A Mother's Ramblings

It's currently 4pm on the Thursday of Half Term. The Children are playing on the consoles...oh wait I spoke too soon, the Children are arguing over playing on the consoles! I'm attempting to do something productive as I've been working for an hour on my jigsaw and although I've done a lot, I needed to do something that would give me a finish... which is why I'm now finishing writing this blog post at 11:30pm on the Friday!!! I'm seriously needing some sleep! Saturday - Fish and Chips Last night we didn't have the Fish and Chips because our family visit to Verulamium kept us busy and we didn't eat lunch until quite late, so we had a light supper... so we're having it tonight! Sunday - Roast This is our last Roast for a while, mainly because I really want our Christmas meal to be special and so I find by cutting down on having the roasts in the run up it helps us! Top Ender and Dan Jon Jr are not happy about it, but it's my decisi...

Yesterday I published the highlights of my Baptism themed talk to Dan Jon Jr at his Baptism this past Saturday. Dan Jon asked Top Ender to talk too and asked if she would mind talking about The Holy Ghost.  The following are the highlights of the talk that Top Ender gave.

I mentioned in my post on Monday that I gave a talk at Dan Jon Jr's baptism . Dan Jon had asked Top Ender to talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost , which gave me the opportunity to talk about Baptism. The problem, well I think it was a problem, was that Dan Jon Jr has been learning about Baptism in more detail for weeks, months even. We thought that there was no point in agreeing to be Baptised if you didn't know all about it! So I wanted to talk to Dan Jon about Baptism, sort of recapping what he already knew but with a twist. A twist suited to him, suited to Children and suited to our quirky family (and friends who would join us and be listening to the talks too!). I had a half idea in my head from a talk I had read years ago, probably when Top Ender was being baptised a couple of years ago, and so I went searching for a more filled out version of this idea and from there I wrote a talk, the highlights of which I'm including below.

Last Friday whilst my Mum and I were trying to waste some time, she looked up the Toy Sale on The Entertainer website. Whilst I was busy trying to match different candies, and sending pictures to Instagram she was looking up gifts for her various grandchildren. There was one toy that caught her eye, a Scooter at a very low price and perfect for one of her Grandsons who often wanted to be out with his bigger Sisters when they were playing out on their bikes and scooters. Just at that very moment our time wasting came to an end and we had to go speak to someone important, so my Mum quickly sent a link to Flyfour and asked him to purchase the scooter for her. Flyfour followed her instructions and purchased the Scooter at the link that she had sent to him and arranged for it to be delivered to our house, as there was a higher likeyhood that I'd be in when it was delivered than she would. And then we all forgot about it.

When Flyfour and I got married, we spoke at length about how we wanted to raise our children. One thing that we both agreed on, was that when our Children were old enough they would be able to decide if they wanted to attend Church with me and be baptised when they were old enough, or they could pick if they didn't want to attend Church and then they could stay at home with Flyfour and they didn't have to be baptised. A few months ago, Dan Jon Jr changed his mind about attending Church and instead of hanging out with Flyfour at home, he decided to come to Church with Top Ender. Honestly I was a little surprised, we go to Church for three hours on a Sunday and I didn't know that Dan Jon could be away from his Computer for that long!

I was searching through some pictures a few weeks ago looking for baby pictures of me for a Faith In God activity I was in charge of when I found this picture of me, walking about in a baby walker. Yes, you are right, you may have seen it over on Emmy's Mummy when I was one of the bloggers you had to match to baby pictures in her Guess the Baby blog series. I was talking to my Mum about it and luckily my Mum remembers the day this photograph was taken really clearly, I'd been taken to my Great Nan's home and luckily as my Dad had a huge Peugeot 406 Estate my Baby Walker fitted inside the car, along with all the rest of the hundred other things that any good Mother in the late 1970's, early 1980's took everywhere with her. The reason this day stuck in her mind so much was because I was on the verge of walking. I had cruised around the sofa and tables, but wasn't free walking just yet.

IT'S HALF TERM! Sorry. I got a little excited there. Well, we're eating on a budget this week because we're saving up to pay for all the fun things we want to do, but we're not stopping us from eating things that we fancy, things that we like and things that we're trying! Saturday - Sausage and Mash with Gravy Dan Jon Jr is getting baptised today and so he was allowed to pick what we had for our evening meal. He decided that out of everything available to him (including restaurants and take away etc) that what he wanted the most was Sausages with Mash and Gravy.

I love Halloween. I think it is a good excuse to dress up, eat sweets and generally spend a bit of time with family having a laugh. I think this is also why I love our annual Trunk N Treat at Church. The Children, Flyfour and I love to get together with our friends and socialise, eat at a pot luck supper and of course there are sweets and costumes and because we have lots of American friends proper Pumpkin Pie! When Tesco asked if I'd like a voucher to go explore their Halloween range and hopefully get some great bits for Halloween, I of course said yes! I was going to go with Top Ender and Dan Jon Jr as they were here when the Halloween Hamper arrived (well Dan Jon was!)

When Top Ender was going up to Senior School, we knew that she was going to have a lot of homework and so we wanted to create a space for her to do her homework in peace and quiet and after a little rejigging of her bedroom we created some space for a desk. The problem was that Top Ender's desk became a bit of a dumping ground instead of a serene place to work on her homework and Scripture Study. Luckily Tops got on board with the whole KonMari method and has slowly been working her way through her room and adding pieces to her room that brings her joy... mainly items featuring owls or Kawaii characters. When we were asked if we would like to review some 3D puzzles featuring Owls, which would help Tops keep her desk neat and tidy I was excited.

I was on Twitter on Monday night, when I saw a tweet for a Cauliflower Cheese Soup from Chris aka Thinly Spread . I was, at the time STARVING as I'd made the Children their evening meal (soup and toasties) and I was waiting until Flyfour got home before I started on our soup... Anyway, I decided that as it was such a brilliant soup that I'd add it to the meal plan for the following Monday and whilst I was there I sorted out the whole week too! I even added everything to my online shopping basket and ordered and paid for it, so I could just pick it up on Saturday morning! Chris I blame my organised week on you!

If you read my Facebook pages, both Personal and Blog wise then you may already know all this... so I apologise that I'm repeating myself! Last Sunday evening, Top Ender mentioned a rash that had appeared around her neck. She had been wearing a necklace that we got her for her Baptism  back in September of 2014 and so we just assumed that she had developed an allergy to it.  It made sense, seeing as how I'm allergic to Nickel, we figured that she had developed the same allergy. Only by the end of Monday her entire torso was covered in this rash. We gave her some anti-allergy medicine and decided that come T uesday morning, if she still had the rash, we'd book her an appointment at our Doctors Surgery and get her checked out. I sent a couple of pictures of the rash to my friend, wanting a Mums opinion.

Dan Jon Jr has recently discovered the power of Netflix. For ages, Dan Jon Jr has sort of thought that Netflix was a Mummy and Top Ender thing. It wasn't that he couldn't control it, or didn't have access to it. It was just that other than a few films that we'd watched together he didn't really seem that interested in the shows available to him on his Netflix profile. A lot of Dan Jon Jr's friends are online friends. He shares online worlds with them and they will regularly meet up online to play various different games on their consoles. They enjoy the same things, they enjoy hanging out and they want to share the same experiences which is why I love listening to them when they meet up online. They chat about their days, about what they have had for their lunch or evening meal, what their homework is, what result they got on their latest test... basically everything that you would share with friends that you would invite into your home to hang out with...

Last week I was reading a bedtime story to Dan Jon Jr. He is particularly fond of a book of Five Minute Kitten Tales. The pattern is that he reads one story and then I read one story, we say his prayers together, have a cuddle, I kiss him on the head and then he goes to sleep. Apart from last Sunday. Last Sunday, Dan Jon Jr had a high blood sugar reading and so we'd called down to Flyfour asking for him to bring us up a bottle of water for Dan Jon Jr. Dan Jon had already read a story to me and I started reading one to him. The tale I read, had the little kittens trying to figure out what Father Cat's middle name was, after having been told the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. It turned out to be Fluffy, which both Dan Jon Jr and I believed to be quite a good name for a Cat and if we ever get another cat we might consider calling him Charles Fluffy Cat. Anyway.

I got the meal plan sorted really early in the week, because I was cleaning out the fridge and freezer and making sure I'd used up all my leftovers and portions of meals that I had saved for my lunches! As I went on I could see the dishes I could make from the ingredients I have to hand and so hopefully this week will be a cheap shopping week! I'm going to be making some sweet treats this week too, did you see the doughnuts I made last week? What about the Cake Bagels ? What else should I make this week?

When the DotComGiftShop asked if I'd like a Toby along with a voucher to spend in their online store, I said Yes straight away. (As soon as I get my voucher code, I'll be purchasing a Rosie as well as some other Christmas surprises... stalk me in a couple of weeks to find out what!) I said Yes, becasue recently I was reminded that making lunches fun is a passion of mine and I was reminded thanks to Heavenly inspiration. At Church each month the women's group has an evening where we get together and do "stuff". It might be that we go for a walk around a local lake, or that we do a fitness class, or that we eat cake or waffles, or we might have someone come and talk to us or we go and do an act of service. Whatever it is however, we have fun doing it together. A few weeks ago, one of the women organising one of these evenings asked for volunteers to talk about Healthy Packed Lunches . This is something I know about, so I volunteered myself to talk and sen...

Rather like when we watch Studio Ghibli films, watching some programmes on Netflix makes us hungry. We recently watched the documentary series Cooked, and discovered a lot about how communities and cultures have developed around the need of sustenance and sharing the partaking of this food... and boy did it make us hungry. Then Netflix gave us the idea to make some food to eat whilst watching our favourite shows or films, food inspired by what we were watching. What would we make? Could I make myself a Key Lime Pie to eat whilst I watched Dexter when the Children had gone to bed or School? Waffles whilst we watched Waffle Street? Hot Chocolate whilst watching Once Upon a Time? In the end Dan Jon Jr decided he was going to make a Fry Up with Flyfour for us to eat whilst we watched Meet The Mormons on General Conference Sunday (2nd October to anyone who isn't a Mormon!).

Every few weeks I'm lucky enough to be asked to be a guest on the BBC Three Counties Radio Sunday morning Faith show, normally hosted by someone I now consider a friend Helen Leigh. I think it's because I have a face for radio. Anyway. Top Ender has been desperate to come with me, not because she wants to be on the air or because she wants to be a presenter or even because she wants the fame and fortune that will surely follow her once she is discovered.... but just because it's one aspect of my life that she hasn't had a peek into. At least that's what she told me.

I think that because I'm cooking a lot from Scratch at the moment that I'm really enjoying cooking again. I think that cooking is a great stress reliever and for me a great way to relax and as I'm also doing something for my family I don't feel like I'm wasting my time by relaxing when there is plenty to be done for me and my family! With that in mind, here's what I'm cooking this week Saturday - Casserole I would like to say that we really enjoyed the casserole I had planned a couple of weeks back... but as it turns out we didn't eat it. Instead we snacked and ended up not eating a proper main meal. According to the Weather Man today is going to be a bit rainy and miserable so I thought a Casserole would be a perfect comforting dish.