ENGLISH MUM

Micky bickies (OFFICE WARNING: naughty biscuit photo alert)

Waaay before we were good buddies, on our first trip to Disneyworld Florida, my fellow bloggers, the Disney 7 (well, the other 6), were most perplexed by the fact that any time anyone from Disney mentioned the ‘hidden Mickeys’ placed all around the resorts and parks, I dissolved into snorty cackling.  It didn’t matter  how much I tried.  One mention of a mickey and that was it – my shoulders would shake… tears would spring into my eyes… It’s so much worse when nobody gets what you’re even laughing about.

The thing is, in Ireland a mickey is a… well, it’s a willy.

Hence, ‘searching for hidden mickeys’ brought a whole new mental picture to mind than gaily flouncing about trying to spot little mouse shapes.

Anyhoo, I digress.

Recently, I was the recipient of a very solemn phone call from school.  Apparently the Death Wish Dude had been caught defacing another pupil’s book.  Three of them were involved.  The others being George (of George’s brownies fame) and another of the Dude’s buddies, a girl.

Reader, I was shocked.

He’s a silly bugger, but he’s a good kid.  And I can’t imagine him doing anything malicious.  I told this to the teacher.  She agreed.

Apparently it wasn’t malicious at all:

The crime – this terrible crime that warranted a telephone call to his parents?  He’d drawn a willy.

A willy.

It was all I could do not to laugh.  However, I solemnly accepted that this behaviour was not to be encouraged, and promised to give him a stern talking to.

I did.

I said to him: ‘you tit’.

Anyhoo, this incident has set in motion a willy-themed madness in the Dude and his mates, culminating in his whipping up a little present for them in the kitchen last night.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…

The willy cookie.  Or ‘cockie’ as it became known on Twitter last night.  Or for you Irish people, the ‘mickey bickie’ (thanks to Aoife for that one).

His father took one look at it and said ‘blimey.  If that’s what he thinks they look like he’s not been paying enough attention in biology’.

Review: grown up Disney! The beautiful Imagination Winter range

So straight on with the Christmas Countdown, then… this time I’ve got some gorgeous, and distinctly grown-up gifts from Disney.  The Imagination Winter range is a scrummy set of products to scent your home.  And, even though I’m the biggest Disney fan EVER, there’s not a Mickey in sight.  The candles and spray contain festive cinnamon bark, nutmeg and clove and I love that they should ‘transport you to a winter wonderland of enchanted pine forests lying under a blanket of snow ‘.  Count me in!

And the verdict?  Gorgeous.  Even with the spices, the scent is not at all cloying or ‘Christmas puddingy’ – I’ve had the candle burning in the evenings for the last couple of nights and the fragrance is actually really light – almost herbal… I think the hint of orange helps here.  The packaging is beautiful and would make a really lovely pressie, not just for a Disney fan either!

The range consists of mini candles (£10), a large candle in a glass (£12) and a scented room spray (£8).  All are available from Disney Stores and via www.disneystore.co.uk

Review: Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides

First things first, when I’d promised to take de brevren out to see Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides, I’d forgotten that blimmin’ Kings of Leon were on at Slane.  Practically every route had some kind of diversion or was absolutely jammed with Dublin buses, coaches and cars all headed for the gig.  Arriving 5 minutes late, we actually headed into the 2D version instead of the 3D, so sadly I can’t tell you if the 3D photography was any good.

I’m a huge Disney fan, as you know, and a massive ‘Pirates’ fan to boot.  I was, however, a bit nervous about this one, mostly because with Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom missing, I wondered if it was going to turn into the equivalent of Grease 2 or American Pie 3 – movies that just shouldn’t have been made.  Happily, this honestly wasn’t the case.

What I adore about the ‘Pirates’ franchise is the enormity of it all – nobody does epic scenery, massive ships rolling upon broiling seas and lush desert islands quite like Jerry Bruckheimer.  Johnny Depp brings his usual humour and quirkiness to the role of Jack Sparrow and Angelica, the ‘is she or isn’t she?’ daughter of Blackbeard played by Penelope Cruz, steps into the ‘love interest/feisty girly’ role really really well (although certain pronunciations did make us laugh a teeny bit).  There was tons of chemistry between Angelica and Jack, even if the actual story of their past was a little murky.

Best bits? Well I don’t want to spoil it for you, but all I’ll say is look out for the mermaids – absolutely incredible.  The French girl that plays Syrena, the mermaid they actually catch, is fabulous – the spark between her and missionary Philip Swift makes for a really nice bit of 0ff-plot interest.  The swordfight between Barbosa and Jack in the unstable shipwreck is really cleverly done too.  Ian McShane’s Blackbeard is a fabulously evil character (I’m always fascinated with their teeth – how do they get them so realistic-looking?  Disgusting!).

All in all I’d say it’s every bit as good as the previous movies.  Well worth battling through Slane traffic to go and see. The film is rated as 12A here in Ireland (presumably the same everywhere else but I know it’s not always the case).  For parents of younger ones, though, I’d warn you that there are some bloody scary bits in (you’ll never look at Ariel the Little Mermaid in quite the same light), and several people took younger kids out crying.  9/10.

The Big Review: Disney Sing It Party Hits and Family Hits

So the lovely chaps at Disney recently sent me some fabulous karaoke games for the Wii.  However hard I tried, my lumbering teens were not to be persuaded into testing (oh, I would have paid good money to see the Death Wish Child singing ‘Hakuna Matata’) but sadly it was not to be. Luckily, my lovely friend Poppy’s Mum came up trumps when she offered the services of Mr PM’s lovely nieces, Elise and Juliette.

Sit back, then, and prepare to find out how my glamorous assistants got on with their intensive consumer test.  Over to you, then, Elise and Juliette’s mum, Sophie:

Disney Sing It Party Hits

Reviewed by Elise and Juliette

Score: 8/10

The girls were thrilled to get a chance to review “Disney Sing It Party Hits”. ‘We are big fans of the Disney Channel so it was really cool to be able to sing along with Disney stars like Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers and feel like we were in the movie Camp Rock 2‘ says Juliette aged 7. There are a good few different ways to play including Karaoke, Performance and Sing Off with levels of Easy, Medium and Hard.

The game was really easy to use. You could easily find your way around and see what you needed to do. There is a really good mix of songs, most they already knew as well as new ones that were fun to learn. The song they liked most was “Magic” by Selena Gomez. ‘Keeping up with the rapping in “Boom boom pow” by the Black Eyed Peas was real fun‘ said Elise aged 9. ‘We hadn’t realised how fast they really sing‘. You can score more points by getting the timing and the notes exactly right. If you’re tone deaf then this is not the game for you!!

The vocal coaching by Demi Lovato was really good. It starts off easy with nice simple scales. Every time you successfully pass a lesson you unlock a new level. It then gets more and more difficult. Some of the exercises really put your tongue in quite a twist but it’s fun to try.

When they connected a second microphone they were able to use the duet mode. This was the best and really got the girls playing together. They got to sing together like a real star duo. You can sing as a team or against each other. It was also fun to use the Encore feature to listen to the replay so you could hear just your own voice. You could add special effects to the voice. ‘The squeaky one was hilarious! We sounded like Alvin and The Chipmunks!‘ said Juliette.

The girls found the set up a bit difficult. It asks you to hold the microphone to the left speaker and it plays a strange sound. At the start, they could not get this to work but they found they could play without it. Eventually Dad came to the rescue and got it working by holding the microphone against the speaker.

Concensus all around, the girls would definitely recommend this to their friends especially those who like singing. Boys however wouldn’t be too impressed, far too girly songs. Mum also liked Sing It Party Hits, it brought the girls together with the duet feature and there is a definite improvement in their singing, and confidence too!

Disney Sing It Family Hits

Reviewed by Elise and Juliette

Score: 7/10

They also got to try out “Disney Sing It Family Hits”. This is very similar to the “Party Hits” game with most of the same features. With Family Hits you get to sing along to songs from some of the biggest Disney hit movies. The movies include newer hits such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc, The Lion King as well as classics such as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. The girls’ favorites were “The Bare Necessities” and “I wanna be like you” from “The Jungle Book” as well as “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King”. You score points for being able to sing the words at exactly the right time and also in the right key. ‘“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was definitely the hardest to get right because the words are so crazy and they sing so fast but we really enjoyed it!‘ said Juliette.

The game also has a section where you can do vocal practices with Anika Noni Rose who did the voice for the movie “The Princess and the Frog”.

Each time you did a song you could use the Encore feature to hear your own voice back. The Encore feature allowed you to use different sound effects to sound like a lion, a mouse or a robot but ‘we didn’t think the sound effects were very realistic.’ said Elise.

Overall Party Hits was the definite favourite because they recognised the songs more and thought they were better to sing along to.

What a great review!

Massive thanks for my wonderful reviewers, the gorgeous Elise and Juliette, and to their lovely Mum, Sophie for taking the time to write up such a thorough review.

Thanks also to the lovelies at Disney for providing Elise and Juliette with the Disney Sing It games and the microphones, which they get to keep!  Yay!

Ten things I’m loving

Okay, so in the hassle of moving, sorting the house out, the Bloggers on Tour messy weekend, etc.  I totally forgot to do my end of month roundup.

Luckily, I’m my own boss and I decided not to fire myself.  Instead, I give you ten things that I think are blimmin’ marvellous:

1. Kidstart’s fabulous new Save a Million campaign

My lovely, scrumptious friend, Liz Jarvis from LivingwithKids has told me all about Kidstart’s fabulous ‘Save a Million for UK kids‘ campaign.  It’s such a great idea – anything that encourages us to think about ways we can save money to put aside for our kids’ futures gets my vote.  It’s got tons of fab supporters like Sophie Raworth, Barnardo’s and Kiddicare (and me!) so why wait…

2. My Blankie

These are just gorgeous.  They’re like little mini duvets – perfect for popping over your legs on a cold night, or as an extra layer on the bed.  Ninja Cat of Death rather likes mine, but happily even though they’re down and feather, they’re machine washable.  They come in fabulous colours too.  More info here: http://www.blankie.ie/

3. My Photobox canvas

When Photobox contacted me and offered me one of their lovely canvas prints, I knew exactly which photo I’d choose.  How lovely is this? Now I just need to decide where to put it (I can’t put my friends in the loo, now, can I?):

4. Samsung’s Christmas Range

Oopsy, rash use of the C word there, but seriously, I’d like the 3DTV, a Galaxy Wave, the robot vacuum cleaner, the gorgeous laptop and the microwave, please Santa!  Feast your eyes HERE.

5. Superdrug’s new ‘wonder’ Optimum Apple Serum

Lauded as beauty’s Next Big Thing, I’ve been trying it for the last month and I have to say I’m impressed.  Slathered on before bedtime (with moisturiser over the top if my skin’s extra dry), I really feel like my skin’s plumper, with less dry lines around my eyes.  It’s a snip at £9.99, and even though I got a free one (thanks Superdrug!), when it’s finished, I’ll carry on buying it.  It’s that good.

6. Simon’s Choice by Charlotte Castle

I was introduced to Charlotte Castle by my lovely friend Jane Alexander, who, as well as writing a fabulous blog: Diary of A Desperate Exmoor Woman, is an author who’s had a gazillion books published.  For her to recommend I read Charlotte’s book, then, meant it must be good.  A pre-production copy of Simon’s Choice was despatched to me, and I read it, start to finish in one bathtime, emerging, blue, freezing and somewhat tearful.  It’s a beautiful, beautiful read about parents struggling to come to terms with their daughter’s terminal illness.  It’s admittedly sad, but also uplifting.  Grab yourself a copy now.

7. My hamper from Irish Gourmet…

…bought for me by my lovely friends before their weekend.  Sadly it’s nearly all gone now, but highlights included gorgeous cupcakes, fudge, beautiful Irish cheeses, chutneys and jams.

8. Disney’s Gorgeous Princess and the Frog on Blu-Ray

I know I’m 40, but seriously, it’s really really cute, and surprisingly funny.  It could well be a contender for #2 in my fave Disney movie of all time list (it’ll take a lot to knock Toy Story off the top spot though).

9. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam on Nintendo DS

What? I love the styling bit – ooh, and the drumming!).

10. Bake with Compassion Week, 23rd – 31st October 2010.

Bake with Compassion is Compassion in World Farming’s national fundraiser to raise vital funds and spread awareness for higher farm animal welfare.

Factory hens are stuffed into battery cages up to 4 or 5 at a time, with less  space than an A4 piece of paper to live in.  Having had my own chickens (and planning to get some more next week!), I know that they love to flap and fuss and rootle around.  It breaks my heart to hear of them suffering like this.

Happily, and mostly due to Compassion’s hard hitting ‘ban the battery cage’ campaign, legislation comes into force to make the production of battery eggs illegal from January 2012.   Their Director of Food Business, Steve McIvor says:

“Our advice to consumers is to check the ingredients on shop bought cakes, biscuits and quiches, because without knowing, you could be buying products containing eggs from hens reared in cramped factory farm systems. Download our egg guide at bakewithcompassion.org to know what to look for.”

The August roundup. This month I have been mostly…

Loving…

Holiday Extras’ new Travelling with a Baby guide.   I’m already a huge fan of Holiday Extras after their fantastic effort during the Icelandic volcanic ash disruptions.  Their CEO was posting travel updates every day on their website – a service that was invaluable to loads of people (including me) stranded all over the globe.   If you’ve ever travelled with a baby (or are planning to), you’ll know what a flibbin’ nightmare it is.  This guide is invaluable, so check out the website for tips on packing, choosing hotels, flying with a baby and much more.  (Oh and if you’re a fan of green travel and want to make greener choices when travelling, I noticed that they do a Green Travel guide too).

Coveting…

…Nicky Howard’s adorable animal pictures.  I saw them in an advert in the back of Country Living:

Have a look on the website and choose your favourite.  I love this one, but oh, I love ‘Wendy’ too, and ‘Norma’…

Feeling very proud…

…of my ol’ muckers from Northern Ireland, the Ulster Weavers, who’ve just won the textile licence for the London 2012 Olympics and have already launched a limited edition tea towel for the two year countdown.

For the month of September, Ulster Weavers are giving away a waffle weave tea towel to anyone who spends £25 or more, plus FREE UK Delivery on all orders over £30.

And as an exclusive treat for you lovely lot, they’re offering a special 15% OFF for the whole of September for Englishmum.com readers who quote code: ENGMUM09 when ordering!

Watching the skies…

…for black balloons.  My lovely mates at Disney have given me the heads up that they were at Bristol Balloon Fiesta (a hot-air balloon festival) recently with Mickey Mouse, where he launched a balloon race involving 5,000 balloons. Attached to each balloon is a ticket which, if found, can be redeemed for a special edition Mickey Mouse Campervan toy from Fisher Price!  Keep your eyes peeled for those black balloons!

Oohing and ahhing…

…at the beautiful new Icklebabe.com website.  Lovely Helen sent me some gorgeous little lavender hearts and a cute little egg cosy when I ordered my tea cosy too!  And check out the retro aprons!)

and finally,

Sparing a thought…

…for those children who don’t have a warm bed, happy fun-filled school holidays, the loving arms of a parent, the benefit of a safe home and financial security – all those things we wrap around our children.  Put it Right is a five year initiative by UNICEF UK to galvanise us all into action to protect the rights of children everywhere.   The haunting track is by Radiohead.  Please watch, and give what you can.

I’m moving so I might be awol for a while, but I’ll be back soon.  In the meantime, have a great September xx

The May roundup. This month I have been mostly:

Planning…

…for our big blogger trip to SeaWorld (just 17 more sleeps!).  The lovely chaps at Jeep sent me this beautiful backpack to take with me, bless ‘em:

Toning…

… well, hopefully – with my fab new Reebok EasyTones – there’ll be buns of steel by Florida, mark my words..

Hoping …

…that I’m in with a chance to win – my lovely friend Lu at Family Affairs has the most fantastic competition running to win a £150 Lavish spa gift.  Get entering right now!

Scoffing…

… these amazing chocolate pizzas:

In celebration of the World Cup, the Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company have produced a range of football themed chocolaty treats including these mini 3” ‘Football Fun’ pizzas, which can be customized with the colours of your favourite team, football-shaped chocolate balls and football themed chocolate lollies.

and finally…

Wishing…

…that I could whisk the family away for a lovely holiday at Walt Disney World, Florida.  If you’re lucky enough to have some spare cash, my lovely pals at Disney have given me the heads up on some great special offers.  Book 5 or more nights in a Disney Hotel (Moderate or Deluxe) including park ticket and you’ll enjoy FREE Disney dining for the duration of your stay …

..or you can book Disney’s 14-day Ultimate Ticket now and receive it for the price of Disney’s 7-day Premium Ticket.

Click on the linky loos for more info.  See how flibbin useful I am?  Onwards to June, then…

A New Generation weekend in Disneyland Paris

So blimey, what a weekend!  I hardly know where to begin.  Brace yourself, this could be a bit of a big one (as the actress said to the bishop).  A little while ago, the Hubby and I were invited to Paris for the launch of Disney’s New Generation Festival.  Basically, Disney are introducing their newest generation of characters, from Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen from The Princess and The Frog, through to Stitch, Sulley and Mike Wazowski (and the adorable little Boo) from Monsters Inc, through to characters from Ratatouille and Buzz, Woody and Jessie, to join ‘old favourites’ such as Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Goofy, with new shows and attractions either starting on 2nd April or planned to roll out over 2010.

Friday

I’ll start, dearest reader, with the nice, calm trip into London.  Speedily glossing over the screeching, panicking, suitcase hurling and fishwife-type swearing that featured heavily in our slightly late departure.

The wonderful Aude, Press Officer for Eurostar and the equally delicious and rather drop-dead gorgeous Alix from the Disney Team met us at St Pancras International and frankly, if they could have carried us onto our first class carriage on the Eurostar they would have done.  Nothing was too much trouble.  We had a lovely breakfast (cheese omelette, sausage, mushroom, tomato, yoghurt, fruit… you name it), and our peace was only mildly shattered by a very annoying man talking arse to his family the entire journey.  Ah well.

Arriving at Marne La Vallée (the station is right next to the parks and a five minute walk to the Hotel New York, but they still bussed us in), we were met by the wondrous Disney Sarah – our own patient, sweet Mary Poppins from the bloggers’ trip to Florida and after hugs, kisses and a birthday card, we checked into our fabulous room and set off at a rather ungainly trot for the nearest park, which happened to be the Walt Disney Studios Park.  By this time starving enough to gnaw our own fingers, we indulged in a burger the size of a child’s head (very nice, beautifully cooked beef and lovely fresh salad) and unwisely headed off to the nearest ride.  The Rock’n'Roller Coaster nearly reacquainted us with our lunches, but we persevered and headed straight to the Armageddon Special Effects show, which started out with a really boring presentation (mostly in French), but ended with a fabulous special effects mock-up complete with flame throwers, water jets and falling scenery.  I then forced Hubby to sit on Peter Pan’s flight (bit of a kiddy one, but I love it), where he did a full ‘London from the Air’ type commentary: ‘on your right, you’ll see The Tower of London…’

CELEB ALERT: We then sat next to Shane Richie and his family (who were very nice) in a specially cordoned off area (we felt well posh – it turned out later the pretty girl behind us was one of The Saturdays, but sadly I’m too old to recognise them) to watch the lovely Once Upon a Dream parade.  This was also the part where I got told off by Hubby for going ‘ooh look, there’s Chris Evans!’ in a really loud voice (‘sit down!  And stop bloody pointing!‘).

Then it was off to Café Mickey for dinner and drinks where we finally met up with fellow blogger Tara from Sticky Fingers and her lovely lad, plus a host of characters.  Tigger brought me a lovely 40th birthday cake and I got all overemotional when he gave me a hug.  Ooh, and DISNEY TIP: if you go to Disneyland Paris, do make sure you book (in advance – the queues are horrendous if not) at least one meal at Café Mickey.  The waiters get up on the bar and dance.  I nearly died laughing when they hauled Chip’n'Dale up there too for a shimmy.  It was like a furry version of Coyote Ugly.  We finished the evening in the hotel bar, drinking mojitos, and returned to our room to discover champagne on ice and fresh raspberry truffles.  Blissful.

Saturday

Plenty of free time today.  We started with Buzz Lightyear’s Laser Blast (Hubby got all competitive when he realised the front of the ‘gondola’ contained a scoreboard), then queued up for Space Mountain Mission 2 (never, ever again).  Onto a simulated Star Wars ride called Star Tours (which made us both regret being quite so greedy at breakfast – but oh, those croissants…).

After meeting the Disney chaps and the rest of the press pack for lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a little R&R: jacuzzi, swim, sauna and then a little snooze (we’re not as young as we once were y’know).

We ventured out later to watch the all-singing, all-dancing Disney Showtime Spectacular with all the new characters. It was really energetic and looking around, it was nice to see it wasn’t just the kids that were dancing and clapping (no, not Hubby – don’t be silly).

The evening saw the main event, a champagne reception to mark the official launch of Disney’s New Generation Festival.  We enjoyed private access to the parks (which was really incredible), a fabulous buffet: sushi, little canapés in teeny glass bowls,  little salads in globes and the layered strawberry desserts that you syringed straight up into your mouth – I was in heaven.

Leaving our lovely, champagne-toting waiters behind, we filtered over to a mahoosive stadium where we watched the New Generation Dedication Show.  I can’t even tell you how bloody amazing this was.  Highlights for me was the aerial ballet dancer supported only by balloons, and the incredible Toy Soldiers from Toy Story.  Oh, and then there was Buzz whose shape-cutting frankly stole the show:

Later, we snuck another little mojito with the Disney peeps (who were having a brief five minutes before heading back out on celeb duty), and teased Disney Dave that we’d got him on video shmoozing and practicing his ‘princess moves’ with The Saturdays and Princess Tiana.

Sunday

Sunday was a free day in the park and we took the opportunity to use our Fastpasses (a MUST – this isn’t even high season and some of the queues were 90 minute waits) to visit Big Thunder Mountain (fab), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (or I liked the French version: ‘le temple du peril’!) and several of the smaller attractions.  A bit of retail therapy later, and it was onto a coach to travel into Paris to the Gare Du Nord (I saw the pointy top of the Eiffel Tower!), a fabulous dinner on the Eurostar (garlicy salmon on a bed of spinach and dauphinoise potatoes, far too much wine and some very funny conversation).  By the time we’d legged it from St Pancras to Euston (we had 15 minutes to connect), we were absolutely burned out.

I still found myself singing ‘It’s a Small World After All’ on the train home though.  Good Times.

EUROSTAR INFO:

 Eurostar operates a daily direct service in each direction to Disneyland Resort Paris (daily direct services to the resort will no longer operate on Tuesdays and Saturday except during school holidays)

 Fares are from £69 standard class return (adult) £44 return (child aged 4-11)

 Children under 4 years-old travel free (not allocated a seat)

 Leisure Select travel is from £146 return for an adult and £94 return for a child aged 4-11

 Return through fares start from only £77 (St Albans, Luton etc)

 2hrs 35 mins from London and 35 minutes less from Ashford, Kent

 Tickets are available from eurostar.com or from Eurostar’s Contact Centre on 08432 186 186



Life begins… ten reasons why I’m exactly the same.

So by the time you read this, I shall be winging my way to gay Paree to spend a fabulous, star-studded (what? Mickey’s a star), glamorous 40th birthday weekend courtesy of the lovely folks at Disney (yes yes, there’ll be the customary ‘this is what I had for dinner’ photos, don’t worry)  checking out Disneyland Paris’ New Generation Festival.

This was supposed to be a ‘now I’m 40 I feel different because…‘ kind of post, but I wrote it and re-wrote it, and frankly, I couldn’t find anything different about being 40 than being 39 (I’ve only had a few hours to get used to it, to be fair).  Okay, looking back on my 30 year old self or… god forbid… my 20 year old self – would I swap places? No. I’m probably happier in my – admittedly slightly less firm – own skin than I’ve ever been, but there’s nothing momentous I can tell you young whippersnappers about being 40, I’m afraid.  Nope, nothing to see here, move along…

So here goes, then, with reasons why I’m probably likely to be exactly the same forever, whether I’m 40 or 70…  In fact, I can feel a top ten coming on.  Brace yourself:

1.  I am still clumsy.  I fall down a lot, set fire to things and drop things all the time.  I’ve probably always been like it, but spectacular crashes aside (the walking down the stairs when the dog trod on the back of my slipper incident – henceforth known as slippergate –  springs to mind), I don’t seem to hurt myself too badly.  And boy, do I bruise like a peach.

2. I am still horribly unsociable.  And yes, years ago I suppose I used to beat myself up about not wanting to go to parties, and my horror of being surrounded by drunken, sweaty people…  But do you know what?  I still feel exactly the same.  The only difference is that now I don’t care.  I embrace my inner solitary mad cat lady and go with the flow.  I have lovely friends that I cherish, and who seem to love me for who I am, the nutters.  So I shall continue to adore them back, and spend lots of time sitting on my sofa while other people go and do that sweaty, socialising stuff.

3.  I am still a nerd.  If I’m not cooking, then you’ll find me on Twitter, or I’ll be writing my blog and if I’m not doing that I’m gabbing to my mental bloggy mates on gmail and if I’m not doing that I’m probably on Facebook.  I sit with my ‘fercuck’ glasses on and type faster than a greyhound with a hot bottom.  I say things like STFU! and LOL! and do I care?  Nooooo.  I’m always saying to #1 that if anyone calls you a nerd, embrace it.  Do you think Bill Gates gives a shit if people call him a nerd? Doubtful.

4.  I still can’t take my drink.  On Saturday night, we started with a cocktail, then went on to gin and tonic.  I think I had two and was happy as larry.  Cheap date?  Yup.  When we lived in Ireland I could always tell how much alcohol I had consumed by how unsteady my last walk around the garden with the dog was.  We’re not talking 2 or 3 bottles here, we’re talking glasses.  I’m a total lightweight.

5. I’m still completely in love with my children.  In fact, I think I’m probably a better parent now they’re able to have a good, snorty, laugh-til-you cry silly conversation (at which I excel).  I was actually a crap Mum when they were little – no patience for reading the same book ten times in one evening, and hopeless at painting and stuff.  Still, they got to make loads of cakes.  My happiest time is 3.30pm, when the door bangs open and there’s a rush of testosterone-fuelled, slightly muddy-smelling energy in my direction.  Okay, so they ruffle my hair and go ‘alright, knob?’, but it’s with affection.  No, really.

6. I still have the stupidest baby hair in the world.  It’s like toddler hair – so soft that you can’t even put it up in a pony tail without the bloody thing falling out, slipping down the back of your t-shirt and ending up in your pants.  I’ve stopped trying to control it now and go through life looking like a blonde Russell Brand.

7.  Talking of toddler-ness, I still can’t help myself but go ‘oooh’ when faced with anything pink, sparkly or gorgeous smelling.  It doesn’t matter if it’s lovely shimmery nail varnish, the edible glitter you put on cupcakes or one of those vaguely scary ladies in Debenhams offering to squirt you with perfume.  I love it.  Well, I love the perfume, not the scary ladies.  In fact, I always get an urge to lick my finger and wipe it down their orange faces to see if it will leave a white mark. So far, I’ve resisted…

8.  I still love baking.  I love the mixing and the stirring and the lovely smells and the alchemy and the sheer pride of giving something delicious that you’ve lovingly created to someone that you adore.  In fact, I love it so much, I’m going to teach an evening course at the local college this summer.  A three week ‘Introduction to Cupcakes’ course.  There’ll be sparkles too.  It’s just how I roll.

9. I’m still married.  Something of a miracle this one.  Fifteen years and counting.  He tolerates my unending, ‘shiny, happy’ optimism and I occasionally tell him off when he’s really grumpy.  Apart from that, we rub along pretty well.  The fact that pasta makes him gag, he doesn’t do creamy sauces, and can’t stand pork OR buttercream is another matter altogether.

10. I am still stupidly enthusiastic about stuff.  I suppose this is in part due to my infernal, eternal optimism, but oh how I love having something to look forward to.  Holiday, birthdays, Christmas… all come in for some serious list-making, planning, wishing, hoping and longing.  Oh, and I still hunt in cupboards for my birthday presents. I can’t help it.

Anyhoo, I’ll see you on Sunday…  à bientôt! xx

Toy Story 1 & 2 on Disney Blu-ray, and a sneaky peak at Toy Story 3!

In my incredibly important position as Disney Blu-ray Ambassador *cough*, I get certain perks.  A rather fab one recently was a nice parcel containing the specially released Toy Story…

…and Toy Story 2, newly released in Disney Blu-ray

The first thing I’ll say that, as always with BluRay, the quality is AMAZING.  We were constantly fascinated by the little details, like the weave on the skipping rope, and the shine on the floor – bits that we didn’t notice before.  As a family, we love Toy Story (I think it’s our favourite Disney movie), and these new BluRays are worth the purchase just to watch the quality in HD.  We also loved the sneaky peak at Toy Story 3!

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are released on Disney Blu-ray on 8th March 2010.  Toy Story 3 is out on general release on 18th June 2010.