Where I've Been and Where I'm Going..

This blog title sounds far more exciting than what it actually contains (but isn't that the idea!) I haven't been anywhere exciting since my last post in May (you can read about our blind taste testing if you fancy it). Like the rest of the world we've been pretty much shut in the house and garden, keeping ourselves to ourselves and getting rather busy with home learning since March.

Anyway, I fancied a little catch up. It'll be 9 years next month since I set up this little space and if I'm honest, I thought I might let it fade away into the black hole that is the internet possibly to be dragged up one day by the kids when they get curious.

The kids are the main reason I haven't really blogged much. Not in a bad way, quite the opposite. I've been enjoying living in the moment and not feeling the need to online journal like I used to. But part of me misses it. Now the children are older it's harder to know what to write about (when you're not thinking very hard at least!) I am more keen now to keep their lives separate from my blog. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe I have ever shared anything they would be upset about or that would embarrass them. (I know, I've checked) but I feel like, especially with our older 2 being nearly teenagers and our younger 2 being nearly 10, they all deserve some more privacy.

It was so easy being a family blogger when they were small. No one really thinks about sleep talk, teething, routines, first days at school and what not but as they get older I've found that I feel more comfortable keeping those memories just for us. There are plenty of things I could write about, for example, we've been on quite a journey getting Williams' autism diagnosis which is a huge relief but I don't feel it's my place to really talk about that. 

I've made my Instagram private, I'm still happy to follow people, it just makes me feel better these days. You can get all caught up in numbers with blogging and I don't think it's helpful.

So what do I want to focus on?

Well, as I mentioned above, I knew I wanted to change direction I just figured I was nothing if I wasn't writing about my kids..WRONG. I have plenty of things to be getting on with. I would love to share more about being a full time carer, I would still like to share some of our family days out when they happen because often they are really wonderful days, specifically focus them on our local area. 

I'd like to show off and shout about local places, or even places in general that support independent wheelchair access (and other areas of accessibility too)  We haven't given up on our campaign for better independent access in shops and restaurants. 

Something else I want to really write about is suffering from Chronic Blushing and Erythrophobia. I would love to raise some awareness of this condition and have found that many people still don't fully understand what is behind blushing. I'd love to open my blog up to people who have this condition, I'd like to share my journey, tips and suggestions. Mostly I want people to feel less alone living with a very misunderstood condition that affects many people in the world and has devastating effects on their mental health.

I'll also have the odd book review on here, I'm a fussy reader but I do like a good book blog tour! 

I'd like to thank everyone who reads my little corner on the web. Some of you have been keeping up with my ramblings for years and it's lovely. I hope that I can reconnect with blogging again and realise that there is so much more to me than just being a mum.

P.s I did think about a name change though, but after careful consideration I've decided I'm still a Mumma who loves stuffing her face with cupcakes! I think it's a misleading blog name but I love it so it's staying!

Blind Taste Testing for Science Home Learning!

I was initially going to write up the weeks we were doing home learning and share what it is we're looking at school wise during lock down but surprise, surprise, it's all been rather busy and with 4 children at home doing such a variety of learning I thought I might just write up some of the things we do on and off instead of doing a boring old round up.

We love a good science experiment in this house. We've enjoyed making and exploding volcanoes, making bottles fly like rockets and mixing random things to make all sorts of mess fun. One experiment we always enjoy but haven't done for a long time is a blind taste tasting!

What we used

A variety of foods and sauces (I'll list ours below but this is totally up to you)

A chopping board to hold all our items on

Spoons and/or forks for holding and dipping

A bowl each for any 'emergency 'spit outs' as we called it!

Tissue for cleaning up faces

Paper to record our likes and dislikes.

Book Review: Rebel with a Cupcake

I have been sent this book for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book

Jesobel Jones is bold and beautiful. The daughter of a hand model and a washed-up rock star, she sees no need to apologise for her rambling house, her imperfect family, her single status ... or her weight. Jess makes her own cupcakes and she eats them, too. That is, until Own Clothes Day when a wardrobe malfunction leaves Jess exposed, and a mean girl calling her the one thing that’s never bothered her before: fat.

What I Thought:

Easter Reasons to be Cheerful

I'm joining in again with Reasons to be cheerful. It's so nice to reflect on things in general but even more so in this difficult time. 

This week is the start of the Easter holidays here. We have kept some home ed for routine but mostly we have been having fun. A and Midge have had a water fight this week and finally managed to get me to drag out the paddling pool.

Lock Down Home Ed 2020 Weeks 1 & 2!

I can't believe we are in week 3 of lock down already! This week is the beginning of the Easter holidays so although we are taking a step back from the past 2 weeks home ed routine, we are still doing our 'core subjects' and some fun educational based activities in between. Mr K has a good post on home learning in this current crisis if you'd like to check out how we're going about things here

I thought I would record a little round up 2 weeks at a time of how things are going in home ed, what we've been up to etc. As most people know we already home educate 1 of our children, my step son Will. He was gearing up for starting school this year but seems that's all been pushed back!

All the children have had some experience of home education in their time so this isn't a huge shock to their system. They're missing their friends and some teachers but not much else, a relief! Here's what we got up to for our first 2 weeks:

Reasons To Be Cheerful:

Its pretty tough to find things to be happy about some days at the moment. So I'm putting together my cheerful list which is also kind of a thankful list too. Enjoy.

New Books

Thanks to The Reading Residence I have had 3 books bought for me on my Amazon wishlist. As part of her Bring Back Paper group we wanted to find ways of still enjoying our love of stationery and books and this was a lovely way to still do that.

I've also recieved a book to review which I will share on a blog tour in April!

Finding a New Normal...

My last post Strange Times was a bit of a mind dump. I think I need this blog more than ever right now. It's been so neglected the past year with not wanting to write too much about what went on in our lives in 2019 for privacy, then wanting to give the children more privacy (they tell me they're fine with being on here but I prefer to scale it back a lot now because I'm sure they won't always be!) 

Since I last wrote things have happened so fast with this virus that has spread globally. We're in a kind of lock down in the UK, joining many countries around the world. It was so, so strange watching Boris Johnson announce that we would not be allowed out of our homes unless we had to go to work, or exercise once a day. No more gatherings or meeting loved ones. This had been in effect as advice for several weeks but after thousands all across the country decided to ignore it it has all become a 'must do.'