Goodbye Me - Hello New Bloggers!

I can't believe it's finally here.

We are off on holiday next week. Eep!

I've got someone I know to house sit for us and all is good, if somewhat hectic. We have signed the contracts on the new house in readiness and are just awaiting the final formalities before we exchange. I'm hoping it will happen while we are away *crosses fingers and toes*

To those of you still following my blog, thank you! I know I haven't been about much these past couple of months and your readership means the world to me. I promise, once the holiday and house move are out of the way, I'll be back on form.

I've made another important decision too. I've decided to step back from my freelance work for now. What has happened lately has made me realise that my family are most important. Tiny Ched is growing up so quickly (quicker than I ever imagined) and I want to cherish this time with him as a baby/toddler and give him as much attention as I possibly can. I guess I'm living up to my blog name!

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, if I'm honest, as I've been struggling lately. I have also stepped back from my volunteer work - mainly because of the holiday and the house move. I hope to pick that back up after the summer.

Anyway, I'm rambling and keeping you from the most exciting news of all.

So? What have I got in store for you whilst I'm away?

I've lined up some awesome new bloggers to entertain you in between my indulgent Silent Sunday posts (and one other very special post I have planned which I hope comes together). They are all brand new bloggers who only started their blogs this year. In fact, some of them have only been blogging a month or two.

They are all really lovely ladies and I'm so excited as they have written some fabulous posts.

I'd really love it if you could show support for them by commenting, visiting their own blogs and tweeting/following them.  I remember a couple of years ago when my blog was brand new and it was the love and the support of the amazing blogging community who helped me get my feet on the blogging ladder.

So, without further ado, here's who will be guest posting for me and when:

Tue 14th May - Jill from Delicious Designs

Thu 16th May - Claire from You And Me Are Family

Tue 21st May - Sarah from Stay At Home Mum - In Training

Thu 23rd May - Stephanie from Storybramble

Tue 28th May - Lucy from Baked Potato Mummy

Thu 30th May - Françoise from The Little Gang In Paris

Tue 04th June - Millie from Toddles And Tantrums

Please show them lots of love. I'll be attempting to schedule some tweets to promote their posts but would be so grateful for any help you can also offer.

With that excitement, I'll love you and leave you all, dear readers. Take care and see you on my return...and thank you again.

Florida here I come!

Woohooooooooooooooooo *runs off screaming with bikini in hand*

(Taken January 2012)
MC is ready to be reunited with her idol

Back To 'Work'

I say work but I don't really mean work.

Yes I 'work' whilst I'm there but it's a different work.

I don't get paid a thing for it.

And I absolutely LOVE it!

Regular readers will know that I used to volunteer for my local Save The Children shop one day a week but I had to stop when I gave birth to Tiny Ched in March.

Well, as of today, I'm back!*

I did plan to go back a few weeks earlier but the dreaded mastitis got me so I haven't been fit enough to go in. Today though, there was no stopping me! It was only for a couple of hours but I've also brought a lot of work home with me so I can help out more without going into the shop. I'll need to keep MC away from the pricing gun though or she'll be trying to get me to play shop!

I forgot just how much I had missed the place, my fellow volunteers and the customers.

I can't tell you how great it was to be back.

So, whilst everything is still fresh in my mind (I've mentioned before that a Save The Children charity post has been long overdue on my blog) I want to talk to you about how you can help Save The Children at the moment.

Firstly, if you haven't made a will then NOW is the time to do it. It's not something that 'old' people do and it's essential if you have children. I blogged about Will Aid last year (click to read my post) and it's something Matt and I took part in last November. Throughout November each year local participating solicitors across the U.K. waive their will writing fees and donate to charity. Save The Children is one of these charities. You need to visit the Will Aid website (willaid.org.uk), find a local solicitor and book an appointment before the end of this month! Go...hurry!

Photo by Leanne Spencer

Christmas is fast approaching and there is one very lovely lady, Leanne Spencer - owner of The Delphi Burling Blog, who crafts the most beautiful items. Every year she puts together gorgeous Christmas Boxes full of decorations such as Christmas bells, elves boots, stocking, hearts and doves. She fills them with completely natural fillings and scents them with beautiful festive oils. She has also been busy crating handmade cards and tea lights for the boxes too. The boxes are £10 each plus £2 postage and packing and ALL profits go to Save The Children. Please visit her blog for more information and how to order. They are gorgeous.

Save The Children are Lloyds Banking Group 'Charity of the Year' again and they have made a huge difference to the campaigning that we (I love how I can use 'we' again) do. They have raised over £2.5m to support the Families and Schools Together programme which helps children in some of the UK's most disadvantaged communities.  Next Friday 23rd November 2012, Lloyds Banking Group are teaming up with local Save The Children stores and over 500 of their colleagues will be working alongside Save The Children volunteers for the day to raise even more money. Our local shop is hosting a fun day with cakes, a raffle, 'name the teddy' etc. so please make sure you visit your local Save The Children shop next week to help raise money.

Getting a real Christmas tree this year? Wondering how you'll find time to go collect it or worrying how it's going to fit on or in the car? Fear not! Christmas Trees by Post have it all sorted for you and what's more they are kindly donating £5 from every real Christmas tree sold to Save The Children. All you have to do is use the code SC12 at the checkout online. Or you can visit them yourself and pick your tree (they are based in Bentham, Lancaster). Don't forgot to mention the code!

Finally, don't forget you can support Save The Children in many ways - quality clothing and bric-a-brac donations, of course.

You can also give donations of old or stained material, clothes, shoes, cushions etc. Just make sure they are bagged up and labelled so your local volunteers know they are to go straight to the 'rag man'. I have blogged about this before as we can make a lot of money through these donations that would otherwise go in the rubbish bin.

You can also, obviously, give cash donations. Make sure, if your local Save The Children shop offer it (and you're a UK tax payer) that you sign up to 'Gift Aid' as Save The Children can claim back 25% on all donations - that's not just cash but through donations they sell on!

Then, if you or anyone you know, has a few hours spare then why not help out in your local Save The Children shop?

I guarantee you will love it!




* Special mention to my amazing parents who looked after TC for me and collected MC from nursery school too. Without them Save The Children wouldn't have me as a volunteer!

#ONEMums - The Power Of Blogging

There are lots of things I love about blogging.

It's given me the opportunity to make some fabulous new friends but one of the things I love the most is being able to use my voice to blog for charity. It's been a while since I've blogged about charity - since just before TC was born. Babies eh?

I'm currently on 'maternity leave' from my volunteer job at my local Save The Children shop which I love. I'll be popping in to see my friends there on Friday with some goodies and I'll be able to provide you with an update on things very soon.

For now though, a very dear blogger friend is currently over in Ethiopia as part of the ONE Campaign. Michelle from Mummy From The Heart has made the trip with 11 other inspirational mums and moms to highlight the success of projects and why it's so important that the support is continued. This is ONE's Living Proof story. It's all about letting everyone know what a huge difference that the UK and the US are making to millions of people all over the world.

Please, please, PLEASE pop along to Michelle's blog and follow her incredible journey. She is blogging the most fabulous audio clips of her journey. She is one incredible lady.

To help spread the word in the blogging community, another blogger friend Clare, from Seasider In The City, has devised a fun meme. Taking the first letters from ONEMums (or ONEMoms) create words or phrases that help explain what being a mum is to you.

Here are mine...

Overwhelming love and emotion

Nights out are few and far between (but I wouldn't have it any other way)

Everything I ever hoped it would be...and more

Memories to treasure forever

Unique. Both the experience and my children

Milk monster. My poor boobs will never be the same again!

Simply amazing

Please make sure you follow Michelle's journey on Twitter. You can do this by following her twitter feed or using the hashtags #ONEMums #ONEMoms.

If you only do one thing today then make sure you add your voice to the ONE Campaign by signing up below



Now I'd like to invite the following five bloggers to join in the meme fun:

Inside The Wendy House
Me, The Man & The Baby
New Mum Online
The Real Housewife Of Suffolk County
The Syders


What do you have to do?

* Complete the ONEMums acronym style meme and link your post up on Clare's blog
* Link to ONE so people can join up and read more about the ONE Campaign
* Sign up to ONE to give your voice if you would like to
* Tag some more bloggers so you keep spreading the word
* Share on social media with the hashtag #ONEMums #ONEMoms

It's My Last Day Today

*blows big teary snot bubbles into a man size pack of tissues*

Yes, this is it.

I'm due to have a baby in a few weeks so I have to say (a hopefully temporary) goodbye to the Save The Children shop that I've volunteered in for the past year or so.

Today is my last official day and I'm going to miss it SO much.

I know I bang on about my volunteering work a lot. It's not that I am trying to big myself up. There are so many people who do vast amounts of charity work - they are amazing.  All I do is spend a few hours each week helping out in the shop.

No, it's because I get so much from it and want to spread the word on how doing something like this can make you feel soooo good.

Yes, I volunteer for ME.

There, I said it.

Yes, I decided to volunteer to help a charity but it's become more than that. I volunteer to meet new people, to gain new skills, to enjoy myself, to get something more out of life - something different.

Becoming a volunteer has given me a new lease of life.

All I have to say is that if you have any time whatsoever, please please PLEASE consider helping your local charity shop. Have a look at what Save The Children have to say about volunteering - there are a variety of roles that you can get involved with.

If you'd like to read my journey over the past year as a volunteer then please check out the Save The Children link at the top of my blog.

In the meantime, whilst I'm not working at the shop I will continue to blog about Save The Children as my chosen 'blog' charity. At the end of December I blogged that I was part of the #66cities campaign for the charter to end hunger. Just to let you know that my letters were heard by the MP's and sent to David Cameron and I received replies in January. Just doing something simple like this helps the efforts of Save The Children. I was invited by Save The Children to deliver the petition to No.10 but I was away on holiday unfortunately.

Don't leave it too late. Get involved. Every action, however small, helps.

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today I was excited.

A year ago today I was nervous.

A year ago today I started a new 'job'.

I say 'job' rather loosely. I don't get paid anything for the work I do but I absolutely love it.

My little corner of the charity world

Yes, can you believe it? A year ago today (well, okay, officially it's Saturday this year but let's not be picky) at this time I started volunteering at my local Save The Children shop every Friday. I honestly don't know where the year has gone - I've loved every moment of it. Volunteering gives me such a buzz and I love being able to help out and also share my experiences on my blog.

I was only supposed to volunteer between 9.30am and 1pm every Friday but most of the time I'm there until 4pm when the shop closes. I love the people I work with. I love the customers. Did I mention I love it?

My day can vary so much. Most of the time I'm customer facing - working on the shop floor sorting merchandise and working the till. Sometimes I'm upstairs sorting through donations and even steaming clothes (considering I very rarely get the iron out at home this is quite something!). There is always so much to do and no two days are ever the same.

I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant right now and my last official day at 'work' will be Friday 9th March. I'm gutted. I love that shop so much that they are even mentioned in my will that I made last November.

I am going to go back as soon as I can but it will be difficult for a while. I will continue as much as I can doing good through this blog and that will have to do for now. I'll have an update on that soon.

For now, I'm going to enjoy my last few weeks 'working' and feel ever thankful that I followed my heart and decided to volunteer.

Born To...Volunteer

Regular readers to my blog will know I recently took up a position volunteering my time in a local Save The Children shop.  I started last Friday and I loved it so much I wanted to blog about it - plus a few of you asked me to (thank you for your interest).

For those of you who missed the previous post, it would probably help to read my post 'Charity Doesn't Always Begin At Home' to understand why I decided to do it.

It's strange but whenever I've started a new job I haven't been able to sleep the night before, felt a bit anxious on the morning and all those usual feelings you get when venturing out into a new world of employment. However, last Thursday night I slept like a log.  I woke feeling refreshed and raring to go - this has been very rare for me lately. You know things are bad when your own parents turn up on your doorstep with the biggest bottle of Metatone Tonic you've ever seen in your life!  I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get there to help out - even though I had no idea what I was going to be doing.

When I arrived just before 10am I was greeted so warmly by everyone.  They were all older than me, which I fully expected, but they were delighted to see me.  I half expected some of them to see my young blood as a bit of a threat in a way....I thought they may think I was going to go all Mary Portas on them or something.

I was shown the ropes by a lovely lady called Jackie.  She took me on the guided tour which started with the most important place - the kitchen.  We went through everything, all their procedures and practices.  The shop was great and I instantly felt at home.  The shop is really large and the upstairs hub was clean and tidy and I was surprised how well organised it all was.

Helen, the shop supervisor, came in a little later on and she was keen to talk to me about Save The Childrens new 'Born To' campaign.  It was a chance to get back to my marketing roots reading through all the material and to understand what Save The Children were trying to achieve and the promotional items they are in the middle of producing.

The 'Born To' campaign is to raise awareness that no child should be born to die.  It's currently estimated that 8 million children under the age of five die needlessly every year - it's a shocking statistic and one that really hits home... especially being a mother of a 2 (next week) year old.



Save The Children work in more than 120 countries around the world, including the U.K. and the U.S. saving children's lives and fighting for their rights.  The work they do is incredible and they have a superb fundraising efficiency compared to other charities which means a huge percentage of money raised goes direct to the cause.



I give a monthly donation to 2 cancer charities as cancer has had a direct impact on my life but, as a stay-at-home-mum with no income I wanted to be able to help more. Save The Children was my chosen charity and I will fully support them for the rest of my life.

So, back to my first day.  I also got my hands dirty (not literally though) by helping sort through donation bags.  It probably sounds dull to a lot of people but this was actually my favorite job of the day.  Jackie said she enjoyed it too so the two of us started tipping out the bags onto the counter upstairs.  We chatted whilst sorting the wheat from the chaff...deciding what was to go on sale in the shop, then pricing it and tagging it.  It was great fun!  You know what I even did for a while?  I used the industrial steamer to steam some clothes for display.  Strange, considering most of the time all my iron does at home is collect dust!

I was only supposed to be there 10am - 2pm but I stayed until gone 3pm and I didn't want to leave I was enjoying it that much.  If I hadn't have been busy Saturday I would have been there again the next day.

The great thing about it is, everyone who works there is there because they want to be. Nobody is paid a wage at all.  Infact, the Save The Children charity is unusual in that most of their jobs, even managerial positions, are carried out purely by volunteers.  All the volunteers in the shop were lovely, a real mix of characters too - all with their own stories to tell.

I came away feeling fantastic.  Tired but full of energy and excitement.  Next week I'm going to be let loose on the tills for while to help out and I'm looking forward to meeting all the customers.  I've never worked in a direct retail environment before, but you know what?  I can't wait!

On Saturday I was alerted via twitter to the 'Born To Write' conference that had taken place that day at the Save The Children head office in London.  I just so wish I had known about it sooner, I was so upset when I looked into it - I would have loved to have gone but it doesn't stop me becoming involved.  My passion for this charity has grown massively since becoming a volunteer.  This 1 day has changed my life and had such an impact on me...for the better.

Yes, I now firmly believe I was born to volunteer.  What were you born to do?

Charity Doesn't Always Begin At Home

So far only my best friend and my husband know about this but as from tomorrow I will be officially volunteering my services to charity.

I don't want a badge, I don't want praise, I'm doing it for me if I'm honest.  It involves giving something back and doing good obviously but that, in turn, will hopefully make me feel better about myself.

Throughout my working life it's always been something I wanted to do but my weekends were precious to me then, they were a time to have fun with my friends or my partner.  They were a time for drinking, socialising and merriment.  They were a time to splash my hard-earned cash on going out to pubs and clubs.  Now my weekends are spent as our family time - my husband, my daughter and me.  My in-laws live 100 miles away so are not fortunate enough to pop in during the week so every two weeks we meet up with them, they come here or we go to them so it eats into our 'just the 3 of us' time quite a bit. So again, I feel (and justifiably so this time) that my weekends are precious.

Now I'm a stay-at-home-mum, I have all the time in the world during the week don't I? No, between the bits of blogging I am able to write, I'm a mummy - I teach my daughter new things every day and I'm loving it.  I'm also friend, a daughter, an acquaintance, a cleaner, a chef, a maid, a shopper and a relaxer (yes, it's nice to have 5 minutes to myself with my feet up and a cup of tea).  The days literally fly by!

My parents have my daughter for me every Friday now and what do I do with that time?  I usually end up cleaning the house and getting the washing done.

I spoke to my best friend about it a few weeks ago and she asked if I wanted to go back to work part time.  "No" came my immediate reply.  I surprised myself at the quickness of my response as I did actually love my job - although maybe not the commute.  Then it struck me.  I'd always been so jealous of people who dedicated some of their time to charity and I'd never been in a position (or so I thought) to do it.  My brother-in-law volunteered at an Oxfam shop for 18 months, which, at the age of 23 I admired so much.  A young lad working in a charity shop for no wage at the age of 23 wasn't something you come across every day.

I spoke to my brother-in-law about it and he said he loved it.  He got to meet so many different personalities and he enjoyed dedicating his time to the charity.

I spoke to my husband about it and asked what he thought.  His response...

"No, charity begins at home".

Now don't get me wrong, my husband is quite charitable - he gives monthly to charities, as I do, and he will always give to Children In Need and other major charitable events. So this retort shocked me.

"No it doesn't" I replied.

He then explained that since I gave up work to be at home we aren't as financially well off as we once were.  I sit and look at the things we bought BC (before child) and I cringe at the money we fritted away on things that we didn't need.  We may not be as well off but we certainly aren't hard done by.  We still managed to splurge occasionally and our daughter never goes without.

I explained my thoughts and feelings to him and also reminded him that his own brother had done it.  He soon realised I was deadly serious and realised the benefits that it's going to give me.  Sure, it's not going to bring any extra money into the house, but so what?  I never did get people who were always striving to make money and weren't content with the things they had or trying to get the most out of life.  I want this to be something I can look back on and be proud that I did it.  I want my daughter to be proud of her mummy.

So, the next day I rushed off to get a volunteer form, spoke to my ex boss and an ex work colleague to provide me with a character reference and went back with the completed form in hand to drop it in personally.

I got the phone call on Tuesday.

I start at 10am tomorrow.

Eek!