Owner: Fluttering Butterflies URL:http://michelle-says.blogspot.com Join Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:10:30 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Ramblings, mostly of books and the adventures of raising a toddler, from a twenty-something American living in England! Site statistics:Click here
Ugh. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 September, year before last, N and I gave up McDonalds. We'd never been huge McDonalds eaters before that, but it was a considerable sacrifice for us. Anyway, we still occasionally get the urge to have a Big Mac, and we don't always completely avoid the place. I'd say in the last year and half, we'd eaten at McDonalds maybe three times. Yesterday was one of those times. We'd spent the entire long morning going from one car dealership to another, with the winds whipping around us. I (gracefully, of course) managed to stomp in a big puddle and was in a pretty foul mood. We thought, oh god, let's just stop at McDonalds while we're here. On the menu: two Big Mac meals, 6 chicken McNuggets to share, and a Cadbury McFlurry for me. I was really looking forward to that damn McFlurry as well. Maybe I ate it too quickly, maybe I really am lactose-intolerant (as I've suspected for many years now) maybe all the grease and non-good food before it made it impossible not to, but I felt so in
Cold 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It is seriously cold in this house. Something happened last night, which wasn't noticed until just as we were coming up to bed - the heating didn't come on. It usually switches on around 5pm and stays on for a few hours so the house is nice and cosy when we get into bed (at 9pm). But instead, the house is chilly. Not much we could do last night, but I checked this morning and there's no flame in our boiler. What does this mean? The thought of no hot water or heating seriously scares me. Boy and I have bundled up today in many layers, but this better go away, I mean, look how long it took Kate to have her boiler fixed... no, this isn't happening!Also, my Sky box isn't working. Not only am I freezing in my own home, I can't watch last night's ER either.*********Update: I am such a drama-queen! We were only short of the heating for less than a day, and then a fried knowledgeable in boilers came around and between him and N, it was fixed without much of a problem! No cold showers
Busy-ness 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I had this idea for a post that I was mulling around in my head of how in awe I am of SuperMoms - you know the ones, whose children are all happy and healthy, who make elaborate homecooked meals, their houses are tidy, they manage a social life and play with their kids, their whole lives perfectly balanced. Does such a person actually exist? If so, I am so not that woman. I have no social life to speak of, everytime I make a more complicated dinner Elliot screams his head off like he's been abandoned, and I need to drop Boy off at his grandmother's house for the day so I can give the house a good clean. I think I overdid it yesterday with the tidying. Maybe it's because we're still settling in, but there is still so much that needs to be organised. Our garage has become a dumping ground, we have too many nicknacks and JUNK hanging about and I can't bring myself to give it all to charity because I put emotional importance on everything. I have too many books, I've put most o
My Little Toddler 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's hard to deny it any longer, I don't have a baby boy anymore.. I have a little toddler. It's kind of scary actually. When Elliot was a baby, he was pretty easy. Not fussy, didn't cry much, was easy-going about pretty much everything. I didn't want him to grow up - he's so sweet and innocent at the moment. But I can feel it all changing, slowly but gradually. He learned how to climb onto the sofas the other day so he could play with all of the items we'd tried to keep out of his reach, like the remote controls. He's down to one nap in the early afternoons, and apart from this, it's all-play all the time. If he sees me eating or drinking something different to him, Elliot will start whining. If things are out of reach, he'll cry, and sometimes he'll manage to get what he wants. We were playing on the floor the other day, and he pushed me from behind, put his whole weight into it. Later that day, he bit me. I wouldn't say he's naughty, but he's into everything and he's
A Family Portrait 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I just got off the phone with my mother-in-law and she told me out of the blue, that I've been a great daughter-in-law to her, and that was so unexpected and nice to hear. It's a little strange though, we've had so many ups and downs and been through a lot, and I'm glad that she feels that way, even after everything. My family growing up was a little strange. It was hard for me to talk to my friends about it, because going to their houses and seeing how they and their families interacted was so different and painful to watch. As a teenager, I thought our family epitomised the term 'dysfunction' but as I've gotten older, I realise that every family has its problems, but still - our family problems were not small. My father, as I may have mentioned before, was a Vietnam vet. He was shot down from helicopters 3 or 4 times, I don't remember and because of this we lived off his disability cheques. He was a stay-at-home dad who stayed mostly in front of the television watching s Read more:Family
, Portrait
Apparently... 1970-01-01 00:59:59 ...it's De-lurking week, which means all of you out there (who like me!) never comment on other people's blogs, here's your chance! I've been desperately trying to break my bad habit of not-commenting with some small success... if you start commenting, so will I. Deal? :) I think it'll be very satisfying, as there a ton of great blogs I read, and everyone is going through something, and (nice) comments always cheer me up! To go along with de-lurking week, here's this blog meme, sent to me by Tasha: 1.Do you like the looks and the content of your blog? I adore the look of my blog (Lindsay is brilliant, isn't she?) but if I'm honest, I don't like the content of my blog much... but that's just my self-doubt and poor self-esteem, I'm working on it. 2.Does your family know about your blog? My husband has the link but he doesn't get a chance to read it often. No one else in my family or my husband's reads it (or has the link), but I sometimes write (guardedly) as if the famili
Hunting Unicorns 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I'm not sure exactly why I chose this book to read. I've gone back to using ReadItSwapIt lately, and everytime someone suggests a swap with me, I think to myself 'I can't continue rejecting everything' but I always do. I have this idea of which books I want to read in my head all the time, and I'm fairly closed to books I know nothing about or haven't had a recommendation for. I've come to realise that this isn't just a recent development either, I very rarely will pick up a book that looks interesting and read it just on the basis of the summary on the back. Oh well, this was different and I wasn't disappointed. It says somewhere that it's a romantic comedy, but I found that the romantic part wasn't as central, and I liked that. I liked the odd style of narration, and I genuinely felt for most of the (eccentric) characters. But as with the rest, I have put up as many books as I can access onto my swap list (restricted of course because I can't move the heavy boxes of b Read more:Unicorns
Who Needs Sleep, Day 2 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Here's the thing - Elliot is thirteen months old, and he still does not sleep through the night. It's appalling, really, we should have taken care of this months and months ago. He has so many bad sleeping habits, that I fear this will take forever. I've been reading a sleep book for children and now here's our list of crimes - For ages, he's been falling asleep by giving him milk. When this doesn't work, N or I bounce him until he passes out. He's been taking his naptimes on the floor in the living room until just recently. His cotbed is still in our room. In the middle of the night, when Elliot wakes up crying, he gets taken into our bed. We cosleep. Slowly, all of this has to change. But N and I can't bear to see him crying. Under the advice of my health visitor (who I have an uneasy relationship with) we started the day before yesterday by putting Elliot into his cot tired but awake, told him it was sleeptime and left the room. Five minutes later, one of us would check on h Read more:Needs
, Sleep
Old and New 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Did I ever mention before that I collect Eeyores? Well, I do. Here are the latest three in my collection. I've lost count of how many donkeys I now own, but it is quite a lot. I'm just sad that at the moment I don't have anywhere to show them off (they're still stuck in boxes in the garage, I could cry!) The whole thing started with my husband. N and I met on the Internet many, many years ago and that first year that we talked to each other, we were both in our Eeyore moods, if that makes sense. The attraction to Eeyore is his gloominess, his depression, his utter loveability, and we could both relate to that. The first Eeyore he bought for me was the first time N flew out to see me, in December of 1999. There must have been a Disney store at the mall (though I don't remember its existence) but anyway, I saw this absolutely adorable Eeyore dressed as a butterfly and when we left the store N said he had to run to the loo, but to wait for him by this bench. As I was sitting there I
Where do you stand? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I both love and hate how holiday merchandise is put out a million years early here (and I'm willing to bet this doesn't just happen here). Easter this year is the 8th of April. We are still in the month of JANUARY and I've seen chocolate bunnies out for at least a week in Tescos. Thank god I don't do the grocery shopping (as it would a) bug me that everything is out so damn early, even before we're through with Valentine's Day and b) I'd continuously buy Easter chocolate from now until the 8th of April). Though I do love me some Cadbury Creme eggs. I had a minor panic attack when we did our weekly shopping last Friday, and I could find the packs of 4 and 12 creme egg boxes, but I couldn't find the single eggs. Luckily there was a kind man standing next to me (mid-freak out) and pointed them out to me. I find that Cadbury Creme eggs are either a love them or hate them sort of a deal... where do you stand? **************Also, it has just occurred to me, that today is my one year
Meet the Guys Monday - Charlie 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Welcome to Meet the Guys Monday
! I thought it appropriate to start off this new feature with my longest animal-buddy, Charlie
. Everyone, say hello to Charlie:Now, I'm not sure if the following story is true, or if I just made it up in my head, but here's how I think it happened. At Easter, when I was in the region of 3 years old, the Easter bunny was said to have left my friend on the porch of our house (in my head it's somewhere warm, like California, but from what I know we lived most of my young childhood in Alaska). I remember crawling into bed with my mother and discussing what said bunny should be named. Names are very important and we couldn't decide on one, until she had a good look at the rabbit and said 'How about Charlie?' and Charlie he has been ever since. Here's where the story gets sad. My family has always been a little ... different. And in this case, I mean abusive. It's a complicated story and too much to go into in this post, but my dad has never been an eas
Snow and Thursday 13 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I promised a week of memes, so here we are, but first: SNOW! Yesterday we heard on the news that there would be cold weather during the night and the threat of 10 inches of snow, and it happened! (Though I wouldn't say it was 10 inches of snow in our neighbourhood) and I love snow, so I dragged Baby Boy out into the back garden first thing this morning. I can tell you now, snow is not something that will soon be added to the list of things Elliot loves! He hated the snow, oh well. This is my first ever Thursday
Thirteen - it could well be my last, we shall see! 1. Elliot LOVES to play peekaboo! (don't all children?) Once the game begins, it could last for hours. This is one of the few activities where my little Boy doesn't have a short-attention span! 2. Elliot LOVES anything gadgety. Remote controls especially, once spotted, HE MUST HAVE IT! The camera is another favourite, as well as mobile phones. It should have its own listing, so... 3. Talking on my mobile once it's on spe
Stomach bug 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Elliot's come down with an unfortunate stomach bug. I thought it was a 24 hour type of thing, but then it came back with full force last night. The damage caused over the last two days was such an extent that N had to do an emergency run and buy us a new duvet (our old duvet was a feather duvet, so couldn't be washed normally and we'd thrown out spare duvets during the move) I'm hoping Elliot will be feeling better soon. Until then, I hope everyone has voted. Read more:Stomach
Vote 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Someone nominated me in the Share the Love blog awards. It is completely different feeling, nominating other people than it is actually being nominated! No one has claimed the nomination, but thank you so much! Being nominated for 'Blogger You'd Most Like to Meet' was awesome! I would say go and vote for me, but to be honest I wouldn't mind if any of the following win in that category...Eva Las VegasFor Better of For WorseOh the JoysWhat On Earth Is That Smell?all of which I read on a regular basis. All are deserving of an award, I think. But don't forget to vote for these great ladies as well who have also been nominated in other catergories:A Day in the Life OfJust Another DayMy Splatter Painted LifeAdventures in BabywearingBooMamaExorcise My DevilsMamacita TinaKeris StaintonAnd really, the nominees page is a great place to find new material to read, my bookmarked list of new blogs is exploding! Have fun! (I was so embarassed to tell people that I'd nominated them, is that weir
Fun Goings-on! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Here's a fun roundup:*Over at An Island Life, there's a cool Valentine's Day Goody Swap everyone should check out!*I've nominated quite a few of my favourite blog-buddies for the Share the Love Blog Awards 2007 and recommend everyone goes to visit and nominate folks for yourselves, it's giving me the warm fuzzies just thinking about it! (You can't dawdle though, the nomination period is almost over!*I've always loved (virtual) parties, so was thrilled to find out at 5 Minutes for Mom there's a cool new Ultimate Blog Party that I'm inviting everyone to! It's not until March (thank god) so I have some time to prepare! *And for more Blog awards (I'm beginning to love nominating, it might turn into an addiction!) over at Everyday Mommy, she's hosting a Hidden Treasure Blog Awards that starts 1st Feb, so check it out!*And last but not least, check out my new updated Blogs I Read section in my sidebar! I've come across quite a few interesting and fun blogs over the past week or
How Does Your Garden Grow? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The neighbourhood we've moved into is quite nice. The houses are all well-kept, nice cars, the gardens immaculate. And then there's our house. There's nothing wrong with our house or the cars, but oh our garden... We have the dubious distinction of having the messiest and worst front garden in the neighbourhood. I'm told this is an honour and that I should be proud, but to be honest, I'm more embarrassed. This picture was taken from my bedroom window yesterday as Elliot slept. It's a bit difficult to understand the layout of the front of the house from this picture, but basically on the left (unseen in the photo) is the proper driveway (which is very, very steep going downwards and therefore almost unuseable. Hence the second driveway built running through the middle of the garden, which is pictured. Between this driveway and the door are meant to be decorative rocks (which get kicked about) which currently is littered with tree droppings and weeds. The only grassy bit (surroundi Read more:Garden
Children's books 1970-01-01 00:59:59 A while back, my dad asked for a favour. He wanted me to buy a book for my cousin's child, Alex who is 7 and to post the book to Alex in Texas. I wrote Alex a letter explaining that the idea of sending the book was from my father, but also included a list of my favourite children's books that I thought he might like. I thought nothing more of it, until I recieved a huge box in the post about a month later. The darling child had written a beautiful hand-written card thanking me for the book, and in return, he was sending a collection of HIS favourite books growing up to give to my son. My heart melted. Obviously my cousin was behind this (who I don't know very well) but still, this little boy's shaky handwriting just made my heart burst! Included amongst the books Alex sent, was a story I'd never heard of before, called Goodnight Moon. It's a very sweet and simple poem-type book, listing everyday items in a room and then wishing them all goodnight. I love that it was my cousin's Read more:Children
A few of my Favourite Things 1970-01-01 00:59:59 My favourite things! Stephanie over at For Better or For Worse has made a list of her favourite things, and so I thought I'd join her! It's mostly things that remind me of my childhood of family, so here we go:This encompasses two of my favourite things, Tiffany lamps and butterflies! This beautiful lamp sits on our piano and I always walk past it thinking that it's just so pretty! N and I saw it one year at the Ideal Home Exhibition, and the nice man that he is, he bought it for me! This is the blanket that was on my bed for most of my childhood. It was given to me by one of my mother's friends back when we were living in Alaska, and it was one of the first 'grownup' presents I had recieved and I treasured it! When it got to be more frayed and well-worn through the years, it stayed at the foot of my bed. In our old house, it was draped over a rocking chair. I have yet to find the perfect place for it in our new house, but I shall keep searching.My dad used to keep all of his spa Read more:Favourite
Blast From the Past 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Tasha tagged me to do this meme a hundred years ago, and now I'm finally getting around to attempting it.. Can you believe I hard to search through over a year's worth of archives to find one funny post, I'm just not a funny girl! Here's how it goes, go through old archives and find posts appropriate for the catergories, easy right?FunnyWee Wee Dance (OK this isn't funny at all, but work with me people, I don't DO funny very well!)SeriousCould be Fatal (sorry for two posts about the same subject, but I thought it was serious-ish)UglyA Family PortraitMothers (There's been a lot of ugly on this blog, so I have two)All About Me150 Questions100 ThingsMe memeAnd then here's where I'm meant to tag people - but of course I'm shy, so play along if you want, and let me know so I can be nosy! Read more:Blast
Meet the Guys Monday - Reuben 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Everyone, say hello to Reuben
! About two or three Christmases ago, I didn't have a clue as to what to get as a present for my husband, N. If you know anything about N, it should be that he's very creative and doesn't like to 'waste time' and is constantly multi-tasking. I thought a stitch-your-own robin would be a great stocking filler for him, and he could create a new friend whilst watching TV or whatever. He turned out to quite like it, and so Reuben was born! Reuben got his name while N and I were watching 'Along Came Polly' - and loved Azaria's character ('are you for scuba?') and we sometimes pronounce 'Reuben' in a weird accent. On our last trip back from America (we went to New York when I was pregnant with Boy) we brought Reuben his bandana, which he wears proudly. When Elliot was a very young baby, my mother-in-law would come over in the mornings and watch Boy while I caught up on my sleep. I'd sometimes hear her telling stories to Elliot and always wondered wha Read more:Monday
Goodnight not goodbye 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Remember this post where I said I have an addictive personality? I've never been more aware of that than I have over the last few weeks. Even in this post, I came close to admitting it, but here it is:My name is Michelle, and I'm addicted to blogging. And I do mean that, even if it comes across as joking. I check my email 100 times a day in case someone has commented, and I constantly check my site meter to see who's been visiting. I spend too much time reading other people's blogs, writing new entries. It's taken over my life, and it needs to get better. Because for everytime I check my email and don't have new comments, or everytime I see that no one has visited my blog since I last checked, I feel like a failure. I don't want to come across as melodramatic (god knows I've been called that a million times, and for good reason) but it's just a heads-up, I guess - I won't be blogging as much. I'm sorry I won't be commenting as much either. I'm going to take Stepha Read more:Goodnight
No one said this was going to be easy.. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 My line of thinking right now is baby steps. I don't want to neglect my husband or my son anymore, so I'm stopping blogging when N comes home, and also blogging whilst my son is awake. It's not much, but it's what I can do for right now. That really leaves me just an hour and a half a day when Elliot's napping, and in that time there's still tidying to do, lunch to be eaten, emails to return. If I can get everything I need to get done, done in that time and also have a few minutes to blog, I'll be happy. Wish me luck. I was surprised at the level of inspiration I've had since my last post. I know it's just been a day, but my list of 'blog ideas' has gone mad now that I've restricted myself to so little time to carry it out. Strange, isn't it? The longer posts will just have to wait until Wednesdays or possibly weekends, who knows? But IT'S NOT THAT IMPORTANT if I don't blog everyday and occasionally I'll turn off the comments, JUST BECAUSE. I'm starting to lo
Long Overdue 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Hi everyone :) I decided to take a long weekend away as a challenge for myself and a test of my willpower - and I'm surprised that I managed. Woohoo for me, I may not be as weak-willed as I thought! Here's what's been happenening and what I WOULD have posted about if I wasn't away...First, Valentine's Day. N and I aren't huge into Valentine's Day, but we do usually make each other cards and he buys me a small gift. Here are my Valentines - N helped Elliot make the green one, isn't the best? I won't post a picture of the card I made for him, because it really doesn't compare. Next, myspace. *SIGH* I always thought myspace was tacky and that I'd never use it, but oh dear god, I now have a myspace page. And do you know what's sad? I'm really into it. It's fun looking up people I used to know. But please, please go and make me your friend. I at least would like to have friends in the double-digits. A comment led me to think of a new whatchamacallit thing that I'll
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