If Only I Hadn't Picked Up That DVD

Picture the scene.

It's December 2010 and we are staying in an apartment in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Mini Cheddar is 20 months old and there's a huge winter blizzard blowing outside - we can see the snow rising on the French doors. We just want to cuddle up and watch a DVD together so rummaging through them I find something suitable that I think MC will enjoy - Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas. It's almost Christmas so why not?

That was it. That was the start of the obsession with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  MC loved the DVD!

When we returned home we realised there was a young Disney Channel on Sky called Playhouse Disney (now known as Disney Junior) and episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse filled our TV screen. She was hooked. Cbeebies was cast aside and replaced by the Disney empire.

Then we made the mistake of introducing her to our local Disney Store. Seeing her face light up with the characters was just heart-warming. Birthday, Christmas and general presents began to have a Disney theme and soon MC's love for Minnie Mouse became apparent. 

If only I hadn't picked up that DVD. 

We would have saved a lot of money.

Yes but if I hadn't picked up that DVD we wouldn't have gotten to experience the pure joy of the last 15 months of MC's admiration for Disney.

Matt would never had made the suggestion that we had a last blow-out holiday before the new baby arrives and we would never have gone to Walt Disney World.

Yes, we would have saved A LOT of money. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Disney rocks!

And so does my daughter. 

Guest Post...Looking For Blue Sky - Further Confessions Of A Coffee Junkie

I think I've been following C's blog 'Looking For Blue Sky' since I began blogging myself. She's such a great writer and inspiration and someone who I, despite having never met (I'm longing to), would class as a friend.


Being a single Mum to 3 fabulous children who have such differing needs isn't easy sometimes...a teenager, a smiley girl with cerebral palsy and a boy with Aspergers.  Her love and determination for her family and her beliefs shine through in every post and I love her for it.


Here she shares something a little different, I give you her Guest Post - Further Confessions Of A Coffee Junkie...

All those New Year's Resolutions so quickly discarded.  Plans for healthy living and healthy diets give way to the comfort of coffee and cakes.  Because, let's face it, most of us find that we cannot stick to resolutions that seem to involve giving up everything that we like. But I did successfully give up smoking in 2004 after waking up one morning with a horrible cough and sometimes I wonder about what else  I could give up and what I absolutely couldn't.  And the answer is always the same:  I could give up anything before I give up coffee.

My love affair with the little brown bean began when I was a child.  I can remember looking longingly at the percolator bubbling away in the quiet room where we all ate breakfast - and read at the same time.  Finally,  one day when I was 11 or 12, a cup of milky coffee was passed down to my end of the table.

It was love at first sip.

When I was young I drank coffee with sugar, but I was able to give that up in my mid teens.  Once I hit the exam years, it was coffee that got me through.  And my four mugs of coffee a day still mark the hours as they pass by.  I'm not that fussy either: almost any coffee is better than no coffee.  Well apart from Camp Coffee, but perhaps I'm the only person who remembers that.

So why can't I give it up?

Well coffee...

...wakes me in the morning

...warms me when I'm cold

...breaks up the day

...gets rid of stress headaches

...calms me down

...helps me prepare the dinner

...is shared with friends

...is an excuse to meet up and eat cake

...helps me to concentrate

...is a reward for doing something unpleasant

...helps me to cope with difficult phone calls

And another 100 things too.  What on earth would I do without it?

So is it just me? Is coffee important to you? Or is it tea?