Mummascribbles meets…Daydreams and Pretty Things – Mummascribbles

Today we have the lovely Michelle from Daydreams and Pretty Things. Thanks so much for taking part Michelle

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family
Hi! I’m Michelle; I’m married with 5 boys aged between 13 and 3. My husband and I met 16 years ago on the internet, we talked for a few months online and then plucked up the courage to meet. We moved in together within a month of meeting and got married after 19 months, and here we are now 14 years later! I shouldn’t be surprised we have 5 boys, as I have 4 brothers and I’m the only girl! I’ve been a qualified nurse since 1995; I work part-time in a Care of the Elderly setting which I mostly love. We moved from Oxfordshire to North Wales in 2004, and it’s been a challenge for me personally leaving family and friends behind. There have been times when I’ve been unimaginably lonely whist trying to build a new network of friends. Our eldest boy suffers with Asperger’s Syndrome, although my blog is not primarily about that or him I do from time to time post about our struggles and his achievements.

What do you like doing to be you, when you are not parenting, working (if you do), or blogging?
For me there is nothing like a nice hot bath with a lovely smell and candles. I love writing, and have a novel I’m working on at the moment as well as my blog. And music….I love music! I have very eclectic tastes, and listen to anything from classical to dance, Josh Groban to Take That.

What is your biggest achievement to date?
My biggest achievement to date is my nursing career. I may not have set the nursing world alight with a high flying career, but I have prided myself on delivering brilliant care and always always putting my patients first.

From your own experiences, what do you find the hardest part of parenting and what is the easiest/most rewarding part?
For me the hardest part is saying no when the children are being pressured by their peers to do something. For instance I have been a stickler for the games that they play being suitable for their age group. But when play dates refuse to come to our house because all our games are ‘babyish’ or my boys come home begging for Call of Duty because they’ve been sat playing it at their friends house all afternoon, it’s beyond difficult. I actually feel as if I’m the only parent who feels like this at times. The most rewarding part is actually now as they grow older, watching them develop into kind and well-rounded people, no matter how big the bumps have been or how big the arguments are going to get as they get older!

Parenting in itself is no mean feat; how do you juggle everything you need to in order to get everything done on a daily basis?
Organisation is key and also teamwork. Something my Husband and I both agreed right at the beginning of our parenthood journey was that we were in it together. For instance in the morning, his job is sandwich boxes and breakfast and I do uniforms and personal hygiene compliance 😉 Bags are in the main done the night before. Sometimes not everything gets done, but we try not to sweat the small stuff because that tends to lead to everyone getting a bit heated and then everything falls apart.

Why did you decide to start blogging?
I decided to start blogging 3 years ago. I was suffering with depression and at first it was more of a cathartic thing. If you go back and read my first few blogs they are quite negative and hard to read. But then I started to blog about other things, mainly my opinions of things in the news or something that had stressed me out. About 18 months ago I decided I wanted to push my blog into a new direction but it’s only been this year that I’ve had the courage to do so.

Tell me a bit about your blog?
So for the last couple of years it’s really just been opinion pieces i.e. me having a rant. But I’ve pushed my blog into lifestyle, beauty and skincare, whilst still retaining the personal element of my blog. I’ve done a few recipes but I’m not sure that will be something I will continue with as I don’t feel it really fits my blog. Having said that my easy chicken nugget recipe gave me the highest ever views! I’ve only been blogging ‘out there’ for 5 weeks, so I suppose I’m still a newbie despite actually blogging for 3 years. I hope to feature some guests on my blog in the next few months, and once I understand all the terminology I’ll definitely be doing give aways, and running linkys. Don’t expect me to be entirely serious about things either, I fancy myself as a bit of a comedienne at times and always try to inject a little humour into my blogs.

What do you want your blog to achieve and where do you hope to see it go as it grows?
I haven’t really given this much thought to be honest. I wouldn’t want it to turn into one huge advertorial for various brands with no opportunity for the reader to connect with me as a person. I’ve been reading loads and loads of blogs and one thing that stands out to me is that once you go down the road of doing lots of reviews, it’s very hard to convey your own personality. It’s important to me that my readers can share my blog with me and get to know my writing style. Obviously I’d like to earn some money from it, right now I’m still learning how to monetize but ensuring my blog remains MY blog is the most important thing.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting a blog?
Self-host right from the beginning if you can. With so many opportunities resting on your Domain Authority you need to start building this as soon as possible if you are serious about being a paid blogger. And read, read and read other people’s blogs. Learn from them but don’t copy. And always be yourself.

If you could have dinner with three people (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
Intelligence isn’t that important to me, but having something interesting to say is. So I’d probably say Elvis Presley (to cliché?) Gosh this is hard; I’m finding it hard not to pick people I’d like to drool over! Robert Pattinson because he seems like an interesting young man 😛 And finally Olly Alexander from Years and Years, again he seems like he has something to say and I’d like to mother him!

Tell me three random facts about you

1. Prince (the popstar) once laughed at me when I was working at Wembley Arena because my headset fell off. He was onstage at the time and I was stood in the ‘pit’.

2. I love southern comfort and lemonade.

3. I am seriously thinking of re-training and for filling a lifelong dream of working in the music industry. If I’m not too old that is 😉

You can find Michelle over at www.daydreamsandprettythings.co.uk and also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram