I Made This...

I clicked on the photo upload widget before I started to write this post, and as usual it opened the folder I'd used last.  It took all the strength in me not to post a picture of my nails & say "I made this".  But that's not what this is about.  Nor is it about cheese & apple scones (though they are yummy).  Nor is it the mess of the living room of my old house.  It's about the thing that makes me most proud, and fills me with a sense of wonder every day.

Squeaky still feels like a little bit of a miracle to me, she was a long time coming, and had a pretty scary birth.  There are moments and emotions that will never leave me, that I am still not sure whether I want to write about.  But arrive she did, like a miniature hurricane.

She stresses me out, don't get me wrong.  Today has been a very long day of highs & lows.  We've successfully managed 4 trips to the potty (don't lets mention the 3 accidents as well).  We've negotiated the car boot sale in the rain.  We've had monumental meltdowns over chocolate coins and one more episode of Ben & Holly.  We've even eaten Sunday lunch.

She definitely looks more like Daddy than she does me.  There's a couple of photos that are pure me, but normally she's the image of her Daddy.  That's as far as it goes though, because in her personality, she's 100% mini-me.  She has to be mentally active - reading a book, chattering, taking everything in.  If there's no stimulation, she'll find some, or make enough trouble that she gets some that way.

She's stubborn.  The joys of two Capricorns in the house, is that we both like to get our own way, and we're always right, even when we're wrong.  Daddy has a lot to put up with, between us both.  She's developing a wickedly silly sense of humour, mimicking some of our better & worse traits.  Today, trying to get into the car boot sale car park, stuck behind someone walking rather slowly, she piped up "Keep moving love", in a perfect copy of my own frustration at other road users (I've had to tone down my language, I'll be honest).

She's cheeky, silly, affectionate.  She loves to sing & dance, and to slap Noel Edmonds (that's definitely my influence.  It's an item on my Bucket List).  She's like holding up a little mirror to me, for good and for bad.

For all she is, for all she's made me.  Squeaky.  I made this!

Oh, and if you're interested, the nails I was going to post were... 

Thanks to Mel from The Diary of a Jewellery Lover for tagging me, this is my entry into Mellow Mummy's I Made This meme

And a quick set of tags to:
Esther at Diary of a Bad Mutha
Claire at Ninja Killer Cat
Joanne at The Blunt Truth
And you!

I got an award!

I remember someone on one of the panels at CybHer basically saying your blog wasn't worth much if you'd not won an award (which got a few backs up in my corner of the room, I can tell you), so I was chuffed to be the recipient of this...

The Leibster Award (German for favourite)!  OK, it's not exactly the MADS, or the Oscars, but what the hey?  I was tagged by the lovely, glamorous & mildly barmy Anna at Elanor's Nails, a friend and fellow snooker fan, as well as a nail blogger, and this is a tag & a bit.


For this tag, you need to do the following:
1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs.

On My Birthday meme

Kate over at The Five Fs has set herself, and the wider internet a challenge. She's collecting every day of the year in posts to the On My Birthday meme. So I'm adding my two pennorth for 4th January


What you will have to do is answer questions about your birthday. If you don't know where to look, the best way is to go to Wikpedia, type in your birthday in the search box and it will tell you all you ever want to know (and more) about your special day. Obviously, you can take what is said with a pinch of salt but it's mostly correct.  I actually did a similar meme way back in 2006 (OMG!), so I went on a hunt & have dug a few of the answers out from there.


So, here goes the questions...


When is your birthday? 4th January


Pick three people who share your birthday and share what you know about them

Michael Stipe. Lead singer of REM, prone to singing songs that make me cry.

Beth Gibbons. Lead singer of Portishead, also prone to singing songs that make me cry.

Craig Revel-Horwood. Ranked third in "People on Strictly I'd like to slap" after Brucie & Brendan Cole.

There's also a load of people I've never heard of, Louis Braille, and James Bond.  Not THAT James Bond, being fictional and all, but another one.

Is anyone listed as being born on the same say as you (i.e. in the same year)? If so, what do you know about them?

An American baseball player, and a cyclist from Luxembourg. I've never heard of either of them, so that's your lot.

List three people who died on your birthday and tell us what you know about them.

Erwin Schrödinger (status of the cat unconfirmed)

Phil Lynott - lead singer of Thin Lizzy. At least one song that makes me cry.

Gerry Rafferty - the Baker Street bloke. At last, a song that doesn't make me cry. And Bob Holness did not play the saxophone on it.

List three notable events that took place on your birthday.

1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to earth

1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the moon

2004 - NASA's Mars rover "Spirit" lands on Mars

My birthday is a really good day for space things.

Tell us about a holiday that falls on your birthday

Independence Day in Myanmar, celebrating their independence from the United Kingdom. It's either that or the Eastern Orthodox church's celebration of 4th January.

So, that's my birthday.  I'm going to tag 

The Blunt Truth

Diary of a Bad Mutha

to share their birthdays with the world (I love a good meme!), and as ever, if I haven't actually tagged you, but you want a go, consider yourself tagged.

Help! I Am A Blogger!

I've been tagged by Joanne, over at The Blunt Truth in a meme, started over at Dragons and Fairy Dust all about, well, blogging. I have days where I think to myself "why am I doing this?" so the reflection is no bad thing.  Anyways, here goes...

What is your blog about?
The subtitle says "Growing up together in the South Wales Valleys", and that's still a fair description. It's a record of Squeaky's journey through childhood, my journey through parenthood, and a place where I can say things I don't always want to say on other parts of the internet, never mind the real world.  Oh, and reviews.  Sometimes it gets a bit review-heavy, then it'll settle down to all personal stuff for ages again.

When and how did you start blogging?
March 2010, when La Squeak was still a teeny tiny newborn, and I was dazed, confused, and pretty much stuck in the house with nothing better to do between feeds.  I'd had a personal journal on another platform for some time, but I wanted my journal of my life with Squeaky to be separate from that, and so this blog was born.  I never really started to write having a readership in mind, it was for me to start with, then I discovered, bit by bit, that other people wanted to read it too.

What was your first post?
Welcome Aboard the Squeakytrain way back over 2 years ago.  (I know, I missed my second blogaversary as well. My first completely passed me by as well. For some reason March tends to be a bit of a blur.

Does blogging affect your life and if so how?
I'm determined that blogging will only affect my, and Squeaky's life for the better.  That's the reason my posting can be a bit erratic, as I have to grab my moments when I can, mostly either late at night, or very early in the morning, so I guess it affects my sleep a bit!  Blogging has given us some great opportunities to try out products and experiences we wouldn't otherwise have had.  I'm not a full-on review blogger, I don't have the time or the energy for that, and I live too far from London to go to PR events, but our little corner of the internet has given us buggies, toys, food, books, clothes, music, dvds, amongst other things. It's given me the chance to learn loads, and to share some of that information with others.  It's taught me a lot about how companies and PR agents work, and through writing, and the events I have managed to attend, allowed me to gain some wonderful new friends.

My next big opportunity, and a good example of the above, is being sponsored by Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk to attend Cybher.  My role with Growing Up Milk as a mumtor has given me access to the results of various surveys and studies carried out by Cow & Gate, which I've been able to share with both my online & "real-world" friends, and it's been a source of information that's been very useful to me when I've had concerns about Squeaky.  I'm a visible and real face for a brand that I genuinely use, and I'm honoured that they've agreed to sponsor me for an experience I wouldn't otherwise have the chance to attend.

What do you love most about blogging?
Well, the opportunities, as I mentioned above.  The friendships I've made.  The support and community of bloggers, via blogs, twitter and facebook.  I even love the semi-regular dramas (mostly the great blogger/blagger debate), though I prefer to sit on the sidelines with popcorn & watch.  I love the complements I get, vain as I am, when someone says they like my writing, my photos, my adorable munchkin it gives me the warm fuzzies inside.  And creating a memory for Squeaky as she gets older.  One of my friends said I should get the blog printed for her for when she grows up.  I'm still not sure about that, there's quite a bit about poo and my boobs back in the early days, but the idea is there.

I'm not going to tag anyone, I need a shower, and Daddy will be home from work soon. But if you want to take part, consider yourself tagged.

What was number one the day your children were born?

I've been tagged by the fabulous Joanne over at The Blunt Truth to post the song that was number 1 the day Squeaky was born.

I've got to confess, I hadn't a clue.  My taste in music stopped somewhere around 2001, if you're being generous (actually probably somewhere more like 1996), and I couldn't honestly pick a Lady Gaga song out of a lineup.  But here's Squeaky's number 1.  The official video had embedding disabled, so this one just has a picture of the cover.



Who? Someone will tell me, no doubt, but I don't think I've ever heard it before.  On the other hand, the song that was number 1 the day I was born is a genuine classic, and I'm proud to be connected to it.



I'm going to tag a few people who I'd really like to see their results (partly because they'll all have more music to link than me!):

Inside The Wendy House
Blog By Baby
Emma and 3
Mummy Loves

Seven Secrets, an award, and a bundle of tagging

The fabulous Kate at Kateonthinice tagged me, and gave me this  award!

My challenge is to reveal 7 secrets about myself.  Yours is to read them!  (And check down the bottom to see if you've been tagged, natch)

It's harder than you'd think - what constitutes a secret in the blogosphere? Something none of my readers would know? Most wouldn't? Something I'm prepared to run the risk of my mum finding out? (she normally only reads the posts I link on facebook, but you never know)

1. I am part cyborg.  If not actually the $6million woman, than at least the good few $,000 woman.  Both my ankles are held together with meccano style metalwork, which means I've had the dubious pleasure of trying out all sorts of painkilling meds (mmmmm fun), and seem to have a 75% chance of a free grope at the airport.  Coupled with a pair of hearing aids, some days I feel that I owe more to the skills of the NHS (and their overseas counterparts) than nature.
2. I have entire series of books & films that I have made an effort not to watch, and have every intention of continuing to avoid.  These include Star Wars, Harry Potter & Twilight. If this upsets you, tough.  There is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind.
3. I actually really like the taste of Lemsip, and have been known to drink it even when I haven't got a cold.
4. I have travelled on numerous planes with a glasses screwdriver in my purse. It's now become a matter of principal that I won't take it out until a security search is actually vigilant enough to notice the fact I've got a contraband item (and a sharp metal one at that) about my person.
5. When SqueakyDaddy's on late shifts, I tend to be online reading blogs, entering comps, and generally wasting precious sleeping time until about 15 minutes before he's due home. Even if that's 3am
6. I have got a large glass of rum & ribena in front of me, with the excuse that I'm using it for medicinal purposes to defeat my germ. It's not providing any inspiration, but it does taste nice.
7. I'm still convinced that the only reason I passed my driving test, at the second attempt, was that there was a rail strike that day, and the roads around the test centre were jam-packed, so we couldn't do as much driving as normal, and most of that was inching along in second at best.

Now, there seems to be a thing for tagging 15 people on this, but that seems a bit harsh to me (and will also show off where I'm really, really behind in reading other people's blogs when I tag someone that did this weeks ago)  So I'm going to tag:

Wendy at insidethewendyhouse

Danielle at blogbybaby

Mama Syder at thesyders

Lakota at faithhopeandcharityshopping

Emma at emmaand3

Music Therapy

I was challenged to Mammywoo's Music Therapy meme by Him Up North, and after having spent a fair number of years in the wilds of Ilkley & Leeds, I've learned not to argue with a Yorkshireman.

For those of you as out of touch with the memes of the moment as I am, it's a simple premise.  Three different artists, three different songs, three sets of lyrics that mean something to you. ARGH. It sounds so easy, but it's so difficult. My entire music collection is boxed up and either in the attic, or in a storage unit somewhere the other side of town, my mp3 player is upstairs next to a sleeping SqueakyDaddy.  And I'm old and haven't listened to anything more relevant than Radio Wales in years.  So I'm working from a mixture of memories and ARGH.

1) Wilson Phillips - Hold On




"No one can change your life except for you
Don't ever let anyone step all over you"

I'm not proud, I'll admit to my 90's teenhood.  I love the song.  There's been some long long nights this song got me through in my teens, and times where maybe I should've listened to those lyrics again since. Given the right mood, this song can make me cry.

2) Fools Garden - Lemon Tree




"Isolation is not good for me
Isolation, I don't want to sit on the lemon-tree"


A reminder not to wallow in my own self-pity. And a perky, happy, silly reminder that drags me straight back to college, jumping around in the now-defunct Travs in Ilkley.  The last night before I left college, the DJ played this (as he did very frequently), and said we'd never hear it again after that night.  He was wrong, but it takes me straight back to a simpler time and leaves me with a smile. Also it makes me popular with people from Germany.


3) Cliff Richard - Congratulations





Now, you weren't expecting that, were you?  Let me explain.  SqueakyDaddy and I both have a shameful love of the Eurovision Song Contest (I very nearly chose LT United's "We Are The Winners"), and we have a tendency to not take things very seriously.  So when we got married, we decided to have a bit of fun with the music, and walked out of the ceremony to this.  Just those first beats make me smile.  The whole thing summed us up, and our wedding, and took everyone by surprise.


Who to tag? You!  No, not you, you've already done it.  You, there, trying to hide behind your mug.  I can see you!


(In other words, if you want to do it, I've tagged you. If you don't, I haven't.  Get to it, people!)

Slatterny, or why I'm not allowed nice things

I was tagged by the lovely Wendy at Inside The Wendy House to answer the immortal question, "Where do I blog?"  And then I kept her waiting all weekend while I drank cider, watched The Wurzels and played on the beach, before coming home to answer the question.

We all wonder, I know, what the people behind the blogs we read REALLY get up to.  Are they the saintly neat & tidy people with everything in its place that my husband assumes is how the rest of the world lives, or are they the slatternly folk for whom everything has a place, and that place is wherever it lands?

From that picture, you might be able to guess which side of the line my blogplatz falls on. Highlights of this picture include: a can of Coke Zero, some hair wax, Squeaky's change bag (the black messenger bag on top of the drawers), and almost out of shot, the baby monitor.  You can tell it's real, the screen is showing my last post, mid-way through the creative process.  It's actually not as bad as it could be, there's often a discarded coffee cup or two, and maybe a plate of toast hanging around there somewhere, but as we've been away, I haven't had chance to make too much mess, there's only the static junk there today.

Honestly, though, I can see the tv, Squeaky's usually around my feet (the uncomfortable old wooden chair is because she worked out how to climb onto the computer chair, so I took it away. She can climb on this one now too, though.), or if she's not, she's watching CBeebies just a few feet away.  The desk is getting pretty rickety now, I had it when I went to university, and it kind of leans to the left in a slightly worrisome manner.  I keep thinking about replacing it, but while it's still standing, what's the point?  I'm the last of the Old Skool, in that I'm using a desktop pc (a very new one at that, I only bought it last month when the old one died a death), mostly because my lappy is a temperamental beast, and if I'm writing, I want to know it'll get to where I wanted to post it. Otherwise I'd blog in bed, it's warmer there.

I'm going to tag the following lovelies.  Are you saints, or slatterns like me?
Abigail of Abigail and the Future
Gingembre of Momma Wears Combat Boots

See Bibsey's original post, where it all began.