the catch up and some mental over spill
Its been a strange few weeks here.
Toots finished daycare on 23 December which was very hard on everyone involved. I actually came out of it feeling like a bit of a selfish cow for thinking that the only people effected would be Toots, myself, the husband and my family. I somehow managed to forget about some of the staff in her nursery who have grown very attached to her over the last three years. On in particular, started employment with the nursery the same week Toots started attending. She has moved with her from the baby room, to the toddler house and then to the pre-school room and in all fairness over the course of the last three years, she's spent more time with Toots than I have.
The woman in question was absolutely heart broken that Toots was leaving and made me promise that if I ever need a sitter, I'll call her and I've also promised to bring Toots to the nursery for a visit. Its doubtful that the husband and I will need a sitter as there simply won't be the money for nights out but I will take her to nursery to visit, plus it means she can keep in touch with the friends she made over the years.
Which brings me to my main concern. I was very worried about taking her away from her nursery and all of her friends. She'll be going to school with a lot of them in September but I was still worried that they would forget about her in the next nine months and she'd have to start school as an outsider. I planned to getting her into some dance, art and drama classes held in the local theatre n the hope that some of the kids her age would also be going to the school I've picked for her, but I needn't have worried myself so much.
She spent Christmas day at my mum's house and when she came home she promptly declared that she'd made three new bestest friends in the whole wide world. It seems that the one thing more important than friends that the nursery gave her was the ability to make friends easily. I think its what I'm most grateful for. Toots can start a conversation in an empty room.
I'm unemployed now.
I'm still not quite sure what to do with that one.
I've spent the last couple of months being told by anyone willing to voice an opinion (almost everyone) that I'll be bored to tears at home. Most of these people don't know me very well. I'm actually not that into my job, truth be told. Its just something I fell into when I left school. I'm very grateful for all the opportunities it gave me, but I never really enjoyed it and because of that it was always a bit of a struggle. I think if you really enjoy what you do then it makes it so much easier to get up every morning and just go do it.
Basically, I was just a legal secretary. I spent the first couple of years doing personal injury litigation. You come to conclusion very early on doing this kind of work. Most of your clients are liars and the ones telling the truth get screwed out of what the deserve because of all the liars. That can really make you hate a job.
I spent the next couple of years working on disease cases. These were different because all the clients were telling the truth, unfortunately the insurance companies know that if they hold out long enough and string the case along the inevitable will happen and the client will die. Families get a much smaller pay out for a dead relative no longer suffering than a person still alive and in agony will get. Again, this makes for a hateful job.
I tried some family law. It always amazed me how many couples turn into complete animals once they're in the throws of a divorce and its a hundred times worse when kids are involved. I only lasted in family law for about six months. I just couldn't take all the vindictiveness.
I tried conveyancing, but that was boring because nothing interesting ever happened. I know.
Then I wound up in employment and media litigation, which is where I finished. Its a sad fact that as soon as the rest of the country is in the toilet and redundancy is on the rise, employment lawyers are swamped with work. I suppose its just the nature of the beast. Still not a pleasant prospect to spend your day drafting redundancies. Still there were nice days when you got to tell a particularly greedy couple of companies that actually no they couldn't sack half their staff and putting the rest on rolling rotas. They were just going to have to suck it up and roll with the punches like the rest of us.
Still at my leaving interview I was told that in a year or so I could basically give them a call and I'd be guaranteed my job back.
Not bad considering I've only been there 14 months. I must have made a good impression either that or I made good tea and cakes to go with it.
And I have to sign on at the Social Security Office in a couple of weeks. Not looking forward to that one bit. I've only ever had to sign on once before when I first left school and that was just a cover period until my training course started. I managed to drag my feet about doing it for so long that I signed on and signed off again 8 days later.
I'm actually pretty confident that I'm not entitled to benefits because the husband works full time but when you work in legal some of the clients prefer the staff to have police clearance and you can only get that if you can account for your whereabouts since the day you turned 16. Plus I think you need minimal police clearance to be able to volunteer for school trips and the like which I would like to do at Toots school if the opportunity ever arises.
I had all these fanciful ideas of doing something from home. Trying to sell more baked goods or something along those lines, but to be completely honest I don't even know where to start, so the ideas will more than likely fall into the pipe dream folder.
I'd say I'll be busy enough keeping Toots occupied. We all know its against the law for kids to be bored these days. Families must have to take out loans to keep their kids busy during summer holidays. I hate to go there, but when I was a kid summer holidays usually involved sitting on a wall somewhere.
That was it, just sitting on a wall.
Occasionally we would have cycled from Belfast to Holywood or Cultra, probably so that when we were in our 30s with kids of our own we could tell them how in the summer holidays all we had to do was sit on a wall or cycle somewhere really far away and that they should be eternally grateful for the trip to the swimming pool.
To which they were driven in a car that they weren't embarrassed to be seen in. We've a Laguna and mum has a Merc so the kid's pretty well sorted.
When I was nine I remember my mum driving a Renault Cleo Elf. It was a 1985 from memory and we all had to get out at the bottom of a hill and meet her at the top or the wee thing never would have made it.
Love of Winter
I could get used to these long dark days.
I’ve always preferred winter to any other season.
There’s something more familiar and cosy about winter that I just don’t get from any other time of the year. I can throw on a jumper and a huge woolly scarf and a decent pair of walking boots, happy in the knowledge that if I tried to rock my four inch heels 12 months of the year I would look like the village idiot. I don’t have to worry about the perfect beach body or shifting that last few pounds, trying to buy something to wear when the shops are filled with clothes that would be more expensive than gold if they were sold by weight.
I love to curl up in front of the fire with a book or some work, a glass of wine or even a big mug of hot chocolate. A blanket wrapped around me even though it isn’t cold inside. Call it my snugly if you like but I just love to have a blanket handy.
I’ve spent the last few nights like this and I’m definitely enjoying the laziness of it all. Yesterday I left work a little early (due to lack of anything interesting to do). I arrived home probably about an hour before sunset. I lit the fire, switched on the laptop and settled down with a big mug of coffee and started to order my groceries online. I was a lot more sensible this year, I didn’t get caught up buying silly things, I just stuck to my list and made sure to order all of my heavy items which will save me having to cart those home be myself.
It took around an hour and by the time I’d finished it was almost completely dark outside. I hadn’t closed the curtains yet and the lights from the Christmas tree were reflected in the glass. The laptop shut down for the evening, the only noise left to listen to was the sound of the fire crackling.
I walked to the kitchen and almost without thinking, lifted the lasagne from the fridge and put it into the oven before switching it on. I went back to the fireplace, added some more peat and upstairs I hung some towels near the radiator for Toot’s bath time.
After checking everything was secured, I pulled on a jumper, lifted my coat and big woolly scarf and headed back out into the cold to collect Toots.
We walked back up the hill together towards home, with the constant sound of traffic no match for the volume of her giggle as we slid on the already frosty ground and she tried to “catch” me with the steam she blew from her mouth.
We arrived home and got rid of the coats and boats, heading straight for the sofa and all those lovely cushions. She immediately grabbed a blanket and curled up with it draped across her knee. Her eyes shone and sparkled and the faintest hint of red could still be seen on the tip of her nose and her cheeks, but still completely happy her smile shone brightest of all.
She asks eagerly if it will snow before Christmas and I hope for her (and me) that it does.
My little apple never fell far from the tree.
I’ve always preferred winter to any other season.
There’s something more familiar and cosy about winter that I just don’t get from any other time of the year. I can throw on a jumper and a huge woolly scarf and a decent pair of walking boots, happy in the knowledge that if I tried to rock my four inch heels 12 months of the year I would look like the village idiot. I don’t have to worry about the perfect beach body or shifting that last few pounds, trying to buy something to wear when the shops are filled with clothes that would be more expensive than gold if they were sold by weight.
I love to curl up in front of the fire with a book or some work, a glass of wine or even a big mug of hot chocolate. A blanket wrapped around me even though it isn’t cold inside. Call it my snugly if you like but I just love to have a blanket handy.
I’ve spent the last few nights like this and I’m definitely enjoying the laziness of it all. Yesterday I left work a little early (due to lack of anything interesting to do). I arrived home probably about an hour before sunset. I lit the fire, switched on the laptop and settled down with a big mug of coffee and started to order my groceries online. I was a lot more sensible this year, I didn’t get caught up buying silly things, I just stuck to my list and made sure to order all of my heavy items which will save me having to cart those home be myself.
It took around an hour and by the time I’d finished it was almost completely dark outside. I hadn’t closed the curtains yet and the lights from the Christmas tree were reflected in the glass. The laptop shut down for the evening, the only noise left to listen to was the sound of the fire crackling.
I walked to the kitchen and almost without thinking, lifted the lasagne from the fridge and put it into the oven before switching it on. I went back to the fireplace, added some more peat and upstairs I hung some towels near the radiator for Toot’s bath time.
After checking everything was secured, I pulled on a jumper, lifted my coat and big woolly scarf and headed back out into the cold to collect Toots.
We walked back up the hill together towards home, with the constant sound of traffic no match for the volume of her giggle as we slid on the already frosty ground and she tried to “catch” me with the steam she blew from her mouth.
We arrived home and got rid of the coats and boats, heading straight for the sofa and all those lovely cushions. She immediately grabbed a blanket and curled up with it draped across her knee. Her eyes shone and sparkled and the faintest hint of red could still be seen on the tip of her nose and her cheeks, but still completely happy her smile shone brightest of all.
She asks eagerly if it will snow before Christmas and I hope for her (and me) that it does.
My little apple never fell far from the tree.
And so it begins
Well, actually its been in full swing for a couple of weeks now.
Yes I've been faffing with Photoshop again. Just because I'm not very good with it, doesn't mean its any less addictive.
For some reason every year around the end of November I start to behave like the world will end on 31 December. I have to finish everything I've left to one side the entire year, try every recipe I've been meaning to, have a crack at any new hobby or craft that's caught my eye.
All I wind up doing is maybe finishing one or two projects I've had on the go and create another ten which ill sit until next November.
I've started to make a dinosaur play mat thingy which I found here. I've been at It a couple of weeks now and considering my little sewing machine can't cope with quilting felt I've been doing everything the old fashioned way. I've managed to get the mat finished and the zips pinned in place along with a cave and a couple of trees made, still a fair bit to do though.
I've still working on finishing the last couple of Christmas presents and for some reason they're taking a lot longer than I planned. At this rate mum's getting one glove for Christmas and the Jacko look isn't quite as "in" as it used to be.
The husband was on call yesterday and Toots was happily occupying herself at the kitchen table with a bucket of PVA and enough tissue and crepe paper to make the Woodland Trust cry, so I decided to get a couple of wee DIY bits and pieces done around the house.
I've been putting them off for months, little things. I've been meaning to change the light switches upstairs and had to change a couple of the low voltage bulbs in the bathroom.
I grabbed the husband's tool box and the bits and pieces I needed from the garage and got stuck in.
Well the husband arrived home a couple of hours later. Imagine my surprise when he wasn't grateful that I'd done some things it would save him the bother of having to do. Nope instead he was huffy. A huffy bugger because, again, I'd used his tools.
Apparently I have this.
I've had it for four years and stepped over and around it every day for four years because he put it in the larder.
He told me about it four years ago as well, and if I really strain hard I can almost see a fuzzy black and white picture of it in my head. Almost.
The problem. Four years ago I was pregnant.
I turned into a bit of village idiot when I was pregnant. I was clumsy and forgot almost everything instantly. I'd enough trouble remembering how to do my job and remembering to get dressed before I went there everyday without having to deal with excess information.
So Husband, when you showed me a big silver box and mentioned tools four years ago, I zoned you out and didn't hear anything else.
Sorry.
Do you like the addition of the two packs of sand and glass paper. The reason behind those is that he thinks if I have my own sand paper, I'll stop using his belt and orbital sanders.
Sorry again Husband. Not happening.
Yes I've been faffing with Photoshop again. Just because I'm not very good with it, doesn't mean its any less addictive.
For some reason every year around the end of November I start to behave like the world will end on 31 December. I have to finish everything I've left to one side the entire year, try every recipe I've been meaning to, have a crack at any new hobby or craft that's caught my eye.
All I wind up doing is maybe finishing one or two projects I've had on the go and create another ten which ill sit until next November.
I've started to make a dinosaur play mat thingy which I found here. I've been at It a couple of weeks now and considering my little sewing machine can't cope with quilting felt I've been doing everything the old fashioned way. I've managed to get the mat finished and the zips pinned in place along with a cave and a couple of trees made, still a fair bit to do though.
I've still working on finishing the last couple of Christmas presents and for some reason they're taking a lot longer than I planned. At this rate mum's getting one glove for Christmas and the Jacko look isn't quite as "in" as it used to be.
The husband was on call yesterday and Toots was happily occupying herself at the kitchen table with a bucket of PVA and enough tissue and crepe paper to make the Woodland Trust cry, so I decided to get a couple of wee DIY bits and pieces done around the house.
I've been putting them off for months, little things. I've been meaning to change the light switches upstairs and had to change a couple of the low voltage bulbs in the bathroom.
I grabbed the husband's tool box and the bits and pieces I needed from the garage and got stuck in.
Well the husband arrived home a couple of hours later. Imagine my surprise when he wasn't grateful that I'd done some things it would save him the bother of having to do. Nope instead he was huffy. A huffy bugger because, again, I'd used his tools.
Apparently I have this.
I've had it for four years and stepped over and around it every day for four years because he put it in the larder.
He told me about it four years ago as well, and if I really strain hard I can almost see a fuzzy black and white picture of it in my head. Almost.
The problem. Four years ago I was pregnant.
I turned into a bit of village idiot when I was pregnant. I was clumsy and forgot almost everything instantly. I'd enough trouble remembering how to do my job and remembering to get dressed before I went there everyday without having to deal with excess information.
So Husband, when you showed me a big silver box and mentioned tools four years ago, I zoned you out and didn't hear anything else.
Sorry.
Do you like the addition of the two packs of sand and glass paper. The reason behind those is that he thinks if I have my own sand paper, I'll stop using his belt and orbital sanders.
Sorry again Husband. Not happening.
WFMW - When being cheap doesn't work
Just putting it out there, but this is one of those times when being cheap really doesn't work.
I decided that I needed to reorganise Toots toys. She has a large wooden toy box downstairs which is a pain in the backside to get anything in and out of and two pop up storage bags in her room filled with toys. Obviously, she only ever plays with the two or three things sitting at the top of each of these boxes and bags.
So the plan was simple. Smaller, lighter boxes which could be brought out one at a time, easily packed up again and another box brought out to keep the toys in even rotation.
Rather than buy made for purpose toy boxes like Trofast I thought I could make my own using some of the dozens of boxes my office throw out every day and some pretty wrapping paper.
So I bought the paper
And got to work wrapping some of the boxes I brought home from the office.
They look good don't they?
Yeah. Well they don't work. They're flimsy for a start. I should have known they'd never stand a chance against Toots. They've been taped together again more times than I can count in the last couple of weeks and I've finally given up. They may have done a better job if I'd used sturdier, heavier boxes.
Anyway, guess who's saving for Trofast.
For more WFMW posts, check out Rocks in my Dryer. And if you see or have any great ideas for organising kids toys, please let me know.
I decided that I needed to reorganise Toots toys. She has a large wooden toy box downstairs which is a pain in the backside to get anything in and out of and two pop up storage bags in her room filled with toys. Obviously, she only ever plays with the two or three things sitting at the top of each of these boxes and bags.
So the plan was simple. Smaller, lighter boxes which could be brought out one at a time, easily packed up again and another box brought out to keep the toys in even rotation.
Rather than buy made for purpose toy boxes like Trofast I thought I could make my own using some of the dozens of boxes my office throw out every day and some pretty wrapping paper.
So I bought the paper
And got to work wrapping some of the boxes I brought home from the office.
They look good don't they?
Yeah. Well they don't work. They're flimsy for a start. I should have known they'd never stand a chance against Toots. They've been taped together again more times than I can count in the last couple of weeks and I've finally given up. They may have done a better job if I'd used sturdier, heavier boxes.
Anyway, guess who's saving for Trofast.
For more WFMW posts, check out Rocks in my Dryer. And if you see or have any great ideas for organising kids toys, please let me know.
Bless her little cotton socks
Doesn't she look so calm and peaceful.
Believe it or not, she snores like a bear.
Just like her dad.
Adventures in digiscrapping
I finally fell in. Head first.
My name is Leanne and I am a hobby addict (without a hope in hell of ever being presented with a chip).
I love new hobbies, especially the creative, crafty hobbies and even more so if there's an "Idiot's Guide to being Crafty and Creative" to go along with the new hobby, because I'm anything but. I can copy things easily but don't ask me to come up with a new idea all by my lonesome, because you'll be waiting a long time.
Anyway, I've been seeing a lot around about digiscrapping and I love me a hobby where I can get my hands on everything I need online and for the novice scrapper you can even get a ton of stuff for free.
Now I happen to be lucky enough to have Photo Shop Elements, but you can download some software perfect for the job online and again you can some free stuff. Also I've heard mention that you can use the photo editing software on Flickr.
I've been nosy about digiscrapping for a while now but decided it was far to addictive for me. I only see the the family from the shoulders up at the best of times, but I decided to have a go for a Christmas present for a friend. She loves to bake and always when its my turn to bake she always asks for the same few recipes over and over so I figured I could try and make some recipe cards.
This is what I came up with
Packages by Marie Stones and June Hill
Packages by
Marie Stones and June HillAnd I know, I know there isn't a photo included, but I picked up a bundle of offcuts of mounting boards and card at my local framers and I thought I could have this on one side of the card with a photo of the recipe on the other side, laminate them and hold all the cards together with a keyring I found in a birthday card shop with a huge plastic piece of cake attached.
Cutesy, I know, but I'm really starting to like cutesy. Sometimes I even picture myself in a nice apron.
The post where I just empty my head as quickly as possible and hit publish.
Hi remember me. I've been here before but not in a while.
I'm trying to get everything sorted out and unfortunately this and a couple of other things were pushed to the back burner.
I'm getting really excited now about coming out of work and I just want the next month over and done with. Talk about wishing your life away.
I've had a few days off work and for some reason I've managed to wind up with even less time to get anything done. I just couldn't get past the novelty of being able to spend all day with Toots and not have to worry about being anywhere or being late for anything.
We got up in the mornings and had a lovely cooked breakfast, something normally unheard of on a weekday morning. Normally, Toots has breakfast in daycare and me and the husband share a thermos cup of coffee on the way to work and he has a lunchbox full of cereal and a carton of milk chucked into his bag before we leave the house.
Then we lit the fire (its been 1 - 3C here the last couple of days) and cuddled up in front of it for a couple of hours before making any plans for the day.
We did manage to pinch our car back from my mum (her car is stuck in the garage because of dirty diesel) on Friday so that we could go to the Continental Market in Belfast and we had a great day. We stuffed ourselves with bratwurst, churros, hot chocolate, dutch pancakes, stroopwaffles, Turkish delight and red licorice. Toots got to see Santa (photo to come later) and we both had two rides on the merry-go-round.
We went to the Disney Store (which had obviously had an attack of the "crap we haven't sold anything in monthsitis") and a 'Cast Member' was running around the store frantically slapping discount stickers on everything. Brilliant.
Then we went to Hamleys, a lovely toy shop by the way just in case anyone happens to be passing one, it's the first toy shop I've been into in years without turning into a Potential Murder Suspect. Hamley's Santa wasn't going to be there until 3.30pm and we were far too early but they had an entire display of those little animals, you know the ones, like puppies and bunny rabbits and they stop and make noises and wrinkle their noses or waggle their ears and then scurry off for another few steps before stopping to do it all again, and they were all switched on. There were rabbits, and dogs and cats and giraffes and pigs and a drummer bear and either a hippo or a rhino running all over the place.
Toots had a field day running round after them and turning them over to switch them off. Some of the other kids weren't happy, but hey.
Also they had a full size stuffed lion. Only £300. Bargain if you ask me. Although, I think if I was going to blow £300 on a stuffed toy (and why the hell wouldn't I, I hear you ask) it would have to be Koda the Triceratops. At least for 300 notes that thing bobs it's head and burps. Oh and you get free leaf with it.
We bought an Etch a Sketch. I didn't know they still made those, and they still look exactly the same as they did when I was a kid as well. Not like Mr Potato Head, he's went all big soft parts, and child safe.
Anyhoo, I should go, because I should probably wash and find clothes if a plan on going back to work tomorrow.
My Little Monkey
Loving her first tree climb.
Is it a bad thing that six months ago if she'd done this I would have been standing 3mm away with a net instead of 3 feet away with a camera?
I wish it could be Christmas every day
Well ok maybe not everyday, but I do like Christmas.
And as Toots gets more excited so do I. Actually, I'm probably a lot more excited about it than Toots but we'll not go into that.
I've already started to make room for my colossal Christmas tree. Seriously, that thing is a monster. I completely misjudged just how big it was in the shop (because everything looks smaller in the shop) and would up with an eight foot giant.
The only downside to the tree was that I had a beautiful fairy for the top of the old tree, except the new one was so tall, she was kind of perched on up there, with her head craned to one side against the ceiling and one day the front door was open and a gust of wind caught the living room door and slammed it so hard she took a swan dive off from eight feet and landed on her porcelain face.
She's in a box now with her faced in pieces. I keep her in the hopes that one day I'll find someone to fix her.
Anyway, big ol' tree with a knitted fairy on top which looks remarkably like a toilet paper cover (anyone remember those?)
As well as planning where the monster tree will go (and making room for it), I'm chuffed to say I've almost all my Christmas presents in and ready to be wrapped. Not that we bought much this year, but the vast majority of the knitted presents are ready and with Au Naturale changing hands to B&M who sell a huge amount of kids toys I was able to pick up everything I wanted to get for Toots for around half the money I'd planned to spend (picture me smiling, difficult I know).
Her main present this year is the Vtech Kidzoom Digital Camera
We actually opted for the older version of this camera after reading some reviews and trying a couple of the models in Smyths Toys. The new version is waterproof and because of this the buttons are very difficult to press.
I had finger cramp trying to squeeze the button in because of the blister design so even though it states ages 4 and up I would find it hard to believe that only a child built like the Hulk could manage this camera without it becoming frustrating and Christmas day turning into a screaming match, so the old one it was, which was around £15.00 cheaper than the new version and whilst it isn't waterproof, it's a joy to use (yes I've been playing with it for ages now)
I figure as long as it gets looked after the camera will last for a few years anyway and at £35 I can't really complain about that.
I also picked her up a Dora the Explorer pottery wheel which was £6 in B&M the cheapest I had seen this anywhere else was £15 so another bargain. I also picked up a set of Dora the Explorer instruments for £5.
The husband also picked up a huge Crayola set with six different types of pens and markers to replace the crappy ones she has which stain everything and a mini version of his tool box (which she's fascinated with) except its full of sponge stamps, little cutters (like the scrap booking variety) and patterned rollers to be used with paint.
She'll also get books and I've collected a box load of different coloured paper and three huge packs of different coloured tissue paper (50 sheets for £1) in the factory shop in Bangor which should keep her busy.
I've still to pick up some books but I'll double check with mum what she's already bought in case we wind up with a book overload like last year.
Sorted. And I can't wait.
Last year was a bit much for her. She got too excited opening presents, then tired, then grumpy and then nothing would pacify her, so I think this year she should enjoy it a bit more.
Oh and the husband has dug out his old Itoy and Samba de Amigo for her to play with. Remember the Itoy. Its like the eight track version of Wii.
This can be her....."when I was a girl all my friends got a beautiful new bike (Wii) and all I got was a stupid skateboard made out of a plank of wood and casters* that dad made himself (Itoy)" story.
Sure everyone needs a "hard done by" story.
You should hear some of my dad's.
*Oh here, I've had my wrists slapped. My darling husband has informed me that said skateboard was actually made out of a plank of wood with one of those old metal skates which you wore over your regular shoes screwed to the bottom, not casters. Apparently this was a fantastic idea because you could have two skateboards for one pair of skates. Husband, I apologise.
WFMW - Chocolate Cupcakes
Seriously, who doesn't like chocolate.
I love chocolate.
No. I really love chocolate. And I love cupcakes, so these little babies rock my world.
They're a bit different because they contain buttermilk (or vinegar and milk combined if you can't get buttermilk) so I wouldn't recommend licking the spoon. The batter just tastes weird.
Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb)
1/2 cup (4oz) butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Preheat oven to 180C (350F)
Cream Butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla and beat well.
Alternate adding buttermilk and flour until all is combined.
Line a 12 cup muffin pan and divide batter evenly.
Bake for 20-25 minutes a skewer comes out clean.
Remove to a cooling rack and once cool frost with;
Chocolate buttercream
4oz icing sugar
2oz butter
4 oz dark chocolate melted
(a little milk)
Cream butter and sugar together to make buttercream, add melted chocolate and beat again to combine. Add a little milk if the buttercream seems a little dry or you prefer a messier (nothing wrong with that) frosting.
Chocolate cupcakes definitely work for me. For more great WFMW ideas head on over to Rocks in my Dryer.
Let me explain
To anyone who stops by and reads any of my older posts, I apologise.
I also apologise to anyone who has already had the misfortune to read them.
You see, I started this blog because I always seem to have something to say for myself, and therein lies the problem. I’m a talker not a writer. I don’t pretend to be a writer. I would never take that away from countless people, some of which I have had the pleasure of reading who write beautifully and constantly find ways to keep me addicted and coming back for more.
I love to hear about everyone’s day to day lives and I started this with the intention of following suit, however I am just not up to that calibre and short of spending endless hours learning I’m afraid that anyone wishing to drop by and spend a bit of time in my (admittedly) little corner of the blogosphere will just have to put up with my drivel.
What I would ask is that when you read anything which I have written, please try to imagine me, face to face, hands waving frantically in all directions, a bit red in the face and the pitch of my voice creeping ever higher as I get excited about a topic. In short try to imagine that I’m speaking to you and telling you my little stories of my day to day life.
Hopefully by explaining this I hope to be able to put more of what I want to say down on paper, so to speak, without concerning myself about whether my posts are well written or eloquent.
That would just be asking too much of myself. Besides I think I’ve mentioned before. I’m all about “done” not “perfect”.
With that in my, I give you a photo of me. I had to take this one, because there are so few. It certainly isn’t great but it’ll have to do.
Chapatis - Recipe
I've been absolutely addicted to these lately.
I only learnt how to make them a few weeks ago (shameful I know) but I haven't stopped since. I figured since I'm a very nice person, I'd pass on the world's simplest recipe.
We're having a bit of a potato famine in the SeetheWoods House lately because of price and quality and I've replaced the humble spud with these.
Chapatis (makes 12)
12oz plain or wholemeal flour
1tsp salt
water
Mix salt with flour in a bowl, add a little water and start to mix with your fingers. You just just enough water so that it comes together in a ball. It should feel similar to play dough, soft but not so soft it sticks to your hands.
You can make the dough and cover until you're ready to use.
When ready, divide the dough into 12 portions, roll into 5-6 inch rounds (or squares or misshapes, I'm not fussy).
Add enough vegetable oil and a small amount of butter (don't worry if the butter burns a bit, it only makes them taste better) to a heavy frying pan and fry each one over a medium/high heat for about 45 seconds to 1 minute per side.
They puff up slightly when they're done. If you're feeling really adventurous you can hold them over a naked gas flame and they puff up to look like little balloons.
They can be kept warm in an oven until you are ready to serve, but I wouldn't recommend letting them cool and reheating.
This is the basic recipe, feel free to play around with it. I almost always add some garlic power or some dried herbs.
They're also good layered in a casserole with chilli and covered with some grated cheese, like a mock lasagna with a kick.
Let me know if you have any other good ideas on how to use these (Have I mentioned I'm addicted).
Just for Fun.
I have been so ill the past couple of days and feeling very down in the dumps, but then an old friend sent me this.
And I laughed so hard it hurt. There truely isn't anything like a 12 year old photo to cheer a person up. Would you check out that school uniform. Its hideous.
Although for once I don't have the worst hair in a photo, which almost never happens.
WFMW - Towers of Fun
Photo Courtesy of mrsmeep on FlickrThis week Shannon of 'Rocks in my Dryer' fame has set us a little task to post about the toys we've bought for our kids. The theme is to cover all the toys we loved and would happily buy again.
It may seem like a bit of a no brainer and every child has probably had a set of will have a set of these at some stage, but I really think they've turned out to be most used, least expensive toy I've bought for Toots so far.
She has two sets of them, one wet which stay beside the bath and one dry which are now scattered all over the house.
The sets I bought were the very basic round cups with a lipped edge so that they can be stacked into a tower. They're also numbered 1 - 8 on the base of the cups.
I bought two sets of the cups on Ebay for £1.00 when I was still pregnant. So far I've used them to teach Toots her colours, numbers, mixing colours (blue + yellow = green etc) stacking the cups, fitting them one inside another, pouring (water in the bath and rice, sand and beans in the dry cups) and loads more that I can't even remember now.
She'll be four in April and she still uses her cups. The largest one is in the kitchen filled with her mini cookie cutters. She keeps one in her bedroom which is filled with hair clips and has hair elastics wrapped around the outside. A couple of the smaller cups are now "teacups" for her doll's tea parties (even though she has a tea set) and the largest one from the second set is still in the bath because it MUST be used to wash her hair. Almost four years use for £2.00 isn't half bad in my book.
But the best thing about these cups is that if they're used for outside play or they just start to look a little grubby, you can chuck them in the dishwasher and they come up like new.
For more great ideas on the best toys to spend your hard earned money on this Christmas (and hopefully to help you avoid the pitfalls of crap toys) head over Rocks in my Dryer.
And if you're interested some of the worst toys Toots has had and reasons why are;
It may seem like a bit of a no brainer and every child has probably had a set of will have a set of these at some stage, but I really think they've turned out to be most used, least expensive toy I've bought for Toots so far.
She has two sets of them, one wet which stay beside the bath and one dry which are now scattered all over the house.
The sets I bought were the very basic round cups with a lipped edge so that they can be stacked into a tower. They're also numbered 1 - 8 on the base of the cups.
I bought two sets of the cups on Ebay for £1.00 when I was still pregnant. So far I've used them to teach Toots her colours, numbers, mixing colours (blue + yellow = green etc) stacking the cups, fitting them one inside another, pouring (water in the bath and rice, sand and beans in the dry cups) and loads more that I can't even remember now.
She'll be four in April and she still uses her cups. The largest one is in the kitchen filled with her mini cookie cutters. She keeps one in her bedroom which is filled with hair clips and has hair elastics wrapped around the outside. A couple of the smaller cups are now "teacups" for her doll's tea parties (even though she has a tea set) and the largest one from the second set is still in the bath because it MUST be used to wash her hair. Almost four years use for £2.00 isn't half bad in my book.
But the best thing about these cups is that if they're used for outside play or they just start to look a little grubby, you can chuck them in the dishwasher and they come up like new.
For more great ideas on the best toys to spend your hard earned money on this Christmas (and hopefully to help you avoid the pitfalls of crap toys) head over Rocks in my Dryer.
And if you're interested some of the worst toys Toots has had and reasons why are;
- Preschool poster paints - guaranteed to stain, clothes, fabric, wood and skin.
- My Little Pony - their hair is like steel wool and they smell of chemicals.
- A Barbie (Boo Hisss) - "Why doesn't she have any feet mommy?.
- Skipit - because no child has ever looked lonelier (and not that odd bunny blankie thing, I mean the hoop with a rope and a ball at the end so one child can skip all on their own).
And the latest "for the hell of it" gift received from my brother. - Inflatable pugil sticks. I've mentioned she isn't even four yet. Although the husband and I had great fun with a couple of drinks in us at the weekend knocking the dung out of each other.
Procrastination, Distraction and Just Plain Laziness
Photo Courtesy of MarkelThese past few weeks have been a little crazy.
My mind has been on other things. I have little unfinished projects lying all over the house and I add new ones daily. The husband has caught the flu and I'm pretty sure Toots has a dose currently working on her which will probably land sometime around Friday.
I've barely posted (if anybody noticed) and I didn't even manage to get a WFMW post up last week. In all fairness, I'm still very new to this, so you'll have to bear with me while I find my rhythm, or just learn to live with my randomness if no rhythm is ever found.
And don't even get me started on the housework. Getting by doing the bare minimum has been the order of the day for the past week or so. I keep telling myself that it'll all be there tomorrow, but I can't keep doing that forever.
It isn't that I don't have the time to do any of these things, but I've been
Still, on a much brighter note I gave my notice to my employer yesterday. Everyone was very nice about the whole thing which made it a lot easier and now I'm in my final wind down. I'll be in the office on 31 December and then off home to learn how to do a completely different job.
Of course, once I'm at home I'll have no excuse, at least none that I can think of.
I'll have to get a wiggle on and get more housework done. I should at least be able to finish some of my little unfinished projects. And there shouldn't be any reason why I can't cook a meal every night, instead of feigning exhaustion and calling for a pizza.
But I will manage to get everything done. Obviously, once I've helped Toots play with all her toys, make buns and had a little nap with her.
Honestly I'll get stuck in, right after the nap.
Preparing to Jump Ship
OK, so there’s a new plan.
I had originally intended to give one months notice before leaving on 31 December 2008. However, there has been a small amount of upheaval and resulting panic in my office the past week.
One of the solicitors decided that she quite fancied leaving and did. No warning, no notice, nada. Just here today, gone tomorrow.
This means that her secretary is now left at a loose end and let’s face it, at the minute, nobody wants to look like they’re just along for the ride when the boss is looking.
So now the subject of secretarial redundancies has come up.
I’m amazed actually that it hasn’t come up sooner than this. A lot of other firms have already made redundancies and I expect there will be a lot more.
Everybody fancies the idea of working on the big high powered legal cases but at the end of the day the property department is the meat and two veg of most companies. The department that brings in a nice steady stream of money every month and if that disappears (which it has) then redundancies have to be expected.
I’ve spoken with my HR Manager and we’ve agreed that if I give my notice now instead of waiting until 1
It isn’t exactly great and it doesn’t solve the problem that some people will lose their jobs, but in my opinion, I’d rather be made redundant in January than right before Christmas. Of course, maybe that’s just me.
* Error very kindly pointed out by Scifi Dad. This is the real reason I'm jumping ship people, because a girl who can't get her dates right would definitely be the first up for the sack.
The Market's in Town.....Well, Nearly
I’m getting really excited now. The Belfast Continental Market has been confirmed for 20 November to 19 December 2008.
I love me a day of full on eating.
Paella, bratwurst, salami and cabanos, garlic cream mushrooms, hog roast and wild boar, venison and ostrich burgers.
Not to mention the sweets, pastries and desserts.
Bring it on.
I always try to make at least one trip to the Market before Christmas, although I go alone and try to stick to a budget.
This year however, I think Toots is old enough to go. She enjoys mildly spicy food and I think she’ll enjoy herself. Although I might have to do a bit of explaining when she sees the hog roast. She understands pig = pork and cow = beef but I’ve certainly never cooked anything at home with its head still attached so it may take her unawares.
Still, we can actually all go to the Market this year and enjoy ourselves without having to be just as conscious of the pennies.
I will officially be coming out of work to stay at home with Toots and my last working day will be 31 December 2008. I’ve managed to cram in the rest of my paid leave before this so I’ll work until the 23 December and have just over a week off work before returning for one last nice quite last day, without any headaches or hassles.
The husband will stay at home with Toots on 31 December while I go to work. This means that because her day care fees are payable in advance I will be able to give notice to her crèche on Friday 21 November 2008 advising them that her last day in nursery will be 23 December, meaning that at the end of November I will only have to pay for three weeks care instead of four saving me £170.00.
Basically, found money.
I don’t have a credit card or loan to pay the extra money to and although I could make an extra payment to my mortgage company, I just don’t feel like it.
Don’t you judge me!
Besides, because I won’t have any day care to pay at the end of December, I’ll have my last pay cheque, plus Christmas bonus (contracted, can’t by gypped out of it), plus untaken holiday leave should leave me with around £2,500 total. I’ll use this to bolster the bank account for any emergencies that might come up, but that £170 in November is mine, all mine.
And I’m going to use it to treat my family, because it’s been one hell of a long year and they deserve it.
Just 30 days now until I get me some churros and hot chocolate…
Or stuffed crepes……..
Or maybe some Dutch waffles…….
WFMW - Toys up the Nose
Because if it looks like it's small enough to fit up you child's nose, they will probably try to fit it up their nose.
And don't think because it went in easily, it'll come out easily. Oooh no, it'll just works it's way in even deeper.
Toots decided on Monday night to find out if she could in fact fit a small rubber knitting needle topper in the shape of a sheep in her right nostril. Well it looked tiny outside of a human body, but let me tell you that kid looked freaky with one huge nostril.
It's the first time this has happened and I have to admit when they taught us what to do in baby first aid I laughed. Not at the thought that my child would ever be silly enough to stuff something up her nose, but the fact that I could keep my head on straight long enough to deal with.
Still I did, very chuffed with myself too.
Just cover the clear nostril with your thumb, cover their mouth with yours and blow hard.
Next thing you know you're getting hit in the face with a booger covered small rubber sheep.
Hopefully this will come in handy for someone, especially if you live somewhere where you have to pay for all those little visits to the doctor.
For more WFMW ideas head over to Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.
Just cover the clear nostril with your thumb, cover their mouth with yours and blow hard.
Next thing you know you're getting hit in the face with a booger covered small rubber sheep.
Hopefully this will come in handy for someone, especially if you live somewhere where you have to pay for all those little visits to the doctor.
For more WFMW ideas head over to Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.
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