Wednesday again dear reader, it snuck up upon me like the cheeky little midweek thing that it is, when my alarm went off this morning I could quite happily have switched it off and gone back to sleep, the dark months are coming!

My wonderful cleaner from spark plus services came yesterday and 4 hours later my house looked like it had been magicked by Fairy Godmothers, we could lie on the kitchen floor and eat our dinner from it if we wanted to, that's how clean it is!  I of course don't recommend eating your dinner from the kitchen floor!

Mandys Christmas Bargain - yes it's that day of the week again and this week it's all for the book lovers, until 5th December you can get 3 books for £10 from Amazon, 3 whole books, that's a whole lot of lovely smelling paper, they have adult books and kids books, a really great selection and if you're like me and love something bargainous, that's 3 more Christmas presents sorted and it's not even the middle of November yet!

I had an emergency cuddle from these paws yesterday, lovely to see Sid again and he's a great tonic to the loneliness of being without a dog and only having 2 cats.

Hopefully the loneliness is only temporary and we'll have some new paws to cuddle soon, we're actually just waiting for the home check from the Beagle Welfare association and then we'll hopefully be able to rescue a beagle who needs a new chance in life, we have all of the equipment needed already so it's just a waiting game and we must remain patient, it's not my strong point dear reader but I'll give it a go!

On the work and business front it's my Christmas shopping weekend this weekend with lots of discounts, giveaways and all kinds of fun on both mandycharlton.com and also Philomena's Boutique, i'll have more news on that over the next couple of days but if you want to be the first to know then you need to be on my lovely mailing list so just click on that link, sign up and you'll be the first to know, you have to wait patiently next to your email box on Thursday at 5pm and then all will be revealed.

And that's all for today dear reader, i'm still a bit battered and bruised because of the events of the last week but I'm trying to be positive every day in many, many ways so go forth and make sure your Wednesday is a wonderful thing.

Don't ever let yourself be silenced or controlled...

Good Morning dear reader, I just want to start by thanking everyone for their support yesterday, well in fact not just yesterday but on the whole, I feel so many warm thoughts from you and have had literally thousands of readers, hundreds of comments, emails, beautiful words over the last few months and I don't think I would have got through some of the hardest days without you all, you're all amazing.  Of course there are those who would wish upon me to be silenced but one thing I've learnt is that you can't let bullies control your life, obviously they don't want you to speak out, they'd rather no one ever knew of the traumas they'd cause or the hurt they'd inflicted upon you but no one should ever have that power over you and if you are in a similar situation as I know some are then please make a stand and get out of that situation, it's terribly hard but I promise that being in control of your own destiny is so much better than spending a life being controlled.

Today some lovely things are going to happen, my cleaner starts today and that is going to give me back some valuable time, I really am not superwoman and can't do everything so a little help every week from Spark Plus Services is going to go down a treat.

My lovely friend Aggie is also going to come over this morning and bring Sid the spaniel, I really needed to spend time with some cuddly paws and so I guess Sid is my therapy dog for the morning.

I've also just promised Looby I'll do an online grocery shop today, Old mother Hubbard would be impressed if she looked in my cupboards right now!

One thing I am going to treat myself with today is a browse of the very sparkly and lovely Amazon Kitchen and home store, full of festive lovely things as well as everything you need in the home sense to prepare for the upcoming season of holidays as well as some great gifts.  I have my eye on this Dr Who heat reveal mug for a certain teenager, he's very difficult to buy things for and I think he might just like this as a stocking filler.

More than ever at the moment I am forever trying to teach myself to look for the beauty in every day life, it's something I was brilliant at before life was turned upside down and I will be brilliant at finding it again, some days I manage, some days are so overwhelmingly hard it feels somewhat impossible but I keep on striving to do it, todays photo is a sunset that happened last week just as Looby and I were going into town to the Fenwicks Christmas window switch on, it reminds me that even in the darkest moment beautiful things occur all of the time.

Whatever you do today I hope you can find a little beauty in the mundane or the ordinary, just remember when you find it to grasp on to it with all of your heart for it might just get you through an impossible time.

Magical Highs and deep dark lows

This weekend dear reader has mostly been a wonderful magical thing, Looby and I saw Fenwicks window switched on and they made it snow and we saw the Christmas light switch on in Jenners, Edinburgh yesterday,  2 wonderful magical Christmas moments captured forever for Looby and I. We had a wonderful spontaneous day in Edinburgh yesterday, I think we went in every single shop with the name Scotland or Scottish in the name of it, they all sell the exact same overpriced cornucopia of crap (sorry Looby, she hates it when say that C word) but Looby loved every second and we did pick up some thoroughly Scottish Christmas gifts and Looby got a pink kilt which I'm putting under the care of Santa until Christmas day.

Christmas in Edinburgh officially kicks off on the 24th of November so we'll be back in a couple of weeks time for our official Edinburgh Christmas trip, a yearly tradition which helps build our festive feelings, I know you're probably thinking "yeah, like they need help" and it's probably true although of course this year Christmas is a little tinged with sadness and the news that we are no longer allowed to co-parent our beautiful Petunia came out of nowhere last night, it's a pretty heartless man that can refuse to let his own child have the care of the dog we all love so much, for some time now Petunia has thrived and loved every minute that she's spent with us and had I known that the rug was about to be pulled from under us I never would have let her go last week, it's the final act of a desperate bully and Looby cried herself to sleep last night as did I, I just don't think I've anything left in me but fight now and fight I will, I might not win but I will give it a good go.  I guess I never thought it would come to this, I think this has to be the lowest point so hopefully now the only way is up.  

Photographer Newcastle - Changing the way I do business forever....

Good Morning dear reader, I have been thinking about this for a while now and I'm about to announce something historic.

 Being a photographer in Newcastle since the change in my circumstances it's been amazing how much my portrait business has continued to flourish and grow and that's testament to each and every one of you and the support that you've shown.

For many years if photo shoots were at weekends I'd always charged £40 and allowed an hour but because I'm so quick I often end up with spare half hours or 15/20 minutes where I usually just sit around or get a cup of tea and so from today you can choose whether you think you'll need a half hour photo shoot - £25 or a 1 hour photo shoot - £40

The half hour shoots are available at Tynemouth Longsands, Jesmond Dene and Saltwell Park and I am available on Mon/Wed/Thurs/Sat/Sun although I only usually work one day at weekends now.  If you have a family of 4 or less then usually unless your child/children are particularly shy you will only need a half hour photo shoot.

If you would like a photo shoot at home or you have a large family or you want to have your photo shoot somewhere different these will cost from £40 depending on your individual circumstances and requirements and I hope that this pricing is fairer for everyone.

For £25 you will get a web gallery for 30 days, 15% off for the first week your gallery is live and a complimentary 7x5 print and for £40 you will get a web gallery for 30 days, 15% off for the first week your gallery is live and a complimentary 12x8 print.

Until Sunday at Midnight if you book a photo shoot you will be entered into a competition to win a framed and mounted print entitled "The Secret Garden" which is from my collection on Philomena's Boutique, it's worth £35 and so not to be sniffed at!

Special offers, Mini Sessions and Loobys continuing quest to own a Unicorn

Brrr, it's freezing this morning dear reader, more than a distinct nip in the air!  I have portraits to shoot in Jesmond Dene this morning and it's definitely going to be chilly ones!

Loads of stuff to tell you about if you are interested in the goings on of my business, if you're not then you should probably just skip through this post, haha!

So, until Sunday if you book a photo shoot or buy gift certificates you will be entered into a competition to win this framed and mounted print worth £35, it'll definitely make someone a lovely Christmas present or if you can't bear to give it away then stick it on your own walls and it will look fabulous!

To tempt you even further if you buy gift certificates before Sunday you will get an extra 20%, so for a half hour session voucher for £25 you will get a gift certificate worth £30 which means more prints for you!

I have a new last minute date for mini sessions at Saltwell Park on Sunday 16th November, I have been getting so many enquiries about doing more mini sessions at Saltwell Park, all the details below

So lots of lovely worky things going on, I'm actually quite blessed with great weather lately, it's been such a lovely dry autumn and that's fab if you work outdoors as much as I do!

Lots of enquiries coming in about doing some mini sessions at Tynemouth even though it's a bit brisk at the coast at this time of year so I may just have a think and announce a date at the beginning of December down by the sea, if you would be interested please do email, send an enquiry through my website or facebook page

Last night we had a great night Looby and I, we went to our local fireworks display and had a ball, then we noticed that 3 separate flats on the way home had full on Christmas decorations up, now I'm the first to admit that I'm a bit of a Christmas addict but even I think that the 5th of November is a bit early to put your Christmas tree up, presumably none of the trees were real or they'll all be dead by December!

Looby wrote her Christmas list last night, amongst others on the 30 item list is a kitten, a pony and a unicorn, I did tell her that she would have a £100 budget but clearly she has no concept of my budget, item number 26 was "anything else you think I would like"  let me tell you now that she's going to get a lot of item number 26!  I'd actually love to have all of the money in all of the world and be able to buy her everything on the list (Unicorn a bit more tricky unless you're in North Korea) but single parent budgeting is a tough one, it's not that I got any help anyway but I could at least come and go and I pleased and it didn't matter when I racked up 70 hours a week but now I'm working about 20 - 30 hours a week my income has taken some adjustment, I think the biggest impact has only been working 1 day at a weekend instead of 2 but I don't regret that I get to spend a lot more time with the children, I just have to keep working on that residual income, did I mention that Philomena's Boutique is the perfect place to do all of your Christmas shopping this year? 

Whatever you are doing today make sure it's a Thoroughly thankful Thursday!

Bathroom Painting, Frozen Christmas Jumpers and other miscellaneous items!!

The house decoration started in earnest yesterday with some painting of the bathroom, and the painters and decorators of the world need fear nothing, I am quite possibly the worst at painting in the world, thankfully though after 2 coats on the wall that bit is done and I'm doing the second coat on the coving and bathroom door tonight.  Looby helped to paint last night when I got home from Slimming World and for that I am so grateful, apparently she likes painting, maybe she has a future career as a painter and decorator, actually don't tell her that or she'll be horrified that I would suggest anything other than a farmer!

So, I've been thinking about helping you all with your Christmas shopping, it's no secret that I am, well a bit of a bargain hunting shopaholic so I thought I would try and post bargains that I find and then that's your Christmas sorted really, I keep filling my Amazon basket, at the moment it's got 3 very expensive games in it for Iain, lets hope they last him longer than a day!

Mandy's Christmas Bargain - Olaf Christmas Jumpers which start at £5, yes the cheeky snowman from frozen has his own selection of Christmas Jumpers for sale on Amazon and they start at a fiver which is cheap at half the price!  If Olaf doesn't take your fancy, I honestly think you won't find a better selection than the second link and they're all so much cheaper than I've seen on my travels.

You know I mentioned Fenwicks Christmas Window a couple of blog posts ago, well on the official Fenwicks Facebook Page I noticed that there's a big thing on Friday when it's unveiled at 5pm, and yes of course Looby and I will be there, we may even manage to drag along Iain and Abigail if she's here that day.

Sad kitty news as Abigail is moving Cupcake the cat to her dads, it's only fair really as it's her cat and she pines terribly for her on days she's not here, she also doesn't like anyone else apart from Abigail and I suspect that she's always wanted to be a lone cat, I will miss her but much like Abigail I'm rarely her favourite person.  I do think though that if we are down to just 2 kitties and 1 part time woofy that we may have to consider some new paws in our house, probably just a kitten though as Petunia is the best dog in the world and I am definitely not a 2 dog lady!

This morning I am off to my Inspire Network meeting and we've got ourselves a Christmas showcase so I am taking along some exclusive framed prints which are going to make perfect and excellent home gifts for Christmas, what I don't sell will go on my wall and I may even do a giveaway so if you would like to win one of them stay tuned for more news, if I sell them all don't worry, I will get more frames and still do a giveaway very soon!

More bathroom painting this evening, more catching up with work this afternoon but I am nearly there now, just a couple of album tweaks and I will finally be caught up for the first time in forever to pinch some lyrics from Frozen, well everyone else does so why not?

May all of your Wednesdays be wonderful!

Stress, Decorating and Infuriated Voices

I've always hated early mornings, I much prefer late nights if I'm honest but I do seem to achieve more between the hours of 5 and 7 than I do for the rest of the day sometimes dear reader, my mind seems to have greater focus when I've just gotten up so I try to embrace that every day.

Yesterday partially went to plan, I did 2 photo shoots, edited lots of things, did a little album design but most of the day was spent trying to download 1.3gb of images from my good friend Jamie, my goodness, it would have been quicker to walk there and transport them myself, I still don't have them, the interwebs conspired against both of us, I'm trying once more to download again and the great thing about early mornings is that the downloader is saying that it'll only take 23 minutes currently which is slightly better than between 9 hours and 3 days.  I really needed the images yesterday so i'm quite keen that they download!

At the moment there's an infuriated voice which keeps shouting at me, usually when I'm trying to work, the space I asked for really didn't equate to a month, in fact it seems to happen every time I try to work so maybe my calendar is being looked at and it's being done on purpose, anyway I finally snapped and fingers crossed I won't have to deal with anything now until at least after Christmas, surely it's not too much to ask for a month of space so you can think and reflect and make proper decisions which will last for the rest of your life.  The truth is that the more that I get bothered the more I realise the level to which I was being controlled and the happier I am to be free of it, I actually love life on my own with my kids, cats and dog and even though I'm a little bit knackered fitting everything in all of the time I think I do a pretty good job of single parenting, I just have to remind myself that I am not actually wonder woman and stop setting myself standards that are unachievable by anyone other than actual superheroes.

I bought the final paint for my bathroom dear reader, a trio of shades for what is going to be one of the most luxurious rooms in the house, the plan is dark duck egg walls, silver coving and  light grey satin wood, I then need to investigate the possibility of a tap set which has a shower thing on it, in the 10 years of living in my house the one thing I have hated is the fact that if I want to go in the shower I have to do it in a hotel, well now I know there's nothing I can't do without the trusty help of a plumber, I'm looking for recommendations if anyone knows of one who speaks in the queens english and not grunts!

So this is my plan for today, edit wedding even though it's my day off because I should have finished it yesterday but those files, yes those damn files.... (10 minutes it's taken this morning, thank you universe) paint bathroom, meet with Janet from Spark Plus Services, yes that's the lovely cleaning company I mentioned, hopefully by this time next week my kitchen floor will be gleaming!  Oh and then it's Slimming World tonight which is pretty much going to be a bust again after I consumed too much chocolate because I was so stressed out yesterday.

Come on Tuesday, be terrific, you can do it!