Did We Learn Anything From The Recession?

I did some Economics reading in preparation for this post. That was a daft idea. A HA HA HA HA HA! Ahem.

Maybe a smaller house ..

I was looking for an explanation of the causes of our recent worldwide recession and I found this on Wiki, which I was doing okay with until it mentioned the 'Gaussian Copula Function'. I wondered what it was and if I come across a word I don't know in a book I'm reading, I'm the sort of person who stops reading and looks it up. So I followed the link for Gaussian Copulating whatever-it-was here ... and then somewhere about half way through the document, I think my brain fell out. Or exploded or something. I'm not entirely sure but it hurt, and I decided I'd done enough research. (Let me know if you do any better, I still want to know what it is.)

But as this is my blog, I'll just come up with my own half baked theories and carry on with the post regardless. What the heck, I tried to get better informed.

What's Your Kids Bedtime Routine?

WARNING!! Mummy post alert!

I'm intrigued. We have a bedtime routine in our house, does everyone else? I'm not sure where it came from, or if my siblings and I also had one, but pleased and possibly smug sounding to report - it's working well.

Both our boys had turned two, youngest Nate recently, when we decided it was time for them to have 'Big Beds'. And the move from cot to bed made it seem apparent that it was also the right time to get them used to going to sleep by themselves. 'Self Soothing' as my UK NHS mothers manual used to call it.

Are some of you shocked? Reading back to make sure I said age two? It's apparently possible for a newborn baby to learn to self soothe, and it's all about teaching them early the 'correct' sleep associations, meaning the things your baby associates with going to sleep and therefore perceives it needs to do so. 'Correct' sleep association tools would be a bottle of milk, a teddy bear, a blanket. 'Incorrect' sleep association tools are, er ... well Mummy and Daddy apparently. If you cuddle and rock your baby to sleep, then your baby will perceive that they need you to do so. I remember dire warnings from the midwife and in bold in the manual something like "the longer you leave teaching your child, the harder it will be. ROCK YOUR CHILD TO SLEEP AND MAKE A ROD FOR YOUR OWN BACK!!!"

Well I Never ... No.5

Did anyone notice I missed this post last month? Ssssshhhh. Can you believe I was struggling to think of three new things I'd learnt? Shocking. I should be a total sponge for new knowledge, learning new things every day. Had I really not learnt anything new in a month? Sheesh.

And then Hubby, as he so often does, came to the rescue. Over the years, I've learnt a shedload of interesting and useful knowledge from Hubby, he's a great source. In the space of a few days last week, he'd taught me three brand spanking new things so without further ado, and as an ode really to Hubby and his fountain of uncapped knowledge ...

Three Cool, Useful or Otherwise Interesting Things I Didn't Know a Month Ago.

Get Me, I Did a Guest Post!!

Ah me, it's another link for that other WeezaFish who writes elsewhere.

Actually, it's all me wherever I'm writing. I like the idea of having an 'Alter Ego' blog where I swear lots and talk about my sex life too much, but I just don't have the attention to detail that I think that would require. Meaning I'd forget which blog was which, and end up sharing something I really didn't mean to on Facebook to my family. With hilarious consequences .....

They used to use those three words at the end of nearly every TV Guide review of a comedy show in the UK. "This week, Tom's car breaks down again and he gets in trouble with the law. With hilarious consequences".

I digress.

I did a Guest Post, yay! My first ever. Okay, first time asked too so call me a Guest Post Slut if you want, but I couldn't say no.

What's Going on Over at WeezaFish?

You nearly got a post then, but I realised in writing it last week that I was all inspired by my recent addition to the Indie Chicks family and it was really more of an Indie Chicks thing, so I sent it to them.

They posted it today, yay! Go see, go see. Comment if you please (not afraid to just ask for your comments me).

AND now the lovely Elle of Thisismommyhood has asked me too, would I post to her site A Nervous Tic Motion! Jeepers, it feels nice to be asked. Elle's another great writer I admire in blog world, and I love her 'other' site. And man she's nice, I call her Lady Elle. She is a Lady.

I sent her something today, I hope to be linking you to it on her site soon.

But I don't want anybody worrying that these new found writing outlets of mine are going to turn WeezaFish into a blog of links to other sites where my actual writing is. So here's a list, a sneak preview if you will, of my upcoming posts to WeezaFish. Indie Chicks, Elle you're very lovely and cool and all that but you can't have them. Listen to me, talking like I'm some big shot now. Snicker.

Memories of ... School (Part 2: High School/Secondary)

Could Have Been My School

My Secondary School (or High School) was in fact two different schools, as we moved as a family in my third year (? I think). Not that it matters, UK Secondary and Comprehensive Schools in the 80's were all pretty much the same. If you're a Brit, think Grange Hill with less drugs. If you're not a Brit, 'Grange Hill' was a kids TV show in the 80's about a .... UK Secondary School. If you were a kid in the 80's, you wished your school was like Grange Hill but your parents hoped and prayed it wasn't at all like that. Mine was a bit! I'm whistling the theme tune to Grange Hill now.

Burnt in My Memory: Walking the halls between classes trying to look cool and attractive at all costs and at all times. Because everyone's watching you, right? Not easy to achieve my ideal High School look of a cross between Boy George and 80's Madonna when my Mum was still responsible for most of my wardrobe. AND I had to work around that dumb uniform and stupid school rules about make up and hemlines.

The day I was given detention by my impossibly unforgiving French Teacher (also Head of Year) for ... ASKING A QUESTION. Yes, I was punished for my enquiring mind at school. She ordered me into the Store Cupboard at the back of the classroom, there was a small desk inside and a young chap in school uniform whom I didn't recognise. He looked at me as I walked in and said deadpan "I've been here for years".

Throw Your Hands Up at Me

"All the women, who are independent .. throw your hands up at me!"

(Hands in the air like you just don't care).

"My house, I bought it (I rent). My car, I bought it (I don't drive). My .. er ... la la, THROW YOUR HANDS UP AT ME!!"

No? Partying on my own here?

Ahem.

I've only been blogging for ... (let me just check) ... it'll be a year next month. Woo hoo! I'll let you know where the party's at. So, less than a year and the very cool and pretty awesome Chiara Mazzucco of Chiara Says contacts me and asks me if I would write a post for a new online magazine she's co-founded, The Indie Chicks which went live today. (Yay! Happy Going Live Day Indie Chicks! *CHINK*).