Kat-out-of-the-bag

The day came around rather quickly and suddenly I was preparing to drive to Headcorn airfield for my skydive. The week leading up to it I was waiting for the anxiety to start, for the whirl in the pit of your stomach and the feeling of regret but it never came. I was so much more anxious about meeting my sponsorship target. Thanks to all the wonderful people that supported me I even exceeded it. So the day arrived and it was an early start. We headed off at 6.30am in order to get to Kent for 8am. The drive was tense with a car full (my husband, mum and children came to support me) but the tension was coming from my husband who seemed to be far more concerned than I was. As with almost every car journey we take we missed a crucial junction and had to drive an extra 20 miles with my husband cursing that we would be late. So after a bit of a detour we arrived about the same time as my four fellow skydivers from work. We signed in and filled out the relevant forms and then got call...

It has recently come to my attention that my tastes in most things are... quirky and on occasion eclectic. So I thought I would share this with the world in a series of top 10's. This week I wanted to share my top 10 TV programmes. 10, Sons of Anarchy Reason I started watching: Lots of tattooed bad boys on motorbikes. Cast of any note: Don't know many but does have the mum from married with children. Synopsis: Motorbike gangs in turf wars among other things. Lots of violence, drugs and hairy men getting into scrapes and fighting to be top dog. Summary: Only watched one series so far but quite hooked already. It is gritty and rough but with good story lines developing. 9, Once upon a time Reason I started watching: My five year old daughter is obsessed with fairy tales and this takes on a modern and unique spin of the old classics. Cast of note: Robert Carlisle plays an awesome Rumpelstiltskin/ Mr Gold, Ginnifer Goodwin makes a modern day snow white and Emilie de ...

The charity, Chase, was first bought to my attention during my time working at Echo Research. It was voted our local charity of choice many years ago and we have supported them ever since. In 2011 Chase and another charity, Shooting Star, came together to become Chase Shooting Stars. The work they do is fantastic and the idea behind the charity is so wonderful. They support families who have a child that is not expected to make it past their 19 th birthday. The idea being that families can do fun things together in the short time they have in the company of other people facing exactly the same outcome. They offer emotional support to parents and siblings at home, in the communities or in a hospice. A quote from their website “Our services are available 365 days a year, and families receive our support free of charge, in their own homes and communities and at our two children’s hospices. We need to find £23,000 a day to provide all these vital services.” They go on t...

I was pondering if virtual/ social media friends are exceeding the number of actual friends I have? To clarify, I love my circle of friends very much and this is in no way a reflection on them! As I get older I have noticed my circle of immediate friends getting smaller (the ones that you would call or text if you had a bad day or are just looking for someone to go shopping with). I take full responsibility for this as my children take away the ability to drop everything and go out at short notice. If I get an invite anyway there is a process I have to follow before I can commit - is it child appropriate, do I need a babysitter, who have I not asked to babysit for a while and would be happy to help me out, could I get an all night babysitter or do I have to be back at a reasonable time to let them go home etc. Thanks to social media I haven't lost touch completely with older friends which I like as I still feel involved in their lives, albeit in a lazy voyeuristic...

I will make this one a quickie... Just to say that I have actually booked the skydive! My fingers trembled as I submitted the details and haven't stopped since. In other words I am bricking it! This has been on my bucket list (things to do before I die) ever since I can remember and, with thanks to some like minded colleagues, I am actually doing something about it. I am jumping with some other crazies  colleagues including my Managing Director who has a strange urge to jump when standing on the edge of places, he hopes this will help cure him of this irrational feeling. This is all taking place on the 30th June (just waiting for confirmation of the date). I won't include the location as I don't want all my fans rushing to watch. The important part and the entire reason for doing this is to raise money for Shooting Star Chase which is a fantastic charity. They are a children's hospice service, supporting local families with a child or teenager not expected ...

The weekend bought about the first bit of sunshine since before the winter. It is amazing how much it can change your state of mind. Wanting to make the most of this we decided to take the kids out to Alice Holt (a local Forrest trail). We took Summers newish bike as we thought it could be fun to try to teach her to ride without stabilisers. Picture a typical 2.4 family, mum pushing baby in the pushchair smiling with pride as she shows off her wonderful family to the world, taking in the crisp fresh air and beautiful surroundings. Dad holding the back of the little girls bike seat running alongside her shouting encouragement. The little girl grinning with pride as her confidence slowly builds to the point where dad lets go and the girl peddles away unaware that dad has let go, she notices and starts shouting with joy that she is "doing it"! Although this scene played in my head on the car journey to our destination it is a far cry from the reality. The true image was th...

Dieting sucks! It is really hard to stick to a healthy routine when you don't see the immediate effect. In August I am going on a beach holiday abroad for the first time in 5 years. For most this is something to be excited about for me this is filling me with dread. The thought of sitting on a beach in a swimsuit terrifies me as I lost my figure a long time ago and I don't want to subject people to seeing my giant arse making sandcastles with the kids. So rather than get downhearted I started a healthy diet and have started frequenting the gym to try to rectify this situation. Just to clarify I am not ON a diet or trying out the latest fads I am simply changing my eating habits and exchanging meals and snacks for healthy ones. I have even taken to having sweetener in my coffee rather than sugar. The biggest obstacle is trying to eat breakfast as I have never been able to eat so early in the day but apparently it is the best way to get your metabolism going so I am trying......

During my second pregnancy I wrote about my battle with, and subsequent diagnosis, of depression. During this time I stopped my medication and assured myself that I would reconsider the pills after I had my baby. When Dexter arrived I felt fine and strong enough to go it alone. This tactic has worked up until recently. Having a 5 year old who rebels against everything you say, an 11 month baby who just won't sleep, a husband desperately trying to give up smoking, a hectic, full time work schedule - throw into the mix money worries, family worries, going on an extreme diet, beginning a novel and seemingly untreatable psoriasis and you can start to understand why the downward spiral is happening again. For me the key to all of this is to recognise when it is happening which isn't always easy until it has gone too far and the dark cloud has really set in. Deflection is something I adopt when the pressure is on. Rather than admit that I am not in control of my mood swings...

Those that follow my social media pages will know that I have decided to write a novel. This is a first step in my year of DOING things instead of just TALKING about them. Strangely I am finding this more terrifying than step two which is skydiving (coming to a blog near you in June). Why a novel? I hear you ask, well this has been a little burning ambition of mine since school. English was my favourite class and Mr Clay, my English teacher, was my inspiration teacher (you know, that one teacher that you always remember fondly and really got into your head and affected you). I remember reading Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy - far from the madding crowd holds a special place in my heart - and just getting it. I disappeared into these books and just thought it was amazing how they could transport you into another world and how you end up having real feelings for these fictional characters. When I left school I had ideals of becoming a journalist and use my love of writing, I even vol...

Don’t you just hate it when you start to follow a blog and then they just stop posting...? Me too! I enjoy a good blog but it has been difficult to get back into as I hit a massive stumbling block. The focus of my site was pregnancy and the fact that I am no longer pregnant means I needed to find a new direction/ focus. So I will be reporting on the shenanigans of my long suffering husband and 5, going on 15, year old daughter who cracks me up daily with her wise words and mood swings (think Kevin and Perry in a miniature body!). Not wanting to miss anyone out I may even throw in a few cute stories about my 10 month old son because everyone loves a good projectile vomiting story :) So in today's first, re-branded, installment I thought I should give some background on the husband. Phil and I met at school and much like Romeo and Juliette we were destined to be apart, divided by social differences and misguided loyalties (we went to opposing schools!). My school (Kin...