WMW Prompts for 30 November:

1. So, did you get sucked into the excitement and drama of Black Friday? If so, what deals did you snag?? And for our international gal (that’s ME by the way!!  lol), has our shopping madness spread to your area?
2. Four day weekends are nice but the transition back to work can be challenging! How are you doing with the transition?

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

Last Working Mommy Wednesday I bemoaned the fact that we do not celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK.  However, I am happy to say that your Black Friday Deals are actually starting to penetrate the UK market!  I spent most of last week watching Black Friday deals on Amazon in particular!  Unfortunately, most of the best deals were only available during my working hours, but I did manage to bag a funky brushed metal photo frame clock for half price!     The UK Apple website was also offering Black Friday deals!  However, much as I was tempted, I resisted the urge to bag some Apple products!

There are actually LOTS of sales on at the moment on the High Street and online here in the UK.  However, I’m not sure whether that has anything to do with the US Black Friday influence, or whether it’s to do with the bleak economic climate.  I suspect it has more to do with the latter!  People just don’t have the spare cash to go mad on Christmas shopping this year! 

FOUR DAY WEEKENDS _ TRANSITION BACK TO WORK

I might not have had a four-day weekend, but I’m having a four-day working week this week!  Today I was on strike, taking part in industrial action to protest about proposed changes to my Local Government Pension Scheme. I’m fighting to protect the pension that I’ve been paying into for 20+ years! I used to be guaranteed a lump sum, but now I’m not! I was led to believe I could retire after 40 years service in a full pension, but now they want me to work into my seventies!! They want me to contribute MORE every month, work LONGER and receive LESS when I retire!?! NO WAY!! It’s outrageous!  Here’s some background news on the public sector strikes.

The strikes meant that the schools were closed so, rather than joining a picket line, I spent the day at home with my girls.  We had a lovely lazy day at home, while the weather was miserable outside.

You can join in the Working Mommy Wednesday meme over at Occasional Boredom.

We had just returned from a family holiday on 30th June 2007, when two terrorists stormed the airport with a jeep loaded with petrol cannisters.  The terrorists then started attacking a policeman who had run to the scene, before one of the men actually set himself alight!  My husband had been packing our suitcases into the car when the attackers struck.  At first he thought it was just an accident, but pretty soon he realised that something far more sinister was unfolding, and he ran to the aid of the lone policeman who was under attack by the terrorists.

A scuffle ensued, but unfortunately, Hubby ended up lying on the ground next to the burning jeep, with his leg broken in two places, before being pulled to safety by female security guard, Mary McCandlish and baggage handler, John Smeaton.

On the day of the attack, when Hubby was lying in his hospital bed, I said to him:

You are either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid!  I’ve not made my mind up yet!

However, I can now confidently state that:

My Hubby is a hero!  He risked his life to save others, and I am so proud of him!

Since the attack, Hubby has received many accolades for his bravery, including The Sunday Mail Great Scot Awards, The Pride of Britain Awards and the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery.

Hubby is such a reluctant hero too!  He doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about, thinking that anyone would have done what he did!  Sure, there were several brave men who intervened that day, to help thwart the terrorists’ plans.  However, there many others who fled in the opposite direction, and others who just stood and watched, some even filming the events on their mobile phones!   My Hubby acted on instinct, and his instinct was to help the policeman and stop the attackers.  That makes him pretty heroic in my book!

Asides from his bravery, my Hubby is the wonderfulest because he works hard to provide for his family, is a very hands-on father, a loyal and loving husband, well-liked by everyone who knows him, generous and down-to-earth.

We’ve been a couple for more than twenty years, married for thirteen.  He is my rock.  He certainly is my Mr Wonderfulest!!

I’m linking up with Mama M at My Little Life and her Mr Wonderfulest contest! (If you like my post, please “Like” it on the Linky!… Thanks!)

WMW Prompt for March 2nd- #1- Social networks- the good, the bad, and the ugly (your thoughts on social media).

I have LOTS to say on this subject! – You have been warned! – I thought I’d concentrate specifically on Facebook, rather than social networking in general.  I’m only going to skim the surface here today, so I would like to come back to each section in more detail in separate blog posts…

The Good

• Sharing photos – It’s one of the easiest ways to share photos with friends and family.
  
• Sharing news – Tell everyone about your engagement, pregnancy, promotion… etc…
  
• Keeping in touch with friends & relatives – I have more communication with my cousins now that we’re all on Facebook.
  
• Re-connecting with people from our past – I have reconnected with lots of old school friends, former work colleagues and a former pen pal!
  
• Keeping track of blogs – I can see what’s happening on my favourite blogs on my Facebook homepage, and it’s easier to share favourite posts with my friends.
  
• Keeping track of products & services – I can keep up-to-date with product launches, sales and unique special offers.
  
• Facebook pages for our blogs / businesses – I can promote my blogs and home-based businesses by using Facebook pages.
  

The Bad

• Re-connecting with people from our past that maybe should remain in the past – Friendships can fizzle out for a reason.  You grow apart and end up having little or nothing in common.  Facebook allows a connection to people that we perhaps should have moved on from.
  
• Sarcasm doesn’t translate well online – Sometimes posts and comments can be mis-interpreted to be cheeky and nasty, when the writer was simply trying to be funny.
  
• It’s VERY addictive – People can become obsessive about Facebook, checking for updates, posting and commenting countless times throughout the day.  They can get agitated if their status has no ‘likes’ or comments.
  
• You are NEVER really “Unavailable” – With Facebook apps on smartphones, you can become contactable practically 24/7.
  
• Etiquette issues – Should you ‘friend’ a friend’s parent/child or your own parent/child?  Is is right to accept Friend Requests from your children’s friends?  Should you accept a Friend Request from an ex?
  
• Games & apps – Personally, I detest all those stupid games like Mafia Wars and Farmville.  I also dislike gifts and questions apps, and tend to block them.
  
• Popularity contests – Sometimes, it can feel like Facebook is nothing more than a popularity contest! :S
  

The Ugly

• Politics – I tend to avoid talking about political issues on Facebook.  However, at the last UK General Election I urged people to remember to take the time to vote.  I ended up with a few abusive comments!!  :O
• Religion – Again, I tend to avoid talking about religion on Facebook.
  
• Bullying – Hardly a week goes by without me reading some news story about some poor kid gatting bullied via Facebook.
  
• Too much info – I don’t want to witness flirting or arguments between my Facebook friends.  I don’t want to know about your bodily functions or when you are going for a “snuggle”!!!  *shudders* :S
  
• Lies & Exaggeration – Many people like to portray this ‘Perfect Life’ on Facebook, with their ‘perfect’ relationship, ‘perfect’ kids, ‘perfect’ home and ‘perfect’ career.  *yawns* Meh!
  
• Inane / Irritating Comments – These tend to be one or two words re what they’re eating, craving, watching.
• Unwelcome attention – I tend to appear ‘offline’ on FB chat these days.
  
• Clutter – The more friends you have and pages you like, the more cluttered your homepage can become, and sometimes you miss out on good stuff from your close family and friends.

You can join in over at Work, Wife, Mom, Life!

I intend to cover some of these points in more detail in separate blog posts soon…

Oh, and if you’re not already following me on Facebook, then please click the widget on the left!… Thanks!

• 10 things I believe:
  1. Money won’t make you happy, but it does give you choices. The options you then make may or may not result in happiness.
  2. A Little bit of what you fancy does you good. I am currently trying to establish a health and fitness regime of healthy diet and exercise.  However, I will not deprive myself of the occasional slice  of cake, piece of chocolate, takeaway meal or glass of wine.  Psychologically, the mere suggestion of some food or drink being off-limits makes you crave it more.  It is far better to allow for an occasional treat, than to try to give  things up completely.  As long as the sweet, calorific treats are rationed out in small occasional doses, it should be fairly easy to stick to a healthy diet and lose weight.
  3. Breast is best. I believe that breast-feeding is the best option for both mother and child.  However, I do appreciate that it should ultimately be the mother’s choice as to how to feed her child.  Mothers should not be made to feel inadequate if, after informed choice, deliberation and effort,  they decide to bottle-feed their baby.  I breast-fed my twin daughters for six months.  I feel it was the right thing to do.  My girls were six weeks premature and I wanted to do everything I could to give them the best start.  I initially expressed my milk for them to be tube fed in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).  I was lucky in that I had midwives on hand to help and encourage me, and so by the time we all got home, three weeks later, we had established a good feeding routine.
  4. Make new friends but keep the old.  One is silver, the other gold. Throughout my life, I have made lots of friends, many of whom I am still in touch with.  My best friends tend to be ones I have known since childhood, and indeed my BFF and I have been best friends since I was fifteen.  We actually met when I was seven years old and in the Brownies!  It’s good to make new friends, and I have made quite a few new friends since moving to the town where I live, almost six years ago.
  5. Marriages /  Relationships require time and effort to make them work.  I have been with my husband for almost twenty years, and we’ve been married for almost thirteen.   Over those years, we’ve had some good times and bad times.  We’ve had arguments, fallouts and external pressures.  However, through it all, we’ve talked, compromised, negotiated and made great efforts to make our relationship work.  I believe we’ll grow old together!…
  6. The key to knowledge is lifelong learning. I am a keen advocate for lifelong learning.  I have studied part-time, via both night classes and distance learning, for many years throughout my adulthood.  I am currently studying two evenings per week at Glasgow Caledonian University.  When I finish my course, there are a few smaller courses I’m quite interrested in doing.  Even if you don’t want or need to study an academic course, a short leisure class in areas such as cookery, music, art or  languages might interest you.  It’s a great way of not only expanding your mind, but also in expanding your circle of friends! 
  7. I believe in Karma – what goes around, comes around. 
  8. Children are our future. We have to invest in our children, by spending time with them, nurturing their talents, teaching them new skills, helping with homework, reading to them, playing with them, teaching them good manners and providing moral guidance.  If we do this, our children should grow up into happy, well-rounded, confident individuals.  We also need to save for their future, and instill good habits of saving and budgeting.  Furthermore, we should ensure that we look after the planet by conservation, recycling, waste management,reducing pollution and saving energy.  By doing this, we hope that our children and grandchildren can enjoy all the wonders of our beautiful planet.
  9. I am  setting a good example to my children by working. I believe that by showing my daughters that you need to work for a living, rather than sit back and claim benefits, they will learn good work ethics.  I believe that by showing them that Mummy and Daddy are a partnership, both working, sharing bills and household chores, they will grow up to be confident and independent women, not financially dependant on anyone.
  10. You simply can’t have it all! You cannot have a career and a family and a beautifully-kept home without making some sacrifices.  Women have to learn to work more flexibly, perhaps reducing their hours or condensing their working week.  If women are fortunate enough to have a choice whether to return to work or not, they must then rely on family or childcare providers to help look after their children.  When you have children, and particularly if you also have a job, it will be impossible to also have a clean,tidy, clutter-free home.  You should either do what you can and accept that your home cannot look like an immaculate show-home, or you should think of employing a cleaner.  The third option of carrying on regardless is just NOT an option, as it’ll not only be to the detriment of your children AND your health!

You can join in the WMW blog hop over at Work, Wife, Mom, Life!

• Paternity Leave – There are planned changes to paternity leave in the UK.  The UK government has outlined plans to go ahead with changes this April, allowing couples to share maternity leave.  The change, originally proposed by the previous government, allows a father to take up any remaining unpaid leave if their partner returns to work early.  You can read more about the changes to paternity leave on the BBC News website.  The government are also to consult on a “proper” system of shared parental leave to be introduced in 2015.  You can read more about the proposed changes, and the potential impact on small  business on the Daily Mail website. Would shared paternity leave suit you?  I know that when I had my twins, Hubby used his annual leave, rather than paternity leave, as the paternity pay is a pittance!  The BBC also has a great article about being a stay-at-home dad, which you can read here.

• Parenting Lies-  According to a recent survey, many mothers tell lies about their relationships, financial status and parenting experience.  Many mothers downplay such things as the amount of television their child  watches, and exaggerate on the amount of “quality time” spent as a family.  The survey suggests that they do this because they feel under pressure to be a “perfect family”.  You can read more about the findings of the survey on the BBC News website.  I find it quite sad that mothers feel so inadequate that they cannot be honest with each other.  Sharing parenting experiences, good and bad, should be a good way to learn and develop as parents.  Spending time with other mums, who are going through the same dilemmas, should provide a good suppport network.  Why should we feel under pressure to keep up with the Jones’s, and why is there the constant need to be “The Best” at everything!?  I do know of a few mums who are prone to exaggeration and like to project the image of the “Perfect Little Family” on Facebook.  What do you think?  Do you feel under pressure to tell little white lies about such things just to fit in?  Or do you know of someone who is guilty of stretching the truth just a bit too far?  Are you able to honestly share your parenting woes with other mothers?

Sometimes it helps to share with others what bugs your mind.
They may have a solution, a kind word, or a smile of encouragement.

Today, my Thursday Bug is the broken glass in the car park outside my work, rendering several parking spaces unusable. The car park is used by my office, a leisure centre, a nursery school and a children’s playground. The glass has come from local youths drinking in the park and smashing their bottles. It’s disgraceful!

This week’s WMW prompt is:
 

Having a career/job makes me a better/ worse mother. (why/why not?)

Like almost all working mums, I can experience major guilt pangs and curse the fact that I have to work.  Sure, I’d love to be able to pick the girls up from school at 3pm every day, take them home, help them with their homework and get them involved in preparing dinner.  Sure, I’d love to have a pristeen home, organised cupboards, home-grown fruit and veg, and lots of home cooking and baking.  All these things would contribute to me being a good mum (and wife!).

However…

… having a job not only allows us to be able to pay the bills and afford nice things, but it also sets a good example to the girls.  It teaches them that girls’ education is just as important as boys’, and that women have a valuable place in the working world.  It teaches them that you have to work for the things you want in life.

I frequently talk about my daughters’ futures with them.  We speak about working hard at school to get good qualifications, as well as the various options of further and higher education.  We then talk about the endless possibilites of career paths they might take.  The girls really enjoy these conversations and they love to imagine lots of different scenarios.

I definitely want my daughters to have a good education and to go on to have careers which they will enjoy and thrive in.  However, if they are in the fortunate position to give up work to be fulltime mums in the distant future, so be it.  Then they can enjoy the gardening, home-cooking and baking, etc that I am missing out on just now!…

Life is full of choices.  There are no black and white, right or wrong answers.  We can be good mothers whether we work or not.  It is our values, attitudes and behaviours which determine our parenting skills.

You can join the WMW blog hop at Work, Wife, Mom… Life!

The One-Minute Writer: Today's Writing Prompt: Overindulgence

In what way is 21st century society the most overindulgent?

We live in a very overindulgent society.

Single people and couples are living in large executive houses with a lot more rooms than they need.  Many of these people have huge modern kitchens with all the latest mod-cons, but they never use them!   They may have a gleaming stainless steel range cooker, but they never cook!  Instead, they eat out, buy take-aways or perhaps pop a ready meal in the microwave!

People are regularly replacing items such as televisions, mobile phones, computers and furniture, when they are still in good working order.  They do not need to replace these items, but simply want the latest model or just fancy a change.

Many mothers are not dressing their second child in hand-me-down clothes, but buying everything from scratch again!  Clothes are being replaced, rather than mended.

People buy too much food at the supermarket, resulting in fruit, vegetables and bread being thrown out, having gone off!

We live in a very wasteful society!

On our recent holiday in Majorca, I was horrified to spot this beach ball, emblazoned with Playboy motifs, in the childrens’ pool.  Two children, aged approximately three and seven, were playing happily with this ball, advertising an adult magazine.  I later noticed a matching lilo in the pool.

Is it just me, or is this wrong?  I certainly would not buy my daughters anything with a Playboy motif on it, nor would I even let them play with such a product.  I cannot understand why any parent would condone this!

Last year, when Hubby and I were decorating our daughters’ bedroom, I was looking for new bedding.  I searched online for childrensbedding and was dismayed to come across Playboy items in my search.  On closer inspection, I realised that this was no mistake.  These items are actively being marketed to children.  I am outraged at this!  Indeed, there is a plethora of Playboy merchandise being marketed to young girls – cushions, pencil cases, jewellery, bags, purses, etc.  It’s an absolute disgrace that Playboy are targeting this impressionable audience, and it’s equallydisgraceful that retailers and parents are condoning this!

As a mother of six-year-old twin girls, I am depressed that the World we live in seems to condone the early sexualisation of girls.  In recent years, I have witnessed young girls wearing clothes that are, IMHO, inappropriate for their age – e.g. crop tops, hipsters, high heels, padded bikinis and t-shirts with sexual innuendo on them!  There have been reports of high street stores and supermarkets selling padded bras and thongs for little pre-pubescant girls!  There have even been  reports of shops selling pole-dancing kits as toys for children!!!

What’s your opinion on this?  Are  you as outraged as me?  Or do you think I am over-reacting?   Have you witnessed anything else that illustrates my point?  Or have you bought your daughter something similar and feel that it is just a harmless fashion trend?

The Wordful Wednesday meme is hosted by Seven Clown Circus.

“Wordful Wednesday is like Wordless Wednesday, only WITH words. It’s for those of us that can’t contain the chatter, but in a good way.” Seven Clown Circus.

Hubby was one of the brave civilians who stepped in to help the police apprehend the terrorists.  Unfortunately he ended up suffering a broken leg during the fracas.

We had just returned from a family holiday in Menorca with our twin daughters, and Hubby’s parents.  Hubby was on his own, loading our luggage into our car, when the jeep struck the building.  I was with my mother-in-law and my twin daughters inside the airport, while my father-in-law was on his way back from retrieving his car from the long stay car park.  Therefore, thankfully, I did not see my husband grappling with a terrorist or lying injured behind the burning vehicle.

I guessed pretty quickly after the fire alarm went off, that it was a terrorist attack.  It was terrifying when we were evacuated from the terminal building, as we did not know if (and where) there was going to be any further explosions.  I knew that the smoke and flames were coming from the direction that I had watched my husband set off, some five or ten minutes before.  I was worried sick about him and my father in law.

Shortly after being evacuated, we saw the police bundling a smirking man into a police van, as my mobile phone went off.  It was my brother-in-law to say that my Hubby had called him and that he wanted me to know that he was ok.  I just assumed that Hubby was trapped on one side of the flames and we were on the other and that we would meet up eventually.

We were directed to a designated area away from the burning terminal building, where we waited for a couple of hours before being reunited with my father-in-law, who had been wandering around, frantic with worry, looking for us.

An hour or so later, I discovered that Hubby was actually in  hospital with a leg injury.  Eventually a policeman managed to get us a taxi to take us to the hospital.

I was later to find out that the smirking man who had been bundled into the police van was Bilal Abdullah, and he was the man Hubby had tried to apprehend.

The fact that my Hubby got caught up in these events and ended up in hospital was all the more poignant because it was his 40th birthday on that very day, and we had to postpone a family celebration at a local restaurant which was due to be held the following evening.

Three years on, we returned from our family holiday to receive a letter from Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond re the very exciting news that Hubby is to receive The Queen’s Commendation for Bravery.

You can read more about this at the following sites:

The Civilian Gallantry List

The Herald

The BBC