Monthly Archives: January 2011

No need for the Sunday Papers 7

 in Sunday  tagged blog love / No need for the sunday papers / sunday by

Grab a coffee or tea and sit down for ten minutes and take a look at what I have to offer this Sunday.  If you are looking for some inspiration reads, look no further.  I am going to endeavor to give you some lazy Sunday reading from some great blogs, so there is no need for the Sunday papers. With valentines day fast approaching, why not have a go at making paper roses with your children. Did you realise that it is National Story Telling Week?  No, don’t worry I didn’t either, but the fantastic Chris at Thinly Spread did and she has some great ideas on how to make stories […]

I am lonely 68

 in me  tagged friends / lonely / mum / on my own by

I miss my mum.  The thing is over the last four years she has slowly become more than just my mother, she had become my friend and we spent a lot of our time together. One of the reasons we returned back to our native North East of England when I was pregnant with Mini was to be able to spend time with our families.  When we lived in Berkshire my mum would visit for weeks on end and we really got on each others nerves.  We were not supposed to live in each others pockets. So we reasoned that being closer would mean days out or afternoons shopping and we […]

Prepped – The rice pudding test 5

 in cooking / recipes  tagged cooking / desert / Prepped / rice pudding / Vanessa Kinball by

As you know I love food, but I especially love home cooked food and when the gorgeous and extremely talented Vanessa Kimbell put a shout out on twitter for recipe testers for her new, exciting and innovative cook book Prepped, so I put up my hand like I did back when I was in school and opted for the rice pudding.   Ingredients 1 litre whole milk 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways 50g Vanilla Sugar 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg Pinch of salt 60g butter 150g Arborio rice 1 Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2. 2 Put all the above ingredients into an ovenproof casserole dish, stir well and pop it […]

1.7 million children under six do not eat breakfast 27

 in breakfast / Uncategorized  tagged breakfast / food / Kellogs by

Yes, you read the title right, that is 1.7 million children under six who start the day with no food.  Shocking isn’t it?   1.4 million 6 to ten year old children don’t eat breakfast and 2.3 million 11 to 16 year old children also skip breakfast. So in total 5.4 million children in the UK do not eat breakfast. Couple that with the fact that £646m is spend by children on the way to school on snacks and fizzy drinks nad I think you get some idea of just how socked I was on Friday when I heard about these figures from Sara the dietitian at Kellogg’s Me listening intently […]

Things I have learnt this week 18

 in mini mads / Sunday / Uncategorized  tagged crab / iphone / life / Things I have learnt by

In homage to the very nice Its a small world after all, I have decided to do a short list of things I have learnt this week That Mini’s current favorite animal is a fox That Maxi loves crab meat That neither of the boys are ready to ride their bikes without stabilisers That the roofing company appointed by the Insurance company still haven’t got the parts to fix the conservatory That 1 in 6 under 16s in the UK do not have breakfast That there is definitely something about a full moon that makes the minis go madder than usual. That MadDad is my rock That life goes on….. This […]

Sometimes words are not enough 6

 in death / Uncategorized  tagged changes / death / life / Thank you by

I don’t know what to say and it is not often that I am stuck for words.  I want to say a big thank you for all my friends in the big wide world for all the support, love and kind messages over the last few weeks.  However, thank you just doesn’t seem enough. Some of you I have met in person, some of you I have never met in real life at all, but you have all played a very big part in keeping me sane recently. I want to say the biggest thank you to my sister in law, who I am still getting to know and the parts […]

Let me introduce you to my Great God Daughter 13

 in family  tagged baby / God Daughter / new life by

My wonderful God Daughter, well she is the boys God Sister, her mum and dad are the boys Godparents and I was their bridesmaid (are you confused yet?) had a little baby girl on 27 October 2010. Now due to the fact that she ended up with a c-section and then it was far too snowy to travel and then with mum dying and her great grandma dying too, I haven’t had the chance to meet her until this week. So let me introduce you to the adorable Megan Alice……. There is something so comforting in holding a new life after losing someone close.  You can see all their potential and […]

Grandma 44

 in death / Uncategorized  tagged death / mum by

Today is the day that we all say our final goodbyes to Mum.  Her funeral is at 1pm and then she will be buried and we will be having a party to celebrate her life.  I will be saying a eulogy in the church, I did for Dad too.  I have decided to talk about mum as a Grandma.   To our Grandma Whist talking to the boys and Tori about Grandma, I decided to write down the things that made mum such a special Grandma to three wonderful children. She lets us play what we want with her. We get to bake and make traffic light jellies. She is really […]

Escapism 10

 in Books  tagged books / Galaxy / Ian Rankin by

I used to love reading, before I had the boys and was in to all this blogging lark, my head could be found in a book pretty much every spare minute of the day.  I devoured the words, I sunk in to the imaginary world around me and I read.  I loved everything about books, from the anticipation of a new book from a specific author to the feel of the pages turning and the respite from everyday life they presented to me. Somewhere over the last 6 years I have got out of the habit of reading.  I can not concentrate long enough to read a book, I keep reading […]

Mummy can you scratch my bum? 20

 in maximad / mini mads / minimad  tagged bathtimes / funny things / maximad / MiniMad / the boys by

We had a pretty quiet weekend consisting of football practice and then a football party for the boys on Saturday and a Sunday which mainly included lots of comfort food and cuddles, which was fine by me. One of the plus point of buying the boys DSi’s for Christmas is that me and MadDad get a lie in on a weekend as the boys tend not to wake us at silly o clock.  So this morning we were both lounging in bed and the boys came in for a cuddles with the DSi’s and we had a lazy, snugly morning. All was peaceful until Mini asked me to scratch his bum.  […]

The mysterious case of the missing yellow Sports Mixture 9

 in Uncategorized  tagged cadbury / complaining / sports mixture / sweets by

I love yellow Sports Mix, in fact the pineapple ones are the only reason I ever buy a pack of Sport Mixture.  I take out all the yellow ones and then share the rest between the family, but they never, ever get a yellow one. Over the last couple of months neither have I.  All the yellow Sports Mixture have disappeared.  It was very frustrating, but I just stopped buying them.  My mum bought me a box of Sports Mixture for my birthday in the hope that the box might have some of the illusive yellow ones in.  Well I opened the box after her death and guess what, not one […]

How Dare You 54

 in death  tagged dad / death / greiving / loss / mum by

You carry on as though nothing is wrong in your world, you drop the children to school and you all chat banally about what presents you got for Christmas and what you bought in the January Sales, don’t you know I am dying inside. The children run around the playground delighted to see each other again after the Christmas break and I want to curl up and hide, don’t you know I am hurting inside. The cars jostle for parking spaces on the high street and the delivery lorries double park, more fodder for the consumers.  Don’t they know the last thing I want is any more stuff, I am small […]

The Last Christmas 16

 in Christmas by

Today my wonderful sister in law Deb and I took down all the Christmas Decorations at mums house.  It will be the last Christmas that they adorn her tree or the walls of the family home.    No more will the lights twinkle in the window to welcome me as I pull up outside, or the sounds of silent night great me as I open the glass door. I shed silent tears as we removed the ornaments from the tree, each one bought with love and put them into one of two boxes, one for me and one for my brother.  My box holds the threadbare white teddies that I remember from […]

How did we do with our 2010 resolutions? 12

 in Christmas by

I know many people would be saying blooming good riddance to 2010 and hello 2011, but in some ways that seems to be doing the year a major disservice, especially as it has been a quarter of Mini’s life to date.  So I am going to just focus on the fact the lows are what makes the highs so spectacular and also say a quiet good bye to lost loved ones. 2010 Cuddle Mummy in the night if I get scared -Maxi Learn to write my name – Mini Be a footballer – Maxi Learn to write mummy’s name – Maxi Spend less time on the PC – Me Dance more […]