life – Mediocre Mum

Does Life Begin at 40? (Competition)

To celebrate the release of ‘This is 40‘ by acclaimed writer, director and producer, Judd Apatow, we’re giving one of my readers a chance to win a copy of the DVD and a £100 voucher from Red Letter Days.

The film itself, a ‘sort of’ sequel to Knocked Up, follows a married couple played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as they struggle with the changes of life as they turn 40 and the alterations that occur in their relationship and family dynamic – all with hilarious consequences!

I turned 40 a couple of years ago. I know a lot of people fear it but for the first time in my life I finally feel comfortable in my own skin and am thoroughly enjoying it so far. My body is doing a few things I’m not too happy about; rogue hairs, cellulite and gravity but now I just find myself laughing it off!

We’d love create a list of ‘The Ultimate 40 things to do after you’re 40 list’. To enter the competition simply leave a blog comment via the rafflecopter form below stating what your ‘Ultimate thing to do after 40 would be’. Additional entries are also available. The winner will be chosen at random. We will then generate an Ultimate Top 40 list from your suggestions. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

A full list of Terms and Conditions can be found at the bottom of the form but in short it’s open to UK residents only aged 18+.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This competition is listed on Loquax, Prize Finder and Competition Hunter.

Maybe being a perfect parent isn’t such a good idea….

Do I take my daughter to see her daddy in hospital?

This was a question I struggled with recently. As many of you are aware my husband was involved in a road traffic accident and sustained substantial head injuries; not a phone call any loved one ever wants to receive late on a Friday night. However, he is expected to make a full recovery after giving us all quite a fright.

Perfect childhood to blame?

Coincidentally, as I was whiling away time in the hospital, reading yet another trashy newspaper, I came across an article, but for the life of me I can’t remember the woman’s name. However, she grew up in the 70s in the perfect house on a perfect street with perfect parents. Growing up she didn’t know a single person with divorced parents!

She was never exposed to any of life’s challenges and now as an adult she’s unable to cope with further education, relationships, work and now being a parent. Ironically, in a time when people wear a bad upbringing as a badge of honour, she blames her ‘perfect upbringing’.

Life’s lessons

As an adult, I feel I’m quite good at dealing with difficult situations as I was given the opportunity as a child/young adult. My life hasn’t been anymore difficult than anyone else’s, I’ve experienced death, divorce, disappointment and disease, but my mother never sheltered us from these situations when they happened. However, she was always careful with the amount she did share, telling us just enough to put us at ease.

The Conundrum

From the beginning, I was honest with my 4 year old and told her that ‘daddy had fallen off his bike and bumped his head and would need to stay in the hospital for awhile’. After a couple of days they both started asking to see each other and I was really torn. Do I take her or don’t I take her? On the outside she seemed okay, but I could tell that she was worrying as she was a bit quieter than usual, which may be because the last two people she visited in hospital died.

In the end, I decided to take her. A friend suggested that the best thing to do was to prepare her first. My friend kindly sent me a photo of her own son; one with a black eye and another a few weeks later with it healed. I showed these to her on the train, explaining that Daddy looked different but in time he would be heal.

When we arrived she was very quiet and I slightly panicked that I made the wrong decision, but within minutes she climbed into bed with him, they shared a much needed cuddle and quickly began arsing around with the bed controls laughing and carrying on as usual. Phew!

When we got home she did say that she ‘was scared when she first saw him’ but I could tell that a giant weight had been lifted off her little shoulders.

What would you have done?

My Twitter Journey

The other day I was doing some laundry and I don’t know why, but when I glanced at our rather large basket of unmatched socks it made me think of twitter!

When I first started twitter I felt like a lonely sock on the clothes line, blowing in the wind, talking to myself.

In time, I started to collect some other odd socks but sometimes I couldn’t see the connection.

After awhile I started to make quite a few matches, with the odd sock still hanging around.

Along the way I’ve had to throw out a few socks as they had holes in them and some I’ll never find a match to, but I have kept quite a few odd socks as they make it more interesting.

Is this similar to your experience with Twitter? Please do leave a comment.

Thanks to the lovely Susan (@CocaBeenSlinky), a very good twitter mate who is always laughing, for the illustrations. They’re fab aren’t they? She doesn’t advertise herself as an artist, but I’m sure, if you’re like me and blog but can’t draw and struggle to find copyright free images, she may knock you some up for a small fee! I’m paying her in wine.

Swans Mate for Life

Photo Credit

Hubby has just returned from his nightly visit to the hospital. This has been going on for 7 weeks. As most of you are aware his 87 year old father is terminally ill with cancer. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind and we had to relocate them locally. My husband is an only child and we don’t have a lot of family around to help. He is now in a palliative care ward within 10 minutes of our house and we secured a flat for his mother. It’s all been a bit too much for her as she was yanked suddenly from her home after 40 years. Nevertheless, we thought she had settled.

Shortly after we got her established in the flat she too took ill and was admitted to a different hospital in a different town. Her condition is not life threatening.

They’ve been married for 53 years so we were desperate to get them together, for his final days. It was a bit of a battle as the doctors at her hospital refused to transfer treatment, even though father in laws hospital was willing and able to take her. In the end, it was the Great Escape. I arranged to take her for 2 hours to visit her husband under the promise that I would bring her back but I never did. Luckily, we have a stroppy doctor who isn’t interested in stroking other doctor’s egos. She gave them a right ear-bending and the transfer was done within an hour.

They’re now in rooms across the hall from each other. Everyday they wheel her into her hubby’s room where they sit and hold hands.

The weird thing is, and there is no medical reason for it but she is deteriorating quickly. I must preface that she is getting excellent care but seems to have lost the will to live. She’s given up eating and drinking and won’t get out of bed for the most part. We have no idea why or what we can do. I’ve heard of people dying from a broken heart……..

I’ve answered my own question….

my mother in law passed away on Sunday the 27th of June at 6.15pm

and FIL passed away at 11 am on the 28th of June, within 18 hours of each other. It was like he was waiting for her….bitterly sweet!