Housewife Confidential » Current Affairs

Juggling

Kat — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:30:31 +0000

Covent Garden

Behind You….

Kat — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:30:50 +0000

Trafalgar Square.

Blue Sky Dreams

Kat — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:53 +0000

Yesterday we headed to the beach to run around and make the most of the last day of the holidays. Things have changed quite dramatically around here in the last month and some time sitting listening to the waves and watching clouds was much needed.

As you may recall, Mr Kat’s employer stopped paying him last summer and that didn’t change much. I would love to share with you the details of what happened, nothing better than a gossip over the back fence, but it is not for me to tell. Suffice to say Mr Kat has leapt and set up his own company with one of his colleagues.

It is quite liberating to be free of that situation but more than a little nerve wracking being out on our own. In truth: I’m trying not to think about it.

I am working away at bringing in more digital work for me. While housewives of yore may have taken in ironing or gone out to char I have been running social media accounts, writing blogs and creating websites for small businesses. I’m not selling cakes from the back door but advertising space and little by little I’m making my income count.

By no means is the year ahead certain and I have no doubt it will be hard work and scary at times but I am excited by what lies ahead.

Parenting Advice from Duncan Goodhew

Kat — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:00:33 +0000

Last weekend we travelled to Birmingham. Perhaps a little ill advised so close to Christmas but we were invited to attend the Flip Flop Flip for which I wrote a sponsored post recently. I’d got the wrong end of the stick about something and thought that Keri-Anne Payne and Rebecca Addlington were going to be at the event along with Duncan Goodhew – a lesson in skim reading!

Held at one of the Pools 4 Schools temporary pools which was situated in a school in Birmingham (which turned out to be the children’s great grandfather’s school – small world) British Gas released 1,000 flip flops into the water in a flip flop water lottery.

So the ladies weren’t there but as you can see, Duncan Goodhew was. I’ll admit to being a little awe-struck listening to him field questions from young swimmers. He has had some truly remarkable experiences and is an inspiring speaker.

After he and the other swimmers had signed autographs I had a couple of minutes to talk to him. With Rachel’s questions about motivation fresh in my mind that’s what I led with.

If you are looking to stay motivated, here is Duncan’s advice (paraphrased by me). Think about how you talk to yourself, listen to that internal voice and the things you are saying. Before you get in the water, or start the work out, take a moment to say how happy you are to be there and that you’re going to enjoy this session. Look at the way the light moves over the water, imagine you’re on holiday. Talk to yourself during, notice how well you’re moving through the water. When you’re finished say how much you enjoyed it because you’ll be filled with endorphins and you will feel great so take the time to feel it. It’s important to go to events like sponsored swims or races, to get that sweaty palm feeling of excitement, to have something to look forward to.

It’s interesting to hear Duncan speak about self-talk being an important part of motivation and enjoyment. I talk to a lot of parents both through my work as a childminder and via emails to this site asking for advice. One of the biggest themes I have noticed is the way parents speak about themselves and how harshly they judge what they are doing. When I posed this to Duncan this is what he had to say: When you’re worrying about history homework try imagining you are 80 years old and you’re sat with your child. What would you have wanted to give to them? A good sense of humour, resilience, a love of live, these are the things that are important. You want to have given your child the skills to live in the world and not just that but to be able to work with the world because that’s what’s important.

Wise words and worth holding on to in the tedious moments which pepper our lives. It is so easy to be lost in the moments of the day to day that we lose sight of our goals and aspirations. Next time I find myself feeling frustrated and fractious I’ll be taking a moment to remind myself of this conversation.

If you’d like to see some decent pictures of the event head over to see the British Gas Flip Flop Flip album.

Strange Fruit

Kat — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:00:05 +0000

I had so much fun reading all of the fruity guesses which came in last week. There are so many fruits which I never knew existed.

But after much googling on your part and many guesses both serious and silly it is time to reveal that it is, in fact, not ‘some kind of massive fat apple’ (Bec), a papple or even the brilliantly named winter banana apple but an old classic:

♥

A QUINCE!

Sweetly scented and a complete pain in the wrist to cut. We have a tree I planted the year we moved in outside our back door which produced two beauties this year. Well done to everyone who got it right!

I have emailed the giveaway winner and will be making up a surprise package over the weekend.

Thank you to everyone who entered and to everyone who liked the facebook page. I had so much fun I think we should play this game again when the liker-counter creeps up to three hundred.

I have two new posts which you may like to read. First the Flip Flop Flip with information about a competition and second a little secret shopping in anticipation of the festive season. There’s also a new Baby Led Weaning recipe coming later int he week once I’ve made yet another bacth (somehow they keep disappearing before Mama’s camera comes out!)

And Wiser, So They Say

Kat — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:00:35 +0000

We have been celebrating Mr Kat’s birthday this weekend. With visiting family, dinner with friends and, of course, cake. Another year older…

Two Hundred

Kat — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:00:31 +0000

I’ve been thinking for a while that I wanted to do a little giveaway. Nothing stupendous, just a couple of things from me to you to say thank you.

Writing in this space and sharing our lives with you is a wonderful experience. The ripples from what I say here spread further than I could imagine and create connections with so many inspirational and kind hearted people.

Each and every one of you has shown us great generosity from your words of support to voting me into the finals of The MADs (I didn’t win, Rachel deservedly took the trophy) to clicking on my amazon links and advertiser’s buttons when you are shopping; for all of that and more we are so grateful.

I have been blogging on and off now for more than ten years now, yet it wasn’t until I started Housewife Confidential in 2007 that I started to feel connected to what I was doing. As I have grown into myself as a Mama and as an individual in the last four years I have opened more of my heart here and the response has always been one of love. For all that is said of the nastiness found online, there is far more to be said of the love.

So if you would like to enter all you need to do is identify the mystery fruit on my facebook page and send me an email with the subject secret fruit and your answer.

I will keep the giveaway open until the liker-counter hits 200 on my fb page so it should give you all plenty of time to have a go. If you are not a facebook user then drop me an email and I will link you to the image so you can have a guess – I don’t want to exclude anyone for their social media preferences!

Technical: It is open Worldwide. The giveaway will remain open until my Facebook Page hits 200 likers (at least as soon as I notice it does) after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified by email. Your details will not be shared with anyone. The prize is a little mystery (yes, this is part of the fun). There is no cash alternative for this prize. Giveaway now closed and fruit revealed…

It is not open to Housewife Confidential family members.

Remembering

Kat — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:48:30 +0000

This afternoon my daughter came home and told me that during the silence today she remembered my grandfather who fought and the people who never came back. That right there just floored me.

I will pass on the importance of remembrance to my children. Lest We Forget.

If you would like to support the work of the British Legion you can donate to the poppy appeal here. To support the movement for an end to war visit the Peace Pledge Union.

Kitchen Playlist

Kat — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:00:18 +0000

Letters in my friend’s kitchen.

My kitchen time is one of the few spaces I choose to fill with music these days. I used to have a never-ending sound track but somewhere along the way it fell quiet, replaced by the chatter and laughter of my family.

I may not have rights over the stereo (this is Monty’s domain and it is permanently loaded with a CD of songs his dance teacher gave to him) but there is a little docking station with an old iPod bought specifically for kitchen music. Not only is there a kitchen iPod but a kitchen playlist filled with the music I want to hear while I’m kneading, chopping, stirring, pottering and taking some time to breathe. The breathing is important and allowing a little music in adds a sweetness to the air.

I love reading about other people’s musical taste, following links and discovering someone new to love. In the last year Lou and Abby have both shared music on their blogs which has found its way onto my list. My hunger for music in my life is returning, music which makes the heart soar, which makes you smile and music to dance to in the kitchen.

Here are five of my favourite kitchen play list artists:

:: Alice Russell ::

:: Emmy the Great ::

:: Feist ::

:: Lisa Hannigan ::

:: Sophie Madeleine ::

I made a little play list on iTunes Ping but I’m darned if I can link to it. If you’re on there, you can find me as: Kat Molesworth.

I would love to hear your musical recommendations.

Housekeeping

Kat — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:01:47 +0000

Picture from Mottisfont Abbey.

Blog housekeeping at least.

I have been busy testing various ways to separate my Baby Led Weaning feed form the main feed but it seems the only way to achieve this is for me to create a sub-domain for BLW. Unless someone knows of a better solution (and feel free to make suggestions) I will be doing that over the next couple of weeks so that you aren’t flooded with baby recipes. Until then I hope you will bear with me.

I am interested to know how you feel about me publishing content away from the main feed.

I have also created a section for reviews and sponsored posts. My aim is to be transparent and allow you the choice of reading it or not. I will provide links to posts but let you decide to read. I’m not going to suddenly publish every last campaign going but when I think something fits with the site, you’ll find it there. I hope that those of you who read here regularly and know what is happening with us at the moment can understand why I have made this choice.

However you feel about it: my first post, fruit for breakfast, is up, it has inspired two new recipes (here and here) and it also has a giveaway…