Is it too early to promote a Christmas song

I love music. I have loved it since a kid and i enjoy discovering new music aswell as old. I have been playing music from Dua Lipa, recently but also discovered a song with David Essex and Showaddywaddy  

It is the song of the month. For a few months it has been Little Gingerbread Boy sung by Sammy Davis Jr.

Here is the song and yes it is a Christmas one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i20oJMgCWs

Yes it is only May but I love the song. 

It is like "How is this the first time I have come about this song?"

Not sure about the Eurovision song for the United Kingdom, but was okay but think we could have done better. What do you think? You can leave a comment below. 

Is the Eurovision outdated now?

I have watched it every year as a kid and imagined myself singing in the Eurovision contest but I feel like is it still political? 

I feel it has been slowly moving away from Politics and are voting based on the song. 

It is good to explore different international music, even if its not to your liking and the songs are always going to be more out there, because it is a life long opportunity for many of the performers.

If acts like buck fizz was taking part now with Making Your Mind Up win now? Or ABBA? 

It can help boost careers and debuts into music depending on the song and their appearance. I did like the fact that it was a girls group for the UK as I feel we do need more women bands and would love to put together a girl rock band. 

What do  you think? Or a modern day Four Tops and not popified. 

I'm going to see Billy Idol in concert and cannot wait. He just great and a true rockstar. I'd like to see Rod Stewart again and see Bryan Adams. My cousin is going to see Duran Duran. I love going to concerts and going to try and see a concert each year.

Last year it was Cyndi Lauper at the Albert Haul and Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Stadium and they were brilliant. 

If you'd like to share your feelings I have shared in this blog then pleases do. You can leave a comment below and subscribe if you'd like to be notified when I post on this site and then you won't miss a post.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X  

Weekend of fun and another week ahead

It was a great weekend with the FA Cup Final and the Eurovision Song Contest. Well done Crystal Palace and Austria, winners of the Eurovision song contest and FA Cup winners. It was a shame that Celine Dion didn't perform, but did watch the singing and some very erotic performances. YET Switzerland did put on a good show. What was your view of it? You can comment below. 

This week is the last week of school for another half term before the School Summer Holidays. We still have no place in a Secondary School and has been like a rollercoaster and not getting anywhere but hopefully it will all work out. Who knows? I never thought it would be so hard. My son goes to a special school because of his learning difficulties and many of the schools we went to see, were not suitable. 

Time just goes so fast and its like I am hanging on a piece of ribbon to keep up. I went to see my son train at Fulham Football club at their training ground. He does this on Saturdays mornings and it was so good to see. The coaches are brilliant. We went to end of seasons party at the rugby club he goes too. It was fun to celebrate the season and now need something else to do on Sunday Morning, whilst we wait for a the next rugby season, so been looking to see if we he can play tennis or cricket even now it is the summer.

It is good for kids to have a hobby. Something for themselves to socialise and using up their energy as Henry has so much and it is great form of exercise and being active, it's important. Or using their creativity with painting and drawing. Check out my Cheat Sheet I did this week of ideas of things to do during the Holidays https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com/2025/05/19/my-weekly-cheat-sheet-holidays-things-to-do/

My son is going to his holiday club, whilst I will be hopefully be able to read and write in one of the local parks and plan to go up to Wimbledon common to do some valuable walking. It is good for my son to do his own things, whilst I have time to myself too as he can see different faces. I have not done Parkrun for a few weeks. I really wanted to see Henry do his football training and it was so good to watch and perhaps start Parkrun again in the summer or in the Autumn and where I don't have other commitments as it is quite busy for me running up to the summer holidays. I will still be doing Race For Life in June up at the Epsom Downs. There's an issue with my fundraising page at the moment so going to see if I can sort this out. I want to raise £500. It is for Cancer Research.

I will be getting my newsletter completed for this month. This is posted every month on my site: Everyone can build a castle: https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com/2025/04/25/april-newsletter-2025/This is last months newsletter and they are free to download and print. 

I do radio show on Sundays, on Epsom Hospital radio on Sundays 4pm to 6pm and play songs from the 60's to the 2000's: https://www.epsomhospitalradio.org.uk/on-air/presenters/carrie-challoner

So going to get on with other jobs and will post again as we move into the week, but for now, I hope you have a great and I do a vlogging channel if you'd like to check it out and post my vlogs on my Youtube channel Every Wednesday and Friday: 

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Being Locked out

Can you believe it yesterday I locked myself out. Luckily my husband works around the corner. I had the door closed to, so not wide open but the wind blew and yes couldn't get back in. 

I did panic a little with a bit of embarrassment as I didn't have my phone on me either. It taught me a valuable lesson to listen to my gut as I had a feeling this would happen and had at first when he started having a taxi taking my son to school because of how far his school is, had my keys in my hand and then felt I'd be alright but no. So now I will make sure I have my keys just in case. 

It was good I had nothing cooking and when it happened, it is like a reminder to not be so ignorant as I can be and catch myself. It is good to be precautious and I am lucky to have a roof over my head. I feel for those sleeping in the streets and nowhere to go. Or anything they call their home. 

There are families being kicked out of their homes because they can't afford the bills and in this day and age this should not be the case. Everyone deserves a bed a roof over their heads and somewhere they can grab a bite to eat.

I am not sure about those who beg. The other day on the train a guy got on was saying he was off to have an interview but needed help with  the cost of travel. There were people who gave him money but I am always a bit dubious and why I give to what I feel is a legitimate cause. Giving to the foodbank and I do this each month this year I am doing Race for Life up at the downs raising money for cancer on the 22nd June 2025. 

So I do my bit to help those in need and ensuring the money goes to those who need help and support. The other thing is scams. There is one where they pretend it is someone you know stuck and needing money. I know that this would never be the case, but am vigilant nevertheless and I like to choose where my money goes. 

So I will make sure that I always got my key and my phone and life is full of lessons and I take note of them.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Why It Is important to look after ourselves hair and all

Gone for a new hair do. I was putting it off but feel good for it. It is good to have a change and is now a length I have had before and feels so much better and lighter. I would not have it as short next time, but it is a good to manage and would like it when it grows a bit to put some curls in.

I do have a Pinterest board if you'd like to see it: https://uk.pinterest.com/thetypicalLondongal/hair-cuts-i-like/ It is a good idea to find a style and show it when you get it cut. When it is long I think oh I'll plat it and curl it but I never do. When I went completely short it did not suit me. I couldn't wait for it to grow back. 

I prefer short to medium length. To get it done I went to Storm in Wimbledon and cost for a cut, wash and blow dry £75. I booked online, I was supposed to have it the week before but was a bit anxious about it so changed to this week. I'm not keen on the sinks with the neck rest as it always hurts. Now though I am glad I had it done and then will dye it at home. 

Do you fear the hairdressers? I feel the same going to the dentist and the doctors but glad afterwards and I remind myself that it is for my own good and it is not a hindrance. We need hair dressers, dentists and doctors they are there for a reason and that they are potentially saving my life. I don't want my hair too long, have bad teeth or be in bad health. I want to healthy and happy and that comes at a cost. 

I want to take care of my body. I have discovered some new form of exercise which has made me see I don't need pay anything to get fit just use what I have. My arms, legs, neck and face and is relaxing and slow and toning myself up. 

Who wants bad teeth? My dad had to have his teeth replaced and that can be expensive. I have been putting this off but I need to get my teeth checked and so will be making sure I book an appointment. I was okay as a very young kid, but then when I had to have a couple of teeth removed. My milky teeth and in the middle of this procedure they had a power cut and had to get a guy to get a torch out off his car to finish the procedure and I was inconsolable and then on began to fear the dentist. 

I am good at going to my check ups with my doctors and have to have a diabetes check each year as I did have high sugar count but through changing what I eat it has changed so make sure I cut down on sugar and eat more healthier and have a variety of good meals. 

This isn't to say I don't have a biscuit. I do like a shortbread and want to get some Jaffa Cakes but do eat vegetables and fruit too and drink less alcohol and have realised I need to cut back on coffee as it can cause me to have a bad stomach and so it is listening to my body and if it dislikes something I listen and take note, but make sure my health checked and reduce my fear of my medical appointments. I plan to make sure I get my hair done on a more regular basis and it can be become and when long, knotty. 

So it may be nerve wracking but we have to take care of ourselves and put our health first over our fears.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

VE Day Celebrations

Can you believe it is another Friday? End of another week. I loved the VE Day celebrations and think as a nation we always turn up, for the world and country for different historical events. I do feel proud to be British and English. I do feel pride when I see the union jack or the England flag displayed and wish all those that experienced the World war and those who lived through the War and fought and worked to fight for nation, Thank you for saving our country and I have no idea what it is like to live through a war and people dying. My Grandad used to tell me stories. He fought out in Burma and once he told me was when he was walking there to fight in Burma, a bullet, went through his hat, he was wearing and went through the back of his hat killing the person behind him. How close death he was. I remember my nan telling me stories too.

My nan was in the bath in hospital pregnant with my uncle and the hospital was struck and the bath split in half. She told me about when she was in Oxford street and a Doodlebug hit, which was a German bomb and it sounded like an engine and then stop and had no idea where it would drop.

Being so close to death makes me feel, the fear that I have is no way bad and of how I would have dealt with that and makes me moan less of today events and not take the life I have for granted. 

There is a film called Hope and Glory and it was my mum recommended it and I watched it with my nan. It really grips the reality of war and families sending their kids to stay with places out of London and kept away from it. but also of families who decided to stay, and live through it and my nan telling me how they evacuated because it is basically is giving up your belongings not knowing if the people that they would be staying with, would be like. My nan evacuated with my uncles but she didn't like and returned to London. In the film Hope and Glory, shows us about teenage pregnancies and kids playing in homes that have been bombed and how families helped one another. 

Kids having to take gas mark and given the cane at schools. How different is it now? 

I do feel for those in wars now and think about those being killed and wish they can end it, but there are always going to be those who feel they own part of countries and for me its take., take. take. 

Back in the second world were they had to live on a ration and my grandads shop he had was bombed and how he got in trouble with leaving the lights on as they lived in a blackout. Imagine walking down the streets in complete darkness, how many of use would be able to cope with that?

Tomorrow I am off to Tower Of London to see the poppies and pay my respects to those her were killed. 

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

Making Plans for the Sumner Holidays

I'm already getting requests for the summer holidays from my son. He loves trains and wants to go from London Waterloo to Dorking but means we are going back on ourselves if we do. Is that such a big deal? What harm would it do and glad he likes going out and not destroy his love of travelling and going up London and other places. 

I know this is a sign that I need to not allow this bother me, going back on ourselves, but it does. Is this OCD? 

My son waiting for the bus 

Would not be surprised. Any how. it means going through plans, as I'd like to go the seaside again, travel up London on UberBoat and I have booked a holiday in August to stay on a farm and really not sure what to expect but at the same time, looking forward to it. 

It also means getting ready for my son goes to Secondary school. We still don't know where he will be going to school. 

If we do not get a place in the schools we've chosen, could mean that I'd have to teach him myself but really school for him is essential. I think he will be very academic and can do so much more than what he will portray. He doesn't always share what he did at school and just likes to come home and forget about it. I put my hand up I did the same. I was not a lover of school at all.

Yet he has made so many friends now and want him to have friends from school and he is such a sociable boy. 

If he doesn't get a school allocated then I feel like he will miss out. He does go to clubs at the weekend, but for Henry he like stability, where he can be taught by someone else who is a qualified teacher. I have done coaching, worked in childcare and it is great for him not to be stuck with me all the time. He does better where he can just be taught by a different face.

If you are new to my blog site, then I share many things. different parts of my life and my feelings and thoughts and would like you to comment and if you've struggled to find schools. My son is at a LAN School because of  his learning difficulties and is doing so well. 

I am looking forward to the summer holidays but want his education to rise and pray that a school will be what we want and that he has a place, to help me and my son enjoy the summer holidays without the worry of him to not going to a school come September. 

Today my husband is getting his car fixed and Henry I think will drive one day. I want him to be as dependant as possible but I do like doing things for him and I finding it hard to step back, I want him to take his plate out in the kitchen when he is has finished a meal, rather than waiting for us to do it and get dressed by himself. Its for me, running his bath, making nice dinners that he enjoys and putting on his shoes, but yes I need to be a lot tougher with how much I help him now.

Any tips would be welcome or advice. I write a blog about parenting to share my knowledge but not a parenting expert but what and how I have done things to help that can help other parents too: Check this blog site: The parenting adventures | Easy Flexible Parenting

So going to get other bits done aswell as this blog and if you like reading my blogs on this site then please subscribe and like, as it really helps me to grow my online platforms. 

Many thanks for reading.

Carrie X 

Celebrating VE Day 80 years and miss my grandparents who live through the Wars in the 1940's and post did so much

It is Bank Holiday Monday! Yeah Woohoo and I shaved my legs and armpits got out my shorts out, but watching my son play rugby at his rugby club yesterday I was freezing and as luck would have it and today, it is super cloudy, feeling that it would be the case. 

Going out for a coffee it is chilly, but went for a walk and my son wanted to get the bus back from town to home and Henry spilt his milk in the coffee shop but never mind. 

On Saturday after he had been to football club and I did Parkrun, we went for a coffee then too and went to Battersea Power Station, but my son had a bit of a funny tummy so we went to toilet and jumped on the bus back and went for a bite to eat, he was feeling better.

My son's not so good with the heat, hence why we've not been abroad with him yet and better in the colder weather, but he was fine in the end, so we had a nice meal on Saturday and then went back home, to then stop in for the rest of the day, ready as he has Rugby club and won best player again, which was good and I then did my radio show.

I do a show on Epsom Hospital Radio on Sundays 4pm to 6pm. I am off next Sunday as we are off to a birthday party, so I will be back doing my show the following Sunday. https://www.epsomhospitalradio.org.uk/on-air/presenters/carrie-challoner

Today it is VE Day and not watching it and I do wish I still had grand parents. They have been gone from this world for a long time, but I do still miss them and I think about other people's grandparents and Norma and Jess, who do videos on Social Media, who are so sweet, if you ever watch their videos and I was lucky to have a good set of grandparents. I spent a lot of time with them and would see them most weekends. We would go on holiday with them and spend yearly celebrations, like Christmas and the first Christmas without them, my nanny Florrie Skinner, was hard. 

"It is the No Mores" that I feel. 

No longer going to have a cup of tea, go for pie and mash, to a market or go to the races, which we  did a lot when my grandparents were alive and were great days out. 

I'd see them most weekends and so will be thinking of them today, on how they lived through the world war and post war. Having to have rations and not having a TV, no cable or internet. They went through so much, way before I was born and in the world. Yet  my nan even when she retired still was active, would still put my grandads bets on, shop everyday and travel to visit family in Scotland and bought the family together.

My grandad on my mum side worked for London Transport up until he retired. He was a bus conductor and my nan used to work in Peter Jones in Sloane Square and then caretaker of Bolton  Gardens in London and then lived in Earls Court. Life for went in a circle, whereby, where she was born in Chelsea was where she had spent her last days until she died in 2000. 

So I hope VE Day goes well and get to see the fly passed and the celebrations. 

I plan to write my daily blog, in the week and hope you have a good Bank Holiday Monday. 

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Living for Thursday

It Thursday almost the end of the week. This is where start to go through my lists on Notion and written in my notebook. I uploaded a vlog about, Getting on top of things. https://youtu.be/_r7LgBl9IuE

Thursdays is when I start to plan for the following week. 

My local park I like to walk through. Rosbery Park Epsom

It is good to have things planned and look forward to. It is good to have time to sit down and go through what has been done and going through of what has to be done and what I want to do. 

I like being productive and have plenty to do. I have planned meals for next week. My husband goes shopping on Saturdays and I will pick up bits in the week depending on what we are going to have.

Thursdays are usually my day where I will do some walking and did that today and looked in charity shops and found some jewelry. I have some birthdays coming up and brand new items, so not worn. 

My son has his afterschool club and my husband cooks, we have something simple like Pasta for dinner and wind down ready for Friday and go to Wimbledon, and ready for the weekend. 

When it comes to TV I will be catching up on Grace and going to do my new Floor workout I have developed and getting its stretching, bit of yoga and Pilates and exercise my whole body. It just helps me to breath and take my time. I like just let my body do the talking and do what I want to do. I am still working on my eating. Some days I don't always have lunch but have breakfast and dinner.

Today we are in the start of the a new month. It is May the 1st 2025 and have set my goals and plans. 

It one month away from me starting my Life Coaching programme, Summer Project 2025 and there is a lot to be confirmed and getting my book republished Mum&Me and is going to be a series, in Kindle and Paperback. 

This weekend it is another bank holiday. So get extra day to sleep in at the weekend. 

A good time to get out the BBQ and chairs if you have a garden or in a park, or seaside and just enjoy. 

So going to go and get the rest of my to-do's done and will be back with another blog. So see you then. 

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X