And as the final curtain falls..........

I think it is time to bring this blog to a cose. It was about my life as Mr.B's sidekick, Mrs.B. that is no longer the story.

If you still find yourself compelled to follow the roadcrash that is the story of my life you can read more here be nice to see you!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

running on empt; physically and metaphorically speaking!

physicaly I am exhausted; this course, my family situation, winter, birthdays are all wearing me down.
my mind is empty of any thoughts other than - whats the next thing to be completed for this course and whencan I next get some sleep.

not an inspiring blog entry but thats me folks!

Sometimes

Sometimes it strikes me how lonely I am

I could be in the house with the family

I can be in supermarket in the middle of the day

I can be on campus surrounded by chattering students

But I am alone, so lonely

I always have been

I mourn for what I have lost

When I should be celebrating what I have

Jumping on the band-wagon?

If the writers at the BBC would have their way this is how all baby loss women would end up. Insane. Baby snatchers. Locked up.
And as for what they would have you believe midwives act, well don't get me started! mistakes about paperwork (the amazing disappearing talipes!), loss of 20% from birthweight not explored, disregarding concerns over mums mental health............................

But less of that, and back to my main point;

Am I jumping on the backlash bandwagon?

No I have decided I can not be a sheep and be sucked into the whole 'can't-miss-an-episode-of-my-soap' mentality

Eastenders writers you have let yourself, and your viewers, down badly.

I have watched Eastenders since the very beginning, I have loved the characters (not all, some grated on me!), admired how you have tackled some subjects (the Mark HIV storyline springs to mind).

But this Ronnie / Kat storyline is wrong.

So many inconsistency have been thrown up, I am not even going to start listing them as I am sure you have spotted them or read about them for themselves, but if you are unaware of it all I can recommend a read of this fabulous blog as she is very witty with her observations.

As for me I won't be watching Eastenders until they finish with this god awful handling of a very sensitive subject. I understand that originally the story was going to go on for a year, then with the Ronnie actress leaving they brought that forward to May. Yesterday at uni I overheard two girls saying its being brought to an end now.

I have complainedto the Beeb about their handling of this - and if you feel as strongly as me then please add your comments

If you want to know how this has affected someone personally please visit Jeanettes blog.

Take note BBC, women who losetheir babies are not insane baby stealers -they are human beings with feelings!

These boots are made for walking.......................

Last year my faithful walking boots of 8 years sprung a leak, I was devastated it had taken such a long time to break those boots in and they were now like a second skin. We have been through so many exciting adventures together - RIP lovely boots.

This year I have acquired a new pair of boots - from Hotter shoes new range of gore-tex shoes for women.

And they arrived just in time - the day before the massive snowfall hit the UK!

Well, WOW! so comfortable, no breaking in needed from the first time I popped them onto my dainty (hahahhaah!) feet.

They have had a lot of use over the last few weeks from; traipsing in the garden to fill the bird feeders, battling through the slush to buy milk and even to the theatre! (OK so it was 'only' the matinee performance of a pantomime!)

Would I recommend them? yes, yes, yes definitely. I have the blue version and even my 18 year old said they are nice, and look cute with jeans. They are not great big clod hoppers, looking like a foot soldier would wear them, they are definitely more suited to the genteel female!

Skiing!

So there you go she is a natural! apparently.

Her instructor was an absolute diamond, so patient with middle child. And incredibly encouraging



so what can I say about the Snow Centre? The staff were lovely! from helping us find out where to go to helping us work out what clothing and equipment in what size middle child needed.



once she was ready and packed off with the instructor, her Dad, me and the littliest went upstairs to watch - you can choose to watch from an open balcony (although it can be up to minus 8c) or you can sit in front of a fire, with a glass of something in your hand (or a frothy coffee from the costa) here she is ready, but not looking too happy

but its ok, she has red boots!

possibly her favourite bit was the cable that took her up!




although she was pretty good at coming down!






I guess it will be Ski Lessons now then *sigh*

How do they do it?

Two questions I want to ask about university life;

1. How is it that, normally lovely and interesting, midwives can turn a two hour lecture into a complete mind numbing experience?
2. How do full time students do it? lectures day after day after day, week after week after week. Thank heavens my course is 60% practice based!

We are currently finishing the 3rd of 4 weeks in University, something I had been looking forward to to have a rest from 12 hour shifts. But now I cant wait to get back out there!
See you in SCBU in a weeks time!

Vitamins again!

Blinking winter! every year winter comes and smallest child gets ill.
Now I know you cant get a cold from being cold, but why does she always catch a cold when it is cold?
And of course at rising 6 she is at THAT age, she wont eat many veggies and is very limited on her meat intake (anything that is hard to eat such as chops, chicken, bacon etc is rejected) I refuse to cook alternative meals for her, and so she often goes without (mean huh?)

So when I came across these multivitimins for kids I was impressed as they ticked a lot of boxes for me;

• nut and gluten free (middle daughter has a nut allergy, the jury is still out on what the smallest child seems to react to!)
• no artificial colourings or flavourings
• handy one dose packs of fruit flavoured chewy objects! - the kids think they get sweets everyday mouhahahaha
• contains vitamins A, C, D, E & B12
• the company behind vitfits have teamed up with kidsaid and donate 10p from every monthly supply pack to them. Every little helps!

But I guess the question is do the kids like them and have they had a significant impact on their health?

The kids love them, they taste nice and the little packs are cute (although these things don't always sit easy with my reducing packaging theory, I let it slip if the kids take their vitamins!).

have they had a significant effect on their health? well that's a harder one to gauge. I think it would be fairer to say that they certainly haven't had a negative impact, but as the kids took vits anyway I haven't seen an improvement, but certainly not a higher incidence of colds and bugs etc. So yes I guess they do their thing!

I am looking forward to getting their new product when it is released, which is an Omega 3 product, as this is also something I give the girls - mainly because of the reputed benefit to children who are on the Autistic Spectrum.

Its also nice that the company have provided a bit of fun for the kids on the website with their fitvits health club.

A Dedication to my Gorgeous Mummy

Happy Birthday
to a wonderful woman
who has given me the determination
to carry on
no matter what crap
is hurled at me
from a great height

Happy Birthday Mum, I love you

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

MMmmmmmm thought that had ended when............................

I left school!

Eh? Teachers that don't like me!

I have a lecturer, who teaches a subject which challenges me. My thoughts about myself and my attitudes to others. Sometimes (OK frequently) I question whats being said (something the said lecturer claims she encourages). However I always feel as if she thinks very little of my opinion - or puts my opinion down in a way that makes me feel stupid. That makes me feel sad.

So today I have been to the Learning Resource Centre (library to us oldies) and got as many of the recommended books for her module as I can, and this week I will read and read - I will show her I am not stupid!

one for you and one for me

There's a new Blogger in the Blogasphere - give her a go, lovely girl!

And now one for me (and you I guess!) tonight I have shared a lovely Indian take away meal with the teenage daughter and her boyfriend. The restaurant - New Cafe Masala, sadly, doesn't have a website but you can get their details here. The food was lovely, we got a free bottle of, chilled, passable Pinit Grigio and when we had to phone them to point out they had sent a Balti instead of a plain old chicken curry, they sent out the replacement and refunded the difference with a smile and a friendly word!

Give 'em a go, they are also lovely!

Midwifery? or mmmmmm Nursing?!?

Never ever thought I would wonder whether I should be training to be a Nurse!

But after 2 weeks on the Gynae ward, where we have outliers (normally geriatrics) as well as Gynae patients, I found a side to myself I was amazed to find. I actually enjoyed caring for these women..........................................

but no Midwifery is definitely for me, I am sure!

A Sunday Post of Ramblings

I feel I neglect this blog a lot of the times.
I certainly dont keep you up to date with what is going on in my life, what is being thrown at me and how I am dealing with it.................................................................

So maybe its about time to come clean and tell you the biggest news that has happened to me this year....................................................

Something I have been hiding from you, scared to put the words on the blog cos it makes them real.......................................................

But worse things could happen, I still have my health, my children, my parents, my home, my sanity (only just)...............................................

But what I dont have anymore is my husband............................................

Earlier this year, after 14 years together and less than 3 years of marriage Mr. B told me he no longer loved me, and wasnt happy.

So thats it, 41 with 3 kids and 2 failed marriages, some parts of me have gone so far south you need a passport to visit them. And All Alone.

Ski Sunday!

the life and times of Mrs.B

OK well maybe not exactly Ski Sunday stuff. But maybe a bit of eddy the Eagle style fun for my 9 year old.

The 9 year old, you may recall, is Autistic. Part of her diagnosis is symptoms of ADHD, which in short means she has FAR TOO MUCH ENERGY! She is constantly on the going and sitting still is not something she looks upon favourably!

Although not a fantastic sportswoman she loves having a go - street dance, netball, swimming, yoga, trampolining, cycle to name a few. So when I found out about the new Snow Centre near us I thought it would be a great idea for her to try.

She is very excited about giving it a go - after we explained to her that it was actually near Aunty Judes and not somewhere in an aeroplane!

Watch this space for an update - maybe this will be her 'thing' and could lead to the excitment of ski lessons!

Just Brilliant!

That is the best way I can describe my week on Triage.

I love it! So much variety, So much experiences.

So much experience at monitoring pregnant women!

And I even got to deliver a surprise baby on the ward (whoops!)

Shall be sad to leave, tomorrow is my last day - definately a cake day!

Next week theatres..........................................

totally retro, blast from the past!

Don't tell 'em about the honey mummy!

If you are of a certain age like me, you might remember the excitement when your Mum actually bought something more exciting than weetabix on her weekly shop with her shopping trolley!

The honey monster is a key figure in my youthful breakfasting. So when laying eyes on a box of these I thought 'well why not!'

I brought the box arrived on Saturday morning at chez moi. After a breakfast bowlful each saturday and sunday, and also a bowful (without milk) each for movie snack instead of popcorn - and the lot was gone!

Yup a huge hit, and the games on the box have kept the kids amused for sometime.

It's October 2010

And so one week into year two and...................................

I feel no different, but I have had a brilliant week visiting GOSH, spending a night shift with the paramedics and observing a consultant in his fetal medecine clinic. Yes I am knackered!

Next week is a week on maternity triage, which will be the last maternity related placement I will have in 2010 - after that its general nursing!

Trying it on for size

About this time last year I was very excited about starting Uni.

and tonight I go to bed as a first year midwifery student............................

and wake up tomorrow as a SECOND year midwifery student!!!!!!

Woohoo!

Finally

I came home from work today and I have something that promises to be a lovely bathroom!

All the issues I raised with the chappy yesterday have been adressed!

And I have floor!

And the work downstairs has started, a new loo and sink (the smallest sink in the world!) and the tiles have been removed - could it mean that the end is in sight?!

I do hope so!

Pictures soon I promise

So Who's Insurance Should I Claim On?

Yes the bathroom situation has got that bad!

And I am so glad I sorted out my buildings and contents insurance!

What I should be doing, is sitting in a beautiful - very almost - finished bathroom. With candles, bubbles and wine.

But what I have is a disaster! the decorator has made such a bad job I have had to call in the site manager - who was also appalled at the workmanship and finish. Hopefully things in that quarter will be rectified - AND VERY SOON!

But just to put the icing on the cake - tonight I tried to pretend that the deorating wasnt so bad, and ran myself a lovely hot bath - and as I was a bit chilly decided that I would pop the heating on.

Pah what a mistake that was. There I am lying in a lovely bath, washing away the aches and pains of the day, listening to that lovely gentle trickle of water going out of the overflow.

Then suddenly - splosh, splash as water - somewhere - hit the floor - somewhere?!

After a bit of investigating I found the puddle, under the boiler - coming from the pipes *sigh*

So what is it? My home buildings insurance? contents (the flooring is damaged)? I do have cheap home contents insurance, but thats due to no claims in years - would this bump my premiums up?