Not sure whether to be chuffed or depressed at finding this piccie of me on the Open Theological College website, from many moons ago… I look soooooooooo young!

see here

Much has been said about the dangers of Facebook. We’ll stop meeting people in person. We’ll loose our people skills. We’ll get cancer due to decrease in activity (an article in the Mail I read online just now when I googled ‘Facebook’!). Facebook will send us all to an early grave, so they say.

But I think it’s cool. I struggle to see that the time I spend on it is time I would otherwise have been meeting people in ‘real life’. I meet a lot of people in real life, a lot of time time… work, family, friends, church, various committees and suchlike… people people everywhere! And from what I can see from many of my friends on Facebook, they lead similar lives; teachers, vicars, youthworkers, publishers, students… none of these are staying in 24/7 to stare at the screen, immersing themselves with the oh-so-dangerous virtual world that is… Facebook.

Ah, now, I ought to ‘fess up’, now we’ve got onto the actual topic of ‘Facebook friends’. When I first signed up (or signed my life away, depending on your view) I laughed in the face of those who had 200 or even 300 and something friends (not that they could see or hear me laughing, such is the beauty of the system). That would never happen to me. MY Facebook account was to be for real friends; people I actually knew. Not just random anyones. Oh no.

But here’s the thing – I currently have… (just got to log in and check…) a grand total of 305 friends. That said, I can proclaim quite confidently that I know each and every one of them. Old school or church friends, current work and church friends, old work friends, my kids friends’ parents… you get the picture. The only exception to this is a small handful of teenage/student girls who read my books and then applied to be my friend… well, I don’t have many fans, so there’s no way I’m going to reject these discerning lasses!

Granted, some people may well spend their whole lives on Facebook, barely coming up for air, talking to random people, playing silly games, etc. But can’t the same be said for almost anything: computer games, reading, TV… there are many obsessions that aren’t exactly beneficial or healthy – we all know that. On the whole, the people (all 305 of them) that I see using Facebook are just happy to be keeping in touch with those they wouldn’t otherwise be in touch with. Likewise, they enjoy making comments on their work mates holiday snaps, or mate down the roads photos of their newborn baby. It’s personal. It’s accessible. It’s free!

For me, the best bit has been connecting with members of my wider family. We’re not really in touch via phone/email, on the whole. But now I’ve found some of my cousins on Facebook and some of my husband’s… there’s no stopping us! We’re suddenly more in touch than ever, which feels great. This morning, not only did I learn that my cousin’s daughter had got into Cardiff University (based on her A’Level results) I could view her celebratory photos AND I was able to congratulate her, instantly! If it weren’t for Facebook, I would never have known. A minor example, I guess, but it works for me.

The ability to put photos on my page, and let others see our holiday snaps, or day trips, or birthdays, etc, really is the highlight for me. Friends now say “Oh, I see you had a great time in…(wherever)” and I know that they’ve shared that part of my life with me. It would have been highly unlikely that I’d have brought photos into work and showed certain colleagues, but those on Facebook are now that much closer to ‘me’ and I like that. I can see that some wouldn’t, but then that’s why all those privacy bits are in place.

Yes, I’ve graduated from only going on Facebook when I had an email alerting me to a message or similar, to logging on most days, just to see what’s ‘going down’. So shoot me (seeing as I’m destined to die young due to my daily Facebook useage anyway). I’ve also recently sussed out how to organise my ‘friends’ and ‘hide’ certain people, so that on my ‘news feed’ I only read about those people I… errrr… am actually interested in. Which sounds mean, but it’s the only way I can see, at a glance, what’s going on in the lives of those I’m closest to.
And no one, but no one, is close to 305 people.

Any further, and preferably more ground-breaking, Facebook thoughts gratefully received.

… is the Wii Fit
I bought myself earlier this year! Here is a quick review:

Good: It’s great for exercising when the weather means I can’t (or refuse to) jog or cycle. Lots of variety of exercise. Love the way the other characters are so encouraging of my efforts to workout, like the 2 who throw hoops to me when I’m doing hula-hooping… they are so kind to stand there and do that, with no benefit to themselves, and smiling all the while. Likewise, those who jog past me tend to look my way, and give me a great big encouraging smile. How nice! This just doesn’t happen in real life (that said, dog-walkers tend to say hi). My trainer is also most friendly and encouraging – almost feel like I know her! A friend of mine (not a Christian) commented that the island you can jog around makes her think of heaven. I know what she means.

Could try harder: Yes there’s a lot of variety, but now I’ve done it a lot (once or twice a week, usually) I do feel like I’m fast running out of surprises. It’s a shame that there aren’t more exercises to unlock, or will those be on version 2, that will cost me another £70, or perhaps even more?! And although my trainer says nice things, they are the SAME things, over and over. Once she’s said it once, that’s enough – it really is. And on that note, it would be useful if instead of her talking though my exercises, I could do something more interesting. So, when I’m doing a 10 min hula-hoop, for example, wouldn’t it be fab if I could use the remote to go online and view facebook, or email, or websites and stuff?! It would make the time fly by faster! There is an option where you can watch TV when you jog, but still… they could be a bit more creative with this. Perhaps the technology just isn’t there (bear in mind I know nothing re technology – almost total luddite!).
Also, I have recently started on ‘interval training’ (whilst jogging, cycling and swimming). But Wii fit is no good for this as there’s nothing that really gets your heart going, despite having several ‘aerobic’ options. What I do is do the less energetic bits using Wii fit, and then do skipping for my ‘flat-out’ intervals, as it were. Which means I have to use a timer and it’s a bit of a pain. Would be great if Wii fit had considered interval training, but can’t have everything!

On reading (on BBC news website) about Jade’s funeral, small tears appeared in my eyes. Same thing happened when I read of her death. Yes, this is freaky. What’s even more freaky is that such ‘leakage’ didn’t come as any surprise to me.

I have only ever watched one series of Big Brother; the one where Jade came fourth. Yes, forth. The winner was Kate… someone, who I think now does some presenting work for an obscure channel. And I didn’t just ‘watch’ the series; observe it now and then. Oh no. I was hooked. Once a friend had informed me about the magic red button, that if pressed, took you right to the BB house, so you could watch it all live (well, almost)… yikes! Hooked!

Even at that time, before the end of the series, I was amazed at how much attention she was being paid, compared to the others. When it was all over, Graham Norton had her on his show. Only her though – none of the others, not even those who came 1st, 2nd or 3rd! He displayed a map of the British Isles, gave her a pointer and taunted her: Show us ‘East Anguler’ (or whatever it was she called it).

I’ve not watched the other stuff she’s been on, not really being a ‘telly’ kind of person (apart from the freak blip that was BB) but cannot deny having always being slightly drawn to articles or news items about her. Perhaps it’s due to having watched her for so long on BB, being… err… herself. Had there been news items about the other contestants (of that series) I may well have been drawn to them to, but I have a feeling there weren’t any.

As soon as I heard she was dying, I was quite gutted. Should… errr… Brad Pitt or Kate Winslet… drop down dead tomorrow, I would be sad, but not particularly effected. Sorry to sound heartless!
The whole thing has made me re-think about the loss of Princess Di. When the nation ‘mourned’ her, I got a bit cross. Yes, it was tragic that she died. Sure. But people die all the time, and generally, unless we know them, it doesn’t effect us. Only a handful of the mourners (out of the trillions of them) actually knew her or had even met her; how could people be crying and wailing about the loss of someone they’d never met?

Finally I think I get it. I’d never met Jade and didn’t know her in the slightest, but having watched her story unfold, first on BB and then in the media at large, I felt some sort of connection. Sure, I might not be a big fan of some of the things she’s done/said, but then I’m sure you wouldn’t be a fan of everything I’ve done/said… it’s just that you are currently unaware of it! The whole Jade media parade aside, I sincerely think her death is tragic. When I saw pictures of the hundreds (thousands?) of mourners who turned up to watch her funeral on the big screens outside the church, and who left flowers at her house, I got it.

I wonder what other things will happen in my life that might make me back-track, and suddenly ‘get it’… understand why so-and-so acted in such a way when such-and-such happened, etc. After all, it’s been 11 years since Di died.

Went to a tartan-tastic Burns Night – our 1st one ever!
My job was to do the ‘Reply from the Lassies’ speech, and here is what I came up with.
Writing and delivering it turned out to be less stressful than working out what to wear (ended up buying a strip of tartan material and making a sort of sash thing, which makes me sound like an accomplished seamstress, which is a lie as I used the iron-on hemming stuff that i use for the kids school trouser hems!)

Reply from the lassies

Please let me start with some info.
About my little… ‘reply’
So you know how things will go
And there won’t be an outcry

I lay all blame upon a man
Rarely is a woman to blame
He emailed to ask if I would oblige:
Colin is his name

I would be honoured, so it read
If you would do, the ‘Reply’
On behalf of the Lassies, so he said
So casual, by the by.

Thus, I swiftly emailed back
To say that would be fine
It’s a shame that I had no idea
Of the stress that would soon be mine

I’d thought this speech was something quick
that I could find online
And print off, just before I came
And read out, at this time.

Yet only a few days ago
To Mr Google I turned
He told me I had to write my own
None was supplied by Mr Burns

The ‘reply’ required a lot of thought
The speech was to be new each time
It wasn’t something he churned out
Not one of his five hundred and fifty-nine

Yikes, I cried – this isn’t right
This is an awful affair
Have they any idea how long it took
Just To work out what to wear?

And glancing back at that email
T’was with horror that I saw
That grace and charm and wit were required
Don’t you know me but at all?

When times are dark, and things are hard
T’is my hubby whom is my light
Help I yelled – I cannot cope
Ha! He said – now shut up and write.

I’d wondered if his Scottish roots
Would prompt him to assist
It turns out that his being an eighth of a Scot
Meant I was merely dismissed

But so I bravely battled on
Back to Google I turned
My ever present buddy in life
So much from him I have learned.

Reveal, he did, ‘Replies’ of lassies
From Burns nights of the past
Please picture the horror on my face
On reading: 15 minutes it should last.

Don’t panic tho, I quickly thought
That this I’d just dismiss
Fifteen minutes of me, I fear
Is surely not your idea of bliss

And furthermore it was revealed
I had to show men up as fools
Whilst also referring to Rob himself
Tell me – who makes up these rules?

And what to say to show men up
To make them sound less wise?
A man can be a useful thing
No woman will deny…s

They work so hard from dawn to dusk
And still put dinner on the table
And sort the kids and clean the house
Oh… whoops – that’s us lassies that are so able.

But men are… they can help round the house.
When from the TV they’re dragged
And they… can be good company
They’re handy… if you need a good nag.

OK, ok, it’s said in jest
I think men quite alright
Despite conning me into doing this
Or laughing at my plight

And as for Burns that famous Scot
A real one, not just in part
T’was two hundred n fifty years ago he was born (tomorrow)
And a bit later, he did depart

The bit in the middle, it seems to consist
Of flirting and being a tart
But he sought out some time to write lots a stuff down
Which now is considered pure art.

Well, my poem is done; it turned out to be fun
My panic was clearly in vain
But just so I’m clear, if you have one next year,
Please don’t make me do it again

So thanks to you Rich, your speech was quite fab
You were so very frank
On behalf of all the lassies here
I’d like to extend our thanks

piccies of the evening can be viewed here, if you’re interested!

stage 3 of the tour started today in… Chard… where i live!!

Chard is famous for being the birthplace of powered flight…. and also for the invention of artificial limbs. But today… we had cyclists in tights!

Mark and I volunteered our services and helped our kids’ school take year 5 and 6 to go and see it (about 140 kids!). It was all v exciting… not quite the tour de France (that we saw earlier this year) as pouring with rain but hey… it was groovy.

I especially liked all the police motorbikes… loads of ‘em… reminded me of ‘Chips’ (american police drama of days of olde!)

a couple more piccies here

just back from 2 wks camping!

we went through france, catching a stage of the tour de france on the way, to the very bottom.
staying in St Tropez (4 nights) but visited Monaco, Cannes, Nice and Marseilles also.
Then 3 nights in Roses, Spain (beach).
Then 1 night barcelona (travelodge, £16 for family room!)
then through Andorra and back through France.

highlights:
tour de france
monaco
general beach-i-ness
barcelona
alpine coaster (andorra)
just being with my fab family

observations:
in france and spain they seem to have the same cd issued the exact same to campsites/garages/snack bars full of early 80s brit pop. which is fine by me as i like most of it, but still, a bit odd.

when i was learning french at school, they kindly taught us how to cope at a hotel. but perhaps, for those who didn’t think they were going to be high earners in life, they should have given the option of learning how to cope at a campsite in france… equal opportunities and all that.

‘they’ say that when you go on yr hols, there will be someone on the beach you’re on who will know someone you know. but i STILL found it gob-smacking to happen to speak to a couple in a camper van in huge campsite in Roses, Spain, because they were english, and then happen to find out we were all christians, and THEN this led to discovery that he worked for Scripture Union (publisher of my books) and knew people I know there, etc! we’ve already become facebook friends!!

one for the ladies: if you get a mosquito bite on your leg one day, don’t shave over it the following day.

you can view holiday piccies here
and a few more here
(click on 1st piccie to enlarge, then continue to click again to view next piccie and so on)

As always, been meaning to blog for ages but not quite got round to it. They should invent an 8th day of the wk, just for keeping up with blogs/facebook, etc!

nearly blogged about 1/2 term when went to plymouth with hubbie (no kids!) and saw lighthouse, and then went to portland lighthouse with kids not long after (you see a theme developing…?!) and had accompanying piccies and all, but all in all, really not that interesting.

But, here’s something that i feel i should ask anyone who’s reading, and female: can you pee in the bushes? went on long cycle ride with friends (and all our kids) on sunday. the other mum commented that she had no problem peeing in the bushes if needs be. I DO have a problem with it. Tried it long ago and… it wasn’t pretty. Girls weren’t designed to ‘aim’ in that way. is it just me? are there courses you can go on to perfect this skill? it’s not that i’m anti nature and crave civilisation… i’m a happy camper when camping, and love the outdoors (when not wet)… but i just can’t bring myself to relieve myself behind a bush, for fear that i’ll end up with wet feet.

is there a helpline anyone can direct me to?

apparently paula radcliffe, when she needs to poo (during a race) just stops where she is, pulls down her nick-naks, and does it there and then. she doesn’t even go to the side of the track, let alone head for some bushes!!!

well, if i was after a gold medal i might adopt this approach, but generally speaking, i’m not, so i’ll stick with holding it in until i find a real ceramic bowl in which to plonk my behind on.

bet you’re wishing i’d stuck to lighthouses now…!

note to all men: please be alerted that this post will bore you to tears and only fuel your argument that women are always moaning about their weight, which is clearly untrue (we moan about a whole RANGE of topics!)

anyhoo… my message is that i cunningly lost about 4 pounds between Sept and Dec… then had a 4 day pig-out over xmas… put about 6 pounds on!
So, starting at a place even worse than before in Jan, cunningly lost about 4 pounds before Easter… then… guess what… you’ll never guess… had a day pig out… put it all back on!
so now trying all over again. Would like to get some new jeans when i get down to 9 stone (only couple of pounds to go now)… rarely buy myself new clothes but think you can get fairly traded jeans in some marks n sparks, so we’ll see.

so, i ask myself… was it worth it? those few days of stuffing everything that looks yummy in my mouth? with the result that it ruined my several months of low-carb hard work..?!

answer: yeah, course!

PS just adding this a couple of days later… a teeny tad worried that some of u might be booking me into a clinic somewhere, assuming that i am a size zero trying to slim down, who barfed up into the loo between each paragraph above (but then how would i have done that, apart from if using a laptop i guess?!)… i am only 5 ft and 1/2 inch, and thus to get to 9 stone is quite average weight-wise, and not in any way beckham-esque!
of course, if you weren’t booking me into a clinic somewhere… why not? don’t you care at all?!

So, here is my evening…

Thrilled at having the house to myself for an hour or 2 after work, i look forward to chilling out. I decide to quickly finish the flyer I am working on to give to my kids’ Church Fri Club… and THEN it ends up taking me an hour and a 1/2 (DTP is not my thing).

So I get the flyers to club and go for a drink with my m8 sarah… and THEN when we’re walking back up thru town, on our way to collect kids from aforementioned Friday club, we pass some drunk people who accuse us of being sluts (or slags, i forget which) and they were a bit scary and started to follow us so we picked up our pace and lost them (the influence of alcohol slowed them down methinks!). And it was only 8pm!

So we get home, Mark is out at a meeting… and THEN i realise i don’t have key to the house so we are locked out.
and THEN i realise i don’t have my phone as i hadn’t brought it as not charged.
and so T says we’ll ring Dad on her phone… and THEN she realises it’s dropped out of her pocket (only got it at xmas, worth about £40)
so we decide to go to our friends L&R down the road as they have a spare key… and THEN on arrival we remember they’ve gone away for the wknd.
so we go to other friends nearby, T&J, and use their phone to ring mark… and THEN find he’s switched it off as in a meeting.
so phone the house where mtg is… and THEN realise he can’t come and give us key as i have the car.
so i drive, with kids, to the house where he is to collect key… and THEN i take what i think is a road that will take us back through the town to get home, but soon find ourselves in v narrow country road, heading away from the town… and i NEVER go on narrow country lanes… i am v allergic!

so managed to follow the lights and get back to town, find T’s phone in the car, get into house… and all is well.

Mind you, it’s only 9:55pm… who knows what else this eve might have in store for me…?!!

PS… Mark just got home and is making me add that it was my fault that i didn’t know where my phone charger was, and he also would like to point out that he was chairing the mtg i dragged him out of!

YOU KNOW YOU’RE FROM SOMERSET WHEN:

… you’ve bought stationery in Bastins
….you think Bath’s a big city
… you can tell sheep from goats
… you know why to avoid Bridgwater
… you think Bristol is ‘up north’
… venturing outside of the 30 limit is just unnecessary
… chinese takeaways that deliver, what are they?
… the smell of cow sh*t makes you feel at home
… everywhere else in the UK feels cold
… you have a friend who lives on a farm
… you live on a farm
… you learnt to drive in a field or on a beach
… you live in a cottage
… your home has a thatched roof
… you think nothing of paying £20 for a 2 mile taxi journey
… you’ve been stuck behind a stupid tourist on a country lane
… you saw the total eclipse in ‘99
… your local newspaper’s is ‘cow falls off bridge’
… you turned to drink, drugs or heavy metal at an early age
… your friends say you sound like a farmer
… you have nothing to do after 5:30pm
… you think pink wellies are a fashion statement
… you know how to walk over a cattle grid
… you’ve been pony trekking
… ’short and choppy on the North coast’ makes total sense to you
… you think nothing of grass growing in the middle of the road
… everyone you meet has been to Butlins in Minehead on holiday
… despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, you think a young farmers’disco is a wild night out
… until you went on holiday, the tallest building you had ever seen
was Debenhams in Taunton
… you’ve reversed for 3 miles when you met a stubborn tourist on a
country lane
… it takes you 4 times longer to drive anywhere between May and
September
….you pack a thermos, shovel and blanket in the car because the HTV top
story was snow forecast in Bristol
… you’re a closet fan of The Wurzels
… your second cousin is also your sister’s stepmother
… your neighbours’ average age is 76
… your best friend goes joyriding in tractors
… you can’t stand the grockles, despite living off their money
… you thought it was normal for more than 50% of your high street’s
shops to be operated by charities
….Biggest story on the local TV news is a cat locked in a shed for 2 days
in Yeovil
….Second biggest story, man fell off his bike in Glastonbury

my comment on this… as you can see, being from somerset means i can tell sheep from goats… essential for all christians… thus, all christians ought to move here, asap!

read this article here on bbc news website.

almost made me LOL!

a few families say their bit about how they are struggling to pay their bills, what with the cost of stuff (inc borrowing) going up and all… one woman, after initially making me feel sorry for her, admits that if things carry on they might have to drop their daughter’s riding lessons!!

and another states that when things get tight, as they are now, by way of coping they eat out a bit less, buy less clothers, cds and books, etc.

come on people… welcome to the real world…!!!

it’s just not possible to live a luxury lifestyle, as we somehow think we deserve here in the West. Well, it might be, if yr wages are v high, but for the average family…. no way. And having riding lessons (v expensive, espec all the gear you have to buy also if child gets keen) and eating out and buying cds, etc… all v luxurious! I just can’t understand why families with big mortgages and other debt on top of that, think that this is a reasonable way to live. sure, it’s an attractive way to live, but big picture?… well.

I’m not saying we should deny ourselves every pleasure possible, live off bread and water, etc… far from it! but i wouldn’t just go out and buy a new cd or book on a whim, or clothes for that matter. i might make a list of the items i’d like for b.day or xmas, and hope to get some then. or i might spend my xmas/b.day money (from kind in-laws!) on such things, but that’s all.

i have female friends who will buy a new top and admit they’ll only wear it a maximum of TWICE before getting rid of it. Thus, they are buying tops/clothes most weeks. Hmmmm. I would like to say that i wear a top for a maximum of 2 years before getting rid of it, but that’s prob not true… it’s probably longer!

i’m not naive enough to think that as a family we are living on as little as possible… like all families we choose what we want to spend on (what our priorities are) and we don’t feel guilty about it. So, i have to admit that a family similar to ours might choose to spend x amount of money on cds/clothes etc throughout the year, but not go on a family annual holiday. Whereas we do usually go on a family holiday, but don’t buy the extras, or v little of them. and perhaps the holiday money equals the ‘extras’ money and therefore we are both spending the same on ‘luxury’.

but 2 things spring to mind here: we don’t have a mortgage (we rent) or any other debts, so we’re not spending money we don’t have, and…
… looking at the families quoted in the article in question… i doubt they have chosen to ‘replace’ their holiday (or something else that costs equivalent amount of money) with these extras… i really really doubt it.

this sounds like I’m having a go at people for enjoying themselves, and perhaps i am! i haven’t read that book ‘affluenza’ yet, that’s come out recently, but i think its message is that we’re all being brainwashed into spending more more more, and spending what we haven’t got, and it can’t go on forever! i feel sorry for families who are in the habit of having extras when they can’t really afford it. perhaps their peers all do it and they are trying to keep up. we’ve never got into the habit of the extras, and therefore don’t miss them (added to that, i was 19 when i got married, and hadn’t had a whole lotta money before then… and hadn’t been a student – i think a lot of students acquire the bug for spending lots and then struggle once they’ve graduated).

anyway, nuf said.

thoughts anyone? answers on a postcard please (but if you post it on the blog it will make more sense, espec as you don’t have my postal address!)

people loved the atkins diet, then they hated it… most people didn’t understand it properly.

mark and i did it for 3 1/2 years, finishing a few years ago… lost weight, stayed healthy, etc.

now, i’m not saying it’s def the best way to eat forever, but this new book seems to say that it’s def low carb and NOT low fat that is both healthier and best for weight lost.

it’s not a gimmicky book… for university level really. it’s not even promoting the latest new diet, or trying to sell new diet products, etc.

interesting.
espec when related to diabetes. i’ve always thought it criminal that diabetics are advised to eat low fat and not low carb… if only they knew… sure lives could be saved.

(disclaimer: don’t try any new diet before consulting yr doctor. mind you, if they’ve not read this book… well… hmmmmm!)

for those ‘unenlightened’ amongst you who aren’t yet on facebook and can’t see my seasonal/celebratory piccies, and who can’t find anything decent on telly and are extremely bored, ere they be:

xmas
new year ‘weird beard’ par-tee!
my b.day in cardiff
me n me gals on me b.day

i am realising more and more that i am pants at txt-ing.
it’s not so much that i don’t know the lingo, or i don’t know HOW to txt (tho i could work on that… i only discovered punctuation yesterday!)… it’s more a matter of speed.

now typing (so emails, blog posts, facebook, etc) i do at the speed of light. sometimes faster, but i don’t like to show off about it.

but more and more i am required to reply to people’s txts (only reply- it’s not like i send any voluntarily) and i struggle.

what i really love is that on my phone you have the option of replying ‘yes’. i do this frequently. if it were an email i may well reply using several sentences… a mini essay perhaps… but i use ‘yes’ more often than not when replying to a txt.

i am after a new phone for xmas off hubbie (i want him to get it 2nd hand off ebay tho if poss, to save planet, etc)… i am hoping there’s one out there that has a greater variety of prepared replies…

1] yes
2] no
3] perhaps
4] can i get back to you on that?
5] i am a slow txt-er so will email you a reply.
6] not now i’ve got a headache

etc!

or a phone that allows me to create these sorts of options… then i can just select whichever one is most appropriate.

if anyone knows of such a phone, or is able to invent one before xmas, please tell me (via this blog or email, not txt!)