Friday 20 June 2014

mumsnet, I love thee, let me count the cost

I have spoken before of my deep love of mumsnet. I am still enamoured. I suspect the shine is going off it for mr auntiegwen aka mr adventures, although I don't think he can really claim to be mr adventures any more such is the pitiful amount of blogging ie none of late.


I am an ad man's dream. I am hugely suggestible. So if someone takes the time and trouble to log on and spout about how good something is, I am going to believe them.


To date I have bought on a mumsnet recommendation,


Sainsbury's luxury leggings  - best quality, last for ages, wash well
Branch 309 - ex display shoes form office and schuh -  we have bought 5 pairs from here, very good for cheap UGG boots, EBD got a fab £29 pair and I even persuaded my dad into the UGG slippers, which he loves
Lanacane ani chaffe gel - stop sniggering, it's apparently the same formula that Smashbox use in their make up primer and it is 1/3 of the price
Longchamp - La Pliage large shopper, fab bag and will take loads of work files plus all the assorted staff I need all day every day to survive
Tresseme 7 day keratin shampoo & conditioner - I have very soft and straight hair now


Yesterday I succumbed to Alpha H skin care - apparently it's brilliant for cleaning out your pores. I shall report back and let you all know. don't worry not with before and after pictures, I'm not that unkind.
I'm sure it's just displacement as I haven't bought the handbag despite the 30% off in the sale.


Today I am trying desperately not to buy a Morphy Richards 9 in 1 steam cleaner - they are the dog's apparently. I feel that getting excited about household appliances rather put me in the Per Una category.


Today I am going to stick to Am I being unreasonable, it's cheaper than chat & style & beauty. Say hi to wifeandmotherandlotsofother if you see me.



Sunday 15 June 2014

I heart MH

Have I mentioned how much I love living in Market Harborough this month? No? how remiss of me.

We have no cinema here, we were supposed to get one but there has been a community group and a business joint initiative thingy that has gone bodge and we aren't getting one. That is the short version.


Please don't feel sorry for us, no siree, we have a film club. Oh yes, Market Harborough has everything you could possible want. Our lovely film club meets in the local theatre, we have a big screen, tippy up seats and a bar. Take that Odeon.


We went on Friday and saw The Monuments Men. We had a drink in the bar, a lovely chat, a film we enjoyed and it was every bit as good as the cinema. All for a fiver each.


Fabulous.


And the icing on the cake...


We were the youngest there by a good decade.


I love Market Harborough.





Tuesday 10 June 2014

Welcome to the house of vom

We have a black cross on our front door. I am ringing my bell and crying out "unclean, unclean" We are a house of lurgy.  My stepson The Boy Wonder spent the weekend vomiting and sleeping, not to be outdone my husband has spent today vomiting and sleeping, He scared the beejeezus out of me as he recounted how he pulled into a lay by on the way home to barf and woke up 20 minutes later with the engine running and the handbrake off.


He's not even got life insurance.


My Eldest Beautiful Daughter and I were on Skype tonight and I was telling our tales of woe and sickness and she asked if I was more sympathetic to illness now, she loves to recount the phrases that were trotted out when she was pleading for a day off school. Before I was a teacher, I spent 15 years as a nurse, I probably wasn't sympathetic to pleas of illness.  Sympathy clearly was a shift time only concept. The ones she favours are


"Have you a limb hinging off? No , well get that uniform on"
"You're sick are you? Let me take you to the hospital, I work there, I'll show you what a sick person looks like"
"Put a plaster on it, it'll be fine. Stop your crying"


Then I became a teacher and still had no truck with school avoiding issues. Apparently EBD's upbringing has made her the strict teacher she is now.


And she is a VERY strict teacher.





Friday 6 June 2014

A Handbag

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a lady in the middle years of her life, must be in want of a good handbag.


Or is that just me?


Maybe it's because you're never too fat for a handbag? It wouldn't matter which designer I chose or how much money I spent, I'm still going to look like a pig in a frock in most of them. Not even once has a handbag made me look chubby. And I am very old and have had a lot of handbags.




I am looking for the holy grail of handbags, I want something that will be big enough to carry all my stuff. I have a lot of stuff, I know from past experience if I leave any of the stuff out, I will need it and be peeved with myself all day for leaving it at home. I want it to look smart and business like ( because clearly I need all the help I can get with that one) I want it to say "Look here, you young things, I am a serious lady with a serious handbag, I may be getting old but with that I am gaining gravitas. And I have a lovely handbag"


 I have spent a fair bit of time on my handbag quest. I have even joined a handbag forum ( courtesy of mumsnet, of course, I can't do anything without mumsnet approval)  I have decided upon the handbag for me.


It is a lovely handbag.


It is a thing of beauty.


It is expensive.


Click HERE to see my object of my covety covetousness.


Oh I can do all the nice lady things justification maths, cost per wear blah blah blah, I know I will use it , I know it is good quality. I know I could sell it if I got bored and still get some money back.  But can I really spend that kind of money on a bag?


DISCLAIMER - if the nice PR people at Mulberry wish to send me a free handbag to play with, I will blog the live long day about them, I will stop people in the street and force them to admire the Bay, truly I will, there will not be anyone who knows, reads or has contact with me that will not hear the joys of Mulberry. Promotion has no impetus like a middle aged auntie with a free handbag.


I just cannot bring myself to hand my card over, it seems obscene just to pay the money. I really, really want this bag. My lovely husband has said he'd buy it for me  but I can't let him. I could take the money out of my wee nice lady things savings account but it seems like I haven't earned it, despite the fact that any money going into the account has been earned by me.


So I have come up with a cunning plan, in this plan I get to buy the handbag but I have to earn the handbag. I can't do any more hours at work so I have to give up something and then save the money for the bag. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.


So, suggestions welcomed for what I can do that will leave me a spare £1000 ish in my account but won't get me arrested or divorced.


PS - I am completely aware of this being a #firstworldproblem, I am completely aware that people are starving and homeless and really struggling and I have the luxury of even thinking of buying a handbag. I know, I know... mea culpa