1. Do you have any nicknames?
No nicknames as such, but I have quite a unique surname which is 'Hirlam'.
Before I became a teacher, my email address for my old place of work was shirlam@... And someone once sent me an email and made the wrong assumption that my name was Shirley Lamb. This became my nickname until I left the job to pursue a career in teaching. In fact, only a few weeks ago, I was in a pub car park when I heard 'Shirley Lamb' being shouted and it was an old colleague who I had not seen for eight years!
Other nicknames have included Hirldog (another old and dreadfully missed work colleague from my first teaching school) and The Hirlamshake (mostly by students from around two years ago when the song came out.)
2. Do you have any pets?
This is an easy one. No pets. No time. No intention of getting a pet. I sometimes take the girl to the local garden centre to look at bunnies, guinea pigs and hamsters, but she hasn't asked for one yet. She clearly knows what Mummy's answer will be.
3. Do you have any strange habits?
I have an awful habit that would, if he knew I did it, make my partner's stomach turn. For some strange reason he has a real aversion to milk; it makes him feel sick. He can bare the smallest amount on his cereal and that's it. So, he would would be disgusted by the fact that I regularly drink out of the milk carton. I usually do it whilst I am waiting for the kettle to boil and I suddenly crave something ice cold. I have also been known to spray him with some 'other kind' of milk too but we'll not talk about that one!
I have an awful habit that would, if he knew I did it, make my partner's stomach turn. For some strange reason he has a real aversion to milk; it makes him feel sick. He can bare the smallest amount on his cereal and that's it. So, he would would be disgusted by the fact that I regularly drink out of the milk carton. I usually do it whilst I am waiting for the kettle to boil and I suddenly crave something ice cold. I have also been known to spray him with some 'other kind' of milk too but we'll not talk about that one!
4. What do you catch yourself saying?
I really beat myself up over this. I say 'in a minute' 'just a sec' 'give me a minute' a lot to my three year old daughter, especially now since my son has been born. I feel really guilty about it, but I have a five month old, a house to run and I am marking GCSE coursework at the moment to try to get a bit of extra money to fund my maternity leave. I have to admit that once I return to work full time in a few weeks, I am worrying about how I will find time to do anything. Time is precious and I am concerned that I won't spend enough of it with my children while they are young.
5. What is your favourite food?
Easy. Chocolate. But if you ask me to my face I will say tomatoes.
6. Where is the most interesting place you have visited?
I am not very cultured and should really do more arty farty things. I don't seek out museums and places of interest as such. Give me a good bar/pub, shopping centre and food and I am happy. A few years ago, before children, I took forty students on a school trip to New York that I organised. I had taught a lot of the students for a number of years and knew them very well; they were a great bunch. They most definitely made the trip interesting. I lost one boy in Bloomingdales as he 'nipped off to find a loo' and didn't return for an hour. He never did find that toilet. One girl left over $200 dollars at the top of the Empire State Building in a Tesco carrier bag. (She got it back though.) And another girl, in the airport, got questioned by customs for a substantial amount of time because she apparently resembled someone on their 'Most Wanted List'!!!
6. Where is the most interesting place you have visited?
I am not very cultured and should really do more arty farty things. I don't seek out museums and places of interest as such. Give me a good bar/pub, shopping centre and food and I am happy. A few years ago, before children, I took forty students on a school trip to New York that I organised. I had taught a lot of the students for a number of years and knew them very well; they were a great bunch. They most definitely made the trip interesting. I lost one boy in Bloomingdales as he 'nipped off to find a loo' and didn't return for an hour. He never did find that toilet. One girl left over $200 dollars at the top of the Empire State Building in a Tesco carrier bag. (She got it back though.) And another girl, in the airport, got questioned by customs for a substantial amount of time because she apparently resembled someone on their 'Most Wanted List'!!!
7. What is your favourite way to relax?
My favourite way to relax is with a cup of tea, some chocolate watching something good recorded on Sky or on Netflix. I barely watch live TV any more, unless it's Peppa, Ben and Holly, Scooby Doo... The list is endless. The amount of Disney films recorded on our Sky box is ridiculous.
My favourite way to relax is with a cup of tea, some chocolate watching something good recorded on Sky or on Netflix. I barely watch live TV any more, unless it's Peppa, Ben and Holly, Scooby Doo... The list is endless. The amount of Disney films recorded on our Sky box is ridiculous.
At the moment I am watching: Game of Thrones, Hannibal, Penny Dreadful, Wayward Pines and The Affair. I love psychological thrillers and horrors, but then I watch teen stuff like The Vampire Diaries and medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy. I have cried rivers over Grey's Anatomy over the years.
8. Do you have any irrational fears?
Again, not very original. I am afraid of spiders. And yet, if I see one I have to stare at it. I am also good at spotting them in my peripheral vision and will happily attack them with the vacuum and yet won't stand on one in case I hear it crunch.
Again, not very original. I am afraid of spiders. And yet, if I see one I have to stare at it. I am also good at spotting them in my peripheral vision and will happily attack them with the vacuum and yet won't stand on one in case I hear it crunch.
9. At the end of a hard day, you like a large glass of..?
At the end of a hard day I love either a cup of tea, an ice cold lager or a glass of red wine. Tea is for Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I allow myself alcohol from Thursday onwards. Red wine is my favourite tipple at the moment. I don't drink wine on the rare occasion that I go out as it makes me fall asleep in random places so I only drink it at home where I know my bed is near by.
10. What is your best parenting tip?
Always smile and tell your children that you love them more than they will ever know.
At the end of a hard day I love either a cup of tea, an ice cold lager or a glass of red wine. Tea is for Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I allow myself alcohol from Thursday onwards. Red wine is my favourite tipple at the moment. I don't drink wine on the rare occasion that I go out as it makes me fall asleep in random places so I only drink it at home where I know my bed is near by.
10. What is your best parenting tip?
Always smile and tell your children that you love them more than they will ever know.
I nominate the following Bloggers for the Liebster Award.
@EducatingR
@LMAblogger
@StacyLeaLea
@angrivatedmom
@AbPrabulous
1. What's your proudest moment outside of parenting?
2. What would you tell your fifteen year old self?
3. How would your children describe you? If they can't talk yet, how do you think they will describe you?
4. Where in the world is your favourite place?
5. What is your earliest childhood memory?
6. Who would you like to play you in a film of your life?
7. What is your favourite item of clothing?
8. What did you want to be when you grew up?
9. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
10. If you could meet anyone alive or dead who would it be?
Awwww thanks ever so much! Lovely of you. Right, best get my thinking cap on!
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