Listography....Cartoon Characters

This week Kate has us reminiscing about cartoon characters from our youth in this week's Listography.  Seeing Kate's list brought back fabulous memories of Mr Benn, Top Cat and Hong Kong Phooey, all firm favourites of mine.  But here is my definitive list!

1: Hairbear

The Hairbear Bunch was just awesome.  So much so, I even had a cat that we called Hairbear.  The 70's hippy bears spent all their time trying to escape from the zoo on their invisible motorcycle to go to parties or they'd chillax in the secret bachelor pad/cave conversion.  Trippy or what!?

2: Professor Pat Pending

I loved Wacky Races.  My sister and I always used to choose who we wanted to win.  I always went for Prof Pat Pending the science nerd.  I remember one episode where he won by averting Dick Dastardly's trap by making the Convert-A-Car sprout wheels on stilts to race across the finish line.  Good times indeed!

3: Mary, Mungo and Midge

Mary lived in a tower block in an inner city with her dog Mungo and her flute playing mouse Midge.  Together they had urban adventures!  In one episode they went to a building site and had a joy ride in a crane.  Health and Safety??  I don't think so!

4: Hercules from The Space Sentinels

My first cartoon based crush!  The blond hunk of manhood was Hercules, the super strong superhero who protected mankind from the evil Morpheus.  He worked with Mercury and Astrea onboard Sentinel One with the maintenance robot Mo.  Hercules was such a fitty with his tight trousers and headband combo.  Just look at that chiselled jaw and six pack.  So what if he is just a drawing!!!

5:  Count Duckula

Count Duckula is just brilliant!  The vampire duck is the result of a failed incarnation ritual where tomato sauce was accidentally used instead of blood which means "He won't bite beast or man, cos he's a vegetari-an!"  Marvellous!!  Igor, his butler is not happy serving a veggie vampire and misses the good old days filled with blood lust and mayhem.  Voiced by David Jason, Count Duckula was an inspired character in a cartoon that played homage to the old Hammer Horror films with Vincent Price-esque narrations.  Duckula has ambitions to be an entertainer and has no interest in his vampire lineage.  It should be brought back to TV for its massively catchy theme tune if nothing else!!

                                 

I didn't even get to include Trap Door, the Herbs, The Family Ness, Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds or Ulysses.  But I have enjoyed a trip down memory lane!   Thanks Kate :) xxx

Listography....5 Random Things I Like

Kate wants our top 5 random things that we like for this week's Listography.  Here's mine:

1:  I like to eat Marmite straight from the jar with a teaspoon.

2:  I love the feeling of putting neat surgical spirit on open wounds.  It's that pleasure/pain sting thing followed by the relief as it wears off.

3:  I like to sniff my son's cheesy feet.

4:  I like to itch insect bites (but regret it afterwards when they bleed, but then I get to do no.2).

5:  I love to pop the foil seal on new jars of coffee (it reminds me of being a little girl when I used to do it for my mum!)

NaBloPoMo Day 14

Listography...Top 5 Teen Crushes

What a great theme this week for Listography....top 5 teen crushes!  Whenever I think of teen crushes I recall my big sister Carol and her crush on Donny Osmond in the 70s.  Her bedroom walls were literally plastered with Donny pics including a poster of him in his purple velvet hat.  My Nan visited one weekend and on entering Carol's room had a complete turn at the shocking sight of wall to wall Donny and had to lie down all a fluster for the remainder of the day!

As for me, I was a teen in the 80s. I actually kept a list of prospective love interests and truly hoped that I may end up married to one of them!

1: Pete Murphy

The Bauhaus frontman and the Maxell Tapes advert  poster boy, was just the most divine specimen of manhood.  All cheekbones, eyeliner and chiselled jaw, the post punk rocker was exquisite.  I saw him perform live when I was about 13.  I was right at the front and got trampled by punks in steel toe capped DMs and mohicans...but I swear Pete Murphy looked straight at me making my injuries worthwhile! Swoons!

2: John Taylor

John was my Duran Duran-ie of choice.  I sometimes wore a trilby and pretended it had belonged to him!

3: The Lost Boys (all of them!)

I would have offered my throat to any/all of the super hot vampires from the Lost Boys.  The one with the long black hair was my favourite, but Keifer Sutherland in undead form would have done too!  This is still one of my favourite films...love it!!

4:  Howard Keel...My Sugar Daddy of choice!

I've got a bit of a thing for musicals and I love Calamity Jane.  Howard Keel's Wild Bill Hickock was the older man who I would have liked to sweep me off my feet and take care of me in his strong manly manner!

5:  Tim Matheson

My earliest crush was back in the late 70s when I used to watch the Quest.  Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell played brothers separated when Indians kidnapped Kurt Russell and their sister.  The brothers were reunited some years later and then went on their quest to find their sister who was still missing.  With one in his cowboy outfit and one in an Indian get up, they ticked two role play boxes.  I favoured the tall, dark handsome cowboy Morgan Beaudine played by Tim Matheson. I wanted to ride off into the sunset with him!!

I will leave you with a picture of my real teen crush, and the man I did eventually marry...Pete, John, Keifer, Howard and Tim move aside!  This is the real man I fancy...my very own Ian!!

Listography...Top 5 Keyword Searches

I said I wasn't going to do this week's Listography because my top 5 searches leading to my blog aren't very interesting.  Some people have such mind boggling search words that have landed random searchers to their blog such as Kate's  intriguing "peas" and "Chewbacca".  Mine are a little more starightforward...but still deserve to be shared!!  It is a great subject for Listography!

1:  The Notebook / Notebook Quotes
This is a bit of a controversial subject. My daughter had posted on her blog Not Met Megan, a lovely picture from her favourite film "The Notebook" with a Noah & Allie love quote written across it.  It received 2000 hits from the USA in a week.  I honestly did not mean to steal her thunder when I put her picture on a post that I wrote about her...but I did!  Sorry Meg.  'The Notebook' has become the most searched for phrase to land you on my blog. Anyone expecting Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were sorely disappointed to find me saying I was looking forward to watching chick flicks with my gorgeous girl when she was home from uni.   Her blogpost was by far superior and deserves every hit that I stole from the American's searching for Noah Callhoun. *hangs head in shame*

2:  Horsemanning
Yes I jumped on the photo-taking bandwagon and took piccies of my girls horsemanning!  It is a popular craze and people search for examples of it.  I hope I didn't disappoint!

Horsemanning

3: Japanese Snow Monkeys
When an early post of mine scored pageview over pageview I was a tad confused.  I soon realised it wasn't because the world loved my Christmas Ponderings post, but because my image was taking the top spot in Google searches for Japanese Snow Monkeys.  Life lesson learned!!

4: Graco Symbio
As the winner of the 2010 Graco Ambassador competition, I have posted  loads of videos, photos and reviews on the Graco Symbio pushchair.  Searching for Graco products might make you arrive at my blog...sorry you can't buy one here!!

5:  Jungle Junction 
One review post has generated lots of traffic from Playhouse Disney fans looking for Zooter, Elefan and Bungo.  The video I made on YouTube has had over 6000 hits too...clearly a popular subject!


Jump across to Kate's Listography for more Search Words that are far more interesting than mine!!

Listography...My 5 Worst Dates

When I saw the theme for this week's Listography I thought it might open up a can of worms that could see me needing a spot of therapy!!  I first met Ian when I was 12 and we dated when I was 15.  Things failed to work out (as you'd expect from a pair of teenagers) but we got back together when I was 24 and have been together ever since and blissfully married for the last 14 years. I often kick myself for not recognising my Mr Right  when I had him in my grasp first time round.  In the wilderness years I experienced plenty of Mr Wrongs...dredging this up is not pretty, but for Listography I am prepared to do it!  

1:  I met a really nice boy at a football do that I attended with a group of mates.  He was good looking, tall and we chatted all night.  I was just starting sixth form at school and we discussed our A'Level choices.  He told me about his O'Level results and his driving test.  We really clicked.  We arranged to meet the next day.  It was much more awkward when we met up on our date. After a while he confessed...he was actually only 14!  I was unimpressed by the string of lies he'd told me and so I ended the date.  To add insult to injury, he told everyone that he had done unthinkable things to me in the cinema toilets...we never even went to the cinema!!

2:  This one isn't even funny.  It is actually really seriously awful.  I met a lad at the pub who was really sweet.  I arranged to meet him the next night at another pub that I wasn't familiar with.  I turned up to find him with a few mates.  I thought nothing of it.  They said they wanted to go to another pub and I innocently followed them out of the pub and down a country lane.  There was a really funny atmosphere brewing. Suddenly the lad who I was meant to be with started having an altercation with another one of the lads.  They started to have a proper fight. One of the other guys, in a pang of good conscience told me to get out of there.  Apparently they had started arguing about whether or not to go ahead with a plot they had come up with, with me as the unexpected guest star in a little testosterone fuelled, gang rape fantasy.  I left them fighting among themselves and ran away.  This ranks as a really bad date and still makes my blood boil when I remember it.

3:  I was the date of a footballer at the annual awards dinner.  I sat between him and another footballer.  I got on really well with the other guy and enjoyed having a chat and a laugh.  My date was expecting to win Player of the Season but didn't and got into a huge mood.  Then someone  else assumed that I was with the other bloke and went on about what a good couple we made and saying I was way out of the league of my actual date.  Unfortunately my date went ballistic and stormed off, swearing and shouting. I went after him but he drove off!!  I had to trudge back home in the cold wearing stillettos and a mini skirt. I wouldn't have minded as much, but I was actually living with him at the time.  It didn't last.

4: I had a boyfriend who drove a Porsche, had loads of cash, fancy clothes and all the chat.  Things were going well until we went out with his sister one night.  Oh dear Lord!  Have you ever seen the Friends episode with the inappropriate brother and sister relationship??  Well, this was that. Uncomfortable much!  I felt like a complete third wheel as they engaged in their touchy-feely sibling love fest.

5:  I met the most gorgeous boy at a nightclub. We swapped phone numbers.  A few days later I got an emergency hospital appointment for a tonsillectomy which I'd been waiting for since suffering from Quinsy a few weeks previously.  While I was in hospital, gorgeous boy phoned my number and my dad had told him I was in hospital.  He decided to visit me as a surprise.  Gorgeous boy turned up to find me looking post operatively crappy in a tragic nightdress, dribbling blood and spit out of the corner of my mouth.  A world apart from the dolled up version of myself he was expecting.  Needless to say, he cut the visit short and never contacted me again.

Thank goodness for Ian for saving me from the pitfalls of being single and having such terrible taste in all men that weren't him!

Link up at Nickie's blog this week!

My Top Five Worst Jobs

This week's Listography is My Top Five Worst Jobs I've ever done.  Now, I feel a bit embarrassed to admit I've never really spent too long in the workplace.  Ian's job allows me to be a 'kept woman' aka stay at home mother to his children.  This has saved me from having to take jobs through necessity.  So to pick my Top 5, I have to look way, way back into my dim and distant past!

1:  Bar Wench
At the Holiday Inn Heathrow, I spent a few months working in the bar as a 'wench' as they liked to call it.  My hours were 8pm to 3am.  This was when I was 18 and in the sixth form at school doing my A'Levels.  I'd left home to live with a ne'er do well boyfriend and was supporting him with my bar work.  I remember working until three then having my History exam the next morning.  It was a miracle I got my results!!

The job itself was OK but shortlived.  I loved chatting with the businessmen, golf pros and other people passing through enroute to sunnier climes.  I loved it when American businessmen who were returning home to the USA would tip me with all the UK cash they had left, thanking me for looking after them all week.  I'd stuff the money in my bra to avoid putting it into the tip pot that was shared amongst the other staff (half of whom were so, so lazy it was untrue!)  A bit naughty, but I earned it, not them!  My eldest sister thought I was turning tricks for the extra pounds!! hehe

2:  Laboratory Assistant
I worked at Horlicks testing the raw ingredients that went into the products.  I sometimes got a bit bored just weighing, measuring, drying out and burning products.  So I used to 'play' with the chemicals.  I'd pop over to the fume cabinet and mix up a few acids etc.  Not my best idea!  I was six months pregnant when accidentally added too much of something to something else (goodness knows what it was!!) and it exploded.  I was showered with acid that burnt holes through my denim maternity dungarees.  I was so upset by what might have happened.  I was an absolute idiot!  Thankfully I left to have my baby Joe, and never returned to a lab again!

3:  Gift Wrapper at Boots
I was a Saturday girl at Boots when I was 16.  I worked in a few departments, Baby, Cosmetics, Electrical etc.  By far the worst thing I did was when I was told to work on a gift wrapping stand at Christmas.  People had to pay for the service and there I was with no experience armed only with my Sellotape and a roll of gift wrap.  I was mortified as I made an utter hash of other people's pressie wrapping...I was under such pressure.  After about an hour and a half, I was told to go onto a till instead.  Someone must have complained...oh the shame :(

4:  Telephone Lineage Representative
When I was 20 I had a boyfriend in sales.  He was right fancy and drove a Porsche.  He kept a box of cash under his bed.  I think I felt I had to be as 'good' as him and so I had my son childminded by my sister while I went to work at Thomson Directories during its heyday (pre-Google!!)  I worked with the lineage advertisers, designing pictorial adverts for them to sell them up into the leagues of the big spenders.  We were trained to do this and I passed the exam with 99% (damn me for getting a date of some market research wrong!)  I went into the job believing the hype of the sales training.  The very first call I made was to a solicitor's office.  I launched in with the patter...but the person on the other end of the phone was obviously not privy to the stock answers I had heard in my role play!  He was down right rude and did not want my product!!  No one told me that was going to happen!  From that point my bubble burst...I never bothered with the pitch again and became a "do you want to advertise or not?" type of salesperson.  I probably did just as well as I would have done had I followed the script, and saved myself any further embarrassment!  But my heart went out of it from that point.  I left within a year!  And split with the fancy pants boyfriend too!!

5: Teaching Assistant for a Rubbish Teacher
The only job I've done in recent years, working around having the kids is that of a Specialist Teaching Assistant.  This has at times been an inspirational and rewarding role.  However for one year it was an absolute nightmare.  I was put to work with a NQT  which I thought was a great opportunity.  However this odious creature proved to be an absolute nightmare to work with.  I hated the way that the children were treated, they never knew where they stood.  One minute, teacher was like a children's entertainer, next minute teacher was a tyrant yelling into their faces with spit flying everywhere.  I was reprimanded for comforting a sobbing child.  I was made to do jobs that were not my responsibility.  I was asked to cover for the teacher's mistakes.  I had to listen to malicious talk about fellow members of staff.  I had to report them and still face them each day...it was horrible.  I ended up off ill with stress.  Thankfully contracts were not renewed and evil teacher was gone.  The experience really killed my spirits.

Listography...5 Celebrities to Share a Beer With

This week Kate is dragging us into the heady world of celebrity for her Listography theme.  She is asking us to pick out our top 5 choices of drinking buddy from Celebville, with whom we would like to share a swift half!!  In my case it will have to be a non-alcoholic beer.  This would be a wise move, because heaven help a celebrity when faced with me having fallen off my wagon of sobriety.  Now that would make the front page of The Sun!!  So without further ado, here are my five!

1:  Gary Barlow
The chubby, slightly cross eyed, poor dancer from the early days of Take That has been replaced by a lean, mean and moody, rugged sex bomb of a man.  I would certainly enjoy having a frosty beverage with Mr Barlow in one of Manchester's finest drinking holes.  I loved Gary when he was the one we sniggered at in TT...the talent who lacked the sex appeal of his band mates.  But like a phoenix from the ashes, he has risen to take the title of the 'fit one'!  You gotta love him!

2: Derren Brown
I'd love to pop out for a drink with Derren Brown.  I want my mind read, I want to have strange things suggested to me, I want to be made to rob a Securior Van or land a Jumbo Jet...and then hit the casinos and clean up with his winning techniques.  That'd be an evening well spent.

3:  The TOWIE cast
Seriously Shut Up!  How fabulous to immerse yourself in the world of TOWIE, my favourite Z Listers!  It'd be like being in an episode.  I'd grab my fake tan, get vajazzled and look totally reem.  I'd love to chat to Joey Essex and meet Nana Pat, ask the girls what on earth they see in Mark and sip my Pepsi Max while they quaff some pink champers.

4:  Davina McCall
I know she isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think we'd get on.  That is all!

5:  Brad Pitt
How could I not want to share a beer with Brad Pitt!  I wouldn't even mind if he brought along Ange and the kids, as long as he showed up.  Just look at him.  I love him. *swoons*  And after he had finished his drink I would take the glass and extract his DNA from the traces of saliva and clone my very own Brad, Dolly the Sheep style.  Just imagine!

Listography...Games I Used to Play

Kids these days don't know how lucky they are!  As they play with toys we couldn't even have dreamt of back in our childhoods, they have no idea of the kinds of things that we used to do.  Back in the '70s, the most innovative game in our house was Mousetrap...we marvelled at the plastic contraption that caught that little mouse, even though it never worked properly!  It was cutting edge technology as far as I was concerned.  A world away from the electronic marvels that my children take for granted today.

Reminiscing about the games we played, these are my five favourite childhood past times for this week's Listography.

1:  I have no idea what this is called but it involved a leg of a pair of tights, a tennis ball and a brick wall!  You stood in front of the wall with your back to it, and bounced the tennis ball, which was in the foot of the tight to either side of you, getting faster and faster.  Pointless??  Indeed it was!  But I'd do it for hours on end!  Sometimes, if you got brave, you could bounce the ball from above your head to between your legs...that was a hardcore version.

2:  I lived next door to a haulage yard and many of my games involved playing with the owner's children on the backs of the lorries.  We used to play make believe games where we were superheroes or stars of our own TV show called "One Hour of Fun" (it had its own theme song and everything!)  We also ran a holiday company where we sold holidays to Arab Sheikhs in exchange for camels. We made a telephone out of cardboard to run our business from. We had good imaginations in those days!!

3: Pom Pom...this was hide in seek where once you were found you had to race the person who was "it" back to the designated "home", getting there before they did.  When they found you they would shout "Pom Pom" and your name before running back home.  They were words you longed not to hear!

4:  Another game that I can't remember the name of was when you made a big loop of elastic (pinched from your mum's sewing basket) and two people stood opposite each other with their legs inside the loop.  A third person then jumped inside, outside, inside, on...landing on the elastic in a flourish of athleticism to end their go.  Again, not sure why, but it was all the craze at our school!

5: Kiss Chase was a fave way to spend playtime.  A playground full of boys and girls would frantically run around try desperately hard not to be caught by the opposite sex.  The fear of receiving a kiss was so great that I wonder how this game was ever invented.  Even when you were the chaser, you didn't want to land a smacker on the lips of a boy...heaven forbid!  So it was lots of show on both sides, resulting in no kissing whatsoever.  Several years later, similar games ensued, but they were at nightclubs with very different results.

We may not have had PS3, Leap Frog, X Box, VTech or Nintendo...but we had fun!

Listography...Last Week in Pictures.

Kate is having a chilled week with her ever popular linky...and why not!  I'm happy to join her wordless (little bit lazy) Listography after my hectic week.  It's been a busy one...and this week looks set to be just as busy.  So here is last week in five pictures.

A Famous Pig and a Theme Park

A Posh Hotel in Hampshire.

A Test Drive Round a Safari Park

A Friend's Wedding and a New Outfit.

A Reception with Great Food.

That's my week...what did you get up you?  Link up at Kate's!

Listography...Guilty Pleasures

Kate has got us thinking guilty thoughts this week as we reveal our guiltiest pleasures for Listography.

1: Cheap Supermarket Trifle

Forget all those posh desserts, give me a cheap little pot of own brand trifle.  You know the ones.  The swirl of cream on a layer of custard on top of a layer of sponge atop a jelly base.  Throw in a handful of miscellaneous tinned fruit cocktail and I'm in trifle heaven.  They are better than any home made, fancy version I've ever eaten.  A 99p Morisson's trifle and a spoon...I'm sorted!

2: Jedward  
OK I said it.  The exploits of the odious Irish twins intrigue me.  I can't help myself.  So tomorrow's start of Big Brother will definitely see me glued to the screen (if my mum is right and they are indeed housemates).  I am fascinated by the fact that they are actually incredibly beautiful when photographed, yet when animated they are so godawful it is embarrassing.  How can that be??

3: Kids' TV

After years of conditioning, it has finally happened.  Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverley Place, Sonny with a Chance and Suite Life on Deck, iCarly, Good Luck Charlie and Shake It Up have taken some sort of hold over my brain.  I actually find myself watching them with enjoyment.  The cheesy gags, the pretty girls with big, white smiles, the awful plotlines and OTT characters have become so familiar to me, I have developed a fondness for them!  This is one of the trials of life with an 8 year old...the joys of hours of  pre-teen programming!

4: TOWIE
My eldest daughter introduced me to the wonders of Essex.  It is joyous.  The fake tans, the vajazzling, Joey Essex and all things reem, Nana Pat and the public displays of heartache are captured so beautifully for our amusement.
Why would you not watch it!!





5: Disney...The Brand
Disney films, Disneyland, The Disney Store, Disney Merchandise, Disney characters, Disney Channel...I just cannot get enough of it.  I am an absolute sucker for the Disney brand in all its guises.  I don't expect to ever grow out of this...nor do I want to!!

Listography...Top 5 Kids' Films

Kate has chosen favourite children's films as the theme to this week's Listography after her eventful trip to see Cars 2 at the cinema.  Her story reminded me of taken my eldest son to see Beauty and the Beast at the cinema, aged 3.  I spent the majority of the film chasing after my toddler who was crawling down the aisles underneath the legs of unwitting cinema goers who were trying to watch Disney's latest release on the big screen.  It was traumatic to say the least!

However, the experience of taking my first born to the cinema for the first time did not ruin my love of film and in fact the aforementioned Disney classic is my number 1 choice!

1: Beauty and The Beast

This may be my favourite Disney film ever.  I love Belle, the bookish, brunette who sees that beauty is more than just skin deep when she falls in love with the hairy stud muffin aka Beast.  The songs are like the real traditional Disney songs that I loved to perform in my bedroom as a child.  It's a proper fairytale brought to life with a happy ever after...perfect!

2: Toy Story (the Trilogy!!)

Toy Story is simply incredible...all three of them!  They were the first films that Freddy loved and we've ended up buying every single character in toy form from the Disney Store from Woody to Buzz to Slinky Dog and the toy soldiers.  Yes we are suckers for merchandising and seeing the wide eyed wonder on our son's face as he sets his eyes on the latest cast member that appears in his toybox!  I love the genius scripting, the randy Newman soundtrack and the fabulous casting of the voices.  Pixar perfection!

3:  Ice Age

This film has been resurrected by Freddy who is hugely amused by Scrat's adventures with his acorn.  He laughs out loud at the hapless little creature.  Subsequently, I have become quite fond of this movie.  I love how the unlikely group of animals form a herd and work together.  Good life lesson!

4: Hans Christian Anderson with Danny Kaye

How could anyone not love this film?  It reminds me of my childhood and I adore Danny Kaye.

5:  Monsters Inc

God, I am such a Disney junkie, but I can't get enough of their films!  Another Pixar classic that the whole family loves.  I cannot wait for number two to come out...I just hope that by then Freddy will be old enough to take to the cinema without re-enacting his big brother's first visit!  Somehow though I think I'll need to prepare myself for embarrassment!!

Listography...5 Bands I'd Like to See

 As Kate rocks out at Benicassim, she is leaving us to think of five bands we would love to have seen perform live.  I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of fabulous gigs...The Smiths, Placebo, Marillion, Bauhaus, Kasabian, The Prodigy...but there are glaring gaps in my concert history.  So without further ado, here is my choice of artists who would totally rock my socks!!

1:  Prince:  During the Purple Rain era I was going out with a guy who had bought us tickets to see the man himself.  Unfortunately he kept hold of the aforementioned tickets and just prior to the concert we split up. Consequently I was no longer his concert plus one.  I still have feelings of bitterness about the break up...not so much about losing the boy, but losing my chance to see the Purple One at his peak strutting his stuff to "When Doves Cry"!

2:  Meatloaf: Bat Out of Hell is my favourite album of all time.  I would have loved to see it performed live.  The over weight, sweaty super star would be a definite top choice back in the day!

3:  Live Aid 1985:  Being of a certain age I remember watching the original Live Aid concert round my now husband's childhood home (I was wearing a PVC mini skirt...but that is not really relevant to this story!)  Anyhow, it was such a ground breaking concert that captured the imagination of a whole generation.  So many iconic artists performed, Bowie, Queen, U2 and Bob Geldoff (who I had a massive Boomtown Rats related crush on!)  Totally marvellous!  I wish I'd been there in person to see it.

4:  Madonna:  Back before the pointy boobs, the SEX book and the mutton dressed as lamb leotards, I was a huge (secret) Madonna fan.  I saw Desperately Seeking Susan at the cinema and coveted her Italians Do It Better T-Shirt.  Although I was a bit of a punk on the outside, I loved Get Into the Groove and Material Girl. I would have loved to see Madge back in her virginal hey day....but I would never had admitted to it!

                           

5:  Beethoven:  As this is my blog I reserve the right to say I would like to be transported back in time to witness the first public performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in Vienna in 1808.  I mean, can you imagine it?  How utterly awesome would it have been to be a party to the first airing of this best known classical piece!  Over two centuries later it is still a hugely powerful and influential piece of music...they use it in Freddy's favourite episode of Little Einsteins and he sings along to the "Du-du-du-dum" while jumping around the room.  If I could go back in time I'd like to tell Ludwig that my 2 year old is a big fan!

Pop over to Kate's and link up your top 5 and check out some other Listography offerings!

Listography...Thing I Want To Do This Summer

This week it's a case of Listography with Keith Takes 5 (a.k.a. Chronicles of a Reluctant Housedad ) whilst Kate sets up the new Parent Bloggers Network with Netmums.  (If you haven't signed up already...do it now!)

So Keith has us looking ahead to the Summer and what we want to do.

1:  I have so many things going on, I'm hoping I'll have time to get everything done...so my first thing I want to do is get organised enough to arrange all the trips, visits, events and hotel stays that we have planned!  From my Four Seasons Hotel win from Cybermummy to guest editing Real People Magazine in London to using my Drayton Manor Park Tickets I won from Tots 100...I have so many blogging related things on the calendar.  I'll say it again...blogging has totally changed my life, increased my confidence and given me a purpose in addition to being a mum and wife.

2: I want to take Freddy to the seaside.  We're not going away on holiday this year...but I want to let him experience the beach: paddling, rock pools, sandcastles and ice creams!

My girls in 2005 x

3:  Walk...I want to go on lots of walks with the kids.  We've got lots of lovely countryside to explore and I intend to do it!  We bought a book of family friendly walks last year and it is still unused!  I aim to remedy that!

4: I want to do lots of cooking. Nice, healthy meals. With the kids to entertain Freddy I can spend more time doing the domestic thing.  I'm not great at getting up the enthusiasm for creating culinary masterpieces, but once I get into the mood I really enjoy cooking.  So I definitely want to discover lots of new recipes for veggie cuisine over the holidays!

5:  I want to avoid sunburn, wasp stings and heat stroke.  I want to eat healthily, get fitter and have an absolute blast with my family!!

Listography...Places I'd Like to Visit

Kate has got our wanderlust juices flowing with this week's Listography, as she challenges us to come up with 5 places we'd like to visit.  Now, for me this is a great prompt.  I've hardly been anywhere due to my numerous travel phobias...but I can fantasize about far flung shores as well as anyone else!  In fact fantasizing is just perfect as I don't have to worry about actual travel arrangements, missing left phalanges on aeroplanes or lack of veggie options in the All-Inclusive hotel buffet.

So I'd like to go to:

Bora Bora

My sister's ex-husband now lives the jet set lifestyle of the rich and famous and last year he posted some holiday photos on Facebook.  I happened upon his pictures of the French Polynesian resort of Bora Bora and the pang of envy was palpable!  The luxury stilted huts standing in the crystal, blue sea looked so inviting.  Sea Turtles swim around freely.  It looks like paradise.  I can just imagine sitting on the stairs with my feet dangling in the water sipping juice from a coconut shell.

Atlantis Dubai

I am a sucker for a resort, and this is a resort and a half!!  I want to slide through the glass tunnels and see sharks.  I want white beaches and warm Arabic seas.  I want a Regal Presidential Suite with VIP perks and sweeping views of the bay.  Sadly, the best I can aspire to is Centre Parcs on a wet weekend in September.

Borneo

I want to go to a sanctuary and hug a baby Orang-Utan, the most ginger of all monkeys.  I want a piece of that ape-ish action.  They are so gorgeously cute.  The sumptuous jungle looks perfect for exploring.  I would love to don my Lara Croft-esque outfit and hit the undergrowth to explore.

New York

I have a passion for coffee shops and where better to experience a cup of Mocha with whipped cream than New York??  I would feel like I was in the cast of Friends sat with my cup and my newspaper watching the world go by.  Then I would pop into the big toy shop and play a giant piano like Tom Hanks did in Big.  Good times.  

Necker Island

I would love to be a guest of Richard Branson on his island.  The peace, the tranquility, the isolation.  Blissful! I'd let my nearest and dearest join me in this little piece of Virgin paradise.  We could relax and simply be.  No distractions...apart from the gorgeous house with waiting staff, spa treatments and wonderful chefs catering to our every whim.  Mmm...what a hard life!!

Sadly though, due to my massive inability to book holidays due to the massive list of irrational fears I have, the furthest I'll be heading this year will be to Cybermummy.  I will continue to dream about beautiful places and imagine them in all their glory from the comfort of my Harveys Sofa...but that is as far as it gets.  So thanks Kate for allowing me the great pleasure of wishing I was there!

Listography... 5 Decisions I'm Glad I Made

I do sometimes wonder if my life has been a series of events that were always destined to happen.  My journey seems to have been decided for me and I've walked the path willingly, knowing that the ultimate destination was the place that I always needed to be!

Kate has challenged us to come up with five decisions that we are glad we made...so I'm going to take some credit for taking the forks in the road that have lead me to where I am today.

1: Keeping My Son

When I was pregnant and single, it was suggested by people close to me that I had an abortion.  I even had a clinic recommended to me.  I would have been able to go to university, brush my past under the carpet and start a new life away from the waste of space who was my now ex-boyfriend.  At the Family Planning Clinic when my pregnancy was confirmed, the nurse went straight for the abortion option speech.  I will never forget her writing "will not consider abortion" in big letters across my medical notes when I stated emphatically that I wanted to keep my baby.  She seemed disappointed!  Perhaps she was on commission?  I may have been a young, vulnerable, single teenager ...but I knew that this baby, my Joe, was my destiny!

2: Being Brave Enough to go it Alone

Being 21 and finding myself pregnant with baby number 2, could have made me prepared to settle for the relationship I had found myself in.  I had a partner and a roof over my head and I'm sure I could have done what I needed to do to make it work if I had tried (or given in and accepted my lot).  But instead, I had the guts to find myself a flat to rent and start again on my own when I was 6 months pregnant.  I would never have been happy living like I had been, and my children would not have had a good life had I stayed.  I would have had to compromise who I was and what I wanted.  It was not the easy option to go...but it was the right one.  I don't regret anything though, because I wouldn't be without my daughter Megan for the world.  Another good decision!

3: Ian

Being brave enough to risk a fantastic friendship and making Ian my other half was a tremendous decision.  He has helped me to be the best version of myself I could be.  We've had another three gorgeous children to add to the two beautiful ones we already had.

Recently when we tidied out our garage I unearthed a box filled with cards and letters I had sent to Ian over the years.  From the age of sixteen, when Ian left school, to when we got together at twenty-three, I had regularly written to him.  He had kept every single one.  We were so meant to be together!!  Writing those letters and never letting our relationship fade away was a great decision...because as soon as the time was right we didn't hesitate!

4:  Moving to Shropshire


We lived in a Housing Association flat in Hampshire.  It wasn't a great area to live and I worried about the future of our children.  My sister had just moved to a lovely house in the country and we saw the possibility of a much better lifestyle.  Ian wasn't on a big wage but we worked out we could just about afford a house of our own if we scrimped and saved.  It also meant that Ian had to carry on working down south while we relocated to Shropshire.  We found a lovely three bed semi with a garden for less than it would have cost us to buy the flat we lived in!  As Ian worked shifts, he lived three days with us, returning to work for a further three days and so on.  We only had one car so my sister helped me with school runs and shopping trips when Ian was away.  Eventually Ian found a better paying job nearer to our new house and he came home.  Everything fell into place.  We now have a 4 bedroomed detached house and I count myself extremely lucky!!  All thanks to our decision to become Salopians!!

5: Starting My Blog


I've loved being a wife and a mother, but I've always felt that I needed an outlet for myself.  I've taken courses, done extra A'Levels, volunteered at my kids' schools around the children once they started nursery.  But it was starting my blog last year that has really fulfilled that part of me that has wanted something for myself (without compromising the time spent with Freddy).

I've met some great people, I've done things I would never have dreamt of doing (interviewing Ken Barlow??!!), I've been to some amazing places and I've had unbelievable opportunities!  My personal confidence has grown immensely.  I've met some fellow bloggers already this year and can't wait to meet up with so many others at Cybermummy!  I've had some brilliant products sent to me for review and I'm about to start my Toyology adventure. I've 'met' the lovely #mumentum ladies who are helping me with my weightloss efforts by offering support and encouragement.  Blogging has changed my life quite literally!  What a great decision to click that "create blog" button on Blogger!!