A Matter of Choice

After starting a new blog to be able to rant and write about more about things on my mind I cheered up and my first post came out all cheerful, but I was feeling like it was not acceptable to be cheerful so had not wanted to put it 'publicly on here'  Maybe one day I'll progress to not putting a 'disclaimer' on how I feel!  Here's the 2nd 'Talking on Eggshells' post (written 15th December 2020 so apologies for the mentions of Christmas)  So where to start with my shiny new blog? The overthinking is going well and I've had so many post ideas pop into my head in the last 24 hours that I now don't know where to start!  I thought it strange that I've felt happy / excited about it, and one of the reasons I started 'Talking on Eggshells' was so I could talk about things that made me sad or angry without worrying so much about people I know in real life reading it all so easily.  I forgot though how I love a new thing, even if one of the thi...

Be careful what you wish for...you might just get it I don't know when I first heard that expression but it was a long time ago and I remember thinking how ridiculous it was,  surely if you wished for something it would be good to get it right? I also don't know how many times since then I've realised just how true it is. This morning I woke up at 6am.  The curtains were open as they usually are on weekdays to make it easier for me to get up for school. I'd left them open for the last two weeks despite the shutdown just so it was waking me up naturally around 7 ish.   Not as early as a usual school day as my alarm is usually set for 6:30am, but not as late as I'd normally get up on a weekend these days. The clocks went forward yesterday, but I forgot how much lighter it would be in the morning so when I woke at 6am it felt later.  I lay there for a while trying to get back to sleep, I tried for about 5 minutes and but restless.   I debated w...

It's been a while but here I am again, as we approach the next birthday and my thoughts return to the traditional birthday blog posts.  I'm not sure why I  always feel the need to explain my lack of blogging, or who I think might care but here come the explanations (excuses!) I started work this season, part time,  it's officially 2 days a week but summer is busy and that tends to spill over to 3 or 4 quite often (in addition of course to our   website and photo booth).  I work with a great team of ladies during the summer season here, covering the east coast of Cyprus cleaning and steaming wedding dresses .  I'm enjoying it and it's been a great year so far but it does make a big difference to the amount of time I have and while it's been relatively easy to adjust, it's still a change that we've all had to get used to. I'd say the main reason for my lack of posts is the age of the boys now,  and the fact that I feel like I should or I ...

When the boys went back to school earlier this month I wrote what at the time was going to be my final blog post here. I was toying with the idea of keeping it live with that as the 'end'  as I thought it was likely that I would regret it sooner or later if I deleted it completely - 9 years and over 1000 posts is a lot to just disappear like that! I was chatting to Leo about it, about it was different now that he and Louka are older and how it's not up to me to put anything about their life on the internet, about how once it is 'out there' it is out of our hands etc. We spoke about the kind of things I'd written about over the years, and how he is welcome to look at all of it, and if he would like me to take anything down I will do so. I said how I couldn't write as often as I used to, and I don't fancy sharing as many photos and information about what we were doing each week.   We ended up talking about 'blog linky's',  You Tube, Meme...

It's the start of a new era in our family,  not only is it back to school time which is always a big change after 3 months off but this year both boys are in the same school for the first time! Louka has been very excited to go and has taken it all very well so far,  this morning was the first sign of reluctance - saying 'Well I don't really want to go to school today' but that was as much as we got.  Leo laughed and said 'You don't get to choose!'  and he got on with it.  They seem to be very happy so far being together, and its made school runs much easier. No more debates on who to drop off or pick up first, and no more driving!   As school is just down the road we are now walking which I am really enjoying and a great start to the day.  I could write more but after years of oversharing online I'm becoming increasingly reluctant to,  maybe I'm getting older and wiser, maybe it's because I have a much wider selection of facebook...

Here it is,  my 100th blog post! 2,722 days ago I wrote my very first blog post,  sitting in my parents conservatory with a 4 month old Leo asleep beside me.  It was a spur of the moment decision,  I knew nothing about blogs, had never read any or thought about writing one. I can't even remember what made me think of it but I stumbled across the idea while messing about online and thought 'yeah, I'm going to start a blog!' There was never a plan,  or ultimate aim for the blog (there still isn't to be honest!) but I'm sure I didn't imagine still doing it over 7 years later, or the things that have progressed from it. Looking back over old posts I can see how they have evolved over time,  the early ones are very short - I think I was worried about waffling on too much and it being boring (totally missing the point that it was MY blog and I could do what I wanted!)  I wish I'd gone into more detail on some of them now,  maybe one day I'll get ...

When I started this blog I had the vague idea that it would be a kind of diary of my move to Cyprus, capturing my first thoughts and experiences of a new beginning and life in a new country. That didn't really happen due to being here for over 3 months before we managed to get out internet connected. When we finally got online it seemed silly to backtrack as I felt there was far too much to catch up on and I felt the moment had passed. I blundered on regardless, not really knowing why but just because I fancied doing it. We had no decent TV, having only Arabic satellite which had few English channels and nothing I ever fancied watching, Leo slept well (early evening at least) and Aaron was often out playing pool. I rarely wrote about Cyprus as I didn't get out much to anywhere that was interesting enough and I didn't write about settling in as I had once planned to, it was not as perfect as people often imagine and although I was ok I didn't want my friends knowing...

Where is the time going to? How have I only managed to write 63 blog posts this year!   I know I've had the Famagusta Parents Network as well for the first time this year but still it's a huge departure from the 256 and 287 posts of 2011 and 2012! I miss my blog but the less I write, the harder it seems to get into it. I have so many posts in my head but they are vague and I am struggling to get them out there, being far to easily distracted by facebook, youtube and even the time sucking wast of time that is Buzzfeed.com! I've always dipped in and out of twitter and gone through phases of loving it and ignoring it for weeks on end but with the temperamental piece of junk that is my phone I've even lost my love of instagram, both of which keep my blogging habit up without too much effort. There's so much I want to write about, the opening of my friends new venture - 'Tiny Acorns Creativity Centre', the Christmas events we've been too,  Leo's...

Five years ago, sat at my laptop in my parents conservatory surrounded by boxes and with a 4 month old Leo sleeping by my side I started a blog.  I'm not sure why I suddenly decided to do it, it was not something I'd previously thought of doing and I didn't stop to think about it in anyway, I found 'Blogger' signed up paused briefly to come up with a blog name - 'Why the hell not?'  (start a blog?, Move to Cyprus?  one of those two!) and started typing. I had a quick look at the layout and colour options, clicking a couple and I think going with a light brown colour for some reason, no images, no social media, nothing except my first little post - 'Do you want to move to Cyprus?'   I wrote seven posts that first week, to no-one in particular as I hadn't told anyone or shared it anywhere. Looking back the posts seem so short especially when you consider I was talking about such a big thing in my life - our imminent move to a new country ...

One of the things that continue to fascinate me about this blogging lark is the not just the amount of readers I have gathered along the way but also the search terms that lead people to my blog.   This weeks Listography  asks for our Top 5 Keyword searches so I couldn't resist going to find out what they were. 1. Barney / Barney & friends (and loads more Barney related phrases)   This is my highest viewed post by far, and it was a previous Listography entry - Top 5 Annoying Kids programes .  It's had over 10,000 more views than anything else! 2. What makes a house a home The second highest search at the moment, which would take you to my recent post about Leo's new 'Big boy's bedroom' 3. It's all Greek to me / Rosetta Stone (and many Rosetta Stone related terms) I've been writing about my progress learning Greek and reviewing the Rosetta Stone software. 4. Meniere's Disease This pleases me, and I hope this post may have helped som...

I have discovered that  Circle of Mom s are looking to find the Top 25 Ex-pat Mom blogs and I'd quite like to be included in the list :) I beg  smile sweetly and ask you nicely, my lovely readers to head on over to vote for me here , or to click the badge below (or in the side bar) Voting closes on the 6th June and you can vote once every 24 hours so feel free to get  clicking lots between now and then!

"The term  Internet meme  (pronounced  /ˈmiːm/ , rhyming with "cream" [1] ) is used to describe a concept that spreads via the  Internet .  In its most basic form, an Internet meme is simply an idea that is propagated through the  World Wide Web .  This meme may spread from person to person via  social networks ,  blogs , direct  email , news sources, and other web-based services" Interent memes and weekly link ups -  you might love them or hate them but you certainly cannot miss them in the world of "Mummy Blogging"  Personally I am a big fan, you may have noticed!  Link ups have been probably formed the majority of this blog since it I really got into last year, and it is because of them that I enjoy blogging so much.  I read an interesting post yesterday - Where are the words? In it Nickie talks about the rise of the photo posts and asks if we are getting lazy with our blogging. Possibly - but I think...

Woo hoo! I got my first ever award! It was passed onto me by Marie at  The Things We Find Inside . To accept the award I have to link back to her blog and pass it on to 10 other bloggers. So here we go... (yes I am aware there are only 9, I'm not following that many yet so here are my favourites) It's all about the photos Little Island in the Med Mummy's Busy World The (Nudie) Princes Diaries Pants With Names Mummy Mishaps Lost in translation A Place of my own 3 Bedroom Bungalow And not forgetting..... here is my award.