Leaving London and downshifting to become a full-time parent and rural homemaker
Having considered a huge range of possible cures for our itchy feet Bealers and I finally found a house we may move to in a few weeks while off work this during this half term holiday (all five of us laid low with stomach bugs and filthy colds).
Possible options have been wide ranging and have [...]
I heard a couple of really sad and scary tales recently of young children (friends’ of friends) having to have rotten milk teeth removed (one child was having to have twenty removed the other needed five taking out). I couldn’t believe it and wondered whether it was parental ignorance rather than negligence to blame.
Loads of [...]
Even as a grown-up prior to having school aged children I couldn’t help but think of September as a new beginning. I guess after so many many years in education where we had a lonnnnng vacation and then a fresh new start with new teachers, new subjects, new kit, new friends etc. it is inevitable [...]
I’m going to come out and say it here and say it proudly that I’m actively not one of those mums who sign the kids up for swimming, ballet, soccer, music lessons, horseriding, Brownies/Scouts etc. Its partly because I am a bit lazy and not that good at committing myself to things but mainly its [...]
Our little son was very good at communicating his need to watch tv before he could even speak. As 15 month olds they communicated with us via sign language as we had taught them from age seven months basic signs for milk, various animals, food, ‘more’, ‘help’. We made up easy signs when required [...]
As someone who used to have a job as a crisis management coordinator for a big global firm. I realised this weekend while talking to my uncle about oil prices and how heavily our island society depends on oil to transport food that my young family is currently woefully ill-equiped to cope with any kind [...]
As we were fortunate enough to be given LOADS of second hand washable nappies I am really enjoying not having to use disposable nappies which I’m glad about as disposables cost a fortune (about £10 for a week’s worth of botty changes) and they also are super stinky in the household refuse bin (even when [...]
The Willow Den in the background will get much leafier this summer
Last March we bought the willow withies to make a willow den for the children as our garden has no shade after midday during the summer months. Withies can be bought from November-March in the UK when the wood is dormant.
We followed the instructions [...]
I was fed up of watching steel ‘TP’ climbing frames go for more than I wanted to pay on eBay. I’d decided a while ago that a climbing frame would be a great investment in my kids health and had some money given to them for Christmas by their Aunty and Grandma in the giant [...]
Hmmm. I’ve just been watching the boldest, chunkiest rat while I did the washing up. He/she/it was waddling around the path in the garden, popped up the apple tree and sat looking at me then waddled back down, had a sniff around the drain and the rubbish bin (no lid and generally has refuse sacks [...]