December « 2008 « Labels4Kids Blog

You are here: Home > Blog

December 17, 2008

Forever friends and Christmas comments

Filed under: General Chit-Chat — Tags: Christmas, clothes labels — Ann-Maree @ 4:48 pm

Forever Friends
By Heidi Soholt

It’s at this time of the year that I start to reminisce about all that’s happened over the last twelve months. It has been a good year in a lot of ways, madly busy but happy too. It’s funny really that the year that I’ve piled on the pounds has been the one I’ve felt really good about myself…..must be something about turning the big 4-0. They do say that confidence comes with maturity and all that, so perhaps they’ve got it right for once.

The year 2008 will definitely go down as one of rekindling long lost friendships. I have managed to track down two school friends I never thought I’d hear from again. I’ve also experienced a lot of blasts from the past, having bumped in to old friends and colleagues quite by chance.

One friend in particular has been a real addition to my life. I fell out with her badly in the last few months of school, having been best buddies for years. I hate to say it but it was pretty much my fault, I definitely went through a spell of being very two-faced, but you live and learn. When I first contacted her, I had no idea if she wanted to hear from me at all, but luckily she did. We have since chatted via e-mail and caught up a little of the years in-between. As she lives abroad we haven’t managed to meet up yet but I plan to travel to see her in the new year.

It’s amazing really because she hasn’t changed a bit. She’s still the drop-dead beauty she was at school (not fair!) and just as idealistic. It’s great to speak to someone who hasn’t become cynical when you get to my age – despite the fact she’s been through a divorce. I remember at school she could have had her pick of boyfriends but she was always waiting for ‘the one’. I read an article this week about how you are more prone to having a disastrous love life if you watch too many romantic films – apparently they are so far fetched and removed from reality that life simply never lives up to them. Don’t think my Mills and Boon loving friend would take too much notice of that one!

I’m sipping a hot toddy as I write this. I simply cannot believe that I am coming down with ANOTHER cold. Having just got over a hideous chesty thing with the help of antibiotics, I now seem to have caught another. I am convinced that young children pass on dreadful bugs. I remember that pre-sprogs I was only ever ill for about two days, and that was usually when I fancied a bit of time off work. Now, I seem to be struck down by ghastly things that last weeks and leave me feeling ready for the scrapheap. The kids, of course, bounce back pretty quickly from their lurgies.

Anyways, enough of this moaning. I must get on – have presents to wrap, cards to write, life to organise, oh and labels to buy. I need to put in an order to Ann-Maree pronto, as my son is having a major growth spurt.

Ta, ta!

Christmas Comments
by Ann-Maree Morrison

It’s always nice to read Heidi’s updates and think that I am not alone with my thoughts…on just about anything. I have to say I am Christmas concerted out after having attended 4 now in the course of a week and like Heidi’s family we are all full of flu bugs with 2 having finished school and starting to come down with a cold, while the youngest is off school anyway with a high temp. I heard the other day that half the school is off with one of 2 – either that or the dreaded pre-Christmas vomiting bug. Thank goodness, and touch wood, we don’t have the latter one yet!

I could not help but think the other day about those that are not with us anymore. What is it about the annual Christmas church service and the baby Jesus songs and so on that make it all so emotional. On leaving the church a friend burst into tears thinking of her mum who is unwell and unexpectedly in hospital out of town. Then it had me thinking of the neighbour’s brother who was such a lovely old chap who chatted to everyone and passed away this year after many heart attacks over the past few years. The kids shocked me to say that they thought it was “really really sad and we will miss him a lot”. And finally but not least my thoughts were on a friend who died unexpectedly from heart failure this year after the birth of her second child and was not even 40 yet.

You know, life is so unfair. I truly do believe that family and friends are above all the most important things in life and to be treasured and the relationships nurtured. Everyone has their ups and downs and falls in and out now and then but the most important thing is to make up and look after each other.

I do hope we have a happier 2009 when it comes but as I get older and life seems to move so much faster I am starting to wish the older two kids were tiny again and enjoying Christmas so much for the atmosphere and not the dosh! For those of you with little ones, it really is true, that we wish their lives away and then one day we sit down and think, my god before I know it they will be grown up and moving out! Let’s hope that isn’t too soon.

Meanwhile hoping all your clothing labels, your vinyls and the rest all arrive for you in time for Christmas or return to school and be assured we really do care at labels4kids and we are trying our very best to get things to your treasured little ones in time for whatever your deadline is.

Happy Christmas and a safe holiday to everyone!

Comments (4)

December 16, 2008

Checking childrens homework

Filed under: General Chit-Chat — Tags: christmas concert, Santa — Ann-Maree @ 4:47 pm

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good mum all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of choc bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry between cycles, and who knows when I’ll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes: I’d like a pair of legs that don’t ache (in any colour, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don’t hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the lolly aisle in the grocery store.

I’d also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you’re hauling big ticket items this year I’d like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn’t broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, “Yes, Mummy” to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don’t fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting “Don’t eat in the living room” and “Take your hands off your brother,” because my voice seems to be just out of my children’s hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. If it’s too late to find any of these products, I’d settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don’t mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare tomato sauce (even McDonalds for working Mum’s) a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don’t catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don’t eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MUM…! P.S. one more thing…you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children happy, healthy and always believing.

An email addition from Ann-Maree …on my way out to my 2nd Christmas carol concert of the day and now have 2 of 3 kids off on their holidays already!!!! I received this email from my sister today which I know will cheer up all you stressed Christmas shopping mums out there! Happy Christmas to you all.

Comments (0)

December 9, 2008

Man’s best friend?

Filed under: General Chit-Chat — Tags: christmas concert, dogs, labeling clothes — Ann-Maree @ 4:47 pm

By Heidi Soholt

I have just spent a lovely weekend in a posh hotel without the kids. The occasion was my birthday (please don’t ask which one – I’m definitely at that age where it’s not polite to ask) and my dear hubby treated me to some major pampering.

The whole trip went swimmingly well apart from one hitch, which I’ll get to later.

The hotel ticked all the boxes in terms of cosy, country retreat, with a Michelin star chef to boot, and the kids were in safe hands for the night. Hubby’s brother is in fact a doctor, who has raised two of his own children, so no worries there. He is also my son’s equal first person in terms of heroes – the other being my sister’s long term partner. His ‘aunty’ (as he has sweetly referred to his one and only uncle, who happens to moustachioed and six feet tall, since being a toddler) really can do no wrong, and the fact that he is really into cars doesn’t hurt. Oh, and he’s got a ride-on mower, anyone with a young son will understand that one.

The ‘aunty’ lives in a gorgeous, spacious house, in the countryside by Inverness. The idyllic view includes a rail bridge which is so similar to the one in Harry Potter that tourists regularly stop to take photos, none the wiser. All you can hear from the house is the sound of sheep, pheasants and birds, and oh yes, the barking of ‘aunty’s’ dog, Sam.

Sam was the ‘hitch’ referred to earlier. My five-year-old son is absolutely terrified of dogs, a full on phobia that includes tiny, short-legged, daft-looking varieties like Sam. His little sister on the other hand, just loves animals. In fact, she has stalked Sam to such an extent in the past, that the poor mutt took one look at her on Saturday and made for the hills. My son, however, spent his ‘settling in’ period in tears, clinging to me and begging me not to leave him with the ‘terrifying hound’. It was only when I assured him that by closing the door to his room, he could keep Sam away, that he lessened his grip a little, and started to enjoy himself.

Poor mite, it must be really awful to be that scared of dogs. They seem to be everywhere, even in the school playground. I have mixed feelings about this one – I don’t really mind the well behaved small dogs, but take exception to the British Bulldog type variety, which are usually straining at the leash. I’m not convinced that keeping my son completely away from canines is the answer – exposure is the key to the problem, I think, but a large, frothing, barking animal is not going to help matters. I do remember not being overly keen on them myself, and it was only when my family acquired a dog that I really felt comfortable. I did, however, have a reason for my reticence, having been terrified as a baby when a stray dog jumped in to my pram.

My son has no such excuse, but then, who knows what goes on in young children’s psyches.

Monday morning, after such a lovely weekend, was definitely a return to reality. My son was doing his Christmas concert and there seemed to be a hundred and one things to organise. As he had to change into a concert costume I was glad that his school clothes were clearly labelled, thanks to Ann-Maree, I can just imagine the huge jumble of blue sweatshirts, black trousers and so on there would have been to sort through otherwise.

Comments (0)