A Modern Mother

Can you please watch the baby, I just need to pop out and collect my pension

Jessie Versluys has been in touch. You might be familiar with her work: she was behind Katie: My Beautiful Face which aired on Channel 4 last year. She is researching a documentary about motherhood which will follow two women; a young teenage mum and an older woman, through the latter stages of pregnancy and life with their new baby. The programme will explore the life changing experience that unites both women at different stages in their lives.

She asked me what it was like becoming a mother at an older age and if it mattered. The short answer is yes and no. The long answer, well, read my story to find out...

Well this should be fun

Remember when I said I should have been a food blogger? And remember my ongoing quest to find meals the whole family will enjoy?

Well, get this, Annabel Karmel has just challenged me to try some of her recipes each week ... Julie and Julia style. They are from her upcoming "Top 100 Pasta Dishes - 100 easy everyday recipes for the whole family." BTW -- did you know that Annabel is the UK's 4th best selling cookery author?

So, Annabel, YES! I'll do it! I'm always on the lookout for new recipes and I secretly want to be a food blogger. I have to warn you that my girls are big Masterchef fans ... and now every meal I make is ranked 1 out of 10, with intimate details of what worked and what didn't.

My first post will be out on 10th May.

Disclosure: I get a free book.

Proud to be a mum

So now I am supposed to be embarrassed to be a mum?

I admit it -- looking after my children ranks way up there (can you see my hands pointing over my head, like I'm reaching over a peak?). Way above my career, my writing, and all that other stuff I do. I may bitch about it, but I love it, and I'm certainly NOT EMBARRASSED ABOUT IT nor do I think it is the "least respected job out there".

Being a mother consumes much of what I write about at the moment ... from the middle of a broken night’s sleep right through to parent teacher conferences and making sure my kids get something green into their bodies.  I am OK being in the mummy compartment right now. I don't feel uncomfortable or ill-at-ease being called a mummy.  I've been there and done all that other stuff.  I may feel different when I am not so deeply entrenched, but for now I'm first and foremost a mother.

Sorry, just needed to vent.  I am going to leave you now and go back to shaping my children’s world. I’ll probably blog about it too.

Grrrrrrrr.

Photo credit: stina121

Serious mum envy

OK, I'm a sucker for cute edible food, especially when chocolate is involved. I made these Chocolate Nest Cupcakes for my daughters 8th birthday party. They are from Annabel Karmel's Princess Party Cookbook. Shhhhh! Don't tell Annabel I cheated -- I used a cake mix and pre-made icing. Try it for Easter: you make nests out of Cadbury flakes, and then finish with three pretty eggs and a chick. I got the Cadbury eggs and chicks from HobbyCraft.

Some of the mums' noses were pressed up against the glass as they dropped off. Serious mum envy.

The Scottish side of the family

I love visiting the Scottish side of the family. I always get loads of tips. Good tips; the kind you can really use. Like when my mother-in-law showed me how to warm a lemon by rolling in your palms -- to make sure you get every last drop when you squeeze it.

My sister in law (SIL) is from Edinburgh. We have a silent agreement -- we usually just nod at each other since I don't understand her accent, and she doesn't understand mine. But somehow, when it comes to things like money -- and saving money -- we instantly understand each other.

We were taking about Tesco vouchers the other day... she was appalled when I proudly told her her I used £18 of the ClubCard vouchers for my last shop.

She wants to be a pop star

My daughters are huge Hannah Montana fans. I am too. There, I said it. Shoot me.

They are having the time of their little lives preparing their entries for the Lights Camera Action! competition.

Kids parties -- do you stay?

When we were living in California, we had a big party when our oldest turned five. There were about 20 kids plus siblings and parents. We hired a bouncy castle. My sister made that gorgeous princess cake in the photo. There was a pinata (OK, some of the kids are still scarred from the memory of beating an effigy of Dora). It was fun, but it was BIG.

All the parents stayed to supervise their own kids... and one dad took on the job of regulating the bouncy castle. I was so relieved -- there were a few "energetic" boys mixing with the little girls in full princess regalia.

My cute little bun buns

I made these shortbread bunnies for my daughter's birthday party this weekend! Pretty cute, huh?

It's here! CyberMummy 2010

 
It's here! CyberMummy 2010 - a conference devoted solely to mum bloggers and the kinds of thing we want to talk about!
 
After all the great blogger meet-ups, we wanted more: more networking and more advice and perhaps a bit more wine (or at least biscuits).
 
So three of us bloggers - Susanna, (me!), Sian (www.mummy-tips.co.uk) and Jennifer (www.alphamummy.com) - have banded together and organised a one-day event where we can share stories, trade tips and learn a few things from experts and each other. The day will have sessions devoted to content, understanding technical things like SEO and working with sponsors.

Mortgage schmortage

This is a sponsored post

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Simply sign up at www.andrexpuppypoints.co.uk/asda, enter the code on the inside of pack and you will qualify for one free entry to the competition.

Step 1 - Buy your special promotional pack of Andrex from ASDA stores from the 15th of March (for one week only);
Step 2 - Go to www.andrexpuppypoints.co.uk/asda and sign up;
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Good luck!

Photo credit: Rev Dan Catt

Are you available Tuesday? Want to see The Blind Side for FREE?

What are you doing Tuesday 16th March?

Want to see the Oscar winning The Blind Side at a special preview screening before its nationwide cinema release on 26th March?!

This is not a contest, it's first come, first served. There's bound to be a cinema showing near you -- it's at 30 across the UK! (see list below.)
 
For your chance to attend a special daytime preview screenin, simply enter the below code at www.seefilmfirst.com to get your complimentary pair of tickets! Ask your friends. Go wild. Hurry before they are gone!
 
Code: 560634
 

Is it just me? Do your kids flush?

OK, is it just me? Everytime I pass the loo in this house, there's, erm, you don't really need to know the details, but I need to flush.  It happens so often that now I have developed AFR (automatic flush response).

Please humour me and take this quick survey.

Do your kids flush?

Click here to take survey

Thanks for indulging. I plan on writing a press release with the results. Am feeling giddy with the headline options.

Photo credit: bookgrl

I really wanted to like Motherhood

I wanted to like the film/DVD Motherhood. I really did. All the elements were there -- a hassled mum with a seemingly slacker hubby, Uma Thurman AND Minnie Driver. And the main character is a mum blogger. A mum blogger! I should have loved it.

Well, I didn't and neither did the three other mums who watched it with me.

The overriding theme -- how much mums give up when they ditch work in order to stay home with the kids -- fell flat. It was a bit contrived and not very funny. Even Uma Thurman couldn't save this film. None of us could identify with the main character. 

Isn't that just the picture of motherhood?

I've been asked to help highlight some of the best photos for the Hallmark Picture of Motherhood Competition (I know, I know, stranger things HAVE happened.) I'm sooooo disappointed my entry didn't make it (it's the one to the right -- of me with the three kids velocroed to various parts of my body.) I love this photo so much, it is also my entry for Tara's gallery this week.

Anyhoos, the judging is Monday up in Bradford. I'm so bummed I can make it as I really wanted to meet fellow judge Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. I don't watch much television, but I think I have seen every episode of Changing Rooms (remember that show? The one where the designers were tasked with re-doing a room for under £500 ... as in OMG, I can't believe they actually used the cardboard from old packing boxes for flooring?!)

On making Buzzy Bees with Annabel Karmel

This is a sponsored post

So .... I went to this blogger event in London. Traffic was bad and I arrived about an hour late. As I walked up to the Georgian House, I reached into the caverns of my bag in search of a mint. Rummaging around I found, oh, what's that? A gumi bear? Ouch! What the blank is that? I pulled out the name badge from the last blogger event.

Thank God some nice person handed me a steaming cup of coffee as soon as I arrived. I was just getting my barrings (spotting fellow bloggers NixdMinx, Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy, Who's the Mummy, A Mother's Rambling and Suburban Mummy) when I turned round to stare straight down at a waif of a woman with a big smile and equally big blond tresses. She said hello. This woman looked way too finished to be a mum blogger. Then the light went off.

OMG, you're Annabel Karmel! I blurted out. I remembered something about her in the email from the PR agency, and wished I had actually read the brief. It must be her, she looked exactly like the little photo in the back of all those cook books. Only smaller. Tiny. Like Minnie Mouse, with blond hair. My mouth felt dry.

Why you won't get rich by mum blogging

My friend Liz sent an interesting article my way ... one by The Brazen Careerist about being realistic about making money from your blog.

Before you head over there to read that (excellent) post, let me set you straight right now: THERE IS NO REAL MONEY IN MUMMY BLOGGING.

Let me rephrase that in case you blinked or didn't understand my accent: If you choose to turn your mummy blog into a commercial enterprise, you will earn, hold on to your hats ladies, upwards of couple grand a year. Gasp.