General Update ( a bit random by the end)

1. Wardrobe is ordered. Thank feck for that. Unfortunately we have to wait until September, but we got a lovely 10 percent off which was a great help. Thank you Byrney.

2. House is still not decorated, but we (the royal we... ie Span) are getting there. Doors are being painted, colours chosen (slowly) It is so slow as we seem to be doing something, all the time!

I seem to have less and less time to do things these days, hence the lack of blogging. I am now attacking the weight loss again, and now attend Aqua with Lindy. I enjoy it, but it eats into my evenings. I have created a personal challenge for myself. 25 by 25 in 26. I thought of it on 25th June (squidge's birthday) and decided I shall try to lose the 25lbs by Christmas day which is 26 weeks away. It isn't going to be easy, but I want to give it a go. I shall keep you updated!

I've got my Manchester Leisure Pass so I can get some money off at some classes so that might motivate me a little more. I definitely want to lose 10lb by the time I get to University. Bring. It. On.

We have so many fab things to look forward to over the next month or two, and all our weekends are packed. I wouldn't have it any other way. The decorating will have to wait.

3. I'm hooked on Big Brother. It is rubbish, but I still watch it. Why is that?

I'm also re-hooked on Without a Trace. I'm yet to see a bad episode.

4. There was this lady at Aqua tonight who was so brown (from tanning on holiday, apparently) and it looked reeeaaalllllly weird.

Squidge's party

And look what I got!

Birthday girl

Oscar
Both
Jas

We had a lovely time and the party food went down a treat. Thankfully the weather held just enough for us to enjoy all the garden toys. Thanks Lindy, we loved it.

My latest cooking attempts!

This is the Beef and Onion cobbler that I made. It's no Cordon Bleu cuisine, but it was very nice it was good to have a change from spuds, rice and pasta. The scones were more dumpling like than cakey, and for me a little too heavy. But very very tasty. They soaked up some of the sauce which was delicious.

This is the recipe. I was pleased that mine looked fairly similar!
At school, my favourite pud was pineapple upside down cake, but I had never made it. And recently I was looking for sweet puddings to make for the children, especailly while they are younger and need more full fat things. This sprung out at me, and it was from Mrs Beeton's cookbook. It had nearly a whole pound of flour and a lot of butter but has so far served 10 portions, and another 6 portions in the freezer, for when Span and children fancy it next!

There are several puddingy things in Mrs B and intend to try a few over the next year or so.

I think I might have found my cooking passion. I like everyday recipes. Things that I can do on a boring Monday night, or a busy Tuesday. I'm not interested in fancy recipes that need expensive, rare or weird ingredients. Give me something with tinned tomatoes, flour, cream or butter and I am happy!

My new book, coupled with Mrs Beeton will keep me busy for an age and I keep finding things on Blogs that I will try.

I hope I have the time to potter around like this from September!

Our holiday - The photos

Bamburgh
The little beach near the harbour in Seahouses. Jas wanted to go all the way to Norway....
At the harbour
Fish and Chips
Bamburgh beach
Bamburgh again!

The boat for our trip


Heatherslaw railway... the bridge!
Me and the boy
A nice one of Os in our cottage
Fountains


Os
The view from Berwick towards where we were staying. The waves were beautiful
Berwick
Spittal beach... colder and windier than it looks!
The view of Bamburgh from Seahouses

So, our holiday

We went to Seahouses in Northumbria. Our cottage was a 30 sec walk from the harbour and just round the corner from a sea view! It was a large well proportioned cottage with 3 bedrooms and more than enough space for us and my mum.

We did lots of things, mostly to keep the children occupied, rather than killing each other. To that extent it worked, but I wonder if Oscar got a little too tired as he was hard work all week.

Our days out were as follows.
Sunday: Bamburgh Castle and beach - Excellent, beautiful beaches. We had to get to them over some dunes which Jas found difficult, and by the end she was exhausted. The beaches were clean and the sea was blue. Glorious.
Monday: Heatherslaw light railway. A quieter day, but the railway was excellent. Oscar lost his had which upset him greatly! In the afternoon, to avoid combustion of mother and son (!) we went on the Farne Island boat trips, which leave from Seahouses. We saw puffins and seals as well as other birds. It was also the place Grace Darling lived, and was beautiful. The trip was expensive, but its not often you can see seals in the wild.
Tuesday: We went to Eyemouth, a fishing port in Southern Scotland. No fisherman unfortunately, but a great arcade and a fantastic play area, where we had a picnic on the seafront. My mum arrived in the afternoon and babysat so we could eat at the village restaurant.
Wednesday: we went to Craster, the only day with bad weather, but Span bought Cockles and Mussels which Jas loved. I am so proud of her unfussyness. Long may it continue.
Thursday: Alnick. The town was disappointing, but Alnwick gardens was great, and a very very good place for photo opportunities should you be interested... (Lindy, I mean you! :))
Friday: Berwick-upon-Tweed. We had a lunch out and then had a wander around the town. My maternal grandad grew up there so my mum spent a lot of her summers there. Its is a beautiful little town with some lovely views of the sea. I would imagine living there is a little quiet, but it is easy to get to Newcastle and Edinburgh (probably an hours trek, but not disastrous!)
Saturday: Home, to a full house of friends, and lots of sorting.

Sorry it is so brief, I could go on for ages about it but its probably very dull. To save my sanity, I'll put the pictures in another post, as adding them really messes the formatting for reasons I cannot fathom!

I'm still here!

And I keep meaning to update about our hols, but its getting so hard to find the time. I was out 4 nights last week. Sadly, not having oodles of fun, but Brownies, Aqua, Babysitting and THEN a night out.

And this weekend we have been mostly tidying, clearing out, sorting, attempting to Ebay, reloading the loft, generally getting things sorted.

I find that one way I clear up is to just put things in the room they belong, to start with, usually by just chucking it in. Then, once that is done, actually put the stuff away. Needless to say, most of the junk is the children's so its usually their rooms with the biggest piles!

I sorted their toys out as well, and had "toy rage" which is when I just can't work out what to put away, realise there is a load of crap, and it is ALL in the wrong place. Hopefully, it will be a little more organised as I have put a lot away this time.

I also made a Pineapple Upside Down cake today. It was so heavy, and more pudding like than I expected but very nice, and I did get pics. I'll update ASAP with holiday pictures, and then with my cooking photos (I also did a Beef Cobbler with pics, which was tasty)

My latest fad is meal planning. I am trying to prevent wastage, and only buying exactly what we need. I don't think we'll actually save much money, but we'll see. I have started a spreadsheet to see how much we spend on food. Hopefully I'll remember to update on that in the future. I bought a new cookbook which is ideal for easy, cheap and different meals. I'm aiming to use it at least once a week, to try and expant our regular meals a little. I felt like I was using tinned toms ALL the time. Any good ones will appear on here!

I think its bedtime now though, so further musings will have to wait!

Time for a break

We're off on holiday tomorrow. A week by the sea, in Northumbria.

I can't wait, although we still have a lot to do.

I'm trying to meal plan so I don't spend too much on food, but it takes some organising, and this means i need to do a full online shop before I go to bed, for it to arrive next weekend. Booooorrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnng.

Ah well, I have Big Brother to watch/listen to to keep me from going crazy.

So, since time is at a premium, just some nice pics to show off the children at Max's party.

Blogs I have read recently

Partly for my own benefit, here are a couple of blogs that I have read recently. I wouldn't say they always make for enjoyable reading, but do give an insight into other things.

http://baldyblog.freshblogs.co.uk/ Is heartbreaking, but inspirational at the same time. I saw this guy on the telly, and have been reading ever since. For me, it has put my woes into perspective.

http://www.neenaw.co.uk/ Interesting reading, some of it horrific. I found this one after seeing it on a forum, where he wrote about an accident he was called to. It isn't for the faint hearted, but a good read.

http://www.dietgirl.org/ Is a bit of fun really, and again, inspirational as this lady has lost half her body weight but kept her humour.

http://greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/ Great for veg recipes, and somewhere I shall probably have to look in the future if Oz's fussyness continues!

I keep finding good cupcake and foody blogs, but I don't always save them, but overall these are my favourites right now!

Ikea-tastic and decoration update

The last time I went to Ikea, was around the time I was pregnant (I think) I hated it. It was a weekend, stupidly busy, and we couldn't find what we were looking for.

It has taken me 4 years to brave it again. Thankfully, I went yesterday and really enjoyed it. I had a good long shopping list and things to browse so I ended up being there for 2 hours. Perhaps thats why I ended up getting the wrong bl00dy door that I went for in the first place! (sorry, Span!) I blame Ikeaexhaustion!

Apart from that, I found the following
Cream bathmat for 99p
Several frames for the photos I want to print
Some decorative glass bottles for the ensuite
Bowls, 4 for 19p each and 4 for 99p each.
Some plastic ups and cutlery 99p for each set.
a glass shelf for another bathroom cupboard
A gorgeous bedspread (riculously cheaper than the other ones I have seen!)

It's really got me going with thinking about the finishing details of our house. I think (biased, of course) that the house will look really nice, but I want it to be ours, with lots of personal touches. I am cracking on with photos of the children and getting some nice prints, and eventually I want to (somehow) frame some of the childrens' masterpieces so I can stick them up too.

My in-laws have offered to do some painting for us while we are on our holidays, so we need to make some colour decisions sharpish. Span is off to get some colours this evening, so that is another step done.

And on Friday, we lose our doors so they can be stripped and we can get rid of the horrible mustardy yellow panelling on them. Lord knows why the previous owners put them on in the first place. I think that might be the almost final nail in the previous owners' tastes. The final piece will be the rather dull (and now stained) carpet in Oscar's bedroom, which will be blue soon.

I CANNOT wait for this house to be done, but I think it will be a good 4 months before I can say that.