Arse... or why everything sucks today!

Today is one of those days...

My husband and I are still sick so our bedroom sounded like a plague ward this morning. After coughing our guts up for 10 minutes and girding ourselves to give the (thankfully germ free) angel his breakfast, we found out that our childcare for the next 2 days had let us down (Mother in law was whisked off on a birthday holiday as a surprise so I can't really be cross about that).

However, with the imminent house move, a need to sort out our subsiding house before the workmen arrive today and my husband being super busy work wise, it does create rather an issue for the next 2 days...

I would perfectly happily book a day off but my boss and her boss are in San Francisco all week so couldn't approve it anyway, plus I have a ridiculously large and mystical meeting with Facebook and a client tomorrow so can't take the morning off anyway.

Then I journeyed to work. It was super bloody cold. My ears and nose were FREEEZING. At Clapham Junction, there were loads of rude people who weren't looking where they were going. At Victoria, the Victoria line entrance was shut AGAIN - thanks TFL - due to overcrowding so had to stand in the cold.
Then my husband called with yet another company I have to call - British Gas - to sort out the subsiding house. Yet another log on the to do list... Plus loads of people, rude people, were pushing through the packed crowd trying to get across the queue to a part of the station that was clearly blocked off, with backpacks. I fucking hate backpacks, but that is another story.

Then the people I called to see if they could babysit munchkin tomorrow couldn't. I made it to the office to be confronted with a really crap presentation from a creative agency who clearly haven't thought through any elements of the planned campaign and now I have to do a conference call with them all, and my clients, without shouting, ripping their heads off or questioning how on earth they pass themselves off as a fully functional agency when they are clearly so SHIT at understanding how media and digital works.

I also have 20 calls to make today to get my house move sorted, plus a load of other little tiny bits to do that in general, along with everything else, add up to me wanting to either crawl under my desk, cry and drink wine or set fire to everyone and everything that comes near me.

I am blisteringly angry, frustrated and generally about ready to snap. So if you are reading this, and likely to encounter me for the next 24 hours or so, I really suggest that you avoid me like an unexploded IED and back slowly away as I am likely to rip your head off and spit down your neck for saying hello.

In summary, the world can fuck off today. Call me when it is Wednesday.

Wisley RHS gardens

Today my dear friend Jen and I are off to The Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley... We are taking our sons to see the gardens and the changing leaves. It should be a fab day!

30 Days hath November - some inspiration for the season

Today, I started looking at Christmas wrappings, cards and ribbons. I found a fantastic selection on a site I love called not on the high st.

I just love some of the personalised, detailed and really beautiful seasonal work that is sold on the site by a multitude of talented, fantastically dedicated sellers. I get so many of my birthday and Christmas pressies from here and it is never a disappointment.








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30 Days hath November - a favourite Movie

I think I have pretty weird and sometimes questionable taste in movies. I really like some classic films like The Great Escape & the Godfather, part 2 (not 3, that one is just crap except for the ending). I also like some very geek associated films like Avatar and Star Wars. I like some really cheesy films like Armaggedon and 27 Dresses. I also love musicals, like the Sound of Music and Chicago. I wouldn't say I have a type...

But I think my favourite film of all time has to be Disney films. It is tough to choose which one... Finding Nemo is frankly ace, and I like the Lion King a lot. The new one, Tangled, was wicked as well. But I think my all time favourite is probably The Little Mermaid.

I am so looking forward to watching them with my son when he is old enough to really watch them. Til then, sing along now, "under the sea...."

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30 Days Hath November - Something I am proud of

That is very simple. I am proud of my family.
















 30 Days Hath November
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30 Days hath November - 3 blogs I can't get enough of...

Now this is a tough decision as there are so many blogs that I love, and my favourites change from day to day depending on my mood.

I admit I prefer ones I can follow on Twitter as well as reading the blog as it lets me keep up to date with when they post from my most used medium (I spend a silly amount of time on Twitter).

My current favourite 3 are:
Atlas Obscura - a compendium of the worlds curiosities, wonders and esoterica - it is full of great stuff about the world, places, sights etc. I love to daydream about visiting EVERYWHERE on the lists...

Rugby Media - a great bloke called Nick who produces rugby based content and went to the world cup. He is very funny and just breaking into TV. He tweets often and writes well thought out rugby commentary, I am a fan of his work...




Jim's Pancakes - I found this the other day. Jim makes Pancakes, the blog title does what it says on the tin. But he makes the most frickin cool pancakes you have ever seen!! They are for his daughter and recent ones include a 3D Millennium Falcon, a little Easter chick and a present box made of pancake, with the actual present in it... I think you will admit that is pretty damn cool. And I love the fact that he does it to amuse his daughter - she ranks his attempts. It is sweet...





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30 Days Hath November - Something I have been craving...

So... I am a total foodaholic and, to coin a Sky advert, if it grows, swims or flies, I am all over it.

Recently my lovely friend Lyns went to Doha to visit her future parents in law. While there, her boyfriend had Steak Tartare, she had never tried so she did and posted a photo on Facebook of it. Ever since, I have had a mad craving for Steak Tartare...

I was in a place called the Riding House Cafe on Great Titchfield St that served it today with some people from Stardoll but they ordered a tapas style starter so I didn't get to order it. Gutted... as judging by how great the rest of the food was there, it would have been awesome.

I know if is a bit of a polarising dish for some people, who couldn't contemplate eating raw meat, but I just adore everything about the taste, richness, texture. It is up there with ethical foie gras & sashimi as one of my favourite dishes of all time.

I guess some might say I am not that politically correct in my eating, but I am stringent in eating from and in places that ethically source their ingredients and only buy high quality meat where I can guarantee the quality of life of the animals, so I don't feel bad about eating some more unusual, and raw, dishes.

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30 Days Hath November - What I love about my job

What I love about my job is that it requires me to spend all day, every day, online. Talking about, writing about, researching about consumers, digital, media, social networks, blogs etc. I can indulge my inner geek. I don't think there can be a better job than that...



Brought to you by Sofawned 30 Days Hath November
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30 days hath November - a close up of my day...

My constant companion...

30 days hath November - the last thing I purchased

I haven't bought much of any note for ages, aside from food... So my choice for the last thing I purchase is:

The cutest little animal camera in the world

I am running so behind with my blog but I simply couldn't resist posting this quickly... thanks Firefox

30 Days Hath November - a song for the day

This is an easy post for me as I have had the same song stuck in my head for the past week or so.

It is SongBird, by Eva Cassidy.

It was sung at a wedding I was at last weekend by a fantastic singer/songwriter called Lucy Westhead who was also a bridesmaid. It was written originally by Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, one of my fav old school bands and was on Rumours, one of their biggest albums. It was also used as a Sapphic love song in Glee from Santana played by Naya Rivera to Brittany in Glee! series 2

I have been singing it to my son as I love the words so much - you can see the lyrics here

30 Days Hath November - a book I am reading

Dammit - I forgot to blog again yesterday. Honestly, I do think my memory is more of a loose fishing net than a bag of memories... I can remember stuff I did and said 10 years ago but can't remember what I ate yesterday. Its like my past is a much richer, more interesting territory than my present.

Anyway, speaking of the past, I have been reading a series of books lately, of which there are currently 7, with more on the way.

It is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, which is seems most people have heard of, except for me. My Dad didn't like it, but my Mum and all her friends did so I thought I would give it a go.  Its about time travel, and Scotland, and the 1700s, and America, and war, and uprisings etc etc - it is a pretty big old story. I do love a big old story! There is also a fair bit of sex, swearing, fighting and love stories.

I read monstrously fast and so I tend to like big 700-800 page books, preferably in series of several books so that I can really get into them. My mum lent me them and, while they can be a little slow and sometimes I do just want to scream "please get on with the story and stop talking about the damn trees", they are pretty good. Even if I am 6 books in and no closer to the answers of questions I had in book 1 *sigh*.

 It isn't my usual sort of book, but they are very readable...

See it here on Amazon - Diana Gabaldon A Breath of Snow and Ashes


(I would put up a picture but the blogger image upload doesn't seem to be working today, I will add it later)

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Things I like today...

London Irish drew at Leicester Tigers 24-24 at Welford Road in the rugby premiership. This makes me very happy as we usually lose massively to Leicester...

This website http://userlook.com/about is totally brilliant and just fun user experience at its best... Thanks to @timothywhalin for the link...

Lemsip...

That is all, I feel ill and crap so don't like much at the moment...

30 days hath November - 3 years ago today

To be honest I don't have much of a clue what I was doing 3 years ago today... Fortunately I checked back on Facebook and twitter and they told me...

My friend Jenny's company Marlin PR launched a new tech company called Amplify and I posted a link to an article on brand republic about it on my Facebook, I was very proud! Later on in the evening, I seem to have gone to the fireworks on Clapham Common with chums.

I am not sure if it's the same round the globe but the 5th November is Guy Fawkes night or Fireworks night in the UK. It's a weird holiday... Basically guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament in London but failed on the 5th November in the year of sometime a very long time ago... Ironically the hacker group Anonymous use the guy Fawkes mask to wear when they appear at demonstrations.

So to "celebrate" guy Fawkes failure, every year we build a huge bonfire, make a fake man called the Guy to be burnt on top (I think they did burn the real bloke at the stake too) and set off lots of fireworks and have sparklers, mulled wine, apple bobbing, toffee apples and really cold BBQ weather!

It's proper good fun and in London, on Clapham Common, we have an awesome free fireworks display that is set to music including usually the star wars theme tune which makes my dear geeky husband very happy... There are usually tens of thousands of people and afterwards, everyone heads to the local bars and has a huge party...

So that is what I was doing 3 years ago today... According to social media... (thank god for Facebook and twitter or I might have to rely on my memory!)

Wonder if I will see any fireworks tonight?! I hope they don't wake my son!

30 Days hath November - Day 4 a friend I adore...

I was going to pick my husband here as he is my best friend but thought that might be against the rules...

So instead, I chose my dear friend Bex... Why? Because she is hilarious, kind, thoughtful and mad. Plus she makes a quality cup of tea and the best potato dauphinois in the world...

As an example, at the wedding I was at last weekend, at 3 in the morning, she stole a broadsword from a display in the castle and started swinging it round her head (mad). She also temporarily stole the cash for the band out of the best man's pocket, leading him to nearly expire with worry (hilarious). She was also wonderful when my little one was born and I wasn't coping too well when my husband had to go back to work.

So, the friend I adore is Bex. Thanks for being you... Now stick the kettle on!

30 days hath November - Day 3 catch up!

I have been super sick so am running late with my 30 days so I shall do 3 today to catch up...

It's hard to show a photo of what I never leave the house without as it is my blackberry and that is also my usual camera for blogging so it's tricky to take a photo of ur own camera...

The other thing I always carry is a whole host of products, Vaseline lip balm, anti wrinkle cream, hand cream etc.

I definitely never leave the house without Atrixo hand cream. It's by far the best one for me and it's a classic!
Especially since my baby was born and I wash my hands twice as often as normal... After nappy changes, before fixing baby food etc etc, my hands end up awfully dry, so I never leave the house without...

The stuff of dreams...

Today I was reading a blog called Inspire me Heather, which brings together ideas for projects in the craft and DIY vein. They had a post called Project: Chicken Coops which I read in great detail and then promptly followed all the links from it to other people's blogs.

What this really made me realise is that I can't wait til Husband and I can sell our house in London and move to a bigger place further out. I would love to have space for our son and our cats to run around, and space where I can breathe! As much as I adore London, and I really really do, I sometimes long for a bit of fresh air, a veggie garden, a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog and some Chickens...

I must admit that the chickens are a major lure. My best friend Bexy's family used to have chickens til all but one chicken got eaten by foxes. The final chicken became more of a pet, known as Mrs Chicken and she would wander in and out the cat flap, sit on top of the aga and torment the cats and dogs of the house by pecking them when they least expected it.  She had a fetish for tomatoes and would chase guests with red toenail varnish on, mistaking their toes for cherry tomatoes - very funny to watch!!

When we moved into my parents current house about 28 years ago, there was an old chicken coop in the garden that looked a bit like a gypsy caravan. I wasn't allowed in it as I was only 3, it was rotten and had rats - my dad chopped it up and burnt it on the bonfire. I thought it looked like the coolest thing on earth!!

Ever since then, I would periodically try and get my parents to get some chickens. They had tonnes of space for them and my mum thought it would be brilliant. My dad always resisted as he said we would only be all upset when the local foxes killed them, as they did to our neighbours chickens from time to time.  So I have never owned any chickens.... yet!

But on this blog today I saw some of the coolest chicken coops ever, and it reminded me that Husband and I should most certainly get chickens, to go with my husband's longed for veggie patch when we have more space.

Thanks to debra prinzing

Sure, our son will probably let them out once or twice and our cats will have to be kept far away, and the fictional dog is something to consider, but I am determined that one day, in the not too distant future, that we shall have chickens, and fresh eggs and a chicken coop to be proud of.

"People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately."

Oscar Wilde

I think one of the reasons I love chickens is that I love egg sandwiches, especially ones made by my mum which are frankly just superior to any others I have tasted anywhere. I asked her to show me how she made them. She assured me she did nothing different to what everyone else does to make egg sandwiches, but I replied she must, as they are so much nicer.

We made them together a few months ago, and I was right! She does do something different!! So I shall now share with you the recipe of my mum's superior sandwich.

Super Egg Sandwiches:

8 eggs (large, organic, free range)

Heinz Salad Cream (a large squirt) - or Mayonnaise if you prefer

Knob of unsalted butter

Pepper

Cress (if liked)

Large Free Range Eggs

8 slices of wholemeal bread

Unsalted butter for spreading

1. Place eggs in boiling water until just hard boiled (about 5-6 minutes). 
2. Immediately run under cold water until cool enough to handle - the cold water also stops them cooking any further and ending up too hard.
3. Peel all eggs of their shell and inner "skin" bit (tap at one end, slide your finger gently under the side of the shell and push along under the shell, it should come away stuck to the skin and in largish pieces)
4. Place in a large bowl
5. Using a sharp knife, begin chopping the eggs roughly in the bowl
6. Once all the eggs are roughly chopped into inch or so pieces, add the knob of butter and continue chopping - it is the butter that makes this a superior sandwich, as the eggs are still slightly warm from cooking, the butter melts and blends with the egg, making it a little richer, a little smoother and just more delicious. This is the bit my Mum does that no other recipe says to do...
7. Once the pieces of egg are smallish, you can switch to a fork, to squash the egg/butter mixture but don't make it smooth - you still want small chunks about the same size as chocolate chips you get in a cookie.
8. Squirt in your required amount of Heinz Salad Cream - I am not sure if they have it in the USA but you could use mayonnaise and a tiny bit of white wine vinegar instead.
9. Mix everything together (including cress if you fancy it) and season with pepper (white pepper if you are being fancy) as required
10. Butter the wholemeal bread and pile on the egg mixture
11. Top the sandwich and then cut each set into 4 squares or triangles, depending on your personal favourite (I like squares myself)

Superior Egg Sandwiches

Its pretty much my dream afternoon, sitting in a gorgeous garden, with sandwiches made from eggs from my own chickens, bread baked by my husband and our family all around us.

God knows how practical all this wish making is, my job only really exists in London or other major cities and I don't want a huge commute or I would never see my son during the week.

So maybe it is all just the stuff of dreams, but at least in the meantime, I can make my dream sandwich...


"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

The above quote could easily apply to any farm aspiring blogger, such as myself...

30 days hath November - day 2 "quotes"

Today's task for 30 Days Hath November is 3 inspirational quotes. This took me a while as there are so so many that spring to mind. Especially with the death of Steve Jobs recently, I was tempted to put in his famous quote about staying curious, but thought that was a little obvious...So instead I have tried to put in quotes that cover a few genres; life, love and wisdom.

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgement difficult.
Hypocrites 

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
Judy Garland 

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes always sound so cheesy when you write them out like this, but these are 3 that I really like.

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Baby Monitors and why I wish Apple would make one...

So, I know it probably sounds pedantic, but I have a real problem with the people who design baby monitors.

Have they never heard of testing, or user experience, or actually making a product do what it is designed to do? Apparently not...

I am on my 3rd baby monitor or baby alarm since my baby was born 8 months ago. This is just ridiculous but true. Why is it impossible to find a monitor that actually monitors the baby, isn't covered in lights at both ends and doesn't break after 8 weeks!?!? I could honestly design a much better baby monitor than any of the ones I have seen on the market. It drives me up the parenting wall that no one puts enough thought into these important, and expensive products!

I didn't want to buy 3 baby alarms, I had to. They weren't cheap and I resent that it is impossible to find the perfect baby monitor. Parents deserve good product user experiences too - I bet Apple or Bang and Olufsen could get it right... or could they - there's a challenge for you great designers...

So here is why I had to buy 3 monitors (and I am still not happy with this one), we will work through them in chronological order:


1. Phillips DECT Baby Monitor £100

Phillips DECT Baby Monitor £100

• Humidity and temperature sensor 
• ECO mode 
• Adjustable sound sensitivity 
• Out of range/low power signals 
• Lullabies and night light 
• LEDs light to signal noise 
• Superior operating time 
• Two way communication 
• DECT software gives crystal clear sound and a private connection 
• Rechargeable wireless parent unit

While this is a perfectly sweet list of features, it fails to recognise one, somewhat key, element of a baby monitor.

I want to be able to actually HEAR my baby!

Even with the volume on the parent unit turned up to full blast, the sound that actually came out was little above a whisper. That is fine during a dinner party, but when it is on charge, halfway across the living room, it makes the whole unit pretty pointless. Yes, there are lights on the top that would light up when he made a noise, but this meant I basically had to sit and stare at the parent unit for the whole evening.  If I wanted to sit and stare at something, I would sit and stare at my son, not a monitor. It made me totally paranoid that I would miss him crying after it happened a couple of times when by the time he was crying loud enough for the sound to make it across the sofa, he had got really really upset.

Other issues with it included a green light that always stayed on, on the baby side of the monitor which my son would stare at (he loves lights!) and therefore not fall asleep (I had to stick a small black sticker over that) and the rechargeable battery in the parent unit, which started to disconnect itself randomly after about 3 months - it was fully charged and the screen would just go blank (with no warning, so you wouldn't realise for 10 minutes it had turned itself off...).

All in all, it seemed perfect when I bought it, but if I could have tested it in the shop, and realised the baby would have to bellow like a lion for me to hear him through it, I would never have bought it!

So onto number 2:

2. Tomy Digital Plus TD350 Monitor £85

Tomy Digital Plus TD350 Monitor

 Flexible monitoring: 120 channels & 350m range

Low battery and out of range alarm for extra reassurance

Richer sound docking station for easy charging and even better sound

Sound level light display to stay alert to baby’s needs even with the volume off

Sound activation mode; ideal for when your baby is that little older and it’s not necessary to hear her every sound

Two way talkback so parents can reassure baby from afar

DECT technology guarantees interference free with crystal clear sound and 100% privacy

Parent and baby unit LCD temperature display so parents can see and monitor the temperature wherever they are without having to disturb baby

Timer to help keep track of time between feeds, sleeps and medication

Vibration mode which is ideal for noisy environments and to aid the hard of hearing

A multicoloured nightlight to check on baby without switching on the main light which can be customised to coordinate with the nursery and used as an independent nightlight without the monitor

A belt clip for day to day hands free convenience

A pager to help locate the parent unit if misplaced.

When I bought this, I thought Tomy was such a well respected brand for baby monitors, that I couldn't go wrong. Unfortunately, I spoke too soon.

Firstly, the base unit in the babies room had a huge illuminated green power switch on it that lit up half of his room and woke him up if he stirred so I had to drape a dark cloth over it every night which muffled the sound somewhat. Secondly, despite never having spilt water on it, after about 10 weeks, the parent unit connections to the docking station started rusting. Rusting! So then it wouldn't sit in the charger cleanly or charge properly.

On the plus side, it was very clear sound and I liked the fact that I could attach the child base to the outside of the cot bars. But it is now in a bin, because the charging parts finally failed and there is no point to a monitor with no parent unit.

And our current model, monitor number 3!

3. Binatone Motorola MBP36 Digital Video Monitor £160 at Argos

Motorola MBP36 Digital Video Monitor

• 2.4GHz FHSS wireless technology                    
• Data encryption for security
• 3.5” Large Colour LCD screen
• Up to 25 FPS
• Infrared night vision
• Pan, tilt and zoom remotely
• Room temperature monitor
• Five polyphonic lullabies
• Five LED alerts for noise level
• 200M range with “out-of-range” warning
• High sensitivity microphone
• Two-way communication
• Rechargeable battery (Parent Unit)

I will say that the video function is so far AWESOME! and the night vision really does actually live up to billing which is pretty impressive. The remote camera operation is cool as you don't have to keep going in and moving the camera when little one's roll about in the cot and keep disturbing them.

However, as I have learnt to my cost, there are some flaws with this monitor too.  There is a green light on the front of the baby unit that can distract babies in the dark. Also, the 2 way communication function on the units doesn't seem to actually come out very loud in the baby's room - it sounds like a whisper even when talking quite loudly. The battery can also run out quite quickly if you keep the video screen switched on (although it does turn the video screen off automatically after 5 minutes if you leave it on, in order to conserve power). Finally, and my biggest personal bugbear about it - the permanent lights on the parent unit... The blue ON light and green connect light... During the evening in a normal room, not a problem at all. The big problem is that now our baby is bigger, he sleeps in his own room, but we have the parent unit in our room so I can just keep an ear on him. The lights are like search lamps!! They are so bloody bright that you can discern the glow with your eyes closed and this, quite frankly, drives me up the wall.

My perfect monitor doesn't exist yet, there are apps for iphones and ipads but they are still a bit clunky. What I really want is an iMonitor (fictional obviously) designed by Apple, with remote controlled night vision video, no permanently on lights at either end, that can be safely attached to the top of a cot without any dangers of babies chewing wires, remote log in access from ipads or iphones so I can see him when he is staying at my parents (I miss him) as well as all the other bells and whistles that usually come with the monitors these days.

We have now spent nearly £300 on monitors, just to have the batteries disconnect, parts go rusty or to keep me awake all night with annoying lights. It is very frustrating, so if any brands ever bother reading this, turn the lights out before you leave!!

30 days hath November - Day 1

So, today I discovered a new blog called So Fawned, a wonderful blog that I am really glad I found... The authoress has a great idea of things to do on blogs in November so I decided to join in... I learnt to upload a badge and everything (this is more effort than I have ever willingly put into blogging before). So the task for the first day is: Day 01: A self-portrait. So here is my self portrait - I took it a while ago when I first dyed my hair platinum blonde, I am not big on photos of myself...

I decided I wanted a massive hair change so I chopped off 10 inches of hair, had it pasted with bleach all over and then waited til it went all white. I loved it, it made me feel in control and edgier than I normally feel. It was fun, while it lasted. The upkeep was a nightmare and it trashed my hair after a few times of redoing it so the bleach is no more but I have lots of memories of cool, bleach blonde quiffs etc to keep me happy! So happy November people, join in, its fun...