Category Archives: WBIAGW

3 weeks in…

WBIAGW, Work, ,

I had planned on posting a while ago, In fact I have planned to post every weekend between then (my last post) and now (today) but i haven’t because life, well life has been fantastic, and busy and fun and awesome and NEW (I can’t find my thesaurus and I’ve run out of adjectives for GREAT).

My new job,  I started 3 weeks ago today, is going fantastically well, the honeymoon is definitely not over. Everyone is so nice and friendly and the work is interesting and the place is fantastic (photos will follow another day) but most of all the overall atmosphere is definitely more conductive to my personal well being than that place we shall no longer talk about.

Sunburn and Surprises.

Family, WBIAGW, ,

Today has been good, the sun has blazed all day it has been glorious. I have spent all day luxuriating in the garden with my friend and her little girl watching the world go by and enjoying a well deserved day off.

I am paying for it now.

By “all day” I mean ALL DAY and by luxuriating I mean being a dumb stupid bitch and frying myself to a crisp. I am in so much pain. I honestly didn’t realise quite how hot it was . My neck, shoulders, arms and face are somewhere near the colour range of beetroot, I have a perfect impression of my watch on my wrist and I’m kind of glad I wasn’t wearing sunglasses or I’m sure I would look something like a Panda! Despite that it kills to move my arms I consider myself very lucky that I ma still able to smile – something I’m doing a lot of at the moment.

Yesterday I had a really really FANTASTIC surprise.

My Dad died over 22years ago and since then I’ve been in very VERY sporadic contact with my fathers side of the family. In fact the only person I have contact with is my Dads brother Stephen and he lives in New Zealand so it is usually an email every couple of months with some mass catch up about what we’ve been up to and our families.

Anyway Stephen was due to visit this England at some point in May (as I’m sure I blogged about before when I knew he’d planned to come over) and I was hoping to get the opportunity to meet him as I have no memory of ever doing so and the only image I have of him comes from those emails and a few grainy photographs he sent me when I first got back in touch with him 12 years ago so it would be brilliant to get to get to know him “in person” especially as all my “local” relatives seem not to be bothered.
Anyhow yesterday lunch time I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor as I had nothing better to do on bank holiday Monday when there was a knock on the door and there was my Uncle – I didn’t even know he’d was in the country!!

It went something like this….

Knock Knock

Me: Hello

Strange man: Hello….

About a minute of silence passes and I’m just about to say say “Look you knocked MY door what do you want???” when the penny dropped

Me: OH MY GOD

I then throw myself into his arms unsure whether to laugh, cry, kiss him or take the piss for him being so presumptuous that I’d be home on a bank holiday!

I invited him in, offered him the obligatory quintessentially English “cup of tea” and inundated him with questions. Despite his obvious jet lag (He’d landed in Manchester at 7:30 that morning after a 14 hour flight from Phuket, Thailand, Travelled to Wolverhampton, Dropped his bags at his base for this week and came and knocked on my door) he attempted to answer them all.

He was everything I’d imagined him to be, He was so forthcoming with everything I wanted to know he laughed and joked as if I had known him (really known him) for years and I think we both had to bite back the tears when he told me how much like my Dad I was.

I would have liked to have kept him here all to myself but knowing what trouble I’d have landed myself in with my sister had I done so, I dropped her a text message letting her know I’d a surprise visitor and within minutes I had my sister, my mom and my step-dad (who also knew my uncle from before he emigrated) camped out in my living room reacquainting themselves with a long lost friend/brother in law or in mine and my sisters case simply meeting our never before known uncle.
I still can’t get over the fact he was here, in my house, in person, really really!! – I’m so happy I keep grinning like a loon!!

We’re hoping to get together again on Friday evening along with his middle son Joshua who he is travelling with (the older one Caleb is on the army and the younger one Stefan is sitting exams so is at home with his wife Belinda and couldn’t come) and other members of my family who I have not spoken to in years.

It’s going to go one of two ways it will either be absolutely awesome and I’ll have the chance to find out a lot more about my heritage or I’m going to find a lot more water had passed under this particular bridge than I know about and it will be horrendous!

Either way I think it’s going to be a night to remember and I’m just so pleased to have fitted another piece of my family jigsaw into place!

What goes around…

Family, Parenting, The Blonde Kid, WBIAGW, , , ,

This week has been BUSY, everything is changing and it seems to be happening at 100mph, I definitely feel like this evening is the first real opportunity I’ve had to relax. Not that I’m complaining. Change is good especially when it’s changing for the better, But I’ve so many new and exciting things happening that it’s hard to keep up with myself let alone everyone else but sometimes it is nice to just sit and relax.

Tonight was my “sit down and relax” evening, we had take away for dinner and sat together to eat TV off, music on and we chatted about what we’ve all got going on and what we’d been up to today. The following is the blonde kids thought of the day…

TBK Mom do you believe in karma?

ME I think so why hun?

TBK Because I don’t.

ME Do you know what karma is?

TBK Yeah it’s when you do something nasty to someone and then something nasty happens to you.

ME Yeah it’s kinda like that, why do you ask anyway?

TBK Well today in school I tried to stop Lewis ball and I stopped it too hard and it bounced away and I got shouted at for being mean but it wasn’t really mean as it was accident and then someone threw it back and it bounced on my head and the teacher said “That’s karma that is, you kicked his ball away and now you’re hurt”. So is that karma?

ME Kind of I suppose yes. If you did kick the ball deliberately. (Giving him THAT look)

TBK Well maybe I do believe in karma then – just a little bit.

I’m not sure whether to be upset at his half admission of guilt to being mean to Lewis or whether to be impressed at yet another display of his understanding of the English language and his definition of “karma”

Whatever I decide I think this conversation will always be held as an example of “What goes around comes around”

Good News

Home, WBIAGW, Work,

I…

…am…

…excited!

I have had the most amazing news, well you may find it mildly interesting, but for me it is just so damn amazing and incredibly awesome that I can not wait to tell just about everyone I know!

I received this news A WEEK AGO and I’m only just blogging! I have mentioned it on my social networking pages as status updates come and go, I even posted my “news” on my moblog knowing full well that if it all fell through the lovely people over there would console me if it all went wrong, but I wanted to wait to blog it here.

I’m not sure why I felt it necessary – I think I wanted to make sure it was all going to happen and there was no going back, I just didn’t as there are so many posts of my “glass half full attitude” earlier in the life of this blog I wanted definite good news to share with the world!! So here it is;

I…

…have…

…a…

…new…

…JOB!!!

YES!!! I handed in my notice last week and finish at the jewellers on the 21st May and I start on the 26th May as a Media Centre Assistant for the Light House in Wolverhampton.

I’m leaving the shop with mixed emotions. I’m going to miss all my colleagues SO much and change whether for the better or worse is always a daunting prospect BUT it is going to be such an amazing place to work and after spending 3 years banging my head against the a wall of monotony of the sales culture I needed out, I can not think of a better place for me to move to!

We survived…

Family, Home, WBIAGW, , , ,

The television amnesty is over, not that anyone is bothered. We survived quite well without the grey box in the corner, so well in fact it has hardly been switched on even though it is now “allowed” and both myself and James have dragged ourselves away from the computers outside of the predetermined “shut down” hours with out suffereing any major withdrawal symptoms.

The blonde dude didn’t once complain of boredom, We’re looking into purchasing a different selection of board games for him and we’ve looked online to see what activities are running at out local library. He has even gone as far as to suggest other activities we can partake in AFTER the ban was complete.

He didn’t even ask for the television when he went for dinner at my parents which is amazing as he is allowed free reign of the remote control when he’s there…..I think I can call that MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

For one week only…

WBIAGW, , , ,

I have come to the realisiation that in our house we rely way too much on technology to keep us occupied. If we’re not on the internet, there is something on the television to watch or the wii or playstation to play with so I have made a decision.

As of Monday morning for one week only there are new restrictions coming in place.

There is to be NO television AT ALL, ALL WEEK – Not even BBC Breakfast News (my alarm clock of choice) No consoles AT ALL, ALL WEEK. No computers (and that means no internet) between the hours of 6pm and 8pm EVERY EVENING. I would make it a longer period if it wasn’t for James actually needing to make a living and hence needing internet access.

We are actually going to DO things. We’ve plenty of books, board games, packs of cards and art and craft things so along with the recently purchased Jenga, we have plenty to do indoors. We have the beautiful Staffordshire Green Belt not 5 mins walk from my house and Brownshore Lakes are only 10 mins away. There is the local park and the speedway, There is the newly refurbished nature reserves along the canal all on our doorstep, so its time to go exploring!

The blonde kid in his defense does get out regularly but I’ve become pretty complacent about it so to motivate us were turning off and getting going!! I’m hoping we can get into the habit of looking around us before reaching for the remote. Maybe we’ll need longer than a week to really get over our technology addiction but maybe a week will give us a head start.

Maybe I’m being too adventurous, Maybe the blonde kid will miss Ben 10 and Dr Who far too much and will pack a bag and leave me for the technological safe haven of my parents. Maybe we’ll have too many withdrawals ourselves and succumb within a day and a half – we’ll just have to wait and see!

The best school trip EVER…

The Blonde Kid, WBIAGW, ,

Last September the blonde kid started his new school and shortly afterwards his new teacher Mr Tennant fell ill, after weeks without a teacher they finally appointed a substitute. Miss Southall. She is a fantastic teacher and with in a week of her starting all the kids (and most of the dads) were in love with her, She had them eating out of her hand and the bullying that the blonde kid was suffering, and no other teacher seemed bothered to deal with all but ceased to exist. So that made me a very happy Mommy!

Anyway, it appears not only is Miss Southall an ultra cool teacher, she also has an ultra cool fiancee called Barry, known to the the whole wide world as Baz – the bass player from “The Fratellis”.

He has put in an appearance in class on a couple of occasions, and also came to help out with the Christmas play. The kids are all familiar with his band as (according to the blonde dude) they do P.E to his album “Costello Music”.

Well, The Fratellis are touring again and Monday just gone they were playing the Birmingham Carling Academy which is only a bus and short train ride away (and where we often go to see bands ourselves) So Miss Southall and Barry (I presume) got their heads together and organised a day trip to the Academy.

The whole class (plus a few star stuck parents) made the journey into Birmingham via public transport to interrupt the guys sound check. They got a tour of the venue, shown a lighting desk, visited “catering” (although having visited the Academy plenty of times myself, including the back stage areas, I have no idea where Jordan was trying to describe to me) and to go on the tour bus.

They got to go on stage and look at the instruments, they met the staff of the venue, the crew and then they got to put questions to the boys themselves, The blonde kid asked “Have you ever been booed off stage?” and “Has your amp ever broke during a gig?” always looking on the bright side my son!

As if that wasn’t enough they were then all given T-Shirts which, I believe, they must have had made up especially for the kids as usually at gigs the smallest size you can get is a “ladies” and these were smaller than the smallest ladies! AND (yep there’s more) in a couple of weeks time they will each be getting a signed picture of the band.

The whole class had booklets that were identical looking to the bands tour itinerary, to fill in with details of their day and with questions to ask. On the last page was space for the kids to draw a picture of themselves in band playing an instrument of their choice. Jordan had drawn a picture of himself playing a guitar and when I saw it I thought “At last”.  I’ve been trying to convince him he’d like to play an instrument for ages, I think it would be a good extra curricular activity for him especially as he has shown a little interest in drumming previously,  When I asked him about it he said “Actually mom I didn’t want to be in the band or really play guitar, but I had to draw something there, I do now know what I really want to do now, I want to be a tour bus driver, I went on the bus and it’s easy they have sat-nav, and a mini tv, they get to see all the bands and all they have to do is drive!”

I think that was my dream of having a rich and famous son to look after me in my old age flying out the window but still Jordan has done nothing but talk about his experience ever since, He had an amazing day and I don’t know of any other band who would let a class of 7 and 8 year old kids hi-jack them the morning of a gig and let them stay the day!

My hats is off to them! How is any other school trip ever going to compare with this one??