What Katie did next...

So the Saga continues and just as Katie Price was winning me around with her "normal" down to earth persona and team player attitude she goes and pulls another publicity stunt and her true colours shine through, and to think i was actually beginning to feel sorry for her!

"The pricey" as she so annoyingly refers to herself ( i mean only idiots refer to themselves in the third person) has gone and dumped another fool live on national TV in Australia, it appears to be a failed attempt at a reconciliation with her ex Husband Peter Andre. I can't say it's a surprise as nothing she does has any shock value anymore, she's over exposed and desperate but why on earth is she putting her kids through this circus?

Peter Andre is no saint, of course it's a two way street and the way she has been vilified and thrown to the lions is absurd, it takes two to tango. Yet her Ex husband is discreet about his love life or lack of (yeah right your fooling no one Pete) and until Jordan, Kate, Katie, the pricey whatever she's calling herself today learns the meaning of the word she's going to continue on this train wreck taking her poor innocent kids along for the ride.

As for Alex i doubt he'll be shedding any tears, he's used her just as much as she used him and I'm sure he'll be making a tidy profit off the back of their liaison for a few years to come, cynical me? Never.

What Katie did next...

Spreading the love

So I thought I'd do a good dead for the day and spread the word about some great sites out there (this is NOT a sponsored post)purely out of the goodness of my heart, yes I'm just that kind of girl!

If any new parents or parents to be out there are in need of a baby sleeping bag then look no further than The dream bag Company. This is, in my opinion, the best invention EVER and every parent should own a sleeping bag for their babies they offer peace of mind and ensure your little bundles of joy are always nice and toastie. Now i have to admit i may be a little biased as this site is run by a very good friend of mine Maria, it's a family run business and the quality of the bags are fantastic, i used them for all my girls. If you hop on over to the site you'll also see my adorable children modelling the sleeping bags(I did it as a favour in exchange for some gorgeous photos)and if you request a brochure my beautiful little Eva is on the front cover!

Secondly The lovely Emily over at Brits In Bosnia has asked me to mention the release of the X factor single "You are not alone" which is raising funds for Great Ormand Street Hospital. I was happy to oblige as i think it's a fantastic cause and i was in floods of tears on Saturday whilst watching this http://www.gosh.org/x-factor/the-charity-single/the-story-so-far/oscar/ Please everyone go out and buy the single, lets help little Oscar and all those other Children too.

"All 12 of this year’s X Factor finalists have released a fantastic cover of Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

If you want to find out why Great Ormond Street Hospital needs your support please see Oscar’s video. http://www.gosh.org/x-factor/the-charity-single/the-story-so-far/oscar/ Anyone who watched X Factor on Sunday night will know that Oscar really was the star of the show!

Thousands of children just like Oscar, who really is an inspiration to us all, need the help of the amazing staff at GOSH and this single will help sick children from across the UK to get better. Some of the patients of Great Ormond Street Hospital appear in the official music video launched with the single on Sunday night http://xfactor.itv.com/2009/videos/player/item_200784.htm and if you watch this then I am sure you won’t fail to want to support them.

We are asking for everyone’s support in helping this single make the number one spot this weekend. Sony are donating all profits from the sale of the single and a number of retailers are also very kindly donating all their profits from the sale of the single (find out which ones by clicking here http://www.gosh.org/x-factor/the-charity-single/buy/ ). Please ask everyone you know to buy/download this single now – it doesn’t cost much but every single bought will make an incredible difference to the sickest children in the UK right now."

Spreading the love

Bills, Bills, Bills

I've had one hell of a morning and have spent the best part of three hours in floods of tears over an astronomical electricity bill that floated through my letterbox this morning. Scottish Power have kindly sent a YEARLY estimate to the tune of £1,987.76!!!

Yes that's right in the thousands, are they shitting me? I know i have four kids and a washing machine that's constantly doing a cycle but surely they cannot be serious? Well after several conversations with a clueless and unhelpful customer service representative (oh the irony) and getting nowhere I've left it in the capable hands of Mr Bold.

My stomach's in knots and it's completely ruined my day, I'm now wondering how to reduce the amount of electricity we use (no more tumble dryer sob)as well as all our other outgoings and am putting my frugal hat on trying to come up with ideas how to save some pennies. Whilst googling "how to feed a family for £30 a week"(we average £120 at the moment including nappies etc) i stumbled across this picture



The Ayme family of Tingo Ecuador survive on £31.55 between 9 of them a week. The photograph was taken as part of an article about what the world eats which can be found Here. Look at their lovely faces. I now feel slightly embarrassed and unappreciative, I'm busy worrying about an electric bill when this family doesn't even have an electric supply. It's a very sobering sight and has helped put my troubles in to perspective, i just need to learn how to be content with my lot and not to sweat the small stuff.

Bills, Bills, Bills

A change of plan!

If you happened to read my recent post Flower power then you'll be aware I'm all set to become a florist! Well there's been a slight change of plan, after realising how much work and knowledge of the subject floristry entails we have now decided it might be best to open the shop my husband is leasing as wait for it.......A fancy dress shop!

I know, couldn't be further away from a shop full of flowers but it's a lot less pressure and depending on how well the shop does we can look into the florist idea at a later date once we are all set up. The shop has a massive upstairs which would be ideal for us to move the fancy dress to and we can use the downstairs as a home ware/florists.

So has anybody any ideas on names for the shop?? I'm wracking my brains for something not too tacky and original, let me know if you come up with anything!

A change of plan!

Top Tune Tuesday

I've decided to do a weekly Tuesday feature and include a "top tune" once a week, this week I'm kicking it off with Chaka Khan's "Ain't nobody." This is one of my favourite dance tracks and it makes me want to hit the dance floor every time i hear it....enjoy!

Top Tune Tuesday

Rules for a perfect Family Christmas

When an email popped up asking me if i would like to participate in the John Lewis "Rules" for the perfect family Christmas campaign, i couldn't wait to get involved and compile my very own list of favourite rules. Having very young children we haven't yet got into the full swing of our own "Traditions" at Christmas time. However times are a changing, now the twins are past the baby stage this should be the first proper Christmas all six of us can enjoy and join in together. I hope the list i have come up with will be the beginning of a life long Christmas tradition and something which the girls will continue with their own families when they've eventually flown the nest (I'm counting down the days).

1) Nothing says Christmas more than a good old Panto, so the day before Christmas Eve (23rd December) I take my big girls along with my mum to watch the local Big Production. Last year it was Cinderella and we spoke to Les Dennis in the middle of Lime Street Station as he was grabbing a Costa Coffee, he was very friendly and lovely to my girls. This year it's Peter Pan and we can't wait!

2)Christmas Eve is "Craft day." The girls dress up in their most festive outfits, last year it was red Santa dresses and we have a craft afternoon making star shaped biscuits to adorn the tree and reindeer dust from glitter, oats and shiny star shapes. We finish off with lots of mince pies and chocolate milk or mulled wine for mummy.



3) The girls Scatter their Reindeer dust onto the front lawn and then leave out the mandatory mince pie, pint of milk and a carrot for Rudolph.



4) 7pm Christmas Eve mass - We probably won't make it this year due to the twins early bedtime but I'm hoping by next year this will be the one family tradition we stick too every year. It's important to remember the true meaning of the holidays and to Celebrate properly. hopefully the children will realise there is more to Christmas than just presents!

5)We let the children open one present each before bedtime on Christmas Eve which is always festive Pyjamas. This ensures they look the part on the hundreds of pictures taken the next morning of them ripping open all their presents.

6) Relatives - We visit my parents at 10am to get the obligatory gift swap out the way and ensure they see the grand kids. This means we are safely back at home by 12pm and have the rest of the day to do as we please- no family politics and rules to adhere too. Instead we spend the day putting batteries into numerous plastic toys and splitting up several squabbles over who got the most presents from Santa.

7) A proper brunch complete with bucks fizz and smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and croissants, this helps to line the stomach in preparation for that huge tin of quality streets we'll inevitably polish off before dinner time.

8)Christmas Dinner is served promptly at 3pm with all the trimmings including stuffing and sprouts. We start our three course meal in style with a prawn salad (soup for the kids) but we NEVER finish it off with Christmas pudding - yuck. We prefer a blueberry cheesecake or good old mince pies with cream.



9) Lots of Wine to wash down your meal and it wouldn't be Christmas without pulling a cracker or ten!






10) The "GRINCH"- Christmas would most certainly not be the same without a bit of Jim Carey and "hooville." We watch this on DVD religiously every Christmas evening. Afterwards we play with the kids latest board games and stuff ourselves full of chocolates and turkey butties.

Rules for a perfect Family Christmas

Feeling like the worlds worst mum....AGAIN!

You know this past couple of weeks I've been so preoccupied with birthdays, parties, christenings, half term, vomiting kids, parties and more birthday's that I've sort of taken my eye of the ball in respect of my mothering duties. The house is in serious disarray, piles of ironing are strewn all over the house in every single room and i haven't cooked a proper "made-from-scratch" meal in ages. Not only that but the kids have been skipping their daily baths, not brushing their teeth at night and Sofia's fingernails look like they're growing mushrooms underneath them...OK so i exaggerated about the last one but still, I'm a bad mum!

Not only is their personal hygiene on a down ward spiral but i haven't been consistent with their bedtime stories and worse I've turned a blind eye to Mia's homework, she's now two weeks behind schedule and has misplaced her reading book!!!

Today my parental skills (or lack off) have come in for serious questioning when i arrived at school to collect Mia, to my horror i realised I'd completely missed Mia's parents evening the night before. One of the parents asked me how it went and it suddenly dawned on me......holy shit...I didn't show up!! The mums horrified expression did little to quell my shame and i set off to apologise to Mia's teacher with my tail between my legs. The teacher couldn't have made me feel any smaller when she informed me (rather to gleefully i might add) that Mia had become very upset this afternoon during story time when she realised her mummy and daddy had missed the parents evening and didn't get to see her work. I was informed to inquire about making another appointment on Monday and she might be able to fit me in for 5mins after school one evening.

Mia carried on the torture all the way home and really milked it with lines like "But mummy you didn't see all my very hard work" and "why has every one else's mums and dads been to parents evening but not mine?"

I 'm off now to compile an action plan, i think i need to concert all my energies into the kids and pick up my game, i suppose " you only get out what you put in."

Feeling like the worlds worst mum....AGAIN!