Gino says "Hello" and solves your lunchbox problems

Do you remember, back in the halcyon days of Spring, when I was invited to London to interview the one and only Gino D'Acampo? You don't? I'm going to have to point you at my interview with him here and here, aren't I? Tut.

Anyhoo, Gino made a little video for this very blog to introduce his Good Food Fight which he launched with Cheestrings back in May. It's supposed to be attached to another video but I've been so swamped with things since our holiday, there's not been time for that. So, here's Gino saying hello to you all. Say hello back.

Life Circle - The Wheel of Life

Are you ready? Off we go. It's going to be one hell of a ride! I hope this week's task was thought-provoking and useful to you. What you have probably found is that one area you're particularly unhappy with can have knock-on effects on other areas of your life, and also, that this exercise provides a focus for your thinking about what you want to change. You already know these things about yourself but they are there in the background. Most of the time, this exercise brings those issues into the foreground and they give a clearer indication of what it is that needs to change first that will have a huge effect on other areas of your life - what they call a quick win, although some solutions are not so quick, I'll admit.

Anyway, here's my Wheel of Life and some comments about the scores I want to talk about. One of my self-imposed rules on this blog is not to talk about my relationship, so I will skip talking about that on here. As I have said before, only share with your blog readers and other Life Circlers what you feel comfortable sharing. Excuse the hamfisted drawing but I wanted to use the same image! The exact scores I've given are below.

Fun and Recreation - 6. I'm generally happy with this area of my life; blogging events seem to provide plenty of opportunities to do things for me. What limits us as a family is money, so I'm sure I'd be happier if we had more disposable income and felt we could treat ourselves every now and then. When your "treat" is a coffee out, you know that you're limited in cash.

Career - 6. I started a business doing VA and business support work about 6 months ago and I've been building up working with one particular client. These last few months have taught me two things: 1) that I love doing it and want to do more but 2) I need to earn more money for the sake of our finances. I need to do more work for my existing client and find some new ones as well. I'd like to use some of the skills I learned in my 22 years in the IT sector, partly because I know that will pay more than the VA work but also to keep my knowledge current. For most of my working life, I loved working in IT - it just became quite family unfriendly when I had the children and with my husband working shifts, childcare would be quite complicated to arrange unless it was fully flexible.

Health - 7. Good but room for improvement. I'm much fitter than I was this time last year, thanks to regular exercise classes. But my goal is to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes (which are size 12) and I'm still a size 14.  I don't know how to attack this - I seem stuck but I excuse it by saying I'm having a life and not doing faddy crash diets.

Personal Development - 9. I'm actually happy with this area of my life, mainly because I feel like I learn something new every day, whether it be about my work, blogging, or parenting. I don't feel the need to go and get any more qualifications (and anyway, I couldn't afford to take on a course) and I just feel that I have a learning mentality so I will always be looking to learn new things.

Friends and Family - 7.5 I have a good set of friends. I sometimes wish I had a few more friends locally that I could meet up with more regularly for coffee and I feel I am in transition from one set of friends to another with the move to school. I have the odd issue with family that I wouldn't dream of discussing here but they are mostly outside of my control so there is no point working on it.

Environment - 6. I love our home, I've lived here for 12 years and have good neighbours. It needs a few things doing to it, but once again we are back to putting it off for lack of money. Over the next few years, we'll need to decide what we want to do about secondary schools which may involve moving. I'm not saying we will - but most of the children's schoolmates live within the catchment of a different secondary school to us. But I'm well aware things can change in the 4 years before we have to decide what to do. And I would just like the house to be less cluttered and tidier, we're overrun with toys.

Money - 4. For me, this is the key area. I've managed to spin my redundancy money out from 2009 but it's fast running out. I'm good with money so I try to budget but I know our outgoings are bigger than our income. I have everything compared to down to the cheapest going - it's not that we are excessively spending, it's just that it all adds up. I know that we cannot live on my husband's salary alone and the money has given us a breathing space until now. We still have a bit but I have one eye on it and watching my balance drop alarmingly is terrifying, for me anyway. Apart from the mortgage, I have no major debts but that could easily change if I don't start earning more money. I don't ask for much - I don't want to be a millionaire, but I feel much more comfortable when I don't have to think about every single purchase I make, which is what I'm having to do now. I'd like us to be able to go on holiday yearly, but I can't see that happening next year at the moment. And as you can see from the other scores, it's impacting on  Environment, Career (which are interchangeable really - to resolve the money issue, I need to do more work), and Fun & Recreation.

It's obvious that there's lots of things I'd like to improve but they are all in balance and I'm reasonably happy with them, but the money situation is impacting some of them and that area is what I need to focus on first and foremost to see the biggest improvements in in the short to medium term, in conjunction with developing my career and business.

So, now it's your turn. If you haven't done already, then complete your Wheel of Life, write what you've learned from the exercise, include the badge so others can find the rest of the posts in the Life Circle, publish your post then link it up below so others can have a read and offer their support. I'm hoping the Linky will stay open as long as possible so please feel free to come back to join in at any time. Don't feel obliged to leave a comment after linking up but obviously, I would welcome feedback from the rest of the Life Circle. (By the way, where it says your name, feel free to use your blog title rather than your actual name!)

If you are joining in with Life Circle, please do read some of the other posts if you can. It doesn't have to be all of them - 2 or 3 will do - but you might want to visit more for this week, in order to introduce yourself to other people joining in with the Life Circle and to get to know them. Life Circle isn't about getting traffic, it's about mutual support, so please try not to just visit the bloggers linking up first. I will endeavour to read as many posts and comment on them as possible but I may be restricted for time. The badge code, by the way, is here, but I'm hoping to place it on a page on this blog soon.

Child labour? Help me out!

Photo credit - lusi

Monkey is a child that is never satisfied. You give him toys, he wants another. He thinks he should have a new one every day. If it is not that, he wants some Match Attax or thinks he deserves a treat. This has to stop if he's to get a Christmas present.

The other day, I had to take the children to Asda to do a weekly shop and whilst they were good and helpful, they wanted to know whether they could visit the toy aisle (no), get some Match Attax (no) or buy a game or DVD (no again but useful diversion when I'm going through the checkout as the DVD section is just beyond the tills).

When we got back in the car, Monkey asked when he could have a treat. Once again, for what felt like the thousandth time, I explained about money, things costing and having money to spend. And then the light bulb went on in my head. Having remembered that the children have helped with chores from time to time, I suggested that perhaps they'd like to earn money from doing some chores which they'd get as a kind of pocket money at the weekend and they can spend as they choose.

When we got home that day, they were keen to help and despite having a house that was upside down, they helped me to get it fairly clean and tidy. Unfortunately, Missy Woo blotted her copybook by "testing" a felt tip pen all over one of the internal doors which I had to spend 15 mins scrubbing to remove.

But anyway, they have slacked off somewhat since Sunday (quelle surprise). They do know, howver, that keeping their rooms and their playroom tidy all week will earn them a pound. I said I would work out prices for different jobs. I've made a few up, but was wondering what other parents do?  At the moment, they are only old enough to do things like tidying up and dusting, although they did a bit of hoovering with supervision.

So, parents, tell me if you pay your children to do chores and if so, how much for which tasks? I'd really love to know whatever their age and capabilities. If you've older children and can remember what you did when the children were a similar age to my two (6 and 5), that would be useful too.

Do leave your answers in the comments below.

Meal Planning Monday

It's Monday so it must be meal planning time!  This week's is kind of rushed - I'd started putting together a plan on Saturday, and then on Sunday morning, I realised I would need to do the food shopping as I'm out most of the day. So, this week is slightly cobbled together as I only had written what sort of dish eg "fish" for some of the days so I had to do a hasty extra spot of planning in my head. Never good but never mind. 

So, here we go: 

On a mission for healthy mouths

You may remember that a few months ago, I told you about the Healthy Mouth Challenge which Colgate had challenged me to take. Now it's Oral Health month, they've asked me to be a "Healthy Mouth Ambassador" for their Healthy Mouth Mission . Now that Monkey is losing teeth, especially the more prominent ones (one of his front ones fell out - for which read he pulled out when it was slightly wobbly when he was bored going to sleep one night - during our holiday) it's becoming even more important to ensure that the children are looking after their teeth. Thankfully, we got the thumbs up from the dentist when I took the children in August. The dentist has got a bit of a thing about what toothpaste we're using for them to brush their teeth because I use one for 3-6 year olds but I have checked it and the fluoride content is very close to adult toothpaste. Still, it doesn't harm to try to get them onto adult toothpaste, especially as we end up with tubes of different toothpaste everywhere! 

My son, the perfect house guest

Yes, it's really true. Since the children have been back to school, Monkey has been a child in demand. He's been out to tea twice after school and to his first ever sleepover, admittedly to one of the friends who invited him back for tea. That's not bad, considering the school term is only three weeks old.

Butter wouldn't melt, eh?

It has become apparent that he is very popular with his friend's parents. I went to collect him from the first friend and the mum said "He's the quietest child we have had round to play." To which I slightly snorted, "He can come back anytime". After I collected him from the same house a few days later after his sleepover, I asked how much sleep he had got and the mum admitted to me that he'd wanted to go to sleep first but had been kept awake by some of the louder ones.

Then a day or so later, he got invited to another friend's house that he has visited a few times. He even got to choose what they ate - heaven for a boy who loves his food. Not that he is picky, because once again, when I went to pick him up, the mum said how much she loves how well he eats everything given to him. Then, the next morning, the mum came up to me and said, "I just love how laid back Monkey is". I snorted again and said that I thought that he and her son are a good combination as he and another friend can squabble like an old married couple, because they are just so similar.

Still, I'm wondering who is this child they're describing. I recognise the child that eats everything put in front of him because he's always been a brilliant eater, for which I have always been very thankful. But laid back? Quiet? Is this really Monkey or does a replicant take his form and go in his place? The Monkey I know after school normally has a very set idea of EXACTLY what he wants and tries to argue to get it until he melts down, my patience runs out, or both.

I am not however complaining. I think he's a pragmatist (not that he knows what one of those is). He knows if he is an angel, he'll get to go back and he enjoys the novelty of playing with someone else's toys, eating someone else's food and playing in someone else's bedroom. So, he becomes the perfect house guest. Parents think he's wonderful, children think he's a good friend (which he is generally). Not a word out of place, not a morsel of food refused. It's like he swallowed an etiquette guide. He might eat all your food though.

 I'd just love it if he could be as angelic for me. I'd do a vlog of his after school behaviour but I'd be afraid to publish it in case the other mums saw the real Monkey and his social life dried up! And I'd rather he be good for them and bad at home than the other way around. I just have a lot of invites to reciprocate now!

Is your child the perfect house guest? Do they morph into an angel as they step into a friend's house or are they just the same? Is Monkey a typical child for his age? Do tell me, I'd love to know. 

A word about My Fitness Story...

With the start of the Life Circle, I have decided to retire My Fitness Story... as a weekly blog series. I have struggled to get contributions lately and I feel that it's no longer sustainable, at least as a weekly series. Life Circle posts are going to publish on Thursdays so there is no room for it on that day.

I don't want it to die completely as I've put a lot of effort into it so I am still happy to accept contributions and to run it as an occasional series, as and when posts become available. I feel that people value a space where they can share their stories and celebrate their achievements or bare their souls about their disappointments. All the posts published so far are linked under the My Fitness Story... tab above so they will remain there for people to read at their leisure.

I'd just like to end by thanking all the fabulous contributors who took time to write posts for the series for me. You all rock. I've been in awe of all of you, and you've made me laugh and cry. I really couldn't have envisaged that I would get such a broad variety of posts when I started the series in January. And to all those who took the time to read the posts and comment on them, thank you too. Your support has kept this series far longer than I thought it would.