Thursday 25 April 2013

My family, the internet

My family, the internet.

Eight years ago I made the decision to move “up north” with my now husband, 150 miles (give or take), from my family. Now, I suppose that I haven’t really lived with my family for a few years before this, after spending a few years getting drunk working around Greece and Cyprus. This move just felt more permanent, there would be no more coming home for the winter with a new tan a few kilos lost and a hundred and one stories to tell, just me, my man and my house.

Now that we are a family, people often ask me what it is like raising a family so far away from my own.

I do sometimes regret that my son will never have the close relationship with his cousins that I had with mine, however I suppose there is no guarantee that would happen even if we all lived in the same street. Although I suppose it will spare him the trauma of being hit in the face with a cricket bat by a cruel relative who was less than helpful in assisting me where to stand now that I was “wicketkeeper”.
To be completely honest, sometimes it does feel a little isolating, but then, I realise, actually, I may be geographically far from everyone, but, they are never really far from me.

My mum is always on the end of the phone if I need her, and then you have the medium of social media. There is nothing to put a smile on my face quite like seeing what my family are up to, seeing smiling pictures of their children after school plays, dance rehearsals, footie games.....Feeling like you are reconnecting with your family and friends again, realising that you have the same sense of humour as a cousin in Australia you have not seen since you were 16, being able to show support instantly to the people you care about or joking around with someone you haven’t seen, in person since you were drunk, in the back of their car, singing along to Lady Marmalade whilst waiting for them to finish work.

Now, since the advent of smartphones, it’s so much easier to keep in touch, whether it’s a long phone call or a 140 character snippet. So, I suppose now, when people ask if I miss my family I can always smile and say not really, we are always in each others pockets.

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Today I have made a decision

Today I have decided I am going to lose weight.

I took the day off yesterday as my son had his 2 year development check yesterday morning (he’s a genius, but that’s a whole other blog entry.......). Once he had been dropped off at the childminder, I decided to set about doing all the little tasks that I have never really got round to, such as cleaning the house (I am sure next doors missing cat in there somewhere), clearing my pile of laundry (or maybe the cat is in there) and cleaning the windows, after all we are due to get some sun soon, would be nice to see some of it.

Little did I know of the horror that laid out in front of me........

Once I had finished swirling through the house like a whirlwind, I looked around at my handywork and felt a sudden rush of pride (or maybe exhaustion), at what I had accomplished, and a thought crossed my mind. I had done a lot of work, and felt knackered. I suddenly felt inspired to try and shift some of my excess lard weight and made plans now the weather is better to try and cycle to work more, do more exercise.

Now, I am nothing if not scientific, and I knew, that if I were to measure the success of exercising more/eating better, I would need a starting point. So, I dug out my digital weight watchers scales, wiped the dust from them and checked the battery still worked. I slowly stepped on them (sounds dramatic, but to be fair, I do everything quite slowly), and then it happened. The numbers flashed up and I saw how much I weighed. Not how much I thought I weighed or my dress size, my actual weight.

I almost fell through the floor. Which considering how much I weigh is now an actual real danger.

I may not have found next door’s cat in all the piles of house stuff that needed sorting, but I am expecting old moggy to fall, out of a fold on my gut somewhere, gasping for breath onto the floor in front of me.

I will let you know if we find him.

Monday 22 April 2013

So, here I am......

So here it is, my first blog....nervous much? Bit of an introduction.......
Now, when I decide whether or not to buy a book or read a magazine article I always read the first few sentences first to get a flavour for whether or not I am going to like it.
So, here is hoping that the readers of this blog dont apply the same method.

So I am a (cough) 33 (cough) year old married woman with a two year old son and an arse the size of a small African country.

I will be using this blog to share my random thoughts and opinions and hopefully reach out to others and help them raise a smile.

Still with me?