Do we win a speedboat Derek ?

If me and Hubbie went on Mr & Mrs I'm not convinced we'd do all that well. I mean for a start Derek Batey doesn't present it any more so that's a downer already. If you are unfamiliar with this stalwart of my childhood it was a TV quiz show where married couples would take turns to answer questions about each other to show how much the knew about their spouse. They competed with other couples for prizes and Derek encouraged them in his non threatening '70s TV host way.

My recollection of this show is pretty much confined to one half of the couple sitting in a booth wearing noise cancelling headphones while their other half answered questions. My favourite was when a man was asked what colour tights his wife wore. One of the options was American tan - I had never heard of this before and to be honest I haven't heard of it since. What struck me most about this question was why would a husband know what colour tights his wife wore ? Especially in an era when men and women weren't quite as open with each other as all that.

It sometimes occurs to me that there are things we just wouldn't be able to answer about each other. I often still ask Hubbie if he eats olives, "Yes I do, it was the other guy who didn't." Mind you he also forgets if it's me or a previous who doesn't eat mushrooms so I guess we're even.

On the other hand there was the time he made me gnocchi at this flat because when we went out to eat they didn't have it and he wanted to make me happy. When I get a dine in offer I choose profiteroles as the dessert because I know he likes them.

When people say how lucky I am I often want to tell them they don't even know the half of it. When we  found out it was unlikely we would have children it was devastating. He made light of it by referring to Friends. It was anything but lighthearted, but we had to find a way through it.

We have shared references - quotes from films or TV shows and silly things that make us laugh. Anything from Gavin and Stacey, Alan Partridge, The Thick of It or Curb Your Enthusiasm is guaranteed to diffuse a tense situation. To be honest we need to have a laugh with the day to day business of raising our boys.

So how would we fare on a modern Mr & Mrs ? Well if one of the questions was what is his favourite George Michael song I'd laugh and say Careless Whisper. His tone deaf rendition is a wonder to behold. Much like his impressions of the characters in Coming to America. Sometimes it's not what you know about a person, but the history you share that matters. I will always cry with laughter when he stamps his foot and says, "Sexual Chocolate !" Well it's only polite isn't it ?

£200 for a bunch of flowers ? No thanks.

I know there's a cynical school of thought that says Valentine's Day is a rip off designed to part gullible lovebirds from their money. To be fair it is a bit hinky that restaurants pretty much force you to have a set menu instead of the food you usually eat when you go there and charge you double for the privilege. It's also the biggest day of the year (it's a close run thing with Mothering Sunday) for florists with all the red roses being flown in specially from Africa to ensure that there are plenty of dozens to go round. I was horrified to see one bouquet on sale in a store I love very much for £200 !!!

If you need to spell it out
(Wilko Word Love £6) 

Anyway, all that said we do try to do something nice and we do buy gifts for each other. A friend of ours once said, " you two are so lovely dovey" which made us laugh as we don't think we are especially. However, we do make a point of having regular 'date nights' and we do nice things for each other. Over the years we've been together we've accumulated some things we use every year like our heart embossed flutes that were bought for a joke and are now a tradition. The tiny heart shaped lights that freak the cat out and any number of Love Heart themed gifts - that's Love Hearts the sweets from the seventies of course.

So many hearts
(Wilko Wooden Heart Frame £12)

However, don't despair if you haven't already bought something nice for someone - or for yourself - you still have time. The lovely folks at Wilko sent us some items from their love collection. I particularly liked the snack bowls shaped like hearts. I'd use them for sweets, but I think you can use them for dips too. The photo frame in the shape of a heart is big and has lots of different apertures so you can create a collage of images for your loved one. If you want to spell out how much you love them you can also get the fabric letters that come complete with velcro tabs to put them up on the wall.  None of these gifts are pricey or require a loved one to give them to, you can treat yourself. After all, Whitney Houston did say that learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.

Sweet treats
(Wilko Heart Dip bowls and Tray Set £4.50)

We don't usually go out on Valentine's Day, but this year we have babysitting for Saturday evening and for a while there we had no idea what to do. All the restaurants we like are doing set menus - so that's a no then - and we considered standing down our neighbour in favour of dim sum at home. Then inspiration struck - tenpin bowling !! Hubbie took our boy bowling a few weeks back and I was so jealous as we haven't been for years and I do love it. So, it's booked and we'll be wearing silly shoes and breaking nails - well mostly that's just me really.

Cheers :) 

I'd say that's the height of romance wouldn't you ?

Disclosure: The lovely folks at Wilko sent us some gift items free of charge - they are all available to buy in store or online.

Penguins and Flamingos at Christmas ?

Checking out the winter wonderland

As you will already know we love doing outdoor activities with our boy and we also love the run up to Christmas so that it isn't all just about one day. Last year we went to Birdworld in Hampshire to see Santa Claus and we enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again this year. So this weekend we packed a picnic lunch and made our way to Farnham for a day of outdoor fun.

The elf is the one on the left

First up we went to see Santa and as we had a pre-booked visit we wandered round the winter grotto first saying hello to the reindeer - that was real - and checking out the skiing penguins - not so real. The twinkly lights of the model town were very pretty and we were greeted by a very helpful elf. She asked our boy what his name was and we watched open-mouthed as he spelled his name for her. We had no idea he could do that !

Feeding the (disinterested) ducks

After our meeting with the big man we had a quick stop for our picnic lunch. The Christmas experience includes a mince pie and mulled fruit punch for adults, but as I don't do mulled anything Hubbie got two helpings. Sustenance taken we decided to go and see what Birdworld was all about. As we were going in some lovely folks who were leaving donated us their leftover bird food and meal worm pots. I have to admit I wasn't too keen to hold the worms so Hubbie got that job instead.

Careful climbing

The birds didn't seem too bothered about being fed - maybe they get so much from visitors that they can be pretty nonchalant about it ? There were some exciting things to look forward to such as the safari train and the penguin feeding so we took a map and not even part way through exploring our boy spotted a playground and made a stop to play.

Love's young dream

He also made friends with an older girl who was playing on the climbing frame and they appeared to have a very short-lived (and entirely chaste) romance during our visit.
Girl: "Do you want to come for dinner ?"
My Boy: "Yeah, ok."
Hubbie: "Get yer bear son, you've pulled."

Daddy & Mummy penguin

I'm sure if you have little ones they are probably a bit obsessed with penguins at the moment. Our boy is and we made a beeline for penguin feeding at 3.30. Not before we stopped to pose for this elegant photo though. My boy took this one and I think he did a really good job. I mean we're both in the frame and everything !!

Penguin feeding

After all this excitement it was time to head home and we just had time to say goodbye to the Flamingos before we left. 

Bye bye flamingos

I would recommend Birdworld and the Christmas experience is also a nice touch. It's not too expensive and you can buy a ticket that includes entry to the park or not as suits you. I can see this becoming a regular seasonal activity for our family. 

This post is being shared with the epic #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill

  

Love is... music, chocolate and sarcasm

Now as I type this me and Hubbie are on the radio presenting our Valentine's Day show - we do our show every two weeks and we pick a theme and choose alternate songs based on that theme. We joke that it's the only time we actually talk to each other, but the truth is we love to banter between songs and it's a chance to share our passion for music and bizarre facts with whoever is interested in listening to our ramblings.

I know not everyone is into Valentine's Day. Yes it's very commercial and a made up holiday and an excuse to sell cards and flowers and chocolates and to charge more for a set meal in a restaurant because you just have to go out and if you are still in a new relationship it's a minefield (and breathe). If you are single it can be a hellish thing much like the scene in Sex and the City the movie which typifies the miserable singleton experience of Valentine's Day. However, it is a thing and there are more songs written about love than almost anything else so it seemed an apt theme for our show - so there !

Besides which I'm married and we've been together almost ten years so we're supposed to be in the 'romance ? what's that ?' stage of life. I don't really get why you're supposed to celebrate being cynical about being in love when actually I genuinely do love Hubbie and my son and our cat. It's not just humans who get all loved up on this day either, 3% of all pet owners will give their cat a gift on this day. Neo got a kiss and cuddle from our boy, but he did wander off with disdain that it wasn't accompanied with a shake of biscuits in his food bowl.

If you are quite old or into cartoons you may recall that in the seventies there was a thing called "Love is..." with two slightly chubby characters who were pretty much naked all the time. Each one signified something that was supposedly typical of love and it was usually something twee like, "giving her the moon," or "kisses on a park bench."  I was never really into them if I'm honest. They were always a bit too schmaltzy for me, but inspired by this retro romanticism I've compiled my own signifiers of love - just for you this Valentine's Day.

You are welcome :)



Love is... Hubbie remembering the elephant teapot I mentioned that time we went past that shop in town








Love is... going out with my son and Hubbie for lunch instead of for dinner in the evening, because we love our boy's company - even if he prefers to watch Alphablocks on Daddy's phone.






Love is... Neo putting a paw on my leg to stop me getting up from the sofa because he's so comfy lying on me








Love is... me saving up all my calories for weeks so that we could splurge on a chocolate dessert pasta only for it to be really disappointing actually



and finally




Love is... Hubbie giving me this badge - even though I suspect he was being sarcastic !!