Crushed Dreams by NHS

For the last year now I have been training to become a Childminder. 

• I have completed and payed for my First Aid for Childcarers Certificate.
• I have attended my Pre-registration Briefing Meetings
• I have completed my Understanding How To Set Up A Home Based Childcare Service Course and Childminder Registration Course.
• I have attended and completed my Safeguarding Children Awareness Course.
•  I have spent hours writing all of my policies & procedures that are required
• I have completed my Enhanced CRB Check
• My partner has completed his Enhanced CRB check
• I have sent off my forms and documents to be checked and signed.
•  I have read and re read the EYFS so I know what is expected of me.
• I have completed all of my risk assessements for every room in my house including the garden.
• I have brought fire guards, first aid boxes, fire blankets, non slip matting and safety glass film etc (all requirements by OFSTED)
• I have spent time creating activity rotas, and printing & laminating posters for my setting. 
• I have paid for my registration fee to OFSTED

...and today I found out that I won't be able to become a Childminder!!!

Words cannot express how devastated I feel.

All because my local Doctors surgery will not sign my Health Declaration Form unless I pay them £87!

It is only two pages and seven tick box questions and would take less than 5 minutes to fill out. It could easily be done within one appointment time. All it requires is a doctor to look at my medical forms which they have on the screen at every appointment and just put a tick in the relevant boxes.

I have two children and currently don’t work as I am at home looking after them. I cannot afford to pay out for childcare and becoming a childminder is the only way that I can work, earn some money and still look after my children.

I simply cannot afford to pay this fee however without this small section of the form filled out I will not be able to become a childminder.

I thought the idea was to help people get back into work not stop them!

Today is a bad day

Lost in a Sea of Nothing in Particular!

It's happened, it was inevitable really. This is how it always goes and probably always will throughout my life.

I got bored and lost interest. 

I'm taking about my blog that I was so enthusiastic about at the start (like most of my 'projects') and then I find something new that captures my attention and I'm off on the next 'great idea'. Hence why one of my 100 things to do before I die is 'follow through on at least one of my ideas'!

The only thing I have ever seen through in my life is being a mother and that's probably only because I don't really have a choice in the matter now.

These past few weeks have been a bit of a blur really. I've hardly been out of the house at all and haven't seen any of my friends. I think I've gone into full blown hiebernation mode. I wouldn't say that I'm in a depressive state right now but I can feel it there just lingering in the background, waiting to pounce. 

 I find it so tiring trying to fight it all the time and sometimes it's just easier to give into it but for now I'm still fighting it.

So what have I missed in blog land while I've been gone??

From SAHM to WAHM

I appologise for the lack of posts these past few weeks but things are still a little manic here. 

I have now officially gone from being a 'Stay at Home Mum' to a 'Work at Home Mum'.

After much cursing and shouting at my computer I now have my very own business and brand new website and it went live today, yay!

This is a big moment for me as I have always worked but since having the children it just wasn't viable anymore, what with having to pay out for two childcare fees. If I went back to work we wouldn't be any better off and I wouldn't get to be with my children. It just wasn't going to work so I needed to find something new that I could do from home and so Caro Boutique was born...

I'd love it if you could check out my site and let me know what you think.

www.caroboutique.co.uk

Frosty Feet or Toasty Toes?

My son goes to forest school one day a week and he loves it, the only problem is that everytime he goes he then comes home soaked and covered in mud. With the winter and cold weather fast approaching I was starting to get concerned about how it may effect his health and his skin (he has ezcema).  So I started to think about how I could help to prevent him from getting completely soaked, stay warm but still be comfortable and then the answer was sent to us in the form of 'Welly Warmas'. 

'Cosy, warm and fully machine washable, choose from a range of colours and sizes suitable for men, women and children alike.
 Chilly toes on a frosty winter’s morning are no fun for anyone, so we’ve developed top quality micro and polar fleece linings that feel delicious and look marvellous.

 Whatever your choice, we’re confident you’ll love our Wellywarmas as much as we do.'

They worked a treat! Not only do they keep him warm but they also help to stop his feet getting soaked.They can also go in the washing machine and the tumble dryer, perfect for when they get covered in mud.
I was also lucky enough to be sent some for myself and I can personally say that they are very comfy and do indeed keep my toes toasty warm.

If they can keep him warm up on the moors then they must be good!

Prices start from just £7.95, which is great value for money and they have a great selection of colours and patterns. To check out the full range of Welly Warmas just click here.
I can honestly say that I would definitely recommend this product to you. So what are you waiting for, go and grab yourself a pair.

*I haven't been payed to write this review but I was sent two pairs of welly warmas for free*

* All opinions are honest and are my own*

Shhh don't mention the nits!

So here I am, sat in my dressing gown, with horrible greasy oil all over my hair, a red face and a body that feels like I have fire all over it! 

Today is not a good day! Not only is it the first day of half term and it's pouring with rain but we have had yet another visit from the little hair bugs that were all not suppose to talk about. 

The kids hair is easy to treat, being so young their hair is still really fine, one wizz over with the comb and the one nit they have is gone. Mine however is another story. I think I've worked it out the kids are just the carriers. They innocently bring the little buggers home who then set up camp in my hair! My hair is thick, really thick a perfect home. 

Photo by choonMing

I spent most of my evening last night bent over the bath trying to get a ridiculously small comb through what can only be described as a thick mass of tangled madness. That's not too bad I can deal with that and I can deal with the fact that I have to repeat the process in 7 days what I can't deal with is the allergic reaction that I have to the lice. My skin feels like it's on fire! My forehead is bright red and I want to scrape my skin off to stop it from itching.

Oh the joys of motherhood!

Old, Matured, Aged, Along in Years, Not Young!

This weeks Gallery theme is Old...

This was awarded to my Great Grandfather in 1961. It reads...

'Having made valuable and significant contributions to World Air Transport and to the furtherance of international understanding [G.G name] is hereby appointed to membership in the Clipper Club' - Pan American

As I seem to be the 'un-official' family historian this has been handed down to me by my Father.

I have tried to research the Clipper Club but there doesn't appear to be much information on it. As far as I can gather though it was a sort of first class lounge at airports. If anyone else knows anything about it I'd love to hear it.

To check out other peoples entries into this weeks Gallery then head over to Tara's blog at Sticky Fingers x

Enchanted Forest Sign Making

So you may or may not know that we are having an enchanted forest party for our daughters second birthday and to save some money I have been making most of the decorations myself.

Yesterdays project was sign making...

 I thought this was going to be really hard to do but as it turns out it was actually one of the easiest projects so far.

I found the wood in our local park? (Not sure why it was there but no one was using it so we had it).

The next stage was to find the font I wanted to use online and print out the words I wanted to use in the right size. I used the website cool text which has a great selection of fonts and logos that are free for you to use. For this project I chose the font 'Outline'.

 The next stage is to place the text over the wood, where you want it to be and just stick the paper down with cellotape so that it doesn't move.

Then using a pencil, pressing firmly, trace around the outline of the letters and when you lift up the paper you should be left with a very faint indent in the wood.

You now have an outline for your paint. I used black wood paint for this which we just happened to have in the shed but you could probably use any kind of paint.

Here's a picture of what it looked like when I'd finished all of the text.

The last step was to add the glitter. For this I used PVA glue in a wiggly line and then just covered it with gold glitter. I found the glitter in one of those Christmas stores for about 99p but any good craft store should sell it.

and volia an easy and cheap to make enchanted forest sign...

I'm linking up this week with Faith, Hope & Charity Shopping's Ta Dah Tuesday!