The thing is that everything has been rather busy in our household – Christmas is being held at our house this year so obviously there’s magic tricks to make the house bigger to perform – along with organising who’s bringing all the food

Then there’s New Year – that’s at our house too – it’s a tradition now and I do rather love it – lots of friends and family over and plenty of celebrating to do. This year just to shake it up a bit we’re sorting out a few party games too – with some homemade flavoured vodka to reward/punish depending how it tastes!

So, that’s our house – at the moment we’re busy sorting nativity outfits, wiping snotty noses, decorating trees and we’ve loved a bit of crunchy snow walking in this Narnia style weather!

For those of you that don’t know, I’m a mum to twin girls who are now all grown up at the grand age of four. Which means that our house is already pretty full, our lives are fairly hectic and at the moment we’re preparing to send them out into the world to start full time proper school on 10 September this year (not that we’re counting or anything).

So I’m pretty assured that the answer to the ‘are we having any more’ question is categorically ‘no’. I love my girls to pieces and wouldnt change them for the world – but I don’t envy the new parents dealing with sleepless nights, bottle making, nappy changing, endless washing/changing clothes (for you and the baby!), and all the worries that come along with it.

It’s weird but you really do forget what it’s like – as your kids grow you grow with them so everything you learn about babies and what they need gradually gets pushed out of your brain as you learn about toddlers and then 2 year olds and so on – at the moment my brain is full of what 4 year old girls want/need/demand!

Here’s the top things we’re currently facing in our house:

Fashion
As many of you will have witnessed, our 4 year old girls have a very strong sense of ‘fashion’. Call it strong willed, call it individual – I like to think of it as chaotic genious. You can try as a parent to guide them towards something that matches/co-ordinates even slightly but it’s no use. We’ve resigned ourselves to being happy if they have clothes on that are suitable for the weather and cover them up – spots/stripes/dresses with trousers and skirts with wellies are all fair game. At the moment Twin A is going for the kids of fame look, complete with leggings/headband.

Food
Ahh, food – are they getting enough/eating the right thing/eating too much? Argh. Our household has never been much good at food but, I’m pleased to annouce, this has been solved by the simple addition of gravy to every meal. Hoorah for Bisto I say (the low salt version, naturally). It’s transformed the girls eating habits from a staple diet of sandwiches/raisins/cheese/apple to eating roast chicken, brocolli, carrots, peas, even rice, pasta, stir fry veg, baked beans and potatoes – as long as there’s gravy on top.

Negotiation
Four year old girls are incredibly strong willed, and sneaky with it. Don’t get what you want from on adult? Why not try asking someone else in the sweetest/cutest/most irresistible way possible? They NEVER give in.
There’s also the problem of dealing with two girls who are, near as dammit, EXACTLY the same age. It’s deadlock. There’s no big sister/little sister thing to fall back on so it’s all down to deals, trades and negotiation in our house. In fact I should probably go into some kind of diplomatic role based on my experience.

That’s probably enough for now… the list is endless!

What can I say? It’s been a busy few weeks with some spectacular and scary events dotted throughout…

I paid an unexpected visit to hospital a few weeks ago now, which has definitely put everything out of kilter since… many of my friends have commented that I couldn’t have done it in a more spectacular or attention grabbing way but lets just say it involved a stop on the side of a motorway, a police car, ambulance car and an ambulance! Probably this sounds more exciting than it actually was but thankfully I’m ok – it was those pesky gall stones so just waiting now to have them whipped out! On the plus side it’s very good for the diet, there’s always a silver lining!

We also enjoyed a lovely family holiday to sunny Devon – definitely picked the right week for it and enjoyed the simple pleasures of sandcastle/fort making and also the game of digging holes and sending the kids to the sea to fetch water to fill them. A good time was had by all.

So, I’m off to hospital soon (when the NHS tell me to) and I promise to update more when I’ve had a nice rest and recovered.

Thanks everyone for all my lovely messages/hospital visits/pressies

Here’s what my blog looks like in a word cloud:

Obviously work, online, kids and the election are on my mind at the moment… try it out for yourself!

I’ve been bombarded by leaflets from all the main parties – some more imaginative than others and, according to the Straight Choice website, some are downright lies… who would have thought it? I’m not sure the leaflets and billboards are swaying me in any particular direction – though the grafitti I’ve seen on many of them brightens my morning commute.

I was also one of the millions of viewers who sat down to watch the Leaders Debates. I wasn’t sure what to expect but found I was glued to the first debate – not only on the telly but also on Twitter  – instant reaction from others watching, including other MP’s, gave the whole event a different edge. I know it was staged and turned out to be rather predictable but still, I was riveted.

I do feel rather more involved in this election than I have in any other – I suspect this is down to several things:

• I have a family now – this is bound to change the way I vote, or at least make me think about it a bit more.
• I’m a bit older – so a bit more interested.
• The internet – never has so much information been available – in my student days you pretty much had to go and get each manifesto and read it yourself to find out what they were saying – not so now, you can get bite sized, pre-read, summarised versions of everything.
• The telly - the Leaders Debates may not have told me much about the actual policies of each party, but they told me a lot about how the leaders present.
• Twitter – I’ve not long been on Twitter but I’m a big fan… as soon as a story breaks there’s a hashtag to match it and comments coming in from anyone and everyone.

This election has had it’s fair share of scandal and controversy but what’s not to love about that? Everyone wants a good gossip, a juicy story to talk about! It’s also been billed as the ‘social media’ election – but I’m not convinced about that either. Twitter is one thing but Facebook/MySpace and the like aren’t a hotbed of politics as far as I can see. 

Whatever your take on the election campaign at least it’s got the nation talking and, hopefully, it will be voting too. Probably the best thing about this election is that no-one, not the commentators, the bloggers, the tweeters or even the politicians, know what the outcome will be.

Personally I can’t wait to cast my vote. I was always intrigued when my parents went to vote – to put their X on a piece of paper that potentially could change the way the country is run? How good is that I thought? I still love the old fashioned way we do politics, at the local church hall with a good old pencil and paper.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Love Party won the marmite election!)

But it’s a tough world out there, and these days it’s about more than just writing… there’s marketing, sales, search engine optimisation, paid advertising, page rankings, analytics, social media and on and on and on. But where to start? How can you make the most of these online whatnots that promise so much to those who can get it right? How can you make the most of all this?

It’s a good question, the holy grail of the online presence. Sadly there’s no easy answer either (sorry). The best advice I could give is to get a good strategy in place. Know what your targets are, how you’ll measure success and how you want to get there. It’s no good setting up Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites and anything else you can get your hands on without a clear message and a target in mind.

Once you’ve got an online presence and you start to make contact with people then you’re obliged to keep it going. Sounds obvious but I’ve come across countless blogs and websites that are never updated, sad lonely Twitter accounts and empty Facebook pages. What message does that send to your customers? If you can’t be bothered to update your website then will you be bothered to give great customer service? 

There’s no excuse, big or small, once you’re there, people can see you… and if you want to make the most of online then you need to keep up to date, and relevant – otherwise your followers will desert you or and potential customers will go elsewhere.

Everyone will have some good and bad examples of online usage but I guess the golden rule is that if you don’t know how to do it, ask someone who does. Don’t have time to write a blog, run a Twitter account or update a website? Not sure how to get SEO on your website or where to advertise to get customers flocking? Get someone who does… any copywriter worth their salt will know all this. Of course I would say that though, wouldn’t I!

So, to sum up:

• Online strategy: get a good online strategy in place and identify what’s going to work for you. Look at your customer demographics and do some research, what do they like to do online? If your customer demographic is 60 plus then a Bebo account probably isn’t going to cut it. 
• Measure success: How will you know when it’s going well? You’ll need some targets in place to answer this question. This could be number of sales, number of visitors per month etc. Write it down, monitor it, come back to it and use that information to tweak your strategy.
• Update it: Do this regularly otherwise your potential customers will think you’re lazy, or worse, that you don’t exist anymore and this really won’t help with sales.
• Hire an expert: If you’re serious about this online malarky and aren’t sure how to do it then hire someone who does! Get someone good and the benefits of a great reputation, search engine rankings and consequent sales will far outweigh the costs.

Right, I’m off to write more blog posts, update my Twitter and Facebook pages…..

The Lib Dems get kudos for being quickest off the mark with a leaflet through my door mere seconds after I watched the first news report on the election announcement. I was however most disappointed that it wasnt David Cameron at my door last night but some shiny suited fellow trying to sell me something (spot the difference!?) – I’d heard Dave was in Cardiff and thought he might pop by for a chat with us voters who haven’t quite decided yet…

So, that’s me – one of the great undecided. I’m actually quite excited by this election – it seems for the first time in a long time that it’s not a done deal as journalists scramble for their swingometers and crystal balls. I do quite like this from the Guardian, the poll of polls - with some rather natty graphics. But where’s Jon Snow when you need him?

Having said that, I’m not sure how I’m going to endure one whole month of election campaigning – I’m already feeling up to my eyeballs in leaflets, bombarded with news reports and interactive online swingometers.

What I’d actually like is for the main parties to stop and say “Sod this, we’re not going to do the whole election campaign ‘thing’ – here’s a document with all our policies in – like it or lump it, that’s what we’re standing for…”  Wouldn’t that make life easier? Or perhaps we all love a bit of campaigning, seeing the MP’s out on the trail and working for our votes?

Perhaps the Gordon, Dave and Nick would do well to take a look at the Marmite election campaign. Love it or hate it, it will certainly be interesting to see whether or not more people care about Marmite than politics. At least they’ve got some simple, easy to understand policies outlining some clear benefits too!

Whatever I decide, I’ll be casting my vote on 6 May with (hopefully) a majority of the rest of the population – whatever you think about the general election, surely there’s no excuse for not turning out for it?

Eeek - Dalek!

Even the build up was exciting in our house as 3 generations donned Sport Relief t-shirts, posed for pictures and took a taxi down to the bay – this was possibly the highlight for the younger members of the team…

We duly did some warm up exercises with the rest of the participants and set off amid claps and cheers from the watching crowd.  Alternating between walking and jogging, there were several highlights on the way round:

• Running behind a Dalek (not in front, that’s a rookie mistake)
• Being chased by a group doing their mile on bright orange spacehoppers
• Chatting to some of the other families also taking part
• Feeling that we’d actually done something useful with our Sunday
• Getting some fresh air
• Seeing Cardiff at it’s best
• Running for the big finish
• Receiving medals and a goody bag
• Discovering a prune had been carefully placed in each bag
• Eddie’s Diner for ice cream and blue slush afterwards

So, a massive thank you to everyone who sponsored our team, we managed to raise over £300! We also managed to get our 15 seconds of fame on the local BBC news – blink and you’d have missed us but we were there, between the Dalek and the bouncy spacehoppers!

Domestic bliss?

I watched Rhod Gilbert’s ‘Work Experience‘ last night – the premise is that happy chappy Rhod tries out different jobs around Wales, with ‘hilarious’ consequences… last night’s challenge? Be a stay at home dad and look after 7 kids for the day. Just the one day mind you. Needless to say he found it hard – and who wouldn’t? 7 kids? Argh!?

Now I’m a lucky lady, I go out to work while my other half stays at home with our twin girls… to some this is still rather a ’new age’ arrangement but it works well for us and doesn’t seem to be doing the kids any harm either!

There’s no doubt about it, stay at home mum’s and dad’s do work very, very hard – and, if I’m honest, I don’t think I could have done it for the last 4 years… so thank you J, you’re doing a marvellous job!

That’s not to say I dont think I work hard… in fact, I think I work bloomin hard and just to prove it, here’s a rundown of my day:

• 6.20 – bleary eyed, it’s up to get dressed and get to the gym/pool for the new exercise regime
• 6.50 – arrive at gym, try to hide from everyone as I venture in sans makeup/hair products
• 7.00 – 7.30 – exercise like crazy
• 7.30 – 8.00 – attempt at making myself look presentable/tame hair ready for work
• 8.30 – arrive at the day job – working for a charity just outside Cardiff
• 8.30 – 4.30 – work, eat lunch, work some more 
• 4.45 – arrive home and greet family – break up any disputes, play games, fend off children, say no to requests for biscuits/crisps/a treeeet before tea, hold the fort while the other half goes to the shop for a break, make tea for the kids, make kids eat tea, prepare adult tea for later, persuade kids into the bath, persuade kids out of the bath, dress kids for bedtime, endure last 5 minutes of kids telly, argue with J over who’s job it is to do bedtime story tonight, both end up doing bedtime story
• 7.30 – finish bedtime/hide from doing bedtime, start cooking tea
• 8.00 – eat tea/run up and down stairs to cries/shouts/requests from upstairs – still, more exercise…
• 8.30 – start freelance work – yes, I do other work apart from the day job – take a look at my work stuff pages to find out more!
• 10.00 – give in, stop working and make lunch for tomorrow
• 10.30 – read, in bed, while J tries to sleep (sorry!)
• 11.00 – sleeeep

Phew – not often you work out exactly what you do in a day… what did I do pre-kids?!

But that was pre-twins and pre-mortgage and since we booked our summer holiday a couple of days ago I must admit I’ve been quite excited…

I know that some of our friends would rather poke their eyes out with spoons than take their family to a holiday park, stay in a static caravan and experience the joys of crazy golf, kids clubs and evening entertainment. I used to think the same… but I am coming around to the idea of the traditional sea side British holiday.

There’s a lot to be said for a day on the beach and then returning to your own home from home – ok, so it’s a bit cold and probably looks like something your nan put together in terms of taste, but it’s a lot more luxurious than a cold, clammy tent and the kids love it!

Actually, that’s hit the nail on the head – the real reason we’re keen to go on another holiday like this is because our kids absolutely loved the last one we went on… from arriving at our new caravan home, to unpacking, having their own mini bedroom, staying up late to watch the evening entertainment, swimming every morning, playing outside, visiting the shop, playing pool, making new friends and going to the beach. 

So roll on June when we get to take a whole week out, spend some time all together as a family and have some good old fashioned fun!