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By Little Mummy, August 17, 2010 1:45 am

posted by BigDaddy

Having received the Disney Blu-Ray of Alice in Wonderland to review I couldn’t wait to watch it. Tim Burton is one of my favourite film directors and to me this project was ideally suited to his style and boy I wasn’t disappointed!

The director really does create a visually stunning world which is a true feast for the eyes. Every detail is well thought out and quite clever. For instance in the evil Red Queens palace, every piece of furniture is held up by an animal, birds hold up the chandeliers and monkeys hold the candlesticks. I didn’t even realize that was the case until I had watched it twice!

The acting and voice over performances were all very good with the awesome Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter given a run for his money in the best performance stakes by Helena Bonham-Carter as the wicked Red Queen who is stark raving mad and deliciously evil and her cries of “off with their heads” will be ringing in your ears for ages. I was however not convinced by Alice herself, Mia Wasikowska, who was slightly out of her depth in such esteemed company. Also for movie geeks like me, watch out for Stayne, the Knave of Hearts who is played by Marty McFly’s dad from Back to the Future!!

I think the plot was pretty standard fantasy stuff, with Alice being the chosen one and slaying the Red Queen’s feared Jaberwocky but the film more than makes up for that with it’s outstanding visuals and a truly immersive world in which to loose yourself in, especially on Blu-ray!

In my eyes this more than makes up for Burton’s other “re-imagining” that was the farcical Planet of the Apes and while fans of the Lewis Carroll’s book may be underwhelmed by the so-so story fans of Burton will be happy because it just looks so damn good. Welcome back Tim, we missed you.

3.5 stars out of five

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By Little Mummy, August 16, 2010 1:34 am

A while back I started a blog on entrepreneurship and business. I felt that I couldn’t really talk about those topics on Littlemummy.com as it ‘diluted’ the content which I felt should be predominantly about parenting.

I feel that as a result I now have two blogs, neither of which are a true reflection of who I am. In retrospect I also didn’t consider that being a parent is more than just days out and big events like starting school, it’s about how it changes you as a person, how you make a living to support your family, how you make it all ‘fit’. Not blogging about all those other things isn’t being true to what being a parent is all about. So basically I’m going to merge the two blogs back together and have a seperate category for ‘littlemumpreneur’. I’ve also changed my tagline to include my new status

To bring you back up to date then, apart from Erin starting school on Wednesday(!) I’ve just started a business and I’m starting University on the 6th September. It’s parenting, but not as I knew it.

It’s a new phase and some big changes are afoot, I’m excited and a little anxious that it all works out. My baby, toddler, preschool and stay at home mum days are behind me and that makes me feel both relieved and a little sad.

Here’s to the future and a new, different kind of journey. A journey that will feature school, a new business, a degree and hopefully lots more fun and no doubt challenges.

Here’s to the future.

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By Little Mummy, August 12, 2010 11:24 pm

Sometimes you read a book and you get realisations that are so profound that they completely change your way of thinking and thus your life. Here are five (ish) books that have done that for me. There in the order in which I wrote them. I hope you’ll share yours in the comments.

1. Authentic: How to make a living by being yourself by Neil Crofts

This is the book that really got me into reading non fiction more heavily, it was also the book that led me to start my first blog. I had profound realisations that I was desperate to share – some of those early posts are still on here – Introducing Authentic Living,Simplify Your Life, The Happy Formula, Authentic Choice

2. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

How to get from where you are to where you want to be. This is a great book if you find yourself either in a rut or a place in your life where you can start from scratch (maternity leave, redundancy). The book takes you through twenty five principles of success.

3. Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

I’m re-reading this at the moment and I’m still taking more from it. This book shows you how to control money instead of letting money control you. Become financially independant by changing your whole view on money and what it can do for you.

4. The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

This is a book aimed at helping 9-5ers escape the 9-5 by starting their own ‘muse’ to allow them to become location independent. It’s highly far fetched and idealistic, however it does break down a lot of stereotypical ideas in your head allowing you to think clearly about your own position.

5. I’m still waiting for number five.

Which one book has changed your thinking most? Perhaps it’s even changed your life. Let me know in the comments so I can pick it up and find my number five!

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By Little Mummy, August 12, 2010 12:06 am

1. I’m 27 but I usually prefer the company of people at least ten years older than myself

People in their forties aren’t trying to show off, their comfortable with themselves. Generally, I’m more interested in what they say. Not always, I have a few friends my age that are very interesting and grounded, but mostly I get on better with people older than myself.

2. My closest friend is my husband

He fills so many roles in my life that I literally have to force myself to make new friends. Sometimes, it’s too easy to rely on him to be my go to person for humour, a shoulder to cry on, my sounding board etc..

3. My ‘best’ friends are mostly online

Some people may think that’s sad but I can’t help who I resonate with the most. They’re funny, caring and supportive. They know who they are.

4. Gambling is my vice.

I don’t drink (unless I’m abroad with aforementioned online friends that shall remain nameless) and I don’t smoke (anymore). To relax I like to play poker. Occasionally I’ll bet on the horses (or the dogs, or football, or which fly will land on the dog poo first), I’ve also been known to partake in the odd game of bingo and playing fruit machines aka ‘puggys’.

5. I’ve worked a lot of different jobs

I’ve been an admin assistant (for legal aid, gas, private medical insurance and car finance) a debt collector, a mortgage assistant, a nursery assistant, a waitress, a charity collections agent and my longest held job has been four and a half years as a stay at home mum I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not very good at being an employee, which is why I started doing this.

6. I was engaged at sixteen and married at 21.

I was young, but I knew what I was doing

7. I don’t have any tattoos

But I’ve been swithering for ages about getting a name or initials on the inside of my wrist. What do you think?

8. I’m now officially self employed.

I’m also soon going to be a company director. I feel all important all of a sudden

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By Little Mummy, August 11, 2010 1:34 am

OMG!! Looks vaguely familiar

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By Little Mummy, August 9, 2010 12:15 am

I’ve been re-reading a few books this week – The 4 Hour Workweek and Your Money or Your Life. Both are great books for making you think and sharpening your focus on your dreams and aspirations.

This is my five year dream list, all the stuff I’d like to achieve over the next five years…in no particular order…

* See my first and only child start school!
* Take my husband to New York for his 30th birthday
* Graduate from university with a degree
* Become fully self employed (earning a full-time income consistently)
* Replace both our cars (paying cash if we can)
* Go to Las Vegas for my 30th
* Get my garden finished (You never know, it *might* happen!)
* Go back to Florida and take Erin to SeaWorld
* Stay healthy and free from serious crohns flare ups
* Meet up with my amazing bloggy mates as many times as we can manage
* Go to Memphis and visit Graceland with my Mum
* Become an Aunty (I can’t control this one but I can live in hope!)
* Write a book and have it published
* Celebrate my tenth wedding anniversary

So that’s my list, it looks like a lot but if you think about it five years is quite a long time so we’ll see. I’ll still be happy even if I don’t achieve all of this but I think it’s important to have goals both for myself but also with my husband and my daughter. They do say couples with shared goals tend to stay together (and happy) more often than those without goals.

So what are your goals for the next five years?

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By Little Mummy, August 3, 2010 1:22 am

I originally posted this at www.littlemumpreneur.com but felt it might be relevant here as it covers maternity leave.

A few weeks back I was invited on BBC Radio Scotland to talk about maternity leave. I was the one who’d taken extended leave (almost five years in total!), a decision I don’t regret at all.

The discussion began relatively balanced before becoming more pro work at the end. Callers were predominantly promoting a quick return to work, citing the usual reasons from financial need to social reasons.

On reflection of the debate I began to think that the benefits of taking a period out from work weren’t promoted enough. We seem to have the same debate over and over again about whether it’s right to return to work as soon as possible or become a stay at home mum. One aspect that is overlooked is that maternity leave can be an opportunity to take stock, reassess your life and take it in a different direction. Maternity leave brings a chance to study, retrain and even start your own business, mums who do this have become known as ‘mumpreneurs’.

It’s all to easy for us as women and mothers to complain about glass ceilings and inequality in the workplace. I’m not for a second saying that these don’t exist (it’s clear they do) or indeed that it’s right (it’s not) but I don’t see why we don’t focus more on what we are given – a decent period of time out where we can change our paths and opt out of the unfairness and inequality.

Most mums take at least six months out these days and although that period can be physically and emotionally tiresome I personally still felt that mentally I had space for other things – so much so I ended up starting my blog and doing some part time study. As my daughter has grown up I’ve managed to gain an HNC and even start and fail at a few ‘would be’ businesses.

Although I’ve had my failures I’ve stuck with it and am now on the verge of being self employed doing something I love – teaching small businesses and mumpreneurs how to use the internet and social media effectively to raise their profile and sales. It’s been a long and often disappointing and exasperating road but nowhere near as unfulfilling as I would have found some of the alternatives. I’d encourage more women to embrace maternity leave and use it to their advantage. We don’t have to settle for the low-paid, part-time, temporary and often dull work that society offers us. If you count up how much you’d earn from a job like that and take off your expenses you may find that starting even the smallest venture could be more lucrative and a hundred times more fulfilling.

Over the five years I’ve been a stay at home mum (albeit with a few part-time jobs – see above!) I’ve learned that if you really want to make it happen and you’re willing to sacrifice and put the hard work in that anything is possible and the pay off at the end is huge!

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By Little Mummy, July 28, 2010 6:53 am

FamilyVie is a brand new site which I think all parent bloggers should take a look at. It aims to highlight the best parent centric content on the web, and the great thing is you can submit your very own content. Readers then vote the best content meaning that the most popular stuff gets even more views and a more prominent position on their webpage.

As a blogger FamilyVie can help you;

* Gain traffic
* Raise your profile
* Gain readers

You don’t even have to write new content you simply submit blog posts that you’ve already written – Check out a familiar looking post here

It only takes moments to submit an article, so sign up and give it a go. This site has literally just launched so this is a great chance to be one of the first, and if there’s one thing I know it’s that being first online to do anything makes a huge difference.

Disclaimer – I worked with the person who set this up, it was all her idea, but I thought it was a brilliant one hence my promoting it!

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By Little Mummy, July 26, 2010 1:34 am

My dad left when I was two, he came back into my life when I was eighteen. No regrets. We’ve made our peace. He’s making the effort now and that’s what counts, I honestly believe that it’s easier to forgive and forget than create negative energy and hold a grudge. I love and respect him for who he is even if I can’t for some of his earlier choices.

The truth is that while I was actually growing up I barely noticed his absence and that’s the biggest compliment I can give my Mum. She was only eighteen when she had me and was on her own with me and my brother pretty shortly after. She made mistakes, don’t we all. She walked a difficult road and her mistakes were mere trips along the way, because for 99% of the time she was everything you’d want your single parent to be, strong, reliable and loving.

The worst bit about not having a Dad was being poor. I remember being really poor and unfortunately my Mum on her own couldn’t make up a decent household income even if she could provide the love of two parents. We were the kids with the rubbish trainers, the uncool jackets and Santa only brought second hand toys in our house. It seems rather petty as I type it now but when you’re a kid it’s important, really important. Of course that’s just the things I remember, I’m sure behind the scenes there were times when putting a meal on the table was a struggle. Nevertheless a meal there would always be, not too mention lots and lots of happy times along the way.

My mum, she did her best and her best was good enough – something I’ve only fully been able to appreciate since becoming a parent myself.

‘Dads’, I’ve had a few none of them really lived up to the title, and by the time a decent one came along I had dad fatigue.

If I’d had a Dad growing up I’d have wanted him to be like my husband, generous, caring, fun, strong and reliable. A proper family man, a provider and someone you can count on to just be there. A sense of humour may have been all that was lacking in one.

As an adult though I’m pretty happy with the Dad I’ve got. He’s there if I need him, he calls me fortnightly and doesn’t interfere too much. He supports my entrepreneurial ambitions and is a good sounding board for my ideas as he’s a businessman himself.

I guess all’s well that ends well

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By Little Mummy, July 23, 2010 2:18 am

I’m a simple cook. I hate following complex recipes and quite frankly I’m crap at baking. I tend to take a brief look at a recipe and then make things up as I go along.

This is one of my favourite ‘easy and quick’ dinners at the moment.

Ingredients
Serves 2

Pork medallions
One leek
2 cloves garlic
Single cream
Brandy or white wine *Optional
1/2 pint of chicken stock
Olive oil
Tsp wholegrain mustard
Sea salt and pepper

1. Sear the pork medallions (season and coat in olive oil first) on either side until they’re caramelised. Remove to a sideplate.

2. Slice and fry leek and garlic in a little extra olive oil.

3. Add chicken stock, bring to the boil and then turn to a medium heat – add a splash of white wine or brandy (optional)

4. Remove pan from heat and stir in half a cup of single cream.

5. Put on a low heat and stir in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. Put the medallions back in the pan and cook until meat is piping through – be careful not to split sauce! (but if you do, remove the pan and add a bit more single cream and it should come back together).

6. Season sauce to taste and serve with new potatoes and vegetables.

Totally forgot to get a ‘plate picture’ as I was too busy filling my face!

For desert what about a nice apple pie and a wee bit of custard?