Typecast

Asda commissioned a survey of 2000 women to seemingly draw up an image of the stereotypical mum.  My first thought was for the purpose of targeting their advertising to parents who already feel under-confident in their role but the second thought is wondering when the survey for dad's is going to be commissioned.   Anyway, it's all bullshit.  Here's what I think...  Go to bed at 9pm every night | They long for a lie in | They can function on very little sleep | They learn to sleep on the edge of the bed because their child in asleep horizontally next to them | They'd rather get an early night than have a night out when the kids are at a sleepover | They can fall asleep anywhere | They are permanently knackered or 'wired' | They have 'mum' nights out | They panic about a late night How much sleep does one adult need? Truthfully, if you're going to bed at 9pm you don't really need a lie-in and you can't really go to bed much ear...

Sometimes I worry about the way in which people use social media and how far it can reach. About a week ago a Facebook post "went viral" (i.e. was shared beyond the immediate friendship group and gained a lot of interest); it told of a young mum who wanted to track down a kind stranger after receiving a note from him on a train .   [Quick recap: a man handed a young mum a note scribbled on a scrap of paper congratulating her on the way in which she was raising her child after watching her encourage his manners, her interaction with him and the way in which she offered up his seat to someone on the train when her son fell asleep. The kindly stranger also included a £5 note with his message and told her to buy herself a drink.  It's important to understand that he gave her this gift as he was leaving the train and made every effort not to identify himself] The media quickly became involved with reports of the Facebook post appearing in many digital versions of onl...

As I write this, I am sat in an empty house. This is my 'me time'.  Over the past few ( *cough* 20 or so *cough* ) years you can bet I have done my fair share of weekend ferrying around to many football clubs, dance classes and gymnastic tournaments however, as the adults in the house we were never really the sporty types... until recently. It is now just after Saturday lunch time, I joined my running group early this morning for a gentle five kilometre run then I came home and did the usual chores around the house and made lunch for everyone.   The reason the house is empty is because my husband and son have driven to their shooting club in the next town. After seeing the rifle competitions at the Olympics in 2012, my youngest became really interested in the sport.   And yes, shooting IS a sport . The club teaches about conentration, discipline and respect in such a dangerous sport plus the boys can go and do their father/son bonding whilst being all manly...

The world is definitely split into those that understand the pull of stationery and those that only use it in a practical sense.   At the start of the year, I realised that I was leaning more to a green theme with my stationery for 2015 ; green ink in my pen, a turquoise Leuchtturm notebook, a green desk diary... Unintentionally, I've turned into a bit of a Paperways fangirl and appear to be working my way through their stock on the Bureau Direct website.  To date, I own the London themed mini-notebooks, the Parisian post-it notes, the A5 hexagon notepad and the hexagon keyboard pad and I have my eye on a few other pieces. This brand - which originates from South Korea - totally fits in with my theory that stationery should be fun, functional and affordable (almost total alliteration there).  But it was only during a Google Hangout with Penny that I realised I had so many of their products - and so did she - but just look how fantastic they all are. T...

Dear Sir, I write with reference to your advertised post of employment for Digital Engagement Officer at Clarence House . I enclose my current CV for your consideration and propose the following digital activities.  On Twitter, one will not only broadcast engagements as they happen in a live-feed situation but one will also respond to one's followers.  One will include content from other platforms (noted below) that will enable one to connect further with one's subjects.  We will create a parody account for 'all the LOLz' and allow occasional photoshopped images, Royally-related memes and WTF style updates to be presented alongside 'that may actually be true' style extreme tweets. One should be considering using Vine to broadcast for six seconds as, in the modern digital world, your subjects are short on time. One will use these short video updates as teasers for bigger and better content on Twitter and YouTube but they will not be six seconds of yo...

I have gotten into a habit of sitting in front of the television, laptop on my knee, sharing my opinions on television programmes through the medium of social media then reading other people's opinions, agreeing or disagreeing as everything happens. It's a sort of online kangaroo court. However, Cyberbully (Channel 4, Thursday 15th January) was different. I never took my eyes off the screen. Based on real-life cases and told in real time, I was transfixed.  Such an ingenious way to tell a story and highlight the way in which people use and abuse the privilege of online media. It left me with a lot to think about, especially as it was based around children of a similar age to my youngest.  Prior to watching Cyberbully , I read Tanya's post about how her teens view social media . It's a honest and surprising post to read, mainly because of the way in which our digital world has developed I thought the next generation would have been more invested in certain a...

I have been in such a bad mood today.  It's been one big trough of gloom and doom with a couple of peaks. However, those peaks only seem to plunge me deeper into the next moody moment.  It's not often I feel like this but, when I do, every little thing seems huge!  I should recognise the signs having lived with someone who suffers from severe depression for many years but I always hope that I can shrug it off.  Do you want to know what has made me moody today?  Here goes... DOWN .  We had a hospital appointment this morning at 8.55am at the fracture clinic to get Jake's leg brace re positioned and to hear the prognosis of his recovery.  It normally takes 10 minutes to drive to the hospital from home but it had been snowing both last night and this morning so I needed extra time.  At 8.20am, Jake was still in bed after me going into his room four times.  I yelled at him at that point.  DOWN .  The roads were icy, but far wor...

Recently I watched a salute to Rik Mayall - the BBC Two tribute programme called " Lord Of Misrule ".  During the programme there was a clip of Rik's acceptance speech when he was given an honorary Doctorate by the University of Exeter in 2008.  Towards the end he shared his five mantras to live life by based around equality, opportunity, wisdom, freedom and love. I think they are appropriate enough for us all to follow now and beyond so I created these quote cards.  Enjoy.  You can catch the full speech on YouTube - with added Floella Benjamin for extra nostalgia points. It really is worth a watch, especially when Floella apologises for Rik using the F-word!!

I've been reading a lot of 'word of the year' type posts and really enjoying them so this started out as a 'Things I Need To Do In 2015' type post but I got bored writing it. Fuck knows why anyone else would be wondering what my personal goals are for the year. It all sounded so wanky.  In fact, the only New Year resolution I have made is 'learn to play the ukulele' but who knows how far I'll get with that?  I might video some of my progress... but definitely without any singing because that won't be good on the ears. I've also got a personal running goal and a personal weight-loss goal but I'm not going to put numbers on those because that calls for comparison with other people. [internal voice: Nickie, this is most certainly turning into a Things I Need To Do In 2015 post. Stop NOW!] The one thing I have done - and this will only really be understood by other bloggers - is to clear out all the draft posts I have sitting around...