Are Mother in laws evil or is it the daughters in law?

When I was growing up there were a lot of comedians, who liked to joke that Mother in Laws were evil. I never really got it, because as far as I could see my parents both got on with their respective Mother in laws. So I knew that it was a joke, that it wasn't something that really happened and then I found the man I wanted to spend my life with, and we dated and we got engaged and we got married.

My understanding of the mother in law relationship changed. I was now part of the relationship between mother and son, I was one third of the relationship.

I got on with my Father in law almost from the first second that we met, (and his Second wife), but my soon to be Mother in law seemed to be a little more distant. I was sure at first that she was disapproving because Flyfour and I were engaged and practically married before we met (as in my MIL and I not Flyfor and I) and then maybe because Flyfour and she were close, then maybe because I wasn't C.O.E. like she was...

I'm still not sure why she seemed not to like me. Maybe she really didn't like me, although I always thought and have been told that I am likeable. I'm still not close enough to my MIL to ask her and I certainly won't ask Flyfour to ask her so one of you is going to have to.

I could tell you hundreds of stories about my MIL, and I'm sure that she could tell you hundreds about me. And that's the point isn't it?

I chose Flyfour to be my husband, I knew that I wanted to spend my life with him but I didn't do the same "vetting" on my future in laws. These people are going to be in my life FOREVER (especially being LDS as I am as I believe that Family is eternal and not just death till we part) and yet the only connection I have to them really is their son.

Then when I had Big Boy, I understood that I was going to be the worst Mother in law in the world. This little boy means so much to me, because he's my son. Yes, I'm teaching him everything I can so that he is respectful, kind, loving, giving so that he is going to be one of the best darn husbands of all time and his wife will love me for it BUT I'm still going to want him in my life.

I'm going to want to come and see their babies, I'm going to want to have them round my house regularly for dinner and I'll want them to have me round to their home too. I'm going to want to be as involved in their life as I know that I will be involved in Top Ender's.

My poor daughter in law is going to hate me for being so involved.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

There is a reason

I'm not sure if it is having a faith, or just the way I think, but I'm pretty sure that everything happens for a reason. At times I might not know what that reason is, but eventually I find a meaning behind everything and so when something happens that makes me think;
"Oooh that's a bit strange!"
I know there is a meaning behind it.

On Sunday I was in my bedroom catching up on Doctor Who whilst preparing for next weeks Relief Society lesson (I'm teaching) and hanging around in case Big Boy needed me, as he had decided he wanted to play in his room. After it finished, I thought I should do a bit of House Keeping on the Sky recorder and so deleted off a few programmes that I no longer had an interest in watching. I was deleting off a lot of the series Touched by an Angel, when I came across one that wouldn't delete. So, I thought I'd best watch it.

The synopsis of the story on the sky guide was "The angels help a family that usually runs like clockwork, when everything seems to go wrong at once." As I started watching it, I realised that the crux of the issues that were to change this family's life and to bring them closer to God was the diagnosis of diabetes in their daughter. That's why in part that I started going back to Church, the diagnosis of Big Boy's diabetes. It's how I got closer to my Heavenly Father again. Before Big Boy was diagnosed a few things happened in our life, just small things that made the diagnosis that much easier to handle.

I started meal planning and making sure I understood what it was that we put in our bodies.

We got a proper schedule in place for what time we ate our meals, and when we exercised and when we went to bed and when we got up.

We started clearing out the junk in our home, allowing us to have space for things we needed.

There were many more things that happened, there were many more ways in which we were prepared for the huge change in our life, just like the characters in this TV Show and just like them I wanted to give thanks for my life and my family.

It seems strange to some people, that my son was diagnosed with a life changing illness and I wanted to give thanks.

I wanted to give thanks because I'm blessed, every time I give Big Boy an injection I remember how precious life is. Every time I wake up I remember how lucky I am, how lucky we are as a family to have the support of a wonderful care team, the technology to allow us to manage Big Boy's diabetes and the love of each other.

There were a few more messages in the TV show that were just for me, they are too personal at the moment for me to share, but I know that there was a reason that this particular episode of Touched by an Angel wouldn't delete and I'm grateful and proud to be my Heavenly Fathers daughter.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Talent

I've been thinking a lot about talent in the last few weeks, I think it has something to do with my talk that I gave at Stake Conference and also because I've been watching Britain's Got Talent and The Voice.

Growing up, I didn't have a talent. At least I didn't think I did. The only thing I was really good at was reading, I could read a book in no time at all and quote huge chunks back but it wasn't really an example of an eidetic memory, just I was good at remembering what I had read. I'm still good at reading and remembering what I've read, but this is from years of practice and memorising huge chunks of plays to quote in essays and to perform on stage.

As I got older I realised that I enjoyed singing and according to Music Teachers I was quite good at singing. I had dreams of being the next big Superstar, but I knew that I didn't have the look or in reality the ability. As I got older still it was realised that I was also an okay actress and I was taught how I could use that to my best advantage. Still I wasn't good enough to win an Oscar, but I can fool most people into thinking I'm confident and not shy.

As I got older and found employment, it was discovered that I was a people person. I can make people relax, I can get people (most of the time) to do what I want them to do and interacting with them, despite actually being terribly shy is easy for me.

As I got older still it came about that some people realised that I was able to speak fairly eloquently. Yeah, I know that I don't show here on the blog, but trust me if you listen to me talking you'd apparently agree. I still think I sound like a wally putting on a fake posh voice, but I'm often told that I have a voice for radio. I'm pretty certain that this isn't an insult and that they aren't really saying I have the face like the back of end of a bus! ;)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we don't always see our own talents. Others may point them out to us and we might not agree (I enjoy singing and I enjoy acting but I wouldn't say they were a talent) but we do have something that makes us special, that make us unique, that makes us who we are. What we need to do is work out what our talent is and it can make us happy.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Clothes Shopping

I hate clothes shopping. I think that I always have.

I hate it because I'm fat.

It's okay, I'm allowed to say I'm fat because I am. You aren't allowed to say it though, because that's rude.

I'm losing weight steadily, I know because even though I'm not weighing myself for two more weeks my trousers keep falling down.

So I needed to go shopping. I need new clothes.

I brought a new top, a new cardigan and a new dress on Saturday.

I brought a scarf and a pair of trousers on Monday.

I brought a pair of shoes on Wednesday.

I brought some jeans on Friday.

Each day as I lose weight, I'm looking forward to buying clothes to fit me. I'm looking forward to going clothes shopping.

Apparently wonders never cease.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Can we make the World a better place?

I've said countless times before that I don't read the news, because I hate that it is always doom and gloom and stories of death, dying, hate, crime and the sort of things that make you wish you had a magic wand to wish it all away. I always said that if something major happens, I'd hear about it. Someone would tell me.

With Twitter and Facebook though, I find out a lot quicker than I expect. Sometimes I hear about disasters before the major news channels have it up on their new pages or on the TV. And so it was yesterday when I heard about what is being called the Woolwich Attack, by the British media.

When I first heard it, I assumed it was gang related. I assumed that some stupid kids had decided that some more stupid kids were their enemy and had done a stupid thing.

And then, I found out.

I found out that a man willing to put his life on the line to protect his country, to protect those around the world who were being unjustly treated had been murdered, because the people behind the attack figured he was, as part of the British Army, murdering *his* people, rather than liberating a country from a dictator. I say *his* people because as far as I know the people who murdered this solider are British, as was the solider, so surely we are all the same people? Surely the only difference between them was a viewpoint.

And I cried.

As always there are going to be idiots posting that without religion this wouldn't happen, there are going to be idiots who think that just because you are a Muslim that you are a terrorist, there are going to be idiots posting racist drivel about how if you don't like this country then you are free to leave.

That's not the answer though is it?

Really, the only answer I have at this time is that maybe, just maybe if we all were a little nicer to each other, if we all cared a little more about those around us, if we put other people before ourselves and we taught our children that we don't judge based on religion, or skin colour or what ever else people think it's okay to judge other people on the World might be a nicer place.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Zoning Out of Life

Something that I am always fearful of happening is zoning out at Church. When the Sacrament is passed, you get a few minutes (depending where you're sitting) before someone passes a tray to you and knowing how deeply I can get lost in thought I'm always worried that someone will have to punch me a few times before I wake up enough to realise what is going on.

It's only happened once. It was Easter Sunday and luckily we were sharing the pew that week with a family I know and they managed to "wake me up" fairly quickly. Well they managed to rouse me anyway. I know why it happened, I let my guard down because I'd already had the Sacrament passed to me and I had started praying and was so deep in prayer that I wasn't ready for someone quiet, I was waiting for something loud to rouse me from prayer!

It got me thinking though.

How many times in life have I zoned out? How much of my life have I missed out on?

How many of us live our whole life on autopilot not actually observing or taking part in what is going on around us?

I'm pretty sure that most of us live at least some of our life on autopilot. I can drive from my house to the supermarket and when I get there I realised that it must be a miracle that I didn't crash as I don't remember how I got there. It's like I've switched off, switched to autopilot and missed the last five minutes of my life.

I guess five minutes here and there is okay, it's the people that live their whole life on autopilot that I worry for really. They probably don't even know that they are missing out on their life. They don't realise that they aren't giving their all. They don't know that they aren't living an active life.

They don't know that they are missing out on the best thing, they are missing out on their life.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

I'm not ready yet

It's late.

I'm not ready to go to bed quite yet, so I'm putting it off.

I'm sitting here watching TV programmes that I've recorded at other times and writing blog posts.

I'm making plans for things I have to do tomorrow, and the day after and the day after.

I'm making a hot chocolate and drinking it to try to make me sleepy.

I'm making sure that the dishes are done.

I'm making sure that lunches are made and packed.

I'm trying not to lose myself in thought, trying to keep my thoughts straight.

I'm going to go and lay in bed with Big Boy and hug him.

I'm going to go and put my head on Top Ender's pillow and hug her.

I'm going to go and curl up in bed next to my husband and hug him.

I'm hoping that sleep will come soon.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Stake Conference? You what?

I realised this morning that even though I had mentioned Stake Conference in my post You Can't Say No, and said that this was an LDS thing that only LDS people would understand that my non LDS friends are going to want more information about what it is exactly.... so this is my explanation.

Firstly to make things easier, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and from now on I'll use the initials LDS. I'm a Christian, I read the Bible and The Book of Mormon and I believe that we have a living Prophet. I converted when I was 18 (I might have been 17,  I can't quite remember as I've had two children since then and lost half my brain cells) and I like Chocolate... oh wait, that is nothing to do with my religion!

So I go to Church in a Ward, this is basically a boundary to define the area and is really just another word for a parish. There are smaller congregations, and these are called branches, but I've never belonged to one! The Ward is presided over by the Bishop and his two Counsellors and we call this the Bishopric.

Local Wards are grouped together into Stakes, and these are presided over by the Stake Presidency, we have the Stake President and his two Counsellors and there is also a Twelve member Council called the High Council, but I actually don't know a lot about that or them. I'll give myself some homework and find out about it if anyone wants.

Above this we have Areas, which are where Stakes are grouped together and they have leaders too, but I doubt I'll be talking about those in the near future, so I'll explain those if I ever talk about them!

So every six months or so we have what we call Conferences. We have BIG ones where the whole Church across the World will listen to talks by our leaders and we call them General Conference. We have ones in our Ward, which funny enough are called Ward Conference and the talks are given by the Stake Leaders and then we have ones in our Stake too.

These are called Stake Conference and is the reason I was in so much of a tiz, was I'd been asked to talk in our Stake Conference this weekend. The talks in Stake Conference are generally from the Stake Presidency and Stake members (that's me) that have been called upon by the Stake Presidency to speak on a topic assigned to them.

My talk last night went well, I might type it up and add it as a blog post here, but I think that you get enough of my random natterings as it is ;)

So there you go, a basic grounding in phrases I drop as if they are totally normal (well they are to me!). If in the future I start talking Church phrases that you don't know just let me know and I'll explain or try to and find someone much more qualified to answer if I can't.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

What's At The End Of The Rainbow?

I was thinking last night on the drive home from the Theatre about the end of the rainbow. For Beverly and Sue and Angela, I'm pretty sure that they thought that marriage was the end of the rainbow for them and then when they got there, they discovered that it wasn't all happy ever after after all (Sue got a divorce, Angela was treated like a well, a woman in the seventies and Beverly was pretty evil really).

So what is the end of my rainbow?

At the moment losing the weight is my goal, so being the "right" weight for me is the end of my rainbow and I'm not sure what I'm expecting.

Am I expecting that as soon as I lose all the weight I will magically be happy?

Am I expecting that as soon as I lose all the weight I will magically be pretty?

Am I expecting that as soon as I lose all the weight I will magically be proud of my body?

Am I expecting that as soon as I lose all the weight I will magically be where I want to be in my life?

I don't really have the answer to what I'm expecting. I know that I'm not going to step on the Scales and as I step off a magical pulse will cover the world and all the problems I think are in my life be made better, but I'm not so sure that I full understand that in my heart.

I guess once I reach the end of the rainbow, I'll have to take it one step at a time.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

You Can't Say No

If you aren't a Latter Day Saint, then a lot of the phrases or things that I talk about might not make a lot of sense and this is one of those posts.

Earlier today, a member of the Stake Presidency gave me a call. We chatted for a few minutes about having missed each other at Ward Conference a couple of weeks back, and how we would catch up at Stake Conference this weekend when he dropped a bomb on me. He asked me to give a talk at Stake Conference, which at the time of asking was just three days away.

I accepted the talk, I really don't know why. And then I started to panic. Giving a talk to the whole of the Stake? That's worrying for me. I talk to you easily enough, but that's because you are all tiny people who live in my computer and who are more worried about if I put an apostrophe in the wrong place rather than what I'm actually writing about.

The members of the Church who will be at Stake Conference will want to listen to what I have to say. They won't care if my notes that I'm reading from are spelled correctly, they will care if I'm talking with the Spirit.

I've prayed and prayed and prayed. And I've had the inspiration that I need to approach this like I would a blog post. I need to write what I feel and pretend that I am talking to you... I'll let you know how it goes after my talk on Saturday evening.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Do you ever hold on to a secret?

I have a secret, which I'm going to share because it isn't a "real" secret, it's just a thought that I like to keep to myself and when I'm feeling down or lonely or just want a few minutes to myself, I tell myself that secret and bask in the warmth that I get from knowing something special is going to happen.

It's selfish really. I know this because when I shared my secret with some friends they were so pleased for me and excited and happy and joyous and every other word you can think of, that if your friend told you some great news you'd squee out until you were spent.

There were plans made, and hugs given and messages exchanged and offers of support given and phone calls placed and grins all over the place. I do believe there were even a few prayers of thanks and love and praise.

Now, thinking back over the three groups of friends that I've told I can see the love and support that they unconditionally offer me and why they all reacted the way they did.

I can understand why they are so excited, it's the same reason I'm excited.

I know why there were tears, it's why I'm crying right now.

And so I'm sharing this secret with you, it won't make sense to a lot of you but to those in the know it will.

I'm going to the Temple.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

It's just like Crack

There are some phrases recovering over weight people, like me, hate to hear. Phrases like;

"I lost 7lbs in one week on this diet" 
or 
"I heard that Celebrities use this diet to lose up to a stone in a week!".

Phrases like that are like crack to us.

We're working hard to lose weight at a sustainable and sensible rate (roughly 2lb a week, but it can be more depending on how much weight we have to lose) and hearing that there is a new diet on the market that will help us lose a stupid amount of weight and quickly, immediately makes us want to jump on that diet.

We can't help it. We know in our hearts and heads that slow and steady wins the race, and that it is far more sensible to work at the weight loss, so that we understand how to maintain our weight when we eventually reach our goal, but getting to our goal a little quicker? Who wouldn't want that?

And so we plod on, wondering why other people can jump on a diet and lose so much weight in one week and we're stuck here losing it slowly.

And eventually we're get to our goal, and we'll be ready for the new challenges that lay ahead.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

My name is Dan Jon Jr

Over on A Mothers Rambling's I call the children by nicknames. To start with, it was because I wanted a level of security, if a stranger didn't know my Children's real name then they couldn't convince them that they knew them. And knowing that if I google myself I get some really dodgy stories, I wanted the children to have some protection of a future boss googling them and finding out about the time that they ran naked through the garden (actually that was childhood me) or snogged a boy in the cloakroom at School (again me).

Gradually the nicknames became used more often. If I was in a crowded place and I quickly needed my children's attention then their blog names get their attention quicker than shouting their quite common, given name.

Their nicknames became their second names, used almost as often as their real names.

I didn't think that it really effected them to be honest and then Big Boy started making videos of himself playing Minecraft. And at the start of every video he introduced himself to his viewing public;

"Hi! This is Dan Jon Jr. here..."

Who the heck is Dan Jon Jr? Who is Dan Jon Sr for that matter! We don't know anyone with those names, we don't even know a junior! And yet that is how he introduces himself.

Whilst I would quite like to know where the inspiration for this name came from, I'm not that worried about this alternative identity. He's introducing himself with a secret identity, because that is what he thinks you do on the internet. Why he chose these names, I don't really know but they are his. They are his identity, his chosen way to present himself to the world and I'm glad that at nearly five he's sure enough in himself to decide that he knows who he is.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

What would I do if I had no internet?

I'm not saying that I'm an internet addict, but I think I'm pretty close... So what would I do if I had no internet?

I'd clean the house from top to bottom.
I'd go to the gym or for a walk or a bike ride.
I'd go to my friends and Neighbours houses to chat.
I'd bake cakes, cakes and more cakes.
I'd cook every meal from scratch.
I'd read.
I'd write.
I'd not put things off.

I'd be bored
I'd be alone for most of the day.
I'd be lonely.
I'd be fatter than I am now
I'd be frustrated.
I'd be less educated.
I'd be more in my head.
I'd find new ways to procrastinate.

I guess that even though the internet can be the thorn in my side, that it brings as much as takes away from my life.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

I'm not fat but you are

I thought that I was setting a good example.

I thought that by showing the Children how to eat right, how to exercise and how to not get to the point where I am (overweight) that they were going to live happy and healthy lives. Diabetes of course screwed that up for Big Boy in part, but it turns out that I have too.

"I'm not fat but you are" is something said to me on a daily basis by Big Boy. Big Boy has understood what I've been saying and instead of understanding how it applies to me and instead of taking it as a warning and having an understanding of why I'm overweight and how we can stop me from being over weight and how we can prevent him and his Sister from becoming over weight he sees it as something that he can use as an insult.

And yet he doesn't understand that to me it is an insult.

I mean, yes he is 100% right. I am fat and he isn't. He is just making a statement of fact as he sees it (and there is nothing like a child to make a statement of fact that cuts straight to the heart of the matter) but I still see it as an insult as I'm sure all of the people he might say it to will.

I've created a problem and I don't know how to solve it.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!

Happy birthday me

So, it's my birthday.

For the last couple of years I've pretended that I'm bothered that I'm growing older. I've joked about being younger than I am and even friends who were in the same School year as me, joined in with the joke.

But it doesn't bother me.

I'm not worried that I've got a few grey hairs (apparently as I can't see any) or that I'm closer to my death than I am my birth.

I have a brilliant life. I have a wonderful family. I have faith. I have (for the most part) my health. I have friends and later on today I will have cake.

And yet I still pretend.

So if you see me on Facebook or Twitter today telling you that I'm 28 or there about, then tell me I don't look a day over twenty. Tell me Happy Birthday. Just join me with the joke.

Have you added Pippa World to your RSS Reader yet? Don't delay do it now and get all my posts delivered straight to you! 

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!