Green fingers and happy hearts.

Today we made a family effort to sort out our garden. Well, its not really a garden, more of a very small courtyard at the front and back of the house both of which are graveled and very boring. The front of the house is the dogs domain so not much lives there for long before it is eaten, trampled or dragged out for use as a tug toy and the back of the house is fenced and doesnt get much sun so I have to be selective about what I put there.

Most people living along our street dont bother............ fools! It is amazing what we get out of our small graveled bit of land. In previous years we have had cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, radish, spring onions, peppers and more, all prettied up with flowers and even a little water feature. So what if we dont have nice flower beds and vegetable plots? We have pots! Aside from the obvious benefits like a cheaper shopping bill we also get sunshine, exercise, satisfaction and most importantly time together. Hubby left his computer, kiddo put down her DS and we all spent some time in the sunshine, ok so hubby didnt last long but he happily came out to do the heavy lifting and suchlike when I asked him and to offer his opinion when I didnt....

We made good progress today. It was a terrible mess out there as I hadnt touched it since last autumn but both front and back have been cleared. Kiddos pumpkin and tomato plants which she grew from seed herself and nurtured on her bedroom windowsill have been planted, we have troughs of flowers under our kitchen window to brighten our day and the pots have been prepared for our herbs to be planted. The front of the house is looking nice and kiddo is already excited about her plants, making sure they are watered and checking they are ok, its nice to see such enthusiasm about something so simple and so cheap in a time when it seems everything you want to do with your child costs a fortune. She had a fantastic day today and went to bed happy, tired and proud of herself at her hard work and success at planting.

I had a great day today to. I dont always see eye to eye with my Dad but gardening is the one thing that we both love and it is he I have to thank for this passion. Every weekend as a child I followed him up the garden to tend the huge fruit and vegetable crop we had, I listened to his instructions and took it all in although Im sure he thought I wasnt paying attention, I saved up all his tips passed down to him from his father and now I get to pass them along to my daughter. I have so many happy memories of days spent gardening with Dad when I was small and it feels great to be doing the same thing with kiddo, words cannot express my feelings of contentment at the end of our gardening day.


I know gardening isnt everyones cup of tea but I wish more people would give it a chance, even if its just to grow something simple with your kids. You dont need a massive garden or hours and hours of free time. Just a few pots of earth, some seeds, a watering can and a little effort and you never know what magic you can create!

Unbelievable!

Social Services take a lot of crap in the UK for their failures, some of which have been awful over the years but until now I have had nothing to do with them. In fact I still dont, but it seems they have something to do with me, they just forgot to tell me. Didnt they do well..........

For the last 5 years my 7 year old daughter has been heading off every fortnight for a day with her father, who I am no longer with. Things have been erratic and unreliable with no hint of any child support from him but I carry it on for her sake, because regardless of his flaws, she loves her Daddy and I am supportive of that. The last 2 years have been better, he has a new partner with several children and now they also have a child of their own, things seemed quite stable and I was happy to let her go. Seems I was wrong, but nobody thought to tell me and I am FUMING!

I think Im still in shock actually as I found out yesterday that I have been sending my daughter into danger on a regular basis without a clue. I received a phone call last night, from the new girlfriend who thought now would be an appropriate time to fill me in. It seems for the last year he has been having erratic and violent outbursts. They have tried to do the right thing and have sought help from the mental health services but had no luck. It seems that things have become so out of control that she tried to stab him :-/ Social Services have been monitoring the situation and have decided that he is a danger to the children he lives with, they have enforced that he is no longer allowed to live with them and if he tries to do so the children will be removed into care. They are aware that my daughter visits on the weekend but dont seem to think that I need to be informed of any of this stuff. OMG!!!! If the girlfriend hadnt called me yesterday he could of phoned me and picked up my little angel at any time, if he is as unstable as the action taken implies anything could of happened.

I am truly grateful that the girlfriend picked up the phone and called me even though her intentions were slightly twisted. She thinks he is fine and has no problem with him being there, she was phoning to fill me in on how out of order she thinks Social Services are (and probably because she knew his not being there would get back to me in the end) she even wanted me to continue to let my litte'un see him. Of course I put her straight on that immediately, but how come Social Services havent made the effort to contact me? She tells me they know our details but still they are willing to let me blindly send my daughter to this man when he isnt allowed to see his other children without supervision at a family centre.

I think the whole situation is just unbelievable. Social Services should protect all children who may be put at risk from a person, to know a man is a danger and continue to let one child be alone in his care but protect the others is ridiculous.

So now I begin a long trawl of advice from authorities, trying to get answers from Social Services, trying to find the loop we slipped through and sewing it up so it doesnt happen to other people, making up excuses as to why he wont be coming and more sleepless nights as I lay awake and imagine what could of happened to my lovely little girl when I stupidly sent her off into danger with a hug and a wave..........

Sudden outbursts may follow......

So this is my blog......My first attempt at anything like this really and Im wondering who would want to read the garble from my mind anyway but hey, Im here now, its happening.

My purpose isnt really to impose my opinions on anybody, in fact its just a way to get all this mush out of my head so that maybe, just maybe, I can get a good nights sleep and not think about it all. You know the feeling, you are nice and relaxed so you head to bed, you get comfy and switch off the light and then BAM, a maelstrom of thoughts swirling around your brain, each demanding attention and none willing to stay still long enough to be examined and dealt with. Well I've had enough of it and this blog will hopefully help me out.

Im not sure what you will find in the posts to come but I can confirm that sudden outbursts may follow. Im quite serene a lot of the time so Im sure I will be sharing some of the beautiful things I see in the world with you but on the not so serene days there will most definitely be sudden outbursts.......