Why can't I enjoy child-free time?

My daughter has been away since Saturday and wont be returning until Sunday. She has gone camping near Wisbech with my mum, my gran, my mum's friend, my gran's friend and my niece. My mum is a seasoned camper and will go in all weather. Me? I prefer my comfort and I count caravanning as 'slumming it'.

Being a single parent with no help from the absent parent, I'm so used to having my children around all the time (I wouldn't have it any other way), so when they go away, I really notice it; the house is quiet, it stays clean and tidy, food is left in the cupboard for days....ok, these are the good points. It's heartbreaking not having those daily kisses and cuddles, especially at night time, when I should be tucking her up into bed. Instead I find myself stood at her bedroom door looking at her empty bed. I miss her laugh, her jokes, the faces she pulls when she's talking.

I keep telling myself that she's in safe hands, my mum has raised 3 children without cause for concern, but this is my baby, a completely different kettle of fish altogether. I also keep telling myself she'll be fine, she's having lots of fun with her grannies and her cousin, she's feeding the chickens and piglets and playing with the other children on the campsite, so stop worrying. But, there's always that niggling voice in the back of my mind saying 'What if something bad happens?'

I'm sure I'm not the only parent to have these terrible thoughts. We know our children are in very safe hands so why do we torment ourselves? Why can't we just enjoy our child-free time?

Thank you

Thank you to each and every one of you who has taken the time to read my blog, it really does mean a lot that others are interested in my ramblings.

I started this blog as a reminder of the adventures we get up to, something to look back on and reminisce. I haven't been the most vigilant about keeping things up to date but I do love my little blog.

Is there anything you would like to see here? Any comments good or bad are most welcome, or even if it's just to say hello, I would love to hear from you all.

The Walking Dead Season 1

I've always be lagging behind in the hype of the latest blockbuster film or the latest must see tv show. I'm not a big tv watcher and would much prefer to spend my evenings unwinding with a good book or listening to music, however the ongoing hype for the American TV programme The Walking Dead has finally gotten to me. My brother raves about it and I see it regularly advertised on social media/networking sites.

I wanted to have a look at some reviews and came across this Website. They summarised the series:

 Based on a comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, a small group of survivors, led by officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), must fight a world full of zombies

I decided to rent the boxset instead of buy it, and last night I managed to watch a few episodes. I didn't have any expectations, were they walking zombies or the new fandangled running zombies? Just how gory was it? And most importantly, were there many jumpy moments? You know the kind, where the music starts getting a little creepier then a zombie jumps out of nowhere, sending your heart racing a mile a second and unable to sleep that night without dreaming of them. No? Must just be me then!!

Anyhow, although I managed to only watch a few episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rick Grimes is a great lead character, the supporting members have been cast well and it has just enough gore for me. The special effects used for the zombies is fantastic, very gruesome looking but not scary at all, which is a big thumbs up for a scardy-cat like me.

My favourite part of the show is the very delicious Norman Reedus, who plays the volatile and short-tempered Daryl Dixon. He's just so pretty to look at and his character adds that little bit extra to an already great cast.

If you haven't seen this series before, but enjoy the odd zombie-filled-guts-and-gore-fest, then I'd recommend it to you.

If you have already watched this series, let me know what you think. Who is your favourite character? What is you favourite and worst part?

I haven't been compensated in any way for this review, this is my own honest opinion.

I'm loving this weather

My reasons to be cheerful this week are brought to you by the lovely weather we've been having, it's been absolutely gorgeous and what's better, more sunshine and heat has been forecast for the next week.

I feel a lot better in myself when the weather is nice, I like to take myself out for long walks, it keeps me fit but it also helps with my stress and anxiety levels, which is always a good thing. I feel much happier all round; within myself, with other people and with social interaction.

I just hope the sunshine continues for the rest of the month, my daughter is going camping with her granny and her cousin come the first week of the holidays so it'd be nice for them if the weather was nice.

I hope you are all able to enjoy the sunshine while we have it, share those good vibe feelings.

Erin's Sports Day

Damian and Erin started at a new school this week, this school is only a 10 minute walk from our house which is much better than the 30 minute walk to their previous school.

Yesterday was Erin's Sport's Day and thankfully the weather played nicely for them. The emphasis was on team effort instead of a competition which I thought was perfect for her age group.

I'd never noticed before what good posture Erin has, but I saw it while she walked around with a small object on her head, it never moved once. I heard another parent comment on it and my first thought was 'That's my girl!!'

It's the Boy's Sport's Day today, I hope he does well too.

Reasons to be cheerful

My ultimate reason to be cheerful this week, comes from starting up my new business venture Skittlebugs.

It is still very very new but I have high hopes and heaps of ideas, so much so that I couldn't get to sleep until 4:30am this morning. I really need to put a pad of paper and a pen on my bedside table to record any ideas that spring to mind while I'm settling down to go to sleep.

My main aim is to create hand-made items for the home or as gifts, if you would like to pop along to Skittlebugs and let me know what you think, but again please realise that it's a very new venture and I'm still creating items.

My other reason to be cheerful is that I'm finally getting on top of my anxiety, although I still get bouts of it, I am putting actions into place to bring myself out of it, it's bloody hard work and at times I just want to curl up in my bed and stay there all day, but I have life whereas too many people are being denied this wonderful thing.

Woodlice as pets??

Damian came into the living room after finding a Woodlouse in the hallway, he seemed quite taken with this little creature, so I wondered whether they were suitable to keep as pets? Armed with my 'best friend' Google, we researched the Woodlouse and found the following:

Woodlice are fairly easy to keep as pets at home or in the classroom. Plastic containers make the easiest housing. And all that is needed to keep them happy is a layer of soil, a piece or two of bark, and perhaps a stone and some dead leaves.

A small piece of carrot or other vegetable can be added once a week. Spray with water occasionally to keep conditions humid. It is important not to make conditions too wet or too dry. One of the ways to do this is to spray just the one part of the box. In fact if you have a large box and different species of woodlice this can be used to study the differences in species preferences.

We also found out that they eat their own faeces, which while a bit gross, makes them the perfect pet in my eyes. So with the above in mind, we set out to find bark, stones and dead leaves in our garden and along with an old ice-cream tub, some moist soil and a sprig of old lettuce, Woody the Woodlouse now has a lovely new home.

We were quite pleased with our little project, until Erin got a tad jealous that Damian had a pet and she didn't. I suggested we find her a woodlouse to keep but she said she would much prefer a small horse that she can carry around in a bag. I thought she meant a toy horse but she was quite adament that she wanted a real small horse. Maybe another day Erin!!!