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  • I Lost Five Stone By Giving Up Smoking

    I lost five stone by giving up smoking
    Back in march 2017 I was 16 stone and smoked 30+ cigarettes a day.
    I was a mother of two, Amy Louise 3 and Samuel James 14 months old, I had a wake up call one day whilst at the park, Amy was chasing after a duck and was getting closer to the pond, I had to run to catch up with her and caught her just before she landed in the pond.
    I was out of breath and had a pain in my chest and a stitch in my side, but i had a bigger pain in my heart realising that my life style was risking my children’s lives, I decided then if I wanted to be a great mum for my children I had to lose weight and give up smoking.
    I decided I didn’t want to use patches or gum and I wasn’t prepared to go to a weight loss group I was going to do this with will power alone.
    I thought up a plan, I started cooking healthier meals and every time I wanted a cigarette I did a plank or leg rises, jogging on the spot, run up the stairs, wall sits any exercise i could think of.
    I punished myself for wanting a cigarette with exercise and you know what It worked.
    I didn’t want a cigarette any more and I loved that I could run after my little two with ease.
    I have never felt healthier in all my life , I’ve always been a big girl but now I am a healthy size 10, and weight 10 1/2 stone I have no plans on losing any more weight but want to maintain my figure.
    If I can do it anyone can, not only do I have more energy and look and smell better I have saved a small fortune plus I’m a more fun mum now

  • When You Leave Your “Baby” In the Car Alone

    Zoe Jones took to Facebook to share her hilarious misunderstanding with the police and it had us creasing with laughter.

    Jones said “Omfg!!! 😲 Just had a knock on the door and I opened it thinking it was the postman with my parcel I’ve been waiting for and to my surprise it was 4 police men and a women!! 👮‍♀️ 👮‍♂️

    They asked me how long I’d been home an if I could open my car for them 🤔 I shit myself and got my keys and opened the door for them. They then asked why I would leave a newborn baby in the car on its own so I explained my baby was 5 years old now an I had just dropped him to school with his 2 older sisters 😐 but then one of the officer reached in and pulled a baby car seat out and said this baby 👶 I automatically laughed but the police woman didn’t find it funny and said that it was an offence to leave a baby unattended 🙈 I quickly reached into the car seat an unwrapped the “baby” out of its blanket to show them that it was tess’s (my daughter) reborn that she had left in there 😂🙈 these kids will be the death of me ai 🤣🙃”.

    When You Leave Your "Baby" In the Car Alone
    When You Leave Your “Baby” In the Car Alone

    The post has since been shared over ten thousand times and received hundreds of comments all who find it funny, but wonder how the police or passer bys could mistake a doll for a baby

     

  • Social Services Have Taken My Heart I Want My Baby Back

     

     

    Kerry Blackaller is currently going through hell her little angel her only daughter has been removed from her care and she is fighting to get her back.

    Blackaller said “Well since 8 this morning I’ve been trying to find the right words. This is the best I could do. 11 months ago today was the happiest day of my Life. You completed me finally after all these years. Some time passed in that time we passed I lost my battle to keep you with me. Please believe me it was not my fault I did everything in my power.

    Unfortunately the system let me and you both down. Since you’ve been gone I still have fought for you every day. My days have been bad but this day has hit me like a ton of bricks. Every month you was a month older we always used to do something. This month we can’t 💔 furthermore I’m now realising its only one month away until your first birthday and I’m dreading that day coming.

    Social Services Have Taken My Heart I Want My Baby Back
    Social Services Have Taken My Heart I Want My Baby Back

    Lyla baby my life is just not the same without you here. I don’t want to get up in the mornings, The fight I have left in me is minimal, but of course for you I’m not giving up and still somehow going. You are the only reason right now that I breathe. What I would give to hear a silly little cry or a moan or the smell of a stinky nappy.

    To just feel your presence and your arms around my neck, your head on my chest, your hands in mine, to hear the most amazing sound of all that beautiful laugh of yours, to feel your heart beat next to mine, to see the worlds most captivating smile, to feel the most beautiful skin I’ve ever felt, most of all the best sound I have ever heard in my life, you in the morning rocking the cot and calling MUM. I have deep trouble accepting the fact that your gone. How you’ll now call

    Someone else mum, how I won’t get to see you flourish and grow anymore, your 1st day at nursery, then big girl school, to know if your hurt or sad, jobs, friends, boyfriends, prom, career, for the rest of my life this will eat me alive. But I promise as long as you ok and smiling I will deal with it and wait for

    You to come and find me to make it up to you and show you all I done. I really hope you understand I done what I could. You have made me the happiest and proudest mum in the world. Every minute and second I spent with you was the best time of my Life.

    While I sit and write this with tears streaming down my face there’s still this smile that is permanently stuck there to my face and heart because of you. For this I thank you and I will cherish it all until I see you again. I miss and love you so much it hurts, and makes my heart skip beats. There’s not a single day that goes by that I don’t hurt, or think about you and smile, that I don’t smell or hear your infectious laugh. Not a day that I can’t wait to have you back in my arms. Or a day I wish I could turn back time, most of all not a day goes by where I don’t pray to have you back and that your safe and happy.

    Social Services Have Taken My Heart I Want My Baby Back
    Social Services Have Taken My Heart I Want My Baby Back

    Please god keep my baby safe and happy. Let her grow into all she can be. Let her know I’m here not giving up. I promise mummy will think about u and cherish every moment of you every day. I promise I will always be here. You’ve given me feelings I never knew existed. Until we meet again.. I have to say bye and god only knows how I’m going to do that. I love you more than any words could ever comprehend. Not only because you’re my daughter but you was my best friend too. And Forever that will remain. My whole 🌎 my ❤️ beat. My baby 👶🏼 mummy’s 👸🏼 forever and always 👩‍👧 💜💕💔💔💔💔”.

    if you are able to help Blackaller who is trying to raise funds for legal fees

    https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kerry-blackaller?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Yimbyprojectpage&utm_content=kerry-blackaller&utm_campaign=projectpage-share-owner&utm_term=X6NnxzweD

     

     

  • Shamed Glee Actor Dead in Suspected Suicide

    Mark Salling – aged 35, famed for his portrayal as Puck in the TV show Glee has reportedly committed suicide.

    Salling was just weeks away from serving a jail sentence for position of over 50,000 child abuse images, according to US reports.

    In a statement given to The Blast his family said: “Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistake and errors of judgement.

    “He is survived by his mother and father, and brother. The Salling family appreciates the support they have been receiving and asks for their privacy to be respected.”

     

  • I give you: MY NEW HERO. This Soccer Mom, at my kid’s last game

    Glennon Doyle posted to Facebook to share her unlikely hero and woman across the globe agreed.

    Doyle said “I give you: MY NEW HERO. This Soccer (football) Mom, at my kid’s last game.

    Whilst the other parents stood loudly and earnestly and concernedly on the sidelines: this mother laid her body down on the ground, her head on her purse, and her blanket over her face – and napped.

    Her entire existence said: I am showing up for my kid. But I’m not gonna pretend I’m not exhausted about It.

    Please understand that periodically when the sideline yelled and woke her from her warrior sleep she would raise that little thumb of hers and say: yay. And then she’d go back to sleep.

    I love her. She is a cultural icon for our time.

    Here’s to WOMEN WHO FREAKING REST WHEN THEY’RE TIRED. May we know them. May we raise them. May we be them.

    I would like to formally nominate this hero as the president elect of our Women Who Have Run Out of Effs to Give Club.

    I will be the Secretary in Charge of Meetings. There will be no meetings.

    I salute you.

    #OOFClub”.

    Doyle’s post has since gone viral for all right reasons, it is rare these days that on social media someone can share some thing and not receive a barrage of negative comments and perfect parents pointing out all the small details, why can’t a mum be exhausted yet supportive. You go girl!!!

     

     

  • Should You Be Compensated For Lost Breast Milk If Your Freezer Breaks?

    Kimberley Ver took to Facebook to complain about her freezer defrosting all her saved breast milk and has since been given a good will gesture by Currys Pc world.

    But Ver’s post has stirred up debates about the value of breast milk Ver said:

    “Hi ladies you may remember my post about the faulty freezer defrosting my milk stash.well if just received a text saying they are coming to collect the freezer (the text came 10min AFTER the slot began) so I’ve taken the milk out. 89 bottles! 89 BOTTLES! 5.8LITRES I’ve emailed Currys twice and in their words they will not attempt to compensate me as you cannot put a monetary value on breast milk, so they are refusing to sort this situation out. I’ve asked them to ring me to discuss and they refuse. I tweeted it and no response. What else can I do? This is a tragic loss and Currys should be doing something in good will to the appropriate standard xx *EDIT* Currys have been in touch to discuss a good will gesture x Currys PC World Currys complaints”.

    Mandy Sampson replied to the post and said “No amount of money can replace lost Breast milk”. Sampson felt that money would not change the situation and was pointless to even complain.

    However Joanna Kennedy replied and said she would charge Currys pc world for the time it took to express the milk if it had happened to her.

    Milk banks can charge the NhS NICU £7.50 for a 50ml container of breast milk it has been stated, so do you think a good will gesture is enough or should the likes of Kimberley Ver and others who lose breast milk to faulty freezers receive the entire money value of their milk? or do you feel it’s just one of those things and should just forget about it? Let us know your views in the comments

     

  • Raising Girls Is Never Easy But Now I Am In The Thick Of It

     

    When I was a little girl and my imagination would think to the future, of being a mum, having a family, everything being perfect.  The sun would be shining, my family would be full of smiles and giggles and we would all skip through fields holding hands as if from a scene from Little House on the Prairie.

    In reality it could not be more different.  I have two daughters fairly close in age, both with completely different characters.  In the beginning they were best of friends.  Whatever the older one did the other would follow.  If they older one asked the younger to do something she would do it without question. There was even a point were I would dress them the same, which they never complained.  At this point I thought they would always be best of friends and there would never be a quibble between them. They would become teenagers. young woman and share clothes and make up. They would go out together and giggle away at girlie gossip.

    I am not sure as to what point this changed or the exact timing of it but my sweet, loving companions are now constantly at war.  One is a teenager and maturing before my eyes. Going from a girl into a woman and blossoming.  I look at her with envy often and wish that I looked as she does when I was 13. I am so proud of her, she is intelligent, articulate and has such a caring heart.  The other is pre teen and her blossoming is only just beginning.  Proud is not enough of a word to describe how I feel about her.  She is the strong one.  For two girls who when little were like mirror images of each other they are now so different.  This is where I feel I am in a huge hole and desperately trying to scrape my way back to the top.

    I have read over the years that raising girls is never easy and now I am in the thick of it, I 100% agree. Never seeming to get anything right for them.  I always had this illusion that I would be seen as the cool mum, be friends with my kids. I can honestly say anyone who achieves this is either extremely laid back or a genius.  I am told get past the teenage years and this will come but right now that seems a mammoth task.

    My girls bicker from morning until night, they argue over the most trivial things.  It is a constant battle of wills.  Due to a recent house move and renovations the girls are currently sharing a room.  Stupid me, thinking this would be great for them. For them to be close again, have each others company. How wrong I was, instead I wonder which one is going to throttle the other one first. The looks they can give each other would turn anyone to stone. Medusa doesn’t have a look in.

    I try so hard to be fair. Try to listen to each others side of things when a disagreement erupts.  Not wanting to favour one over the other but no matter how many parenting books I have read or programs I have watched nothing prepares you for being in the moment when your two daughters want you to side with either one of them and for you to spit venom at the other just because she has pinched one of her nail polishes.  Then there is the surreal moments when things get so heated and discipline in the strongest form is required.  Voices are raised and I put my foot down then at a flip of a coin they side with each other.  “Mum don’t shout at her”  I can only describe it like being on a playground roundabout and being pushed so fast that when you come off you are still in a spin.  Confusion seems to last for several minutes after.

    My girls are absolutely at the love/hate relationship stage.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that neither would ever see any harm come to the other.  Sibling protection will always be there with them that I know but right now this hole I am in, with my efforts to both, keep the peace between them and myself is not getting any easier to climb out.  Now when I think to the future I hope and pray that my girls get through this and once again become the close friends they once were.

    Credit Louise Smith

     

     

     

  • Teenagers Video Pleading For Help From Abusive Mum Goes Viral

    This month , thousands of people have shared concern over a disturbing Facebook video showing a teenage girl showing handwritten cards claiming that a Georgia judge placed her back with her abusive mother. (Scroll down for video)

    The teenager, Maddie Kelley, claims that her mum had beaten her badly enough to cause bruises and had hit her head against the wall she says she has been abused physically and emotionally all her life.

    The disturbing video was originally  into the Facebook page “Concerned citizens against Judge Grubbs Cobb County GA” in January 2016; the reasons for its renewed popularity in January 2018 are unclear.

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    Some Facebook users posted screenshots of what appeared to be a deleted post originally posted by the Adairsville Police Department in January 2016, stating that the child’s welfare officials and police had found the claims to be unsubstantiated:

    A court in Cobb County, Georgia found that Mathew Kelley, the teenagers dad, had in fact encouraged Maddie to record and post the video, which he later said was “absolutely … a lie.”

    The court also found that he had violated court-ordered parenting agreements in part by “aiding and encouraging” false allegations about Maddie’s mother, Dawn Kelley, to spread online.

    Adairsville Police Department were asked whether there were any further updates, and they responded:

    We appreciate your concern for the welfare of a child. The post everyone is concerned about is actually from 2 years ago. The allegations were unfounded at that time. Hope this can ease your mind about this. Thank you.

     

  • Mum Flu It Is No Joke Give Us A Medal

    The definition of Mum Flu, get out of bed and get on with things.  Reach for every available remedy, drink as many Lempsip Max’s or Benylin medicine that are allowed before driving would become impaired. No matter how much we want to be looked after, receive sympathy for our aches and pains or to curl up in bed, hide under the duvet and not appear until all ailments have gone it just is not possible.

    There was nothing better as a child when, if poorly mum (and dad) would flood you with lots of TLC. Being tucked up in bed, toast brought to your bedside a bottle of Lucosade (which I thought was medicine for many years).  Then as we progress into adult hood and are working, even a day off sick from work would mean the duvet on the sofa watching endless day time tv with a box of tissues and cups of tea on tap.

    Becoming a mum and being ill just do not go. I certainly know from experience in this house, life would come to a complete stand still if I was to take to my bed. Waking on a Monday morning feeling like I have been kicked in the chest by a horse, throat feeling like it has a thousand pins stuck in it and an ear that is throbbing so bad I could cry it just fills me with dread.  Not because I am ill, I can cope with being ill it is everything else that I have to do whilst feeling like this.  Nothing in my day-to-day life is able to suffer. Nothing can be put off for another day and the children will need fed.

    I am an organised person and so all school clothes are put out the night before, school bags at the front door at the ready but still this morning the children received my frustrations. My head is telling me it is just like any other day but my body is screaming….what are you doing woman get back to bed.  After school and nursery drop off, which signs of my current Ora was showing as a fellow mum asked if I was alright,(other words for you do look absolutely awful) it was time to get back home and start work.  Monday is Payroll day and is my busiest day of the week.  I am responsible for making sure no mistakes are made as this is my employees livelihood, they have mortgages and bills to pay.  My brain is functioning but certainly not on all cylinders. The process is slower than usual and I check and check again that all is correct. Working from home is full of advantages but on days like these is so wish I had someone to do my work for me.

    I long for the end of the day, I wish away the hours but I know I still have a few phone calls to make, school pick up, youngest swimming lessons, middle childs drama and oldests hockey training.  (once again I praise the Slow Cooker for its ability to make that part of the day easier). My partner phones a few times throughout the day only to ask have I been to the chemist to get more medicine.  There was a little hint of sympathy in his voice but he is in London and I am sure there is slight relief, one he is far enough away from the germs but also he does not need to be stand in mum until I feel better.

    Mum flu is worse than Man flu us woman are super heroes and deserve medals

     

  • This Granny Has No Chill!

    When you’re going on a night out it’s standard practice to post a few snaps and selfies with your pals…

    However Rachel Fleming got more than she bargained for when her Granny started commenting!

    It turns out Granny didn’t care much for poor Rachel’s fashion choices, so much so that she PAID Rachel to make sure she never wore them again!

    Personally I think the trousers look great and Rachel’s rocking the look!

    What do you think?

    Let us know your thoughts in the comments.