Reasons to be Cheerful XXXXV: Letter C

I have decided to join in with Michelle's letter theme and go with the single letter C! Could be a challenge.


1) Car help:


This morning my car looked like this:

not a reason to be cheerful but... My neighbour took the children to school, my dad offered to help and another neighbour came and changed it for me! What lovely people I have around me.


2) Cut hair


I never get around to getting my hair cut with a combination of lack of time and money. My last one was at Christmas! With my daughter's documentary filming tomorrow I thought I had better do something. So today I went down to Hair Bazaar to be sorted out by Charlotte:

Not as perfect as before work and a windy school run followed by housework but oh so much better than before!


3) Children


Told my children that they need to be a bit more helpful around the house if they want treats and computer time. They have started being better about carrying their own things too and from school. My son has also been helping with the laundry (now he can reach the washing line!). Still a work in progress but hopefully we will get there...

Reasons to be Cheerful: XXXXI ( #R2BC )

Here are this week's reasons to smile! Having realised that I have actually spent the last couple of weeks feeling like my glass is half empty I'm feeling much more positive this week :-)


1) The car


After months of struggling with my car in the mornings and increasingly after work too it is a real mood shifter to have it working properly! It turned out that the air was getting in the fuel system due to a leaky pipe. This has now been fixed by a lovely mechanic David Break and my car has never started so well.


2) Fun in the sun


On Saturday it was a fund raising fun day for Help for Heroes in Staveley. In turned out to be such a glorious day that I got slightly sun burned! The kids had a great time and hopefully we helped to raise plenty of money too:

3) My Son


For the first time my 5 year old managed the monkey bars at the park. This is a real milestone as he has until now struggled to carry his own weight on just his arms. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke he re-did it again today:

4) 15 minutes of fame

The article about my 730 blips appeared both on the local newspaper website and in the actually paper. In fact my story is the headline on the A boards outside newsagents! Amazing what happens when you get addicted to taking a photo a day:

5) My daughter

At times my daughter can be so grown up. Today in the park she very nicely helped to play with a 10 month old boy and it was fabulous to see. Just hope she shows more of that side!

Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid

Sponsored post


You know I don't think I'd mind owning one of these!

Viral video by ebuzzing

If you want to know all the details then here is the official blurb:


There are many hybrids on the market, but none of them can match the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid.

The world's first diesel plug-in hybrid is Volvo Car Corporation's most technically advanced model ever - an electric car, hybrid car and muscle-car all rolled into one. At the mere touch of a button you can choose which of your three cars you want to drive at any given moment in time.

The production version of the V60 Plug-in Hybrid will be launched in just one colour - Electric Silver. Sales get under way at the start of 2012, and the first cars will be built in the autumn of that year.

"Our plug-in hybrid has received considerable attention since it was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011. Now we're taking the next step by presenting the production model, which is graced with a distinctive profile featuring a spectacular silver colour, an exclusive interior and generous standard equipment," says Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation.

Reasons to be Cheerful XXVII ( #R2BC )

I am pleased to be hosting this fabulous linky this week as Michelle continues her well earned break! It has really helped me to emphasise the positives in my life over the last few months. If you want to join in then please fill out the linky at the bottom.

Here are mine:

1) My car

It's back! There are still problems with it and looks like it will be goodbye to it soon but I am now independently mobile again. I have to thank so many people especially my parents for making lots of sacrifices to get the children and I to where we have needed to be for the last 2 weeks. My neighbour and a mum from school have also been so helpful. I was amazed at the number of people who offered me lifts and/or a loan car to get me through. Budget Tyres tried to work miracles for me and did things at cost/trade price to keep the final bill down. Just a shame the final fix would have been way too expensive...


this isn't a cheerful thing now as the intermittent fault happened way too often...

2) My daughter

On Saturday my daughter showed her business sense and made money for herself and charity painting nails at our church Advent fair. Not bad for an 8 year old and even the adults who had it done said she did a great job. Then we went on to help at a bridge tournament in memory of my granny and several people complimented myself and my mum on my daughter's behaviour and manners (so she can do it!).

3) My son

He is really coming on with his writing and reading at school which is great news. He is also very excited about being a sheep in the nativity! He may have a few wobbly moments but growing up fast.

4) Me

I have had quite a few unsolicited comments about how much slimmer I'm looking! Even my Job Centre adviser said I was looking like I'd lost weight ;-) So even if the scales aren't always going in the right direction I'm obviously doing something right!

5) Work

I have had some really good sales of books in the run up to Christmas and its always such a pleasure to see how many parents, grandparents and other relatives love to give Usborne books as presents. My final big event in the pre-Christmas push is the Staveley Winter Festival tomorrow. Here's hoping that I'll have even more reason to be cheerful after that!

Car less

I have now been without my car for a fortnight whilst the garage continues to try and solve the mystery of why it won't work properly. It has made me realise how much I rely on having my own vehicle for the daily activities of myself and my children.


When I got my first full time job back in 1995 I put a deposit down on a brand new little Citroen AX as it was a 20 mile each way commute with no public transport. I still look back in fondness on this little car as it gave me the freedom to get to all my activities, socialise and visit my family all over the country.

Similar to mine photo by Randy

My next job came with a company car (for some reason an Audi A4 estate!) so I sold my own little car. I had to travel all over England visiting customers from Preston to Ipswich. I'll probably never have such a swanky car again and boy was it far too easy to whizz around the motorway network...


After switching jobs I bought myself a second hand Rover 200. Not too whizzy but it got me to and from work and round about OK. One day the head gasket blew so I used part of the proceeds of selling my flat to buy a nearly new Ford Galaxy. I'd just got married and had 3 step children and the hope of more to come so wanted a suitably sized car. 


The Galaxy was such a versatile car and I loved driving it and having the flexibility to have several passengers. Unfortunately being a petrol engine it became increasingly expensive to run and with a second baby on the way I made the decision to downsize to my current Skoda Octavia diesel. The car was an X reg 1999 model and was much more economical to run. For the last 5 and half years this car has been very reliable (one new part a year!) and has gone through the 162,000 mile mark.


Two weeks ago it started playing up and finally gave up going forwards on the main road through Kendal.. The garage have fixed a string of faults on it but it just won't behave properly. So I am having to find alternative ways of getting about.


When I lived in Hastings I had a couple of spells of being unable to drive due to having a Caesarian Section and one operation on my hand. During these intervals I was able to carry on with my normal routine (nursery, work and shopping etc.) by using the really good local bus network which wasn't too expensive to use. I am discovering that up here in a smaller town that life without your own car is a lot more restricted.