Can you believe that it’s Friday already? The weeks seem to be flying by recently. They do say that time flies when you are having fun, I actually believe that time speeds up the moment that you have children. That is all apart from those clock watching moments when you await ‘Daddy’s return from work’ following a tough day with the little ones.
So here I am once again looking back upon the week gone by with another #LittleLoves linkup, the ideal opportunity to reflect on the days gone by.
Just incase you missed my #LittleLoves post from last week, let me quickly explain that #Littleloves is a link-up series hosted by Morgana, a parenting and lifestyle blogger who writes regularly upon her blog ‘coffeeworksleeprepeat’. #Littleloves gives bloggers like myself the chance to reflect upon the little things that they have ‘loved’ throughout their week, whether it be something they’ve watched on the telly, an event or even finding a surprise fiver in their jeans pocket. Whatever makes us smile is definitely worth sharing.
My own #LittleLoves posts will take place each and every Friday, right here on my blog. I will be highlighting my ‘memorable moments’ from throughout the week under specific headings.
Be sure to post a comment with your own ‘little loves’ and if you are a fellow blogger, then why not link up too? For further information visit http://www.coffeeworksleeprepeat.com/little-loves
So here goes… Here are my #LittleLoves for the past week.
READ
E has now been potty training for nine days in total and during this time I have been dipping in and out of Elizabeth Pantley’s book titled ‘The No-Cry Potty Training Solution‘. It has been quite useful to read at times, but in all honesty as E is my second child I already knew the basics. This book does however feature a great quiz which helps to identify whether your child is truly ready to be toilet/ potty trained. There were a few times when I initially doubted whether E was actually ready and it’s partly thanks to the quiz in ‘The No-Cry Potty Training Solution’ that we went ahead with ‘Project Potty Training’. I can proudly report that E has had no accidents for the past few days in terms of number ones (we are still working on number twos) so it seems to have been a partial success!
WATCHED
As you have probably read in my past posts, I have been watching ‘The A Word’ religiously each and every Tuesday. ‘The A Word’ is (or should I say ‘was’) a popular BBC series based in my stomping ground, The Lakes. ‘The A Word’ told the story of a family struggling with the realities of Autism. Paul and I found it particularly interesting to watch as we too deal with a child that is on the spectrum and we wondered how it might compare to own reality. Joe (the name of the young boy with autism’s character) was completely different to our J, as every child is different and just as every child on the spectrum varies.
‘The A Word‘ was great television and I particularly enjoyed watching the final episode, in which the young boy with autism went missing. In order to help find him, they needed large amounts of people to help conduct a search. To try to increase the chances of finding Joe his parents needed to share information upon their son’s condition with the locals, so that they were more likely to succeed in finding him. His parents were initially reluctant to accept the condition themselves, never mind discuss their sons issues with others whether they be local or not. They worried that by telling people, they were exposing Joe to unneccessary judgement and in turn he might be treated differently to a ‘normal child’ (whatever one of those is!) . To the parents great surprise, the locals didn’t seem to bat an eyelid and were hugely accepting. They then joined in the search and tried their very best to help to find Joe.
Whilst I realise that the series was entirely fictional, it was refreshing to see such great acceptance in the final episode following previous episodes filled with denial. It was a delight to watch teams of people helping to find Joe, walking around the area singing and playing his favourite Music, Joe’s subject of interest in an attempt to offer comfort and to attract Joe should he have been lost or hiding. It was wonderful to watch, I also got a taste for the Arctic Monkeys throughout these scenes… anyhow that’s another matter!
Come next Tuesday, I am pretty certain that I will feel like there is something missing from my evening now that it’s all over. If you didn’t watch ‘The A Word’ then you can still catch up on all the episodes with the good old BBC IPlayer, it’s well worth watching!
HEARD
This week I have mainly been listening to cheesey classics from Simply Red, an 80s-90s band which seems to be making a revival despite splitting up years back and claiming to have played their ‘last gig’ a few years ago. As luck would have it, they are once again playing live and local to myself! Simply Red are playing at Cartmel Races in a few weeks time, and thanks to my wonderful friend Vicky I will also be there. Let’s hope the weather is better than this week, it seems that Winter has returned for a second round.
MADE
This week I have made a new logo for my blog and many social media pages. As you may or may not have noticed throughout the past few weeks, my blog seems to have changed in terms of design probably more times than you have changed your socks. This week I finally nailed my new design in terms of the header and profile image. I also changed my theme template and I think I might finally be happy with the result… well for now anyhow!
WORE
This week I have worn a random arrangement of clothing dependent upon the ever-changing weather…Where exactly has Spring gone?
So rather than focus on clothing, I have decided to show you my new nail varnish instead. I recently bagged a bargain on the tinterweb, on ebay to be precise. I purchased a cheapy glitter nail varnish to add some glitz to my talons. I wasn’t expecting miracles considering the price I paid, but I have to say that it actually looks pretty good! I have been wearing nail varnish for three months solid now following slamming my finger in a door. J hates how black my finger nail looks without the coverage, so I felt that I needed a bit of glitz to brighten the endless reds, purples and blacks that I keep painting my nails with to cover the bruising. I became bored of a flat colour and so glitter was the answer!
AND LASTLY…
We have needed a new sofa for sodding ages and so we decided to splash out in the January sales and treat ourselves to a new suite from Harvey’s. We ordered a three seater sofa and a single recliner chair over the telephone. Whilst talking to the sales team we were told that as the sofa was an express item, it should be with us within a fortnight, whereas the chair on the other hand would take up to thirteen weeks, taking us up to April. We were fine with that and went ahead with our order paying in full right there and then.
Two weeks later in mid-January I telephoned Harvey’s to enquire as to when our sofa might arrive. I was then told that the order had been combined and so we would have to wait until the single chair was ready in April. I was furious and explained that their website stated otherwise, I also pointed out that we had paid in full and by doing so they now had almost £2k of our hard-earned cash in their pockets whilst we were left waiting.
Harvey’s refused to budge upon the matter and despite offering us ‘temporary furniture’ which we declined, we were left without our purchase whilst they continued to hold onto our money.
March arrived and I began wondering whether the chair would be ready yet, that and my patience was wearing thin. I contacted Harvey’s once again, this time I was told that there was now a delay on the chair and that it would be Mid-May before there would be any chance of our order being sent out. I was absolutely fuming and asked to speak to a Manager immediately. After speaking to someones Line Manager, I was then informed that I needn’t have paid in full and should have never been asked to do so in the first place. I was utterly disgusted by their customer service (or lack of to be precise) and told them as such. At this point Harvey’s offered us a reduction in the price of our order, this was laughable as they had already taken our money. They then discussed the possibility of some form of a partial refund which they would only pay to us once our order had arrived. We are yet to see whether or not this will take place.
Last week I got in touch with the wonderful (that’s sarcasm right there) Harvey’s again, I was told that it may now be June if not later before our order would be ready. Whilst on the phone Paul walked up to me, laptop in hand and pointed out that the sofa and chair that we had ordered was no longer on their website. It was at this point that it came to light that the furniture that we had ordered has now been discontinued! I was mortified that such a well-known and apparently reputable company such as Harvey’s could string their customers (us) along like this and so spoke to several of their representatives regarding the matter. Eventually, after speaking to three or four members of Harvey’s customer services, Harvey’s agreed to splitting the order and sending us the three-seater sofa next Tuesday. As for the single-seater chair, it may be summer before it has even been made, never mind shipped and dispatched to us, the extremely patient and rather peed off customers.
Hopefully Harvey’s stay true to their word and next Tuesday we will at least have a sofa to park our backsides upon. Even the idea of this is more than worth a #littlelove!
So there we have it, my #LittleLoves for this week. Thanks for reading and apologies for the waffle yet again.
11 comments
I have been loving the A Word too, I had to skip past the latter part of your watched section though, not finished watching it yet! Looking forward to catching up on it though. I know what you mean about the weather, it’s so changeable, isn’t it. I’m refusing to acknowledge that the weather is bad and am dressing for spring regardless. I’M SO COLD!! haha. Have a great bank holiday weekend xx
You too and enjoy the final episode !
The weather is driving me crazy it’s like winter! I’m constantly cold. Well done E on the potty training! Have a lovely weekend XXX
Thanks Natalie X
I really want to watch The A Word, I’ve heard lots about it now. That’s awful about Harvey’s too, I would be fuming! x
I still am fuming !
yeh, I’ve just decided to tweet them (and bbc watchdog and a few others) with my thoughts and link to the blog.
I’d be fuming at Harvey’s too, my husband hates bad customer service and I think he would have ended up cancelling the order and demanding a full refund after all of that.
Apparently Spring is coming, it’s supposed to be getting warmer this week. Let’s wait and see shall we??
We will wait and see what happens in the morning (or afternoon perhaps). If it doesn’t arrive tomorrow I’ll be screaming from the rooftops!
I had that potty training book and it was so helpful when potty training my first rather resistant child! It really helped me see it from another angle.
What a nightmare with Harveys! I’d be absolutely fuming!! I hope they sort it out for you and fast.
We have the sofa, just need the chair now…
Great book, agreed