Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star

nutella. 

The Crib Service at St Phillips Church 

Making Gingerbread Cupcakes. 

Lantern Magic at Chester Zoo

More Lantern Magic! 

Our Pink & Sparkly Tree! I love it, even though the idea was all Matilda! 

My very favorite time of year is flying by!

Sisters I Picked for Myself!

I just LOVE this! 

A New Direction

Ta daaaaa! Do you like my new theme? It's seems a natural shift as the centre of my world is my hilarious dragon adoring firecracker of a girl. At this stage of life she is the hub and everything else is a spoke. As I believe it should be.

Although I'm leading into my most busy crafting time of year far more hours and effort go into keeping up with Miss Mouse

So I'm hoping to be able to write more as it should flow much more naturally now!

Miss Mouse & I won't be able to get home to the States for Christmas this year. It's been a pretty big blow, yet I'm determined to make a big fuss and have a very magical holiday in our own little flat. I've started shopping and hope to have a home full of glitter and as much kitsch as one small home can hold! I'm hoping to stack brightly wrapped boxes under our groaning with glam tree.
I'm getting excited...

It's finally starting to cool down over here. Autumn is arriving with all of the rain and gloomy skies. It makes me feel very cosy. We're going to get bundled up and explore. We'll see you real soon!

For anyone who doesn't know me personally, you won't know that Matilda is a MAJOR How to Train Your Dragon fan. Like super serious. Her passion has become dear to my heart too. We watched the latest film in the cinema. Matilda's first film in the cinema. Perfect. I've become besotted with Valka. The queen. Here is a love song sung to her by her husband, from who she'd been lost from for 20 years.

They were reunited.

For the Dancing and the Dreaming

I'll swim and sail on savage seas
With ne'er a fear of drowning
And gladly ride the waves of life
If you will marry me
No scorching sun
Nor freezing cold
Will stop me on my journey

Stoick:
If you will promise me your heart
And love (sigh)

Valka:
And love me for eternity
My dearest one my darling dear
Your mighty words astound me
But I've no need of mighty deeds
When I feel your arms around me

Stoick:
But I would bring you rings of gold
I'd even sing you poetry [Valka: Oh, would you?]
And I would keep you from all harm
If you would stay beside me

Valka:
I have no use for rings of gold
I care not for your poetry
I only want your hand to hold

Stoick:
I only want you near me

BOTH:
To love to kiss to sweetly hold
For the dancing and the dreaming
Through all life's sorrows and delights
I'll keep your laugh inside me
I'll swim and sail on savage seas
With ne'er a fear of drowning
And gladly ride the waves of life
If you will marry me

A Whole New Life

Wow. It really has been a while!

I've found balancing life and finding time to write, in any form, impossible. Not that the longing hasn't been there. I've bought a new journal....which Matilda promptly christened. I started to feel a bit annoyed about it....but made myself think about how when she's 23 I'll find the journal with her crayon markings and cry over the time that has passed.
So, I shared with her.

I'm trying. I need to write. It helps me release the emotions and thoughts that bind my chest with anxiety.

So....A Whole New Life. It really is.

I'm about to be naked y'all. I've kept this very private. Maybe because of shame, embarrassment, grief, all of the above, plus more.

About 10 days before our 5 year wedding anniversary my husband told me he didn't think he could be truly happy as long as he remained married. Oh. OK? Where in the f*&k did it come from?! The wind was knocked out of me. It was surreal. Kind of the surreal experience people who receive difficult medical news describe. Like you're outside of your own body.
I couldn't comprehend the words.

What? What does it mean?

I'm spare us both the details of the conversation and following week of hell.

When the truth finally came out, I had a "friend" to thank for this. A "friend" of mine had been pursuing my husband and father of my child. They'd been "talking", for get, THIS ... a month.
It took a month for her to convince him that life with her would bring him far more than life with his wife and daughter ever could. He's addicted to her. She has ruined our family and destroyed him.
He's weak. He's pathetic. He believed every single lie she fed him. He still does. Mental illness is part of it. Mental illness is no excuse.

I'm not going to get into all the rest. Let me just share with you that I couldn't sleep, eat, walk, talk, breath or anything. I died. He killed me. However, to remain in a ball in a dark room was not an option. I had my blessed child. My light.

I did indeed die a death. I was flung face first into my very worst nightmare. My greatest fear is abandonment. My husband abandoned me & our daughter. Although his response is "I can see how you would think that" to assure me it isn't the case.
Yes. I am forced to still see him and speak to him at least once a week because of our child.
I have filed for divorce. He has signed and admitted to the ongoing adultery which destroyed our marriage and family.
I'm waiting for the family court to rule and set me free on paper.

I've been walking this road for nearly two years now. It's been hard. Some days it's impossible. Like today. I'm really struggling today with anxiety and stress. It's making it difficult to function. I should probably call the doctor.

We need to go out. I deserve a posh coffee and a treat!

I'm pushing through. I have for the past nearly two years. Some days are a case of pushing with all my might. Most of the time however we are happy and very satisfied in our little lovely life.
Matilda and I are peas in a pod. We fit together just right.


I've fought hard to push through the dark depths, like the lotus flower. It has to push through the mud under the water to reach the sun. Then it suddenly bursts through the surface and blooms spectacularly.
I'm not there yet. I will be one day though.

One step at a time. I like how Tom Hiddleston said it

And I'll tell you this...I have climbed one hell of a mountain.