Typecast

Occasionally I lend my blog to my friends.  Friends that need a space to shout, friends that need a space to be anonymous from their world, friends that need a bit of support, friends that are doing good in the world.  This is one of those occasions.  I'd love for you to read Tracy's post and help out at the end if you can.  Thanks.   ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ Hello! It’s Tracy here, friend and massive fan of Nickie and her world, just adore her blog and everything that she does. Anyway! I've asked to come on here and share a wee bit about my most recent awesome experience - Nickie very kindly obliged, so here goes. It’s Monday the 13 th of May, late in the evening, and yesterday I completed the Glasgow Women’s 10k with my amazing friend Lynn - we did it in one hour twelve minutes, and we are very proud of this given it was our first 10k race. A great wee achievement, and a real honour and privilege to see so many other women complete it too. If y...

Sometimes you want to write about a subject but it never seems to be the right time.  Or there's not a good way to start or finish.  Sometimes you just have to wait and that post will come. Over many personal posts on this blog I have mentioned, in passing, that I left home at the age of eighteen and then became pregnant with my daughter.  There's always been a slight gap in that story which I have never talked about.  Homelessness. ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ After I flounced out of the family home to be with the man I had fallen in love with we realised that we had nowhere to stay.  It was summer and we were resourceful but after a couple of nights dossing on a friend's sofa and the occasional night in the car, the prospect of going it alone didn't seem quite so exciting.  We secured another couple of nights at a friend's house and scoured the local newspaper for a flat that didn't require too much of a deposit and ended up in a bedsit in Blackpool. ...

My own experiences of Wales and people speaking Welsh are limited to  not really understanding   the ' Owain Hughes'  joke in  Gavin and Stacy,  childhood trips to Rhyl and Prestatyn and knowing how to pronounce  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch correctly .  The language is a mystery because learning it is not as easily accessible as you'd think.  It has a very 'sing song' type of rhythm and has always fascinated me.   Rewind to a Friday evening (post- #fridaytwiz ) conversation with Gwyn ( @KingOfAnkh ) and an in-depth conversation about solving maths problems (fuck, yeah... we know how to kick it on a Friday) and he drops the fact that he has to translate all numbers before working out the problem and then translate back.  Now, something stirred deep in my brain about Gwyn being Welsh (he makes no secret of it, after all) but I didn't know that Welsh was his first language.   ...

My blogging friend, Lisa, contacted me and asked if I would host this post for her.  I agreed as it's a subject that I'm passionate about and can always be found discussing off-blog in various forums and Facebook groups.   * * *  If you don't know me, I'm called ' The Mummy Whisperer ', and I love blogging.  I was a coach/therapist who after having kids decided to focus just on Mums; but then I found a love of blogging, won an award and wrote a best selling book  to help Mums enjoy being a Mum more; so I'm now addicted totally! I've been watching the Mummy Blogging community with interest as it starts to follow patterns I've seen before.  I've been expecting a big shake, there have been lots of disagreements which have caused upset, but the panic about  do follow or no follow links  for paid posts is the start of the bigger shake up. A maturing community needs to learn to balance laws with freedom, structures with inno...

Editors Note:  This is Phil's story.  You may know him as @extremeironing or @theredrocket .  Phil has chosen to share his story in this way to raise awareness and (hopefully) donations for the hospice that helped his Mum during the last month of her life.  There are more details at the end of the post but, for now, over to Phil.  Thanks for reading. Picture Credit | Flickr To share your story in this way click on the image for more details. =====00000===== I look at my watch.  It is 5.37pm on 7th May 2011 and my mum has stopped breathing.  My own breath skips a beat too.  Is this it; is this the moment? Then she breathes again.  A short, gasping breath.  She's not finished yet. Her breaths have become more irregular in the past 20 minutes or so and it feels like a turning point.  For the first time in the past week there's only one member of the family sat next to her in St Michael's Hospice (excluding t...

Today brings a guest post from Jo who blogs over at Single Slummy Mummy .  Once you've finished reading here, why don't you bob on over to her corner of the internet and see what else she's writing about?

The day Modern Warfare 3 was released there was a great online discussion sparked over on the Blogger.Ed forum  regarding the reasons why games and films have classification, especially since the popularity of first-person shooting games grew. The males in this family are all big gamers.  My husband has a PS3 and an Xbox 360 (both online) and the two boys have an Xbox 360 each (one online, one not).   My sons are 18 and 12 and have unlimited internet access on the computers in their bedrooms and I have always let them play on games that may be rated above their actual age.    Ruth from Geekmummy  has a husband who is also an enthusiastic gamer and they have two young children.  They have very clear views on what they will and will not allow their children to have access to when it comes to online content and it has sparked a very interesting debate.   You can join the debate over at GEEKMUMMY today   and we would be grat...

Sally has asked to post this here, away from her blog. = = = = = = = = = = =

Featured Guest Post For more information please see my disclosure policy Often, parents find themselves looking for new levels of convenience during the holiday season. After all, this is obviously a busy time of year, and the added pressure of making it a special time for your children adds quite a bit of time, effort and work. Therefore, it is always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for quicker and more effective ways to decorate, shop, etc. One thing to keep in mind specifically, if you have never done this before, is to take a look at Christmas hampers from Marks & Spencer . These gifts are available to order online, and you can have them sent directly to the gift recipient. Furthermore, they come with assortments, rather than individual items, meaning that they can appeal to entire families or groups. Here are some brief descriptions of a few of the nicest Christmas hampers available at this specific store.

I am guest editor on the Tots100 "Ten at Ten" today.   Grab a brew and a treat of choice then click the logo to see my ten recommendations from the greatest collection of Parent Blogs.

Welcome to a guest post from Kate.  Most of you possibly already know Kate through Twitter or her blog.  What you may not know is that Kate used to work in IT support and has offered the recount of a very funny phone call as a guest post. Kate blogs at " The Five F's " and you can find her on Twitter as  @kateab ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Welcome to a guest post from Kirsty.  Occasionally the lines of Twitter and blog blur and you forget how you connected with someone.  You "bump into them" in odd sorts of ways but this is what I love about social media.  I have also only just realised that Kirsty is a "local" - I'm hoping to meet up for a coffee some time soon.  You will soon see why I chose to use this guest post from Kirsty. Kirsty blogs at " Tantrums and Teardrops " and you can find her on Twitter as @KirstyHigginson ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Welcome to a guest post from Nicki.  We know each other through the Parent Blogging network that has matured over the past 12 months or so.  Nicki writes a blog with no theme other than it being a personal blog with her own opinions, family posts and occasional reviews.  Here she explains why she chooses to sometimes open up her blog to review posts - a contentious subject in our corner of the blogosphere. Nicki blogs at " Curly and Candid " and you can find her on Twitter as  @NickiCawood . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I’ve been blogging for a bit now and I love it. I’ve been lucky enough to have built a good follower base and have moved up in the ratings (and what not) pretty quickly. That’s all brilliant, (clever Nicki!) but it’s been hard slog at times mainly due to my not taking the time to stop and ask myself... what am I worth ? From day one I would post or review anything I was asked to. My catchphrase became “Of course I can”.  I was so...

Welcome to a guest post from Melaina.  I read Melaina's blog and we recently met for the first time at BlogCamp Manchester.  Melaina writes a regular series about feminism and I always glossed over those posts, simply because I had a narrow-minded view of feminism.  After actually reading one of her posts and a chat with another blogger I had a bit of a "aahhh, that's it" moment and I got all excited about my epiphany; fired up and wanting to write so much.  Melaina had already written about her "aha moment" and has allowed me to repost it here. Melaina blogs at " Transatlantic Blonde " where she holds a weekly link-up based around feminism.  You can also find her on Twitter as @Melaina25 . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Welcome to a guest post from Kyla.  We know each other through the Filofax network that has sprung up on Twitter and through Philofaxy - the blog dedicated to all things Filofax and beyond.  I asked Kyla to feed my Filofax obsession whilst I am away on holiday and she has written this post which I resonate with totally, obviously.  Kyla blogs at " Musings of a Caribbean Princess " and you can find her on Twitter as @CPrincessUK ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Welcome to a guest post from someone I know from Twitter.  @EhMum makes me laugh so much with her random tweets so I asked her if she'd like to write me a guest post.  This heartfelt and honest post really touched a chord with me as my daughter wanted a boy so much each time she was expecting. Jude prefers to remain semi-anonymous but blogs at " EhMummy " and you can find her on Twitter as @EhMum ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The chance of a guest post; the opportunity to write what you like.  But your mind goes blank.  All those fantastic ideas have disappeared.   The page is clean – but daunting at the same time.  The readers have no idea who you are, what your “style” is or even if you are engaging… but still, you want to impress.  One wrong word and they have gone… poof , never to be seen again.  But, on the other hand, you may have them in the palm of your hand, begging for more.  Getting those words in the right order is the hardest part. The 100 word posts are part of an occasional (supposed to be weekly) series inspired by Mr London Street .

Editors note :  This is Suzie's story and is the twelfth in the series.  Suzie contacted me and offered me her story after reading a previous " Cancer - Your Story " piece.   Her story is very appropriate  for this  Pink Friday  series and Breast Cancer Awareness month, as you will see.  You can read Suzie's blog over at No Wriggling Out Of Writing and she's on twitter as @keatsbabe . Suzie's story has also recently been featured on a six-web-page spread over at So Feminine so please take a look over there for more of her story. Related Links : Cancer Research UK All " Cancer - Your Story " posts BreastCancerCare.org.uk * * * Please note that this blog post contains graphic images All article images are  © Suzie Grogan and reproduced with kind permission

Editors note:  This is Sarah's story and is the eleventh in the " Cancer - Your Story " series.    Sarah's blog is called " Mumra " and she tweets as  @mumrablog .   If you are interested in sharing your story please click on the link and  contact me . Related Links : Cancer Research UK -  http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ All " Cancer - Your Story " posts Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt -  Pink Sherbert Photography * * * When I saw Nickie's site I knew I wanted to write about my experience. Its been a long-time since I lost my brother and sometimes I feel a bit numb about it all like I've just closed the door on it all. While I sat thinking what I’d like to say and share I remembered that I’d written a piece before at school while it was all going on. I felt compelled to find it I knew it was somewhere boxed up, as I would never have thrown it away.  I ventured the boxes of old memories and actually found it. I’ve ...