You've got to be in it to win it

Like a lot of people I enjoy competitions. I love to watch Come Dine With Me, the Great British Bake Off and in the days before we had our boy we were pretty active in the pub quiz world. At one point we had an elite team of 6 of us each with a specialist skill area. I am fiercely competitive and this was possibly not the best way to channel that need to win.

I don't go in for actual gambling like bingo or poker. I'm far too risk averse for that kind of thing and I'm not sure I'd be able to get to Victoria Coren's level of skill in poker without seriously sacrificing a lot of my family life. I also don't play the lottery or scratch cards - they're far too random for me.

No I get my kicks from entering competitions online, usually via other blogs and I do occasionally win. I know there are people who commit a lot of time to competitions and win all sorts of goodies, but my own winnings have been pretty modest. In the last year I have been lucky enough to win:

• a Meatfree cookbook signed by Paul and Mary McCartney 

• a waterproof music player 

• a gorgeous baking book

• a beautiful bracelet 

     and just before Christmas I won something just for my boy

• the Snowman dvd and soft toy

I'm hoping to win some big ticket items this year. I hardly think it's too much to ask to win a Smeg fridge, a new car, an exotic holiday or my beloved Kitchenaid is it ? 

Warning: Shameless self-promotion up ahead

Of course this is not a post without a purpose and like many of my fellow bloggers I'd love it if you would nominate me for the MADS awards with Parentdish. There are a lot of categories and you can be entered into more than one of them so I'm suggesting the family life and best blog categories, but you may choose others if you prefer. There is a link here http://www.the-mads.com/vote/or you can click on the box on the top right of this page.

I have no idea if I even stand a chance, but if you don't try you don't know do you ?

Wish me luck (and don't forget to nominate me will you ?)

I am thankful for...

I'm not American, nor am I especially interested in celebrations that are American in nature, but I like the idea of giving thanks. Whether it's for a safe crossing and successfully displacing an already settled people or for a hot meal on the table I think it's a worthwhile exercise to consider what we have and to give thanks for it.

There are the big things we thank for - like family, health and happiness if we are lucky enough to have those. Then there are the small, but meaningful things like a lovely conversation with someone we don't see very often or a bargain that we weren't expecting to get. In my case having Hubbie at home for a few weeks has made me appreciate how lucky I am that the father of my son is so keen to be involved in his son's life and genuinely enjoys spending time with him (and me).

In the last few weeks I've found a few new things to be thankful for:

- The wonderful community of bloggers I've come to know and love who write beautiful things and share their thoughts publicly so I don't feel like it's just happening to me (about pretty much anything). It's also made me appreciate the women who support each other rather than get upset about the ones who try and bring other women down.

- My fellow presenters and lovely listeners who make me feel less like I'm talking to myself every Monday on www.croydonradio.com. The fact that I now have people asking to be guests on my show is wonderful. Today Robert Elms had a guest on who was on my show a few weeks back - I got him first and I'm feeling most smug about that :o)

- The lovely competition prizes I've won in the last few weeks meaning my son gets the Snowman on DVD for Christmas thanks to www.acupcakemum.co.uk and a lovely new baking book for me thanks to www.frankiesfancies.com. All without any cost to me - that's a bonus !

- Loyalty points schemes that I've quietly and diligently been saving with for months and thanks to which my son has an enormous garden playhouse (Tesco) and an electronic tablet thing (Boots) that we would never have bought otherwise. Hubbie has a leaf blower / vac thing (Nectar) that he's very pleased with and that means the whole back breaking task of leaf clearing is now less painful, but far noisier, more fun and he looks like a horticultural ghostbuster when he's using it.

The main thing I've come to be thankful for is that I have been doing this 'full time parent' thing for a while now and instead of feeling embarrassed or explaining it away I'm proud of my work as a Mum. In fact I've coined a term for it that reminds me of one of my favourite clothing companies:

The hardest day at home with my son beats the best day at work in an office (original 2012).