Please vote for my blog which has been shortlisted in the BiBs Awards 2013!!!

A little while ago I put a badge up on my blog asking my lovely readers to nominate me for the BiBs and ... to my amazement and eternal gratitude ... some of you did nominate me and because of that I have been shortlisted in the Lifestyle category. Whoooop whoooop!!!

The BiBs are a national awards ... Brilliance in Blogging ... and are run by BritMums, the largest Parenting site in Britain. There are 16 blogs on the shortlist for each category and the voting now begins!! On 12th May the voting stops and the top 6 blogs for each category go through to the Finals where the judges will decide on the winners. Those winners will be presented with their awards at BritMums Live 2013, a huge blogging conference in London, complete with champers and spotlights!!

There are some amazing blogs up for the awards in various different categories, everything from photography to travel to inspiring blogs to new blogs.

So now ... if you like my blog ... I wonder if you could take a moment to vote for me?? Please!!! All you have to do is click on this badge below and you will be whisked away to the Land of Awards where you will find lists of blogs. If you scroll down mine is under Lifestyle.

If you look for the blue link that says:

Vote for the 2013 BiBs now!!  Click and you will be taken to the voting page.

                                                               

I hope that's not too convoluted ... Its pretty self-explanatory really ... and I would be so chuffed if you did vote for me. Thank you lovely reader!!! x

Dr Michael Mosley's Fast Diet .... I am bloody starving here.

I am ravenous. Two weeks into the Fast Diet ( see previous post for details) and I am bloody ravenous. And what's more I have not cheated at all and yet when I weighed and measured myself last week I had lost ..... NOTHING. A big fat ( and FAT is the operative word here ...) ZERO!!

I am not giving up. I plan to continue, but it seems that the " Eat what you like " tenet is not all its cracked up to be. Of course you can't eat what you like. You need to be eating 2000 calories a day apart from on the Fast Days where its 500 calories.

I am not sure of my calories intake as I had stopped thinking about it. To be honest then I would imagine most days I am under the 2000 and some days I am over. I just don't like to have to think about it. I just want to be able to eat healthily and be slim.

I am obese. But I also fit into a size 12 British size. So what's happening there??

This is probably not a good day to write my blog as I am really hungry and don't even have the incentive of knowing I am losing weight and becoming healthy ... as I have not lost weight at all and don't know if my blood is looking healthier ... My husband tells me to keep persevering, but right now I am so sick of thinking about my weight, thinking about what I eat. Its dull.

I shall keep going in the hope that next time I write I will be able to give you good and happy news. But in the mean time I would love to hear how you are doing, what your experience with this has been ... Thanks.

A blogger looking to the future ...

I received a tweet today from the lovely Actually Mummy who was asking how long I had been blogging. It may seem ridiculous, but I had to sit down and work it out. It seems as though I have always blogged!! But of course I haven't. I have been blogging since New Year's Eve 2006, which makes my blogging career six and a bit years. The other thing she asked was "Why haven't I come across you before?" and I really had no answer. I was just glad that she had found me now!

I suppose the truth is that I am an amateur. I write because I need to write to keep myself sane. My blog doesn't have a particular niche - I can't say that I am a Parent blog or a Sports blog or a Craft blog ... I am just a Me blog. And when you just write about your own life, with no real particular focus, you don't draw the attention of advertisers/sponsors. You have to rely on people being interested in ... you ....  and the things you do. Which is not always a given when you are a little old housewife from the South of England!!

me with my Comic Relief hair

I decided a while ago to write because I loved writing and any followers or readers I gained would be an added bonus. Over the years I have built up a very loyal following of readers and I love that they enjoy reading my scribblings. I know that if I am down they will appear like knights in shining armour, angels from the ether to support me or tell me to get over myself!! People like Inkling and Urban Cynic are women I would love to meet and share a glass of vino with!

 Actually Mummy's blog is amazing. I don't think, in fact I know, that I don't have the skills to achieve such a professional site, but I love that she found me and, I hope, liked my writing. And I love the fact that there are so many of us out there, mainly women, who write and share and support each other. We are all so different, but we are linked by our love of writing and our interest in other writers and bloggers.

There is nobody I know in my real life (other than my lovely uncle) who blogs. None of my friends are into it at all, although more and more are starting to read mine. I have found my way through trial and error and still get a thrill when people leave comments or follow me! Last year I went to BritMums Live - a blogging conference and was a bit overwhelmed by it all, but in retrospect it was a fantastic experience. For the first time I had the chance to meet other bloggers, hear how other people managed their writing and I saw, first hand, the burgeoning community of bloggers.

Someone asked me, when I was there, how long I had been blogging and seemed amazed when I told them. I hadn't realised that I was an old hand!! This year I am going again and this time I really hope I can meet up with some of the people whose blogs I read and with whom I tweet ... people like Selena and Kat .

I know some people ... professional writers ... think that we bloggers are an odd lot, rambling on about our children, our fears and our joys, but we are not odd ... Most of us are women who have busy lives, careers, but we also enjoy writing. We don't profess to be journalists and we don't expect to make money from writing, but together we are beginning to be a force for good and a strong community, aware of each other and the realities of every day life. I know, from my membership of BritMums, that there are bloggers out there who have climbed Snowdon to raise money for Comic Relief - others who have joined together to help clean, paint and decorate the house of a struggling mum, and others like the amazing Kate who inspires and works tirelessly for charity.

I am rather ashamed to say that I am a bit of a back seat blogger. I like reading and listening to what others have to say, but I am not as involved as I should be. I think I am going to try and find something that really inspires me and try to do something good through my blogging. What I really love is teaching children to read and to enjoy books so I am going to try and find a way to get more involved with that ... we'll see.

What is certain is that I am going to keep on writing and I hope that people, like Actually Mummy, find me and enjoy what I have to say. Thanks for reading! x

School Cookery Lessons Stink.

My son cooked cottage pie at school today. "Good!" I thought " An easy dinner tonight!" How wrong I was!!

I really have no idea how his cookery teacher ever got a job passing her cookery skills onto the next generation, because she clearly has none to pass ...

Cottage pie should be a delicious, tasty meal of beef mince cooked with onions, maybe garlic, seasonings such as salt, pepper, herbs, and then perhaps some carrots, tinned tomatoes - all topped with creamy buttery mashed potato then baked in the oven until golden brown and a little crispy on top. Each family will have their own variation - perhaps cheese on top of the mash ...

photo courtesy of glasgowguide.co.uk

My son's version consisted of fried mince, chopped onions and carrots from ... LAST WEEK ... when they practised their knife skills ... and instant gravy. It was then topped with a thin grey layer of mash.

I took one mouthful and really couldn't eat any more. It was gross.

We do quite a bit of cooking in our house. My boys are quite capable of cooking several meals including cottage pie and this travesty of a meal was revolting. My son said that as he cooked it he knew it needed seasoning and suggested that if he had used various ingredients, seemingly unheard of by his teacher, it would have been better.

What sort of cookery teacher, what sort of person, used carrots and onions that have been sitting around for a week?? No wonder people these days rely so much on instant meals, take away food. I see it as part of my job as a mum to teach my boys to cook and thank goodness I do.

They know how to whip up a cake, cook sausages, pasta. My eldest son can make pastry and won a cooking competition with his chicken pie a couple of years ago. He was 12. It doesn't have to be rocket science. I always cook from scratch, using the best ingredients I can. I try to cook vegetarian meals each week as well as meaty meals and yesterday they wolfed down a hearty stew of root veg, beans and pasta. I know I complain sometimes about their eating habits, but they are actually pretty good and I am proud of their ability to follow a recipe. We like tasty, healthy food and my boys know and appreciate food that tastes good. They might complain sometimes, but faced with a choice of grey, week old cottage pie or a version that actually tastes good and is made with good ingredients, they are not fools.

So why are they being taught such rubbish at school? Its not a new thing. I remember my own cookery teacher at school turned out tasteless slop week after week.I learned to cook from my mum and did my best to ignore the school lessons. But what happens to those children who don't have mums who enjoy cooking?

Perhaps its a prerequisite of secondary school cookery teachers? If you are absolutely incapable of cooking anything tasty and have no idea about how to create a fresh, delicious meal then you get shoved into Home Ec.

Jamie Oliver had a brilliant campaign over school dinners. Maybe I need to start a campaign to teach our children how to cook? Clearly if I rely on my son's teachers things are going to go horribly wrong. Oh, and maybe I should think of buying shares in the local chip shop?

BritMums Live 2012

This time next week BritMums Live will be over. I will be back home. Its funny isn't it how you look forward to something for so long and sometimes with real trepidation and then ... bosh ... its over. Still. its not over yet and as the conference approaches I am both excited and nervous.

I have never been to any sort of conference, never mind a blogging conference. They have arranged all sorts of amazing speakers, workshops and welcoming groups. I am sure that I won't be the only person to be heading there by myself and I know that there are plans to welcome and integrate all us newbies. But still ... I just dread walking in and feeling like a numpty.

Do you know what I mean? The feeling that everyone else knows everyone and they all are arranging to go out for dinner and talk blogs together ... The worst thing would be to feel like a real Johnny no mates ... the odd one in the corner. I'm sure I won't, after all I am ok at chatting to people ... sort of ...

Anyway, what I want to concentrate on is making other people feel at home. Maybe I'll see if there's anyone there I recognise from BritMums - I'm sure there will be. The best scenario will be that there are just loads of like minded women who are easy going, friendly and we just chat and chat. After all, we all are interested in blogging and, to be honest, there's nobody in my 'real' life who blogs. The other day when I mentioned that I was going to a blogging conference one of my friends said "A what? What's blogging?" I did feel a bit geeky ...

Still. I am going to learn about all sorts of blogging related things and I believe there will be cake ... and beer ... and possibly wine. I'm having my nails done the day before and am planning what to wear. If it comes down to it the worst thing that can happen is that I get to watch what I want on the telly in my room with room service chips and mayonnaise.

Now I'm feeling a bit shallow.