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By Little Mummy, October 31, 2007 12:13 pm

I finally got around to reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last week, it took me about five days, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact I got to the last few chapters and felt an odd sense of sorrow that it was all about to end, seven books, thousands of pages, no new harry potter’s to look forward to.

This one was very different as there was very little about Hogwarts, and if I’m to be ultra critical the middle part of the story wasn’t as packed with action as some of the other books. That being said I liked the change of pace that not being at Hogwarts brung. The plot was excellent and the ending could have gone several ways, in fact that would be a great exercise for someone’s high school english class – rewrite the end of the last Harry Potter!

I can’t wait to read this series back to back to Erin, I wish Harry Potter was written when I was having bedtime stories!

What did you think of the final potter instalment?

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, October 28, 2007 3:03 pm

You may have noticed that things have been a little slow around here. I’ve been busy with various things including finally reading the last Harry Potter (more to come on that!!), taking Erin to Edinburgh Zoo, packing and planning the house move. We’ve also been mulling over our choices and feel that the time has come for me to return to work, or at least embark on a part-time job, perhaps as a learning assistant in preparation for teacher training.

As you can imagine this has all kept me pretty busy and away from the blog! Oh yeah, and did I mention that Erin seems to have hit the so-called ‘terrible’ two’s a whole 3 months early…!

The time away and other movements have given me new perspective on the blog and where I’d like it to go. Don’t worry (or maybe you weren’t!) I’m not giving it up, but it will be changing slightly. I’m hoping that these developments will be for the better.

Initially I started the blog as a filing cabinet for my creative ideas, however, I have been sucked in (willingly!) to the blogging community and littlemummy.com has become more and more personal. I’m planning to de-personalise it a little by dropping some of the more family centric postings, this is mostly to free up some time and so that I don’t feel that I have to post everyday just to ‘keep up appearances’. From now on the posting may be slightly more sporadic, but my blog reading and commenting will remain the same (or increase!). The content should be a little more on topic too, with more creative stuff, activity ideas, and parenting chat. Oh yeah, and the friday freebies are here to stay too…

Any feedback on the changes is welcome!

Comments (3)

By Little Mummy, October 23, 2007 2:16 pm

The prospect of retiring is a long way off for me. To be honest, I’m only just embarking on my chosen career – primary teaching. I do know that the idea of retiring doesn’t excite me the way it does others. I’d rather find a job I enjoy so much that it’s actually a pleasure, and being paid is merely a bonus, no doubt this ‘job’ or calling if you like will change as I do, and in the latter years the time spent ‘working’ will reduce. However, I never really see myself retiring completely. Not because I think I would be bored, in fact, I have plenty of interests I could pursue – cooking, craft, horticulture, painting, entrepreneurship, eating out, travel, reading, education, internet…

The Digerati Life summed it up for me;

To me, it means having the time to do the projects of my choosing, without feeling the insecurity of financial instability.

You see, I quite enjoy making money, not because I want to be rich (although that would be nice!). I see it as a measure of success, similar to when I make a meal, the measure of success is how many people enjoyed and commented on it, or when you sit a test, it’s the percentage mark or grade that counts. I find the idea of making money from my own sources quite exciting, and to suddenly not be allowed that buzz because I’ve reached a particular age seems pointless to me. As long as I’m enjoying making money either from working full-time, part-time or via a few side interests ie. internet ventures, freelancing, private tutoring, blogging (??) etc… it makes no sense to suddenly stop at a specific age.

The Simple Dollar also discussed retirement this week;

Retirement is not a shangri-la of doing nothing, at least not in my view – I see it as the point at which I have enough of a financial base to no longer worry about any connection between getting paid and what I’m doing.

I really like this take on it, for me it would be the freeom to take mini-retirements to pursue a specific non-paid interest or to travel, ultimate freedom whilst still making money at least some of the time meaning that you can start living this life before sixty as there is no financial cut off point. I’d like to be living this life from around 45, which is when my main financial burdon (my mortgage) is scheduled to end.

Comments (11)

By Little Mummy, October 20, 2007 4:52 am

Here’s one for you if you have a ‘naughty’ boy or girl this year. Why not trade the old-fashioned lump of coal for this over priced, musical, light-up Time Out Pad

Hours of fun not guaranteed, while you teach your child that you really can’t be bothered monitoring their behaviour and pass the responsibility over to this riduculous mat.

No?

Well how about a Time Out Mat then? This one ‘teaches sharing’! No need to gently explain the rules of sharing, why it’s important and how it affects their friend’s emotions when they don’t share. Don’t be silly, stick them on the mat, that’s a much better solution.

If you’re feeling a little skint there’s a Special Offer on the Naughty Seat, which ‘ensures time out is taken seriously’, so why does the child in the illustration look like he’s having such a great time?? Is it because the Naughty Seat with built-in alarm would turn the whole ‘naughty seat thing’ into a big game?!

And on a sidenote, can anyone explain why at the foot of the ‘Time Out Technique’ page there is an advert for Catholicmatch.com ‘Faith Matters’ which seems to be a dating agency for those of a Catholic Faith??

In fact, don’t bother explaining, it’s clear that this site is all about money, as are the ridiculous (I’d go as far as saying ‘damaging’) products which they sell.

Oh, and finally, at the foot of the site – ‘discounts available for schools, parenting groups and agencies’. Well not on my child!

Anyone like to convince me that these products serve a purpose, and aren’t just another example of lazy automated parenting?

Comments (4)

By Little Mummy, October 18, 2007 2:32 am

I have mentioned my love of the Usborne Touch & Feel books before.

That’s Not My Snowman is the most recent title to have caught my eye and has expanded our collection to about seven books. Like the others the book includes a touchy feely spot on each page that demonstrates a different texture. Erin still loves these books! A great and cheap gift for a toddler.

Comments (10)

By Little Mummy, October 17, 2007 1:31 pm

We’re now only about a month off moving home. We currently live in a two bedroom flat with no outdoor space and a local council that seem to have forgotten about us on the recycling score, no multi-coloured bins around here. I’m ashamed to admit that we recycyle nothing except plastic carrier bags. We buy small packages, often. Purchase all our produce from the local supermarket and produce nothing ourselves. Nothing except waste that is.

Our only saving grace is that we don’t gorge on buying new products, we use what we have until it breaks, and we sell or donate anything that is no longer needed.

Our new home comprises a front and back garden, more storage space, and no less than three bins in black, brown and blue. The move will signal a change for us on many levels, but recently my attentions have been turned to green issues, self sufficiency and the byproduct of saving money. The multi-coloued bins will mean that recycling will not be a choice but mandatory, which is great news.

I also have plans for a vegetable patch which will provide us with salad leaves, onions and some other vegetables. An apple tree and strawberry basket are also likely to be on the agenda. One of my first tasks though will be to pot some herbage. Herbs are expensive in the supermarket and come with unnecessary packaging, I love using herbs in most dishes but dislike paying 70p/$1.40 for each serving. I will try and keep the vegetable patch organic by using homemade composts and no pesticides. In fact, today I invested in a book (I mean invested, it cost £17/$34!) called A Slice of Organic Life which has given me many ideas like producing homemade flavoured olive oils, vinegars and bath products all of which would save money, the environment, and take us a small step forward to becoming more self-sufficient.

The book covers all areas of life and includes practical ideas, step by steps and recipes. I think it’s the most I’ve ever paid for a book but is well worth it. It’s split into three sections. The things you can do with no outdoor space ie growing herbs, cutting energy usage etc.. Slightly more advance suggestions if you have outdoor space, like building a raised bed to act as a vegetable patch, making your own barbecue and creating your own compost. The final section is advanced and requires a garden, allotment or field, the suggestions include raising a couple of pigs, using renewable energy and planting a vine.

It is my intention to start at the beginning of the book and work my way through, trying and testing as many of the ideas as I can, and seeing which ones stick, which save money and which make a real difference to our lives and the environment.

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Photo by flickr user ttfnrob

Comments (13)

By Little Mummy, October 14, 2007 6:08 am

Feed Me! Feed Me Now is my new monthly (weekly?) feature. Basically I have a feed reader full of favourites, however, I’d like to cast my net a bit further and find some new and exciting blogs to read. Here’s how it works;

If you think I’d enjoy reading your blog and you’d like an extra subscriber, leave your feed url in the comments below and I will subscribe.

On Saturday I will do a feed cull and get rid of all the blogs I didn’t enjoy enough to keep for another week. To give you an idea of what I’m interested in….

parenting, blogging, education, teaching, craft, activities, business, internet, money, food, entrepreneurship, cooking, home-making, DIY, house-building, travel….

Ok, Feed Me (I hope this works!!)

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, October 14, 2007 5:29 am

As part of my parent testing a habit series this week the tip was to envisage my ultimate life. I have previously done this exercise as it featured in a book I read recently, so I thought it would be fun to turn it into a little meme.

Here are the rules;

1. Answer the questions as realistically or unrealistically as you want.

2. Copy the rules into your meme post or link to the rules here.

3. Linkback to the person who tagged you.

4. Tag 5 others.

………………………………………………………….

My Ultimate Life

Q1. Where would you live?

I would live in Scotland still, but further into the countryside. I would be living in a house that I helped design and that was built to our specifications. The house would remind you of scandinavian houses with lots of wood, there would also be lots of glass, stunning views and a mezzanine level for entertaining.

Q2. What would your job be (or if unrealistic) what would you do all day?

I would either be a teacher, or working in a job closely related to education, perhaps something to do with the national curriculum. I would have a couple of lucrative side businesses too

Q3. Who would you spend your time with? Doing what…

I’d spend a lot of time with my husband and daughter, having fun days out. I’d also hold a lot of bbq’s and wii nights for my family and friends.

Q4. What kind of holidays/vacations would you take?

While Erin is young we’d go to lapland and Florida. When we are too embarassing to holiday with, Alex and I would travel across America by ourselves, go on a safari, and ski-ing holidays.

Q5. What luxury items would you own?

A lovely house (mentioned above!), a super duper laptop and all the accessories. Lots of books. A nice handpainted canvas. A huge solid wood dining table. A modern kitchen with all the gadgets.

Q6. What charities would you support or represent?

I would support Children 1st which is a Scottish charity for abused children and the NACC (national association for crohns and colitis) as I have crohns.

…………………………………

Well that was fun, back to normal I guess! I tag Mother at Large, Scribbit, 21st Century Mummy, Ingenious Rose and Manicmama

Comments (5)

By Little Mummy, October 14, 2007 3:58 am

You Want To Do What?: Instant answers to your parenting dilemmas is written by Karen Sullivan and is aimed at parents with children between ages 8-18.

I have written a series of short discursive posts based on the book and the following topics;

Abortion

Babysitting

Clothing Allowances

Criminal Responsibility

ADHD

Morals

The books covers a lot of topics, which range from babysitting to bedtimes, exercise to ear-piercing, the index really is quite exhaustive to anything you may be faced with as a parenting. Most of the topics are covered in a balanced and widely acceptable way ie don’t encourage smoking, don’t sweat the small stuff like fashion choices.

Parenting being a very personal thing there are bound to be areas where you will disagree, mine were the sections on boyfriends/girlfriends, fizzy drinks, magazines and pornography, all of which I felt were either to strict or the dangers outlined were a little far fetched, and in one case, very far-fetched. Can you guess which one?

Overall I think this book makes an excellent read from the point that it forces you to think about issues (hopefully) before they happen and thus have your ideas/standards/expectations/reactions planned ahead so that you aren’t caught out. I also think as a point of reference, especially on legalities, it is good, however as a direct guide to be followed word for word, probably not. As I mentioned above, parenting is a personal thing and what will be acceptable in one family will not be acceptable in another, and to be fair the book does acknowledge that.

**I will be giving two brand new copies of You Want To Do What? away over the coming weeks. Subscribe now so you don’t miss out!**