A Matter of Choice

You may remember previous years posts about Valentines day, and how we don't really celebrate it in our house,  by 'we' I meant of course Aaron - for the last couple of years I've done something small to mark the occasion with the boys but we've not exchanged cards or done anything out of the ordinary. It's a bit of a long running joke - I 'moan' about it but I got over it a long time ago and don't sulk like I did when I was 18. The day before Valentines I was talking to Leo and gave him some advice....  I suggested that when he was older and had a girlfriend he should always get them a Valentines card,   if nothing else it would make them very happy and save himself from a lot of grief.   Of course Aaron was in earshot and he muttered something about 'forced romance and over priced roses'  - or something,  I was too busy laughing. I didn't get Aaron a card, or present as I haven't done for many years, and I no longer feel bad ab...

There is a great prompt for this weeks Gallery, one designed to make us all think a bit more, although immediately several photos popped into my head , it wasn't a hard choice though as I'd already used the one  of the best inflatable in the world   on here last year! One evening not long after Aaron and I had got together we were sat in the pub and 'Father Figure'  by George Michael was played, it's a really random moment that sticks in my mind but I remember we were both just sitting there singing to ourselves and happened to look up just as the lyric 'I will be your Father figure, put your tiny hand in mine '  was sung,   Aaron reached over and I placed my hand on his, it was a moment of great timing..... either that or he was reaching for his drink and I misread it of course! Eight years ago Aaron took my hand and lovingly slipped a gold wedding ring onto my finger. (well, he tried to but it didn't really 'slip' and involved me...

Valentines Day - do you love it or hate it?    Or are you like me and somewhere in the middle? Once upon a time I may have been know to get a little over excited and carried away with the large amount of crap for sale (in the UK that is) during the run up to Valentines. I brought Aaron (then my boyfriend) a huge amount of loving purchased presents and planned a lovely romantic evening at home.  It sounded like such a good plan inside my head but he was not as enthusiastic as I'd hoped.... at this point I'd like to mention I was 20 and a lot more easily offended! Among the commercialized crapI brought him, which I presented to him in a big box was, Overpriced chocolate in the shape of a heart. Champagne and strawberries - he doesn't like either Novelty boxer shorts - why why-why! For dinner I planned Garlic mushrooms to start, followed by steak and pepper sauce, with Vodka jelly (made in a mold the shape of a pair of boobs) and hagen...

This is 'Orange Raff', you may have met him before as he's been around for a good couple of years now.He has spent almost any many nights in the cot as Leo and he's always been there when it seems the world is ending.   'Orange Raff  was once just plain Raff, or 'Mr G.Raff' if we're being a bit more formal. Named by Aaron and placed by Leo's head in his cot when he was a couple of weeks old it wasn't too long before he started to play a bigger role. For many months it seemed as Leo would never notice him, every morning he was left to laze around in bed while Leo got up and faced each day.  One morning though a long time ago now, Leo picked him up as he was lifted out the cot and gradually he became an extension of Leo's hand. As Leo began to talk and started learning colours he would name the colour of everything he said. He struggled for a while with being able to pronounce 'orange' so at first it was actually 'Offinge...

I am starting a series of posts inspired by Stay at Home Mum  entitled 'My A to Z'  It's very simple - I plan to go through the alphabet and write a post for each letter on something personal to me. There could only be one possible subject for the first letter..... I would like to introduce you to Aaron, the hubby formally known as AJ. (in the blog world anyway!) When I started blogging I did not ask Aaron how he felt about me writing about him so I used his initials in some random attempt for him not to be recognised.  I realise now that with the amount of photos and the fact that if you know me you'd know him it's all a bit pointless - also the first few months of blog posts I didn't expect anyone to read it and used him name anyway!  I met Aaron in 1995 in my old local pub, I'd like to tell you it was love at first sight but he was actually first brought to my attention by my friend with the comment 'Ooh look, he's got a nice arse...

A Mother's love is understanding, it is unconditional and lasts forever. It also means that you can carry a wooden spoon halfway across the world. Back in 1980-something this was the gift I gave my Mum for Mother's Day It was made by me, at Brownies. All the girls were given a wooden spoon each, lump of blue tack and some flowers. A very simple idea which was then given the finishing touch of a piece of ribbon through the hole at the top so it could be hung on the wall. It was hung on the kitchen wall, where it stayed until my parents moved house and was then placed into it's new home on a new kitchen wall. This week it has been unpacked and is awaiting it's new place on a kitchen wall in Cyprus. Mum said she there was no way it couldn't go back up. I wonder if any of the other spoons from that Brownie meeting are still going strong? This week's Gallery entry is Mother Love

In honour of Valentintes day, Jen at the King and Eye has given a love theme to this week's Blog Gems. Blog Gems is a chance to air your archives and share older posts with new readers. It's a fortnightly link up where you get to dig out an old post related to the prompt.  As today is Valentines, and my parents have been out in Cyprus for the last week I decided to share a post from last year, about how I learnt about love by example....... "This is love...." For more 'lovely' posts click on the badge above or check out the love linky below.......  feel free to join in with both!