A Mother's Ramblings

It's no secret in our family that despite having lived in our house for err... nearly nine years that I don't think that the house is my home. There are a few reasons as to why, but Daddy thinks that it is mostly to do with the state of decoration. For example, everyone knows that I HATE my bathroom, the tiles are beyond terrible as is the layout, the actual suite itself and it is really, really high on my list of things to replace. I mean seriously, it's first on the list and it's going to be replaced... it's just it's a big job and it's our only bathroom and it's so much money. Anyway. The other problem is, the decoration that we have undertaken so far hasn't made me feel more at home. Why? Well, because I don't feel like this is my home I don't put much thought into it and so I haven't fallen in love with it. Our living room is jokingly referred to by me as Raspberry Ripple, we have some Raspberry Red streaks running through the li...

Okay, so you should just know we don't do this a lot, so this is a really big deal. Sssh, no words. Well apart from these ones so my feed doesn't look weird.

It is well known that every Sunday Top Ender and Daddy have a movie night. Together they are working their way through films of the Spy Genre, with an occasional Heist movie or Comedy thrown.  For the Sunday night movies, Big Boy and I go upstairs. We could stay downstairs if we wanted to, but Big Boy and I prefer to do our own thing. Big Boy reads in bed and occasionally will play on his consoles and I tend to write a little and generally surf the web. Of course BB and I get the same treats as Daddy and Top Ender, well a bowl of popcorn anyway! Tops and Daddy are slowly working out what makes a perfect movie night for them.  For Top Ender it is a milkshake, plenty of popcorn and possibly a bit of Chocolate. Okay,  definitely a bit of Chocolate. Daddy of course loves the treats too, although no milkshake for him, and really for him  the most important thing is what he is watching  the  movie on. At the moment he is perfectly happy with our Projector, but ...

Hello Everyone! I love my Children. I need to tell you that, because they are fantastic and this week they have been so much fun and have just done things that I didn't expect and have had the consequence of having other people compliment me on my children, their behaviour and their attitude. Like I said I love my Children. The Second Week Of September On Saturday, we went Shopping as normal... although it wasn't because Top Ender didn't come with my Mum and I. My Mum and I had a real giggle chatting away together about all manner of things and then after dropping my Mum off back home I hurried back home to watch Doctor Who with the family. We love Doctor Who and always watch it together, even if one of us hides behind a cushion (it was me this last week!). Sunday Tops and I went to Church. We had a Relief Society lesson, which I got to go to instead of being in Primary. It was lovely and made me realise how much I miss Relief Society. It also made me realis...

What, what, what? The end of September already? Seriously this month is jumping along rather nicely isn't it? It'll be Christmas before we know it... YAY! Talking of which who else is already stocking up and getting ready for Christmas? Me too! Saturday - Gluten Free Toad In The Hole - A Family Favourite! I love our Saturday meals as a family, we'll tuck into something yummy together and then watch Doctor Who together. I just hope that there aren't any Snakes this week because I was watching behind the cushions last week. I hate snakes. Anyhoo, meal today will be erm. Yeah. I don't know. I'll see what I fancy when I go shopping later tonight. Hang on I just worked it out! TOAD IN THE HOLE! Yup, gluten free Toad in the Hole. Sunday - Roast We have the Missionaries round to share our evening meal tonight. Daddy likes when they come round because as I'm sure you know, Men are always hungry and Missionaries are no exception. This means ...

There are dozens of things that I hate, but the thing that I hate the most is feeling helpless and not being in control. Normally I avoid situations where this happens, or I research a situation to the point of being able to not feel helpless or to give myself a sense of control. This past weekend however I found myself in a situation where I was completely helpless and everything felt out of my control. I had a flat tyre. Now, this actually wasn't the first time that this had happened. I have actually had a flat tyre before, and I successfully managed to replace the said tyre. However. I didn't have, two children in the car along with my Mum, and two households worth of shopping in the boot. I also didn't have a spare tyre in a cage under the car. And to top it all off I was really really annoyed with myself. I called my husband, he is almost always my first port of call. Sod that he was in Amsterdam! I asked if we were covered for this with our Breakdown Co...

How quickly has this week gone? I'm not sure if it is because I've been super busy or because I've been more organised or maybe just because now that I'm old time goes faster. Anyway, this is what I and the family have been up to this week. The Second Week Of September On the Friday Daddy had gone to Amsterdam, which meant Saturday as the Children and I woke up we got to do our own thing... although we actually didn't. I ended up getting the Children to get dressed as quickly as possible as we had work to do! We headed off to Town to get some pieces that we needed and then returned home to do our homework before playing and hanging out. It worked well for us, we had our lunch and headed out to my Mums to do our weekly shop together. The whole flat tyre thing I'm going to talk about on Monday, but let me just say that I wasn't amused. Sunday, the children spent most of the morning reading whilst I prepared food for the Munch and Mingle at Church. I...

I'm being uber-organised at the moment and meal planning a few weeks in advance, based on what I know our schedules to be like, what I know we like and also and this is the most important one our budget. I'm in a very lucky position that I get to stay at home with the Children, whilst my husband works in a job that he loves, but leaves him very little time to spend with the Children on week nights. Recently I've been trying harder to be the Partner and Wife he deserves, meaning that he doesn't have to pick up after me, spend hours doing the dishes or sigh that sigh when he looks in a cupboard and has to root through the whole darn thing to find the one thing he wants. I think it's working... This is what we are eating this week! Saturday - Homemade Pizza Daddy makes the best gluten free pizza, so I've asked him to make a few tonight. The Children will pick their favourite toppings, as will we and make the best pizzas we can. Apart from, my Pizza wi...

I don't know about you, but we have had an absolutely amazing Summer, even with the Children returning to School, we're not too anxious to say goodbye to it because as always there was so much that we didn't squeeze in and Daddy, Big Boy, Top Ender and I have been talking about a few other last hurrahs that we want to undertake as a family... with all the rain we've been having over the last few days it certainly feels like Summer is over now however! Maybe, we'll have to make them Autumn Activities. One of my most favourite things that we did during the Summer, was visit Lyveden New Bield . The Children were wearing there Gore-Tex shoes and I actually didn't even think about taking pictures of the children wearing them because I kinda forgot that we were reviewing them! Why did I forget? Well, I forgot because the Children just accepted the Shoes as being theirs. They were comfortable for long walks as proved when we were away Camping  and on various oth...

Big Boy and I get home at least a whole thirty minutes before Top Ender now that she has gone to Senior School. Once we've completed a blood test, put away the bits from his lunchbox, been to the bathroom, read BB's latest reading book and updated his Home Contact book we look for something to do. Some nights we watch funny videos on Youtube, some nights we play a quick game on the Wii, some nights we just play and something we're loving is this Create an Ultimate Super Hero site! Want to see me as a Super Hero? Who am I kidding of course you do. BTW, I have an assumed identity so that no bad guys can track me down!

It's funny, over the Summer Holidays we did so much together as a family but I felt that summarizing it each week was just a repeat of the same thing. We got up, we read, we wrote, we tidied up, we played, we exercised, we ate. Every day the same thing. And, I fell out of the habit of doing these weekly blog posts that actually I really love doing, but I want to get back into it. I want to have something worth writing about, something different other than, we got up, we read, we wrote, we tidied up... And now of course we are here back at School and ready for a new year, a new challenge and hopefully I can write more... I said hopefully! So, here is The first week of September, and the last few days of August. The First Week of September The last few days of August, saw Top Ender, Big Boy and I hanging out at home. Daddy of course had the Bank Holiday Monday off and we spent most of the day doing things that we thought that the Children would like to do with us. We went ...

There is a lot that can be said about my Children. They are for the most part pretty perfect, they love to read, they help with chores. For the most part they listen to me and respect the rules that I and their Daddy have set for them. And then every so often they do something that surprises me, even though it shouldn't. Like, recently I asked BB and Tops to only have puddings on weekends. They agreed without hesitation. Then I asked them to give up sweets. They agreed without hesitation. Then I asked them to give up treats in their lunchbox, apart from on a Friday. They agreed without hesitation. Then I suggested that our after School snacks either be fruit or nothing. They again agreed without hesitation. I was surprised because I'm sure if you had asked me at Eleven or even at Seven to give up Sweets or Biscuits or Puddings I would have not agreed. So, the past few weeks we've been living rather healthily and it has scared me. Do you know how healthy I feel? How ...

A few days ago, I asked my friends on Facebook if they were to read a blog post written by me, what would they like it to be about? This is one of the posts, based on those suggestions. Death The After Effects Having never personally died I can't speak for the after effects on the deceased person. I can make a guess at some things that they shouldn't be able to do anymore. The most obvious being getting married to their widows sister, (which is part of a riddle Top Ender is fond of asking people she meets in order to test how much attention they are actually paying to her!) but that is an entirely different blog post.

Both Children are now back at School and have most of a week of being back at School under their belt. It also means that I've got most of a week of being back in my routines under my belt too. I've added some new chores, some extra exercise I've added a few more of course but that's not what this post is about. I'm feeling a little sad and am crying at TV shows, adverts and even books because as usual I've got so used to having the Children around over the Summer Holidays and spending quality time together that suddenly having them taken from me for six hours a day just makes me feel so... I don't know at a loss I guess. I know however, for them and for me School is the best option. I'm not cut out to be a full time Teacher to the two of them, nor as much as I would like to a class of Children. I'm much better at topping up their education with Mummy homework, getting them to learn in addition to what their School teaches them. Rounding them of...

Close your eyes, make a wish and then, one, two, three... Blow!

This past week, Top Ender started at her new School, Big Boy started year three and we went to the hospital for BB's latest Diabetic appointment. I managed to spend AGES talking to the Dietician and I got complimented on a varied meal plan and more importantly a balanced varied meal plan. I'm so pleased and proud and well I guess that it's made me realise that my meal plans aren't as bad and boring as I thought they were! So, here's this weeks! Saturday - Chicken and Salad We need to have a carb free meal every now and then, to check that the insulin levels that BB has set up are at the right level. Talking with the Dietician this past week about carb free meals I came up with some which aren't just Egg based as BB has decided he doesn't like Omelettes. The Dietician made me realise that BB loves a Chicken Salad Wrap, with May and so a meal of Chicken and Salad without the wrap is on this weeks meal plan. I'll add some potatoes for Daddy and ...

As always, as soon as I mention Sausage Pie to the Children, their eyes glaze over and they start drooling. When I made it this week, Top Ender and Big Boy kept finding reasons to come into the Kitchen just to sniff the air and even when Daddy got home he admitted that our home smelt wonderful. The problem of course with Sausage pie is that it isn't gluten free (although I do have gluten free puff pastry that I can use, I just don't like it that much) and so Daddy can't eat it. Anyway, as is also now normal, as soon as I post a picture on any form of Social Media, I get asked how I make the pie. This is how I do it. I always start by chopping two leeks into small circles and then gently Sautéing them. Whilst they are in the fat, I then chop a handful or two of mushrooms (finely) and add them to the Leeks in the hot fat. Using scissors I then cut three or four pieces of bacon into thin strips and again add this to the Leeks and Mushrooms. After letting the Baco...

A few days ago, I asked my friends on Facebook if they were to read a blog post written by me, what would they like it to be about? This is one of the posts, based on those suggestions. The School Pick Up I love The School Run. There I said it. It's not the taking the Children to School and leaving them there, it's the conversations we have whilst we are walking the very short distance from our home to our local Primary School that makes The School Run so much fun for me.

A few weeks ago, whilst Daddy was on his way to work, he found himself standing next to an Owl. As he continued his walked to work, he found a few more and over the next few days, between trips to local shops and walks around Birmingham City Centre he found several more... a plan was forming, not unlike the plan we had when the Elephants were scattered around London, that we would as a family head up to Birmingham for the day and hunt out as many Owls taking part in The Big Hoot as we could! We headed up to Birmingham by Car and started off on our search. Top Ender, Daddy and I were using the app to scan the QR Codes on the Owls and so Big Boy had the job of spotting the Owls (okay so for the most part Daddy and I were spotting them and whispering to BB where to look). We had such a giggle together hunting out the Owls and walking around Birmingham City Centre. My Wordless Wednesday post is my favourite Owl, outside my favourite building (The Birmingham City Library) and I love th...