Will the real Sandy Calico please stand up

I have a confession to make.

I'm not really Sandy Calico.

I don't mean I'm really a shy seventeen-year-old girl who has invented an amazing* fantasy life from her basement bedroom. Neither am I a fifty-seven-year-old man who has grown tired of watching porn and thought he'd have a crack at blogging as he'd heard you get sent free stuff.

No, the name Sandy Calico is an invention. It's not my real name. It's an alias, a pen name. It's the name I have always used online. It's more of a conventional name than, say, FunnyGrrl82, but it's fake all the same. It's why I'm not on Google+ (because you have to use your real name), well, that and I really don't need any more distractions.

The main problem with being known by a false name is when someone wants to send you a cheque and doesn't read your invoice. I haven't got a bank account in the name of Sandy Calico, so I've had to return a couple of cheques and ask for them to be re-issued in my real name. I can live with this, but I had a bit of a kerfuffle this week with the Royal Mail.

We've recently moved house again. I went back to the interim place, that we're still responsible for to the end of the rental agreement, to collect the post. There was a card from the Postman. He couldn't deliver a package to Sandy Calico because it needed a signature.

This gave me a dilemma. I wasn't expecting anything from a PR, but I had to know what it was. If I'd rearranged delivery to the interim house, I'd have had to sit in an empty house from 7am to wait for the Postie. Not much fun with two little boys. The only other alternative was to have the package redelivered to our local Post Office for a fee of £1.50. Despite this fee I was still curious, so I arranged for a redelivery.

Anyone still awake? This is turning into a saga.

I went to the Post Office yesterday. I had to explain to the woman behind the counter that I had ID for my real name and I could prove that I lived at the old address, but that Sandy Calico was my pen name and I only had business cards in that name.

She took my ID and eyed me suspiciously. "So, Sandy Calico is your 'pen' name?". She may as well have said 'poo' name. I don't think the sneer left her face until we were out of the Post Office and half way home.

The package? I won't keep you in suspense much longer. It was a thank you from Three for being their lead Manchester blogger in the recent time-saving app competition. The winning app was designed by one of my favourite bloggers, Jax, and her Ipswich Team, congratulations to them. I can't wait to download the app when it's launched.

So, what did Three send me?

Well, I think they used to be cookies.  It's okay,  I can eat them with a spoon sprinkle them over ice cream. It's the thought that counts.

*Okay, so I exaggerated a little. My life is only occasionally amazing!


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Will the real Sandy Calico please stand up

If you're 'appy and you know it vote for meeee!

App-ologies for the naff title of this post.

Sorry. No more app puns, promise.

I recently had the opportunity to work with Three UK who are looking to develop a brand new time-saving smartphone app. I helped set up a workshop in Manchester with my friends from the North West. We worked with an app developer and brainstormed app ideas.

Huge thanks to everyone who couldn't make the event, but emailed with ideas (Mediocre Mum, Nickie from Typecast, Amy from And 1 More Means Four and 1 More, Cara from Freckles Family and Cheshire Claire).

My team on the day named themselves 'Appy Mums. 'Appy Mums are: Geek Mummy, Lindy from Squidgyboo, Second Time Mummy, Kate from the Five F's Blog and my non-blogging friend, Lisa (yes, I have real life friends)!

It was such good fun. It felt like we were in an episode of The Apprentice, only one where we all genuinely got on!

We threw around loads of ideas and finally settled on...

Drumroll please...

The Weekly Meal Plan.
"Forgetting items during the weekly shop will be a thing of the past with Weekly Meal Plan. Parents can plot recipes and meal ideas on a calendar, automatically creating a weekly shopping list that calculates the quantities of ingredients needed based on the number of adults and children in the household."

We are up against four other teams from around the country. To see the other app ideas and to vote on your favourite head to the On The Go Mums tab of the Three UK Facebook page. Voting closes 18th July 2011.

The winning app will be launched as a free download and the winning team will be treated to a slap-up meal.

Oh and here is our video explaining more about our app (no sniggering at the back):

We're really proud of our idea and would love you to vote for us by clicking the 'Like' button by our idea. Thank you.






Disclosure: Three paid my travel expenses to the event and have provided me with an iPhone4 on the One Plan with the all-you-can-eat data package, along with a MiFi, paid for until the end of the year. 

If you're 'appy and you know it vote for meeee!