Dear Santa

I have been an especially good girl this year so I’m sending you my Christmas list. Please could I have the following:

– A big lottery win. Preferably around £10,000,000 but I’d settle for £7 Million!!!!!

– If you are unable to manage the above could you please give my Bank Manager a heart and persuade him to lend me some money!!!!

– I would really like to swim with Sharks whilst in Oz so could you please magic me a babysitter for the day so that my daughter doesn’t have to watch!!! I’m not sure that watching your Mum face-to-face with Sharks would be fun at 7.

– It would also be very helpful if you could arrange for Chick’s After School Club too not close down as I don’t have enough time to sort anything else out!!!

– I’d also be a more than happy girl if you could leave me a pair of Christian Louboutins under my tree. Any shiny or sparkly size eights would do. Could live with Manolos or Choos if you can’t get the Louboutins in time!!!!

I know when Chick saw you yesterday she reminded you of the need to come early before we go on holiday and said she wasn’t sure what she wanted as she knows all the Miley tickets have sold out. She has now written a Christmas list (as you suggested) which I’ve taken a photo of and put below as I don’t think you’ll receive in time if I send by snail mail….Apologies for being so unorganised:

Thanking you in anticipation

Emma

A-ok

Today we’ve been for Chick’s 18 month check up for her ears and thankfully everything is fine and she now has perfect hearing. I was beginning to think that her hearing was deteriorating again but the Doctor reassures me that it’s just 7 year old selective hearing rather than an actual problem!!

When I was young I had exactly the same problem as Chick and I always tried to fool the hearing test machine. When we go to the Docs and she has the test it makes me cringe and takes me right back to the 5 year old that I was, sitting in the Headmistresses Office thinking I was clever enough to fool the test. Obviously didn’t work as when I was about 6 I had to have grommits. I remember my Mum had to leave me at the Hospital because back in *ahem1981*ahem the day they didn’t have beds for Parents or have day patients like they did for Chick.

So, now she only has selective hearing we don’t have to make our 6 monthly visits and I no longer have to deal with regressing to a 5 year old. I think that’s a pretty good note to end the week on!!

Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving in America and seeing as I’m kind of an Adopted American I thought that I’d join in the celebrations!!!! Not by eating Turkey or Pumpkin Pie (urrggghh!!) but by giving thanks for all the amazing things in my life:

– Family and friends near and far. From my home town to London to New Zealand and California I’m grateful for all the wonderful people that I’m lucky enough to have in my life.

– A steady job. That may sound kind of cheesy but with the way the world is now it’s a weight off my mind that my job is secure and not under any threat of redundancy like many people I know.

– Enough money to pay the bills. Kinda related to the point above but if I have enough money to pay the bills and to keep the roof over our heads then I can generally work the other stuff out.

– The Internet. Yes I could live without it but it makes keeping in touch and up to date so much easier and what would I do each evening without my little blog to write???

– Christmas songs – will soon be gone again for another year. Don’t misunderstand me I DO like Christmas just not the songs that start in October.

– Health. Ok so I may not be the healthiest person in the world with my liver stuff still ongoing but at least I and my family are not in pain or suffering. Prayers to the Mayhew family that Anissa keeps improving.

– Love. I may not have found THE one yet but I have plenty of love in my life from aforementioned friends and family as well as JoJo & Mikes beautiful beach wedding to look forward to. It constantly amazes me the unconditional love that I receive from a certain 7 year old no matter how cranky I’m feeling and she of course is my number one reason to be grateful:

Happy Thanksgiving to all xx

Countdown

Sooooooooooo in exactly four weeks and three days Chick and I will be on one of these:

To here:

That right 4 weeks and 3 days…….It’s just so soon and I’m nowhere near ready:

1. I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet
2. I can fit into my dress but I’m not looking as great as I want to
3. I may have omitted to tell the school that I’m taking Chick out
4. The car hire is getting all booked up and I don’t have the Finance to book it….I’m gonna end up with some massive Jeep that only does 10 miles to the gallon!!!
5. We only have 4 nights of hotels booked out of all the weeks we are there.

On the flipside of that:

1. We aren’t doing Christmas anyway
2. Hell, I can fit into the dress the photographer can ignore me if he needs too
3. What are they going to do about it???? Probably a slap on the wrist!!
4. At least we’ll have a car and if we only get a Jeep they’ll be room for more shopping.
5. We’re adventurers and if needs be we’ll buy a tent and camp every night. I’m sure I can avoid spiders and snakes whilst camping right?

The absolute best thing about it????  In 4 weeks and 3 days I get to be with my best friend in the whole wide world.  Everything else I can figure out.

Anissa

This post has taken me a few days to compose as I’m not really sure how to put together what I feel and all the bloggers that I read have been so much more eloquent!!! I think I have mentioned previously that the blogging community is a little like my home town in the fact that everyone seems to know each other and are all inter-connected in some way. Now I know that I’m fairly new to this blogging thing but as you know there are several blogs that I read every day, most of which I never comment on as I don’t really know the people involved and I guess I feel like some weirdo voyeur!!!

Earlier this week though something happened that affected me far more profoundly than I ever would’ve guessed. An amazing lady called Anissa who you can find at Free Anissa and at Aiming Low suffered a stroke. I cannot even begin to describe how terribly sad this made me feel, not just for her family and friends but also on a personal level…..I actually cried with shock when I read the news. I read Aiming Low Monday-Friday and also check in at Free Anissa pretty much daily as well as following her on Twitter. I understand that we don’t have a friendship or know each other at all but also I feel that in some small way I do know Anissa just through her writing and she seems pretty cool even with her @RalphMacchio obsession 😉 (for those of you that don’t know he is Anissa’s teenage crush and the original Karate Kid!!!).

You know the saddest thing about the whole situation is that the family have already been through so much. On 12th November Anissa and Peter’s daughter Peyton celebrated her one year anniversary of her last dose of Chemo and now this. I’m sure that they don’t need or want my sympathy but it just makes me want to rage at the universe….how much crap can one family take???

So I got to thinking about this whole thing (sensibly when I was done raging at God and the universe) and I guess even though it’s just through a computer the connection I feel shouldn’t be and isn’t any less real. I read about Anissa’s life and family at least on a weekly basis so I think it’s reasonable that I should feel a personal sadness. Anissa, I’m hoping and praying that you keep taking small steps to improving and that you hurry on back to your family. I wish I could say more or offer more to help but for now I guess my prayers will have to do.

Kasabian

Hey remember you can find me over at Adventures Of An English Mum dot blogspot dot com/

Last night we went to see Kasabian as one of Chick’s birthday presents. They are an awesome band that I got into after Sarah and I went to see them back in May. It was possibly one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to…..I couldn’t get over how fantabulous they were live. We also followed them to Wembley where they were supporting Oasis and they were once again unbelieveably outstanding. I enjoyed it sooooo much even though I was so sick I could barely bounce!!!

Obviously since May I’ve had the cd on in the car non-stop which is why Chick was desperate to go and see them. So we fought through the howling wind and miserableness that is a cold November night in England, paid (through the nose) for car parking, t-shirts and food and got ridiculously excited. This is Chick waiting for Kasabian to come on stage:

Originally the Lead Singer Tom was the object of my affections but since he had his hair cut he looks like every other chav in our home town (albeit a bit cuter) so I’ve had to switch loyalties and go with Serge who is not only devilishly handsome but the brains behind the tunes too:

Crap picture I know but we were sitting at a funny angle.  It was pretty cool but nowhere near as good as the other two times I’ve seen them.  I can’t put my finger on what the problem was.  I don’t know if it was the atmosphere or the fact that I had Chick with me so was on best Mummy behaviour instead of drunken jumping around Kasabian behaviour or if it was them playing soooooo many slow songs???  Chick really enjoyed it until about half way through and then once they had played her favourite song she was all for going home as she was tired.  Because I’m a mean Mummy (and I wanted to stare at Serge) I made her stay pretty much to the end.  This is her tired face as we were leaving, very unimpressed that I was taking a picture of her with them in the background:

I wonder if she’ll want to stay to the end when I sell my soul to buy Miley Cyrus tickets for her for Christmas???? 😉

Birthday Fun

So, some of you may have noticed that my little Chick was 7 on Saturday and that she also has a bit of a Hannah Montana obsession. With that in mind I’m pretty sure that you can guess what kind of party she had…..we kinda made it a Rock Star party too so that the boys she’d invited would want to come. We had some lovely party food:

Some gorgeous fairy cakes made by my delightful Apprentice and decorated by Chick and I:

A Hannah Montana Rock Star cake:

 All the kids came dressed up and this is Chick as Hannah Montana:

Chick had some amazing presents from everybody mainly Hannah Montana obviously, but lots of other cool stuff.  She had some tickets to see Kasabian tomorrow night (yay!!!I’m excited) and a new bedroom from me but I think her favourite present was this:

Yep that’s right my seven year old has her very own laptop.  It’s my Mum’s old one and before anyone gets their knickers in a twist about it Chick isn’t allowed on it unless I’m around and watching, it has very strong parental locks and she isn’t allowed on it every day!!!

Think it’s safe to say she had a fabulous birthday…….a million thanks to everyone for their presents and birthday wishes.  The only problem now is where the heck to put all this lovely stuff!!

Seven

Dear Chick

I cannot believe that you are already seven…I don’t understand where the time has gone. I always knew in my heart that my first child would never be with a man I was married to. I don’t know if I had some weird premonition or if my lifestyle at the time made it more than likely but it was always the way I thought things would work. If I’m honest I hated being pregnant. It didn’t suit me in the slightest. I got sick from about 3 and a half months when I was travelling in Vietnam and the sickness didn’t stop until I was 8 months gone. However, everything changed from the second you were born. When Nana cut the cord and they laid you on my tummy I just knew that you’d always been my girl.

You were the best baby in the entire world. From four weeks old you slept from 10pm until 5am, had a feed and then went back to sleep until 9am and everyone in my Mother & Baby group hated me because of it!!! I wish you were still as good at sleeping now!!! I also had the added bonus of Uncle Nick helping us out. He used to call home every afternoon to see if I needed him to come home and take care of you or to see if he could do anything to help. I don’t think that I ever said yes but the fact that I knew I could made the world of difference to me and my mental state. We also had the great help of Auntie JoJo and Auntie Red when you were little and I’m not sure they realise what a godsend they were.

We were always so busy even in those days. From about 8 weeks old we already had a schedule of music group, swimming lessons, as well as mother and baby group. You’ve been the first from that group to do everything from walking and talking to losing your baby teeth. I used to feel a massive pressure in those days to prove what a good Mum I am and to try and lose the ‘Single Mum’ tag so you were generally in ridiculously expensive clothes that I’ve only just finished paying off. It took me a long time to realise that it didn’t matter how other people categorized us and that all that matters is that you are a happy, (generally) polite child and that you realise how loved you are.

The hardest years for me I think were from 18 months to 3 and a half mainly because you were never still for a second but also because that’s when I felt I was losing myself so I rebelled against being a Mother by spending too much time out getting drunk with my friends and kissing inappropriate boys. I kinda regret now losing that time but looking back I needed to go through that to become the Mum (I hope) I am now.

Since you started school the time has flown by even more quickly. I remember your first day at school and having to leave you there in a class of 20 kids you didn’t know with 2 grown-ups you’d never met before. I only just managed to keep it together to get through the door and then went and had a good cry in the car for 10 minutes before I went back to work!!

Now look at you!! You love school and cannot wait to be there every day. You also love the clubs that you are involved in and are so committed for a 7 year old it just blows my mind. Normally it’s me saying ‘Do you really need to go to Rainbows/Gymnastics etc tonight? Can’t we just get a dvd and chill’ and you are all ‘No I want to go and do the activities’. Which brings me to another thing…..you really need to stop arguing with me kid. When I say stop arguing what I really mean is ‘Shut Up’. Stop your back chat………you will learn in time that I am ALWAYS right (at least until you leave home). Most people discover that about their parents once they are in their late Teens or early Twenties but I’m trying to give you a heads up now and you need to listen to me….contrary to popular opinion I am not interested in the sound of my own voice I am trying to teach you stuff!!!! On the other side of that I’m sorry that I shout so much in the Morning but again if you listened to me the first time, I wouldn’t get so irate by the fifth time of telling you and need to shout. As I’ve explained time and again I still love you very much, I just need to shout to get your attention and to shift your ass!!!!

You are always very helpful…not just to me but to the other kids that you know. If someone has forgotten their coat you give them yours and you go cold, if someone falls over in the playground it’s you that picks them up and takes them to Medical…..I hope that you don’t lose this quality as you grow but learn to balance it with keeping some of yourself back. You adore younger children and I’m sure that being an only child is occasionally lonely but I try hard to make sure it isn’t!!!

Which brings me back again to you being 7. I’m not sure what most 7 year olds want for their birthday but I’m guessing they don’t want Ponies, laptops or tickets to see Kasabian but then I guess most 7 year olds don’t have kick ass taste in music (Miley Cyrus obsession aside ;-)) You won’t know it yet but tickets to Kasabian is exactly what I have bought you. As much as I love you I’m not exactly sure WTF we would do with a Pony so have refrained from buying one.

Have an awesome 7th birthday baby. I hope your Hannah Montana/Rock Star party is an absolute blast and you have the best time in the world. I also hope that you get everything your heart desires (apart from a goddamn pony).

Love you to Jupiter and back. Mummy xxx

We Will Remember Them

Yesterday was Remembrance Sunday and I along with two other generations of my family went to the Remembrance service and then watched the parade through Town afterwards. I take Chick every year as I think it’s important for her to acknowledge the sacrifice of previous generations and to realise how damn lucky she actually is. I’ve been attending various services ever since I was in my late Teens and today was the busiest that I’ve ever seen it. Some of my friends don’t agree with my point of view on this subject which is absolutely fine. I have no intention of upsetting anyone with my point of view and I’m not about to argue with anyone who doesn’t think the Remembrance is worthwhile but I have several reasons for wanting to remember.

Both my Grandfathers were in the Army during the years of National Service after WW2. My Great Uncle fought in World War Two and My American Dad was in the Air Force. For three years in my early Twenties I worked alongside the British Army in Germany and I’m proud to be friends still with some of these guys. Part of my reason for the Remembrance is because of the guys and gals above. I want them to know that I’m grateful that they are prepared to lay down their lives for us, even for wars or causes that they don’t believe in and that some of us in England do care and do appreciate that they are stuck in hellish conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It bothers me that the government has got us into these wars and cannot even afford to send the Troops out with the proper military kit to help them survive. Sub standard boots, trucks that are neither use nor ornament and not enough air support as the helicopters we need are stuck in a hangar somewhere. Two years ago a charity was set up by Bryn and Emma Parry called ‘Help for Heroes’ to help wounded Personnel get the support that they need. It’s quite well supported in England but we shouldn’t fu**ing need it. The government should be providing the wounded with all the help they need not leaving it to the fundraising abilities of the good British people. (As a side note I’ll be climbing Kilimanjaro in January 2011 for Help for Heroes….more details to follow if I can ever afford to get myself registered on the climb!!!!)

When I first moved back to England from Germany, I went back to school and did a History course. As part of that course we visited the Battlefields of the First World War. Before we left I read everything that I could get my hands on relating to the war. I cannot even begin to describe how heart wrenching the trip was. At all the (huge) memorials there is just row upon row upon row of names of the dead. We visited the Town of Ypres and the Menin Gate Memorial where each night at 8pm the last post is played and you can’t help but be moved, in fact it just sends a shiver down my spine!! It’s only in recent years that I can bear to read anything about the conditions they fought in, so profound was the trip.

 This year for the first time World War One has gone from living memory to history after our last surviving soldiers from WW1 Henry Allingham and Harry Patch died. We may have none of them left but I will always remember them and the guys that they had to leave behind buried in mud on Flanders fields and I want to part of the movement that keeps their memory alive.

So this is why I want to remember and why Chick and I both bought poppies on the day the campaign started. Each time I open a paper and read about more deaths I’m always half expecting it to be someone I knew in the past and for this reason we will be wearing our poppies until Wednesday when I’ll probably post a poem or something in Remembrance. If you don’t want to remember that’s fine…….I won’t be offended if you give me a miss on Wednesday.

“When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today”

– John Maxwell Edmonds

Fireworks……Oohhh….Aahhh!!!

I know that Bonfire Night was actually on Thursday but there didn’t seem to be too much happening and to be honest Thursday is the day when Chick and I crash in front of the t.v. because we are too shattered to do anything else! We had thought about going along to the biggest display in the Area but then we got invited to a small fireworks party and thought we’d go with that instead even though the fireworks may not be quite as grand.

I absolutely adore fireworks. My favourite in the world are the 4th July fireworks at Lake Tahoe followed closely by the ones in London on New Years Eve so these didn’t really compare but we had a lot of fun even if my pictures are slightly pathetic!!! (I may have been too busy gossiping to catch the good ones!!!)