Earlier in the year I read ‘Before I Go To Sleep‘ by S J Watson. I liked it – but it had been hyped by friends before I read it – and it wasn’t as amazing as I’d expected. I went into this, SJ Watson’s next book, without any preconceived ideas apart from this fairly vague Amazon blurb:
“She loves her husband. She’s obsessed by a stranger. She’s a devoted mother. She’s prepared to lose everything. She knows what she’s doing. She’s out of control. She’s innocent. She’s guilty as sin. She’s living two lives. She might lose both . . .”
Again SJ Watson is writing as a woman (he’s a bloke) – this time as Julia. She obviously has her historic demons (it is revealed fairly early on that she’s an alcoholic – and I felt these parts were described incredibly well, it even made me go properly on the wagon for a bit!!) The story is based about the fact that her sister has been murdered in Paris – and Julia’s attempt to uncover what has happened.
I can’t really say much more without giving away huge chunks of the plot – it twists and turns brilliantly with lots of things interlinking. Sometimes it is a bit far fetched – but not so much it makes it totally unbelievable. The use of social media / the internet / apps makes it seem very up to date in setting – and all of this makes some of the coincidences less coincidental.
I have to say there were times when I was shouting at Julia to tell someone else the truth – but to actually be in that situation must be so difficult, and reasonable behaviour may well go out the window.
As with Before I Go To Sleep it picks up pace towards the end and gets more and more exciting – but still the ending is a total shock. I can’t say any more than that!!
I really enjoyed it – much more than Before I Go To Sleep – and would definitely recommend it.
Way back in Autumn I said I would take the same 2 pictures out of my front and back windows each season, to keep a record of the changing views.
Today the prompt over at Sticky Fingers is ‘Spring’ – and it was a GLORIOUS day and so photos were duly taken. Let’s be honest – they may well beat ‘Summer’ knowing what British weather is like!!
They are so bright and hopeful. I also like the fact you can just about see the St George’s flag flying from the church (not sure why? An Easter thing??)
But I also realised that I never posted the ‘Winter’ photos? Whoops! So here they are – doesn’t it look cold and frosty!
I am a big fan of the Facebook account ‘Overheard in Waitrose’ and the Twitter account @highgatemums – to the point that I think my 4 children should perhaps reside in said supermarket in North London (not the Highgate in Birmingham nearer where we live – that’s very different – and doesn’t have a Waitrose for a start!!)
So – basically, it’s kids being up their own arses that both things highlight. Hey – we can even do sub-categories:
TRAVEL
The eldest, when 5, was learning about modes of transport – she was asked at school if she’d been on a bus ‘Yes, that’s what takes you from the airport to the plane’!
4 year old, on Monarch flight to Faro in Portugal last Summer ‘Mummy, why doesn’t my chair turn into a bed, and why haven’t I got my own TV?’
Same child told me this Easter hols ‘Mummy, do you know, we are going on holiday JUST IN THE CAR – not on a plane?’
SPORTING
Son, when off to see his then 9 year old cousin playing football, wouldn’t eat his breakfast before we left home, commented ‘It’s ok, I’ll just get some chips and nuggets in the Box when we get there’ – having been spoilt at Villa Park didn’t quite grasp the concept of Hampshire Under 10s in a local park.
IT
3 year old, wailing ‘Mummy, the wifi is down and I can’t watch Netflix’
Children, when being called through for their dinner at our holiday home in the Lakes this week, ‘But WHY can’t we pause the TV?’
EXCEPTIONS
So, sometimes, the kids do remind me that we’ve kept their feet almost on the ground:
The eldest, recently, ‘Mum, I’m not sure this Waitrose Ardennes Pate is really ‘essential’?!’ …………
From the outset I need to declare an interest in this week’s theme! I’ve known Finlay since he was a baby – and am heavily involved in organising Operation Teddy Bear – to the point that I’m dreaming about teddies!!
Actually I blogged about Fin last year – when the Gallery theme was ‘Spectacular‘.
Since then Fin has continued with his treatment – and living the life a 10 year old boy should with school, fun with family and friends, and some of his favourite sports.
He’s also passionate about raising money for both Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Brain Tumour Research – which we are supporting with Operation Teddy Bear – as well as trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The support from people far and wide has been astonishing – from donations of teddy bears and cash – to #opteddybear selfies on social media – from people who know Fin – and others, including some celebs! We’ve still got almost a month until the event on May 3rd – so any support that you can give would be massively welcome. The Just Giving site is here.
I’m off to scour the charity shops of the Lake District for teddies whilst we’re away for Easter!
So – here are the Price family with their #opteddybear pictures:
And the construction company we own also managed some ‘Builder Bears’!!!
Please pop across and see other people’s teddy bears:
Last week the prompt over on the Sticky Fingers blog for the gallery was ‘boys’ – and so, unsurprisingly, last week I wrote about my boys – and this week it’s the turn of my girls.
After we’d had our eldest daughter and then son – and some pretty traumatic births – we decided enough was enough and husband had the snip. As people were all too keen to point out ‘you’ve had one of each, why would you want any more?’ (Why do people say that?!?)
Fast forward 4 years and I’m WEEPING in the M&S school uniform section buying my ‘baby’ his school trousers and decided I’d quite like another baby (well, actually 2, as my OCD couldn’t cope with an odd number of children!) Husband was more than happy to oblige – and 6 weeks post op we were pregnant with baby number 3, and 16 months after her baby number 4 arrived too!
So girls massively outweigh boys in this house – there is A LOT of pink! They are already all their own characters – and seem to be getting feistier with each Miss Price iteration.
The eldest is BRILLIANT with her little sisters (most of the time!) and in return they look up to her massively (as I would like to think my sisters do to me?!?).
The little two being so close in age is great – and they play beautifully together (they also fight like cat and dog – but we’ll gloss over that for now!) The fact they are both girls makes it very different to the older kids relationship. I am one of 3 girls – but throwing an additional brother into the mix really changes the dynamic.
I used to love the American TV programme ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and the dynamics between all of the siblings – and I look forward to that playing out in our family in the future – definitely different to just ‘sisters’.
So these are my girls – pop over to The Gallery to see other peoples’ girls…….
Shared parental leave had not really hit my radar (after 4 kids, I’m definitely not planning on adding to the brood again!) but when Mumsnet asked people to blog about it, I thought I should probably do a bit of research with my ’employer’ hat on if nothing else!
Mumsnet were asked by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to find out what Mumsnet Bloggers think about this new policy for parents.
The team there say “From April 2015, parents will have greater choice over how they share time off work to care for their child. Shared Parental Leave allows working couples to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay in a way that suits their work and family needs. For example, parents can take time off together or they can tag team, stopping and starting leave and returning to work in between if they wish. You can check your eligibility and how much pay you can get here. ”
Now when I had my oldest 2 children I worked in the finance department of a multinational PLC. I loved my job – and ‘back in those days’ maternity leave tended to be 6 months. I kept my hand in with the odd conference call / visit during my maternity leave (in fact the only time ever I was successful with a breast pump was in the office after I popped out of a meeting as my boobs were about to explode! Obviously nothing was sterilised and I was tipping the milk away – and so that’s why I got loads!!) and went back after 6 months each time – and was totally ready for it!
By the time I had children 3 and 4, I worked in our family business which made things very different! I was answering emails whilst in labour and working very soon afterwards (obviously it was 2 weeks if HMRC are reading this………) Other friends were having a full year off – but my life was one big juggle – so I didn’t get to do the whole ‘maternity leave’ thing at all. The babies often came into the office with me (we had a travel cot set up!) and attended meetings with the bank manager, quality auditor and vat man.
On my desk at a few days old
My husband has always worked for the family business – and so has been really flexible – which is great when you phone him in tears with a screaming baby in the middle of the day and he can pop home, but not so great when he has to go and sign some contracts in the lobby of the hospital when you’re giving birth! He is a massively hands on Dad – but has said himself that he would find it really hard to be at home all the time taking on full childcare responsibilities. I think a lot of that is the multi-tasking thing! It’s totally gender stereotypical – but I am often doing 27 things at once, not to mention all the things I just know and are in my head – but he has to do things one at a time, and if it’s not written on the list for him to do, then it can be missed. I have been known to write ‘change nappy even if it’s just wee not poo’ and ‘give them a drink during the day not just at mealtimes’ on the crib sheets when I was going out somewhere!!
Before I had kids, I used to see people ‘swanning about on maternity leave’ and think what an easy life they had – until it was me with the baby 24/7 and I realised that going to work would be the easy option. The husband totally sees that too (he used to ‘have a meeting’ and go and have a kip in his car!!)
Who knows, if our circumstances had been different – then maybe shared parental leave would have been utilised – and I guess that is what it comes down to, giving both parents choices to suit their own situations.
Now, as an employer this could affect me much more. We run a construction company – and whilst I’m proud to say we have a couple of female painters in additional to the female office staff – it is still a very male dominated environment. All of the guys who’ve had babies have taken their 2 weeks paternity leave – which I am pleased to see – but I am not sure how many would opt for the shared parental leave. In most cases they are the higher wage earner, and they just couldn’t afford to take the pay cut and still support their families. I also suspect, albeit wrongly, they’d be in for some stick from their workmates on site if they were going to be ‘stay at home Dads’.
I now feel like I know what we need to offer to all of our staff, male and female alike – and I have to say that in a small business like ours, the operational difficulties of losing members of staff for chunks of time could be problematic – but obviously we would work around that.
Although I’m not sure we can allow all of the staff to bring all of their kids into the office like we do sometimes………
Boys are outnumbered 2:1 in this house (in fact it’s 4:2 but I am a maths geek and can’t bear not to divide down to the lowest common denominator!) I have to say I think this is standing the boy in good stead for the future – he’s already a hit with the girls at school, and I’m sure it’s because he knows how to deal with the female of the species! I also fear we could be in for a whole world of hurt when he’s a bit older as he is totally his father’s son!! A friend has already said he’s accepted that our boy will probably break both of his daughters’ hearts at some point…..
Here are my boys on New Year’s Eve – one has drunk more champagne than the other…….
I also love this one of them climbing Snowdon last summer. I’ve also realised they’re always standing the same way round – like Ant and Dec?!
So these are my boys – go and see others over at The Gallery on the Sticky Fingers Blog…
I have been lucky enough to do 3 US cities in the last 6 months! Back in October the husband and I went to New York for a few days and then I had a girls’ weekend in Chicago in December. So I went for a hat trick with Washington DC last week!
Washington preparations
We had a fab time in New York and we try to get away for a few days every 6 months or so just as ‘us’ and without the kids in tow. For us, midweek works best, as the children have all of their normal routines and so don’t really have time to miss us! Our fabulous nanny stays – and the kids love it that she’s having ‘sleepovers’ – and we know they’re in safe hands. So we were deciding where to cash the airmiles in for this trip – and we both LOVE the TV show Scandal (if you haven’t watched it – then you can get the previous series box sets on catch up TV!) which is set in and around Washington DC – so that is where we decided to visit!
My major problem throughout the trip was remembering that it was the Obamas that live in The White House and not Fitz and Mellie!!
So here are my highlights – and compare / contrast with other places in the States.
Scandal spotting
It is a well known fact that customs officers / border guards DO NOT HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR – but of course that didn’t stop the husband telling the official that was checking our passports and ESTAs that we were hoping to spot Olivia Pope (the leading lady of Scandal!) But thankfully we weren’t deported before we’d even collected our bags!!
A lot of the action in Scandal takes place on benches outside the White House. After much walking about we couldn’t find the exact locations – and suspect it’s in the bit that is fenced off unless you’re important – but we re-enacted as best as we could…
Pretending to be some kind of spy…..
We also took advantage of the fact that the US are 5 weeks ahead of us in the UK in terms of viewing – and watched those episodes on our computer in our hotel room whilst sampling the mini bar – living the dream for parents of small children – uninterrupted TV with a plentiful supply of booze and snacks!
The White House
This is possibly the most iconic building in the United States – and so is obviously a must see (and a must selfie!)
White House selfie
We were both surprised how small it is (relative to ‘Buckingham Palace’ or such like) – although the husband’s comment that it looked like ‘a big house in Barnt Green’ was perhaps under-selling it a bit. Having said that the husband is renowned for being disappointed by landmarks. He was concerned the Sydney Opera House looked dirty, and the Burj Al Arab looked dated!!
I was surprised how close you can get in terms of being able to see in. If Fitz and Mellie Barack and Michelle were having a glass of wine on their balcony – you could TOTALLY see them from the street – weird!
The rear of the White HouseLook – you can see onto the balcony!!
We weren’t organised / special enough to get a tour (Charles and Camilla were there instead – and we were asked a number of times by barmen / taxi drivers if we knew them!!) but the nearby Visitor Centre was very informative and actually quite emotional.
History
OK – so the US is not renowned for it’s history (which is why when we go to Stratford Upon Avon, just down the road, it’s crawling with Americans!) but if you want American History then DC is a great place to go.
Looking down Pennsylvania Avenue
The different monuments and memorials – The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial amongst others, were all really moving and it was interesting to see them at day and then amazingly lit up at night (something you also see in Scandal!!)
The Washington Monument
We did a bus tour (in fact we did 2, as the one we’d pre booked was rubbish – so we did a Big Bus one instead #toptip) and this made sure that we saw lots – and also got lots of information about the city.
Going out to the Arlington National Cemetery was incredibly moving – the acres and acres of graves take your breath away.
A very moving sight
The tomb of the unknown soldier was particularly poignant – especially with the Pentagon viewed in the background.
The tomb of the unknown soldier
The husbands OCD was impressed by the precision of the matching white headstones that go on for miles and miles (but he did struggle with the more higgledy piggledy ones).
Higgledy piggledy graves
I also hadn’t realised that despite remarrying, Jackie Kennedy Onassis was buried beside JFK.
The Kennedy gravesLooking back towards DC from Arlington
Museums
There are A LOT of museums in DC – and you could probably spend a week and not see all of them (and we had shopping to do, bars to drink in and Scandals to watch!) Having taken recommendations from friends before, we went to the National Air and Space Museum, the Museum of America History and the International Spy Museum – all of which were really interesting.
Girl power plane
I am only ‘slightly’ disappointed that we didn’t go to the National Museum of Natural History where Olivia’s Dad works as a cover for his B6-13 activities……..
Georgetown
This area has a really different feel to a usual big city. The shops are great (the hotel recommended a toy shop which was brilliant) and it feels very ‘trendy’! The waterfront area looks up and coming – but there was a lot of building work going on – and we had our worst meal of the whole trip at a restaurant there that had been recommended as ‘the place to eat’ by a taxi driver! Lots of the houses have had famous residents historically and the architecture is really interesting.
The waterfront at Georgetown overlooking the river
Living like a local
One of the husband’s friends from when he was growing up moved to the States 20+ years ago – and they haven’t seen each other since. He now works and lives near Washington. We met him at his office and then he took us to meet his lovely wife and son at their house (complete with British bar in the basement!) and we went out for dinner with them. It was lovely to see the ‘real’ side of the city and it’s surroundings and how the locals live – and not just do ‘touristy’ stuff.
The Stegg and Flower English pub!!
Walking
I had a Fitbit for my birthday, a few days before we went away, and it was worn AT ALL TIMES. We walked a lot – particularly the day we went to Arlington National Cemetery – that day we managed over 22,000 steps. And up and down the stairs at the Lincoln Memorial – boom to the ‘floors climbed’ stat.
The steps!
The husband did get a bit annoyed that I insisted on walking everywhere just to get my steps up (kind of the point of the Fitbit that he bought me!) and by the time we flew home his feet were covered in blisters and his legs and back were aching ridiculously – whoops.
It was also interesting to see how undisturbed my sleep is in a hotel and even on a plane, compared to at home with the pesky kids!!
Overall we loved Washington DC. It doesn’t have the hustle and bustle of New York or Chicago – but I felt safer there (possibly the men everywhere with ‘Secret Service’ on their vests helped with that – although clearly they aren’t very secret!!) and it was great to be able to see the sky. We will definitely be back – and just maybe we’ll bump into Olivia Pope and Associates ……
A few weeks ago I skimmed over the fact that pilates had sorted my bad back out – but thought I should probably elucidate!
I have suffered with a dodgy lower back for pretty much all of my adult life. It’s flared up at random times – sometimes with something specific (pregnancy) but at other times seemingly random (getting out of bed!). I relied on seeing a chiropractor as and when it flared up but thought I’d just have to live with it as both of my parents had suffered periodically with bad backs so I assumed it was just the way I was built.
When I was moaning about it on Facebook one time (I do like to overshare!) a fellow local Mum suggested I should try pilates with her.
Now, I had (misplaced!) ideas about what pilates involved. To me it was what ladies did at David Lloyd (other gym chains too I’m sure!) who didn’t want to get too sweaty or mess their hair up. You know, the same ladies who swim breaststroke with their heads out of the water so they can chat as they dawdle up and down the pool?! I thought if you didn’t get ridiculously hot and sweaty you couldn’t possibly be working hard! I also thought it was just done on a mat in a big studio – and was nervous of looking like a tit in front of all of these lithe, toned yummy mummies (perhaps I should have realised that they must do something to look like that and so maybe it did work?!)
Anyway – I agreed to have a 1 to 1 session with Steff at the studio that she works from.
When I arrived I thought I’d stepped into Christian Grey’s red room (or what I imagined it be like having never read the 50 shades books!) The equipment looked ‘interesting’!!!
Steff talked through my back issues – and then we did lots of little things for her to look at my posture, flexibility, strength etc. I have to say that the first time I did come away feeling like I hadn’t done much – but thought I’d try a proper session the next time – and I was soon hooked!
Because I was rubbish at lying down (cue rude comments!) we did a lot of work initially on the Core Align so I could be upright.
It really made me think about how I hold myself and how I walk (who knew your bum was supposed to assist in walking – my legs were doing all of the work – which could explain why my bum is so wobbly?!) It really was back to basics with all of my core and pelvic stability (especially after 4 kids, and 4 natural births of enormous children!)
We progressed onto other equipment soon (although these aren’t me – they are photos of the Balanced Body equipment that we use!)
I’ve also realised that pilates is about my whole body – not just my dodgy lower back. Sometimes my feet / neck / upper back aren’t feeling great and we’ll address those in a session rather than just the ‘normal’ work.
My husband has also got involved – and we even ended up buying a cadillac (the bottom of the pictures above) for at home. Although he does admit to a penchant for the ‘fluffy bunnies’ that your feet have to go into – and might be being a bit more ’50 shades’ about the whole thing than me!!!!
I’ve also become aware of the equipment being used by other people – the Beckhams have a cadillac, I’ve seen pictures of Andy Murray on one – and have read in magazines about ‘slebs going to their ‘reformer pilates class’!!
Pilates really has totally changed my back issues, posture, the way I walk – and the understanding I have of how my body works and fits together. I hide this well under excess upholstery – but it has helped no end.
Now we’ve got the underlying issues sorted we are getting more hardcore – and maybe I will end up suspended upside down one day!
I posted a few weeks ago about how I wanted to address my fitness and associated weight – and this was a bit of a theme for my birthday this week – along with other fabulous presents – chocolates / candles / flowers / jewellery / perfume / clothes / vouchers / smellies / GIN & TONIC LIPBALM!
I had asked for some specific things to assist my mission:
The Fitbit and sports bra were at my request – but I also got some body analysing scales (frightening!)
So not only will the Fitbit record my exercise and steps – it will also record my sleep. I see this as a useful tool in the ‘I was up so much with the kids last night’ discussions we often have! Perhaps all new parents should be issued with a pair of Fitbits to ensure there is evidence to back this up the next morning #newmarketingangle
I’d read about Ella of Deliciously fame in Red magazine and thought the book looked great – then a friend made some of the fudge for me and it was AMAZING – so this was also on my birthday list. It’s basically plant-based, gluten and dairy free cooking – but not dull, bland, ‘diet’ food – this is real, tasty food that is also good for your body. Win / win!
What a lucky girl I am. All of this has really got me motivated again.
I set up the Fitbit and scales last night – whilst drinking champagne and eating chocolate – now that’s ironic Alanis!!
So onwards we go – 2,000 steps just doing my normal morning routine with the kids before 9am #boom
This Price is Usually Right 
