A Mother's Ramblings

Okay, so I know that technically this isn't the last week of March, because there are extra days that don't fit neatly into my four week months... but just pretend with me okay?! The Last Week of March The week started with Top Ender being picked up from my Mum's home, as she had spent the night. Top Ender is really close to my Mum and loves her treats of staying over, although I think it has more to do with the fact that Tops is allowed to watch almost anything on TV and stay up really late if she wants. As normal. we went shopping that Saturday afternoon and had our evening meal together before we all went to bed... I promise despite what Daddy says I did go to bed! Sunday was a beautiful day and so the children grabbed their scooters and Daddy and I took them to Campbell Park, where we went for a nice long walk together. That afternoon Tops and I were at Church and a small accident occurred where Top Ender got her fingers stuck between two chairs, when one go...

Over the last few weeks, the effort into losing weight finally paid off when I took a photograph of Top Ender and I that I didn't hate. It was mostly to do with the light and the angle, but the photograph showed me looking good. At least I thought so. So I posted it on Instagram . And people liked it. And said I looked fab. And said they could see I'd lost weight. And do you know how fab I felt? Gosh, how I love the people on Twitter who say nice things. I showed the picture to my husband and cockily sang to him; "Don't you wish your Girlfriend was Hot like me?" He smiled and replied, "She's hotter. That's why she's my girlfriend and you're my wife!" I came back down to earth with a bump, and even though I know he was joking I nearly pushed him in the canal. I think it would have served him right!

BB has blood tests at the hospital once a year to check for various things that could cause complications to his Diabetes, or that are often found after a Diabetic diagnosis. On his last test, they discovered that BB had a mildly elevated Cholesterol level. The Doctor and the Dietician went to great pains to explain that this wasn't a huge cause for concern and that it was only because BB had Diabetes that we knew about his Cholesterol level being slightly higher than normal on the scale. 100 other children BB's age could have a higher level than BB, but because they don't have regular check ups or even any blood tests to check for their cholesterol we don't know. Anyway. I decided to have my Cholesterol tested too. The Doctor decided to run a few more tests at the same time, just to cover all the bases. I went to the Doctors, had my blood test and was told to call a few days later to get the results. "Don't worry" said the Nurse who took my blood "...

The children do love my cooking. Honestly, they do love my cooking. However, when Little Dish asked if I could get the children to try out their new Bigger Kids Fisherman's Pie the children were quite excited and readily agreed. They do love my cooking right? As normal, the ready meals looked amazing and I quickly set to work heating them up in the Microwave, as we were running short of time and I didn't have the longer time needed to cook them in the oven. The Bigger Kids meal is about giving older children more chunkier textures (and portions) and the pieces of pollock and salmon are just that. They are then covered in a cheese sauce and mixed with petit pois. The topping is a mixture of potato and vegetable mash, which is how I normally sneak extra vegetables into the children's meals that I make from scratch. So. The children loved the Fisherman's Pie. Top Ender loved it because the flavours were a good blend (according to her) and whilst she missed ...

I was so involved in the world off the internet (I know, it came as a surprise that there was a world off the internet to me too!) that I forgot to do my weekly round up and then before I knew it, there was another week passed and then almost before I knew it again, it was almost bedtime and I thought I had better get a move on before I forgot to do another one! So here is my hopefully one time only two week round up and as I have Salads on the brain at the moment here is one of the best salads I've eaten this last week. The Second Week Of March The week started off great for us. On the Monday, not only did we remember to take PE Kits, Violins and music folders, Blood Test Monitors, Home Contact Books, Homework and School Bags to School. Oh and we also remembered water bottles, snacks and to bring all we needed home again too! On the Tuesday my Mum and I went for a walk with my Sisters dog again. I have to say I'm loving taking her dog for walks and as long as the we...

I love House of Fraser, I know you already knew that because, well I used to work there and I've mentioned my love a few times on the blog on my instagram feed before. The dress that I wore to my friends Surprise Birthday Party for example was from House of Fraser and I was surprised that I was able to find a good quality dress in a plus size that I actually liked! Anyway. A few weeks back, House of Fraser asked if I'd like to try something from their plus size range. Even with me losing weight, I'm still plus sized, but I had been waiting to lose a bit before buying new clothes, because I didn't want to have to restock my wardrobe every dress size. The one thing that I really needed was a pair of Jeans , mainly because my old pair were so big on me I didn't need to undo them to take them off, and they were, (as jeans always do on me) wearing rather thin at the crotch and thighs. So I took a risk. I ordered a pair of jeans in a size smaller than I was curren...

Recently I've turned into a little kid when it has come time to pay for any shopping that I've done and the reason? Well, it's because I've started paying using the contactless method and the excitement of acting like a Magician and just waving my card over the paypoint like a magic wand just isn't waning no matter how many times I do it... although to be honest it had better stop soon or my bank manager is going to send me to Azkaban! Daddy has had a contactless card for a lot longer than I have, and when he first got the card the children noticed that he didn't have to enter his pin and questioned him on it. Daddy told the children as much as he could, about how it worked (I would have just said it was magic!) and then turned it round on them and asked them what they thought was good about the card.

I was chatting with some of the playground Mums before School finished last night and we were chatting about having a night out together. Several of us are in the same position, where our partners either work late, work away or are non existent. It makes going out hard, there are only so many babysitters around and if we can ever manage to get them all to sit for us all the same night, there is always something else happening for one of us that means we miss the night out. Then I had an idea. I know, it doesn't happen all that often but when it does happen they're good!

Dear Top Ender, I'm sure by now you've worked that out, that I'm a liar and a fraud as you are kinda smart. I figure that I need to come clean now so that you can use my experience to save you future heartache. And I know that you're going to have heartache because you are walking down the same path that I was and I think the truth is the only way to get you to understand. Okay. I've always told you that I was a good student right? Well, for the most part that is true. I was a good student. I enjoyed going to School. I raised my hand to answer questions, I did my homework and got it in, for the most part, on time. I wasn't generally one of *those* students who answered back or who caused issues and I'm pretty sure that most of my teachers liked me. Sounds a lot like you right? Maybe, you'll believe me when I say I understand what you are going through. You and I are so similar in so many ways, it's like history is repeating itself. The pro...

Most of you will know that I go to Church each week. Top Ender goes with me and was baptised last September, but as of right now Big Boy and Daddy both stay at home unless something special is going on that we either ask them to attend or they ask to attend... like Primary Presentation or The Nativity or even in the case of Big Boy whenever we have a Munch and Mingle because boy does that child love a Munch and Mingle. Anyway. The other morning whilst walking to School, Big Boy was explaining levels of awesome to me. The most awesome person in the world is Heavenly Father, because he is our Heavenly Father and listens to our prayers and is just awesome. The next most awesome person is Jesus Christ, because he helped make the world and died for us. Then there is the Holy Ghost, who helps us by whispering when we need help. Then there is you Mummy and then the rest of the world. I'm rather pleased that I made the top four, I think I'm in good company too!

March started off, for us at least with some beautiful weather that made us truly glad that Spring was on the way as it would mean more Sunshine, some beautiful flowers in the garden and hopefully a lot of walking now that the weather was a bit nicer! Of course the very next day it Snowed. Honestly it was the freakiest thing walking to School in the snow when just the day previous I'd been wearing a T-shirt and considering finding my long shorts! The First Week Of March The week started with Daddy commuting to Birmingham daily for the week. With Crufts being on, it made the Hotels in the area jolly expensive, which is a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things and did mean I got to eat dinner with Daddy every night which is a rare treat. Tuesday I got to hang out with my Mum. We went to the Laundrette and had a good giggle whilst waiting for her washing to dry and I did post saying I'd knocked something off my bucket list... my bucket list is really boring or so...

A few months ago, the daughters of one of my friends sent me an email inviting me to a Birthday Party for her Mum. It was going to be a Masquerade Ball and the most important part of course was that it was a surprise. This at the time seemed a brilliant idea (and it was) but I didn't realise how hard I was going to find it... not because I didn't want to keep the secret from my friend (I did want to and I did manage to keep it too!) but in order to keep it from my friend I couldn't post about it on Social Media. So I couldn't post a picture of my mask. I couldn't post a picture of the dresses I liked and wanted to buy but needed advice on which one. I couldn't ask about suggestions of how I would wear my hair. I couldn't ask for help of how to do my make up. Do you know how hard I find making decisions? I need advice because I'm so rubbish at making choices and deciding what looks good! In the end of course I made the choices that I had to ma...

I had put the Sweet and Sour Turkey last on the meals for the week, because for our family (okay me) the only meal worth eating is one based on Chinese cuisine. I've made Sweet and Sour dishes countless times before and the family has loved them so I figured that I would be quite good at this one, especially because it wasn't me going "hmm, I wonder what it'll taste like if I add x". How wrong I was. The actual prep of cutting the vegetables and draining the vegetables was easy and it was only when I was recycling the cans that I managed to cut my finger quite badly on the bamboo tin lid, but it was my own fault because I was singing Me Ol' Bamboo Dick Van Dyke stylee and everyone knows if you don't want to slice your finger off you shouldn't pretend you are Dick Van Dyke in the kitchen. I knew I was in trouble when before I could get to the plasters I saw the blood and nearly passed out! Apparently I'm only good with blood if it's Big ...

The second dish that Bernard Matthews thought I might like to cook using the Turkey pieces, was a  Turkey Tikka Masala . This went down well with Top Ender who has recently been converted to the delights of a Curry night (once a week, normally a Saturday) after being assured that the Tikka Masala was the one she liked (she thinks the Korma too sweet) and Big Boy was kinda told to like it or lump it...  It's okay, I knew that if he didn't eat the actual curry that the side dishes would fix things and mean he liked the meal! I cooked the meal and this time ensured that the recipe reminded me to add the Turkey pieces and soon found myself rushing around the kitchen trying to get dinner on the table before I had to rush BB off to Beavers (we were about ten minutes late, but meh it's one of those things!) and send Top Ender to her friends house to hang out whilst BB and I were out. It was with great surprise, that I found that BB had finished his curry and rice before Top...

The children and I eat together most nights and we eat a mixture of childhood favourites and what I consider more grown up dishes. The children have slowly learnt to appreciate the dishes that I prefer and have started to request meals that are more grown up and even suggest combinations of sides and main dishes that I think shows an amazing understanding of flavours and depth and other things that people on cooking shows mention. Anyway. Bernard Matthews asked if I'd like to try some recipes using their Turkey Chunks, they had three meals that they though the children and I might appreciate and so I said yes, as that also meant three less ideas that I had to come up with and to be totally honest, three meals I didn't need to buy. The first meal we made was  Cajun Crumbed Turkey, Mac ‘n Cheese . This is the sort of crossover between childhood favourites (the mac and cheese part) and more grown up tastes (It's Cajun, which to me means spicy which in my children...

The end of February was brilliant, we had a great week and to be honest I think February was very kind to my family, well my little unit of four anyway. The Last Week Of February If you read last weeks post you might be wondering if I did indeed get my Fitbit... I did! On the Saturday morning I suddenly realised that I had been given a voucher for my personal use in a rather lovely department store. I had been torn about what to do with this voucher, I wasn't sure if I'd buy Beavers Uniform with it and then wait until Top Ender needed Guides uniform to spend the rest, or if I'd just go and spend it all in their sister Food Shop... and then I realised. I could spend it guilt free on me and get myself a Fitbit. So we braved going up the City Centre on a Saturday and I'm now the proud owner of a Fitbit Charge HR and I'm loving it. It's my bestest new toy... just ask me in a month if I still feel that way! As usual we started our week with Monday bags from Da...