So you may have noticed I’ve rebranded! Now that my children have got a bit older, my life is a little less about toys so I thought at some stage I needed to evolve and now seems a good a time as any! So I’m no longer Pickinguptoys but I’m still the same dippy sod … More All Change
Imagine the worst hangover you’ve ever had. The bed is spinning one way, the room the other. Your head is banging like a steel drum band. You feel sick again but you’re scared to move, there’s a bucket on the floor next to you and your tongue is stuck to roof of your mouth like … More No, I Don’t Want A Drink Thanks
This time last year I wrote this open letter to my children about my decision to change my hours at work to full time. I thought I’d write an update to it now I’ve lived it for a while. Is it working for me? Well, no is the short answer. I don’t think it is. … More I Will Not Feel Guilty
Inspired by Daddy Poppins recent child free holiday to Ibiza I remembered my own visit. There I was, San Antonio 2002, let loose for a week, my Dad had my little boy and it was going to be the best holiday ever. Right? Well, not really. A simple throwaway comment threw me completely. I was … More The Throwaway Comment
Now I’m not one of those nutters who professes to be able to cure depression in 24 easy steps, this is purely meant as a light hearted post when you’ve had a bad day whether that’s grumpy shouty people at work, nightmare at home with the kids trying to drown each other in the downstairs … More Bad Day? No Way!
Shopping. Love it or hate it, it’s a job that has to be done at some point unless you fancy starving. Jon and I have very different views on shopping. To me it’s a chore, I’m a get in, get it done and get out kind of person. He’s a take your time, peruse at … More Shopping? You’re Off Your Trolley!
Look how fat I was. Just look. Can you see it? Nah, me neither. It’s one of those photos that you show someone and they say “oh wow, look how tiny you were” leaving the “what happened?” unsaid, hanging in in the air. I spent that holiday in Gran Canaria plus several years before and … More Fat Like I Was At Fifteen
If, like me,you spend most nights trying not to bludgeon your hubby (or wife, dog or anyone else for that matter) to death with your favourite shoes (tip – use the daps they’re stingy and deliver a satisfying slap) then I totally feel your pain! I’m talking the kind of snoring that could wake the … More The Old Man Is Snoring
❄️ Open the curtains, look outside and see a rectangular lump of snow where the car should be. Decide that even though other cars have attempted to get out of the cul-de-sac on a hill and I quite fancy a day off I don’t really want it to be because I’m dead. ❄️ Choose to risk a … More Getting To Work In The Snow
When I was at school being 40 was ancient, anything after that and you were practically dead. You were boring, wore corduroy and drank Horlicks at bedtime, we thought. Oh how the tables have turned. I am finding myself fast approaching 40 and have no idea how to celebrate it. Well, actually that’s a fib, … More Friends For My Fortieth?
