Pippa's blog

March 2009

Since January I've been wondering if I could take up the challenge of completing Look Wider. I made a few hesitant steps, but in March I managed to pull a plan together with some rough ideas of what I wanted to achieve and things I wanted to try. I had a meeting with a lady called Diane to talk about the Leadership Qualification, and picked up some good tips, although I'm still happy to take things slowly.

The 11th of March was a sad day for me, I went into town for my wedding dress fitting, only to discover that I am currently 4inches too big for it... So the rest of March was spent furiously dieting. with the result of loosing about 5lbs over the month. My next dress fitting is the 6th of May, so hopefully I'll be able to lose the weight I need to fit into my dress properly.

Invitations finally went out this month as well, I was really pleased with the way they turned out, since we did everything by hand ourselves, I did the printing and Duncan did the writing. They are cream and burgundy coloured with some nice silver stickers here and there. It made us realise just how close the wedding is getting.

It was Duncan's birthday on the 22nd or March, which also happened to be Mothers Day. So we shared the day, had a lovely dinner and spent some time alone, and later in the day with the girls. It was important for us to make sure the girls knew that daddy's birthday was more important than making me the odd cup of tea, or fetching flowers in from the garden for me!

I had a great evening with my Guide unit this month, we made paper baskets and went for a night time Easter egg hunt, with prizes at the end.

The girls had a lot of fun, and it was a great experience for me as I planned the evening. I still have a couple of the baskets now, which I'll use for my LQ. I've started making more plans for the wedding music, and bits and pieces of flowers, which is all new to me, I dread to think how much money we've saved by doing so much ourselves on this wedding.

Money has been really tight since Duncan lost his job, and it's only a sign of the times really, but we keep praying that something really suitable for him will come up and he can start working again, and more importantly, enjoy what he is doing. I've never really had to worry about money before, not that I had a lot of it, more that I had less responsibility, I had a job, and I got paid and that was that. Now I survive on benefits, while giving time to my girls and Guiding, and I cant think of anything better...unless of course I could get paid to do it all! Duncan has been to interviews and the rest, but the trouble is that everyone else is in the same boat, so you end up with 300 odd people applying for one job. It's a tough time, but we'll get through it.

Abi had a great school assembly this month with Caribbean theme, and we got to walk around her class with her afterwards, and see all the work that she gets up to. Vivian also got to show us some things that she was making at school earlier in the month, and we now have a wall at home dedicated to art work that they have made at home or school.

I've restarted a collection that I used to have when I was younger as well. I've spent a little bit of money on Rainbow, Brownie and Guide annuals, EBay can be quite good sometimes! It's interesting to see how Guiding has changed over time, with the uniforms, and the badges, and the type of things we are all expected to help with and be able to do. I've enjoyed seeing pictures of Brownies and Guides from the 60's as I now know a few ladies who were brownies in the 60's and it makes it easier to imagine them as the girls they used to be, and having to iron their uniforms and polish shoes and the rest.

Now I have two weeks off from Guides, which I don't like, but two weeks with the kids which I do like. Next month our Vicar leaves the church for a new parish a lot further away, and our wedding plans will be transferred to another vicar in Plymouth, who we don't as yet know. I'll try and remember to tell you all about it next time I write.