Tinyme Free Printable Fun!! Masks, Bookmarks & More...

The good folks over at Tinyme are giving everyone access to their spantafulous printables!

Great for party fun as well as something to do on those rainy days.

All you have to do is Join Club Tiny!

Enjoy,

M x

RIP My Grandad, My Hero, My Bigodes

It's almost been 3 months since my hero passed away, it took a lot of courage, crying, composure, shouting to come to 'terms' that he is gone.... and a lot of time off to deal with all that.

No one tells you how you are supposed to grieve, and now I know why...

Everyone has their own way of dealing with it and mine was having the time to think about him, get most of my crying out and nice long walks by the beach. It was setting up a facebook group so we could all honour him and share good memories between friends & family.

As you see I have been quiet since the end of June and now you know why.

My grandad never made it to my birthday, but he made it to see my son get to 6 and my daughter get to 3... and that makes me very happy.

I believe he is watching out for us and watching us from above... laughing at our silliness and smiling each time my kids do or learn something new. I think he is proud of me now that I am carrying on with my life and not sad any more.

I miss him terribly, and I always will, there is so much I would like to tell him and ask him but I am not sure I believe in mediums and the kind. Do you believe in that sort of stuff?

I think that even if there is such a thing it is very difficult to separate real from fake. I would love to have someone convince me that they are for real though, so I could speak to my grandad once again.

I love my granddad and I always will, he will always be my hero!

It always brings tears to my eyes when I think of him, but I know he is no longer suffering... the cancer was destroying him from the inside out. He was so peaceful when he was gone, I thought I would never do the sort but I told the kids he was having a long sleep and going to heaven and my kids gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back downstairs.

He looked so beautiful and peaceful, I sat on the bed next to him until they took him and that was the last time I ever saw him and I ever stroked his face.

Every day I go to our boutique it reminds me of him, I opened it on his birthday & I do it all for him.

I remember him crying when everything went through for me to get the boutique, he was so pleased and he really wanted everything to go well for us.

So here's a big cheers to my granddad! Our hero...

As I am writing this my 3 year old came over and saw the picture of her and him (the one on top) and said "Look mummy, it's me and Bizivo (great granddad in Portuguese), he's my best friend!", it makes me so happy that she understands that he is gone but always with us in our hearts.

My granddad always played with the kids and they both loved them dearly.

I love you granddad, always and forever, my Bigodes, my hero....

He still got to see my tattoo for him x

Monica xxx

Kids Food Fun!

Some ideas for making the kids lunch fun! M x

We are famous!!! In Basildon that is...

I am very excited to announce that a local newspaper did a story on us and we are in this week's edition which came out today!!

The Basildon Yellow Advertiser wrote about us on page 5, you can check out the digital copy of the newspaper here.

Hopefully lots more people will discover the wonderfulness that is our boutique!

Monica x

BEWARE National Lottery Scam Email!!!

I have just received this email and thought I should warn everyone that this is a scam!
Whatever you do don't reply with your personal information!!

This is what I got on my email from the scammers...

Thank You for Loving Me.... Grandad

I have been trying to keep it together for a while, for the kids, for the rest of the family and for my business but yesterday and today I just can't stop crying.

For those of you that don't already know my grandad, my hero has Cancer, its not the kind that goes away, we did the chemo and the radiotherapy and its here to stay.

I now don't have much notion of time, I opened the Boutique on the 28th of April 2012 as it was his birthday, I struggled to keep to that deadline but I did it for him.

He was supposed to visit that day and put his mind at rest that I was going to be OK, I know I am going to be fine, I am a fighter and have always been but my grandad is old fashioned, doesn't understand the internet, let alone business on the internet.

Unfortunately on that day he had very high temperature and was unwell, unfortunately since that day he still hasn't been well enough to go out of the house and things have turned to worse and he is now in hospital.

I don't think he is going to come back home, he is only awake for short periods of time as he is so weak and the blood transfusion yesterday hasn't exactly done wonders.

When I am not at the boutique, I am in the hospital and eventually go home to sleep and the cycle happens all over again. I have been trying to keep it together for everyone involved but lately too many things have happened, like some stupid idiot scamming us of £700 (police are investigating) me suddenly appearing with all these stupid health problems (I really don't have time to worry about me now) and on top of everything else to add to the mix a bit of bullying.

I am the pillar for my family, which most mums probably are, and I am one of the pillars for my wider family, (Grandparents, brothers, untie, mum & dad), we are a close family... but yesterday it was just too much and I broke down.

I just want my grandad to last a few more months, be able to smile again and see the Summer, my grandad loves the Summer he has always been an outdoors person, very active, a body builder and now in his 70s he had a body that would make a 30 year old envious only a month ago.

He deserves one more Summer, a Summer to watch his great grandkids playing in the garden and eat some more strawberries grown in our garden since he can no longer tend to his land and eat the fruit from it like he has done for many years.

Please pray for my grandad to miraculously pull out of this one.

And although he doesn't understand the words and he is too poorly to listen to it and for me to explain I share with you this song that I heard today and made me brake down into tears:-

My grandad brought me up and I thank him for loving me and taking care of me while I was a kid.

You're Invited to our Grand Opening, it's a special date

And finally after all the hard work and anticipation I can finally say...

I hope to see you there!

I feel a bit like it's my wedding I am planning, I am that nervous, it's a massive day for me and my family. 

We will be supporting St Lukes Hospice Basildon as they have been supporting my grandad through his cancer ordeal. They will be selling tickets to their raffle, we have a few items which when sold 50% of the profits will be donated to them and we will also have a permanent collection box in the shop.

The 28th of April wasn't just picked out of a hat, in fact I have worked very hard to meet this deadline against all odds and hurdles, specially considering it's before pay day for us.

I hope I can share this special day with you too.

No the 28th is not just a random date, it's the date of my grandad's birthday, unfortunately he has terminal cancer. My grandad is like a father to me, he raised me until I was 10 and he is the most hard working man I have ever known, and the strongest up until this year when this monstrous disease decided to manifest itself.

I am opening the boutique on his birthday so that he knows he is special to me beyond what my words can ever describe and so that he can be proud of me and know that he doesn't need to worry about me.

Since a very young age my grandad has inspired me to run my own business and shown me that hard work can achieve anything, he himself is an entrepreneur and had his own business that he ran successfully ever since I can remember.

I hope I make him proud and I hope that he is with us for as long as possible, perhaps by some miracle I will be celebrating his birthday and the boutique's birthday next year with him beside me.

I love you Avo, my hero.

M x