I am the proud owner of a pair of small boobs, and today I’m sharing how to check small boobs for cancer. Why, you ask? October is breast cancer awareness month, so the Blogtober prompt for day 2 is “boobs”. The word itself makes me laugh a little. Mostly with embarrassment.

How to check small boobs for cancer

I am the owner of a pair of very small boobs – FACT! My boobs aren’t something I spend a great deal of time thinking about these days. I don’t have any. End of story. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to check small boobs for lumps though.

Have I Always Had Small Boobs?

I’ve always been an A cup. At my biggest weight, my smallest and everywhere in between! My band size has changed over the years, but not my cup size. When I was breast feeding, I could almost fill a B cup – when I’d not fed the baby for a few hours, anyway. Checking your breasts for lumps is an important job – no matter how big (or small) they are! When you check small boobs for cancer or lumps, it’s easier than with big breasts, so that’s an added bonus!

When I was younger, it bothered me that I had small boobs, but it didn’t affect my confidence. Padded bras became my best friend. I remember spending £30 on one in Debenhams when I was about 17, which was water filled. It took my 34A “fried eggs” up to a 34D, at least. It was heavy, but definitely looked far more realistic than the “chicken fillets” which were popular at the time. That was as close to a boob job as I ever got.

It’s not all bad, having small boobs – at least I don’t get hot and sweaty like lots of friends do. I don’t need to worry about how strong my sports bra is, and I definitely don’t get back pain as a result of their size! Several of my friends have needed breast reduction surgery, and I am definitely grateful I didn’t have to go through what they did.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Having a small cleavage means that checking for lumps and changes is an easy job. Yep – even us small chested ladies need to keep an eye out for changes. Cancer doesn’t care what cup size you are!

Personally, none of my family have been directly affected by breast cancer – that doesn’t mean we won’t be though. It’s important to know what changes to look out for. None of my 3 sisters have small boobs – they definitely got my share! I seem to have been given their share of grey hair – lucky me! So… While I’ve got small boobs, but it’s not a bad thing in my book!

More about Blogtober:

The idea behind Blogtober is: Mandi over at Big Family Chaos has put together a list of daily prompts. You write a blog post each day, based on that day’s prompt. You can view the full list of prompts in my Day 1 post.

Check out my other Blogtober blog posts here. You can also find blog posts from other bloggers via the Big Family Chaos linky, by clicking the badge below.

When I heard about Blogtober, I knew I had to join in. The idea is: Mandi over at Big Family Chaos has put together a list of daily prompts. I write a blog post each day, based on that day’s prompt. (The full list is at the bottom of this post). Today’s prompts were, “All about me / A Year Later.” For day 1, I have chosen All about me….

All About Me…

So Hello….. I’m Tee (or Tina when I’m in trouble). I’ve been blogging since 2009, in various places.

I started off with a weight loss blog, which saw me lose over 60lb and make lots of online friends all over the world. It saw me get married, lose a baby and then get pregnant with my first child. I felt like a fraud then, so gave up blogging when I was about 4 months pregnant.

From Weight To Parent Blogger…

When my son was born, I stumbled upon parent bloggers, which was still a fairly new thing in 2011. I immediately decided I needed to start one for us, as I missed having somewhere to express myself. Hubby is definitely the technical one. He set up MotherGeek.co.uk for me, and I have blogged there ever since.

Now the kids are both in full time school, I found myself being less “mum” and more “Tee” than I had in a long time. It felt fraudulent writing about “me” on a parent blog, so GirlsGospel was born.

From Hobby To Career…

I now work from home as a blogger and copywriter. It’s perfect as it means I can be here for my family, and our dogs (did I mention I have 2 needy boxer pups)?

I’m almost 35 now and am definitely feeling my age. I’m embracing my grey hair at the moment – in fact, I’m getting grey highlights tomorrow to fully embrace the grey. EEK!

That’s about it for today. If I waffle on too much today, I won’t have anything to share tomorrow! Here’s the list of daily prompts – why not join in too?

Check out my other Blogtober blog posts here. You can also find blog posts from other bloggers via the Big Family Chaos linky, by clicking the badge below.

We have 2 boxer dogs, and a cat. All 3 of them have pet insurance, and we thought that meant we wouldn’t face huge scary bills if they ever got sick. We were wrong.

Sneaky Pet Insurance Rules

Monty – our male Boxer has always been on the small side. At his 1 year check, the vet noticed his testicles still hadn’t descended and she couldn’t feel them when she examined him. The vet said this meant they were probably stuck inside him, and needed to be removed before they became cancerous. Of course, we agreed and set a date for the surgery.

Elective VS Essential Treatment

We immediately contacted our pet insurer and explained the circumstances. The response was – and I quote… “This type of procedure is elective, therefore it is not covered by your pet insurance. The treatment will be covered by your policy WHEN he gets cancer, but not before”.

I should add at this point that it’s not a cheap policy, and it isn’t basic cover. It’s supposedly a maximum cover pet insurance policy, which we bought via compare the market. Of course, we went ahead with the treatment, despite it costing us hundreds of pounds we didn’t really have.

Monty’s surgery left him with over 30 stitches and it took him 3 weeks to recover. They found both testicles wrapped in his intestines – the pet insurance company stood by their initial decision.

A few months later, we took the dogs camping. Monty had an allergic reaction to the long grass on the campsite and came out in hives. His neck swelled up too. We rushed him to the vet and they gave him a course of antihistamines and steroids to help him get over the worst. The vet mentioned allergy testing at this point. I was reluctant to start any treatment until the insurers approved covering it, after what had happened last time.

Pay Up Front

The vet then explained that we had to pay for Monty’s treatment up front, and then wait up to 4 weeks for the insurance company to reimburse us – assuming they approved the claim.

Again, Monty’s treatment was declined by the pet insurance company because we knew what he had a reaction to. They said unless he had a reaction to something else, they wouldn’t pay for allergy tests. This left us another £108 down, and unable to cover the cost of the allergy tests ourselves. We were about to take out a short term loan from cashlady.com, when a friend lent us the money to cover it.

A few weeks later, Monty’s insurance renewal came through – it had more than doubled despite us not having a successful claim. The reason…? He was high risk of allergies. OH THE IRONY!

Moving Forward

So…. Will I still insure my animals? YES – but only for accident and emergency treatment. It seems to me that the maximum plans are only worth having once your pet gets to a certain age and is more likely to need long term medication or treatment.

I’ve paid over £500 to pet insurance companies, plus £900+ to vets for treatments which weren’t covered by their policies this year alone.

One thing is for sure – Pets are expensive! Make sure you factor in the cost of things which aren’t covered by insurance, when considering getting a pet. These include spaying, flea treatment, worming, annual injections etc. You can find lots of information on what pets need on the vets 4 pets website.

Have you ever managed to claim successfully from your pet insurance policy when it’s not been an emergency issue? I’m yet to meet anyone who has.

You can find more of my lifestyle blog posts here.

I’m almost 35 now, and my hair is more grey than brown. I have been dying it since I left school, but my roots never stay covered for long as my hair grows super fast. I usually have well over 1cm of root just 4 weeks after dying, and well over an inch if I wait 2 months between colouring my hair. With this in mind, I am considering transitioning to grey hair.

Why am I transitioning to grey hair?

I know that for a lot of people, the idea of going grey – especially in their 30s is shocking. For me, it’s not something I am ashamed of. Having already lost both of my parents, I see ageing as a positive thing. Elders were once something to aspire to be, and I see ageing as something to celebrate, not hide from. More and more people are being pressured by the media to have perfect hair, and more people than ever are opting to have extensions, hair transplants or hair pieces. I definitely don’t need to consider those, but plenty of people feel they do.

I feel anxious in the hairdressers, and it isn’t something I enjoy. It definitely doesn’t feel like a treat when I visit – it’s more of a chore. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m not about to carry a walking stick instead of a smartphone, and I won’t be trading in my skinny Jeans for slacks any time soon, but I am fed up of having to go through the absolute nightmare of colouring my bird’s nest hair to hide my natural colour.

I may hate it once it’s done, and decide that actually I look 85, and dealing with the hair dye and facing my fear of the hairdresser chair is far less traumatic than being charged the OAP price on the train. I’m not saying I will be grey forever, but I definitely want to see what happens…

How Bad Is My Hair – REALLY?

Think I am exaggerating about how bad my grey hair is? Check this out…

As you can see, my former natural colour is very dark brown. Now though, my roots are very much peppered with white and grey. (Excuse the dandruff – that’s another reason why I am opting to transition…. I have a really dry, sensitive scalp, and hair dye really irritates it).

I have to use shampoo and conditioner for sensitive scalp, and even that leaves me itchy. The GP prescribes stronger stuff sometimes, but that dries my hair out massively so I avoid using it as much as possible.

How To Transition

I have done a lot of reading and know there are several ways I could approach it. I could get a pixie cut and skip the transition, but this is definitely not one for me.

The 2nd option is to just let it grow through, and do nothing. To be honest, this was what I was going to do, but now I am a few months in, it’s starting to look awful, and it’s really bothering me.

The 3rd option is to get highlights and attempt to blend their colour as closely as possible to the grey roots. I think this will be my next step.

I’m also going to have a lot of my length cut off. It’s well past my shoulder blades at the moment, and my hair is naturally wavy. With that in mind, I am going to opt for a long, layered messy bob. A bit like this, but without the dramatic parting….

My hair has been permanently up in a bun for the past year or so, so I don’t think I will miss the length. Honestly, my hair is one of my biggest peeves. It is ridiculously thick, and it takes literally an hour to straighten, so I never bother. I’m hoping that a shorter, more layered style will be easier for me to actually DO something with…!

I’m booked into the hairdressers on 2nd October, and I’ll be sure to share proper before and after photos once it’s done. Would you consider transitioning to grey hair? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

My other half proposed to me on 13th February 2010. I was pregnant at the time and I was not expecting it – at all. Of course, I said yes and was beyond happy at the thought of becoming Mrs B. How did I go from saying YES to wanting a secret wedding?

Why A Secret Wedding?

Firstly, I had a miscarriage a few weeks after we got engaged, and sank into a big depressed funk. It took months for my body to physically recover, and I felt like a huge failure.

Everyone was going on about the wedding, trying to arrange to go dress shopping or suggesting I browse wedding venues online. A  big fancy wedding didn’t appeal to either of us, though. We mentioned possibly going to Gretna Green to a few people, and they all wanted to come too. Not much chance of a quiet ceremony with both of our families in tow.

We were very much aware that if we invited some relatives, we’d have to invite everyone and neither of us wanted that. Nothing against our families, of course but it was meant to be OUR day. My Dad passed away before hubby and I got together, so I knew a big family affair would be painful, and I’d spend half the day upset about him not being there.

In the end, we decided to get married in secret. We literally went to the local registry office April 2010 and booked a slot for a Monday Morning in June. Of course, nobody had a clue what we were up to. We bought our rings, chose our music and vows, and bought a new suit for hubby and a dress and shoes for me. While all of this was going on, I was chief bridesmaid for one of my best friends, and planning a huge hen party to Ibiza. Unknown to all of our friends on the trip, it was my hen do too haha! I asked the bride to be if her and her hubby to be would be witnesses for our secret wedding.

How Was Our Wedding Day?

On the day, we all met at our house then headed to the registry office, where we tied the knot. We chose the smallest registry office, and it was perfect. We still got to take photos, and it was a stress free event. Once I had become Mrs B, we all headed off to Giraffe and indulged in a literal Wedding Breakfast. (Ok it was Brunch, but it was still before noon)! Who says a secret wedding can’t involve food!

How Did People Take The News?

After we ate, hubby and I went to tell my mum in person. I felt my Mum deserved to be told face to face what we’d done, as she had been the only one who understood why we didn’t want a big wedding. Once we’d broke the news to her, we sent a picture message to all of our family and friends of my hand with my wedding ring on. The message simply said, “Guess what we did this morning”. Some people were shocked, and some were disappointed they hadn’t been there. It was our day though, and we did it the way we wanted to. Our day was perfect for us.

Are you considering eloping? Here’s a few tips I learnt during our time….

• Have a code name. If anyone overhears you saying “our wedding”, the cat will be out of the bag. We said, “our trip”, so people wouldn’t realise we were planning our secret wedding.
• Choose your witnesses carefully. Can they keep a secret?
• Get your nick nicks sorted in advance. “Something old” was my Dad’s wedding ring which was round my neck on a chain. “Something new” for me was my dress. My friend lent me some earrings for my “something borrowed”, and a blue garter was my “Something blue”.
• Decide how you’ll tell people. We have family all over the country so getting them all together in one place is almost impossible. We did consider planning a fake engagement party and announcing there that we’d had a secret wedding, and the party was actually a belated reception.

I blogged previously about our secret wedding, and while it was perfect for us, I totally understand why so many couples decide to have a huge celebration. My brother got married in a castle in Cheshire, and it was out of this world. It cost tens of thousands of pounds though, and his big wedding involved a lot of planning and work – not my idea of fun at all. I saw an advert last weekend which read, “click here to see Notley Abbey – an award winning Country House Wedding Venue”. You guessed it – curiosity got the better of me!

What Does It Offer?

At first glance, it seems Notley Abbey offers the same as lots of other wedding venues. It also boasts being a building with over 800 years of history, a stunning medieval location for your wedding and a private setting – you get the place to yourselves, so no lost hotel guests crashing the party here!

My Thoughts?

The building looks stunning and if I had a substantial amount of surplus money to spare, I would consider a venue like this to hold my wedding. I guess there are ways and means to make it happen – even if you don’t have buckets of cash to spend.

Ways To Save For A Big Wedding…

1). Midweek weddings are usually much cheaper. My best friend literally halved the cost of her wedding by saying I Do on a Friday instead of a Saturday! Winter weddings tend to be cheaper than summer dates, too. Choosing a weekday may be the difference between being able to afford a big wedding or having to opt for a small one.

2). Choosing a venue which will host the ceremony and reception means no need for wedding cars! You also won’t need to worry about transporting guests from the ceremony to the wedding breakfast or reception.

3). Opt for Prosecco or wine instead of champagne for your guests.

4).  Don’t bother with save the date cards. Just text or email people with the date so they are aware of it, and then send the invitation once it’s ready. No need to pay for both in my opinion.

5). There are loads of ideas for cheap wedding favours online too. How cute are these packets of seeds? You could print the labels yourself and just pop some seeds into mini envelopes. This could save you a fortune! £5 per guest on a wedding favour adds up to hundreds if you’re having a big wedding.

How cute are these!

6). You could even double them up and put each guest’s name on the envelope so it’s a place setting too, then pop the message inside on a mini card?

7). You can choose to make your own table decorations and they don’t have to cost the earth. My friend bought 48 jars of Tesco Value Jam, poured away the contents and tied ribbon around the clear jars once she’d cleaned them, and removed the labels. She then popped flowers from her Dad’s cottage garden into them, so it cost her under £30!

8). Make your own invitations. You don’t need to spend a fortune on fancy shop bought ones. Make them by hand and people will be touched at the effort you’ve gone to.

9). Don’t bother with Stamped addressed envelopes for the RSVP’s. Your email address or phone number are more convenient for your guests anyway – and you’ll save almost £1 per invite on the cost of the stamped addressed envelope!

10). Finally: You could delay your honeymoon. You can always put this towards your honeymoon. Don’t rely on it though, or you’ll be disappointed with all the towel sets, bedding and crockery gifts.

Did you have a big wedding? Are you considering trying to save money to get the venue of your dreams? I’d love to hear your plans.

This week, Kate on thin ice was focussing on friends and friendship in her best boot forward linky. Despite being too late to link up, I decided I’d join in and use the same bullet points she used in her own post….

Is it important to have friends in your life?

For me, yes – definitely. I don’t have millions of friends, but I have a handful who I know I can trust and depend on. I’d never have survived mentally this past decade without them in my life. Everyone is different though – I think my husband would be happy to go through life without socialising at all, and not maintaining any friendships.

When I was in school, I had a large group of friends, but I wouldn’t have called any of them my best friends – until my final year anyway. My best friend from school and I travelled very different paths, she went off to uni but we still met up, talked and text all the time and went on girly holidays together…

Until she emigrated in 2010 anyway. She left shortly after I got married and found out I was expecting Sam, and she hasn’t been back to visit since. I know that if she turned up at the door tomorrow though, it would be like the last 8 years haven’t happened. We are both so laid back, we’d quickly fall back into step, laughing and cringing about our adventures. (The photo is us in Kavos in 2002 – we were both just 18 and on an 18-30s holiday). Good times!

Facebook Friends

I have lots of friends I have made on social media. I have met several of them in real life, and a handful have become close friends too. Bex and I (pictured below) chatted on Twitter for years. We finally met up when our daughters were both tiny, and we’ve been inseparable since. She lives 90 miles away, but we still talk every day, meet up as often as we can and have helped each other through some tough times.  We’d never have crossed paths if it weren’t for social media, and I can’t imagine my life without our friendship.

Bex and I managed to sneak off for a spa break recently – you can read all about it in this blog post. The majority of the “social media friends” I haven’t met in real life, I met through blogging or via baby groups when I was expecting back in 2010-2012. Some of them have helped me deal with my son’s Autism diagnosis, my Mum’s death and other problems I’ve encountered in the past 7 years. They have gone above and beyond what I’d expect from “real life” friendships, which somehow made it even more amazing. I for one am a big advocate for making online friends – as long as you do it safely! I’d never just add someone random, and always meet somewhere very public if I do meet them in real life.

What I Want From My Friends

For me, friendship is a two way street. I like to listen to friends’ problems and help them solve them. Meeting up for a brew and a catch up is something else I love to do with friends. I like checking in to see how they are doing, just as much as I like them to return the favour. Personally, I am a firm believer in “a problem shared is a problem halved” and having someone to confide in and moan to about whatever is going on in my world is a huge help to me mentally. I want the same things I give, I guess… Trust, honesty, kindness, empathy. I am extremely lucky to have a group of friends who are all of that and much much more.

I met one of my closest friends back in 2000 when I was working in a factory for the summer. We’ve been really close since then. We used to go out most weekends together, and we got married in the same year. I was her chief bridesmaid, she and her hubby to be were the only guests at my wedding. She had twins a few months after my eldest was born, so we shared maternity leave too.

We don’t talk every day now, and we don’t meet up all that much, but I know she would be here the second I asked her to be, and she knows I’d be there for her at the drop of a hat as well. Some people want time with their friends, as much as I’d love us to be able to meet up more than we do, life gets in the way. She works and has 3 kids, I work and have 2 kids – one with special needs. It’s a logistical nightmare trying to meet up. This meme basically sums up our lives….

I have, in the past had to cut people from my life who were definitely not a positive influence. While it was hard at the time, I am a better person for it.

Thinking Positively

I am definitely a social person. The thing I hate most about working from home is the lack of opportunity to socialise. No meeting up at the coffee machine, moaning in the staff room, gossiping over the photocopier.

There are huge perks to working from home too, I  guess… Namely the chance to work from wherever, wearing whatever I want. That includes my PJs, from my bed,in a coffee shop when I need a change of scenery. We can’t have it all ways!

I’m luckier than a lot of people and definitely get more social interaction to keep me ticking over… Even if most of it is via my phone or social media…!

This week, the Summer Holidays have been in full swing. We are on Day 10 now, and the sun has been shining every single day… until today. I never thought I’d be so happy to see rain returning to Manchester! My word(s) of the week this week are camping at Lady Heyes….. camping

Camping At Lady Heyes

I took my youngest camping for the first time this week, and she LOVED it! We headed to Lady Heyes park in Frodsham, Cheshire. As it was our first trip, we borrowed my sister’s pop up tent, for ease. We packed up an air bed, sleeping bags, my BBQ, hubby’s camping stove and off we went…! Thankfully the campsite was under an hour away. If you’re heading further afield, these road trip activities for kids might come in handy!

We had a lovely 24 hours camping at Lady Heyes, and did lots of traditional camping stuff…

Setting Up Camp

Yep – we pitched the tent – all by ourselves! (OK, so it was a pop up tent, but we are still claiming it as a victory – especially considering we got it back into the bag the next day, too)!

We remembered to pack milk for a cup of tea. (Admittedly, it was so hot, the milk curdled after this one cup, so it was a bit of a waste, really).

We made cheese and beans on toast for our camping tea – Camping toast is so much better than toaster toast, somehow!

Exploring The Camp Site

We went to the clubhouse, and I indulged in this Malteasers ice cream and a 0% alcohol beer – I know how to party!

Toasting Marshmallows

When it started to go dark, we made a fire and toasted some marshmallows. Did you even go camping if you don’t toast marshmallows? I’ll be researching some more exciting campfire desserts for next time though!

My daughter loved being able to run around and play outside all day and evening. The campsite had a playground right near our pitch, so she spent a lot of time on there making friends. This meant I got some time alone with the camp fire and my kindle…

We had such a good time, I have already booked to go back and do it all over again…. With the dogs and my son instead, though! (I’m not brave enough to take both kids on my own just yet. The inevitable “I need a wee” trips at 3am put me off!

Needless to say, it was a fab camping trip! It far exceeded my expectations, so I was a very happy camper! Check out more of our Travel Tales here.

Finally, find out why camping is good for your mental health here!

For the first time in a very long time, I am feeling optimistic about the future.

Why?

I have always lived my life in the here and now. I’m reluctant to plan anything for fear of letting anyone down or being let down. I’m a special needs mum who has depression and exhaustion to deal with. This means I usually make plans day to day, so I know how I’m feeling and can plan accordingly).

After living like this for the past 5 years, I have realised that I haven’t really been living… I have been existing. If I want to break the depression circle, I need to get out of my comfort zone. I have done several things in recent weeks to push myself into doing this….

What Changed?

Firstly, I had a long talk with hubby (who also has some serious health issues to deal with). We decided he should reduce his working hours and take on more of the caring at home. I would then be free to put more time into my blog, and earn an income from it.

I also set up GirlsGospel with the intention of slowly growing it as a lifestyle blog. This is a space where I can be me, rather than “mum” – if that makes sense? I’ve found myself writing far more content than I had planned for GirlsGospel, and it is picking up traffic and readers faster than I imagined. (That’s only because I have been reading and commenting on so many other blogs. I’m not kidding myself into thinking this is a super blog, or anything, don’t worry)!

While these changes may seem small to some, they appear to have made a massive difference to my outlook and my depression. I guess I feel useful again, because I am contributing to the family income. (I was going back to work once our youngest turned 1 – Then our son was diagnosed with Autism, so that plan was no longer an option). My depression kicked in around the time I realised I couldn’t physically do a 9-5 and be up all night with our son, as well as attend all his appointments and get him to and from school 11 miles from home.

So for me, I guess I feel optimistic about being a contributor again. Being able to lighten hubby’s load and help make ends meet has definitely left me feeling more optimistic about the future.

Fingers crossed it’ll continue!

You’ll find more lifestyle blog posts here.

This morning doesn’t seem like a particularly good day to be cheerful to me… England were knocked out from the World Cup last night, so most of the country is looking glum. It’s not the end of the world though, really.

England

I’m smiling on the inside, because those Boys did us proud! If we rewind to this time last month, nobody genuinely expected England to make it as far as the Quarter finals, never mind being 20 minutes away from a place in the World Cup Final for the first time since 1966.

Roll on 2022 I say!

Who knows where we could get to next time round. Do you believe football really could come home? Will 2022 finally be OUR year? I certainly hope so! I can imagine the entire country will grind to a halt if we get to the final – can you?

Rain

I’m cheerful because it FINALLY looks like we might get some rain soon. After over 3 weeks without a drop of it in Manchester, the plants are desperate for a good downpour – My tomatoes would love some fresh rainwater instead of tap water!

It has been so hot recently, even my hubby is moaning – and he never moans about the heat! The rain is definitely welcome here – our allotment is desperate for a decent drink! Word on the street is the hose pipe ban could possibly be scrapped IF we get enough rain in the North West this week. Fingers crossed for rain!

That’s about it from me today – two reasons to be cheerful. How many things do you have to smile about this week? More or less than I do?

Why not have a read of the other participants’ Reasons to be cheerful blog posts…. You can find them all by clicking on the button below!

Why not check out Kate on thin Ice’s Best Foot Forward linky for more positive blog posts!

Find more of my Lifestyle blog posts here.