Secondary school and the beginnings of bullies

How cruel are children now a days?
Recently I've learnt how going from first to secondry school all about how nasty and bad mannered the children are in higher years.
Maybe it's just me but I believed in santa till I was at least 12 :/ yes I believed for many years. Perhaps it was just cos I always hoped for a puppy to be left in my stocking, perhaps for other reasons. But I never once remember an older child telling me he wasn't real and I never once told another child that I didn't believe,or that they shouldn't either.

A few children in the year above TJ have made it their mission to upset as many 1st years at their school by telling them at lunch time that santa doesn't exist.
For one of the families I think they need a lot of Christmas spirit with everything that's happening since they've had their daughters been born. Life has been very tough.
For me it's been hard watching from the sidelines and not being able to help. But hearing what I've heard about the older children and how cruel they are its just infuriating that they are allowed to get away with it and the school can't do anything.
Am I being over protective??

Does your hot drink often go cold??

In my house there's a lot of cold tea drank due to other things, mainly an 8 yr old demanding time or the door bell or cooking... well you get the idea.

As I'm sure a lot of other people find it hard to drink a nice hot cup of tea as well.
Whilst shopping in Wimborne, Dorset what a lovely little town I'd like to add. I stopped in at a rather small but crammed shop with everything you could possibly want for the kitchen from Orange peelers to cookie cutters to cake tins and cups.

I came across these small daisy rubber mats that grip to the cup as you lift it up.
Now this could be my mind but I thought these could be amazing for putting on my tea cups to keep the heat in!

I have a winner !!

After testing these daisys I can confirm my tea stays hotter for almost another 10 minutes giving me more of a chance to drink a hot drink.

Although not cheap but they are worth the amount of money due to wasting cups of tea and milk. I personally think they are worth it.

They came in a few various colors but unfortunately all in the shape of a daisy.

The daisys are dishwasher and microwave safe. As well as being a fat splatter guard when cooking.

So not just one use there are several.

Christmas shopping

When trying to shop for my eldest nephews Christmas present I've found it so hard this year.
I like to get him something he can build as he's such a clever young man. Over past years I've brought him science experiments such as the build a volcano or make your own crystals. This year I wanted something a little different so I opted for this really cool mug.

I like this mug for two different reasons :

1. Because it's heat activated
2. Because it's the solar system

I had to test it to make sure it worked, and I'm actually tempted to go and get another mug for myself.

The packaging itself is sturdy and in the shape of a small shortened rocket.

The mug is chunky but not to heavy. It's black with small white dots on which represents the stars in the sky.
One the boiling waters been added to the mug it takes a minute or two before it activates, the middle area slowly disappears and reveals constellations.

The cup stays warm for a good 10 minutes so if your a slow tea drinker it would be perfect for you.

Personally I think I made the right decision with this present but we shall see Christmas day.

Shoe box appeal number one

Over the next 3 weeks I'm aiming to donate to two different shoe box appeals.
My first shoe box appeal is to the local animal sanctuary that houses cats, dogs, rabbits, pigs, ducks, chickens, horses, goats and other various animals.
I love my animals and I'd do anything I can to help if and when I can. So this year I will be attempting to send in 5 complete dog boxes and 5 complete cat boxes. As well as various animal bits and pieces.
For this challenge I have given myself 2 weeks to get as many shoe boxes as I can and fill with as many animal bits that I can.
I already have tennis balls for dogs and a variety of different treats for dogs. I would like to get a few chews and things for the dogs though before wrapping up their shoe boxes and handing them in.
For cats now cats are a little trickier to shop for, I have cat sachet pouches and I would like to get some of those cat feathers on an elastic which is attached to a stick. Or little ping pong balls or something similar. I don't own a cat and the cat I did have ran away to a house down the road ( obviously didn't like being fed the food it was given or could've been the puppy and Tj ?? )

Have you ever given to a shoe box appeal?
This will be my second year running and I would love to continue as myself I think the best gift is to give to those less fortunate then ourselves.

Putting life on hold

I found out the hard way of how much I've liked someone for years, in fact I've secretly had a crush on him throughout middle and secondary school.
Now this person has never known how I've felt until recently when I told him, yes bad timing on my behalf but at the same time I couldn't keep it bottled in.
Needless to say we're still friends and now he's a little less informative about him and his girlfriend. No more upsetting details for me.
It may sound silly at the same time I want to know that he's OK and that things with him and his other half are going well. No matter what my feelings are for him I would never want to see him upset or hurt nor would I want his other half to be upset by our friendship.
I am very reluctant to let guys near my son or family as we've had a lot happen in the past to us. But no matter what he is there as understanding as always.
He is usually the one I message or call when I am having a hard time at home or with my son. No matter where he is whether at work, out to sea or at home I know he will always reply or call me back as soon as possible.
Don't get me wrong said guy also has his bad side, such as being cocky, annoying and very big headed. But he's always been honest with me throughout everything.
My mom treats him like he's part of the family and no matter what abuse he gets he's always gotta come back with something one step up.

Recently I've been finding I want to settle down, I want to have myself a nice guy, and so I've decided to start seeing someone. Whether or not it will last only time will tell but, I for one don't think I've met my match with this young man.

Christmas calander

How much is to much for a chocolate filled calender?
Well this year instead of paying upto £5 for a chocolate calendar I brought TJ a playmobil one. Although all the boys calenders that were on sale weren't Christmas themed, we agreed on the girls one for one reason. It has a light up tree!!! I can't wait to play with the set day by day.
Perhaps I'm a bigger child then TJ but I'm looking forward to him opening them each day.

Cutting back the lavender

So this week other then being at work, I decided to take on the big challenge of sorting out parts of the garden for winter.
I managed to cut the grass which seemed to take forever and a day as it was damp. As well as cutting back the lavender. Now I've never cut the lavender back before now so I'm not sure how low I shouldve gone, but I still have some green showing on the top so I gave it a shorter at the sides and a little longer on the top kinda cut. It looks so much neater but hopefully it will survive.

Next on the task was to burn all the lavender. It was damp when I started burning and not to windy, so I checked the neighbours gardens to make sure no washing was out and I let loose on the burning bin.