The Three Bears

Once upon a time there were 3 bears. Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear. They lived in a cottage in the woods.

The three bears lived very happily together until one day at breakfast time mummy bear said " I've made the porridge but it's very hot, lets have a walk in the woods whilst it cools"

So off they went.

Whilst they were gone a little girl called Goldilocks came upon the cottage. She was lost, cold and tired and hungry. She knocked at the door , but there was no reply, but the door was ajar, she went in. She saw the porridge bowls on the table she was very hungry, so first she sat in Big chair and tried daddy bears porridge, "oh too hot!", then she sat in the middle sized chair and tried that porridge, " oh too cold!", the she sat in the small chair and tried the baby bears porridge "Yummy, not too hot or too cold! Just right " she said and ate it all up!

Goldilocks was very tired now , so she went upstairs to find a bed. First she found Daddy bear's bed, "Too hard"; then she tried Mummy Bear's bed, "Too soft"; Then she found baby bear's " Not too hard or too soft, Just right" so she lay down and went to sleep.

The bears returned from their walk. Daddy bear felt something was wrong as he walked through the door. "Who's been sitting in my chair? Who's been eating my porridge? He said.

Mummy Bear could see something was wrong too " who's been sitting in my chair ? and who's been eating my porridge? She said

Baby Bear looked at his place at table..." Oh no, Who's been sitting in my chair and look they 've eaten up all my porridge? He burst into tears. Mummy hugged him.

Daddy Bear said I'm going to look around, he went upstairs. Mummy followed with baby Bear.

"Who's been sleeping in my bed?" he said, "Who's been sleeping in my bed?" said Mummy Bear, the Baby Bear looked at his bed, "Look ! He shouted "who's been sleeping in my bed and she's still there!!"

The shouting woke Goldilocks. She junped up with fright and ran down the stairs and out of the door, and was never seen again!

Sorry I just couldn't resist, once I'd posted the photo of our family bears, the story just happened to come through my fingers and onto the keyboard! Forgive me!

The three bears are mine and Stan's from our childhood, they now sit as a family on a chair in our bedroom and are the first thing i notice as I sit up in bed in the morning.

This bear is one of mine. He's called Growley, which is a bit of a misnomer as he never did growl, even though he was supposed too. I had him on my first birthday , so that makes him 45 years old. As you can see he is well worn and well loved. But I think he was stuffed too tight with starw and so the growl mechnism was faulty. I used to get so frustrated. The idea was that you turned him upside down and as you raised him up , he was supposed to growl deep and low, but all I got out of him was a grunt!! Don't think it helped with me leaving him out in the garden in the rain!







That reminds me of the wonderful "Teddy Robinson" stories, anyone remember them? lovely stories, by Joan G Robinson..



Just for a short time, he started growling properly, don't know why but then it stopped again. Growley has travelled with me through life and now he's found a Partner in Stan's Bear.











Stan didn't tell me he had a bear for some years. It was when his mum and dad were moving house and they brought over a box of Stan's old things, which had been in their attic. In the box was Bear, this bear has no name. Boy's apparently don't name toys! So to me he is Stan Bear. As you can see he is older than my bear, much more worn out and weary looking, hardly any fur left on him and his head's a bit wobbly. Stan got him on his first birthday too, so that makes Stan Bear 50!







And so to Baby Bear, this little bear is mine . He is known as Baby Bear. I received him on my first Christmas from my very special Godmother, who lives in Switzerland. He is such a cute little bear but not cuddly, very hard stuffing, but I used to carry him around with me a lot. Now he had a squeaker and it did squeak very well, not so now though!

I didn't save many of my childhood toys, unlike my sister who kept all her Sindy's and Baby dolls and her pram, which my mum brought out for our children to play with, so it's really quite special that we have our bears.

What bears or toys have you kept?

Day in the Life -INTHEMUD

Day in the life of INTHEMUD

High pitched barks wake me from my slumber, I glance at the clock , it 5.30am.
I wait to see if barking subsides, it doesn’t, so rather than have the whole household disturbed, I slide out of bed and trip over a dog bone on the carpet and I walk along the corridor to my daughter Bex’s room.
Beth, our big German Shepard /Leonburger, follows me.
I open Bex’s door, out rushes Molly, our Lhasso Apso puppy, she is so excited to see me, her whole body wags with her tail. Beth greets her and they rush around a bit.
I go back to bed but can’t sleep as they are playing chase in the passage way.
I snuggle in to Stan’s back and wait for the alarm to go off. He’s sleeping soundly, not at all disturbed by the caffuffle going on with the dogs around him!

6.10am the teasmade starts up , warming the water until it boils, then the gentle glugging noise as it boils and pours it self into the tea pot, a loud buzzer goes off to announce TEA IS MADE! I lean over and turn it off , turn on the radio to hear Joanne Good’s dulcet tones coming over the airwaves from BBC Radio London. Although we are in the heart of the Sussex countryside we can still pick up BBC London, which is a light hearted talk show in the morning, we’ve been enjoying this for many years, started back in the days when Danny Baker hosted the breakfast show. He now does the afternoon slot, which I never hear . Jo Good is an old actress who used to have a big role in the original Crossroads, very cynical about marriage and quite opinionated, which makes for a good show.

So I pour out the tea and we drink whilst listening, then lay back down till 7am, then have to think about getting up. I usually just pull on my old clothes for dog walking, trackie bottoms and a jumper. Peep out of the window……….

What’s weather like? Dark so can’t really tell, wait 10 mins and look again, it’s been raining, but there’s a slight frost now, so need to wrap up warm. I go down stairs followed closely by Beth and Molly, eager to go out. Thick coat, scarf, gloves, my faux fur hat, (Lucy hates it she is embarrassed when I collect her from school in it!) and welly boots. I wear old riding boots these days, so many problems with getting splits and tears in standard wellies, these riding boots I got from Ebay for 99p. Well worth it!

Before going out I take all my tablets, washed down with soluble Vitamin C & Zinc, I swear by it for warding of colds.

Into Utility, get the leads, the dogs are going frantic around my legs, leads on OFF WE GO ! Through the garden, through the edge of the wood over the stile and into the paddock next door. It is still empty, over 18 months now since the horses moved out, it’s been for sale but no one has taken it on. The foot path goes through it which is perfect for me as I try to control 2 dogs. Beth has to stay on her lead as there are sheep in the next section of fields, Molly just runs along behind!
If I’m lucky I may see the Barn owl, she flies low over the field searching for prey and then sits on a post, just watching and listening.
I love Barn Owls, something so beautiful about there whiteness and the silence as they fly in the dusky dawn. I stand and watch for a while, then on through the fields for about 20 minutes.

Back home. Stan has just gone off to his work. Wake Lucy. Feed dogs. Feed cat, get cat in doors away from dogs. Cat hates dogs. Cat was with us first. Cat’s nose out of joint. Cat chased puppy Beth and scratched her nose. Beth remembers. Beth chases cat. Molly would like to make friends with cat. Cat having none of it.
Feed rabbits, feed wild birds. I love watching the birds through the kitchen window, get so many different birds, will stand watching them for some time.

Must get on: Make Lucy’s lunch. Pack her school bag, make her breakfast.
Lucy comes downstairs moaning. Molly has weed on her floor. Molly still in very early stages of toilet training. Goes for walk comes in for toilet!


8.30am Take Lucy to school.

Come back to house and start work for the day.
I’m very fortunate these days to work for a Family Support Charity and I work from home. So I will start by turning on my mobile, listening to any messages, check emails.
Write up any contacts from yesterday not done. Then I will go out on my visits. I travel the length and breadth of West Sussex visiting parents, offering emotional and practical support. I may go to my head office in Brighton to supervise another worker. I aim to get back in time to collect Lucy from school .
Depending what shift Bex is on I may have to take her into work, sometimes she starts at 6.45am which is an early, sometimes 2.30pm whaich is a late and sometimes one in the middle. I try to be available to take her and pick her up, but if I can’t she has plenty of male friends willing to take her.

3.45pm Back home, walk dogs again, continue admin for work. Lucy has snack and watches TV.
I usually finish work at 5.30pm, just in time for Neighbours, yes , I admit it I’m a long standing fan of Neighbours, ever since I was off on maternity leave with my eldest in 1987. Now the BBC are stopping it, and it’s going to channel 5. BBC loss, 5’s gain!

Neighbours over. Time to prepare dinner. Always a challenge, as Lucy very fussy, so end up doing something separate for her and never sure if Bex eating with us or not. So concentrate on what Stan and I will have.

7pm Stan comes home, I make him a cup of tea, we talk about our days. He goes out to his workshop to do some fiddling on his cars, we have 20 + cars in drive!
I eat my dinner without waiting for Stan, as he will be ages sometimes. Help Lucy with any homework.
When he comes in , he takes up residence in “his” chair in the sitting room. I heat up his dinner and take it to him. He eats. I do his puddings, he eats, I make his coffee and my tea. We sit and watch TV. Stan usually wants to watch Car or truck programmes, so I go up to our bedroom and watch my favourite programmes.
9pm Lucy goes to bed.


9.30pm Take dogs out for final wee.
More cups of tea .
10pm Bath and bed for me. Stan usually comes up about half hour later, so I get to read for a while, though recently been too tired

If Bex is at home usually a string of friends start to arrive around 8pm, cars come and go, they go out they come back. Music blearing from her room. Try to get them to be quiet when I’m ready for bed. Sometimes comings and goings carry on past midnight, I get cross and march in to Bex room and send friends home. I’m a light sleeper any noise wakes me, so I do get annoyed if they won’t be quiet.

And so to sleep and it starts again tomorrow…………………

Not very exciting really, but that’s my life!

Nil by mouth

The letter said " Do not eat after 3am and do not drink after 6am. Arrive at the hospital at 7.30am. Do not arrive before 7.20am as staff will be in the middle of change over."

I duly did as I was told , I ate my dinner at 7pm on Monday evening and had a biscuit at some point before going to bed. I had my bath and "prepared" myself for theatre, removing all make up, nail polish and jewellry. Actually I didn't; I totally forgot to remove my rings and cross necklace. So I had to declare them to the nurse when they admitted me.
I went to bed and slept reasonably well, a little anxious but not enough to prevent me from sleeping.
I awoke to the sound of the teasmade going off at 6.10am, but I thought " It's too late I can't have a cup, it's gone 6am". So I just made a cup for Stan and got up to see to the dogs and get my final things ready.
At 7am we set off on the 20 mile journey to the hospital, it was a damp , misty morning, so no frost the scrap, just jumped in the van, ( Yes, I had to travel in my Stan's van, as he was going straight on to work).
Arrived at the hospital at 7.40am, not too early and maybe a tad too late, but it didn't seem to matter. I kissed Stan "Goodbye", He said "Good Luck and call me later, Love you!" He drove off.
I walked into reception and was greeted by a kindly receptionist, who quickly told me which way to go and to report to the Nurses desk on the ward.

A young student nurse was asked to show me to my bed, it was in a room with 3 other beds. 2 for my consultant and 2 for another. One other woman was already at her bed, her husband was with us. We were asked to do a "sample", she nurse said they do a pregnancy test, just in case...
totally unnecessary as far as I was concerned I knew I couldn't be pregnant...............even so i was relieved when she came back and told me it was negative! So was the other woman as she had long gone through the menopause!

So we sat and waited, I sat and read, the other woman sat and talked quietly with her husband.
Time ticked on and at 10am, the group of doctors came by and did various tests and filled in bits of paper. First they spoke to the other woman, I overheard them say " It's a long list today and you won't go down until the afternoon", then they came over to me and I asked what time i'd be seen, he repeated "It's a long list today and you are last on the list!" "LAST on the list! Why , then was I asked to come in at 7.30am!" I exclaim " Can I have a drink then?"
"Maybe , we'll have to see" he replied.
"I was told that if I was on the morning list I'd be asked to come in at 7.30am , but if I was to be seen in the afternoon, it would mean coming in at 11.30am and being able to have some breakfast, why were we all told to come in early? " I ask
"I can't answer that, " He said, " I'll see if I can get you a drink"
They left, soon a nurse came in, I remembered her from last time, she recognised me too. I explained what had just been said. She agreed that the other woman and I could have a glass of water to drink up to 11am.

So we had our drops of water, we sat and read . The other woman's husband decided to leave, no point wasting a whole day.

At 11.30am 2 new patients arrived for the other consultant, by 12.30pm one had already gone for surgery. We sat and waited and read.
The 12.30pm patient came back, the other one went down at 2pm.
We sat and waited and read some more.
The anestheitist came to see us, cheked us over, no loose crowns etc.
2.30pm came and the other woman went down for her operation. She was gone a long time.
So I just sat and waited and read some more, it was a good book, so good to have plenty of time to read: James Frey's " A million little pieces" about drug and alcohol dependency and his rehabilitation. My client lent it to me, she is about to go to rehab, all thanks to this book.
4.45pm AT LAST they came for me.

The next thing i know I'm back on the ward, it's 6pm, sleep on and off till 8pm, then have a cup of tea, I'm sick............
11pm I'm so hungry, I try a sandwich, I sleep till 4am, I'm awoken by someones buzzer going off, and then can't get back to sleep.
5.45am Have another cup of tea, I'm sick again.
They give me an anti sickness tablet, I'm sick again.
I had anti sickness drugs whilst in theatre but I still get sick.
12 noon I'm not in much discomfort. My new boob is looking good!
I'm really staving now, I've not eaten for 36 hours
Lunch comes,Start with Melon and then a lovely dish of Mushroom Ragout and Rice, I eat it with relish and follow it with Ice cream . It stays down.
2pm I GO HOME. My daughter Emma collected me.

Bosom Buddies

Bosom Buddies Calendar :To quote one of the women: " In a world obsessed with cosmetic enhancement of the human form, in order to create perfection, mastectomy is the unthinkable operation. My fervent wish is that this calendar will dispel the fears of women facing the surgery and that it will demonstrate to them that they will retain the essence of themsleves as women. the reason we have participated in the creation of the calendar is because we feel good, good about ourselves; and we want to pass that message on in the hope that it will give strength and courage to those who need it"

Not long till my operation............

It's just 10 days now till I go in to hospital for my boob exchange, I've not given it much thought really. It is supposed to be a simple operation, taking out the old implant that did the expanding work for me following my mastectomy last March and replacing it with a permanent silicone implant. I should only be in for one night and then home resting for 2 weeks.

I've got rather attached to my temporary boob, it will be strange to have a different one, the permanent one should be more rounded and hopefully slightly lower than this one, because I do look slightly lopsided. Mind you my consultant has warned me that I will my real breast will still be larger than the implant and may wish to consider having a reduction on that side....... I don't think I want to put my self through that. Though in some ways I have this vague feeling that my real breast is now the alien and that both should look the same as the implant and then I'd be balanced. There is no medical reason to have the good boob taken off, but it will always be in the back of my mind that the cancer could come again. Some women who have genetic breast cancer links do have both removed just in case. I'll keep it as long as I can, as I know a second breast lost would have an enormous impact on both my hubby and I, which doesn't bear thinking about at this stage.

I came across a great article about women who'd had mastectomies and were determined to not let it affect their lives, and wanted to prove they could still be glamourous and sexy, they have done very tasteful calendar. If you're interested go to http://www.bosombuddiestrust.org/

On a more humorous note, but still connected to breasts: My daughter's delightful puppy Molly is becoming a naughty little girl and she keeps stealing clothes . This morning as I lay in bed, contemplating having to get up but not wanting to, I could hear this ripping, crunching noise, going on beside my bed. I looked down and could see Molly was chewing something, I grabbed my glasses, without which I see nothing, and discover she has a white strap in her mouth. It's the strap from my bra, the bra itself lying abandoned on the rug, now ripped to pieces! I grabbed the strap and shouted "No" at Molly, but it's too far gone to repair.

Nothing for it, I'll have to venture out to Debenhams to buy a new bra. I only had 2 that fitted well, now just one! Good excuse to buy another, but it is a chore i do not enjoy. It is hard to find a bra to fit me well, with the implant on one side, let's hope they still have the same type in stock , that'll do me just fine!

I'll have to put yet another photo of Molly up, just because she is so sweet, albeit naughty!! This is a photo of my cousin with Molly & Beth , at my parents house in Norfolk over Christmas. It was the first time I'd seen my cousin for several years, it was so lovely to see her.

Molly, in her Santa Outfit!

Our Christmas tree

This is Molly, our new Lhasso Apso pup, she wore her Santa outfit just briefly on Christmas day, but didn't like it so we soon removed it!

Miss Teen Queen- Vote for Rebecca Waight PLEASE!

Some of you may remember that my daughter went for a photoshoot a couple of weeks back, well she is now through to Heat 4 of the Miss Teen Queen UK 2008 contest, she would love to get into the next stage and to do that she needs lots of votes.

http://www.teenqueenuk.com/ is the site

To vote you just need to text : Rebecca Waight to 84205
Each call costs 60p
or telephone : 0901 656 1515 42
42 is the number specific to Becky,
Sadly there is no internet voting.

Sophie was my blog name for her but she is happy for me to give her real name and thanks you for your support.
She already has 47 votes, but one girl has over 100!
So please vote for Becky!!