Oh yes we did

I know what you're going to say ...

It's only November!

It was Halloween five minutes ago!

You need locking up woman!

And maybe I do, but where's the fun in that. So here it is, Chloe's first "It's only the middle of November and you're mad you are Christmas Tree".



You never forget your first Christmas tree or at least I didn't forget mine. It was tiny, about two foot tall and all the decorations and lights were permanently attached to it so 'putting up the Christmas tree' for me meant taking it out of the box, demangling the branches a little and plugging it in. Not much I know, but it was mine and I was the boss of that tree. It stayed in the box in the bottom of my wardrobe and it was up to me when I put it up in my room, usually the middle of November.

I can't in all honestly take any credit for Chloe's tree though. My mum first mentioned it a week or so ago that she was going to keep an eye out for a little fibre optic tree she could keep in her bedroom and Robert remembered the spare one we had in the roofspace.

The spare one was my first Christmas tree, I was 17 and working in a job that paid a pittance. I walked to work for two weeks instead of taking the bus so that I could buy that tree. When we moved from Belfast to this house and I bought The Biggest Tree Ever™ I just didn't have the heart to get rid of the old one.

So now it's Chloe's tree, even if it is seven years older than her already.



Robert even took her out last week to pick the decorations for it, pink and purple tinsel and a stack of resin decorations, plus a few of my own. The little wooden nutcracker decorations are the set I bought 12 years ago:) You'll notice though that Robert being Robert, he couldn't resist wrapping up one of her stocking fillers and putting it under the tree to torture her.

Do you think she'll still remember her first tree when she's my age? I hope so.

One of those weeks

It really has been.

I've been hopping back and forth to the pooter when I get a few minutes to myself, but just don't seem to have found the time to blog. I've tried and have half a dozen barely started unfinished posts waiting for just a few more minutes.

Robert seems to have been working constantly lately which means that I've taken the role of the two income single parent.

I'm honestly not complaining, just trying to keep the house below the chaos barrier for him arriving home and at least I know that it's just because the company he works has a pile of new contracts and it's just been a matter of "all hands on deck" until everything is up to scratch, then things will settle back down again.

I did find time to chop off most of my hair though, so that's good:)

Edit to include a blurry blackberry photo of the new do because ask and ye shall receive:)


And now if you'll excuse me I have to change the water in the fish tank before the fish start making a bid for freedom.

I do hope you're having a lovely, more relaxing weekend. But can I ask that when you're doing something really nice like curled up on the sofa with a huge coffee and the papers or taking a walk somewhere (because the sun has even come out today), can you spare a thought for muggins here, scraping the green gunk of the glass of the fish tank?

Grateful

I think I've just realised how truly grateful I am to have a handy husband. I'm pretty handy myself, though I'll admit to a much lesser extent than him.

I've just watched about 20 painful minutes of Britain's Worst DIYer and I'm over come with pity for the poor unfortunate wives of the men on that show.

These guys are woefully bad at DIY but what makes it so much worse is that they really do think they're brilliant at it. DIY Rock Stars if you will. Although how the guy who has just patched a hole in a ceiling with cellotape and painted over the top or the one filling holes in the walls with blue tack think that they have this mastered is beyond me.

Imagine living with the man who flooded his entire street trying to unblock a drain or who, when asked to block off an old window, used different coloured bricks to spell out his initials. Now that's taking pride in your work!

I'm left sitting here very grateful, but at the same time a little confused. Can someone please explain to me who had the genius idea to award the best of the worst with £1000 worth of power tools?

Out with the old

Bob gave his notice at work this morning.

He was offered a new position with a different company and in a slightly different field last week and we've just been waiting for all the loose ends to be tied up and contracts signed before he handed in his notice.

Astonishingly, they were actually surprised ever though you'll remember that he threw the head up a few weeks ago and told them he was planning on leaving. Though employers often do suffer a selective memory so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they are surprised.

This new position will be enough of a change that he won't automatically be labelled the "fixer" as he so often has been in the past. The new place have told him that they already have a bunch of completely new sites for him to get stuck into in the New Year which means that for the first time, in a long time he'll actually have the chance to see a job completed from start to finish rather than just spending his days fixing everyone else's dumb mistakes. He can't wait. Neither can I!!

This is the point were I'll be completely honest and you can call me a selfish cow if you like, but these past few months have been exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and I'd do anything for him (scratch that, almost anything - you can never put a thing like that down in writing) but there really are only so many of another person's bad days that I can deal with. Now I know you're not supposed to say that, but sometimes I've had a bad day myself and I'm tired and can't be bothered but because I know he'll have had a bad day, I have to brush my day under the carpet, swallow it or just not think about it because we can't both have had bad days. One has to be there for the other and all that.

Hopefully though, a fair amount of that will be put behind us now. I've sat him down and given him a good talking to and reminded him that this job may not be the answer to all his prayers, that mythical company that only exists in rumours, whispered in office corridors and cubicles. "They only work a half day on Friday you know!" "I heard they give their staff huge Christmas bonuses", "I know a woman, and her friend's sister works there and apparently they're brilliant to work for if you have kids, so understanding!"

That company isn't real and he's been told that, but I have to admit that this weekend has seen him in the best mood he's been in, in a very long time.

Long may it continue!!

My Last Weekend

I go back to work on Monday. This Monday. As in not tomorrow but the next day. Two more sleeps.

Whose bright idea was this anyway!

I only realised this morning that all of my work clothes, suits, shirts and stuff are in vac bags in the loft. They were dry cleaned before I packed them away and they're airing upstairs now (thanks to Robert).

I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I'll not be able to cope with the amount of things I've been doing once I'm back at work. The zine will probably be shelved for a while at least until I sort myself in to some semblance of a routine and work out exactly how much time I have to spare. I'll be finishing an issue this weekend for Christmas. In truth I should have had it finished a week ago but I've been inundated with unexpected orders in the last two weeks. A few smaller versions of my daisies have been sold through a local shop. The first one sold very quickly and then the shop owner received a call from a customer who ordered the next two sets which the shop owner had asked me to make so they won't make it onto the shelves either!

At the last count my mum has now sold 22 sets of my prim style Christmas trees. The woman just keeps taking more and more orders without any regard for when I'm going to make them:)

I can't complain though. Typically I'm now so busy I could actually do with not having to go back to work, but it will still be nice to have some extra cash to throw aside for those just in case moments. You know the ones, washing machine giving up the ghost or my good self managing to knacker yet another iron or kettle!

Chloe's been asking more and more about when I'm going back to work. Specifically she asks if she'll know when I go back to work. I think she's a bit worried that there'll be changes but I'm trying to put her mind at rest that everything for her will remain the same.

I've explained to her that she will be staying in school for lunch from Monday on and that she would be doing that anyway even if I weren't going back to work. She's fine with the lunch thing and I think after a few days of still being dropped off and collected from school by me she'll realise that it will all be fine.

If anything she'll actually arrive home to a clean and tidy home instead of the bomb site I only realise I've created each day at noon leaving myself absolutely no time to pack everything away before collecting her.

I've a freezer full of meals and other bits and pieces like cookies. I'll still try and cook fresh everyday but at least I know they're there in case time gets away from me. I feel a bit better knowing that I have a fall back.

Robert's going to have to figure out something else to do during the day because he won't have me at home to ping IPs for him. Poor soul, he'll just have to think of something else.

Now if you'll excuse me there are a half finished pair of gloves calling out to me and I need to get back to them before second glove syndrome kicks in.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our Anniversary!

We've been married seven years today.

And I had to be reminded, just as I've had to be reminded about all our past anniversaries.

I'm sorry husband and Happy Anniversary.

You're happy again and smiling, which is great to see. You're having a much better time of it the last week or so which makes me much happier too.

It's not that anything has changed or anything has eased off, you're just learning to deal with it and learning to understand that in the great scheme of things anything that happens outside of these four walls falls way down near the bottom of the list of important things.

That's not to say that you don't want or need your job and career to be important to you, its just that if this one doesn't respect you for everything you are then maybe it isn't the one to pour your heart and soul into.

You're a great husband and a great dad. You give us everything we need and much more besides and for that we are grateful and love you and for that you should feel proud and because of that you should know that as a man you stand head and shoulders above anyone who feels the need to run you down or try to make you feel small.

You are a great husband and a great dad, but more importantly you are a great man.

Happy anniversary husband. We all love you, but then you knew that already.

The Rat Race

Well, it's official. After a record breakingly short interview consisting off "Is the 2nd good for you?" and "Aye, go on then!", I'll be heading back to work on 2 November. Although the interview was only marginally shorter than my previous record of about 2 minutes which consisted of "Is a window desk ok for you?" and "How much money do you want?".

I'm not saying that I'm good at my job, but I've built a bit of reputation over the years and recommendations from people like past Chief Executives of the Law Society of Northern Ireland don't do me any harm either. Still, I'm not complaining, I hate those interviews where you feel like you're being tested and have to justify your very existence. Thankfully only had one of those in all my years.

Not that being really good at your job serves you well in the UK, in fact it can do a hell of a lot to hold you back. My mum always used to spout little wisdom's like "If your boss had been any good at your job, he'd still be doing it". Funny at the time, but rather depressing once you think about it.

Even the poor husband is finally starting to realise in his industry that the good guys really do finish last. His problem is that he really is brilliant at his job and he's proud of his work, something that's hard to find these days. Have you ever heard your boss makes a wise ass comment about nobody being irreplaceable. Nobody ever made that comment about Robert, they know full well he's irreplaceable so unfortunately the powers that be will never wilfully put themselves in the awkward situation of having to replace him. Which means that because nobody else can manage to clean up as many OPMs (other people's mistakes) in any given day, the guys that regularly make the mistakes my husband spends him time fixing will be promoted past him just to get them off the tools.

I feel for him, I really do and because his reputation also precedes him it really wouldn't make any difference if he were to move to another company, they'd all want him to be the fixer.

But anyway, enough of the grumbling. I'm kind of glad I'll not be heading back to work straight away and waiting until the 2nd November means I have another blissful six or so weeks to myself to just kick back and relax.

Yeah, right!

Of course, now is the time that things are picking up, I'm currently working on six custom orders and I have a couple more on hold for December but I'll be starting those sooner rather than later to get a wiggle on. There's a possibility that one of my pieces may be featured in a magazine at the end of October and I figure it's probably a good idea to have at least one in stock rather than it be listed as custom made, although I may change my mind about that later depending on how hectic it gets around here.

But I'll still have all of those lovely school holidays away from work and home with the family to look forward to which for me is the most important thing.

No kids sent to childcare in this house, no sir!

Also I was very pleased to log into Folksy yesterday morning only to find that I'm a featured seller, so I'm very excited about that and just want to say a quick thank you to Anne for featuring me. In case you don't know, Anne is our extremely hard working and very irreplaceable admin over at Folksy.

Marching on

I'm sitting here, trying to adjust to the fact that it's not even 8pm, the curtains are closed and the lamps are lit. I could do with putting the heating on, but it isn't quite cold enough yet to force me up off my backside to go and do it.

Autumn has definitely arrived and Summer is fading fast. Don't get me wrong the last couple of days have been beautiful and today was a bit of a scorcher but it doesn't change the fact that Chloe and I crunched on the first fallen leaves on the way home from school today and I let her pick her first apple from the tree in the garden, although there are so few out there that this year she will pick them all. Her dad will even lift her to the very top of our (admittedly shortarsed) tree.

One of the reasons I love Autumn so much is days like these. It poured from the heavens on Monday and Tuesday and I was soaked through waiting for the courtyard gate to open at school on Tuesday, but because I'm in an Autumn mindset now I expect dodgy weather. It didn't disappoint or get me down whereas the last two days have been so beautiful, unexpectedly beautiful and warm that I can't help but be thankful and grateful for them. Its Autumn and sunshine and warmth isn't a promise, it's a gift.

I'm finally wrapping my head around this free time I have each day and slowly learning not to take it for granted, plus its only six weeks to half term so I'm glad to say I've been quite productive around the house lately.

It will soon be time to light the fire again, and I can't wait because I think my absolute favourite part of Autumn is that it means Winter is on the way. I can dig out my big scarves (not that I didn't replace them with much wispier versions during the Summer) and set about making my home cosy and inviting.

But as it is, Autumn's here and its our shortest season in the UK, Summer yawns on stretching its arms into September and before we know it the frost bites down hard so I plan on enjoying the few precious moments of true Autumn, for as long as it may last.

Wonderhubs, Woodturning and Witchy Wonderfuls

I mentioned earlier in the week that the husband had been out in the garage whittling away on something with the wood lathe.

I let Toots watch Harry Potter a couple of weeks ago when the weather was particularly nasty one days and she's been addicted ever since. Talking about it, trying to learn the spells, pretending she's a witch. She just loves it.

So anyway, this is what Wonderhubs was up to in the garage...




Yep, he made a wand of her very own.




It's not bad at all for a first attempt, obviously the wands in the movie are a fair bit more tapered than this one but he figured that a sharp, pointed stick in the hands of a four year old might end in tears.



He used some wood that he had handy in the garage, but plans to buy something specific for his next attempt at woodturning. The wood he used was as old as dirt to be honest and he knows himself that he should have used something much greener for his first few attempts but still it turned out to be good practice and now he understands the experts suggest using green wood as a beginner.

He's itching to have another go and Toots is very happy with her new magic wand.

Now will someone kindly explain to her that her that waving her wand and yelling hocus pocus does not guarantee that mummy will magically produce chocolate.

Sunday Update

We had a really busy Saturday here, busier than usual but seeing as we have a nice long weekend and the husband will be able to relax on Monday and Tuesday I thought we might as well get all the madness out of the way on Saturday and leave the rest of the weekend free and clear. Toots spent the morning running around in her dad's new visor but he had to take it back to finally try out the new wood lathe. He's been out there in the garage this morning whittling away and I'll show you the fruits of his labour later in the week.


First thing Saturday morning we headed to Makro which is basically a huge wholesalers. I may have went a it mad when I grabbed 5kg of chicken.



But considering the bag turned out to contain exactly 30 fillets (don't you love nice round numbers) and it cost less than £17.00 I was a happy bunny. It looks a little less unwieldy once its all neatly bagged and sorted out for the chest freezer.



Oh, and I also picked up a bag of sugar or two along with a few kilos of stork. Well, 16kgs of sugar altogether but it was dirt cheap and well worth it.

But you know what that means don't you? Regularly scheduled cakey programming on Simply Food will resume in 3...2...1

Wonderhubs Strikes Again

Would you ever take a look at the little cat house my fabulous husband just threw together using odds and sods he had lying around the garage.







I think you'll agree she looks very comfortable and happy in there.

And not to be satisfied with building just your average bog standard box, the husband had to go the full hog with this this. Can I just point out that this particular box features cavity walls, floor and roof and every square inch of cavity has been stuffed with polybead. Not to mention the yacht varnish, non-toxic sealant and tarred base and roof to keep the elements out. This thing has a higher R rating than my own house. Its an ark built for one, basically.

I think I may have lost my title as The Handy One around here.

Isn't he just wonderful.

Ta muchly hubs!

Paddling Pools and Panic Shopping

I can't believe its almost July already.

And just because a) I was always THAT girl in the office and, b) its a little bit funny, I provide you with the following information;

It is exactly 26 weeks to Christmas!

We'll just let that one sit there for a second while I hide behind this scatter cushion.

Anyway, that means I have now been at home, looking after Toots full time for half a year. Its been a hell of a half year. Mostly good, occasionally a handful, sometimes a hair pulling situation.

My own hair obviously, don't even go there.

I know I haven't been around a lot lately but I have been busy elsewhere. I needed to finish a custom order which is finally complete, absolutely gorgeous (if I do say so myself) and sent off in the post. I also had a couple of other surprise projects to finish up and I'll hopefully have them done and ready to go by the end of the weekend.

And I've been spending a lot of time with the family outdoors. The weather here has been fabulous and its set to reach 30C next week so I'll have to prepare myself and everyone else for that. We don't do that kind of heat here, there's something very unnatural about 30C and there not being a plane ride involved.

The Irish melt in that kind of heat.

We've been to Stormont Park, the beach, where Toots fell face first into a huge wave and didn't freak out, and we enjoyed a nice day in Bangor for the husband's birthday.

Well nice until it turned frantic as I had to run off from the Pickie Fun Park into the centre of town to try and find a new outfit for Toots after she assumed I was my usual organised self and had packed her a change of clothes and she belly flopped, shoes and all, into the paddling pool.

Such a pity I wasn't organised that day. And that's why you should always pack a change of clothes for your kid, cause you never know.

And you might want to chuck a clean t shirt in the boot of the car for your husband while you're at it because while you're running like a headless chicken through a packed town with your mobile phone tucked safely out of earshot in your bum pocket, your daughter will climb (saturated) from the paddling pool and give your husband his big drippy birthday hug.

Happy Birthday Hubs

I won't be around a whole lot today.

It's the husband's birthday and he's taken the day off work to be with us (and not come home in a grump after a stinking day on his b'day), so we'll be making the day all about him.

He's 41 this year folks so wish him a happy birthday please! In saying that though, he doesn't look 41 and he most certainly does NOT act 41.

Still.

Happy Birthday Husband.

I wish I'd seen more of the world

This isn't a problem for me.

If I popped my clogs tomorrow I'd be very happy that I had seen as much as I possibly could on my budget.

I travelled a fair bit when I was younger and before I had Toots. I wasn't single, but I usually travelled alone. I preferred it that way. I've been to Egypt and Vegas with the husband, but before that I went to Turkey.

I booked a holiday for four. It had previously been booked by a family who had to cancel at the last minute so I managed to get the whole thing for £119 per person for two weeks. I put a postcard in the window of my local newsagent and three weeks later I met the three girls at the airport I was going to spend the next fortnight with in Turkey. It was one of the best holidays I've ever been on.

I've been to Amsterdam as well as Gouda in Holland. I've visited Barcelona, Kos, Cyprus and Nice to name a few, all alone and they were some of the most enjoyable times of my life.

I loved to be able to just do my own thing every day. To not have to fall in line with what somebody else wanted to do. I could go anywhere I wanted or nowhere at all. I could eat whole roasted cloves of garlic in France and not concern myself with offending anyone.

Is was pure bliss.

On the other hand, the husband has been to Egypt and Vegas with me and to California, San Francisco and Vegas with his brother before he met me.

He's never been out of the country on is own.

In the past year, the husband changed company vehicles. He didn't notify the tax office and neither did his employer until last month and because of this he received a substantial rebate as well as having to pay no tax for two months until the new tax year begins in April.

I have been trying to convince him to use some of that money and take himself off alone for a couple of weekends. He loves his food and I think it would be great for him to spend a few days sipping wine and eating fresh seafood around some of the less touristy, coastal areas of Spain or Portugal or a week relaxing in Sicily.

Nothing would make me happier than for him to have some time to himself, to never look back and say "I wish I had...".

He thinks that he will feel guilty travelling without his family. He thinks that he will miss us and won't enjoy himself. I'm trying to explain to him that this is the point. This should be an opportunity and a time for him to be completely selfish and think only of himself. He spends so much time working for his family and doing everything to please us that I think its very important for him to have something which is just for him and him alone.

I fixed a lot of his wants over the years. He wanted to learn to fly and I arranged two lessons. Paying for him to get his license would have been a bit of a stretch but as it is he has spent two very happy hours flying over the Mourne mountains.

I never object when he buys something for himself whether its a good bottle of whiskey or a games console. In my mind he works hard and he deserves some down time and something to enjoy and look forward to.

However, I just don't seem to be able to talk him round to this idea at all and I can't understand why.

Who, given the opportunity to travel, wouldn't grab it with both hands and run.

I'd really like to know what everyone thinks about this.

Would you be happy for your husband to go on holiday by himself? Would you encourage him? If you're a man, would you go if your wife encouraged you?

And if you're a woman, would you be tempted to go and leave the hubs to fend for himself at home with the kids?

Because sometimes they need a little reminder

So its been a little monotonous around here for the past couple of weeks.

We get up, the hubs goes to work, I clean the house (somebody sneaks in every night and dirties all my dishes, I swear) and play with Toots or go out on a few errands, the hubs comes home, we eat, you get the idea.

Same ol, same ol day in day out.

Which is kind of fine for me and Toots because it provides a bit of structure to the day and I think a (almost) 4 year old still needs a fair bit of structure.

But for the poor husband ... not so much.

I want more for him. I want him to feel loved and appreciated. I want him to know that I still love him for all the reasons I loved him and married him fahumina years ago.

Now I know there are many ways to show him how much he means to me. There are plenty on the "kiss your husband everyday" bandwagon which is lovely, but I do that every single day, always have.

There are also plenty of posts encouraging us to sleep with our poor neglected husbands every night for a whole week (seriously, just the one). Again, a great idea, but my husband would probably just think I'd got into the cosmo again and he just happened to be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

I tell him I love him all the time. I tell him every morning and every night. The thing is I also brush my teeth and moisturise every morning and every night so there's a fair wee chance he has it in his head that it's just part of my routine.

I could pay him more attention, cook him beautiful meals, basically I could hint to the fact that he's still very important to me, but really, come on now. If he was any good at picking up on subtle hints I wouldn't count a waffle iron and model Dodge Viper among my collection of birthday presents, would I?

Husband I love you dearly, but it really isn't the same thing. Nor was it a "bit of fun". It sits there, tucked in under bed mocking me. It goes, "na na na na naaaa" every bloody time I reach under there to retrieve a misplaced sock or the super duper bouncy ball you kindly gave the daughter.

The waffle iron does not mock. The waffle iron knows better. The waffle iron lives in fear of the day I may try to use its royal wafflyness. The waffle iron knows I could take it in a fight.

Anyway, yes, the poor neglected husband.

You need to tell them, sit them down, turn off the TV (you might want to switch off the computer, tweeting about the whole thing might take something away from moment) and tell them.

I did and he's been strutting around here like cock of the walk for the last few days. It really is an amazing transformation.

I asked him first, if he knew why I loved him and if he knew, I mean really knew, that I still love him and how much I appreciate him.

I told him how much he means to me. I told him that I love how confident he is, that he's always in complete control of every situation. He never second guesses himself, once he makes a decision (and let me tell you it only takes him milliseconds) he sticks with it and makes it work.

I love the way he carries himself, everyone assumes he's the boss (whereas his boss is a weedy little streak of a man with girlish hands, ahem).

I love that he is such a perfectionist. He always gets the job done and then some and it's perfect. I love that I asked him for a utensil rack which comfortably holds up two cast iron frying pans.

I spent a good hour telling him everything I love about him and I could have went on a lot longer.

Then you can kiss him or....whatever.

And you can tell him why you want to ... whatever... while you're at it (just don't mention if you did get into the cosmo again).

And it doesn't hurt to take a few seconds to cop a feel, every time he happens to pass by.

Because have I mentioned, he's walking around here like he's the King.

And he is.

My Man

Sometimes it seems you were born by design, for you are everything I could hope for in a friend. My friend, my best friend for over 12 years now, my husband for the better part of 7.

Sometimes I feel I've know you all my life, the years before are little more than a blur.

I love everything about you.

I love that you love me.

I love that you gave me my daughter, a child more precious and beautiful than we could ever have imagined.

I love that together we laugh at the world, regardless of what it has thrown at us over the years and the world has thrown a lot.

I love that you can deal with my head and some of the very dark thoughts in there.

I love that I no longer have a "backup plan". You always knew about this and you helped me see that not all men are alike. You helped me to trust and rely on someone other than myself.

I love that you let me be weak ... and tell nobody of this.

I love your eyes, as dark as night, and that you gave them to our daughter, except for their heart. The heart is mine and the brightest blue.

I love that when you concentrate on something you stick your tongue out of the corner of your mouth and bite it. Toots does the same.

I love that even when I'm completely skanked out you still tell me I'm beautiful.

I love that you never automatically take my side in an argument just because I'm your wife. If I want to pick a fight I should be able to hold my own.

I love that you still roll over in the morning and say "Morning Wife", like its all still new.

I love your arms, for obvious reasons.

I love that you say you look like a hippy if your hair is more than an inch long and that you weren't vain enough to run for the Grecian when the ratio finally shifted to more salt than pepper.

I love that when I'm getting ready for bed at night you still say "ooh boobs" like a schoolboy.

You're by no means perfect, but I love that too. I can't stand perfection and you know this. You know about the secret pleasure I get from breaking the spine on a new book.

I love that we can laugh at each other's mistakes and not take it personally, its just a bit of fun and that's how we are.

I love that you still don't know how to work the media player and I do because you couldn't take it to the bathroom with you.

I love that even in spite of this you still refuse to read the instruction manual.

You make me laugh every single day.

You are very, very important to me.

People say you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family. They are wrong. I chose both.

I love that you love me...

My husband, my love, my strength, my backbone and my friend. I will love you always.

In honour of all the husbands who stand by us and put up with us Kristen of We are that Family is hosting a little get together. If you'd like to take part or just fancy reading more like this, head over to Kristen's S.W.A.K Valentine Carnival