A Mother's Ramblings

At the start of every term, the School BB goes to send home a sheet which has his homework for the next six weeks on. It gets stuck into their homework book and that way everyone knows what is going on and we know that if there is something we need to plan on helping the children with, we can write it into our plans for the week. Like, this week BB needs to make a meal using Rocket. Thank goodness I knew before I wrote the meal plan for the week!

I've never thought of myself as being stressed. I mean, what do I have to be stressed about? I get to stay home, write the odd blog post, spend my day cleaning and hanging out with friends and family and doing other small chores that I know my family appreciate not having to do. However, over the last few months I've realised that I haven't been taking proper time out for me and as a result of this I am constantly on the go. I've always found it really hard to switch off. Most of you have seen my Facebook Status updates where I talk about twenty seemingly unconnected things in less than a minute, It's a small insight into my mind and it's like this ALL the time in my head.

One of the things that my friends are always amazed about, is the amount of information the Children give to me about the things they are doing at School. I didn't think that I did anything different to anyone else, I put it down to just asking the right questions and at the right time!  I think however, it is because I take an interest that I find out so much. I don't mean an interest in the Children (although I do think my Children are pretty interesting) but rather an interest in the subject. When the Children are completing their homework or are regaling me with stories about their day, I ask let them tell me the things that they have learnt. Sometimes the Children will tell me something that I really didn't know before hand and together we'll go off and do a bit of research to find out more or to confirm a theory that they have. Other times the Children will tell me something that I vaguely remember from my own School days and together we have a discussion abo...

When Top Ender was first born, she reminded me of my Sister. I couldn't see any of me in her, I couldn't see any of Daddy in her. Just my Sister. Admittedly this only lasted an hour or two and as Tops grew, she became as stubborn as I am, she talked like I do, she had a lot of the same mannerisms and everyone, apart from me, thought she was a mini me. That was until they saw her with her Daddy.

Anyone have a big fat zero to give me? That's what I deserve. This week I've failed miserably. I haven't put on weight according to my bathroom scales, but according to the scales at Tesco (where I was fully dressed!) I've put on 7lbs. I don't know which ones to believe, so I'm going with the heavier weight until it can be proved otherwise. For the next two days I'm on a slightly different diet, because I'm trying something for this here blog however, I believe it should give me the push that I'm needing to get back onto the Cambridge Diet. And if it doesn't?

I'm trying to be super frugal this week and I'm mainly using items from my Freezer and Store Cupboard this week. I did think it would mean we would be having some "interesting" meals, but I didn't care! Turns out that the Children and Daddy are having amazing meals this week and I'm quite jealous. I really should be doing meals this way more often, but I suppose I can't because I need to actually buy things to put in the Freezer and Cupboard so that I can do this more often... Is this a modern day Catch 22?

Last term, Big Boy was studying Macbeth at School. I wasn't surprised to find out that he was quite taken with it because he is just like Top Ender and I and we both love Shakespeare. Top Ender, like me finds it rather easy to read the original Shakespearian language and in her English class they are currently playing around with Shakespearian Insults at School, her favourite being "You infectious common-kissing Hugger-Mugger". I'm not actually sure what it means, but hey she's learning Shakespeare right? Anyway. Bloomsbury Education thought that BB and Top Ender might like to read a Terry Deary book, stories that tell the classic Shakespearian Tales with a little wrap around story too that makes the Shakespeare Play a little more, I don't know approachable? It arrived just in time for the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's death (23rd April 2016) too.

I was a little bit worried about getting to Big Boy's bedroom in my KonMari journey through the house. I mean, I knew that my bedroom was TERRIBLE, but it was my bedroom and so I was willing to do the work. I wasn't sure that BB would feel the same way. He hasn't read the book, he doesn't understand why I've gone on this journey and being an almost eight year old he also doesn't know that tidying up can sometimes be...dare I say it? Fun! Luckily, after having explained the method to BB and him having seen how great it was for Tops and I in our bedrooms he wanted to use the method in his room. I decided that what I would do was help him more than he realised. Rather than letting BB keep everything, I would be a little erm more discerning. McDonald Happy Meal toys? They'd be done. Bits of paper? They'd be gone too. Yes, I know that this isn't quite the method described in the book, but come on he's nearly eight and it appears he has more "...

So yesterday I posted an update to my Energy Consumption Lagom living journey and I was feeling pretty smug. Today it is about the Healthy Eating and Growing our Own Food challenges and well, we're not so smug now! The year started off great. We got three little greenhouses to house our seedlings and herbs and "stuff" and they just about fitted on the Kitchen windowsill. I moved some Basil, Chives and Mint into one of the Greenhouses and within a few weeks my kitchen was filled with tiny annoying flies. I really didn't know what to do so I asked a friend who suggested I put the little mini green house outside for a few days. Allegedly it would kill off the flies and dry out my compost/soil mix to stop them coming back. Wouldn't you know she was right?! The only thing was, it also killed my herbs because we had an overnight frost. So, on the growing front we're doing rather badly.

I mean I know I did it to Daddy at Christmas , but seriously! Is my kitchen not sacred?!

I was at a Friends house the other evening, and as it got darker we turned on the living room light. As the energy bulb slowly warmed up and slowly gave a pool of light barely bigger than the light shade I couldn't help but notice how used to my LED Light bulbs I had got. No waiting for the warming up and the light slowly becoming to a level where it was usable, just Bam! Instant light when I need it. A very brief conversation was then held with my friends about the wonderful light bulbs from Ikea and I realised that I hadn't updated the blog with my Lagom lifestyle of late, which is terribly remiss of me! So, the small things that we changed straight away have already made a big difference. The light bulbs of course as I just mentioned and the rug in BB's bedroom have both led to a slight lowering of our Electricity bill. Which, you know is nice seeing as how energy prices will continue to rise.

Okay, so I've already confessed to my Sister/Cambridge Weight Consultant that I strayed off plan so I guess it's time to confess to you guys too. My name is Pippa and since Easter I've been really bad at following the Cambridge Weight Plan. Like really bad. Really, really bad. The only good news that I can take from it is that I didn't put on any weight so at least I am making the right choices with regards to the food I eat and will be able to maintain my weight for the rest of my life. I weigh 19 stone and I still have at eight stone, one pound to lose. Well, on to this weeks topic of choice.

Over the last week, I've gone back to creating lists of jobs to do during the day. I used to do this a lot, writing down jobs and scoring them off when done is strangely satisfying and almost makes up for the fact that I don't always get to the end of my list before the next day and so my list of chores keeps getting longer and longer! Anyway, the reason I'm telling you is... I actually don't know. I've lost my train of thought. On with the meal plan.

This past Easter the Children and I were sent a gift from the Natural History Museum. Guess Who? Dinosaur Edition . Now, we play guess who quite a lot at home. We have a family version (Who are you?) that Daddy made for me a few years ago. We have the "original" version and we even have a travel version. One of our most favourites is where we play it "in our heads" and pick either a cartoon or real person. Luckily, well to my knowledge anyway, nobody cheats. Those of us who have played the Guess Who? Dinosaur Edition can not say the same however. Someone cheats every time they play it.

During the Easter holidays, the Children, Daddy and I made a trip to see Zootropolis at the Cinema, thanks to the Disney Store sending us some vouchers to pay for the majority of our ticket price and sending us some cool merchandise too. I was very excited, I had seen a clip for the film what seemed like years ago and the comedy in the trailer seemed to be the sort of humour that would amuse both the Children, me and my husband. You know, the sort of comedy that Disney excel at, where some jokes and references go over the Children's head, but other jokes are aimed squarely at them and us adults still get to giggle about them because they are so well crafted.

I Don't Rat My Hair, I Get ill From One Cigarette! I always feel a little bit like Sandra Dee when I tell people that I don't drink Alcohol and it comes up more often than you might think! You can see people looking me over, trying to work out if I'm a recovering Alcoholic, a Weirdo and if I can be trusted. After all what sort of person doesn't drink alcohol? And then a few minutes later I'm normally offered a cup of tea or coffee and I have to explain I don't drink those either. The shock on their faces is normally just a micro reaction, but it's there and I see it. "What do you drink then?" Well, honestly? A lot of Water, Fruit Teas, Hot Chocolate, Milk, Shloer, Squash and occasionally Dr Pepper which we all know is my absolute favourite! "But what about to relax? What do you drink then? What do you drink when the Children have gone to bed?" Before and After 5 Drinking Glass, £15.95 from Prezzy Box

I've been naughty over the last week, I've been eating an odd meal here and there. This week I'm purposely picking meals that are quick to make and only bits that I will buy just enough to serve three so hopefully I'll then be able to resist! Hopefully.

Before Christmas, Big Boy got an Annual which had a Cake recipe in it. I had promised BB that we would make this cake, but with Christmas and the indulgent goodies that are associated with it in our home it was agreed that we'd wait a bit longer. So we waited a bit longer. And a bit longer. and before we knew it, it was March and we still hadn't made the cake. BB got a little impatient and so he decided to change tact and instead of asking me if I would make the cake with him, he approached Daddy and they agreed to make the cake.

or alternatively I KonMaried The Heck Out Of That Room!* Not too long ago, I picked up a copy of "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying" by Marie Kondo. A lot of my friends online had said that they had read the book and that it had changed their lives. that they understood now why they were always tidying and had taken steps to stop this. As far as I could tell from what I had heard on the TV and from these friends the method involves a lot of throwing away. This idea of throwing away both scared and exhilarated me. You see, I'm a hoarder by nature, I remember as a young child putting belongings in a bag in case there was a fire or a situation that meant I needed to get out of my home quickly. This quickly turned into having more than one of several things, and not wanting to let go of older items... a hoarder. Just not so bad that I'd get my own TV show. With my Mum having downsized her home a few years ago a lot of "good" stuff was passed...

Both Daddy and I love watching live Theatre and it's something which we have managed to pass on to Top Ender. We're working on Big Boy, he has our love of movies but he gets a little distracted and so hasn't really seen much live Theatre, other than the yearly Panto! Anyway. For Easter, Daddy and I wanted to get gifts that would mean something, something that would leave us with memories, or would be around for a while to remind us of Easter and remind us of each other and the fun we have together as a family. For Daddy's gift, he got a ticket to go and see War of the Worlds at the Dominion Theatre and enjoyed it so much, that we decided to splash out and take the whole family to see it when we got back from Ireland. So the First of April, had us travelling into London down to the Dominion.

I've got a little fed up of being a week behind, because I keep forgetting about what was hard during the week and what wasn't and what were the highlights and low points, So I'm trying to combine it all up. Plus I'm pretty sure I got a bit mixed up and last weeks weight was week fours weight... Look, all I know is that Week Four was a normal week. I cleaned, I ate drank my shakes and generally was a bit moody because I didn't think I was losing any weight and I knew this because I kept weighing myself every morning before I got in the Shower. Oh and OFSTED had decided to visit the School I'm a governor at. OFSTED puts everyone in a bad mood. By the Easter Weekend I was ready for my "planned" time off. I just sort of started it a little early. Like three days early.

Okay, to start with I want to point out that the start of this blog post is a bit of a joke, but unless you are LDS you won't get it without it being pointed out. Okay, the first two sentences are a joke! Within every Church Ward across the world, there are a couple of people that Church members actively avoid. These men are normally the ones who hand out assignments to talk during Sacrament and if the start of almost EVERY Sacrament talk is anything to go by nobody likes giving a talk in Sacrament. Although I did volunteer to give a talk Easter Sunday. I guess I'm the one person who doesn't mind giving a talk in Sacrament. A few weeks back, Top Ender's exit from the pew we were sat in, was blocked by the member of our ward who is the member who hands out the talks that the Bishopric have decided upon. I knew what was coming, Top Ender was about to be assigned her first talk in Sacrament. After the initial joking of Top Ender being the last Speaker (who generally ha...

For the last few weeks, possibly months, I've been creating meal plans weeks in advance, based on what is in the freezer, special offers and trying to keep everything in my life in order. It has sort of worked. Anyway, today is the first time in ages that I've woken up not knowing what I need to buy when I go shopping with my Mum later today and so after doing the very important chores of the day (feeding the Children, Cats, doing the dishes and reading a bit of my book) I've finally sat down to write the meal plan for the week. It feels strange. With that in mind, here is what everyone apart from Cambridge Diet me is eating this week.