Tag Archives: Family

Who makes a material world?

November 19, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , , , , 6 Comments

Today’s guest post os from Donna, who can be found rambling, ranting and generally sounding off at Mummy Central. She is the mum of two boys, wife of Mr G and in the top four funniest people in her household. You can say hello on Facebook or on Twitter. 

anti capitalist graffiti

The moaning has started at the school gates already.

With thoughts turning to Christmas shopping, it’s the usual stuff you hear at this time of year.

“I just don’t know how I’m going to afford it.”

“We’ve bought out the entire toy shop.”

“I’ve never known such a spoiled child.”

The general gist is the same.

Mums and Dads complaining about how much they are being forced to spend on their offspring. Continue reading →

A Team Effort

November 15, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , 13 Comments

Today’s guest post comes from Laura Adams. Not only is Laura a first time mum, this is also her first ever blog post, so I’m very happy to be hosting it.

Family photo

So there I am sitting on a train, sipping a glorious morning latte and actually feeling all right about commuting to the office when – without warning – a flicker of guilt crosses my mind.

Wait, this isn’t like me. I’m one of the most selfish people I know, how can this be happening? Then it dawns on me. Oh god, I think, I’m a BAD WIFE. Continue reading →

The Gift of Self

November 14, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , , , , 24 Comments

Today’s post is from one of my biggest blog crushes, Christine Mosler. Chris’s blog is packed full of her beautiful photography, stories about her family, and posts about some of the charities she is passionate about. It recently made it onto Woman and Home’s list of the Top 100 Food Blogs. I am over the moon that she found time to write something for me.

I’m so pleased to be guest posting for Ruth today, the DorkyMum blog is one of my ‘Must Read’s and always has me coming back for more. You can normally find me blogging at Thinly Spread, Climbing Rainbows and Life is Delicious. In a former life I was a Key Stage 2 teacher, now I am Mum to four children aged from 6 to 16 and a freelance writer specialising in education, health and nutrition.

I’m a big advocate of the relaxed approach to parenting and, while mine do go to clubs and attend music lessons, I have consciously tried to leave plenty of time in the week for them to be bored. Learning to be bored is an important life lesson as is learning to appreciate the simple things in life; the things which come without a price tag attached but which are themselves priceless. Things like lying on your back watching leaves flutter in an apple tree.

Chris Mosler Thinly Spread photography Continue reading →

Gratitude

October 25, 2012 By in Family Tags: , , , , , , 39 Comments

I’ve wanted to write a post about my Mum – DorkyGranny – for months. I tried to write one for Mother’s Day, but it didn’t quite come together. I have heard it said before that stories become easier to tell the more often you tell them, and I’m realising that to be true. I’ve had to tell the ‘story’ of DorkyDad and me so often that I’m now completely comfortable with it, and it flows very easily. I have a fairly set vocabulary and phrases that I will always use when telling people about my marriage, but I haven’t yet found the language that feels right for talking about Mum. She is staying with us this week though, so it seemed like as good a time as any to try again.

The word that first comes to mind when I think about my Mum is gratitude.
Continue reading →

Place and Time

October 8, 2012 By in Nostalgia Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 21 Comments

stained glass window with bird

Sometimes when I can’t sleep at night, I lie in bed and try to remember the exact layout of houses that I’ve lived in. I’ll imagine myself walking around them, picking out as many small details as I can.

There are four that I can remember with real clarity; the house on Harris where I spent all of my early childhood, my Grandpa’s house in Staffordshire, where I used to spend lots of holidays, the farmhouse in the Borders where I spent most of my teenage years, and the house in Edinburgh that I lived in until a year ago.

There are other places that I can remember a few details of. There was a white cottage on Lewis where I lived with my Mum for a year, and then a townhouse in the Borders where I also spent about year. And of course, there were several flats in Edinburgh where I lived as a student. But the memories of those places are a bit fuzzier.
Continue reading →