Would it be controversial of me to suggest that failing to teach your children to cook is neglecting a hugely important of parenting? That is, missing out a huge part of a range of life skills that should be imparted upon your kids. As I lovingly prepared a homemade lasagne earlier (by which I mean… read full entry »

So, it’s been just over a week since I returned working from home. A week of exercising self-control, willpower and planning. A week of trying out a new routine, of getting used to waking up in the morning thinking “I don’t want to go to work… oh”. The ~Grand Plan~ for this time round was… read full entry »

I think often as a grown up, being able to spend time thinking about and rationalising decisions before acting them out is considered a desirable trait. Sleep on it, we’re told. Write pro/con lists and weigh up consequences. I say bollocks to that. Last year I came out of a counselling session with the realisation… read full entry »

When I split up with Karl in May I joked to friends about the relief of no longer having to buy 5 packs of bourbon biscuits every week, not needing shares in a dairy company to buy the sheer amount of cheese he got through, etc etc. Har har, very funny. The realities of being… read full entry »

I was reading Alice’s great post on the tiredness of a single mum yesterday and found myself nodding vigorously in agreement. Because I thought I knew tired when I had my first newborn; I thought I knew tired when we hit our first growth spurt; I thought I knew tired when I had a committed… read full entry »

I have felt pretty good for the past week or so. I ended my 12 year relationship – it was the right thing to do. I started to take control of my finances and things – an annoying necessity. I started to plan how I would move forward – so everything is set in concrete… read full entry »

It’s only been 3 days and apparently the role of a single person — single parent — is to have one’s feelings dictated: I’m not allowed to feel what I want to feel. Oh you must be so sad I know you’re just hanging on for the kids Don’t worry, you’ll get back together when… read full entry »

I am a single mum. I am a single mum. I am a single mum. If I say it enough times, the reality might sink in. Karl and I split on Monday. I have to admit it seems pretty radical to make my May ‘me’ thing the end of our 12+ year relationship (I was… read full entry »

It was Karl’s birthday on Saturday (I won’t tell you how old he is because he might throw something at me) and because he is the most awkward person in the world to buy for, I didn’t buy him anything; instead we went for a day out in Birmingham. Considering I have always lived within… read full entry »

I’m trying to crack on with some work but one of my servers is 503ing, which – as you can probably imagine – is not particularly conducive to “cracking on”, so as an interim measure I’ve just read Alison’s latest post Trying to be as strong as I want my children to be, which surfaced… read full entry »