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I'm still here!

2008-11-07T15:30:00.003Z

(image from www.xray2000.co.uk)

Everything is going really well. I have done 5 weeks of hard study and next week I get to go and have fun at my hospital. Although I think the reality will be boring induction tutorials and perhaps not much hands on practice. I think I will have to be patient for that.

I (with my tutorial group) got to do an x-ray today. We have an old donated skeleton, covered in fabric that we can x-ray and we worked together to get it ready for an ankle. I pressed the buttons for a lateral x-ray and we didn't do "too" badly. We missed the heel, wasted space, and probably cause the skeleton undue pain, but hey ho!

Unfortunately for my blog, I find I have so little emotional and intellectual energy by the end of the evening, the most I can do is keep up to date with emails and watch reruns of Sex and the City. By Fridays I am exhausted, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am having lots of fun and thoroughly enjoy going off to uni 3/4 times a week.

I think we, as a family, are still getting to grips with our new life. I am finding it hard to summon the energy to get day to day jobs done, but I'm sure that will get easier. Its now just over 3 years since I last did a full day's work, so it was always going to take some getting used to!

The children are fine. I hardly see them during the week, but they are very happy and enjoying their time at nursery. I do miss them, but nowhere near as much as I thought, and as much as I should!! I always knew I wasn't cut out to be a SAHM for too long! Overall I think we'll all be happier, although there will always be a little guilt!

I'll try not to keep it so long next time. I need to put up some new pics of the children and our new living room.

Tireder than a tired thing in tiredville... but happy

2008-09-23T19:59:00.003Z

It has been TOO long since I last worked more than 6 hours in one go. My eyes are tired, my body is exhausted and for the first time in 4 years, my exhaustion is not caused by my offspring!

In fact, I am yet to actually do any work, but I am soooooooooooooooo tired. I've got the 8.17 train twice in a row, and I get one just before 9 tomorrow. I forgot what early starts were like.

Not that I am complaining though. So far, everything has gone very well. Everyone has been very very friendly, and the conversations have flowed. I haven't got too lost. Even though I am usually pretty good at finding my bearings, but the building we have been in so far is SO confusing! I've been following people, in the vain hope they know what they are doing. It doesn't always work though as we ALL ended up in the wrong room this afternoon.

Mostly we're being talked at this week. Its all a little dull, and I should think most of us know what we are being told, but its a good chance to get to know everyone. I think because we are all not only concentrating on the talks and being nice to people, we are all exhausted.

Tomorrow is a quieter day. I don't have to be in until 10, and then, after a tutorial on our online resources (or such like) I get fitted for my uniform. I have to wear a tunic, and then black trousers. I don't have to wear regulation trousers, so that, believe me, is a bonus! Drainpipes anyone!?

Then I am going to pop over to the Union to see what freshers freebies I can get. No chance of a booze up as I am probably picking up Oscar tomorrow, and a drunken look is NOT a good one, on my first pick up!

I shall probably read this back and realise that none of it makes any sense, but I am too tired to care! Roll on Friday and some wine. Although I may well need to be prodded every few minutes! he he

New start on Monday

2008-09-20T21:01:00.002Z

Eeeeeek!

I don't think it has really and truly sunk in that I am all but a student again. I have to present myself to an "ice-breaking" session at University on Monday at 9.30 and then my new life starts. Although I'll be doing student life without too much debt (she says hopefully) with nicer clothes, nicer food, nicer house and with a lot more determination. It is a strange experience to buy University books without worrying about whether I'll have enough for food (or beer and fags, more honestly)

Obviously my life as a mum and wife carries on, and I think the hardest bit is going to be juggling all the parts of my life to keep us all happy. Mummy's guilt is there, bubbling away, but I do know that the children are settling in well at Nursery, and Nursery School, and so I can relax while I am at classes.

My timetable looks quite sparse for now, with sometimes only 9 hours of classtime, but I am not going to be too cocky. I expect I am going to have to do some serious work on my own and I think I might be expected to meet up with coursemates regularly. However, it looks like I have Mondays off, which is fabulous. It makes trips away so much easier, at least until Christmas.

I got my first choice hospital for Clinical Placements. I'm not going to name it here as I need to be very careful about confidentiality if I chose to talk about it here, so its easiest if I keep it quiet. I am so pleased though. It couldn't have gone better. Obviously, those who know me will find out all the (possibly gory) details as and when they happen!

My lovely new red schoolbag is ready, I have bought a pencil case, which is filled, and I have paper and text books. I now have to get through a week of induction, and then a one-week course designed for all Health care courses (aka dullsville 101) but then, it begins.

See you on the other side....

(which will probably be Monday, knowing me, I'll be too excited! he he)

More photos

2008-09-20T20:52:00.005Z

These are my flower pictures. Unfortunately, there isn't much in flower right now, but the light yesterday was beautiful.

Geraniums, I want these in boxes on my windowsills, a la francaise!

This is a Hydrangea, I think. It is now my desktop I love it so much.
Ok, so technically not a flower, but it has good Bokeh, I think.
The colours here are so good.
my favourite. A close up of a flower I cannot identify! I have cropped this heavily.
Part of my anniversary flowers!
another close up, but I cocked it up, but getting some yellow in it!
This was so good, I uploaded it twice, whoops!
Another nice red flower.

Photos with a borrowed camera

2008-09-20T20:33:00.005Z

Lindy has lent me her camera, so I can see if I want to buy it off her. I'm not sure if I'm going to have the time, since I'll be mostly taking photos of people's insides soon (YAY)

But, it is a BRILLIANT camera, and I am so happy with some of the photos I have taken (lots)

Our card reader is crap, I had to view the photos via Span's laptop, which was slow and laborious, so I managed to cut the photos down to my absolute favourites. I did take far too many, so that is a blessing really!! I have more from today to sort out, but I'll do them tomorrow I think!

I want to say a BIG Thank you to Lindy. It was a very generous gesture and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I also want to thank her for the rice pudding from ages ago! It was delicious!!!

These are my favourites.

More coming...

The gym (pronounced gime, to rhyme with time!)

2008-09-03T20:13:00.003Z

For clarification see here. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R4i8SpNgzA4

I can't even remember if I posted about this, but I, with Lindy, decided to start going to Aqua in order to shift a few pounds. I loved it, but found it wasn't really helping me lose anything. I also found the water cold, the showers hot, then cold, then hot etc, and for whatever reason, within 20 minutes of starting, I needed to go for a pee. Without fail. I didn't want to get out, so ended up being desperate by the end, and miserable. So it wasn't quite for me.

While bemoaning my lack of weight loss, Lindy suggested that maybe I needed to do more energetic exercise, so I have bitten the bullet and joined the gym part of the leisure centre.

I started about 5 weeks ago. I had an induction, which was rubbish. I paid nearly £12 for it, and it was 5 minutes. I was furious. However, I decided that rather than waste all that cash I would get on the machines. I was rubbish! I managed about 10 mins on the cross trainer, level 4, walked on the treadmill for roughly 10 mins and then scarpered home completely exhausted and embarrassed!

Fast forward to today and I managed 20 mins on level 9 cross training and then I ran (RAN, not WALKED) for 30 MINUTES. WITHOUT STOPPING. This comes from the girl who was convinced she could NEVER run. I did it at 7.3-7.6ish km/hr (according to the machines) Feck knows if they are accurate, but I supposedly covered 3.75kms in just over 30 minutes. That is 2.3301419709 miles. I am SO pleased with myself.

However, I have A LOT to do. There I am, turning redder than a red beetroot, with hair all over the place, sweaty and hot, and yet there are runners all around me, doing 10km/hr, hardly out of breath, hair immaculate, NOT red. Thankfully, I don't care what I look like at the gym (god knows why, it bothers me most of the time) The lady next to me was doing 12.5km/hr at one point.

My aim is to time a 5k run. Then I will enter in a Race for Life, if I keep it up. I always wanted to do one, but wanted to do it in a decent time. I've read that road running is a lot harder, and I really am not ready to face the general public on a run. (not to mention the propensity for injuries that joggers seem to get)

Anyway, I don't think I've lost any weight yet. Ironicall enough, all this extra movement makes you hungry you know! Thankfully I'm not overdoing it, but possibly not eating as well as I should. The exercise does alleviate the guilt when I eat something nice though. I've also stopped weighing myself. I'll wait a few weeks and see if its had an effect. I shall keep you informed! Although the large glass of red wine I am enjoying won't help will it?

Uni news! Time for change.

2008-09-03T14:09:00.003Z

Everyone who reads this will know by now that I got an A in my Physics which means I'm off to University in a few weeks to study Diagnostic Radiography.

This is both exciting and absolutely terrifying. My worry level has increased ten-fold. I have NO idea what I will be doing in 3 weeks time. I have an induction timetable, of course, but beyond that, I know nothing. Scary, is not the word. I know it will be fine, I know I can do it all, but even so, I just want to get going now.

They have set a small assignment which needs to be handed in on the first day. Its quite daunting as I want to my best, but of course, it will probably be rubbish (as will everyone else's) as I have never written anything like it before! Thankfully, I'm enjoying reading about the topic for now! Long may that continue.

I expect my posts on this blog will become increasingly about my studies, although conversely I expect it will be my studies that stop me posting as much as I should. We'll see how it affects my blogging.

Jasmine starts full time nursery on Monday, so I feel like my time as a SAHM is almost over. I will have Oscar for a week on his own, but its not the same, is it? I feel very conflicted about it, but I know it is the right thing to do. Jas loves nursery, Oscar is ready for nursery school, and I need to start doing more things for me. Its a time of change for all of us. I suppose September is like that for a lot of us.

It feels good to be returning to normal, even though we don't really know what normal is going to be just yet!

Our August in Pictures

2008-09-03T13:47:00.005Z

I've not really had much motivation to post. We've been keeping busy, so this is a pictoral guide to what we've been up to! I hope I don't forget anything!

We went to Baby Loves Disco at Urbis. I'm not sure the children were that impressed with it, although they did dance to start with!

The special lift there was Oscar's highlight.
These are the apples I managed to get off my tree this year. Within 20 minutes of this picture, OScar and Jasmine had nabbed them! Thankfully, I got another one and they are delicious!

Just another flower pic I was pleased with!
This was at Redhouse Farm. The first time! The barrel rides, as ever, were very very popular.
Noah liked the tractors And Caitlyn and Jas liked the sandpit.

Then, after Greenbelt (I didn't take the camera so Span could use it) we went fruit picking.

And we saw this pretty fabulous plane. On looking on Airliners.net, it is an Airbus Beluga, and was probably going to Chester.
The apples were lovely.
Apple train!
Then last weekend, we went to visit Teddy and co in Cambridgeshire. How quaint is this village square!?
We went on a walk to an orchard, grown as some kind of insect farm/sanctuary. Ironically, I didn't see a single insect, and the plums were divine. The weather was so hot, which is amazing, considering our summer, so walking in jeans was a bit of a mistake and I was boiling by the time I got back!!

They all fought over this chair. Jas, apparently, had possession at this point as the grin shows.
Oscar loved the plums. He has good taste, they were delicious.
Chloe and Max
I thought this was an apple tree ladder, but it is a swimming pool ladder. There was no swimming pool, so god knows why it was in the garden. Jas didn't care, she loved it. The climbing frame to nowhere.
Bacon butties for breakfast the following morning.

Redhouse farm, part 2. Barrel rides again

And Jas watching, as she refused to go on again!
My attempt at a photo of the two of them. On the haystack.
Then, today we went to the airport. It was nice when we got there, if windy and cold and exposed

Then it rained, so we had a car picnic.
Then there was a lot of excitement as this plane had fire engines following it. It was obviously a false alarm as they soon disappeared.
Then Lindy looked after Jas and Os while I ferried Byrney and co back to the station. It was sooo wet at this point!
And this was my parting shot. The sky was much greyer than it looks!

Photo catch up (see prev post first!)

2008-08-10T21:48:00.006Z

The cake

Jas (and a sneaky one of Caitlyn!!)
Jas and Os were both taken with Caitlyn and Noah's buggy
A poor attempt at showing off the view at the golf club
The view from my cousin's B&B. What a way to wake up eh??

Can you spy the train?
My dad, just to get another one of the view!
L
The gang
L again
Cheesier than a brie and camembert sandwich
and again.
L so happy to be with his godfather....
Me, at the wedding.
The lovely couple.

Mammoth catch up/Staycation!

2008-08-10T21:26:00.002Z

I should update more often. Like I said before, I just can't seem to find the time and motivation to get photos resized, uploaded, reordered and commented about.

Jas's party was great fun. The weather held out for us and she had a great time. She loved us all singing her "Happy Birthday" and my cake wasn't quite as great as expected. The hot weather apparently makes icing a real pain. But it was good enough for a two year old!

The next day we celebrated my Mother-in-Law's 60th at a golf club restaurant in Billinge. The view was spectacular, if a little hazy. It was so hot though. Heat being a long distant dream now, unfortunately.

After that, my parents stayed on an extra day, for various, dull reasons! We decided to go and visit my dad's cousin who runs a B&B in Diggle. The weather was glorious, the views unbelievably good, and we went to a nice pub restaurant just down from where Bill lives. Sadly, he couldn't come too, but we had a lovely, cheap meal. Oscar had a tantrum over the shortage of sausages, but enjoyed his Rhubarb Crumble for pud!

We took a little walk to the railway line (we have a 3 year old, isn't that normal!) and watched the trains heading up and down between Manchester and Leeds. The railway runs beside a restored canal, so we got to watch trains in a pleasant spot for a change. Pics will be uploaded.

My parents left, and then on Friday we returned to London... again... in preparation for my friend's wedding. Emily was my bridesmaid nearly 5 years ago. She married the lovely Chris and we had lovely day. It rained, but it didn't matter at all.

The day before the wedding, we got tickets to see the redbull air race at Docklands. It was a good day, if a little ambitious with a 2 year old girl who couldn't care less. We all enjoyed it though, and the planes were unbelievable. www.redbullairrace.com for more info.

Finally, on Tuesday last week, we went to see C and C and the boys, D, B and L. Span is going to be L's godfather so it was especially nice to see him. He is a gorgeous and sleeps more than his big bruvs!! We had a great night, drinking on a school night, which was not necessarily a good plan, but we had so much fun with the Wii, Youtube lemurs, and A LOT of vino. Brilliant.

The journey home the next day was long, but we had had such a good extended London trip.

Blimey, that sounds like a lot... and it was, but I can honestly say the trip to London was a brilliant way to have a mini-holiday. Or as Chris Evans called it a "staycation" Although I'm not sure visiting family counts as a STAYcation since we weren't even at home!!

Photos to follow... hopefully.

My parents arrive any minute now

2008-07-25T15:40:00.002Z

Assuming the roads aren't too crazy, so I haven't got long to write.

All is well here. We're enjoying the warmer weather, at last and had a great day for Jas's birthday.

We went to Giraffe, at the Trafford Centre, which was nice, if a little slow on service. It is only somewhere I would go with children as they don't seem to mind that they were all over the place! Thankfully, it wasn't too busy, otherwise I suspect we would still be there!!

Jas did very well out of her birthday and I ended up buying too much. She has a doll's cradle which she loves, and some crafty bits that will probably inspire her when she is a bit bigger. I'm hoping to get Oz interested in some of the things too. For now we share toys, but I don't think that will last much longer, to be honest.

The children (touch wood... what is the internet equivalent!!) have been really good the last few days. No really bad behaviour, they play well together, and seem to be having fun. Long may it continue. Jas has started settling in for nursery and should do her first day next Thurs. I might have a whole day.

Speaking of which, I joined a gym. Lindy, it ain't too bad! I have been twice now, and actually really enjoyed it. Its £4.50 a go, but I don't have to commit to a years sub (which I can't do, with uni, and cheap gym, rapidly approaching) I go at the same times I went to Aqua and it works quite well, but I am also thinking of using my few free Thursday's to get there instead. I hope it helps me get rid of a few pounds.

However, with all the birthday bashes this weekend, it might be a case of saving face, rather than actually losing anything. No change there then! he he

Pics to follow after the weekend festivities!

What I have been up to!

2008-07-22T20:29:00.005Z

I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated. I bet a lot of bad bloggers say that!

It then gets to the point when you are so busy and have done so much that the chore of writing about it takes over and procrastination sets in.

So, this is a quickie, to prevent that happening even more!

I have been, and continue to be busy, every weekend throughout July and a lot of August. On 12th I had my friend's hen night. We had a blast. Unfortunately no photos on here. My camera was with Span at the York train museum while he entertained Oz and Jas. They loved it.

I spent 2 blissful hours on a train both the Saturday and the Sunday ALL.ON.MY.OWN. And the trains were both quiet. Heaven.

Last weekend, my friend Laura had her 30th. Unfortunately, I missed almost all my other school friend's 30th as they all still live in London. Span and I had a wonderful time. We got a glimpse of summer, and the weather was mild, the company great, and the booze tasty. And I didn't have a sore head the next day. YAY. The children thoroughly enjoyed seeing their grandparents so that was good too.

Tomorrow is Jas's birthday, so we are all gearing up for that. Tomorrow, for the first time in nearly 4 years, I won't have a child under 2. Bittersweet.

These are 3 pics of her. A couple of days after she came home from hospital, the heatwave was breaking ever so slightly. We sat in the garden with her and it was so so nice to be home, and not pregnant, and not too hot. The other two are from the weekend. Neither are too clear, but I left my camera at a mate's house last week, so can't upload anything better until i get it back! he he

A long, party weekend begins tomorrow!

Car Boot success

2008-07-06T14:03:00.007Z

This time I really have excelled myself. I popped off to the Car boot sale just across the road. I wasn't expecting much as it has been dreafully wet, and I should think that put a lot of people off.

I was right, and it was quiet, but I was still in the mood for a browse, Well, within 10 secs, I had found a Ladybird book for 25p and a Richard Scarry book which I had been casually looking for, for a while.

Then, I found a toy tape measure that we didn't get round to getting for Oscar, for 50p (sells for about a fiver) and THEN I found this HEEEYUGE box of happy land like train track, road and eurostar. It looked exactly like what I was looking for, for Jas's birthday. It said it fits in with ELC's happy land stuff, and included track and road, which I have found hard to find on Ebay. So I asked how much it was and she said two quid. TWO QUID. Oh.my.god. I was expecting her to say a tenner, and I would have easily paid a fiver. What.A.Bargain. (can you tell how excited I am??)

It is a "european express" set and has a tunnel, the eiffel tower and Big Ben, and train plays the national anthems of each country as it comes out of the tunnel. Hilarious.

Since it was so cheap, I consulted with Span on my return and we decided they could have the set now. We'll just get Jas a building to go with it, for her birthday. I set up the whole route, as per the instructions (yes, they were still there, as was all the boxes it came in!) and all the parts were there. The only things missing where a few signs and a few characters. Meh, you can get them anywhere. And the train still had batteries.

I think it would be around £30 new.

The photo has turned itself on upload. God knows why. But it gives you an idea of the size!

Cooking, both success and disaster!

2008-07-06T13:52:00.004Z

What with our glut of strawberries I decided to cook a strawberry tart recipe that I had found on the BBC food website. I had all the ingredients, and what with my meal planning (and thus food buying to accomodate) I didn't want to buy any more, so kept to something I could do.

The recipe is from here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/strawberrytart_74752.shtml

Ingredients

30g/1oz caster sugar

110g/4oz strawberries, hulled and cut in half drizzle of balsamic vinegar

round of rolled shortcrust pastry (approx. 12cm/5in diameter)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

2. Heat the sugar in a pan until a caramel has formed. Add the strawberries, shaking the pan to coat.

3. Drizzle balsamic vinegar onto the pastry and then top with the caramelised strawberries.

4. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Looks nice and simple, doesn't it.

Except, I don't think one bit worked!

The sugar melted as expected, but when I added the strawberries, it cooled the sugar down to such a degree that it hardened into one lump. This then stuck to my spoon. This also meant that my strawberries and sauce had no sweetness.

Then, where on the recipe is the bit about baking blind?? huh, huh? It wasn't there so I didn't precook. So the pastry was raw in the middle.

Next, it wanted the tart to be 12cm diameter, for one. That is a BIG tart. And what about pastry cases? No mention of that either.

So, you will see from the picture that they look quite nice, but they tasted like shite. Ah well. I have learnt my lesson and have found a simple recipe for tart in a Take a Break that I saved. I will check the ingredients and make sure I have them in for the day after our next picking trip!!

I did have some success though. We've just finished lunch and I made a recipe that my mother-in-law found years ago. It was lovely.

It is Chocolate up and over pudding, and was delicious.

The disaster tarts
The sugary mistake

My beautiful up-and-over pud.

Strawberry Picking

2008-07-06T13:42:00.004Z

Last Wednesday we went strawberry picking at Kenyon Hall Farm. The farm also runs Northern Harvest who deliver our fruit and veg box etc every week, so it was nice to be able to see where it all starts from!

We had a great day, picking (and nibbling) on gorgeous strawberries. I must admit, that the children ate more than they picked, but I managed to pick £7.50 worth of them and they were all gone within two days!

The farm was brilliant, and considering I was worried there might not be any left, I was amazed at how many strawberries they actually have! As far as I could tell, there were 3 whole fields, a lot of which probably haven't been tapped into as yet, especially as the weather isn't exactly condusive to being outside!

After we picked the strawberries we had a lovely picnic with our friends and a mooch around the fields where we found a tractor and trailer, whose wheels caused great excitement!

And all this was 25 mins drive away. I will definitely be going again soon.

General Update ( a bit random by the end)

2008-06-30T20:59:00.006Z

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

2008-06-30T20:51:00.003Z

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!

2008-06-23T20:28:00.002Z

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

2008-06-23T16:40:00.003Z

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

2008-06-23T16:31:00.002Z

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!

2008-06-22T22:01:00.003Z

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

2008-06-06T20:35:00.003Z

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

2008-06-04T18:48:00.003Z

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

2008-06-04T18:19:00.004Z

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.

Oz begins a sparkling career in Photography

2008-05-31T19:12:00.005Z

And these are the results.....

Lindy, I hope you're ready for some competition for best photographer I know.... he he

Free at last: time for trips!

2008-05-29T19:38:00.004Z

We went to Smithills Farm near Bolton to meet up with some "internet weirdies" (!) and we had a really great time. Unfortunately the weather was awful, but fortunately that meant it was pleasantly unbusy for a half term.

We went to a milking session for the younger animals and we fed goats and lambs (which were really sheep in my opinion) Did you know a small sheep can drink a bottle in about 10 sec flat, while almost knocking your 3 year old over!
Then we saw teeny piglets, an owl and her owlet, a donkey, chicks (which i held) a 10 foot python, teeny lambs, guinea pigs and rabbits.

Next we went to the play area which had the old tractor that the children sat on.

Then we had lunch, which was fine. We nearly had nowhere to sit, but they let us sit in the school room (which was ideal really what with all our buggies and toddlers!)

Finally, Oz went on a Donkey ride. Jasmine flatly refused to get on, so she had to watch instead!

Since this is probably my last summer of freedom I am planning to go on as many day trips as I can face. I won't get as much opportunity from September as Oscar is in school full time. My plan is to go to Camelot soon as its open on Wednesdays and perhaps the zoo as well. And I'm planning a trip to see my friend who moved to Wales. I wonder how many I will actually do!!

So, here are the pics, in now particular order.

Rumbled

2008-05-29T19:37:00.002Z

Oscar to daddy: Mummy said Bloody 'ell yesterday.

Next sentence:
Oscar to daddy: Mummy said Bloodycar.

Whooopsy

Darkwood or black wardrobes

2008-05-20T13:50:00.003Z

IF anyone who reads this blog has a moment to spare, or some inspiration for us to find wardrobes for us, I would be most grateful.

I have seriously looked at hundreds of lovely wardrobes, but they are either the wrong colour, too big, too small, too expensive, too cheap (I know... its just the cheapo ones won't last, or just not quite right.

We have found this one http://www.elegantfurniture.co.uk/bentley_newhaven_darkoak_large_wardrobe.php but I am not convinced it will be enough. Yes, it is wide, but compared to what I have right now, it is a little small. We would order the 8 drawer chest, and two bedside cabinets. Expensive yes, but they are the only things we both like. I'm just not convinced it will be enough for both of us.

So, if you see any, drop me a line, before I go bog-eyed. he he.

We now have the walls decorated in our bedroom, and I am so happy. We have the carpet coming sometime next week and then we can move in. I am SO excited, it is going to look fantastic.

Lovely weekend

2008-05-19T13:27:00.002Z

Its been lovely having my sister up to visit. We did a load of things, and I hope we haven't worn her out too much!

On Friday we went to Bodyworlds exhibition up at the Museum of Science and Industry. I thought it was very interesting although I felt there was a lot of information to take in at one time. In the blurb it said that you needed about an hour to go round, but all of us were done within 30 mins. I should have slowed down a bit to get my money's worth! I almost feel like I want to go again, as from talking to B, L and R afterwards, I missed lots. But at £11.50 a pop, I'm not sure.

The most interesting parts for me, was seeing a healthy organ, followed by an unhealthy sample. It really showed how illness can detereorate an organ. I suppose being dead people, these samples are going to have something wrong with them!

My highlights were the body cut in about 2-5cm wide sections, making the body look very elogated. Also the very thin cross sections, about 2mm thick were fascinating, especially from a future radiographer point of view.

I'm debating whether to get a book or even revisit the exhibition, as I don't think I did it justice.

After the museum, L, B and R and I went to Wagamamas and we had a lovely meal (if a little chillified for me!) and then Becca and I met up with Span and Stewart for wine. We had a great time and we are v grateful to Teddy, for babysitting.

The rest of the weekend was a little quieter as I have my big exam on Thursday (eeeeeek) but we did find time to pop over to a friend's BBQ on Saturday, and go to the local Car Boot Sale on Sunday. I didn't have as many successes as usual, but it was still great.

Now its back to the grindstone to try and work out what the Photoelectric Effect *really* means whilst attempting to remember how many quarks there are in a hadron, and remembering the transition energies of electrons...

Crap.

Worry Worry Worry, Fret, Fret, Fret

2008-05-12T21:14:00.002Z

Yep, that's me right now.

Physics exams are looming. I have a practical on Wednesday, and the written exam a week Thursday. I am diverting all my worry into other things, so as you can imagine I am a bundle of pent up frets about things I haven't fretted about for ages.

Normal, happier posts will resume as soon as possible.

On a lighter note, on the recommendation of a friend we went to http://www.brooksidegardencentre.com/railway.htm to ride the miniature railway. It was lovely, in the great Sunday sunshine. £1.30 a ride, so cheap at the price. We didn't stay to have a look round the nursery, but it was a lovely looking place, and definitely one to visit for garden bits and bobs.

Roll on Friday. My sister is coming to visit to inspect the new extension and drink wine, and probably peel me off the ceiling when I fret EVEN MORE!

I hope all are having better weeks than me! :)

Os got the full time place

2008-05-08T19:37:00.001Z

Time for another "pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew"

Span got a phonecall today, while I was at college. It was weird, because I guessed what the call was about before I listened to the message. (I was driving, so couldn't answer)

The weather is still beautiful and this news has really cheered me up, and saved us a fortune in childcare for next year.

YAY.

Airport Fun!

2008-05-07T20:09:00.005Z

Well, I am on a roll here today!

Lindy and I went to the Aviation Viewing Park. It was the perfect day for it. We had beautiful sunshine, with a lovely light breeze so we didn't get too hot. Usually that place is freezing as it so exposed, so it was an absolute pleasure to go there.

We had a lovely picnic. Thankfully, I didn't put too much effort into making butties, and took a Tesco Quiche instead. They didn't eat it, but did eat the lovely things Lindy brought. Thanks again for all that Lindy, the grapes were a definite hit. :)

I can't get the hang of getting these bloody photos in the right order so this will have to do. The light was pretty good for taking pics, so I took the opportunity to get pictures of the children. I think I was a little OzJascentric today, so didn't get many of Squidge. Although the two pictures of Oscar and Squidge are lovely. She just plonked herself on him.

So, a lovely day was had, despite some slightly burnt shoulders!

The one pic with both of them... sorry for the water stealage Lindy!

The "cuddle"

Just to prove we were at the airport!

Watching the "BIIIIG HEEAAAVY PLANES" (little ones are scary, don't you know)

Then after nap time we had a Fab Lolly in the garden. It was enjoyed by all

Why couldn't they have looked up... argh!

Eating poo won't kill her, will it??

2008-05-07T19:32:00.003Z

Oh God. It happened.

We had a lovely day at the airport today, photos to follow. When we got back, they were both exhausted, so I changed Jasmine's nappy and plonked her down in her cot, without trousers as it has been so hot.

Baaaaaaad Decision.

I was happily polishing my halo, doing some physics in the garden when I heard a huge shout from Span. Now, that man can yell, but I could tell something was up. Then I heard Jas screaming so rushed upstairs to find her being showered by Span, whilst still in her top.

On looking at the devastation in her cot, I can only guess that she pulled her nappy off, before producing, and then promptly smearing it wherever she could. We think the tears occured when she had it on her hands had put the in her mouth

There was shit on her, her sheet, her cot, her Dipsy and all over her top. Ironically enough, the only turd on her nappy was on one elastic. Probably because it just got in the way.

A quick bath and shower later, she finally went to sleep, a lot calmer and has been a little subdued all afternoon, not to mention stroppy and overtired this evening!

She ate well this evening, so we only assume she is OK, but what a shocker. I have learnt my lesson and will put some kind of attire over her nappy in future!

New Flower Pictures

2008-05-07T15:00:00.003Z

I took these on Sunday, and am really pleased with them. I think I will try and get the 3 rose ones printed off, together.

I have shrunk them for this page

Just some nice photos

2008-05-07T08:34:00.003Z

My new favourite trousers!
Dinner at Nanny and Grandads!
Oz on his bike

And Jas

Another nice new summery outfit. A bargain at an NCT sale for £2. The tag was still on the top!

A bit bluryy, but a lovely cheesy grin from the boy, which reminds me scarily of my nana
A relatively nice one of O and me! :)
Waiting for BBQ
Just a cute Jas

We're off to the Airport Viewing Park today. The weather is glorious, so we should take advantage. We're taking a picnic and should have a really nice time.

Oscar got his Nursery School place... phew

2008-05-07T08:21:00.002Z

I was beginning to get a little jittery about it. I had heard on the grapevine (at the party on Saturday) that other children of his school year had heard. The good bit was that they lived further away than us, so it almost guaranteed us a place. The bad bit, was that I got myself in a panic that we hadn't sent the letter (paranoia, naturally, nothing new there then!)

But the letter was in our letterbox by bedtime last night. He has got the place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. We just need to work out what to do with him for the rest of the week!

We are still holding out for the full time place at the other school, but this is a good step.

Like I said, PHEEEWWWWWWWWWW!

Nice BH Weekend

2008-05-05T16:23:00.005Z

We haven't done a huge amount, but we've had fun doing it!

On Saturday, we went to a little party with a Bouncy Castle in the garden. Oscar, in particular, loved it, and so I think we have almost decided to hire one for his birthday in September.

We also had S and T for their usual fortnightly visit, so Span did a lovely BBQ. I ate too much, but hey ho!

On Sunday we went to Span's parents' for lunch and we took the children's new bikes. It was only after we'd bought them, that I realised that they had actually given us some money at Christmas for those bikes, so it was nice to show them what we had got. We took the children to the park round the corner from their house, despite the drizzle, and we found an unused tennis court which meant they could go round and round as much as they liked.

And today, we went to B&Q to look at everything (!) and then go to John Lewis to order our bedroom Wallpaper. It was very exciting to finally chose it. We just need to find a whitish tone that goes well with it, and they I will feel content.
We've had a lot of ideas about furniture and seeing them in the "flesh" has been helpful. I'm hoping we won't have too many arguments on the way to deciding.

I haven't done enough Physics revision, so I shall crack on with that once the children are in bed. My practical, not to metion the written paper, is looming, so I have a lot to do.

Pics to follow, when I get round to uploading them...

Done, but not dusted

2008-05-02T10:51:00.003Z

THE BUILDERS HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING. Yay!

They finished up with their cleaning yesterday morning, and apart from coming in 3 weeks with a new door lock, they are done.

In a weird, sadistic, sort of a way, I think I will miss them. It nice to have someone to say "hello" to in the hallway, and have a brief chat with. But as my title suggests, I shall not miss the dust. I have heard from various sources that I shall be finding it for a looooooong time.

Pics to follow when the camera is charged... because that arrived just now. double YAY.

I've got to go and make an early lunch so I can head of for Physics at 12.45. I'm not totally sure, but I think something might me "up" Our tutor didn't turn up yesterday, and hadn't phoned in. That is not good practice in ANY job. Update on that to follow.

And finally, as promised, some pics of the children on their new bikes. They aren't ideal as the camera battery was about to die, and I only got a few before it went.

I told you they were rubbish!! he he

Lovely day at the Farm

2008-04-30T20:44:00.003Z

We went to Farmer Ted's today. I've only ever been at Christmas when it is freeeeeezing, so it was nice to go when it was milder. That said, it was still a bit cold... where is summer?

The children didn't stop. We had soft play, then we went to see the animals and then had a quick play in an outdoor play area. Then we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we had another brew, and then played on the other climbing frames, big activity hall, sand pit (very large) go-karts and a model cow which you could "milk" and water came out. (hysterically funny) Then we went on the tractor ride (Oscar was asking about this ALL day)

Oscar was funny though. He was playing on the ride ons while Jas was on the swings. While he was in there, there was a pre-school group there too. Although, I looked round and everyone had gone. Oscar was no longer where he was supposed to be. Thank goodness I had a hunch. He was happily in the giant sand pit, with the group. He did the same thing a few minutes later, and followed them from the sand pit, and I found him amongst the group AGAIN, with the animals.

I am convinced that he just heard an adult tell him what to do, and he did it. He is probably so used to being part of a crowd of children, with childcare workers around that he just went without thinking. What a plum!

I'm really glad that he was happy socialising but I wish I could just have some kind of satnav on him. It was like he was attracted to groups of children, as I found him with the Llamas later on!

There is SO much to do there, even I would be happy going back soon, but maybe in June now, once my damned exams are done! And perhaps then we can enjoy even better weather

Jas loved puddles. She finally got to test out her welly boots (after jumping in with her shoes before any of us could stop her. I was locating Os at the time! Both of them behaved pretty well today and I am very proud of them. They ate their lunch, were nice to other children they met, and played independently and confidently. At one point, while I was finishing my lunch, I noticed my two were the only two at the very top of the soft play castle thing. Perhaps that was slightly foolhardy...

Ah well, I'm gushing now, but they are lovely. :)

Charger has been found

2008-04-29T13:12:00.004Z

I thought that the fact that my mum hadn't mentioned that I'd left the charger behind, that it wasn't there. But it was.

Either mum told me, and I completely didn't listen (highly possible) or she hasn't actually told me (she says she has and again, highly possible!)

As it turns out, we left it behind the last time we stayed, I think they sent it back, and I promptly left it behind again! The words memory and sieve come to mind!!

I seem to be adding many more "Silly moments" tags at the moment. I hope it is just a coincidence!

Tea lady!

2008-04-28T14:31:00.002Z

I've just made drinks for 10 people. Crazy.

2xwater for children
2x tea for Span and me
3xtea, 1xcoffee for builders
2xtea for gardeners.

I guess chosing to make a brew when the heavens opened just now was bound to stop work and have people wanting tea!

We've also had the cleaners in this morning. I feel very lazy. I feel like we have all these people all these things for us, and perhaps we should do more. Yet I am Chief Child Care Provider as well, so that must count for something! And I've done 2 loads of washing. One load done twice. My only guess is that the cleaners turned it on while wiping it. It had finished when I went to town earlier, but by the time I got back it was running again.

While we were out I decided to get Oscar's hair cut. I opted to have a bit more than usual cut off, ready for the summer (yeah, right... sunny skies R Us..) Its made it look a little straight and weird but I actually like it, and it makes him look so grown up. Pics to follow when we can locate our battery charger.... eep

As Lindy and Teddy will know I was suffering with a tummy ache on Friday. Didn't stop me drinking, mind you! But, unfortunately, the booze didn't numb my tum. For those of you keen on updates, it seems to have calmed down a lot after a horrible day yesterday. Docs can see me tomorrow morning (no Ivy then, again :( ) and I should get a few answers to my concerns then. Its nothing serious, I'm pretty certain of that,, but seems to come on without explanation and I want to know what I can do to stop it coming again (apart from give up my beloved beer, which I did nearly 2 years ago now) I am on new meds for my skin, so I wondered if I might be suffering a side effect from that. I had a day off the drug yesterday and started again today. Its an antibiotic so I don't want to mess around with it too much, otherwise I'd stay off it another day.

I have a nice busy week this week. Farmer Teds on Weds (all welcome, BTW) I'm hopefully meeting some forumites I know, but all are welcome, despite the shite weather predicted! Then, the plan is possibly to join B and L at the Bodyworks. But I need to confirm with Teddy if she minds putting the children to bed for us, as Span would like to come too. And then all my Physics, revision, Brownies, housework, that the cleaners don't do, and clear up after the builders who MIGHT BE DONE THIS WEEK. (She says without getting too excited this time!)

So, what was meant to be a small update has turned into a long ramble, as usual.

This post is dedicated to my fab sister who had her first Midwife final today. Bec, if your watching my love, I'm sure you nailed it. (())

Not too overhung

2008-04-26T15:17:00.003Z

Which is fantastic. I am SO glad that I managed to avoid getting too ill! I downed 2 pints of water before I went to bed, so hopefully that helped.

The benefit of no hangover was that we have been to get the children some bikes. It was a lot easier than we thought to find them. We got them at Decathlon, and Jas's was under £20. Pics will obviously follow, but not yet. We had to put the bikes together, and despite my severe short patience I did it relatively quickly.

Jas had a Heeyuge tantrum in the shop because I took the football away to be paid for. Oh. My. God. She screamed ALL the way home. Needless to say, she is now asleep.

At one point, she was making a fuss, so I went through the exit doors and waited for her to come. Unfortunately, she didn't and the automatic doors shut. But, because she is so little she didn't set the sensors off to open the door again! So, she was crying one side of the door, and I was standing relatively helplessly on the other. I didn't want to leave in case she went into further meltdown!

Thankfully, Decathlon was busy, so someone soon came out and activated the doors! Failing that I would have got someone to go round to set them open. And Jas was so distraught anyway, she didn't panic. So, once the children wake, we'll take them for a little ride on their new toys. :)

Yay! Its friday.

2008-04-25T16:24:00.003Z

And even better it's the last Friday of April so I get to out and play (aka drink wine with my friends!) I need it today. I've been so busy with Physics, the children, being a little under the weather and builders who have still.not.quite.finished.

I love the fact that once a month, I get to drink whatever I want, in the pub, and not fret about it. We chat about everything and anything and as my mum would say "put the world straight"

Sadly one member of the fishwives will not be in attendance this month, and she shall be missed. I hope she doesn't have too much fun without us ;)

These days, I write the Saturday off as I am usually hungover. Is that bad? Who knows!

Recent Photos

2008-04-21T13:44:00.004Z

I thought it was time to add a few recent photos to the blog. I've just been taking random photos of the children, mostly and although I'm not entirely happy with them (the colours don't look right, to me. The flash makes everything pale, but without it, it is blurry) I think the children look gorgeous (biased? moi?)

So, here they are...

Jas came into the living room sucking on this Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Sadly I didn't get a brilliant shot of it, but I was so impressed, as it is a strong flavour. She tried asparagus yesterday and loved it, too. Oscar on the other hand is a fussy wotnot.
Oz laughing at me playing a game that Jas has invented called "night night"
Oz got in the cot with her. She wasn't as bothered as she looks in this photo.
What ya doing mum?
Nice pic of the boy

Jas's hair went straight for a day, as it had been up. Unfortunately she was getting over a bug that day, so wasn't looking her best.
Watching something on the PC
Ready for your close up??
Cheesorama
Jas found her hat and scarf

At Ben's birthday party, a couple of weeks ago.
At the airport. It was effing freezing... for a change

She looked like a smurf

First reserve - Nothing changes!! aka A tale of great woe

2008-04-18T18:53:00.005Z

So, today, when the postman arrived a special letter arrived (for us) I opened it and I first devastation hit, but then.... wait.... a little blind optimism thrown in, just to keep me on my toes...

Before I tell you what was in the letter, I feel the need to tell you a story!

When I was 10, I applied to attend Private School. This meant, if I got in, I had to leave my primary (middle) school a year earlier than everyone else. This was because I was educated within the London Borough of Harrow, where High School starts at "rising 13" now known as Year 8, a year later than most LEAs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-tier_education is the link that best describes it.

Before I had found out whether I had got through, the schoool announced the annual school trip. Because I wasn't at this stage, in my final year, I was not able to be automatically given a place, but had to sit through a "pulling out of a hat" assembly to see who from the "second to last year" would be given a space on the 5 day holiday.

So, predicatably enough, to my serious dissappointment, I came out 3rd reserve. I don't think I cried more than I did between that day and the school leaving on the school trip. My misery was compounded by the fact that over the course of the next 4 months, not only did I get the place at Private School, but also, 2 children dropped out of the trip, making me first reserve.

Never have I wished illness on anyone more than I did that last week. I had been reassured by various teachers that on several occasions people were offered places at the last minute, but alas, not me. So I cried more.

So, instead of staying in some crummy hostel in North Wales visitng such delights as Bedgelert, Snowdon and slate mines, I went on day trips to London instead (except the first day there were tube strikes so we played sports in the local park... nice) I had a nice time, I have to be honest, but it wasnt the same. And the following year, I was relatively happily esconced at my new school so clearly not able to go!

I don't think I have ever really got over it. Obviously, it hasn't been the end of the world, and I have been to some great places, including North Wales, but I tell you, i was the first to get my letter in about going to Holland with my new school 2 years later! Definitely no homesickness for me.

So, why tell this tale of woe?

Today's letter was about a Nursery Place for Oscar. You can guess what place he got? Yep, we are FIRST on the waiting list.

In actual fact, this particular nursery is apparently the best (I'm yet to visit) but I chose it because it offers full time places. We will get a place at our local school, but as they only offer part time, it would have implications to our costs next year.

So, reassure me people..... will Os get a space?

From the ridiculous to the sublime

2008-04-15T21:20:00.003Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/listings/programme.shtml?day=today&service_id=4544&filename=20080415/20080415_2100_4544_14687_60

I watched this show "Chinese School" just now, on BBC4.

It was excellent and from my point of view, an excellent insight into life in China, away from Hong Kong and the other big cities.

Their children work SO hard, and are put under so much intense pressure when they sit their exams. I honestly thought A levels were hard! They are nothing compared to the Chinese exams. One girl took part in a Speech writing competition, and her English was embarassingly good. And, the day after they finished the exams, they had to go in to school and sit there and go through the answer sheets and decide how well they thought they had done. Surely that would be torturous as your mind plays tricks with you after any exam!?? The girl who did best in the whole region (94odd%) was in tears at all her mistakes.... That cannot be right, poor thing. But the marks they come up are given to prospective universities, so they must be very important!

They also showed some younger children in the towns schools, who are seriously cute, and come out with some wonderful things. However, they do go to a boarding school, and my heart was breaking for the youngsters being away from their parents for so long. I just couldn't do it. I think I might just be ready once they are 18!!!!

I would recommend the series to anyone, and it should be on BBCIPlayer. (Have you discovered this? It is brilliant.

Rickrolled?

2008-04-15T21:16:00.002Z

Have you been rickrolled yet? Well, I've been done twice now, the cheeky feckers.

Its a horrible windows program that is a absolute sod to close down. It is SO annoying that I am not even going to post the damn thing here. It isn't that serious, but very annoying, especially as Span just laughed as the Rick music just started up!

Changed my settings a little

2008-04-15T12:37:00.002Z

This post is dedicated to my friend Byrney who has never been able to post a comment on my blog! I had a think about it yesterday and twigged that it was my settings that could be wrong. So, I think anyone can comment now.

Needless to say, if a load of weird comments appear, I'll have to change it again!

I have to plan for Designer Badge at Brownies tonight. Cannot be arsed, but it has to be done. And our printer isn't working either. Bums.

Wallpaper swimming before our eyes!

2008-04-14T14:06:00.002Z

Oh my goodness. I spent last night looking for "funky" wallpaper for our bedroom. I have looked at HUNDREDS of them online, and NONE appeal to both me and Span. We both went to bed with images of wallpaper whizzing in front of our eyes until we nodded off! Weird.

We're looking for a purpley/aubergine background, with a light motif on it. We did find a beautiful Sanderson one, but it wasn't quite as nice in the "flesh" Bums.

For our living room, we've found "the" wallpaper, but now we have to find some curtains, a chair, soft furnishing and flooring. I am bored already!

On a less dull note, we had a lovely weekend and went to the local pub for dinner yesterday. It was very pleasant, especially as we made it there before 12.30, so got a seat, and served very quickly. I had two glasses of good wine, and it knocked me out for the afternooon!

Poor old Jas has had a tummy bug since Thursday, but she is back to normal today. She woke us up 3 times on Thursday night, and had 3 changes of clothes. Poor lamb. She did not like going hungry, and missing out on her milk. Her appetite is pretty much back now, so hopefully she is clear. We just now have to wait and see if the rest of us get it. Nice.

We have no builders today. They are all out on other work, which, after 3 months is WONDERFUL. They'll be back tomorrow, and it looks like they'll be done for good fairly soon. It is going to be so weird to NOT have people around all the time. I am slightly concerned that now that the big jobs are done, the little ones might take slightly longer to do, but hopefully that won't happen. They are good blokes and have worked really hard. We are suitably impressed.

Span used to move in famous circles

2008-04-09T13:25:00.002Z

He will kill me for this, but while googling himself, he found this

http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/01/1983_rainford_kids_streets_hea.html

He never told me about meeting Ken. I knew he had been on TV (We have the video) but that was it.

He he

Other things we've been up to. Part 2

2008-04-09T13:03:00.008Z

So, the children, despite their serious protestations WERE tired. The wet pants, crying and general grumpiness gave them away!!

Here are some of the pics of our trip to London. On Easter Sunday morning I went to Heathrow to try and see the new Airbus A380. It was a pleasure driving that morning as the roads were so quiet. It took me less than half an hour. Bliss. Unfortunately, as I expected the runway gods were not holding out for me and the plane left from the opposite runway to where we were. So, although I did get to see it, it was so far away I still couldn't tell you how big it was compared to, say, a jumbo. I'm glad I went as Oscar loved it, and I was feeling a little guilty for "deserting" him later on in the week.

These next ones are just O and J looking lovely. I think they were taken on Easter Sunday.

These are of London, just in case you didn't know! ;)

And these are of the aquarium. I think Jas enjoyed it. It isn't really my cup of tea, as fish are never going to be favourite things. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the very tame rays they had, for fear of Jasmine launching herself into the tank! One of them was doing a lap of honour getting a tickle from all of us. His mouth was open and everything. Seriously pimping himself for attention, methinks!

Finally, once I got back from the big smoke, I took the children to Bruntwood Park to enjoy the (currently) untypical sunny day we had last week. We all really enjoyed it. It does have a cafe, toilet facilities and a huge amount of land to run about in. I fully intend to go there for picnics in the warmer weather, especially as it only cost £1 for two hours parking. Another cheap day out! The under 7s play area is small, but ideal for littlies and Oscar went into the hut on top of the climbing frame and shouted "ice cream" He then sold me one for "ten pounds" Expensive eh!
Jasmine also had a tumble down the slide. I watched her go down head first, and thought she would be fine, but she went head down into some wet woodchip. She cried, but was unharmed, if a little shocked. I'm afraid I laughed, but I knew she was fine really.
Lindy, when you read this, have you been yet? We should go.

I think that is about it for now. Until I remember something I forgot.

Other things we've been up to.

2008-04-09T10:39:00.002Z

We've had a busy few weeks. We spent Easter with my folks in London. Jasmine and I stayed on for a few extra days, as it seemed silly to come back to such a chaotic house, when theirs was (slightly!) more organised! (he he) Oscar came back with his Dad as he was due in Nursery and we would have to pay regardless of his attendance.

We had a lovely time, and on the Tuesday Jas and I went to the London Aquarium. She loved it, but my god it was expensive. It cost £13.50 for me to get in, free for her. We queued for 20 mins as there was ONE person on the tills. Can you believe it? The only good thing about this was that it wasn't actually too busy in the museum as the big queue was completely deceptive. Thankfully it wasn't as big as the queue for the London Eye.

We've also had B's 3rd birthday party which was great fun, as well as I's blessing day in Sheffield. Both kept us busy last weekend. We went over Snake Pass on Sunday for the blessing and it was so snowy! Not what you expect in April.

I was going to update more, but world war 3 is about to break out here. Oh joy.

Extension Update - Nearly There (I think)

2008-04-09T10:21:00.006Z

The 3 weeks is up on Friday. To be honest, I think there is still a little bit more to be done over the next few weeks. but it looks like most things are done now.
They are doing the door frames (arkitrave... or however you spell it) and skirting boards with this funky big saw. Span was lusting after it the other day, but it just looks like any other tool to me!
So, pics then
New extended dining room, with toilet to left
Entrance hall
Entrance Hall again

New living room

Extended dining room
New hall, with Jas
Extended Dining room, with entrance to new living room
New living room, toward the back garden

New en-suite sink. It isn't blue, that is just protective film over white cupboards
the dust. This is my phone that ended up in the washing machine at xmas... ho hum. It has been sitting on our kitchen window ledge and has collected lots and lots of dust. I ran my finger over it to see the difference. I'm not weird... honest.
New bedroom, from en-suite
New family bathroom... window was put in yesterday, and plasterboard is on. ALL TILES HAVE GONE. Halleluyah.

I'm still figuring out how to get these photos in the right order, without throwing the damn computer out the window, so you'll just have to make do with the order I've got!! Argh.

3 weeks to go (so they say!!!)

2008-03-20T20:19:00.004Z

Yep, that's right. The builders informed Span today that the work could be done in 3 WEEKS. Then, of course, we'll need to decorate, but WAHHHHHEEEEEEYYYY

I have a few pictures, mostly for my parents' benefit, as I am off to London tomorrow for Easter. We're in desperate need of a break so we are looking forward to it very much.

From entrance of new bedroom towards ensuite doorway
and again
Front window in new bedroom
Bedroom, from ensuite doorway.
Our bombsite, otherwise known as family bathroom!
The front
and again
The "new bit"
Now I need to think about colours!!

Another Recipe

2008-03-19T20:27:00.002Z

I had a disaster with one recipe on Monday, but TAB redeemed itself yesterday when I attempted Normandy Casserole. I made it with pork instead of chicken as thats what we had in!
I thought of Lindy with her apple corer thing she bought. Sadly there is only one apple required for this recipe, but never mind!!

Normandy Casserole
Serves:4
Ready in: 1hr20
Calories per portion: 265
Total cost:£6.90 (according to magazine, I've no idea if that is accurate)

Ingredients
1tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into wedges
2-3 garlic cloves,peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed and sliced
450g/1lb chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
2tbsp flour
450ml/3/4pint apple juice
225g/8oz carrots, peeled and sliced
1tbsp soy sauce
100g/4oz button mushrooms,
1 red apple, cored and chopped
225g/8z thawed broad beans (I didn't use this)
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190C/fan oven 170C/Gas mark 5 10 misn before cooking. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and saute the onion, garlic, celery and chicken for 5 mins, stirring frequently until the chicken is sealed.
Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 2 mins before gradually stirring in the apple juice. While stirring,bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and stir in the carrots and soy sauce. Pour into an ovenproof casserole dish and cover with a lid.
Cook for 45 mins and then stir in the mushrooms, apple, broad beans and seasoning.
Cook the casserole for a further 20 mins or until the chicken and vegeatbles are thoroughly cooked. Serve with sweet potato mash and wilted spinach.

What I did differently:
Pork instead of chicken, Added mushrooms at same time as carrots. Added a little more water (but it wasn't really needed in the end) Frozen peas instead of broad beans, added with 10mins cooking time left, to add colour. Served with jacket spuds and cauliflower as that is what we had in.
It was lovely, and the children, Span and myself enjoyed it.

Turning Corners??

2008-03-19T20:14:00.002Z

Well, I think we might be. Psychologically, definitely. The scaffolding came down while I was out today. Woooooooopppeeeeeedoooo. It looks so good. I really need to get some pictures of it so I can show my family.

The toilet in the ensuite is in, a lot of plastering is complete, the front window is ready to go. In fact, its all go, and we can probably start thinking about decor soon. YAY!

On other notes, we went to Head over Heels with Lindy and Squidge and had a great time. Oscar just went up and down all morning. He really enjoyed it. He worked out the quickest way up, to get to the big red slide. In fact, I think his favourite was when Jas and I joined him for a slide too. It took J and me a bit longer to get up though. I think he overtook us twice! We had a quick drink there and then went to a sandwich shop for lunch. It was a bit slow, but I was pleased with it, and it was a lot cheaper than getting food at HOH (and arguably better quality!) We had a great time, and Oscar slept for 2.5 hours this afternoon. I knew he was pooped, but goodness. I hope he kips well tonight.

We're gearing up for Easter now. We head down to London on Good Friday, and after Lindy stating the obvious today (cheers!) I think we might stick around a bit. The only main issue I have with the extension is the lack of privacy while relieving oneself. Span doesn't seem to care, nor does Oz, but I can't do it. I'm no prude, but I just can't (wimp) So, I have been making several trips which involve a shop/cafe with toilets! This has made the last week quite expensive what with teas and coffees, not to say counterproductive because all that extra drink has it's effects, doesn't it! Sods law appeared yesterday and our local Tesco's toilets were bloody shut. I had to queue for the disabled loo, and then proceeded to buy stuff we probably didn't need. (or so it felt, anyway!)

So, back to what I was saying... we think that myself and the children will stay around in London, as I have no real commitments next week, due to Easter. I need to think about it, and let my parents know really, but that involves thought...

Wednesday Photo Time

2008-03-12T20:56:00.004Z

Oscar, wearing Span's shoes. The childrens' latest obsession is shoes.... other people's
Here he is, just looking cute.
And Jas, looking soooo grown up. I love this t-shirt.
In the bath, a safe shot! You can see the breeze blocks of the "new bit" here. The wall was at the end of the bath, just behind Jas!
Lemon Tart shot. It was OK, perhaps a little tart ('scuse the pun)
A couple of self-portrait photos. Whilst my skin and weight are not at their best, they are a lot better than they used to be. I also get to show off our "lovely" bathroom, for possibly the last time ever. Those mirrors are bloody unforgiving, and those tiles... well, there are no words!

New hair cut. Cost a fortune, but probably worth it. I'm not convinced with the colouring. I'm undecide whether to go it alone next time, or treat myself. I'm having issues with whether the dye goes up far enough, as I suspect I have roots already, after 5 days. As for the skin, no flash is best!!!!

Extension Malaise

2008-03-12T20:28:00.004Z

Gah, why does it have to take so long. I am tired of it. The disruption, the noise, the dust, the lot.

Yesterday morning, at around 9am, while I was at my Physics class, we finally lost our toilet. No, it was not removed by obsessive aliens, but removed to make way for our new entrance to our new bedroom.

We now have a lovely new toilet in our brank spanking new water closet downstairs. Except, it has no wall, no door, and no light, and entry requires turning the alarm off at night. It sucks. I dread every toilet trip as the seat is like ice. And this will go on for a few days yet. We can't even get the last window in to make it warmer as the damn scaffolding is in the way, and we can't take that down until the rendering is done. And we can't do that until we will get some clearer weather forecast for 3 whole days.

Have you SEEN the weather round here. ARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Other events of note over the last week include:
1. Finally deciding floor in new bit was at the wrong level (no one's fault, really), and confessing all to builders last friday. To cut a long story short, floor was lowered on the Monday, with no problems, apart from a weekend worth of worry.
2. Builder L going through the plasterboard where the bog used to be. Apparently saved by his crown jewels and a wooden joist. Les is fine, if a little embarrassed.
3. Builder T nearly doing exactly the same about 3 hours later.
4. Builder L knocking through old bathroom, into new, and breaking small pane of class in front door at same time, thus making all other dust protection methods useless, thus causing a vacuum which caused A LOT of dust to coat everything in it's path on the ground floor.
5. Did I mention the toilet....?

It WILL be worth it, It WILL be worth it, It WILL be worth it.

Recipes - Part 2 - Puds

2008-03-05T13:47:00.002Z

LEMON TART (from one of my mum’s recipe books)
Ingredients
Pastry – either make, or buy sweet shortcrust pastry to fit dish.
Filling
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
150ml double cream
2 eggs
100g sugar

1. Dust cool surface and roll out chilled pastry to more than fit tin (so as not to stretch it… keep dusting!)
2. Chill in fridge for 20 mins (ish)
3. Heat oven to 180C
Put eggs, sugar, double cream and lemon zest and juice into bowl and whisk until creamy
4. Melt butter and whisk into lemon mixture, then pour into chilled pastry case
5. Carefully place the tart in oven and bake for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 160C and bake for a further 20 mins or until the filling has set (I aim for it to be golden brown)
6. Leave to cool for 1 hour before serving

There is a blueberry version which is slightly different, but equally delicious. Recipe available on request!

CHOCOLATE LEMON CRUNCH
This is dedicated to my friend Teddy, who loves (and makes her own) Lemon curd. It is also from TAB, and I am yet to make it, but it sounds easy. It is supposedly a “low cal” cake, but considering ingredients, I’m not convinced. Perhaps you just need to have a small amount…

Serves: 8
Ready in: 20 mins (plus chilling time)
Total cost: £4.45

Ingredients
175g/6oz Chocolate digestive biscuits
2tbsp golden syrup
25g/1oz unsalted butter
6tbsp lemon curd
225g/8oz fresh raspberries
Mint sprig and sifted icing sugar to decorate (optional)
1. Finely crush the chocolate digestives. Pour the syrup into a heavy-based saucepan and add the butter. Heat gently until blended, then remove from the heat and add the crushed biscuits. Mix well, then press firmly into the base, and sides of a 20.5cm/8in loose-bottom or spring form flan tin. Chill in the fridge until required.
2. When ready to serve, spoon the lemon curd into the biscuit base, then top with the fresh raspberries. Decorate with a mint sprig and sprinkle with icing sugar, if using, and serve.

Finally, for now, is this recipe, which we found when we had too many over ripe bananas left. We'd had limited success with a previous complicated recipe I found, so I used this instead, and considering how easy it is, the resulting cake was delicious!

BANANA CAKE (off the internet… need to find link!)

This is a very basic recipe I found. It works very well and is so easy. And is mostly for Lindy, who had a Banana Cake “disaster” recently! He he

Ingredients
4oz butter of margarine
6oz sugar
2 eggs
8oz Self raising flour

Mash bananas with a sturdy fork
cream the butter and sugar together, and mix in eggs
Mix the two yellow sludges you now have, and mix in the flour
Scrape into loaf tin and bake for about 40 mins at Gas Mark 4/180C
The recipe ends here, but when I made it, the thing was clearly not done in the middle, so I turned the oven down to GM2 and left it for another 30 mins, whereupon it was fine.

(I’ve no idea what GM2 is in real temps (!) but Span did leave it on for a bit longer than 40 mins.

Recipes - Part 1 - Mains

2008-03-05T13:36:00.005Z

My friends and I often chat about new recipes we like. I'm hopeless at getting round to things, but finally got my act together today, and sorted out a list of my recent favourites.

These ones, I think, are very child-friendly. Mostly because of the pasta, but also because they contain everything they need, including veg, and are soft and very tasty. I found them ideal for grown ups too!

CHICKEN AND CHORIZO PASTA
Found at “A Slice of Cherry Pie” http://www.asliceofcherrypie.blogspot.com/ (i need to learn how to link properly!!)

Ingredients2 chicken breasts sliced into bite-sized pieces
uncooked chorizo sausage cut into rounds about half inch thick
1 red onion, halved and sliced1 red or yellow pepper, chopped
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 glass of red wine
Pasta of your choice
1. Cook enough pasta for 4 people in salted water and set aside.
2. Fry the chicken in olive oil until just cooked through and remove from the pan. Repeat with the chorizo sausage.
3. Fry the onion in the oil left from the chorizo for a few minutes until it starts to soften, removing any excess oil.
4. Add the pepper and fry for another couple of minutes, then turn up the heat and add the red wine. Allow to sizzle and reduce, then add the tomatoes and simmer until the sauce thickens and reduces.
5. Put the chicken and chorizo back into the pan along with the cooked pasta. Stir everything well and allow to heat through, then season to taste and serve.

Serves 4

FROM TAKE A BREAK MAGAZINE (My guilty secret, but now, I have the equivalent of a whole cookbook from all the recipes I keep from the centrefold!!!)

BACON AND BROCCOLI SPAGHETTI
Serves: 4
Ready in 20 mins
Cals per portion: 710
Total cost £4.30

Ingredients:
350g/12oz spaghetti
350g/12oz Broccoli florets (I just added what I had!)
8 rashers smoked streaky bacon (I used unsmoked, as it’s what we had!)
200ml carton (or tub) of crème fraiche
1tsp Horseradish sauce (optional.. I didn’t!)
150g/5oz Dolcelatte cheese, cubed (I used cheddar!)
2tbsp chopped walnuts (which, again, I left out as we didn’t have them in!

1.Cook spaghetti in a pan of lightly salted water for 5 mins. Add the broccoli and bring back to the boil, then cook for a further 6-7 mins or until the pasta is al dente (I actually cooked the Broc separately as I wanted it softer, for the children)
2. Meanwhile, grill the bacon until crispy, then break into pieces. Drain spaghetti and return to the pan. Stir in the crème fraiche, optional horseradish and cheese. Heat until cheese is starting to melt. Spoon into dishes, and scatter over bacon and nuts. Serve at once. (I just mixed the lot together rather than scattering at the end!)

SO, plenty of variation there, but I wanted to make it easier, and suitable (and palatable) for the children!

SPICY SAUSAGE PASTA

Serves 4
Ready in: 35 mins
Cals per portion: 635
Total cost £5.35

Ingredients
6 spicy pork and sweet pepper sausages (I used whatever was in freezer)
2tbsp olive oil
1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
1 fat red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
400g can of chopped tomatoes with garlic and herbs (I used plain)
2tbsps red pesto sauce
350g/12oz pasta shapes
150g frozen peas
1 ball mozzarella drained and diced (I used cheddar)
Fresh basil to garnish

1. Remove skins from the sausages and cut each into five pieces (I didn’t bother to skin them) Heat the oil in a large pan and fry sausages for 7-8 mins until browned. Remove from the pan, add the onion and chilli and cook for 4-5 mins until softened. Stir in the tomatoes and the pesto sauce, cover and simmer for 10 mins.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pan of lightly salted boiling water, according to packet instructions, adding peas for the last 5 mins of cooking. Drain and toss the sauce. Spoon into the warmed heatproof dish, and then scatter with the mozzarella and grill for 2-3 mins until melted. Garnish with Basil leaves and serve.

Photos of the last few days

2008-03-04T21:33:00.004Z

The children just doing stuff. The dinner ones were just before and after *the* fall!

A relatively nice one of me and Jas (who looks cute, of course!)
I took this pic with a "night scenery" setting. It took about 20 secs to take and I am really pleased with how it came out (5th or 6th attempt!) It such a horrible evening out!
The children love their matching raincoats. They are from Boden and are fab, just not very warm, so we don't use them much over winter.

I thought we were "losing" our loo yesterday, and therefore toiletless for some considerable time. So, I made a last minute decision to go the airport viewing park. I used to go quite a bit before the children, and try and go when I have a spare moment as it is cheap, child friendly, and fun for all of us, WITH toilet facilities!!

Whilst we had a good time, it was fecking freezing and hailed at one point. We did see planes which seemed to please both of them, but it was a lot better once we were huddled in the car. I love my planes, but not THAT much! You can see the snow on the Pennines, behind the Virgin plane.

Exciting Amazon Delivery! (And cooking annoyances)

2008-03-04T21:14:00.001Z

I got lots that I was looking forward to this week.

First and foremost, my TT Live DVD arrived. I haven't watched it yet, but I have a night on my own on Friday, so I shall enjoy it with a couple of glasses of wine. I cannot wait to see my boys again.

Then, I got a cupcake cook book. I intend to bake some this weekend, I think. That said, I attempted a lemon tart today, and my pastry went wrong. This pastry has never failed me before, but for some reason it didn't work today. I don't think being tired helped. You see, I should just buy the ready made stuff, but I won't rest until I make this particular batch. Next time though, I have learnt my lesson. Even my MIL doesn't make her own anymore.

Anyway I digress,

I also got the new Jill Mansell. It's the first time I have bought the hardback version, but it was a good price, and I do like her books.

Finally, I got a kids book about a Wombat. My friend's daughter Chloe got it from her uncle, and I loved it so much I bought it myself. To be honest, I think its going to be a present, but it is SUCH a cool book!

OH I love Amazon (and any other online shops for that matter) There is little better than getting packages. Even if we do pay for them ourselves!

Tired and "should be doings"

2008-03-04T21:08:00.003Z

Tuesdays are just so busy.

I have to get up early, to make sure I get both children to separate nurseries in time for my Physics class at 9. Then, of course, I have Physics.

Next up, after Physics, is Toddler Group. Sadly I miss the first hour, but Jas gets a bit of playtime and I get a brew!

Then home for lunch and Jas sleeps, while I determine whether I should be doing Brownie stuff.

6pm is Brownies, which finishes at 7.30, so once I get home I am completely pooped.

And now, I have photos I should upload, Physics I should be learning, washing I should be sorting, knitting I should be relaxing with (hohum, I haven't knitted since Christmas when I hastily finished J's jumper while on way to family party!), Emails I should be writing, exercise I should be doing etc etc etc.

And what am I doing? Wasting time on the PC... ah well, it could be worse!

He he! Jas fell over (but all is well!)

2008-02-28T20:04:00.002Z

Jas and Oscar were sitting beautifully together, so I thought I would get it on video.

Then Jas ran out of mash and demanded more, had a teeny tantrum, and then the following happened.

Please note, she is absolutely fine, bar a fetching carpet bruise (her second of the day) on her forehead.

She'll not thank me for this video, will she.

Obligatory Earthquake Post

2008-02-27T20:04:00.003Z

I felt it, but didn't realise until this morning.

Just before 1am I awoke from a dream. It was a relief, but I can't remember now what the dream was about!

Anyway, I was SURE that Oscar had got out of bed, and was poking Jas in the eye. This is a regular occurence, but not at 1am. In my half awake state I shouted at him to go back to bed, then realise that he wasn't actually there.

Then I convinced myself that we had a burglar and I was going to go down in the morning and find the house ransacked.

I was not bothered too much as I went straight back to sleep. Denial should be my middle name!

I was listening to Radiofive this morning and was gutted to have missed it, until I put the two events together and realised what I had felt!

5 years ago, I felt the earthquake that hit Manchester. I was fucking terrified as I was 7 floor up, near old windows which shock like crazy. It took me ages to get over it! Lets hope there aren't too many aftershocks.

Catch up time!

2008-02-27T19:45:00.004Z

Extension Update: Les has been removing wallpaper and has filled the biggest black bin bag I have ever seen! It is so rewarding to get rid of the woodchip that has adorned this house for so long.

The bag could seriously fit 4 children!

We have also lost the tiles in the toilet... what a sense of relief. I don't think I realised how horrible they were until recently. Les found a very dead wasp's nest behind a wall. That took some removing and has been replaced by a concrete slab, so all is well. Lindy, just a note. These guys are soooooooo tidy. I am incredibly impressed by him. Apparently Span had to send Les home 10 mins early, as there was nothing left to do, and he didn't want to leave before his "finish time" of 5pm. Impressed is not the word.

Kids update: Children are doing fine. Oz was a bit poorly over the weekend, but is now fine. Jas is a peach. Her hair never ceases to amaze me, and her vocabulary is improving all the time. She actually says "please" or rather "pwleee" more than her big brother.

Skin update: I *think* it is improving. It isn't so red, and despite a few outbreaks, it does look better... just. I have been fortunate enough to be referred to the MRI already, and have an appointment in April. It is reassuring that I can speak to someone really qualified then, rather than my (lovely) GP who had to look in her Drugs Directory to check what I needed to take!!

Weight Update: I don't mention much about weight loss on here, as it is a personal thing for me. I am steadily losing weight, albeit slowly, but I am finally noticing the differences myself. It is lovely to be able to see this, despite my probable body shape issues. I am steadily on the wagon, and never seem to go off the rails, which I am very proud of.

Physics Update: Slow and steady, once again. Electricity is seriously boring, and I am concerned we are going too slowly. I have told my tutor and he said that I can start reading ahead if I wish. Nice. I pay for the class, and I learn on my own. It WILL all be worth it in the end.

So, Update now complete. I can look back and remember what I was up to on the 27th Feb 2008!!

Extension Update

2008-02-24T15:33:00.005Z

We now have a bedroom that we can access from the front window. Something I won't be repeating again. It scared the shit out of me going up (and down) the ladder. We have the circular brickwork done for the front window, and I think a lot of the insulation has been done too. I suspect out toilet will go soon as well. We just need to sort out logistics as otherwise we will end up toiletless. Even with planning it looks like we shall be the proud owners of an outside toilet for a while. I am NOT looking forward to a cold seat of a morning... argh!

Tomorrow, Les, our builders second in command, so to speak, is starting on removing the plaster on our stairs. This is great, but will probably be a bit more intrusive and awkward, as everything else so far has been outside.

We have just said a very very happy goodbye to our hall carpet. May it rest in peace. Sadly, I think it might have released some cat piss aroma, which will need to be cleared

Its all good though. It has been so quick so far. I just hope it continues. I have photos, and will try and upload them later, it just takes so long and I now have an awake Jasmine!

Just so I remember, we went to Staircase House, in Stockport last Sunday and it was good (if cold) I have photos. I have also recently done (a little ) walk around Fletcher Moss and I took some nice pictures of the flowers and river. I need to upload them too. I managed to walk 3.5 miles, twice. And once with Jas in the sling. My back has survived so far!!

Just another photo post

2008-02-24T15:28:00.004Z

These are some of my recent favourites. Most of which are from a recent trip to London to see my parents and escape the extension mess for a bit.

We had a great time, but O, in particular kept me busy!

The first pic is Oscar, with Stewarts size 13 boots, last night.

Extension pics (and one of Oz!)

2008-02-10T21:54:00.000Z

Just a few extension pictures. Hopefully they are in order, and give an indication how things have changed over the last 6 weeks or so!

I'm off to London tomorrow, with the children to escape the dust. It isn't that bad, but it is nice to have some time with the folks!

The first picture is a lovely one of Oscar.

Skin

2008-02-01T21:32:00.000Z

So, for as long as I can remember I have had the odd spot. Nothing serious, just a few zits, which disappeared soon enough. Make up covered them, and I was never too bothered.

Around the time I got married, I started taking a lot of care over my skin, and got some over the counter treatment which worked wonderfully.

Then, I got pregnant, and for whatever reason, the stuff didn't work anymore, and since then, I have really struggled to keep my skin clear.

And since Jas arrived, it got really bad. I just assumed it was hormones, and that it would go away, but it never did. I visited Doc1 about a year ago, and he gave me cream, and some antibiotics, which did a good job, but not enough. I suppose to some extent I lost heart and apart from a repeat script of some cream, I have tried everything to keep it at bay.

And finally, last week, while at babyclinic, Doc2 said straightaway, "I think you have Acne Rosacea, make an appointment with me."

Okaaaaaaay, so why on earth didn't the other doctor see this? Argh. Since then, I have poured over websites and it is clear that this is what I have. I even had the characteristic irritable eyelid (who knew... I thought I had a rogue eyelash caught in my eye!!)

So now, I start a long course of antibiotics and face cream. I'm not a praying person right now, but I am so hopeful that this stuff works. Rosacea is something that doesn't go away, but it is managable. If this is what I have, I don't have to put up with the condition like I have.

Perhaps I can start to enjoy having my photo taken again soon. Or at least, not dread it as much as I have recently.

General Recent photos

2008-02-01T21:09:00.000Z

My 30th (I knew i had something else to write about... will follow!)
Oscar
Oscar - it was later, we realised the problem!!
Jas with crazee hair!
Extension - where Shed and Garage were

Jas, again, looking v cute
A lovely photo. despite the nappy shot!!

Finally got time to update!

2008-02-01T20:59:00.000Z

Finally.

1. Physics is ticking along badly. I hate it. Seriously. The class is getting more and more disruptive, I have a serious problem with "mr sniff" and Electricity is too fecking hard. Bah.

2. Christmas was lovely. (god, I really am crap at updating) I was struck down by a stomach bug on Christmas Day evening, which was not pleasant, after all the excesses of the day. We (read Span) drove down to London the next day which was fine in the end, but I had stinky burps. Yuck. On a less disgusting note, it was great to spend time with my family, and we had a lovely trip with Oz to the London Transport Museum. New Years Eve was spent with a bottle of red and TT on the telly. Superb.

3. Extension. This got going early January and we are both stunned at how quickly things change. The shed and garage went, then we got a small digger which dug out a whole, which was swiftly filled with concrete. Then bricklaying began. They nearly bricked up where the patio doors will be. Thank goodness we are home a lot as these problems get ironed out straightaway!! Then, two days ago, our porch went, and scaffolding went up.
Things look great, and despite the weather, we think everything is going to schedule. Roll on summer.

4. O and J are great, if a little hard work these days. Jas has crazy, unmanageable hair. Oz is fully Potty Trained, which has amazed me. He went dry through the night just before Christmas and has had NO accidents, as of now. I am so proud of him.

So, thats the update. Its so hard to get round to typing, because this is the last on my priorities. I love and hate being busy all at the same time. I just wish I had the energy to enjoy things more.

Photos and skin update to follow.

Some nice pics of me and Bec

2007-12-18T14:09:00.000Z

We had a lovely time before the Friday concert and thought it would be nice to show a couple of semi-decent pictures of us!

We went to the Christmas Market in Albert Square which was busy, but lovely. Bec loved it, as did I. We had a sausage for our tea, and a glass of mulled wine, which wasn't the best, but it did warm the cockles somewhat.

And here are some show photos! Night 2!

2007-12-18T13:56:00.001Z

Ok! These are the photos from Night two. I need to sort through the ones from night one.

Aren't they lurvely!??

My TT adventure! Part 1!

2007-12-18T13:49:00.000Z

So, I think my two readers (!) know what I got up to over the last few days.

I have been a big fan of Take That since I was 14. I have seen them quite a few times, but never met them! However, this time round, I was fortunate enough to work out where they were staying. While I would not call myself a stalker, I decided to venture up there as it was SO easy to get to.

It worked out really well as I saw them on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, the photos were dreadful, so on Friday I did a video. Whilst it slightly detracted from me actually seeing them, as I was concentrating on catching them, it was so lovely to see them close up. They are sooooooo cute. And Howard... yum.

So, here are the videos. The quality is not superb, but they are a lovely memory for me.

Farmer Teds - The Pictures!

2007-12-13T10:02:00.000Z

We had a lovely day at Farmer Ted's yesterday. The children had a ball and even Oscar nodded off briefly on the way home.

We played on everything, and it was so quiet we pretty much got the run of the place. The Big Man was there and we got to see FC after going on a tractor trailer. We had a lovely lunch as well.

I'll post more when I get a moment, but for now, pics will have to do!

I'm (hopefully) going to uni

2007-11-21T22:45:00.001Z

I got a conditional offer for university last week. I need to work hard on my Physics though, as I need a B to get in.

Its proving very hard. I am trying to learn a little at home but I am finding it so difficult. My Maths is lacking and I am struggling with equations, formulas, theory.. the whole damn thing. Bah

My tutor thinks I can get an A, which is positive, but I am afraid I am not so sure. I have just under two months until my first module test. Fingers crossed I can manage it by then.

The children are fine. Jas is saying a few words which is ultra cute and Oz is a legend.

They have been with their Nanny and Grandad all day today, so I got a lie-in, shopping and some work done. Bliss, but I did miss them like crazy.

I bought a few bits and pieces, but not as much as I would have liked. I wanted to revamp my tops, but couldn't fine quite what I was looking for. I quite liked Marks and Spencers and Debenhams. I had a look at GAP for children's stuff (the stuff for me wasn't quite what I wanted) and the prices were far too high for my liking. Yikes. Lovely stuff, but too high a price. I will have to wait for a lottery win, especially if I go back to college, what with childcare costs, travel and expenses....

No photos today. I'm on the laptop, avoiding doing Span's expenses!!

I won something

2007-11-09T09:27:00.000Z

I entered a competition here and wrote a piece about my sister, Rebecca.

I didn't think it had gone through properly, but I got an email last week saying that I had won. I assumed that lots of us had won, but no, it was only me. as you can see here Its a very nice foody blog, with some delicious food ideas.

What I said about Becca is completely true. She has worked very hard, with, in my opinion, not enough support from her Uni. Yet she is doing well, getting her "births total" up and apparently enjoying herself (after last nights 3 drunken chats, I suspect she is possibly not quite so happy this morning!)

I'm not usually very sentimental and don't always say out loud how I feel, but it was worth it to get Bec some chocs and champers. I'm just gutted I am here and she is there, so I can't try them!

Can you spot the difference?

2007-10-31T22:53:00.000Z

Well, can you? ;)

I deliberately took the one of Jasmine, and recently actually compared the two!

Just some pictures

2007-10-31T22:46:00.000Z

I never seem to find time to Blog properly, so I guess its best just to show some pictures.

Oscar and Jasmine are doing just fine. We have a couple of words from Jasmine now. She says naaaaaaaaa, gives kisses and seems to understand a lot. Her current obsessions are the toy buggy, keys, mobile phones, climbing and remotes.

Oscar is a bit whiney. This does tend to drive me crazy, subconsciously I am sure this in intentional. I am trying to be the "better person" (isn't that my job?!) I hope this phase ends soon. Other than that, he is wonderful, and currently in love with his Cash Register and In The Night Garden

Some slightly more random pictures

2007-10-17T19:26:00.000Z

This is my new bag. It is actually purple, but the light was crap when I took the pic. I heart this bag, very much and it wasn't too pricey either, at £12.75 from Paperchase.

This is a photo of a Sudoku I did while in labour, nearly 15 months ago. I was woken at 12.45 by a contraction. I decided that I should time contractions, but to take my mind off it, I decided to do a puzzle while I waited. The puzzle was in a booklet from the Guardian. The puzzles were fecking hard, but I could just about cope with one of these. I took a photo of it yesterday, as I was having a clearout and wanted to throw the thing away.

As you can tell, my writing got worse as the contractions got closer together. I have to admit that the writing was partly bad because I was lying down and couldn't face moving.

Soon after this, I gave up, went for a bath and then woke up Span saying that I thought that it was it, Jas arrived 11.17am.

I told you it was random!

Picture time

2007-10-17T19:11:00.001Z

It's been a while. I've NO idea who views these pics, but hey... thought it was time for a proper update.

This week's themes are mostly park related. I took photos off the camera today to find pics at The Park. Those being Harrow Rec, near where my parents now live, Didsbury Park, and Wythenshawe Park.

Label laughs

2007-10-15T21:43:00.000Z

So, our new labels for the children's clothes arrived today. I was so excited. They are iron on, so supposedly no sewing for me. Not that I mind, it just takes FOREVER!

So, anyway. I thought I would do Oscar's coat, ready for nursery tommorow. WHAT A DISASTER. I put it on the wrong bit and so in 20 secs I managed to melt the material AND damage the iron. Span had to clean all the crap off, so he can iron his shirt next time.

Can you tell I don't iron?

Then, I asked him to do the children's clothes for tomorrow. I was expecting him to do just the trousers and tops for Os, but he did the lot, including socks and tights. How funny. I had to explain that it is proably cheaper just to buy a new pair of socks....

Its a good job I ordered 144 for each child.

Just checking in

2007-10-14T21:32:00.000Z

I haven't had much time or inspiration for my blog recently.

Last week was completely written off by having a horrible throat infection AGAIN. I could not swallow without it being complete agony. I hope that NEVER comes back again. Yuck.

Oz and Jas are doing just fine. We think Oscar is fully Potty Trained now. In fact, make that TOILET trained. We haven't used the potty for a week now. Woo peeee dooo.

Jas is as cute as ever. I think her first word is nearly there. Her response to "can you say ......?" is "Daaaaaaa" But I'm not sure that counts!

I've finished my German, but now cracking on with Physics. Its so hard. I ended up in tears tonight with the problem that Span couldn't explain to me. How embarrassing.
I will plod on though. It is worth it in the end.

Here are a couple of pics of the children.

We've had a nice quiet weekend. We went up to town yesterday morning for the first time in ages and I loved just having a potter around. I bought a lovely new bag in Paperchase. It was only £12.75 and bright and spotty. I love it. I also had disappointment at Pumpkin Patch as I bought some lovely trousers for Jas, but they don't fit properly.

I've developed a bit of a thing for Cafe Nero coffee so I ended the trip there, and met Span and Oz (I had Jas) at the station. Cabin fever had hit after the throat thing, so a trip out was great!

Spot the difference?

2007-09-29T10:01:00.000Z

We were having a discussion in the pub about baby photos (HI Lindy, T, S and B!) and I thought it was time I posted photos of me (and my sister) when we were little.

When my parents lived in the old house, they had a "rogues gallery" of pictures of us. So, I took a few digital images of them. I have NO idea why I didn't think of this sooner!

Mostly they are professional photos done for school or nursery. My less flattering ones are hidden though!

I'm the oldest. I like the last two in particular. I think the one where we are laughing is a great photo. If I remember rightly the photo had my sister in stitches talking about a silly butterfly or something. It really shows my sister in her best light there. I love it.

There are more photos at my parents' but I think its best to scan them, when I have some (a lot!) of time free!

So, who looks like who?

Oscar's Party

2007-09-18T09:23:00.000Z

We were SO lucky with the weather! I kept checking the forecasts and as predicted, it stayed dry.

It was a good job as I had invited a lot of Oscar's friends. As the children are still quite little, we had their mums (and dads sometimes) too. Oscar had a great time. We had a go at Pass the Parcel, which was good, but a little disorganised! They all got bored once they had opened their layer!

The food, was a success, as usual. Span and his mum and dad did most of the final sort out, and did lots of the cooking. Thankfully, they enjoy it. I think everyone went home as stuffed as they wanted.

Oscar did so well with gifts. I feel slightly embarrassed about the sheer amount of stuff he now has! His favourite was a London Underground T-shirt from C and C. So far he has demanded it every morning. I suspect, we might need to buy another at some point!!

Jasmine found the whole thing a little overwhelming and confusing, which was something I didn't anticipate at all. During Pass the parcel, she walked into the centre of the circle and just lay down, as if going to sleep. I suspect she felt a lack of attention. I felt quite sorry for her, but she survived and I somehow managed to get tonnes more photos of her than of the birthday boy himself! That said, he moves ALL the time, so it is hard to get nice pictures.

He mostly spent the afternoon walking over our terraced gardens with his party guests. Our garden is definitely a fun one for children. It was reassuring to see the older kids enjoying it safely. (something I await with O and J with impatience!)

So, here are my favourite photos from the day.

He's 3!

2007-09-18T09:15:00.000Z

Oscar's birthday was last Friday and we had a wonderful day. His actual birthday was pretty quiet, but in hindsight, that was a good thing considering we had his party the next day (post to follow)

Oscar is such a lovely lad. He is doing pretty well with the potty training, and is talking so much. It is very cute.

He got a "village in a bag", a wooden toy for making pictures and a Kids K'Nex set from us. All small things, as we couldn't think of what to get him other than that. We are thinking of letting Father Christmas know about him needing a bike, in time for Christmas!!

For tea, we had Pasta Bolognaise as it is his favourite, and for lunch I asked him what he wanted, so he (and Jas) had bread, butter, cheese and ham!

In the evening, I spent time decorating his cake. I made a London Underground cake, which I am VERY pleased with. We had fun and games actually making the sponge, as my effort was a complete disaster. Span, however, had more success.

My left over sponge did not go to waste though. I had a brainwave on Friday afternoon about combining the sponge (which was fine, it had just sunk) and some stewed plums I had cooked the day before. I left it overnight in the fridge and then the following morning added some ready made custard, and just before Oscar's party, topped it with whipping cream. By the end of the party it was empty, so i think it was a hit!

Span's sister arrived during Friday evening and we had a nice glass of wine and a catch up. I think it was the calm before the storm!!

A sign of things to come??

2007-09-07T08:55:00.000Z

This is Jasmine's latest game. I think she looks very cute.

Bye Bye Butler Avenue

2007-09-06T13:43:00.000Z

My parents moved out of the family home yesterday. They moved in when I was 9 months old. It is a lovely house, with a lot of fond memories. It is going to be very surreal to go back there, and NOT go into Butler Avenue!!

My parents don't need a 4 bedroom house with bathroom, ensuite and two separate toilets. They also need the money for other things and they are definite winners of the property market right now. I think even they would admit that having a smaller space will make life easier. I cannot wait to see it, I was expecting to visit them there last weekend, but due to typical housemoving delays, it was changed to yesterday.

Apparently, it ran OK, but not smoothly. It was a 6 house chain (as far as I know) meaning there was a lot of paperwork, money and bureaucracy to deal with.

Before I left, I took a few shots of the house. I didn't take indoor ones as the light wasn't that good. I will miss the house but there is so much to see in the new house. I am so excited about seeing it.

Bec's Birthday

2007-09-06T13:35:00.000Z

For the first time in years, I was with my sister for her birthday. It was lovely.

She arranged for us all to meet in Regents Park for a picnic. Bec did all the cooking herself, and made so many delicious things. Highlights were the homemade pizzas and the bread. Delicious.

We celebrated with lots of Pimms and Lemonade, wine and beer. O and J loved it too, although I think they found the lake a little too tempting. I would recommend the park to anyone. It was lively, clean and a relaxing place in the madness of London. I hope we can do it again sometime.

Obviously, i took photos. These are my favourites.

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These two were taken at my Parents' (now old) house.

Greenbelt 2007

2007-09-06T13:23:00.001Z

I haven't had time to update for ages, but we all went down to Cheltenham for Greenbelt and we had a wonderful time.

The children enjoyed the Children's Festival and the Inflatables, and I enjoyed Chas and Dave (I know) An interesting discussion about Fostering, and as many do at GB, we all enjoyed wandering, drinking coffee and beer, and watching.
The weather was absolutely superb. Unlike the rest of our summer, we were truly lucky.
It was lovely to catch up with our GB friends and make new ones. Roll on next August.

Double Trouble Delight

2007-08-22T19:14:00.001Z

It is so hard to get photos of both the children at the same time. I usually don't bother, but was in the mood to perservere yesterday and I had a lot of success.

The other two photos are just nice.

This is where I am going for the weekend, http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/ and my friends from the crew days will be the welcome recipients of my muffins! I have worked at the festival for several years now, and this will be my first year in ages as a punter. It is going to be strange, but lovely to actually enjoy the festival for once.

We missed last year as Jas was so young, and hard work at the time. It was awful not being there, really, really awful. So, I am glad to be back, the weather looks good, and there will be lots to do. Woohoo for the August Bank Holiday. I wouldn't be anywhere else.

More Blackberry fun

2007-08-22T19:06:00.000Z

I used my friend Lindyloo's Muffin and Cupcake book to make Blackberry Muffins.

They look superb. Unfortunately I haven't eaten them yet, as I am going away tomorrow, and I am taking them with me, for all my friends, so I'll update on that then!

Here are a couple of pics

Lindyloo, the recipe is on page 161 and 179! I didn't put lemon zest in. Let us hope it doesn't ruin them!

Blackberry and Apple Mess!

2007-08-20T14:52:00.000Z

The children enjoyed their puddings the other day! They made such a mess. My dad has a picture of me at about Oscar's age, covered in it from head to foot. I shall try and scan it when I can to compare the mess!

The last pic is a token pic of Oscar, since he didn't get as messy as his sister!

Scavenging, Free food, and no food miles

2007-08-19T20:52:00.001Z

I decided to go and pick some blackberries before the weekend. It was very therapeutic and it was free, picked by me and only from across the road.

Sadly, our apples aren't quite ready yet so I used two from our veg box and stewed them together for about 20 mins, with some sugar. It is DELICIOUS. I gave some Jas and the mess was superb. I have pics, and I will upload them when I am on the other PC.

My other little success was picking up some plums from a tree that hangs over the alleyway next to our house. I literally picked some off the floor. Cleaned them, stoned them and then did as above with a teeny bit of water and sugar. It was surprisingly good. I did try picking some off the trees, but they were just too high. I'm so pleased it worked though. I just need to find some interesting things to cook with all the fruit I'm going to pick over the next few weeks!

There are so many blackberries that go to waste, and yet you can buy them in the supermarket for £2. Now, maybe that is a business opportunity missed!!

Fruit, Veg and Principles

2007-08-19T20:49:00.000Z

Today I planned to go to an Allotment Fruit and Veg Sale. Sadly, it was a little bit too popular so there was hardly anything left by the the time got there! We did buy a marrow, some apples and then some hastily picked shallots! And all the money went to charity.

I'm getting really into ethical, and enviromental eating, if that is a term! I am trying to buy local produce, avoid the supermarkets, and eat "happy" food. It does work out a tiny bit expensive, but the quality we get these days is great. I'm debating whether to try an avoid supermarkets for a whole month. It will be a little difficult, and will take a bit of effort, but I know it is possible. My first thing is to avoid Tesco. I disapprove of the monopoly they have over the UK. So, we'll see how I go. The veg sale today was supposed to be start! Back to the drawing board on that one, then!!

My dream is to have fruit and veg growing in our great garden. I just don't know if I can manage it, as my life is so busy with children, house, study etc. Perhaps I need to prioritise it, and get some ground ready to plant things in the autumn.

I want to get a good blackberry bush established and perhaps some raspberries. Then some tomatoes, and a good pear tree once we have finished our extension. (next year sometime)

Vegwise I want easy stuff to start with. Perhaps some carrots, and some purple sprouting broccoli, or perpetual spinach. We'll see if I get the time. A couple of years ago I tried some radishes. I saw them sprout and then I checked them the next day some damned slugs had got the lot. Buggers.

I did manage to make some things for free with very few food miles... see next post!

Watch this space

Lovely weekend

2007-08-19T20:37:00.000Z

We went to a wedding in Bishops Stortford last Friday. It was wonderful. Once we got there.

The traffic was dreadful, which must be normal for Friday afternoons in the summer, but was even worse because of people going to the V Festival in Stafford. Nice.

We arrived there after 5.5 hours, which is frankly a ridiculous length of time, considering it took us only 3.5 hours to get back the next day! The wedding reception was great. It was so nice to spend some time with old friends without the continual distraction of the children. Needless to say we got very drunk. I had a hangover (as usual) and probably blew my diet 3 times over, but it was definitely worth it.

The children stayed at their Nanny and Grandad's and they had a great time. All four of them!

Span's mum cooked a well-needed roast dinner for us. It was SO good.

Recent photos

2007-08-14T10:55:00.001Z

Just a few pics of the children. The two of them with the car... I wonder if I can snip them together. Trying to get the two of them to look at the camera at the same time is impossible! Raaaah!

We went to London, as I have said, for the weekend, but since we were so busy with PTing and visiting friends, we took zero photos.

We went to some friends' new house for a BBQ which was great, despite a slight hangover. Oscar had a great time on the trains. We didn't, as it took FOREVER, and we didn't realise that the new house was only one station away from the Northern Line, until we got there. The tube is SO much easier than British Rail (or whatever it is called these days!) Not to mention cheaper, as we couldn't use our Oyster Cards on BR... My sister has explained it to me, but I still think its a fecking pain.

It was really hot, which was lovely, but now it is not. It's raining, and it doesn't look like it will stop for a while....

Potty time tales

2007-08-14T10:42:00.000Z

Well, what a week. After a few diabolical attempts at potty training, I tried last week.

Tuesday I went to Teddy's and took the potty, and Oscar in pants... and he did wee after wee after wee, all on the potty. He was covered in stickers.

Then we tried tentatively on Wednesday, and again, plenty of wees. He even did a wee on the potty at the park. Now, that was a smidge embarrassing, but WHO CARES!!

On Thursday, I sent him to nursery in pants, but as expected, he only lasted an hour. He is so so busy and entertained at nursery that it is very hard for them.

Friday, we came to London, so he was in a nappy for the journey, but he did do a big wee when we stopped. And so it goes on. He has had NO wee accidents while not in nappies, since nursery. I am AMAZED. My little boy is growing up so fast! He even managed plops on the potty yesterday, which was more than a surprise! YAY.

I never thought poos would make me SO happy. :) Long may it continue.

She Walks!!

2007-08-02T09:42:00.000Z

Jas took some steps yesterday evening, at about 5.30!

I just turned of the PC and took the children into the garden, and tried her walking again, and she just let go.

She then did it several times over the next hour! I am so happy.

She is more in a hurry than her brother as he didn't do it until he was 15 months! She's already into everything so I suppose its not going to make my life any more busy than it already is!!

I have a video, but I have to wait for Span to upload it for me!