Money or Die

20/06/2026

14/06/2026

I don't like hamsters. Well. I didn't. A 30 year dislike appears to have ended... In a hamster. FML. Welcome to the family, Pancake! Apparently hamsters are very shy for the first couple of days. No one told Pancake this!

03/06/2026

When you are craving PB (crunchy!) on toast but you aren't allowed solids... Improvise...

23/05/2026

today in the baking sun. Beautiful Alex

18/05/2026

When you visit friends and spot your artwork sitting pride of place amongst art created by some amazing local artist. Nice little boost to the ego right there!

14/05/2026

4 weeks ago, Isabelle was sent home with a pot of dirt with a seed planted in it for "home learning" - the brief was simple... 4 weeks to nurture a mystery seed, and return it to school today for the garden show.

It became clear pretty quickly that Isabelle may not have inherited her grandparents green fingers, though further investigation at the 2 week mark unearthed a shrivelled looking brown seed, that had more chance of growing legs than growing into a beautiful flower.

Yesterday, seeing the sadness in my daughter's face at the prospect of taking a pot of dirt back to school, I offered a plan B: paper flowers. I went through a phase of paper rose making a few years ago, and, whilst impressive looking, they are actually very easy to make. Obviously this meant me massively underestimating how long it would take to complete this plan!

With the help of a 5 year old, armed with a glue gun and a pair of scissors, construction continued into the early evening and right up until bedtime. However, I think you will agree, it was absolutely worth it!

A very happy 5 year old bounced into school this morning with a pot of beautifully home "grown" roses. Win.

11/05/2026

Future album cover? Photo credit

02/05/2026

Newly diagnosed AuDHD at 45 years old. This very much describes how I felt after my original ADHD diagnosis 2 years ago. Having only received confirmation of autism 2 weeks ago, I feel more prepared this time for the rollercoaster of emotions ahead of me.

I'm still the same person... I just don't know who that is right now...

01/05/2026

almost at the halfway mark of my dopamine blanket - one of 4 blankets I currently have on the go... I'm determined to finish at least one of these before I start the Persian tiles next month... Honest! In my defence... My 2 giant granny square blankets are an ongoing project and technically already functional 😆

30/04/2026

7 years ago today little Samuel passed away aged just 6. He'd contracted measles as a toddler. Samuel wasn't able to have the vaccination himself so relied on herd immunity.

Years later he started displaying very odd symptoms, and was diagnosed with SSPE, where basically the antibodies his body used to fight off the measles disease were fighting his healthy body and brain.

This awful complication of measles is always fatal and Samuel grew his angel wings 7 years ago today.

Keep sending your mummy those signs that you're always around and watching 🌈 and we'll keep sharing your story so people hopefully learn just how important these vaccinations are. They not only protect your own child but those who are not able to be vaccinated themselves.