A Mother's Ramblings

Every few months, Dan Jon and I go to visit with his care team at our local hospital. There they measure his weight, height, his hbac (blood sugar related) and his blood pressure. They measure his various vitals because being a Type 1 Diabetic, comes with a few challenges that are made easier when the rest of you is in good health. At home, it is easy for us to measure all of these things, and so we do our best to keep him healthy and happy. When we were asked if we'd like to test out a Kinetic Blood Pressure Monitor, I thought this would be a great way to help keep an eye on all the families health and so it soon arrived in the post!

Members of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aged between 14 and 18, get to go to Seminary. Seminary is this wonderful class, which in a lot of places is held first thing in the morning. They go to learn about theology and the four-year course goes over the Standard Works, so The Old Testament, The New Testament, The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, and from what I understand from my friends who grew up in the Church, they learn a lot about themselves too. Tops was due to start this past September, and with her recent ASD diagnosis, we weren't sure if Seminary was the right thing for her. Well, that's not quite true, we weren't sure if early morning Seminary classes were the right thing for her.

Ages ago, Flyfour and I had an idea that we wanted a garden room. We weren't sure if this was part of a ground floor extension, knocking down the garage and putting one of those cool sheds that you see in Garden Centers in its place or even if we would just convert the garage that was already there and of course in this scenario, figure out where to put all the junk that lives in the garage, that we can't live without. With all the works that we did on the house last summer, we decided that the best course of action was to convert part of the garage into a room because A: We'd run out of budget and B: There was no way we were going through more building works so soon. Even a year later we are still sick of it! One day as we were clearing out the garage, I got a little stroppy. Most of the items we had in the garage were items we had stored with the purpose of turning one end of the garage into a room. A place where we could study or work or work out or relax or pray

In a move that I believe is typical of many Mothers, I quite often "forget" to get my hair cut. Well, I don't forget, I just tend to not put it at the top of my to-do list, because despite one of my best friends being a hairdresser, I put everything for me last. Then a couple of weeks ago, my husband mentioned to me that I really should get my hair cut, as I'd done nothing but complain about it. I really did need it cut, the split ends were out of control and so I bit the bullet and called my friend to arrange for me to visit with her and have a hair-cut at the same time.

What a week it has been! I've been ill, Flyfour came back from Amsterdam, the children went to School and their various other activities and I've managed to survive long enough each evening to stay up and watch a documentary or TV show with Flyfour. We are currently loving Killing Eve and The Bodyguard on the BBC, Grand Designs on 4 and Paddington Station on 5! What are you watching or are you recommending to everyone? We have Now TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime, so are well covered. This week I'm trying something new, I'm listing all we are eating for our main meals, lunches and Breakfast! Yup, all in one post, mainly so I can just check one place each week.

I started writing this list before I got ill, decided it was too much like hard work (I was starting to get ill) and stopped. Now I can't smell a thing, food is the last thing on my mind and I've realised that the trip to the Supermarket yesterday was terrible as I apparently didn't buy any food for this weekend despite having spent £50 and this week planning to have a lot of leftovers and things from the store cupboard! Oh well, back to the Supermarket we go!

Is it weird that I get more excited about preparing lunches for my children than I do about preparing an evening meal for them? I think it is because lunches are so much quicker to make and I don't have to worry about doing many dishes... well, loading the dishwasher anyway! Monday - Cream Cheese Bagels with Cucumber Slices We'll team these up with some Popcorn, an apple and some malt loaf because everyone loves Malt Loaf! Tuesday - Leftover Meatloaf Sandwich We've found that Meatloaf can be kept for four days without changing the flavour or killing us, so today the leftovers from Saturday will be used up. I'll also pack two satsumas, a milkshake and use up the malt loaf too. Wednesday - Leftover Pasta Bake If all goes to plan last night when I made the Baked Pasta, there should have been a little extra for today's lunch. I'll add some carrot and cucumber sticks, along with a little hummus dip and a treat of a homemade chocolate pastry twist.

I feel bad writing a whole post, going over how great the food we are eating is and how to make it, when it's just simple meals that anyone could work out how to make, or could search this blog or Google for recipes. So, welcome to week two of a stripped back post about our evening meals. As I said, last week this month (and possibly next) we are eating cheaply, still keeping to the Healthy Eating Rules and all because the shopping budget is something I can control! Saturday - Meatloaf with Mash and Peas Sunday - Pork topped with Apple Sauce and Cheese served with Mash and Mixed Vegetables Monday - Tuna Pasta Bake and Garlic Bread Tuesday - Baked Honey Chicken with Diced Potato Wednesday - Jacket Potatoes with Beans Thursday - Salmon Risotto with Peas Friday - Sausage Rolls and Salad Flyfour is away from Friday morning until Sunday night for a conference, so the children and I are planning on indulging in some of our favourite gluten-filled foods, hence the Sausage R

Poor Old Dan Jon, like last year he is going back to School a day earlier than Top Ender. This year he also has to put up with the fact that Top Ender starts Seminary and so our "normal" routine of getting up and having a cooked breakfast is a little... well it's a little changed. Luckily Dan Jon has some great lunches to look forward to and, hopefully, that will make his morning run a little smoother... Yeah, I don't think it will either. Top Ender goes back to School on Wednesday and has asked to take a lunch to School with her until she has checked out what specials the canteen are doing, and when. So I'm planning on a couple of weeks of lunch every day before she picks a day or two to eat at School.

I'm being cheap for the next few weeks and having very, very, very cheap meals planned, whilst still trying to keep to the Healthy Eating Rules of at least five portions of Fruit or Veg a day, two portions of fish a week and of course as Gluten Free as we can! Luckily the rest of the family were all in agreement and have helped me come up with some great, tasty and favourite meal ideas. Saturday - Sausages and Mash Sunday - Roast Chicken Monday - Cheesy Wedges with Beans Tuesday - Smoked Salmon Tagliatelle Wednesday - Home Made Pizza Thursday - Jacket Potatoes with Tuna and Spring Onion Friday - Chili and Nachos I guess with us getting back into the swing of early nights and even earlier mornings (Tops starts Seminary this Wednesday), we're just glad to have some routine back.