May 2012 | Mum In The Madhouse

May 2012

Last minute Jubilee crafting thanks to Kodak’s free Jubilee printables

Thankfully Kodak came to the rescue with their fantastic free jubilee printables. So I have been printing like a demon on my new Office Hero 6.1 printer that they gave me. I have made the boys fantastically simple crowns for their jubilee day tomorrow, printed out cake toppers for mini bunting for my Jubilee layer cake and more impressive that that I have actually use their bunting and flag printables to make the boys t-shirts for tomorrows red, white and blue day using Dylons image maker, which transfers pictures on to fabric!

Last minute Jubilee crafting thanks to Kodak’s free Jubilee printables Read More »

sponsored video – Avivia want to see what you have done to make your home extraordinary ….

Aviva are currently running a competition to win £5000. They want to know what you have done to make your home extraordinary. Now I could never live up to the two old chaps in the video below (please do watch it as it melted my heart a little and will hopefully make you smile too

sponsored video – Avivia want to see what you have done to make your home extraordinary …. Read More »

More Small Stuff

am struggling to see the good and light in everything at the moment and finding it hard to be bright and bubbly with a broken arm. I can not sew, stitch, type, bake or craft, all the things that feed my soul. I can not bear to travel on a bumpy bus, especially as my fracture is not in a cast and mobile, so we are pretty much stuck to the small (very small) village we live in.

More Small Stuff Read More »

Bean juice, slips and snaps

went arse over tit, in slow motion and put my left arm out to try and stop myself my catching on to the counter top, but instead of stopping me falling it just went crack instead. So off to A&E in an ambulance I went. Gas and Air did nothing and the poor paramedics couldn’t get a vein to administer any pain relief. Drew arranged for the boys to go to his parents and followed behind. Once at the hospital I mad some morphine and then x-rays and yep, my arm is broken. but……………… in typical Jen fashion (I do not do anything by half) it is a lateral fracture of the bone as it goes in to the shoulder, so it can not be potted.

So I am in a sling and in a lot of pain. We are hoping that the bone knits well on its own in 3 to 4 weeks and then I a

Bean juice, slips and snaps Read More »

Choosing Joy

There have been times when I have screamed at the top of my lungs to an empty beach “why me? What have we done to you? Why do I have to pout up with all this shit?”. There have been times when I have had to lock myself in the loo to hide the tears from my boys, haven’t they seen enough suffering in their short lives?

Then I read a blog like Ashley’s and it reminds me that life is all about choices, bot just the ones we actively chose to make, but the ones we chose to ignore too. It is my choice to make the most out of each and every day, to believe the universe will provide and that we live everyday, not survive it, but enjoy it. That I am going to chose joy. That I am going to embrace my family and journey with them ever forward and yes I might be scared, but I will always travel my path with dignity, my husband and boys by my side and a heart filled with optimism and love.

I am going to try and live in the hear and now and watch my children with their joyous abandon and let its infectiousness rub off on me. I am going to make time for my husband and our marriage and I am going to enjoy reclaiming some me time and finding some inner peace amongst the white noise of everyday life. I am going to do once thing everyday and do it well.

I am choosing joy.

Choosing Joy Read More »

The things they say and do – The joke edition

hildren and jokes. I am not sure that the boys really get jokes. They have up until now made up ones that made very little sence to me or anyone else for that matter, but had then rolling in the aisle.

But the times they are a changing…………………..

Maxi: Knock Knock

Mini: Who’s there?

Maxi: Love

Mini: Love who?

Maxi: Love you too

Then they both kiss!

Mini: Knock, knock

Maxi: Who’s there?

Mini: Atish

Maxi: Atish who?

The things they say and do – The joke edition Read More »

The Pyrex Dish

Even as I grew up and had a family of my own, my mum always encouraged me to cook and I realised that she had given me a firm foundation in the kitchen and love of seasonal produce. I know you are only a dish, but I cried a little last night for a woman that I miss so much and then when I saw you in the bin this morning I cried a little more for the time in my life you represent.

Yes, I know my mum would be saying “it is just a dish Jen” and indeed it is, but also a thousand memories were baking inside it and it will always hold a place in my heart.

The Pyrex Dish Read More »