Wishing You A Happy 2017

Can you believe that a New Year is just about to start? I feel like I've only just got to grips with this year, let alone worrying about a whole new one. I'm fairly certain some months from 2016 have been lost somewhere, either down the back of the sofa, or in a corner of my car's boot because I am not ready for it to be January yet!

Lots of people have said what a dreadful year 2016 has been, but I don't agree. It's been a good year for me. One that has seen me get myself back on track and feeling like 'me' again, and it's been a long time since I've felt well and truly like myself, I can tell you. I feel, happy, confident and able to tackle anything. Of course, I'm not happy, bright and bubbly all the time, of course I sometimes feel sad, but I know how to manage my feelings and the friendship group I have, may be small, (but it is quality, not quantity that counts when it comes to friends) is super supportive.

I am so lucky to have a fabulously patient man in my life, two amazing daughters, and some pretty awesome friends, all of whom have some credit to take for my current happiness, but the other contributing factor is, of course, the blog.

Before I started blogging my head was full of thoughts that had no where to go, some would just get lost, whilst others would just keep going round, mutating and getting over analysed. Now I have a place where all those thoughts can just pour out on to a blank page and become something. Sometimes, that something is funny, sometimes serious, sometimes just a bit of a jolly old rant, but whatever the something. it is my blog and the difference it has made to my life and my confidence is immeasurable. It has opened up so many doors to me, I see things differently now (almost everything is a blog post waiting to be written), but best of all, I have met some pretty amazing people, I would otherwise not have met. And here, I must give a special mention to a super lovely lady, whom I feel like I've known forever, the lovely Mandy; she writes a particularly fabulous blog which you should really have a read of, just click here, you won't regret, I promise. Mandy is the funniest, kindest, craziest (in a good way) and most sensitive lady I know, she also loves her dog, Holly Bobbins as much as I love Max.

I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions, but if I were, the first one would be to keep on blogging, because I am loving this journey.

So all that's really left for me to say is have a fun evening, stay safe, make happy memories and have a very Happy and Prosperous 2017.

King Max I

It's no good, I am an exhausted little orange doggy. Me has had far too much excitement and I just want to sleep now. It is a little bit Mummy's fault I am so tired, her keep coughing all the time and it really is disturbing my rest. I doing my best to look after though because I love her so very much.

What is a 'Friend'?

Obviously, I am not that poorly that I've forgotten what a 'friend' is, although I must admit it's a bit touch and go since I am spending most of my waking hours at the moment not knowing what day it is or what I am supposed to be doing, hence we ended up at M&S for a bra fitting a day early today. No problem, they had space and at least I don't have to go out early tomorrow now.

Anyway, getting back to the point, I know what a friend is. What I'm not so sure about is what a Facebook Friend is. Let me elaborate.

I use Facebook, but I am not a huge fan of it. It seems to me a lot of people use it to amass 'Friends' that they rarely, if ever interact with, which to me really does seem to defeat the purpose of social media. I am fairly sure I fail at this, but I do try to interact with posts my 'Friends' make, even if it is only a reaction and I do this because they are actual friends of mine; they are a mix of old friends I no longer see, friends I see regularly, old colleagues whom I love and miss and new friends I've made in the lovely world of blogging. They're on my 'Facebook Friends' list because I care about them.

I keep my Friends list small, currently only 108 and that's the way I like it. It means I am able to follow and interact with the people I care about. I'm also really careful about accepting 'Friend' requests. I never cease to be amazed by the number of requests I receive because I am a friend of a friend, and guess what? Yep, I ignore them. If I don't know you in real life (or in the blogging world, which is real life, right?) then I'm not accepting your friend request.

However, there is another type of 'Friend' request which is probably worse than the 'Friend of a Friend' request. It's the request from a previous 'Friend' you unfriended because they never interacted online, or in real life. This one is my top bugbear and one I usually shelve with the other declined requests. You see I have a theory about these people, I think they are essentially, just rather nosy by nature. They want to see what you're up to, when and with whom, but they will never comment, or send you a message.

I actually have one of these 'Friends' at the moment and I fear they must be very disappointed with how dull my Facebook account is. No really, it is. You see I rarely post anything other than new posts for the blog. If you're looking for fun and excitement, don't go stalking me on Facebook, you'd be better off watching paint dry. If, on the other hand you're looking for my latest post, stalk away, or better still like our Facebook page (ooh how cheeky was that?). You see, I'm very careful about what I share. I may have Social Media accounts, I may have a blog, but my private life is my private life, to be shared with only the most trusted friends. Hence making for a rather dull Facebook account.

It's not that it's a major issue to me, more that I don't see the point of sending someone a friend request only to sit back and never do anything 'friendly'. It just seems, well a little bit pointless, though some would argue that Facebook itself is rather pointless. Whilst I am not Facebook's biggest fan, I do see its value. It has enabled me to stay in contact with old school friends, colleagues and people who have moved away. It's also a very simple platform. You don't have to think about fitting what you want to say into 120 characters as you do on Twitter, making it more user friendly (although I confess to preferring Twitter and their cute wee logo).

However, I digress, back to Facebook and I intend to keep the number of Friends I have small and manageable; I really don't want to miss all the fun things you're up to, or the daft videos you share that make me laugh so hard I cry and I will continue to try and interact with you, but please forgive me if I do miss something. Please know I value you all consider you real friends.

Celebrating Wednesday's #8

Well, here we are again and it's the last Wednesday of 2016. We really hope you've had a fantastic Christmas, whether you've been relaxing or rushing around visiting family and friends, and we wish you a very Happy New Year.

Back to our Wednesday though. There were a few to choose from this week, but given that Christmas has just passed, I thought we'd stick with the Christmas story and I, therefore, present to you the very special day of ...

When Sharing Isn't Caring!

I love my girls. They're not always perfect, they don't always do what they're asked to do and sometimes they are stroppy little moos, but I love them and most of the time they are well behaved, fun and reasonably helpful and they do share, and of course, sharing is caring, isn't it?

Christmas Treehouse

Dr. BD is just a little bit obsessed with treehouses at the moment. I blame it on that much coveted 1970's Treehouse toy with the pop up lid that revealed a little home inside the tree. I desperately wanted one, but never did get one. Anyway, as I always do, I digress. Back to the main topic of conversation, Dr. BD really wants a treehouse to live in.

Christmas Wishes

Well Christmas Eve has arrived, which means I will most certainly be watching my favourite film, 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and getting excited about Santa's impending visit. Yes, I know neither of the girls believes anymore, but I do love the whole stocking thing and I am just a little bit envious of all you lovelies out there with little people who do believe. As much as I dislike the taste of milk and raw carrot, I will miss putting them out for Santa and the reindeer this evening and in the morning I will miss the excitement on little faces when they see the milk gone, the carrot munched and the stockings full to brimming.

I also miss having small people to take to the Christmas Eve Crib Service, singing carols and seeing all the little ones dressed as shepherds, kings and Mary's. To be fair, I could still go, but as we established in my Halloween post, both my girls have, for the moment, decided they don't believe in God and I respect that. Faith is a personal choice and not one which should be forced upon anyone, adult or child. As hard as it may be for us, I really do believe that having brought up children with our beliefs we do need to allow them to be their own person and make their own decisions. Some of those will be good, some not so good, but how else will they learn. I see my job as Mum, as a supportive and guiding role. Anyway, there I go again, slightly off track, but never mind, it sort of ties in with why I no longer 'drag' my offspring to church for the Crib Service.

I miss having a proper family Christmas. Even after separating, the girls Dad would come over to celebrate Christmas with us, so that they still had that family day, but since he remarried, it's no longer possible and we have to share the day. Today they will have lunch with him (feel a bit bad about this as they are both a bit miserable and full of cold; hopefully they won't share the love, although as we bloggers say 'Sharing is Caring'). Tomorrow they will be with me until early evening, then will go to their Dad's until early evening Boxing Day. It's all a bit of a faff to be honest, but at least they get to see both their parents over the two days and that really is the most important thing. That said the lovely Dr. BD is coming over early tomorrow morning (bearing much food) and we will be having our first Christmas Day together, which I am just a little bit happy about.

So what I really want to say is a huge, big thank you to all you lovelies who take the time to read the blog and leave such lovely comments. It really means a lot to me and I am so very grateful to you. You have made the past five months (or so) amazing and I wish you all the most fabulous and Happy Christmas. Whatever you do, whatever your beliefs, whoever you celebrate with, have fun, make happy memories and stay safe.

My Christmas Crop

Last week me told you all about how I am Mummy's best boy and I is always telling you how much I love her. I really do, so much. Well me love her so much that me had my special bath and hair cut just for Mummy's birthday.

I not sure I really thought about it properly. It seemed like a good thing to do for Mummy. She does so much for me and gives me so many cuddles, I just wanted to do something nice for her, so me think a hair cut is good, but I really not like them.

That picture is me, the night before Mummy's Birthday. This little doggy was having second thoughts. I was not a happy boy at all, Me love all my beautiful orange fur and me not want it to smell different or look different. Me already look like a handsome boy, but Mummy and my girls said I was a smelly Little Orange Doggy and me needed cleaning properly. What do they mean? I always lick my feet and sometimes wipe my soggy paw on my face to give it a clean.

I was even less happy in the morning, I knew it would soon be time to go to the groomer. Me like my groomer very much, she is a very kind lady, but I still not like hair cuts!

Mummy dropped me off and it wasn't too bad. We had to wait a while, but me got to see some other doggies who were waiting to see the animal doctor. That was nice because I like to make new friends and me like the Vet's because them is super fond of little orange me. They took such good care of me when they fixed my knees and me do like that my groomer lives there too. Mummy says she not actually live there, but she always seems to be there when I visit, so me think Mummy is wrong.

It took a long time for groomer to clean me and give me haircut and dry me and give me pedicure, but it was alright because Mummy came back to get me eventually and me was so happy to see her, that I almost wagged my tail off again. Mummy seemed to be happy with my new look...

hmmm, me not quite so sure about it. It a bit blooming chilly outside for a haircut and I am not liking how me smells now. What do you think, do I still look handsome? Woof.

A Brilliant Birthday!

Yes, yesterday was my Birthday and I turned 46! To all you youngsters out there thinking, my that is old, let me tell you I am absolutely loving my 40's, I can honestly say, I've never been happier! Of course this may be helped greatly by the fact, I have finally found a job I love, have fabulous daughters, the best little orange dog and a man who is just amazing (yes, I am talking about Dr. BD). Oh and some amazing friends.

Celebrating Wednesday's #7

Hello lovely readers. This week I have a bit of a challenging 'Special Day'. Not challenging as in heart wrenching or difficult to read, but mentally challenging and a touch therapeutic at the same time.

Mummy's Birthday (Boy)

Last week I didn't get to borrow Mummy's laptop to write my weekly post. I very sorry, I tried, but Mummy was so busy. I do hope Santa Paw's brings me my own laptop, it will make this doggy's life lot easier! This week it's my turn to be busy boy!

I Am A Bad Neighbour

I am eternally grateful to a neighbour of mine, who popped up on my doorstep just the other evening. Were it not for this super thoughtful lady, I would never have been aware of my failings and would most likely continued upon this dreadfully wrong path on which I found myself. It all started almost 5 weeks ago..

Dance Mom's

Yesterday evening I was sitting at the kitchen table having a very well deserved cuppa (it was a long and busy day) and having a nice chat with Miss. D. Well, it was a sort of chat because as all of us who are parents to a teen will know, 'the chat' is usually a triangle between you, the teen, and their mobile phone (one cannot risk losing that Snapchat streak).

Celebrating Wednesday's #6

Hello again and thank you so much for joining us for another Wednesday offering. This week is a particularly cute one, well I think so, you may not agree, but I have a sneaking suspicion you will.

A Paws from Christmas

Are your kids fed up with traipsing around busy shops, battling the crowds, getting trampled on by other shoppers and having you constantly yelling, 'Would you please stop running off, it's too busy, you'll get lost!' after them? Actually, you are most likely fed up with it all too. Fear not, there is a solution (if your child is an animal lover).

How about booking the kids on to one of the free workshops run by Pets At Home? They are only half an hour long, so if you do need to run the gauntlet of the High Street at Christmas time, you could use the workshop as a break in proceedings, or a treat at the end of the trip.

Superpants and Underpowers

Hehe, did you spot the deliberate mistake in the title? It was of course going to be Super Powers and Underpants, but then I found this photo and it made me chuckle so I thought I'd mix it up a bit.

So, those of you with children who are fans of Cartoon Network, may have seen the adverts with cute plush little Superheroes popping their heads out of stockings; I am particularly taken with Plush Wonder Woman, not only does she have Super powers, but she is super cute.

Is Someone on the Naughty List?

Well, I say someone, it's more like something. Let me explain.

Unless you've been living in a cave in the middle of nowhere, you will have noticed that the Season of Goodwill is upon us. I love Christmas, (I may have alluded to that in previous Christmassy posts) and something that makes it really special, is when I walk my little orange dog and we get to see how hard people have worked to decorate the exterior of the houses.

Dr. BD Strikes Again

Poor Dr. BD, he probably gets a bit of a hard time on the blog, in so much that he rarely gets a mention. So to rectify this issue, here is a post all about Dr. BD and how super, amazingly, wonderful and perfect he is.

I mean really, I don't know what I've done to deserve such an amazing man. He is like a Superboyfriend. This man nearly always brings me flowers, which is great, us girls do like receiving flowers! He also cooks, very well. I am one of those people who has to follow a recipe the first few times I make something. I never experiment. Dr. BD kind of, makes it up as he goes along and produces the most amazing dishes. If I did that, I can almost guarantee the food would be inedible.

Celebrating Wednesday's #5

Hello lovely readers and welcome to this weeks special day. I know you can't wait, you were probably so excited last night that you didn't sleep a wink, anticipating what this Wednesday has to offer. More likely, you didn't even give it a thought; it is after all December and you have far more important things to think about. So make yourself a cuppa and take a wee break from all the Christmas stress and think back to those hot summer days because today we are celebrating...

Have I Got a Job for You?

On Sunday morning, my phone rang. I knew before I got to it who would be calling me, only one person ever calls me, other than those crazy people who call insisting that I've had a car accident. Last time they called I told them I lived alone with my dog and he wasn't a driver. They hung up pretty quickly, much to my amusement.

Anyway, it was, as predicted my mother and as usual there was no greeting, she just kind of goes straight into the conversation, which started like this:

A Christmas Tree Festival

I have been a little under the weather the past week or so with a cold that seems to think that I am a fabulous host. Under normal circumstances, I'd be absolutely flattered to be considered the hostess with the mostess, but given that it's a cold that's loving me, I feel a little insulted. Anyway, as per usual, I digress. The point I was intending to make is that I really didn't feel up to traipsing around the county to visit the Dickensian Festival in Rochester, as I had intended to do. However, all was not lost because my church had a Christmas Tree Festival. Not quite the same, I know, but having never heard of such a thing, I was super keen to visit and find out what it was all about, and well, who doesn't love a Christmas Tree.

Baubles and Bones

This week mummy was busy putting up the sparkly things. She said they called trees, but they not like ones outside. Outside trees not have things that sparkle hanging from them. I am a confused little doggy, but they still very pretty and I like them. I getting quite excited about this Christmas thing, I hope I get some of the things on my Christmas list.

Happy December Birthday

The Season of Goodwill is upon us and with that comes stupidly busy shopping centres and supermarkets, office parties, Secret Santa's and of course the obligatory school Nativity play.

However, for some of us, December is not just about Christmas and all the celebrations that go with it. Some of us, actually quite a lot of us, are also celebrating our birthdays. I know outrageous isn't it. There you are trying to get all your Christmas gifts for everyone when you suddenly remember that friend or relative who is horribly inconsiderate enough to have dared to be born in such a busy month. We apologise for adding to your December present stress...not really, we didn't actually get a choice.

Happy December!

Yes, it's finally here! December has arrived and the countdown to Christmas has well and truly started. My girls were certainly happy to open the first door on their advent calendars today. As for me, I have, overnight, turned into the biggest kid in the world! Well, I say overnight, in truth it was on the school run. Oh how I love James and Becky of Heart Kent's Breakfast Show. This fab pair had me singing away to Christmas songs on school run this morning, whilst Miss. L looked at me like I'd gone totally crazy. Roll on 8.30am and 'The Sleeps 'til Santa' song and that was it, I was in my Christmassy element!

Perspective

Perspective. It's an interesting thing isn't it and something that I, for one, don't really stop to consider. Life just gets so busy that it's easy to just take things at face value, but not looking at a situation or individual properly could mean we get a really skewed view.

I recently wrote a post about thinking and acting more thoughtfully, if you missed it, you can catch up here. That post was a reminder to myself as much as anything, to show more kindness and be willing to help people in my community more. I don't want to be someone who just walks past a person in need.