The Amazing Change

I've just signed up to a website called The Amazing Change. It is part and parcel of all that is to do with the bicentennial of the abolition of slavery and the new film coming out next year called Amazing Grace. You can go to the website here. I'm going to be blogging about slavery as i remember - it's something that is hard to ignore when you start finding out the facts.

The following is some info taken from the website:

What Is Slavery?

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. A slave is:

Forced to work -- through mental or physical threat; owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse; dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property'; physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

--Source: AntiSlavery.org

What Types of Slavery Exist Today?

Slavery exists. Whether we call it trafficking, bonded labor, forced labor, or sex slavery, it exists: globally, nationally, and locally.

Bonded labour affects at least 20 million* people around the world. People become bonded labourers by taking or being tricked into taking a loan for as little as the cost of medicine for a sick child. To repay the debt, many are forced to work long hours, seven days a week, up to 365 days a year. They receive basic food and shelter as 'payment' for their work, but may never pay off the loan, which can be passed down for generations.

Early and forced marriage affects women and girls who are married without choice and are forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence.

Forced labour affects people who are illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work -- usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Slavery by descent is where people are either born into a slave class or are from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slave labour.

Trafficking involves the transport and/or trade of people -- women, children and men -- from one area to another for the purpose of forcing them into slavery conditions. Human Trafficking is now ranked as the second largest criminal industry globally?second only to drug smuggling, and tying with illegal weapons transactions. The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 15 and 20 THOUSAND individuals are trafficked into the United States to become slaves EACH YEAR! This does not include those U.S. citizens trafficked from city to city within our borders.

--Source: AntiSlavery.org and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

this is brill - mum sent it me!

Life Cycle


I think the life cycle is all backwards.


You should start out dead and get it out of the way.


Then, you wake up in an old age home feeling better every day.


You get kicked out for being too healthy;

Go collect your pension, and then when you start work,

you get a gold watch on your first day.


You work 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement.


You drink alcohol, you party, you're generally promiscuous

and you get ready for High School.


You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play,

you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, and then...


You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury,

in spa-like conditions; central heating, room service on tap,

larger quarters every day, and then, you finish off as an orgasm.

a few more photos

aint they cuties....

he done gone and got a tooth!!

our little jossy woo has got his first tooth through - at last! for moths it's been threatening, slowly working its way down through his gums and the last few days i've noticed the bulge and now it's here. so tiny you have to feel it to relly join in with the excitement! robin is particularly excited - i think his fingers were in jos' mouth more today than in the 8 months he's been with us!! not to worry though, robin will soon learn that jos' mouth is no plac eto leave his fingers idling!!

just done a pampered chef show in barnsley. it went really well and Praise God i got a future booking. it's not til may but it's there and they have not been very forthcoming i tell you! also, my sales this month have gone over £1000 so i get a £20 bonus in my pay packet - yehah!

i really should be sleeping

this morning i had jos sleeep for 45 minutes from 8.15 til 9 so that he would be ready to go to sleep at the same time as robin when robin usually does his 2ish hour sleep. but robin isn't going to sleep so i can't sleep. i am very frustrated because i'm so tired having done a pampered chef show last night and then feeding jos 7 times in a 6 hour period last night. irritates me that i was self-disciplined and thought through my day and planned for it and set limits (all of which don't come naturally to my ENFP personality type) and then i get no good consequences from it - apart from robin demonstrating his excellent patience skills because although awake he is, for the most part, being quiet in his room. i expect he will fall asleep at a time just before jos wakes up and when i start calculating the time left before bedtime and so possible worrying that he won't sleep later.

i was also hoping to make it to the museum this afternoon but not sure that's going to happen if he is so knackered/falls asleep just before jos wakes!

robin loves diggers. we continue to raise him in a household that tries to blur the gender lines in terms of identity. totally want our boys to know that they are boys, one day to be men but don't want them to think that they are therefore denied pink, dresses/skirts, dollies, nail polish, fairy outfits etc. i am often quite shocked when people say, 'aren't you worried they'll end up gay?'. no, i'm not worried - not that for a minute i think people are gay simply because they had parents who gave them the freedom to explore the world through a child's eyes instead of cultural rules that have not been thought through. but anyway, it wouldn't be a problem if either of them was gay. far more important that they grow up knowing that they are loved, that they are loving to others, that they develop good boundaries with themselves and others so that they take responsibility for their choices and whatever consequences go along with those and that they serve others in a 'love your neighbour as you love yourself' way.

robin does love diggers though! we went to the park the other day where there is a digger doing a great job of building a toilet block! we parked a bit away and walked along the river to the park and we saw the heron. i say 'the' heron because for some reason whenever i see him it always feels like he is the only one. i've never seen two together and he always looks the same. and he has a wonderful aura of authority - like he really knows that he owns the place! here's a picture (taken on my mobile at full zoom so it's not the best quality!!)

a few of the goings on of creative stream...

cliff plays the hideously vast collection of westlife songs (the majority of which are covers)
andy (me) creates totem poles in his lunch break:

cliff farts.
ant sings along to westlife.
andy woods asks cliff to download/ buy more westlife, then regrets it.
andy m puts his head phones on and listens to harry potter audiobook.

all in a days work.

some things i am thinking about

1. how to blog more - i like it but finding the time is hard.
2. myers briggs personality testing and how to strengthenm the bits of me that don't fit my natural personality type.
3. work-life balance
4. jonny cash's amazing worship album
5. prophecy
6. what i want for Christmas
7. ebaying again now that i can use my phone to take pictures and bloetooth them to my laptop.
8. the fact that i haven't worn my dungarees for ages.

bregazzi's - robin discovers the bohemian life...

....and jos looks a little quizzical.

thats the next 2 weeks sorted for entertainment...

just started watching it last night - its the virus one in case you can't remember - very exciting (altho a bit annoying i remember a little bit from when we saw the occasional episode when it was originally on...)

the latest addition...

having spent too long with a house filled with clothes, nappies and duvet covers hanging from every available hanging place, we have finally invested in a tumble dryer - its like my new favourite toy!!

stil enjoying the be good tanyas
they're playing in the UK in the next few weeks - i'd really (as in there's no other band i'd want to see live at the mo) love to see them, but getting out of town to see em is a bit tricky - york or manc anyone??

also enjoying blogging again. - hope you are too!

i've been to the spa and i look ten years younger (according to chloe's mum)

this morning chloe and i went to the spa together. it was lush and i am sure my face looks different as a result. i must keep drinking lots of water though because of all those pesky toxins trying to escape my body (which is a temple i'll have you know!). I t nearly all started with disaster as i went into town early to buy a swim suit having been reliably informed that M&S stock them all year round, only to discover that M&S do not stock them all year round anymore. so i rushed to john lewis - i need'nt have as they weren't yet open - where i felt like julia roberts in pretty woman when the shop lady is lovely to her. i explained to the lady that i was going to the spa and that i had to get a cossie and that i had a very short amount of time to do it. she was awesome and got me to the costumes and helped me look through all the sizes. i went into the changing room with two but i needed niples that stuck out to the sides for the bra bit to look right so i scrapped those but then the john lewis lady kept bringing new ones to try on. i put on a (shock horror) brown suit and it looked fantastic. i love it, even though it is brown. so i bought it and had a lovely time i the spa with chloe. i am a new woman!

barnaby is coming to stay tonight - hooray. we love him and he is Jos' life parent so it's about time he put in an appearance. only joking! he is very busy and important but we get him for an evening of chicken thariwala and wine and he's staying the night.

here is a random picture from the google search for 'grape snorkel'. it was andy's choice of wordswhen i asked him for the frist two peculiar words to enter his head.

For the body of Christ

you are our God - a communal statement

From before the world began
and after the end of eternity, YOU ARE GOD
From the sea bursting out of its womb
to the wind ceasing from its chase, YOU ARE GOD
In the vastness of the universe
and the forgotten corners of our hearts, YOU ARE GOD
YOU ARE OUR GOD AND WE BLESS YOU.

i love my new howies jumper.

i recently ordered two items from howies. one was a t-shirt that says 'new logo same shit company' and the other was ajumper with a mushroom on it. i got the t-shirt the other week and love it. got the jumper today and really really love it! here are some photos so you get the general idea!




today i am writing a 1 minute presentation for a business launch tomorrow. i am presenting on my role as a pampered chef consultant and amongst other guests is the Lord Mayor of Sheffeild!

very tired at moment and have persistent sore throat and earache.

andy is being amazing at giving me extra rest, particularly when i've been out working.

the link in html!!!

Unique by pip wilson - a man, not a woman as i thought

Unique

i stumbled across this image when i was doing a bit of Rn'R on the web in the middle of my work day today. i've had a slow and unproductive day in some ways but in others a very productive day. i can't quite desribe how that works. I realise how much i am applying myself at the moment - parenting, pampered chef and boobyjuice (or whatever it ends up being called).

yesterday my first ever pattern fell through my letter box. what an achievment to have got one of my designs down on paper as a pattern. there's obviously a lot more to be done before that pattern becomes a garment i ma pleased with but an achievment necer the less.

so back to the image!! here it is - i am unique and accepted and LOVED just as i am right here right now without being any different. to me that is an incredible thing to be reminded of because it isn't something that dwells in me richly (a few words from the bible that i am holding onto - that God's word would dwell in me richly). i can't get the image to load up so you could follow this link to find the image i'm referring too! (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/516/139/1600/UNIQUE%20PIP%20WILSON%20%3F%3F.jpg)

man i wish i could remmeber how to do that html stuff!