MerrilyMe

A Toy or Two to Tempt me to Blog.

I have been gone so long from this blog, even though I promised faithfully to get back to writing. A while ago I wrote something to explain what had happened to make me so very absent; even though my chemically enhanced brainbox makes all that feel very distant now, time has marched on so fast with children, gym coaching, courses and the infernal but finally finished blanket for Fran’s 18th, that…

It passes in a flash these days, those 11 days between a birthday trip out and these minutes, when I was holding him in my arms and watching him drift away forever. 11 nights of candles, 11 days of quietly mulling over what was happening each day and where we were in that beautiful, hellish journey locked inside the walls of scbu.  I still can’t walk into a hot room without panicking, I still…

Wrong in the head.

This is not a post about my physical health (which is good, so far as I know) but about my mental health, which has not been. If you’ve wondered where I’ve been for a year, I’ve been locked in my head, or fighting to get back, latterly at any rate.

It starts though, with my body and what went wrong with it. A curious spiral of events that perhaps began a year before with a breast lump scare and…

It really gets me every year that these were my last few happy minutes, minutes where really is never have anything to be utterly crushed by, ever again.  It doesn’t really work like that of course. There are plenty of happy moments, not least because I learned to be grateful for Freddie in so many ways, and also because we just learned to live with his absence.  It catches up at times. It’s…

Buying for Dad: Perfect presents for all ages

Dads can be hard to buy for and their tastes can vary greatly depending on their age, which is why this great gift guide has been put together for you to take your pick of the best pressie ideas for Dads of all ages – whether it’s Father’s Day or his birthday. The gadget loving early 30s Dad This Dad is more than likely all about his gadgets, which is why you should buy him something like the……

Memories of Paris from my teens – and my teen.

On Monday, Expedia invited me to write about Paris and my memories of visiting there when I was younger. I wrote the post and had it ready to post on Tuesday morning. I’ve held it back until this morning and mulled all week about my feelings regarding travel, anxiety and living life without fear. The end of the post had already been written and the events of this week have consolidated my much…

A mother’s day.

I watched Mother’s Day drift past yesterday with a sort of wry amusement; 17 years on from my first, I’ve long got over the fact that if you build it up as a day where you expect a combination of the most thoughtless elements of the house (children) combined with the least slushy and demonstrative element of the house (husband/male partner/ I have no idea how a female partner might manage this)…

Easy Tips & Tricks To Introduce Your Children To Gardening

Gardening is great for your health and it gets you out the house, away from the TV and into the fresh air – so why wouldn’t you want to get your kids involved? If getting them away from the screen is proving difficult and the response to you asking if they want to do some gardening with you is, ‘no, that’s boring’ then here are some easy tips and tricks that will introduce your child to gardening…

An age old problem, fir real #terriblepun

The nation is divided, no doubt about it, between those who put away their beach wear and start hanging the Christmas decorations (no doubt peeling the sprouts as they go) and those who scrooge about decorations and put them up begrudgingly in the week before Christmas, muttering about it still being “a bit soon” as they do. This is a lovely artificial tree. Not normally a fan but I like this.…

We got the Christmas Decorations up last night, the annual strewing of pretties around the house which has, thankfully, become largely a joyful affair again over the last couple of years. It reminded me, as we unpacked the boxes, of the wreath I made last year which I had such great intentions of doing a tutorial for so saved it to blog at an appropriately festive time. Hm. Probably was a BIT…

The thing we don’t talk about #oooopsmoments

You know how they say that sometimes you open your mouth and your mother comes out? No? Yes? That doesn’t happen to me so much; my mum and I aren’t particularly alike and I’d need far more intelligent stuff to drop pearl-like and wisdom-y for me to sound much like her. ;) However, there are often times these days when I remind myself very much of my mum, the mum I remember when I was a little…

Christmas Cheer with Frugi & the #giftofgiving

We were recently gifted a gorgeous top from Frugi by the lovely Jennie Edspire recently. Jennie and I have a good reason for being in each others thoughts at this time of year, with both of us bringing up our rainbow babies (and older children) while missing the baby we will never hold. Being nominated for Bene to receive a gift from Jennie is exactly what the #giftofgiving should be about –…

Apparently it is going to be the coldest winter in years with 56 days of unrelenting snow… can’t say I’ve seen much evidence of it yet, but since snow is such an intrinsic part of ‘getting Christmassy’ we had a go at some snow crafts anyway. Snow crafted notebook cover for #bostikbloggers @tots100 craft. Josie has been getting quite into journalling and scrapbooking recently so we thought a nice…

Soothing Stitches: Crochet Mandala Happy.

I don’t seem to have completed nearly as many projects as I hoped to this year, not least because of time constraints that have sucked my crochet time away and left me grateful if I manage a single row or block in the tail end of an evening. It’s annoying, especially since it is robbing my Instagram feed of pretty things to share! Reluctantly I’m cancelling my Simply Crochet sub today; I don’t…

Editorial: Unique Outdoor Wedding Decoration Ideas.

If you’re planning on having an out doors wedding (which is all the rage nowadays) then you’ll want to kick it up a notch by checking out this list of uncommon and extraordinary décor ideas for a fabulous wedding under the sky. Micro-flower arrangements Instead of one giant flower arrangement for each table, distribute a smattering of different sized and colored vases with mini flower displays.…

When the girl played for England #EnglandTouch

This summer had so many things in it that never got blogged, one of which was when Fran got to wear an England shirt. I love that no one can ever take this away from her. She played in an England shirt. #englandtouch #touchrugby #ThatsOurGirl #thisgirlcan #tw #pop After a shaky start to her rugby playing career (roughly 6 years ago when we took her to play in cold and MUD and she told us she…

How to have the perfect date night after 17 years of marriage #VelvetNightIn

Yeah. About that. If your marriage has been as prolific as ours has been, a quiet night in probably isn’t something you can remember; lately we feel blessed if everyone has beetled off to bed by 10pm, and that includes the boy, who is not famed for his early nights. Latterly, Max and I have taken to sneaking off to the pub once a week purely so we can have some conversation which takes place…