Isn't it getting dark early :(

So I noticed on the way to pick my son up from his Nana and Grandpa's that it was almost dark, it has been lovely these last few days and I am enjoying soaking up the sun but jeez it's nearly winter isn't it!

All this sun is soooo misleading!

The leaves are turning gorgeous reds and oranges and Halloween stuff is on the supermarket shelves, I have even seen mince pies...but the car said it was 30c today and there are mince pies in the shops!

Flowers that had probably bedded down for the rest of the year are all confused and have started blooming again, it's so weird.

Not that i'm complaining, today was lovely and we ate dinner in the garden, I feel so sad to see the last days of summer. I love playing out in the sun with the children and walking around the park with an ice cream, guess I just have to look forward to snuggling under blankets in the winter and wrapping up in layers and lovely jumpers and coats.

But for now pass me my flip flops......

7.15pm last night

A day at the coast, an argument in the making?

Yesterday we went to the coast for the day and after managing to leave only 30 minutes after we'd intended I thought it was a great start.

However as soon as we enter the car park it becomes a slanging match of who should be watching who and where we parked in the car park to in what order a person was getting the stuff out of the back of the car!

It's not just us though everyone is at it! Is this car park cursed or is it just so difficult to get two adults and two children to the coast without an argument.

I try and cast my mind back to when I was a kid but I can't remember whether my mum and dad were the same or whether we are just expecting perfection so when it's not we feel aggrieved.

Anyway, after getting to the beach and only digging at each other a little bit more we spent four lovely hours playing in the sand with our children and eating chips on the beach in the shade of our little tent.

It turned out to be perfection, maybe it was just the 6am start that meant we were both knackered, who knows.

Topped off with a gorgeous tea in Lincoln by the quay I would say it was a brilliant day with gorgeous sunshine....thank you last dregs of summer.

PS I even got to read some of my new book :)

How time flies....blink and you'll miss it.

I have two children, a little boy who is three and a little girl who is eight months on Friday.

I cannot believe how time has flown, in fact I should be going back to work next week but due to having loads of holidays left I have managed to make it so I don't go back until January.

But how quick has this year gone? Am I the only one shocked by the fact it is October at the weekend?

My blog posts will, unless I have an evening free, remain short and sweet as I am all to aware of the fact whilst I am writing this my gorgeous babies are growing up around me.

I spent over a year in PND hell with my son and so have been trying to enjoy the time with my daughter as much as I can, in the hope I can keep it away this time and so far so good.

Nothing would have made me feel sadder than missing out on those first few months with both my babies, after all they aren't babies for long.

This week my daughter has discovered the art of clapping...it is a joy to watch, as is her and my sons love for each other, it makes my heart melt. It is this that makes the growing up easier to deal with, I am sure they will be at each others throats one day but for now I watch their relationship grow and I love every minute.

He is in awe when she does new things and I can see the adoration in her eye's at this person who can do anything and everything.

A little me time and a new found love of books!

I won some brilliant Rowan Coleman books in an auction over on the Make for Macmillan Facebook page a few months ago and they have reignited a love of reading.

With it the ability to get lost from reality into another world, if only in the  30 minutes or so whilst feeding my daughter.

I had forgotten what it was like to read and I now browse through the book shelves in charity shops looking for something to read!

This is my sad collection of books I have read in the last eight years, there might be a couple of Harry Potter in there somewhere but that is it.

Apart from reading my son stories in the evening I haven't read anything in years and you can tell from the books how I have gone from soul searching books in my early 20s, debortuary ridden and men understanding in my mid 20s to books on being a 'woman' and mother in my late 20s.

I bought this one from a charity shop yesterday so will sit down with a cup of something warm later and have a read!

I need a new vacuum please, thank you!

Ok so if anyone is reading this that would like to give a vacuum to me to test then I would be most appreciative!

Some woman want a pair of shoes or a nice dress, a make over or new hair do (if you want to send me one of those as well great) but me I would just like a vacuum that picks up the mountains of debris my son scatters on eating a slice of toast or a biscuit!

I must vacuum at least three times a day so can guarantee it will be tested well, I have a bad neck so it must be light and i'm not very good with upright ones so anything that fits this would be good.

Thanks for reading and for those thinking well she just had a new Nespresso machine she must be loaded, my hubby had vouchers for his birthday to buy one so we didn't really pay for it and I did ask if we could buy a vacuum instead but the look I received told me to.... well you know.

Mwah x

Today is Nespresso day!

Today we went and bought a Nespresso machine, the lady in John Lewis was oober knowledgeable and gave us some extra coffee for our machine.

I love John Lewis for there attention to customer service, I have never once been left annoyed or let down by a trip to John Lewis in fact I love going there for a coffee and a browse.

So welcome to the family little machine we love you, it's just a shame we couldn't have gotten ourselves a free George Clooney too ;)

Love is....a good cup of coffee and customer service ;)

When customer service goes bad! (well actually not!)

I had written a post only to have to delete it, you see we had a fridge/freezer which died about a month ago. It was only four years old and we were pretty gutted, with the cost of it you would have expected it to last longer.

The company who made it has bought our silence over the problem by offering us some money out of the kindness of their heart for a new one but in return we cannot tell you who it was!

So instead of ranting about bad customer service I thought I would tell you about some good customer service....

Stokke are without a doubt great, I won't go into detail but they came to our aid and we are eternally grateful!

Owning an on-line shop means that when I buy things on-line I feel they are letting people like me down if the service is rubbish so after I recently bought some things for my daughter and they were here within days then they need to be raved about....

First is My Little Patch, they have some fab bibs, bags and other bits lovingly hand made with gorgeous stand out fabrics, quick delivery and I am thrilled with my buys!

Next is Knot Just Jigs, I recently had a personalised item made from here, it was ordered, made and delivered within a week! Great customer service from a lovely lady.

Finally my rather long haired daughter needed some hair clips so I ordered her some from The Baby Bow Boutique, ordered one day received the next, gorgeous and just what I wanted.

If you have had good customer service then tell everyone about it and hopefully they'll receive the same and pass it on. Helping the smaller companies who care to carry on doing a great job :)

Parent and child parking! Grrr!

It really gets on my nerves that people, even those that have probably struggled getting their children in and out of cars, park in the parent and child spaces when they don't have children with them!

I wouldn't mind the spaces being on the other side of the car park if there was a safe walk way to get to the store and it meant I didn't have to worry about coming back to the car with no space to get in myself let alone a child in a car seat.

But they are at the front for a reason, it is safe as you don't have to walk across a car park where they can't be seen behind cars and as anyone with a toddler knows they don't always want to walk next to you or walk at all!

Shortly after we had my daughter we went on a family outing to Ikea, came back to the car to find two cars parked so close that even my husband couldn't get into the car. I managed to slide down and struggle in to reverse the car out so we could get the kids in!

How totally inconsiderate, had I been on my own I would have had to go back in the shop and ask for someone to call out their registration or look after the children whilst I got in the car and moved it.

It's not just the point of 'if I had the kids with me', if I hadn't of been there my husband literally couldn't have gotten into the car...really people need to think.

It isn't tolerated if, I, an able bodied member of the public parks in a disabled space so I don't see why these are any different, these spaces are not there for convenience they are there out of necessity and safety for our children.

Rant over and yes this did happen today and no I didn't say anything this time as I couldn't be bothered to get into an argument!

Welcome one and welcome all...

I used to tweet, you may have followed me and listened to my many rants but it all got a bit to much and sometimes felt like the art of tweeting had gone and was now just a crap MSN messenger where you were limited to 140 characters!

Also there was lots of politics and sometimes the meaning gets lost and things are taken way to seriously, so I took a break and to be honest haven't missed it that much.

I did however miss having somewhere to vent my annoyances or excitement over new things so I have set up this blog as a place where I can jot down a few sentences about my day, moment of despair or general stuff.

Hope you like and do say hello if you know who I am x