Shopaholic? Me?

My son is into his sports and his activities and more so into his acchievements. There is nothing better than receiving certificates, sport trophies or recognition.

Today he was awarded a level 2 ASA qualification in swimming, but to actually get the certificate we have to pay £3.50. As you know I have no objection to buying nearly anything but seriously paying for a certificate? Admittedly there are costs involved paper, ink and administration but can’t they be inbuilt into the cost of the exam or lessons? Or is it just me?

I just came across our ski stuff and just realised that I lost a pair of ski goggles! I mean seriously, how do you lose a pair of goggles? I can understand a glove but goggles? And I thought I had 2 pairs… but I have none! Seriously, it is not like I can do anything to make me lose them, particularly as they should have all been packed together in a luggage specifically for when we jet off!! Ah well, guess if we go skiing this year, I just need to buy another pair!!

Argh! It’s uniform time. It is always so expensive and you have to leave it to the last minute because kids grow like weeds. Unless you are great at estimating their growth and then you can take advantage of early special offers then it is expensive. This is my unform list:-

• School Uniform
• equestrian clothing
• Swimming Gear
• Gym items
• Ballet stuff

Thankfully other than a book or two nothing for music! Yay!

As strange as it sounds I like winter. I like the cold dark nights, the smokiness when you blow out into the cold air, and best of all the warmth when you get indoors. I like sitting by a glowing fire and drinking hot chocolate with melted marshmallows. I like huddling up with my hubby on a cold night in front of the fire. I like snow, skiing and snowmen!

The only issue is the icy fingers and most of the time gloves are so bulky you cannot do anything. You struggle to hold children’s hands and you cannot do anything. But I found a pair of gloves that work. They are warm enough to beat the most freezing of conditions, yet soft enough for comfort and movement. They fit well, though I suspect you might need to go for a larger size as a general rule because I am a female and these are Men’s Ski Gloves. Although they are men’s, I think they are very unisex and frankly I love them.

The gloves are water proof and breathable. They have “DryShell” inserts inbetween the glove and lining  to prevent moisture getting in but still allowing air to circulate. How cool is that? I won’t just be keeping them for skiing but for my every day use too!

In case you want to know you can find Barts Men Ski Gloves on Twitter and FaceBook.

My son has started horse riding recently and it is amazing how much an equestrian hobby can cost. And we are not talking just the cost of the lessons but all the riding gear:- the helmet, the jodhpurs, the Boots, the back brace, etc etc.

Thankfully his teacher is great. Because she knows how quickly they grow and how quickly hobbies changed, she told us we could use wellies and a bike helmet (if we had one) till we decided to continue. She also said jeans are ok too. Phew.

Mind you he has been going about a year now…. so maybe not so recently… and maybe time to get the proper gear!

Ok.. I have made a great discovery… Our Wii is best fat burner and fitness thing ever. It is fun. It is competitive. It is challenging. It is encouraging. You can check your calories burnt. You can keep your time exercised. It actually helps you improve. It encourages you to return and to improve. And it even stops you over doing stuff. My only complaint, is that you can waste time changing from one item to another as this substantially adds to the time you spend. In other words to do 30 minutes of exercise… you need at least 45 minutes free though maybe even more. Still… it is worth it.

The latest trend is shoe fitness. Shoes like FitFlops and mbt shoes are meant  fit to help people get fit without much effort. It works by simply making a person keep working at mantaining their balance. They look a lot like platforms though they are curved rather than flat. Personally I don’t like their look but if they can help me keep fit without having to go to the gym – who cares. Once I do try them, I promise I will review them. I wonder if anyone will sponsor me a pair!!

My son keeps asking us to take him to lapland again to meet Santa.And where I really would like to, with 3 kids in tow it would cost a fortune. Simply just by buying the equipment for 5 people it would cost hundreds of pounds. You would need:-

• Snow Suits
• Snow Boots
• Thermal Underwear
• Zeal Goggles
• Gloves
• Hat
• Lip Balm
• Skis / Toboggan / Snow Board

and that is just from the top of my head. Then there are the flights, food and accomodation… argh!

My son has started attending sports sessions over the mid term school break at our local sports centre. It is not that I am expecting him to start winning basketball trophies but it does keep him very active. And the best bit is I get to shop for stuff like new trainers, basket balls, raquets, sport clothes and swimming trunks. So what else can I sign him up for!!

I like Saturdays as we can do things with the kids. Our son loves to push a ball around but the amount of times it gets lost is pretty impressive. So far we have been lucky as we have used a pen to scribble his name and phone number and most often it gets returned. The idea of personalized footballs is fantastic because then no-one can say that it does not belong to so and so. And obviously it can be designed to specifications eg I am sure my son would want a blue or a rainbow ball with his name on it. Teams? Who needs team balls when you can own your own unique one? (And as long as it had our phone number on it… I’m game).