smile. She is brilliant.
I love automatic washing machines and dishwashers, you can put the dirty clothes and dirty dishes in, have a recovery nap, wake up and find you've done your clothes washing and washed your dishes. I love muti-tasking. All I need now is a dishwasher that will empty itself and put the dishes away and a washing machine that will put the clothes on the line, then iron, fold and put the clothes away.
I read this article today titled 'Greens must come out of the woods' by Peter Gibson.
Peter Gibson says 'Self-styled 'greens' are seen as out of touch in many communities. They should concentrate on local issues.,which are what many people,particularly the disadvanteged see as the most important ones. Hippies, loonies and anoraks-thats how the public views enviromentalists. Or so a recent British survey on recycling said. Well meaning but out of touch.'
Peter Gibson talks about people in deprived neighbourhoods, where poverty, crime and drug addiction are very real and daily problems, the last thing on their minds is ozone depletion or the condition of the rainforests. He talks about how residents should take ownership of their land, and pride would be restored, crime could be reduced and an interest in environmental issues would snowball.'
WHAT A LOAD OF B----CKS!(Yes, I know that is a 'rather weighty' statement)
Who are these 'greens',' environmentalists' and 'they' that he is talking about?
I live on council estate and I am a full-time carer for a child with a disability so I live on carers benefit. Even though it would be difficult for me to work at the moment, I try to give back to the community by fundraising.
I reduce,reuse and recycle, just as Bob the Builder tells us.
I take all my used clothes to charity shops and recycle and compost(in my composter in my tiny back garden) everything else. I also have a water butt to save rain water to water my plants.
I eat an organic,vegetarian diet as much as possible and use all environmentally friendly products in my home.
I save as much power and water as possible in my home, I would love to have solarpanels and a small windmill but like that is ever going to happen on my money.
And yes, I do care about the ozone and the rainforests even though I am experiencing poverty, crime and there is drug addiction where I live and of course I do live in a deprived neighbourhood, GIVE UP HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE.
I have also 'taken ownership of my land' and I am proud of that, and so have a lot of my neighbours.
This however has not changed the poverty, crime and drug use in the area.
I am still on carers benefit, somebody still tried to break into my home two weeks ago and people on this estate and probably every other estate , whether it is be a private estate or a council estate in this city, are still taking drugs.
So who am I Mr Gibson?
Am I a hippie, loonie or an anorak?
Or am I a green or an environmentalist?
Or am I one of the deprived experiencing the poverty, crime and drugged environment?
So please Mr Gibson, fly down out of your ivory tower and visit my home for afternoon tea so you can see how the deprived live and see how little we care about the environment and how much we care for our world.
Enough said.
Beautiful afternoon spent in the park whilst Beauty was taken around the lake for a walk in her buggy, she loved the ice cream. I spent the time relaxing on a park bench knitting my bashful and blush blanket,it is coming along well. Knitting must be a very calming image to people as it draws people to me like a magnet. I felt like the knitting counsellor today, three lots of people chatted to me and one lady told me her life story. It was an enjoyable experience, however rain again stopped play. But of course, when it rains it means no plants to water. And luckily this time no washing got wet.
Please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes so far in previous blogs or in any blogs to come, I'm really not good at things like that. Anyway PINK IS THE NEW BLOG has made spelling mistakes so I am in brilliant company. PINK IS THE NEW BLOG and DOOCE are my favourite blogs, though I have never noticed DOOCE make a spelling mistake.
Beauty just stirred but thankfully has gone back to sleep, Snow White is watching ER repeats and there is still wandering around upstairs from the others.
I think I'll leave them to it and try and get some beauty sleep( get it?).
Hwyl
Mother of Many

THE LION SHALL LIE DOWN WITH THE LAMB

This morning I took Beauty to school and the procedure is that we take the children into the hall and wait for the teachers to arrive and collect the children.The school that Beauty attends is for children with physical and learning issues that can only really be addressed in a non-mainstream school. When I enter the school I feel that somehow I am entering the real world and outside all the problems exist, not in the school. Beauty and her friends in the school have a natural purity that is sweet and beautiful and is something that 'normally developing'(whatever that means) people like me can strive a whole life time for and it still be beyond our grasp.On the piano in the hall I saw a toy lamb and a toy lion and immediately thought about something I had heard in sunday school as a child, THE LION SHALL LIE DOWN WITH THE LAMB. I remembered the story about how there would one day only be peace and I am pretty sure that the toys related to this story as the school is really into christian songs and stories. I did strongly feel that these children had nothing they could possibly learn from the morals of christian stories, I did feel however that I had a lot to learn from the children. If I lived all my life doing the best I could I knew I could never achieve what they have now.
I had a really exciting day today, it was sunny all day so I spent most of my day doing washing......... can life really get anymore interesting?
After picking Beauty up from school we decided to make the most of the weather and have our tea in the park. We decided to have our 'forget the diet' splurge. I had pineapple in batter and chips(I am pretty sure it wasn't organic but I console myself with it being vegetarian), Belle had a chicken burger with just lettuce and mayonaise, SnowWhite had just chips, Ariel had just chips, Fiona had fishcake and chips and Beauty had ketchup and a chip(she doesn't eat the chip, she just uses the chip to eat the ketchup!)NICE CHILD.
The park was beautiful with the sun coming down over the lake. A crowd of people were chased by a spitting mother duck, the people came just a little bit too close to her chicks.
This is my Pollyanna moment for the day, the weather was brilliant when we left the house but by the time we got back it had rained. I am now drying my cushions in the front hall and passage, I should be upset but my Pollyannaism is ..... at least I don't have to water my plants again tonight. Am I sad or am I sad? No, I'm just getting too philosophical for my own good with middle age.
Oops...I can hear the helicopters out again, do the bad guys never sleep? This afternoon I was in my gardening knitting my bashful and blush blanket when the police helicopter swept over my house again and again and again and again, I felt the police were way too interested in a garden containing a middle aged women wearing a very modest below the knee shirtwaister dress whilst doing here knitting.Perhaps they liked the colours of the blanket?
Hwyl
for now
Mother of Many

SPEAK ONLY IF YOU CAN IMPROVE UPON SILENCE
I constantly wonder what goes on in the mind of a five year old diagnosed with autism. Beauty is at the stage where she is chatting or singining constantly. However, only by listening carefully can you make out what she is singing with the exception of Old MacDonalds farm and that can be HEARD and understood by the people in the house at the end of the street. Beauty will sing and sing and sing, even when you are trying to watch tv and no amount of persuasion will make her stop. Therefore, when Beauty is in school or asleep (which doesn't seem to happen often enough) I like to enjoy the silence of my own home. Silence in my home though is a rare commodity. Less than 1/4 of a mile from my house over the last six months two new housing estates have been and still are being built. So there has been constant noise. My 16 year old seems to have a form of tourettes that a high proportion of teenage girls seem to have, I blame tv. What does 'shamon ' mean ? Has a new language evolved that I know nothing about? However, one of the noisiest things in my house is the computer, some young people today seem unable to use the computer without music blaring out of it and they bash the keyboard so hard I am sure it will not last the summer holidays. Yes I am getting old, soon I will be wearing purple and sitting on the pavement in the street just to get some silence.
As per usual, Beauty gave me an early wake up call at approximately 5am. Again we watched The Care Bears Movie. I can always tell when sleep deprivation starts to kick in, this morning I started to analyse the philosophical elements in the Care Bear Movie and then when I got tired of that I started looking for continuity errors in the movie. All this whilst knitting to try and keep myself awake. At the moment I am knitting a blanket which I shall call Bashful and Blush, I am making it with a light pink and a dark pink wool.
Knitting has been described as Zen like, I enjoy the tactile element of knitting and the sense of acomplishment when I complete something. However at the moment I have no sense of acomplishment when I complete other tasks such as the cleaning of my living room, Why? because I know for a surety that within 10 minutes the five year old will have completed her demolition of the afore said room. Beauty does have an affinity with construction workers however so you can see where her demolition urges come from, her first words were not mum or dad but BOB THE BUILDER. Now is that wierd or is that wierd.
Amazing thunder and lightning storm this evening(sorry if I sound like the weatherman), the sky seemed filled with fork and sheet lightning.Huge downpour saved me the task of watering my plants which are comimg along nicely. My garden,which I admit is small, is now a nice place to sit and chill,
Hwyl
Mother of Many

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR........

After a week of constantly watching Barney, over and over again, I wished that Barney would be no more.
BIG MISTAKE!
After taking Beauty my five year old to school, I returned home to find that Barney was gone, demised, no longer with us. Not only was Barney the video no longer with us but the video player was no more with Barney stuck inside.
At times a child with autism can be very tiring, sometimes awake at 4am and bouncing around like a kangaroo,watching Barney over and over and over again. At the moment it feels like my life is upside down, awake at night with Beauty (and Barney) and catching some sleep in the day to recover.
At 2.25am this morning I dropped Beauty's big sister Anastasia off at the station to catch the bus to the airport to fly to a censored location in Europe where she is going to live. ANASTASIA WILL LIVE THERE ALONE.
Anastasia is 24, then there is Belle who is 22, SnowWhite who is 20, Ariel who is 16, Fiona who is 15 and of course Beauty who is 5.
For along time my daughters have had the nicknames of the cartoon princesses they are most like, hence their blog names. Mine has been Cinderella because I am always cleaning but I am mostly known as Mother of Many.
This blog is not just meant to be about the joys of raising a child with autism but about the trials of being the mother of six girls. It is also about keeping them up to date with the family as they are a widely travelled group of girls. Anastasia and Belle travel a lot.
Beauty is watching The Care Bears Movie on the DVD player so she is not missing Barney too much at the moment.
A little bit of peace,
Mother of Many