Wednesday 29 August 2012

Still Here

I have been a bit out of sorts this week (pre-menstrual), and the stress levels of moving (and excitement) have dropped and I am a bit low, and also a bit bored. Oscar does not have a nursery place here, although they said maybe October, and the weather has been rubbish so we are pretty much in or out quickly. 


There is still a lot to do in the house but energy and finances dictate the pace of that. My back (degenerative disk disorder) has been really bad since we moved and I have concluded that a better chair and a better mattress are definitely needed (with whopping price tags). This means that soft furnishing, paint and nik-naks are on hold for now. 


Our eating habits had lapsed into the 'really bad' zone so I have been concentrating on meal planning and buying the best we can afford. This often means organic and local food (which gobbles up the pennies too), which makes me feel a whole lot better about the meals I am serving up. There is a really nice green grocers 5 minutes away and they also stock some of my other favourites (Marigold Bullion Powder, Belvoir Cordial, and an organic seed selection). 


Things in general have been pretty much the same old same old then, cooking, cleaning, laundry, Lego, stories, drawing and the odd bit of beach, park and garden fun. 


Some pictures, because blogs with no pictures are dull.


 


Still Here


Wholemeal pancake batter and homemade museli soaking in OJ, in the fridge overninght for breakfast time


 


Still Here


Free Flash Cards - Laminated and turned into alphabet sheets


From HERE


 


Still Here


Home made bread


 


Still Here


Duncan's hat has found its spot


 



Thursday 23 August 2012

Sick Day

I seem to have some sort of tummy bug/virus and I will be spending the day on the sofa. Hopefully it wont last longer than today (it started last night). In the mean time, here are some pictures of the LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE I made eventually, and also some pictures of Oscar playing in the new lounge. It is MUCH smaller than the last house but he/we seem to be managing ok. Speak soon when I am feeling better.


 


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Valerie


xxx



Wednesday 22 August 2012

Secret Bedtime Behavior

If you know me in real life you will probably have heard me moaning about my bad sleep patterns more than once. Despite being tired a lot of the time, I often have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep. It turns out, I am not the only one, and in this technology driven age, there is a technological sleep aid available to us all. SOOTHE TUBE There is every kind of sleep inducing sounds on there from voices to ASMR (non vocal sounds). I personally get irritated by sounds and after many many nights of restless legs, overheating, back pain, medication withdrawal and not to mention previous pregnancies, I have found that a female Eastern voice is what puts me to sleep fastest (thats East in the world, not the UK).  Here are some examples of my very own sleep guru (FYI I usually put the laptop on the bedside table and pop in some headphones, Duncan pops them out and shuts the laptop when he comes to bed/I am snoozing).


Haiying


 


 


 


 


She knows people use her videos to get to sleep and so there is no need to feel guilty about it, she has made almost 8'000 videos, some with hundreds of thousands of views, pretty popular huh?


Valerie


xxx



Tuesday 21 August 2012

My Monday


  • Oscar wakes us at 6 : 20am by climbing into bed between us and asking for some milk.

  • Duncan goes downstairs to get it and I untangle myself from the cotton top sheet and wonder if someone has been pouring alcohol down my throat while I sleep, because I feel like I have a hangover

  • Eventually we all go downstairs and play our new game of where has the cat pee'd today (found 2 hours later at the base of the floor lamp in the dining room)

  • Oscar has some of yesterdays baking for breakfast but it falls onto the floor so he gives up and sits beside me on the sofa (me checking emails on the laptop, him watching Noddy)

  • Duncan irons his clothes, brings me tea and toast, gulps a decaf coffee and goes off to work.

  • Oscar watches TV and chats about buying more 'goo'. I cant stand the thought of it, we left some green goo stains on the carpet of the last house, because they just wouldn't clean out

  • Aimee gets up and has breakfast and plays with Oscar (with his Lego), while I hang out some laundry (I am so tired I carry the basket of dirty laundry into the garden, luckily noticing in time before I hang any out), put on a new laundry load, and throw the ingredients for tomato and lentil soup into a pot, (4 garlic cloves crushed, pint of water 1 cup dry red lentils, 2 tins chopped tomatoes, 2 tsp thyme, 2 tsp mustard, 2 tbs bouillon stock)

  • I have a cup of tea (decaf) and Oscar has a yogurt

  • The post arrives and there are parcels, face paints for Oscar (which, if I am honest I had completely forgotten about) and a rainbow teapot for me (will it make decaf tea taste better?)

  • Oscar runs around being a monster in his first ever face paint, and I stir the soup and check on the laundry, stopping for a minute to listen. The church spire is being repaired and there are at least 3 different nationality of men working on it. I cant quite see them, but I like to hear their disembodied shouts and the sound of hammers on stone float down from the sky

  • I pick up my knitting for the first time today and Oscar watches Aimee putting face paints on herself

  • I daydream about about THIS but decide to be a good Mama and make THIS instead

  • The door is knocked unexpectedly and Aimee panics because she has a green face, its my Mum, calling in for lunch/visit (we didn't know she was popping in), Oscar is pleased to see his Granny and Aimee is embarrassed

  • I plate the soup as Duncan comes in the door, we eat lunch and talk about how good it is that his work is only 5 minutes away (the design studion is in a converted church)

  • We chat for a while after Duncan has gone back to work, and we christen the new teapot

  • Oscar plays outside for a while tipping rain water out of various vessels/containers

  • The play dough is brought out and put away about 6 times over the course of the afternoon, big thumbs up on keeping Oscar amused

  • Granny leaves at 3pm to call in at the butchers before catching the bus home

  • I check on the laundry but half of it is still damp so I leave it out, meanwhile Oscar has learnt to get onto his swing himself and swing it a tiny bit without being pushed

  • The cat decides to climb over the fence (for the 1st time) and sit by the railway line. Oscar and Aimee spend a good 20 minutes calling on her from the bedroom window and the cat mews back with her weird silent meow

  • Duncan comes home at 4 : 30pm carrying a new broom for sweeping up (see bullet point 3 for a previous day)

  • Dinner making, eating, and catching up blur into one long stream of events until I take Oscar for a bath and Duncan goes for ice-cream

  • Bath-time is cut short when Oscar gets soap up his nose whilst trying to clean the face paints off - howling

  • Duncan manages to halt the tears back downstairs with a scoop of finest strawberry Italian ice-cream

  • I read some blogs and check emails while Duncan gets a grand tour of todays play dough creations/activeties

  • Duncan takes Oscar to bed at 8 : 00 oclock and I finish knitting one blanket square and cast on another one (3 down 33 to go)

  • Duncan comes back downstairs at 8 : 20pm and by then the sun is going down and the room is losing light fast


* - Bottoms were wiped, dishes were done, cats were fed, stories were read, clothes were changed several times and a few more cups of tea were drank


 


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


Monday


 


A perfect demonstration of how time can be an enigma and the day slips away while you are doing not very much at all.


Valerie


xxx



Monday 20 August 2012

At The Weekend

We spent a good part of Saturday clearing out the dining room/playroom which had become the holding room for objects yet to find a permanent home. It was a fairly dull way to pass the time, but the result was pleasing because now we have an extra room which is use-able. Oscar was fairly bored with the whole thing, so after we were done Duncan took him to the park while I made the Saturday night curry and did some laundry (exciting huh).


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


The park they went to was a different park from Oscar's beloved beach park. He liked it (because its a park), but he still prefers the beach park.


: :


When we woke up on Sunday the sun was shining gloriously (for the first time all week), so we picked up the sunscreen and went down to the beach.


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


The weather did'nt last long and soon it was too chilly for sundresses and shorts, so we headed home in the afternoon.


 


Weekend


It was a bit disappointing to be home so early so I did some of my favorite things. 



  • Cooking


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


 


Weekend


(1 cup walnuts, 1 cup brazil nuts, 1 packed cup stoned dates, 3 tbs cocoa powder, 3 tbs hazelnut oil - blitz in the blender and pack into a tray and chill)



  • And Knitting


 


Weekend


Squares for a winter blanket for the sofa, its time to start planning ahead.


Valerie


xxx



Friday 17 August 2012

A Different Kind Of Spiral

Yesterday we decided to make our own ice-cream, something I have never done before. I was a waitress in an ice-cream parlour as a teen and I think it probably put me off making my own. Anyway, it turns out its really easy, with the hard bit being the looooooooong wait for it to set, particularly if you are 3 years old.


 


homemade icecream


Banana's, strawberries, grapes, honey and coconut milk


 


homemade icecream


Still not set


So to pass (some of) the time we brought out Mama's new old toy. If you are over 30 years old see if you can guess what it is from the first picture.


 


spirograph


Yes? No?


Its Spirograph, a fun activity for all the family


 


spirograph


 


spirograph


 


spirograph


 


spirograph


It turns out Oscar really likes it, especially sticking the pins in to the outer wheels to get them in place. I cant tell you how happy it made me, that after 40 years a child was still getting enjoyment out of this set, I LOVED my own Spirograph as a child, and I do indeed remember my Dad playing with it too, for demonstration purposes only I expect (not).


As you can see though, our work was a bit shonky, I think we need some more practise.


 


spirograph


 


spirograph


Have A Lovely Weekend Everyone


Valerie


xxx



Thursday 16 August 2012

Slippery Slope

When it comes to food, I would say that in general I am moderately good at providing healthy food for myself and the family.  Splitting it into three categories, I would say that dinners are usually very healthy, breakfasts are moderately healthy (I NEVER buy chocolate cereal, blurgh), and snacks are not all that healthy. The problems with the snacks is that I personally don't like fruit much. I like sliced apple and occasionally grapes, but I don't like the texture of most fruits. When you look into healthy eating guides, they nearly always list fruit as 'the' snack.


Putting all of this aside, we have fallen into some bad habits, justified by moving house (having half of the kitchen packed and all of the frozen food depleted, for a period of time).  Yesterday I was despairing at some limp breakfast toast (shop bought bread), when I decided it was time to get things back on track.


After a little bit of web surfing I finally found THIS WEBSITE, and I have to say, it looks pretty promising. I already know that presentation plays a big part in enticing children to eat certain foods and tha'ts one of the things this site does pretty well.  I don't intend of making separate food for Oscar though, we will all be eating the same. There are down-loadable meal planners, but I have chosen to follow some of them and mix it up with other recipes on the site.


Last nights dinner


Black Bean Soup with cheese and salad wraps


 


healthy


And breakfast this morning


Bagels with low fat cream cheese and strawberries (no strawberries on mine)


 


healthy


 


Oscars eyes lit up when I served him this.  I have also switched to decaf tea and I am trying to get Duncan to switch to decaf coffee (that needs more work).  I have been looking into STEVIA LEAF as a substitute for sugar. I still don't have the snack issue resolved, but there are a few non fruit snacks (for me) to choose from. I have had chickpeas soaking over night for today's SNACK.  I actually like having things planned in advance food wise, because I hate sitting at 4pm wondering what to cook that night, but I also expect to fall off the wagon quite a few times (we have 3 bakeries and 2 fish and chip shops in the next street from us).


Valerie


xxx