Food testing and airport embarrassment!

AS I WALKED THROUGH THE AIRPORT PEOPLE WERE LOOKING AT ME....
WAS IT BECAUSE I WOULD BE ON TV.......?
DID THEY RECOGNISE AN ICELAND MUM......?
NO, IT WAS BECAUSE I HAD THE HEAD REST STUCK TO MY BUM!!!!

Hello, I thought this week I should start by telling you one last flying related story.

As I walked through the airport for the third time I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as I was being so much braver about flying. I was wheeling my case along amongst the business travellers with their lap top bags and thinking how confident, professional and sophisticated I must look now. I even felt as if people were looking at me, and it was as I was wondering how people recognised me when the TV adverts hadn’t been aired yet that a lady tapped me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me” she said ”I think you’ve got something there...” as she pointed behind me. I looked round to see that the bright purple head rest saying “South West Airlines” had attached itself to my bottom with Velcro!! It must have happened when I reached up to get my bag out of the overhead locker and it slowly sunk in how many people I had strutted past feeling confident actually looking like a bit of a wally! For some people this might have been very embarrassing, but luckily embarrassing situations seem to happen to me so regularly I now just find them funny, and just think of the good story I gave the lady to tell when she got home!

Anyway, this week I had a great new task from Iceland. One that means no travelling and involves all the family and some friends. We have been asked to become official food tasters on specific products. Each week from now on I will be sent a list of things to pick up from my local Iceland and give the food marks out of 10 for taste, value, appearance etc. I have told the boys it is now an official job and they will be paid 20p per item reviewed if they write it all down. As Rob is vegetarian I also enlisted the help of some friends and their children.

One of the items was a family barbeque pack which seemed like a perfect excuse for a little party! Everyone took it very seriously and gave me scores and quotes on every product. At one point we had 5 adults and 12 children in the house, so I think we were a legitimate test group. Luckily my house is well equipped for dealing with children and they were amused by playing on the trampoline, on the Wii and having a Lego building competition. Isn’t it funny though if you get out a box of Lego, it is always the adults who end up building things long after the children have moved onto something else. It was a lovely relaxed evening despite the unavoidable chaos of that many people in one space. I am looking forward to seeing the next list of products to test.

I have also been sent some exercises and a work out DVD in preparation for filming of the Christmas adverts in London next week. I have been trying to fit this in around work, school holiday entertainments, Luke’s birthday preparations, food tasting, general housework and making a short film of our lives for Iceland. Unfortunately this hasn’t left a very big time slot and it’s very hard to concentrate on exercises with two little boys laughing at you and Luke making helpful comments like “why aren’t you doing it the same as that lady on TV!” I am just hoping that my normal busy routine is a good stamina builder too when it comes to the dancing in London, but am determined to fit in a few more goes even if it means being laughed at.

So far this holiday we have managed two cinema trips, the first one just had one hiccup when Sam spilt the entire contents of his pop corn in the queue just as I was saying “Sam you are going to drop your pop corn like that”. The second one had a slightly bigger hiccup when the car petrol hose fell off on the way home and the fire brigade were called to close the area and hose everything down whilst we waited on a busy road in the centre of Bristol for the break down truck. On the plus side though the boys did enjoy meeting the firemen and seeing the fire engine! We are taking Luke and his friends bowling later in the week for his 7th birthday so am just keeping fingers crossed that goes smoothly!

I hope you can join me again soon to hear if all Luke’s birthday wishes came true, and to hear more about the exciting filming of the Iceland Christmas adverts.

Ellie
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