Ever get that feeling…

In a world that is currently all over the place, resulting in many new and daunting changes, how you react is important. Do you scream and hide? Do you seek and investigate? Do you laugh and ignore? Whatever you do, it’s your choice.

I can’t talk for everyone around the world, but I have an understanding about how it is in the UK. That’s where I am. Where I’m from.

I’ve spent the last 14 months in a bedroom. I’ve not been trapped or bed-ridden, no, I’ve been working from home. I’ve had the fortune to work for an employer that has kept me going, kept me working. Not everyone has had that and I have much sympathy and respect for those who lost their jobs and are marching on. Keep going, there will be light at the end.

But what I said in my first post after four years, this place is all about my thoughts and opinions. Please don’t get offended by what I say but if you do, keep scrolling.

Anyway, 14 months, four walls, one laptop. I’m usually an upbeat person, always joking and messing around but by ‘eck, it has been a struggle. I don’t want to overuse the term ‘mental health’ but it is a real thing and it is something that definitely needs to be maintained. You need to look after it, much like you would care for that freshly poured cold beer. Oh, and the children.

I have worked 10-11 hour days for the past 14 months. I do take the weekends off (im not a monster!) but even still, all that time and only the permission to walk for an hour a day at peak times… it does make me feel like I have aged many, many years. The worst thing is that I have let myself go. I’ve lost confidence in myself. I’ve lost the ability to have silly fun. I’ve lost the ability to touch my toes.

I’ve got fatter. Plain and simple. But that’s why I’m here. I’m taking back control of me and my life. I am an interesting person (you can’t judge me after two posts!) and I can be the person I used to be. I just need to lose a few stone first. The link here is that being more overweight than you’ve ever been and being stuck in a box, no good comes from that. I’m stuck in my own head most of the time. Trapped. Fearing what people think when they see me, wondering why I’ve changed and have become the miserable one at the party who sits in the corner looking through the CDs (yes, I’m that old!).

So this is me. Come keep me company on my journey out the other side of mental anguish. Come give me a kick in trying to lose weight. I’m sure most of you are on Twitter or Facebook, so you will know how empowering a nice comment can be and just how much of a push an encouraging comment can give. I will probably bore you or drone on, but it’s my time now. Thank you for your time and attention.

And now, a bird….

That time already!?!

13 days and counting……

That is how long I have left to prepare for the boys’ birthday. 

Can you believe that the little so and so is going to be one already!?  Yes, one.

It’s unbelievable to think how quickly the past year has gone and disappeared.  I can actually still remember the night he was born and the events preceding, which is astonishing in itself when you take into account how useless my memory is, as if it were only a few weeks ago.

I know it’s all down here from here, but I think we were extremely lucky, yet again, to get such a happy and contented child.  We haven’t really had any problems with him as yet (knock on all wood please) but he still seems a happy chappy.  Must be in the genes….

The daughter was a contented child, until she learnt to talk and think for herself, now every day is full of back chat and the use of the word ‘no’.  That doesn’t particularly go down well…

Anyway, the birthday is fast approaching.  The gifts are being organised by the wife, but I’ve been trying to maybe make my own decorations for the front room.  Only problem is, albeit I’m not completely creative when it comes to making things, what the hell does a one year old like??  I mean, he watches the tv with his sister of a morning when daddy is still waking up, but I couldn’t tell you his favourite.  He watches everything.  Does that mean I have artistic freedom in creating decorations?  I can mix Fireman Sam with Bubble Guppies?  Octonauts with Granny Murray?  Tikkabilla with Postman Pat?

I suppose that would make it easier.  Bit odd mind.

Luckily I believe that it will only be the family attending the house so it won’t matter too much, but still.

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Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I reckon by the time we get to his first birthday, he should be walking.  He’s pretty much nailed the standing alone unaided bit, and he’s getting pretty quick at walking short distances.  Obviously when he’s tired, he spends more time on the floor than anywhere else, but he’s getting there!!

That’s my boy.

200 and still going!

So, here we are, my 200th post! 

Ok, not really a big deal to anybody but me, but I never thought I’d last this long.  yes, I don’t post as regular as I should and it’s not always that interesting, but hey, I’m still here and so are you lovely lot, so I must be doing something right!

Anyway, for this post I thought I’d share the latest milestone.

My boy, the other day, called me Dada.

*sniff*  *wipes tear from eye*

Yep, proud daddy over here.  He’s, what, eight months old and has only just started trying to form words and sentences.  Well guess what world, dada was one of his first noises/grunts!

I completely disregard any other noises that may have come before and may have resembled other words.  No Mummy, this ones mine!

Well done boy, keep rocking out!!

And as an extra offering, the wonderful people WilderSoul have generously pointed me to their free pictures, from their colouring book, for readers to download and enjoy.  There are some really nice pictures to choose from, please stop by when you’ve finished reading!

Thank you, to everybody that has read and even followed my random mutterings.  It’s been a jumbled journey thus far, but I’ve enjoyed doing it and I hope you enjoy at least some of my randomness!

Thank you people.  J.

OMG. The Pig is back!

I have voiced my concerns before on this subject.  You may recall.

I have aired my concerns over a certain animated pig and how evil and disruptive I think it is.  I still believe that the message being sent out by one Peppa Pig and her sidekick George, has dastardly intentions set on making other people’s lives a misery.

I still have stains on my carpet due to the incessant nagging of the pig family to jump in muddy puddles.  I have not forgotten.

However, I thought that I had managed to outlive the pig as now the daughter is three, she has moved on to other disruptive influences.  A child that believes she’s a doctor leading me to think that one day I’m going to return home to a living room full of stuffing and dismembered limbs.  Yes, you Doc McStuffins.

Or this boy Jake and his pirates.  Is it really a good message to give young children that a stick is a sword?  Really?  You’ve obviously never been beaten with one.

Don’t get me started on the monkey that lives in the apartment…. jeez…

Anyway, as I say, the pig is back onto my TV screen.  It turns out that the appeal of said pork by-product reaches young boys too.  Yep, my little boy is now watching the dreaded thing.  I only put it on because it gives me five minutes peace.  If it was only five minutes…..  Why do they insist on putting 27 episodes on in one go?  Maybe it’s their break too….

But you know what’s even worse?!  Can you guess?  No?  Well…

What makes it worse is that it is the same episodes as before!  Yes, the years worth of Peppa Pig episodes I had to endure the first time, are back but this time I know what’s coming!  I tell you, if I had hair I’d be ripping it out!!

I’ve got to get him interested in something else.  Too young for Postman Pat, don’t like Fireman Sam and Thomas the Tank Engine will not be on in my house…. Ever.

A Little Help, Dear Readers…..

Just a quickie…

I am nearing the big 200 post mark and wondered whether I should do anything in particular to mark this momentous occasion?

Do you have any ideas as to what I should do?  Your thoughts would be appreciated.

I’m surprised I’ve lasted this long, infrequent as I am, and have managed to attract such a following.  I know a lot of people just come for my dry wit……………………. ahem, moving on.

I have contemplated giving up this blog in recent times, if only for the times I don’t post anything for long periods.  I don’t know, maybe I’ll reassess after the 200…..

What should I write about?  Should I just find a funny picture? 

Aaaaahhh the decisions!!

The Question This Week

Right People, question time.

It’s hot.  So hot it’s difficult to turn the TV over.  The rest of the family have gone out for the day.  An empty house is yours to enjoy.  BUT it’s an absolute tip.  Do you:
a.  Tidy the house in one full blitz, enjoy the fan in the afternoon.
b.  Tidy in small doses, ensuring to hydrate properly.
c.  Say ‘F*** It, it’s too hot.  There’s nothing decomposing, it’s fine’

How did you answer?  I bet most of you would go with C…..

Well, this is the quandry I find myself in for tomorrow’s activities of the day.  I know that there isn’t much on the TV to watch, and whilst I’ve got work to do I’ve had enough of it for one week.  So, makes sense to tidy and clean.

*shrugs shoulders*   Can’t be bothered.

Why is it that they make the most mess just before they leave daddy at home alone?  Knowing full well that he will clear it up ready for them to come home and trash it again.

When did I become so domesticated……

Anyway, I suppose I already know the answer to the question posed.  Muggins here will be sweating profusely as he attempts to hoover with Henry and not tread on anymore of those bloody toys.

Well, to all those daddy’s out there who never get invited out and stay at home.  I hope for your sake that the weather doesn’t get too hot.  You MUST hydrate adequately.  Keep the lager in the fridge, it makes it more watery or something……..

Back In The Day, Music Was Everything

A bit of background, I grew up listening to music.  Lots of it.  There weren’t many instances where I wasn’t wired up to something.

Read that in context and it makes more sense.

I am a child of the cassette tape.  I missed the first vinyl phase of seventies, but was bang in the middle of the C90.  I had loads of tapes with all my favourite albums, bands and songs.  An eclectic range of music including Michael Jackson, Guns N Roses and random stuff sneakily taped from the radio.

The amount of walkman’s I got through attending school and riding my bike around town, always getting battered and bruised, bashed and broken.  Then there is the personal pride in having a walkman with a digital display and buttons on the front.  Oh the joy!

Time moves on, and along came the humble CD.  It was a sad day where the end was announced for the cassette, but that soon passed.  CD’s were a huge step forward for the home music collection, if anything it was very aesthetically pleasing.  Bit of a bugger though for us Walkman users.

The portable CD player was rubbish.  Any slight movement out of the ordinary like being knocked by a passer-by, or falling off a chair (from previous experience) just makes the disc jump and stop playing.  Which in turn can then scratch the disc and render it useless.  I wasn’t a fan of them.

This became even more noticeable when my music collection grew.  Luckily, the walkman still played a part.  Before the rise and rise of Apple and the iPod’s, the stop gap measure was to record all your CD’s onto cassette tape!  The best of both worlds!!

True, a laborious job, but at least your music was portable again.

The reason for this reminisce is obviously due to the news of HMV.  The death of physical music approacheth.  I recall spending many an hour or day in an HMV store looking through all the CD’s, noticing all the names of bands that I’ve never heard and delving into the bargain bin to unearth a true gem.

HMV was also a very good place for the ‘non-mainstream’ strand of music.  If, like me, you were very much a ‘grebo’ or ‘heavy metaller’ this shop was like heaven.  You could often find all those weird bands recommended to you by friends (in my instance it was a school chap called Andy, he very much cost me a fortune by changing my taste in music!).

Despite the fact that HMV used to charge £17 for a CD that wasn’t in the charts, it will still be greatly missed by a lot of people.  But it does indicate the end to so called ‘physical’ music.  With everything going digital and cloud based, the humble CD is doomed.  Another era of my childhood coming to an end.  Christ, I feel old.

Rest In Peace, HMV. 

PS. What happens to the dog?

Related articles

• HMV – The end of an era? (fatsoforgetso.wordpress.com)
• HMV calls in administrators (thesun.co.uk)
• HMV: A visual history (bbc.co.uk)

New Year, New You?! Heard It….

Eat far too much over Christmas?  Still feeling stuffed?  Not moved out of the armchair since Boxing Day and are building up a rather impressive collection of sweet wrappers and empty cans around your body?

When your thoughts have moved on from reaching for the empty Quality Street tin and phoning work to tell them that you won’t be in today (using a rather farfetched and pathetic ‘family bereavement’ excuse), an almost instant reaction switches to the new years resolutions.

‘This year, for my new year resolution I will give up the food.  I will lose weight!  Yes, I will be so fit and healthy that I will fit in that 10 man tent I got for Christmas!’

Never has a phrase been used so much but meant so little.  It ranks up there with such classics as; ‘Thanks Nan for the HMV gift certificate’ and ‘No dear, of course I won’t be late, I’m only having the one drink’.

But alas, many of us Brits in particular will make this pledge, and with the best intentions too.  A couple of years ago, that meant running down to town and buying the latest gadget, the Wii Fit.  Nowadays, there is no real tecchy gadget come out that will spur you on.  Obviously there is still the Wii Fit, but also the Playstation Move and Xbox Kinect.  All offer a wide range of fitness software, which is aimed at all ages. I’m pretty sure that these items will fly off the shelves this month.

I have a confession.

I too made this pledge (like many times before) and intend to stick to it.  No, really. 

I conceded this year that I am not getting younger.  A bold statement at the age of thirty, but with two young children now dependent on me, I need to be able to get off the floor without the aid of a nearby piece of furniture.  Or be able to run more than six foot without the need for instant replenishment of oxygen and water.

For me, it’s different this time, I actually have goals I want to achieve and a real need to trim down.  I hope this gives me the impetus to carry on eating right and exercising beyond the month of January.  My previous record was that I made it to March, but then it was my birthday and I decided I needed to treat myself by getting bladdered for a week, topping each night off with a selection of deep fried, unidentified meat from the local snack bar.  Hold the salad.

I sympathise with all the others attempting the same feat with the best intentions in the world, and I wish them good luck for the future.  Many of you will fall before February, some of you will last ‘til Easter and only a few will continue into the months to come, with the prospect of lots of salad in the Summer.  Nice.

Remember though, it’s not a race, it’s a marathon.  Which is a race.  But not a sprint.   You know what I mean.

Childhood Cartoons: What It Says About You

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/funny/what-your-favourite-childhood-cartoon-says-about-you/

What does your favourite cartoon say about you?

I am still here. Really.

You may have noticed that I haven’t been around much lately.

There is no reason or excuse.

I have just been really busy.  Honest.

That and I have really just had not much to say.  I don’t see the point in posting just for the sake of it.  It’s not fair on all you wonderful people (if any) who actually read this.  You shouldn’t be subjected to drivel.

I will however, even though I’ve said it all before, be more active in the future.  I resigned to the fact, a long time ago, that this blog was going to be more about the new baby, than life at the minute.  Mainly ‘coz it’s going to be more interesting and with more things going on.

I hope you understand. 

I hope I stick to my plan.