When I first started my blog it was very fact based however over the years it has become more personal, especially after I decided to blog about my miscarriages last year, however there are many things I still won’t blog about.
* I don’t blog about friends or family explicitly, ie I won’t slag anyone off or reveal their identities in any way. I may mention a family member but only if it’s really necessary to whatever I’m blogging about.
* I don’t post any photos of family (other than Erin, myself and husband) or friends.
* I won’t post anything that may cause Erin to be embarassed when she’s older.
* I don’t write anything I wouldn’t like a stranger reading.
* I don’t post about other kids I know, for fear that there mum might actually find my blog and kill me
* If I’m writing about something personal I always get a second opinion from my husband. He was actually the one that encouraged me to write about the miscarriages last year and he was right so I trust his opinion.
* I won’t write anything that I wouldn’t like my Nan reading (she reads this from time to time), so erm, extra curricular activities are off the menu
Glasgow City Council have paid £95,000 for a logo for the Commonwealth Games made up of the primary colours (plus green), the letter G and a few circles, hardly value is it. I’m a big fan of the Olympics and these other large sporting events and don’t usually begrudge the funding at all. I do like a bit of value for money though and this overly simplistic rip off logo (apparently the logo is very similar to the logo of some arts council, shown on left of pic). I’d rather have seen the ‘project’ farmed out to the schools and have the kids come up with something, and give them the ninety-five grand.
Source: The Scotsman
Closer To Home
To the prat that overtook me at high speed, next to a central reservation, metres before a red light which you ploughed through whilst displaying ‘L’ plates thanks for nearly killing me you loser. I hope you got to wherever you were going in such a rush, I can’t imagine you’ll be driving for too much longer.
I get a lot of ideas last thing at night and first thing in the morning, regardless of when you get your ideas ensure you write them down or you risk losing them forever.
Write Posts at Naptime
This has always worked for me as it coincides with my best writing time, other alternatives include getting up earlier to blog or as a lot of parent bloggers do, go to bed later (eek!)
Finish Posts Before Reading Other Blogs
Don’t get suckered into reading your 100 blog strong RSS feed until you’ve finished your own posts. This is procrastination blog-stylee.
Write Posts in Advance
A classic tip that works especially well for mums as we don’t know when the next bout of teething will keep us from our second biggest passion in life is to write posts in advance and either schedule them to be published at a specific time using the date stamp in wordpress or publish them manually on the right day.
Don’t Get OSCD – Obesssive Stat Checking Disorder
This is a serious time suck and if you don’t want your blog to become sad and neglicted don’t even go there. Seriously. Beware. Steer clear of over analysing unique visitors and pageviews, spend your time writing good content instead.
Choose Only One or Two Social Media Sites
Choose one or two and focus all your time there, I enjoy twitter and facebook, for you it may be MySpace and del.ici.ous. The old adage rings true it’s quality not quantity that counts when it comes to these sites.
Mum Blogger E-Course
You knoew there was a plug coming Sign up for my free mum blogger e-course. The course is delivered by email giving you one lesson and tasks to work on each week keeping your blog on track and growing.
I went to see Alice in Wonderland on Saturday. So many people have asked me about it on twitter that I thought I’d do a quick review.
The Plot
Well obviously it follows the book which I’ve only read half of. In short (very short)Alice falls down a rabbit hole and discovers an underworld of strange characters. Alice needs to defeat the Jabberwocky to reinstate the White Queen as ruler of Underworld.
The Effects
The effects were amazing, I can no longer tell what is real and what is animated. The combination of computer graphics and 3D create a unique experience that is no longer akin to watching a film, it’s an experience. To me it felt the story was truly alive, like my imagination was playing out in front of my eyes.
The Cast
Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter and does a great job, some of the characteristics reminded me a bit of his take on Willy Wonka but his character in this film was far more exaggerated.
Helena Bonham Carter who I usually don’t rate stole the show for me, I thought she was the most believable as a storybook character.
Alice is played by Mia somebody or other, I didn’t think she was that remarkable, kind of adequate or maybe she was just up against it with the amazing supporting cast. I’d say the same for Anne Hathaway who plays the White Queen.
I very much enjoyed Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and dum, Alan Rickman as Absolem the caterpillar and Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, they all definitely do us brits proud. My mum liked Barbara Windsor as the Dormouse.
What’s it Like
Eccentric, a little dark as you’d expect from a Tim Burton film, well executed. In my opinion it’s too scary for younger children (under 7), especially in 3D.
What I Thought
I was blown away by the effects but the story was a little fantastical for me. I don’t think it could have been done much better though.
On Sunday after not ski-ing for ten years we ventured back to the dry ski slope where we learnt to ski as teenagers (and also where Alex proposed to me eleven years ago!).
We’ve long harboured a desire to go on a ski holiday and this was the first step towards that.
We’re fortunate that we live ten minutes away from an excellent slope that costs around £9 an hour including ski hire (much better than the eighty quid a lesson someone tweeted about).
The morning was eventful in that I managed to fall off the chairlift twice, although Alex has admitted to pushing me once. *Twice* I found myself flailing around on my back like a beatle as chairs skimmed my head and skiers avoided me in slalom fashion.
I *cough* also managed to ski into the back of a snowboarder who had fallen into my path, I snow ploughed for dear life but I hurtled into the back of him impaling him on my skis (oops) I apologised but neither him nor his instructor acknowledged my presence (rude). I spent the rest of time huffing about ‘newbies’ being on the main slope and how I have a new found dislike for the fancy modern snowboarder types pffft.
Anyhoo, here’s a wee video of me demonstrating my, erm, skills…
This is a guest post for ‘Guest Post Day’ by Babyrambles, a blog I didn’t read before guest post day but one that has found it’s way into my google reader already!
I’ve decided to travel 400 miles to sit at Erica’s desk. And some desk it is too. You should see this study I’m sitting in, it’s bigger than my living room at home. Erica came up with this brilliant idea of Guest Post Swap Day. But I’m not content with just swapping posts on each other’s blogs, I actually wanted to see what it would be like to be Erica. So I’m in her house. I’m lucky to be here, I almost didn’t get through the security on her gates. Oh and look, the butler’s just brought me some coffee. This Little Mummy lifestyle is a nice one.
How often do you put yourself in someone else’s shoes? I feel like I’m doing it today. It’s quite difficult because I don’t know Erica very well. That first paragraph was a bit of fiction by the way. I don’t think it does any harm to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, no matter how well you know them.
There’s an old saying, “Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.” I like that saying (and it applies to women too funnily enough). Billy Connolly added, “After that, who cares? He’s a mile away and you’ve got his shoes.” I like that as well.
My sister put herself in my shoes this week. She got married on Wednesday but I wasn’t at her wedding. I was so sad to miss it. Her wedding was in South Africa. We thought long and hard about going, but taking three little ones on a journey like that would have been too much for us. Phoning my sister and telling her we wouldn’t be going to her wedding was one of the hardest things I’ve done. She doesn’t have children and probably doesn’t appreciate what hard work they can be.
I worried my sister would be offended and hold a grudge against me. Missing her wedding was a tough and difficult decision to make. She was disappointed, but after some thought she understood. I spoke to her on her wedding day, she sounded so happy and I felt sad not to be sharing that with her. But she told me again that she understood why we couldn’t have gone. And that made me feel so much better. Our lifestyles are very different, but she was able to empathise with me. I appreciate that. It’s not a skill everyone has.
So today I’m in Erica’s shoes. I hope I’ve managed to do a reasonable job of filling them. And if I haven’t… well Erica will be back very shortly! Pretending to be Erica has made me think a bit differently. I’ve written a post here which I don’t think I’d have written for my own blog. I don’t know why, but I think I’ve enjoyed being a bit different for a day.
After writing ‘Oh what a perfect day..’ last week there were lots of great comments as always, this one stood out to me as needing further discussion.
Tracey D says…
…perfect days are created when we seek out the best vibes of the day….ignoring the worst. Easy to do? rarely, but when you do, perfect!
I actually quite like this idea, there’s a perfect day out there every day it’s finding it that’s the problem challenge.
“Seeking out the vibes” to me says that you actively need to align yourself with the vibes or even change what you’re doing, it goes beyond ‘finding the good’ in the day, if you want to make it better you have to change something, which harks back to the saying I like;
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”
Listen up, 5th March 2010 shall be Guest Post Day.
Guest posting is a great way for you to put your writing in front of a new audience and gain new readers, it’s a tried and tested technique in increasing a blog’s audience – and it’s fun too!
Here’s how it will work;
1. Submit yourself by leaving a comment on this post with your blog name before midday on Monday.
Update: Please use keyword ‘aqua’ in comment so that I can find any entries that go to spam. Ta
2. Return here tuesday and watch the ‘televised draw’ and see who you’ve been matched with.
3. Contact that blogger and arrange for a way to swap posts by email and by what time etc…
4. Write your BEST POST (let’s face it, your dross isn’t gonna gain you any new readers so put your best out there people) and give it to your blog swap partner.
5. Everyone post the guest posts on Friday 5th March.
Easy, yah?
Post suggestions – funny story, recipe, craft activity, ‘how to’
Okay, submit yourself below in the comments (don’t forget to include your blog name! you can leave your twitter @ too if you wish) and then spread the word…. the more the merrier!!
I'm a 27 year old mum to 4 year old Erin. We live just outside Edinburgh in a small village. I've been blogging for four years and write about anything and everything that takes my fancy.
Comments (11) 
I'm a 27 year old mum to 4 year old Erin. We live just outside Edinburgh in a small village. I've been blogging for four years and write about anything and everything that takes my fancy.
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