Getting My Groove Back

I was spending some (far too much) time on Twitter today, when I saw the following Tweet:
Glasgow_Mummy Sarah 

@ 

@PollyBurns2 I've commented on your #groovingmums piece. Such a great idea @netcurtains. Loved your autumn post too - my fav time of year

I went onto the blog link Kate On Thin Ice to have a little looksee, and here I am, joining in the #groovingmums bloghop.

I feel somewhat too old to be joining in with all the lovely young mums, but, I am still a mum, and, I still have some of the same issues, and had most of the same issues when I too was a young mum.

Kate asks two questions to help along the way....

1. What song would be best to play a lot whilst attempting to get your groove back?

2. What can you do to make your body feel better this week?

Well, as for me. the music one has to be cheery and 'up', it wouldn't help me if it were a sad or sappy song, nor one that made me feel melancholy or emotional. So I choose an fairly old one.... Love Today by Mika.   On that note (pun intended) where is Mika these days? 

I tend to be an easy recluse and stay in alone too easily. It seems that all of my friends who I like to go out and spend time with are all working and so I can easily be alone for large chunks of time. While that's OK most of the time, and I do keep busy, it can lead to a feeling of isolation. I'm not great at getting out there and meeting people. I'm quite shy and have poor self esteem a lot of the time.

However, I can make my body feel better this week by going for a walk every day and getting out of the house.

I haven't eaten or drunk chocolate for over a year and that makes me feel very good about myself.

I do push myself out of my comfort zone sometimes with my business, and always feel much more positive afterwards.

Don't forget to join the bloghop if you'd like and Tweet about it too using #groovingmums

Have a great week. x

Health for all?

I consider myself to be a very lucky/blessed person on the whole. That's not to say I've had a charmed, rose petals strewn across my path, cartoon birds and animals coming in to do MY housework, life. No, far from it sometimes, but I have been fortunate to have three lovely healthy (for the most part), happy (for the most part) children.  They had the accidents, bumps, cuts and grazes, Chicken Pox, ear infections, tummy upsets, viruses, same as others. We were sometimes in and out of the Dr's surgery more often than I care to think about.
Matthew was born with a bladder infection and was in hospital at 10 days old and successfully treated for it. It never ever occurred to me that this was anything special, just the norm here....a person is sick, they go to Dr or hospital for treatment and that's that.
Not so for everyone on this planet, unfortunately. When I was in California for a year, I took Dan to get his vaccinations and while we were in the waiting room, a Mother and Grandmother came in with a very tiny baby. They spoke in Spanish to the receptionist and asked for the baby to be seen by a Dr. They were told they had the wrong insurance and should go elsewhere. They were visibly upset, and a bit bewildered as they left the office. The Grandmother soon returned, and, crying and pleading asked for someone to please see the baby. I felt sickened, truly awful and ashamed that this was happening. I wished I had brought cash with me instead of my one cheque folded up and already made out for the sum of $65.00 for Dan's treatment. I would have gladly given them the money to have that poor little child looked at.
Right there in that office, I quite hated the American 'health' system. I told Dan that "This would never happen in England. It just wouldn't."
I came home to England with a whole new appreciation for our health system, where anyone gets treated according to need and not according to insurance of the 'right' kind. I'm proud to belong to a caring society like ours, no matter the critisism it sometimes gets.
But what about the vast amount of children who are in impoverished circumstances around the world?
Save the Children are tackling this very issue, but governments can do more to aid them in this.

1. Please Sign The Petition We can help in such a simple way.

2. If you blog, write 100 words about what healthcare or health workers mean to you. Link up with Mummy from the heart  link to a number of other bloggers, and encourage them to do the same.

3. Tweet about it, Facebook it, Google+ it and talk to people to get more supporters.

I'm passing the baton to:
CraftyMama
MilesMusings

Pride and Prejudice

I, like many others, am completely in awe of Jane Austen and her wonderful books. My favourite is Pride and Prejudice with the gorgeous hero Fitzwilliam Darcy. Not even the awful name of Fitzwilliam can put a dampner on my feelings for Darcy.
What is it about Darcy which makes so very many women go all unneccessary?
Cherry Potter wrote in the  Guardian newspaper 'Why do women fall for Mr Darcy' http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/sep/29/books.gender
Lady T makes an entertaining and intelligent insight into why women fall for Mr Darcy here.... http://funnyfeminist.com/2011/03/28/the-real-reason-women-love-mr-darcy/
For me it's a mixture of the confident man wrestling with the tortured soul, the smouldering looks which hide the desperate desires, the restraint of feelings for propriety, the language, and the costume. I don't know what it is, but I do love those high boots!!

I love the films too, with the Kiera Knightly/Matthew McFadyn coming in at 2nd to the BBC version with Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth who are the best Elizabeth and Darcy, in my opinion.

Colin Firth is the finest Darcy of them all.

Just as enchanting is the Lost in Austen [DVD] with Jemima Rooper as a thoroughly modern heroine and Elliot Cowan as a smouldering Darcy. Jemima throws a new and sometimes hilarious spin on the original.
A bit more about it here...

I would just love to read the book from the perspective of Darcy, much the same as the Author Stephanie Meyer has begun with Midnight Sun, retelling the Twilight novel through Edward's perspective.
Perhaps someone will take up the challenge and produce a fine fanfiic.

Today I came across the novels by Victoria Connelly The Perfect Hero A Weekend With Mr Darcy Dreaming of Mr. Darcy which have great reviews, so I will be getting my own copies as soon as possible.

It is completely wonderful to be whisked away from everyday life, and immersed into fantasy where there are such men as Darcy to behold. books are just the best.

The annual Jane Austen Festival is something which I would love to go to, and will set as a goal for 2012.
More details here: http://www.janeausten.co.uk/jane-austen-festival/

How about making a Regency gown and joining in the fun?