tube stop baby

September – the month that…

October 8, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

… vanished without a trace!

Somehow we’re in October. Worse than that, we’re already a week into October and I only just got round to swapping my calendar over from September this morning!

The last month (and a week) has been utterly crazy in so many ways. It was a month in which I celebrated our first wedding anniversary and Master C’s 7th birthday. Both seem somewhat unbelievable as time is going so fast.

It’s also been a month in which I’ve twice been over to Copenhagen with Bonn whilst he’s been working out there. The first time was mainly so that I didn’t have to spend our first wedding anniversary at home on my own, whilst the second trip was with the aim of gaining enough material to allow me to write several travel posts on both Denmark and Sweden. I certainly gathered everything I needed and visited loads of different places that I want to write about, I just need to find the time to actually do so now we’re back.

In addition to Copenhagen and Malmo I’ve also been up to Liverpool and the Wirral and enjoyed checking out charity shops at various other places around the country. We’ve been on the lookout for vintage board games in particular, but also other toy and game bits that we can use for a bit of a new business venture into the world of re-selling and reducing landfill. More on that over on Penny Plays when I get round to writing about it!

There’s also loads that I haven’t managed to get done in the last month – possibly because we’ve been away so much. The house hasn’t got much further forward over the last month, but at least I can now say that the downstairs loo is finished. Or at least it will be when the very final picture is returned to the wall. Once that is done I can finally take some photos and share the transformation with you.

The other thing that is hanging over me are the Clothkits kits that I bought when Tube Stop Baby was just six months old and that I planned to make for her first birthday which is the middle of November. I’ve now got just a month left and really need to pull my finger out and start working on them. I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of craft book reviews, but finding time to actually craft is another matter entirely.

I’ve also been putting a lot of effort into my online blogging and social media work over the last month. Not as much as I would have liked to, but as much as I have been able to manage whilst still reserving a few hours every night for sleep. On the travel front I’ve started off my writing on Copenhagen and Malmo with details of how we managed to pop over to Sweden for dinner during our first Copenhagen stay earlier in the year. I’ve also teamed up with Three to write about how I make the most of their App when I’m travelling so that I can always work on the move and stay in touch with my kids.

Over on Penny Plays I’ve been desperately trying to catalogue and play all the vintage board games that came our way during the summer car boot season. Once we’ve played the games we’re looking to either keep them if they are ones that we can see us going back to again, or otherwise selling them over on our new ebay store. It’s early days yet, but we’re hoping this is a way to keep our board game stocks to a reasonable level so they don’t completely take over the house (and garage!). On the blog itself I’ve been writing about everything from a pre-electronics teach yourself chess game, through to Ghettopoly – a version of Monopoly set in a US ghetto. Somewhere in the middle I also wrote about a vintage Spears Game in which you are supposed to name things that begin with a certain letter of the alphabet – Tell Me. It’s certainly been varied.

In addition to all this I’ve also been trying to put some work into the Vintage Board Games Facebook group that we set up earlier in the year. It’s slow work, but with Facebook you need to really put the effort in to get the results out. I just need a bit more time for the effort part!

And lastly, but not at all least. Over on Penny Reads I’ve relaunched Ladybird Tuesday! This is probably one of the achievements I’m most proud of this last month or so. I’ve really missed my regular delves into my vintage Ladybird book collection and after losing various physical possessions during my divorce and subsequent house moves they are one thing that I am so glad to still have in my possession. There’s a huge body of work ahead of me to try and move all the original posts over from Being Mrs C, but I’m sure it will give me something to keep me out of trouble whilst the winter weather keeps us at home. The posts I’ve included this month vary from an original Uncle Mac book that I received for my birthday, through to a Learn to write workbook from the 1980s and the recent Climate Change book that was partly written by Prince Charles. Also in there was the Ladybird book about Denmark. It seemed somewhat appropriate seeing as I’ve spent so much time there lately.

What is nice though at the end of a busy month is sitting down like this and looking at everything that I have managed to achieve and not focussing on the things I failed to do. I’ve been pushing myself a lot lately with daily to do lists and sharing them on Instagram stories with the #KatyKicker hashtag to help make me accountable a bit for how much I get done in a day. It doesn’t always work, but what I have loved is reading Katy’s own monthly aims on her blog. One of the reasons I started blogging in the first place was as a way of making myself actually do things. Time to get back to using my blog like that and set myself some (achievable aims) for the month ahead.

What’s keeping me busy right now

March 19, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

If you only read about what I’m up to here on Penny Blogs then it may well seem like I’ve not been up to much lately. But if that’s your thought then you couldn’t be further from the truth!

Life, as it always seems to be, is manic!

Having three kids, plus a part-time step-daughter, is pretty much a full time job in itself. Keeping on top of all their social arrangements, plus Brownies, Beavers and Cubs meetings (yep, two children but one of each!), after school clubs, swimming lessons and the various Brownie, Cub and Beavers trips and sleep-overs that seem to be going on at the moment, means I need some ninja logistic planning skills. Then there’s all the things that they seem to need. Dressing up outfits for World Books Day. Cakes for cake sales in aid of Red Nose Day, World Downs Syndrome Day and Autism Awareness Day. Remembering which day one kid needs to wear odd socks and on which the other needs to take a superhero toy with them. Ticking things off on camp packing lists. Sewing badges on to uniforms, paying for school trips and collecting plastic bottles for Arts week. No wonder I feel tired at the end of the day.

Add into the mix a four month old baby, who luckily is happy to be dragged all over the place, but one who still needs feeding at least once every night and that there is your reason I get through so much tea in a day!

There are a few other things that are keeping me out of mischief though.

Firstly, this week we are celebrating a whole year in our “new” house. In a way it looks like we’ve done very little since moving in, and there are still plenty of reminders of retro decor that need sorting. We have though managed to replace nearly every window in the house so far this year as well as getting the garage roof repaired. As I sit here now I’m waiting for a man to come back to finalise a quote for fixing the gutters and some problems with the main roof too. It can be hard sometimes to remember that things don’t just happen overnight. There’s plenty more that I need to crack on and do though. The decor in Master C’s room probably being top of the list. He’s trying to push tings on a bit by peeling wallpaper off himself whilst he lies in bed at night listening to audio books!

On the work front I’m being kept busy with various bits of writing work and some social media stuff too. Having created a whole new online presence does mean that some work has slowed down (which is sadly to be expected) but there are a few leads that I’m chasing at the moment so please cross your fingers.

I’m working away at both Penny Plays and Penny Travels on an almost daily basis. Bonn and I are slowly working our way through a huge pile of vintage board games that we are wanting to feature on Penny Plays as well as some new games and toys that I have been sent to review. We’ve also set up a Facebook Group for people to talk about vintage board games here in the UK. I’d found a couple of American groups, but no British ones, so decided to set one up myself.

On the travel front we’re slowly (see a theme here?) working our way through the 270 London Underground stations that we’re hoping to visit with Tube Stop Baby. We’re up to 28 so far. That’s over 10%! Last weekend saw us cover off the top bit of the Metropolitan Line and I’ve totally fall in love with how unlike London it feels there. Chorleywood (where we parked our car) felt like driving into a small village in the Yorkshire Moors rather than approaching a tube station. I’m a bit behind in writing up all our trips, but I’m hoping to have a bit of time over Easter to catch up. Her Instagram account is a bit more up to date though.

I’ve also realised just how much I need a daily dose of fresh air in my life. The days that I don’t get outside for a walk I find myself struggling with motivation to get anything done. I’ve recently discovered geocaching (and have written a little introduction to it over on Penny Travels if you don’t know what it is) and I’m finding that a great excuse to get outside and explore with Tube Stop Baby. It can sometimes be a bit of a challenge finding some of the caches when you’ve got a pushchair with you, but even if I don’t manage to retrieve every cache that I go after, I’m getting the fresh air and exercise which is making me feel better.

In between all this I’ve discovered just how addictive Netflix box sets are. Especially whilst you’re pinned to the sofa under a feeding baby. I’d honestly forgotten just how much I love a good crime drama on the telly. I’m desperately trying to make time for crochet, as I know that crafting is another thing that I really need in my life to keep a bit of balance. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do as much as I’d like, but small progress is being made.

Inspired by the Sewing Bee I’m also hoping to get my sewing machine out again soon. There’s a cot bed quilt that really needs finishing, but I’ve also got a load of clothes patterns that I’d like to have a go at. A recently trip to a local haberdashery shop had me finding some Harry Potter fabric that I know Little Miss C would love a quilt made from so I’m wondering if I can do something “mummy made” for her birthday in June…

Maybe I should just give up on sleeping as being too time consuming?

7 things you might not know about me

March 13, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

As a step towards getting back to the old school blogging world that I spoke about in my recent post it was perfect timing that the lovely Becky from Thrifty Home tagged me in a post where bloggers are challenged to tell their readers seven things that they might not know about them. As I start writing this I’m not yet sure what those seven things are going to be, but here goes!

1. When I was a child I wanted to be either a detective or a spy. I had little books on both and kept switching my allegiance as to which I actually wanted. Interestingly if you look at my recent watch history on Netflix I still have the same interests! The most recent things I’ve been watching are The Bletchley Circle and Line of Duty.

2. I have been somewhat obsessed with the London Underground since I moved to central London as a student in 1999. It has always fascinated me and I’m always wanting to see as much of it as possible. To make my dreams into a reality my husband Bonn and I have taken on the challenge of trying to visit every one of the 270 stations on the Underground with our daughter – hence her online name of Tube Stop Baby!

3. When I was about 14 years old I was at a school that had an Amateur Radio station that was attracting rather a lot of interest as our Physics master had come up with the idea of the school having an Amateur Radio link with Helen Sharman (the first British astronaut) whilst she was on the MIR space station. Lured in by all the media attention that our school had at the time I decided to study towards my City and Guilds Amateur Radio examination and I was delighted to pass. This meant that I was able to hold what was then a Class B Amateur Radio licence which allowed me to broadcast to other radio Hams around the world. Incredibly geeky, and not something I use any more, but great experience before I studies electronic engineering at university and got a job working for a telecommunications company.

4. I read rather a lot, but one of my favourite books remains Sue Townsend’s The Queen and I. It’s the only book that I’ve reread several times. It’s hard to explain exactly what it is I love about it, but each time I read it it makes me laugh out loud.

5. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to meet quite a few celebrities through my blogging work. The one brush with fame that I’m most proud of though is the fact that I once sold a train ticket to BBC 6Music’s Stuart Maconie. At the time I had a part time job working at London’s Euston station and I was rather thrilled when he handed over his credit card to get a ticket back up to the north west. I’ve been a fan of his radio work for as long as I can remember and this was back before 6Music had even started and he was still doing The Treatment on Radio 5 Live. I’m gutted that he’s no longer on the radio every afternoon as it was a highlight of the long school run for me.

6. There’s not been as much visibility of it here as there was on my old blog, but I am an avid Ladybird book collector. There are over 400 books in my collection at the last count and I am still desperately trying to reorganise them after we moved house last year. As soon as I get that done I’ll be re-starting the weekly sharing of them over on Penny Reads.

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7. The last thing on my list isn’t much of a surprise, but it’s such an important part of me that it’s worth mentioning again. I’m a tea addict! A decent cuppa (and it normally has to be Yorkshire Tea) is the first thing to pass my lips in a morning and throughout the course of the day there’s usually a cup to hand. Even when I’m on the school run. Luckily I’ve managed to lure Bonn away from just drinking coffee and our outdoors adventures are often accompanied by a flask of tea these days. Pure bliss!