At the moment it seems that all I am trying to do is to chase time, trying to catch it and hold onto it for a little while so I can do something interesting with it.

I am torn between the things I have to do like work, the things I want to do like play with the kids or blog and the things that I need to do like first aid courses, childminder courses and childminder preparations.

I cant wait for the end of May when I no longer have to work but then I am also panicking about the end of May when I no longer have to work! I hope that Ofsted will be out to me soon and that I pass the registration. I need to start advertising and lining children up ready for mid June otherwise the stress might get to me.

In the mean time I will blog when at work and work when at home and some how squeeze in some great family time between all the evening courses and the training runs for my 10k. At least I know in three weeks I wont have to be doing that as well.

So as I look at the time and weigh up sleeping verses writing childminding policies I think fo ronce my bed might just have to win.

Ok I am writing this post asking for your advice

Some of you might have read on Friday that Elizabeth did not get a place at her school, or any school for that matter. Today I found out that the set of triplets I used to mind after school received places even though they have moved further away. Well it turns out that the mum did not update their address.

It has been eating away at me that one of those places could be Elizabeths and I know of other children who didnt get a place too. What would you do? would you stay quiet and hope that your child might get a place or make the Local Authority aware of this because that could (and more likely will) get your child a place in that school?

I really like the Triplets and their family but my daughter comes first, HELP!

Sorry for the profanity but I really needed to get that out. Today the world has opened up and swallowed me whole and I am struggling to see a way out.
Today was School Admissions day and Elizabeth didnt get a place . . . . anywhere!

Ok so I could home school her but with me becoming a childminder that means that I can only take one more full time child on and then I will have to choose which school I want to do school pick ups from and obviously that will cut down on our income.

My sensible head is telling me that I know that things will get sorted eventually but in the mean time I want to shout at the world or maybe curl up in a ball and cry. I never thought I would get so emotional about a school place.

On 13th April I wrote this post about trying to save money due to giving up work. As part of this I was doing a downgrade on my shopping and found the new Morrisons Savers range. I bought the below products and now I will tell you what we thought as a family and if we would buy them again.

Nappies 20 pack size 5 £1.41 - these are great, they are not plasticy like other value ranges and are very absorbent. Alison wears them at night time as she is toilet trained during the day and although very full they dont leak and tehy are only 7p per nappy compared to around 16p for other own brands.

Sponge scourers 5 pack 14p - they are scourers they do the job and save me a lot of pennies.

Kitchen towels 3 pack £1.88 - I have actually realised that these are not that cheap and a quick stop in the pound shop a few shops down would have saved me 88p

Hand wash 38p - its green slimy and smells of grapefruit but it washes your hands and coming in a lot cheaper than other brands I will certainly be buying this again.

Air freshened 29p - this smells like flowers which I hate but it does freshen the bathroom up so I suppose it does its job, I just wont use it in my toilet (we have three) but will use it in Hubbys which is teh one that goes through the most air freshener.

Facial tissues 45p - surprisingly soft and fairly strong these have been put to the test by Alisons constantly runny nose and they have withstood the pressure.

Mushrooms £1.59 - like the kitchen roll these are not actually that cheap and I could have saved money by going to the fruit and veg market.

Muffins 6 pack 59p - These muffins are great and at less than 10p each make a great breakfast or snack

Tortilla chips 23p - I used these to make nachos for a mexican evening and people thought they were doritos so why spend so much when you can get the same quality for a lot less.

Tortilla wraps 6 pack 67p - Elizabeth doesnt really like bread so we do wraps for her packed lunch instead. She loves these and they save me a fortune. We also used them for fajitas and they didnt fall apart from the moisture like some do.

Part baked baguettes 2 pack 45p - The only bread Elizabeth enjoys eating is fresh from the oven and dipped in soup, we used the rest to make hot chicken baguettes and they were great.

Food bags 42p - not too thin and perfect for sandwiches or snacks.

Mozzarella 44p - we used this on a cheap pizza to add some texture and flavour, and it was really good. The kids loved making their own pizzas.

Tea bags pack of 80 27p - I gave these to hubby and he couldnt tell the difference until he saw the packet in the cupboard. My hint put them straight into a storage jar and no-one will ever know.

Grated cheese £2.18 - A nice medium cheddar thickly grated and a resealable bag

Sliced ham £1.65 - This is one of the staples in our house and with other ham going for about £2 for half the amount this will add up to a lovely saving.

Fresh Sausages 8 pack 57p - these were one of the biggest surprises because I hate cheap sausages, I did plan to have them in a casserole but ended up having a sausage and egg butty. I had to add oil to the pan as none came out of the sausages and they had a lovely texture once cooked not like the slimy ones you usually get.

Salsa 69p - we used this for making nachos and fajitas, it wasnt very spicy and I like hot salsa so I stuck in a few drops of tabasco but £1 less than the other salsa dips available and seen as I bought 3 jars it is a substantial saving.

Chilli con carne sauce 52p - it was ok, but needed more spice and kidney beans added so you may as well spend a bit more and get a decent jar that doesnt need anything added.

Mayonnaise 48p - it is full fat which means I didnt try it but hubby says it is ok. I prefer to buy half fat or light so not sure I will keep buying this.

Small 6 pack fromage frais 50p - small yogurts suitable for kids lunchboxes, they tasted alright and the kids eat them. Half the price of the ones on offer and a lot less than the ones not one offer.

Large 4 pack yogurt 33p - these surprised hubby a lot as these were for his lunches at work. He said that they were really nice and creamy and had great flavour to them so definitely a swap here.

Tin of 8 hotdogs 55p - Hotdogs are a great lunchtime snack for the kids and these were no different, I even enjoyed a few.

2ltr bottle of cola 17p - well this was disgusting but hey it was 17p so what did I expect. In fact if you like pepsi you will like this as it has that same sickly stickiness to it. I prefer Diet coke and have actually found that tesco value diet coke is a great replacement and at the same price as this.


So at the end of that trial I have realised that saver or value items can actually be quite good and it is just a case of trial and error. Also dont think that because it is a saver or value product it is actually cheaper or the cheapest you can find as sometimes that is just not true. One product to mention is that Morrisons do some bread that is always on a "Half Price offer" at 60p and we love thick sliced bread. I think it is called Rathbones or something similar but with it being a lot less than Warburtons and really decent thickness it is our main bread purchase from there now.

So apart from downgrading, meal planning and not going shopping hungry do you have any other suggestions on how to save money?

When I was looking for childcare for my girls I wanted them to be somewhere safe and secure, somewhere loved and cared for but I also wanted a professional service. I knew I would be paying for them to attend and if I am paying for something I want to know what I am getting for my money. A childminder in my eyes needed to have the correct mix of the professionalism of a nursery but with the comfort of being at home. That is one of the reasons I didnt find a childminder that suited me. There was only one childminder who collected from my chosen school and I didnt think that they were professional enough to teach as well as nurture my children. She even said herself that she doesnt really follow the EYFS and only does enough to pass inspection.

Anyway that is a whole tangent to what this post is about, I have built my childminding website called Laugh and Learn Childcare and I want to know from you that when looking online for childcare do you want lots of information prior to contacting them or woud you prefer less information so you could contact them to find out more?

Personally I think the more I know the better I can judge before contacting someone and wasting my time but some people seem to think too much information is bad. Please do give me your opinions and I would love to find the right balance and everyone is different.

Sometimes there is a campaign in the media that really makes you think, for me Dove have always been able to do that. The most memorable one for me was the real beauty campaign where they had women from all ages, races and sizes strip off and feel proud to be themselves. This years campaign is all about Self-Esteem and one of the interesting things that came out of this was that young girls are looking to their Mum to be their role model more than they look to celebrities and I believe that this is as it should be.

My mum was and still is an inspiration to me. My mum is very confident both in personality and with her looks. Yes she has been on diets (haven't we all) but its always to be healthier, it is never about wanted to lose weight to look better and I really admire that. I never looked at celebrities and wished to be like them but I always say I would be happy to look like my mum when I am her age.

I have an ex who used to say he would be happy to be with me when I am old if I looked like my mum

So as my mum has complained in the past about not being in a photo on my blog here you go. Not bad for an old bird is she? (hehe sorry mum)

Dove have kindly donated a set of toiletries to my prize draw, no other compensation has been received and all thoughts are my own.

Today I did a really scary thing, I handed in my notice at work. I mean I have done that sort of thing before but this time I don't have a job to go to, this time I am just giving up.

I have timed it to coincide with the two weeks holiday that Elizabeth will have off from school at the start of June and I have handed in the notice at Alisons nursery to finish on the same day so for a while I will be a non working stay at home mum and although I will enjoy it hopefully it wont be too long before I am earning again. As most of you know I am in the process of becoming a childminder, with a course every Tuesday and first aid and safeguarding taking up the next few Saturdays I am really pushing to get my registration as soon as possible.

I worked out that I dont need an income until about the middle of July purely based on not paying Alisons nursery fees. I am really looking forward to teh challenge of being a childminder and I knwo that not only will I have fun with the children but doing my own accounts will mean I wont be paying any tax and I will still be keeping my mathematical brain happy.

I have loved working where I do and I will be really sad to leave the people but I need to be there for my kids and I am missing too much. When I first left school I wanted to work with children but the wages were too low for my party lifestyle at the time so I went into accountancy. I now feel as though I am going back to my dream but this time being an accountant will help me along the way.

Wish me luck.

Ok this could be a post about my birthday on Wednesday and how I am turning 21 again but actually it is about Elizabeths 4th Birthday.

Me and Hubby are having a disagreement at the moment because I think we should celebrate her birthday 5 days earlier, presents and all and just ignore her real birthday.

You see there are a few reasons for this. Her Birthday is on the 18th June the day she returns to school after a two week holiday and if today was anything to go by it will not be a happy day.

She is also having her birthday party on 9th June as this is the most convenient day for us, we are off to Butlins for 5 days after that and as part of that trip we will go to a character lunch on the Wednesday where we can have balloons and a cake and basically have a really lovely day. So my view is to make this day her birthday, wake her up in the morning, sing happy birthday and give her some presents. Hubby is disagreeing and saying that we should celebrate it on her real birthday.

She wont know the difference so would you do it?

That is how much money I won today, I had 3 horses and they placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 50p each way and I come away with £6.50.

Every year for as long as I remember I have bet on the grand national, I usually win something but I am beginning to realise that it is just not worth it. I love the thrill of the bet and it is the only time in the year that I ever bet but today I found myself cringing more that I was cheering. With every false start, every horse that fell and with reading about the deaths in the news a part of the thrill disappeared. I dont want to be a part of this anymore, I dont want to feel partly responsible for the deaths of these magnificent animals.

So next year I wont be betting on the national and I wont even be watching it, if we could make it less widely acceptable maybe just maybe something will be done to improve the safety of the course.

Today was an interesting day in more ways than I ever thought possible when my horrid alarm went of at 5am this morning. Today I took a day trip to London to attend the Save the Children and Google conference caled Creating Connections. You will hear a lot about that over the course of the next few weeks with some huge things happening and lots of people getting involved with Blo it for babies, Build it for babies, No child born to die and all the other campaigns going on to help raise awareness.

The conference however is not what I am writing about, I am writing about my actual physical journey and the people I met along the way. Getting up early enough to catch the 6am train I hoped to avoid the crowd on their way to Wembley for the FA Cup Semi Final, however I was wrong oh so wrong. Apparently 6am is a perfectly acceptable time to be drinking Stella and thankfully a very lovely train conducter took pity on me and upgraded me to first class.

I bumped down to earth again when I hit London and I realised that being in the South is so much different than being in the North. It was like I had passed an invisible barrier, a barrier where you cant talk to strangers even when you are trying to help them, a barrier that meant you had to get somewhere in a hurry even if you dont know where you are going, a barrier that made you feel alone even when you are in a crowded place.

Why does being in London mean you lose your humanity? The pub where we went for drinks after the conference was full of drunk men who felt it was perfectly acceptable to pinch or slap the bum of any lady who was close by. The train I got home although a "Dry" train had an absolute arse of a man on it who seemed to enjoy saying the most contraversial things he could think of to try to get a reaction from the other passengers, thankfully he was removed from the train at Stoke. Which left me to talk to a table of men about why I was in London for the day.

Have you ever tried to explain blogging to a non blogger or someone who doesnt even know what a blog is? Ever tried to tell them what a tweet is? I was asked some really stupid questions like whats the difference between a tweet and a blog but it was actually quite a pleasant conversation and it felt good to be back with the northerners where a female travelling alone can talk to a group of men without feeling threatened or intimidated.

I leave you with one of the words of wisdom that they passed on to me, I did try to tweet it but my reception was non existent on the train