I know I’m not the only one who gets a little too excited about the Christmas Decorations going up. I am on literally a countdown to Tuesday when Lily and I can put them all up 
So I was wondering if this year you’d like to share your Christmas decorations? I’m going to put up a Mr Linky from the 1st Dec – 24th Dec so we can all see how mad we’ve gone!
I hope you’ll all have fun joining in!
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Photo Credit: pebaline's photostream on Flickr
I’ve been looking round the house and realised that I probably need to do a declutter before Christmas, before we bring anything else into this house. To make it less painful I think I’m going to a room at a time, rather than trying to do one big mass clear out. I think it’ll take a couple of weeks, but I’ve discovered that if I rush it and try and do it all at once, I get frustrated, bored and then I don’t do it. And now Hubby is finally reading the blog on RSS I will actually have to do it!
I try to follow the decluttering advice of ‘if you haven’t worn it in 18 months then you’re not going to wear it’. And if it’s still in the box it came in a year later, chances are it’s not going to be played with/used. So bearing this in mind I’ll be creating the following piles
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So here’s the plan
Clear out the side board of old candles, and all the general Lily colouring/toys stuff I’ve shoved in drawers when we have visitors.
Move the Wireless Printer upstairs to the office where it should be
Paint the little table which I’ve been meaning to do for 8 years
Have a clear out of old XBox & PS2 Games as we don’t actually have either anymore!
Discover what is exactly at the back of the corner cupboards? Who knows??
Clear out the canned foods & Dried Foods that aren’t in date
Old Clothes have a charity turn out and put summer clothes into storage (suitcases on top of the wardrobe )
Magazines…..honestly I don’t really have 4 piles in there….maybe 
Return all of Lily’s things that she never ever uses or plays with that have made their way into our room.
I’m also going to make the tiny built in cupboard in our room into the airing cupboard and make the airing cupboard into extra storage for seasonal clothes etc. The sheets etc will fit into our cupboard and be more accessible.
This is the big one…. sort through old toys, sort through books, clothes etc
Under her bed…who know’s what’s under there? But clearning it should create more storage.
Clothes…she’s had another growing spurt and I know there are loads of summer clothes that need to goto charity.
Tame all the school work, we’re not doing too badly with the actual work but I need to clear down the things she’s made and put them into storage/throw out. There is only so much you can have on display made of out toilet roll!
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I always, always give Lily the final say over giving away toys, or saving items. But I’m proud to say she’s really good about donating to charity and has been know to offer all her toys to’little girls who might not have any’ – Proud Mummy moment! Finger’s crossed I can get all this done before Christmas!
So are any of you going to do a Pre Christmas De-clutter?
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Photo Credit:Horrgakx's photostream on Flickr
On the 19th November Cumbria and the surrounding areas suffered with the worst flooding ever. As we know from previous floods, lives will be devastated and it will be a long time before those affected will be back in their homes. With Christmas coming this is going to be a bleak time for many.
Kat at Housewife Confidential has come up with an idea for a Silent Auction details can be found here she has also set up and email address specifically for this auction: cumbriafloodauction [at!] googlemail.com.
So if there are any PR’s, Crafters or Store Owners reading and there is anything you can offer to auction please contact Kat at the above address or drop me either an e-mail or leave a message below.
Thank you x
*Update – more information on Kat’s site of how to donate – click here*
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So yesterday I had an email from a very nice man from The Independant newspaper asking if he could talk to me about my views on the political parties for the next elections. I agreed it’s the first time my generation have been of interest to political parties, normally no one has given a crap about who we’ve voted for.
So we had a chat on the phone and I explained that I thought that none of the political parties were doing a very good job of listening to women and what they want or need.
My points were:
Simplifying the process and encouraging women to start their own businesses. It gives women the ultimate work/life flexibility. In rural areas essential as there is very little employment, flexible or otherwise.
Childcare Vouchers – essential to working women, childcare for one small child here in Cambridgeshire is £800 a month. A family of four living on £35k a year are not rolling in money with the cost of housing, childcare, food, and fuel and therefore certainly shouldn’t be penalised for working by taking away their childcare vouchers. Because apparently £35k makes them ‘middle class’ no it makes them struggling to make ends meet!.
I meant to have a rant about education and the fact that a quarter of children at 11 can’t read or write – but I didn’t get time.
I also said that on the positive side that Labour’s flexible working policies have been brilliant but by extending it (3 years maternity is currently being mooted) they run the problem of possibly making mother’s unemployable as companies don’t want to deal with large amounts of paperwork and women taking large chunks of time out. On the not so good side they have created a huge government which is unsustainable and thrown lots of money at banks without reform, and that it needs to be reigned in but I don’t think they with the current leadership are able to do that.
But I’m also not convinced that the Conservative Party are up to the job. They have yet to put forward any innovative policies, just the same old, same old with a new spin.
So what did all my important views and insights get boiled down to
“Labour don’t seem to be doing particularly well due to the amount of money they have thrown away, and thrown at the banks. I’m undecided, but I won’t be voting Labour. Yet the Lib Dems need to convince me. I’m sure Brown is very nice, but is hard to warm to. Cameron seems more human, with a seriously ill child, and that’s really helped him appeal to mothers.”
Argh! A throw away comment about Gordon Brown a the very end of the conversation! What I actually said about David Cameron was that as he’s had a very sick child (now sadly deceased) and he seems to understand the NHS (that said thinking about it so has Gordon Brown!) and that has made him seem more human to women.
If they’d asked me what I thought about the leaders as individuals then I would have given a much better answer, you know left out all my opinions about the state of the country and how to improve it for women and children and talked about what they wear or something!.
End Rant!
*UPDATE* here are the Blog Posts from my fellow interviewee’s for their takes on it Karen at Rubbish Diet, Sandy at Baby, Baby and Claire at 20SomethingMum
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I have been fans of Belle and Boo for a long time since I saw the beautiful charity prints they made to raise money in memory of Superprincess Ava Rosemeyer. I keep a keen eye on their store and I thought their new range for Christmas was just gorgeous.
My Favourite Picture is Starla – she looks so much like Lily
Check out the whole Belle and Boo range here they are just gorgeous
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I was a very proud Mummy this morning. Lily’s year were selected along with some other children from local schools to greet the Queen and Prince Philip on their visit to celebrate Ely Cathedral’s 900th Anniversary.
They must have been standing out there for nearly 2 hours, and it was really windy and cold and they were all so brave. I got there with Lily’s digital camera (which is annoyingly better than mine!) only to discover that there was no battery – argh! So I have to take all these pictures on my iPhone. I’m hoping some of the parents in the crowd managed to get some better photos than I did.
The kids were entertained by the local police, filmed by the local news, had their pictures taken and apparently Lily was interviewed by Heart FM radio station! I’ve not been able to track it down though, I’d love to hear it. So they had a whale of a time!
The video above shows how tight security was. We were told about the trip and the kids being involved at the last minute and there were police everywhere, something our very small City is not used to! But they did a very good job, on what looked like a massive operation.
Prince Philip arrived first and came over to talk to the children. Lily says he spoke to her – I actually caught it see above! But she can’t remember what he said – kids!
Finally the Queen arrived but because of the cold and wind she was ushered straight into the Cathedral, while all the children cheered. Later one of Lily’s classmates gave the Queen a posy from all the children at their school, it must have been a lovely moment for her and her family. I’m so proud of all of them!
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