The new letters after my name....SAHM

Yesterday was my last day of work.....ever. I never thought I would do or say something like that. I'd been thinking about it for a couple of months, in fact, it took me a whole month just to bring myself to think about giving up work, let alone mention it. I went through a roller coaster of emotions dealing with this, including pain, tears, guilt and sorrow. I put off telling my team of my decision for two weeks because I felt guilty and I knew they would be devastated.

I love going to work, the challenges of solving problems, the adult interaction, the use of my adult skills and experience, the cups of tea made by my colleagues and the relationship I have with my staff. 

I decided to take a career break to look after my children while they are still young and focus on them wholly, fully and completely. I was really pleasantly surprised at how understanding many of my colleagues were about my decision. ''I am sure you won't regret spending time with your children'', ''You are doing the right thing'', ''I really admire you putting family first and career second'' the bank will always be here when your children grow up, but children are only young once and you should never miss out on it'', ''I'd do the same thing if I were in your shoes'' It was great to hear all those things. And in terms of priorities, family first, career second is definitely true in my book.

I also got some more career focussed comments like ''why don't you apply for the full time position that has just come up? you'll be perfect for it'' and ''why don't you negotiate your pay?'' and these are true too, if I didn't have my children, I would be making a career move and go up the ladder to a higher position of responsibility and remuneration. But that will have to wait till a year or two down the line. Sniff sniff. 

So my last day was very memorable and I had mixed feelings about it all. My team treated me to a feast of a 3 course Arabic lunch which included hommous, mutabal, tabbouleh, fattoush, felafel, halloumi, spinach pastries, cheese pastries, spicy potato cubes, lamb sausages, fresh bread,and salad platter and olives all for starters. Main course was grilled chicken and rice, and finally the sweetest freshest pineapple, watermelon and baklawa for dessert. To help with digestion, we had mint tea. It took us two hours to eat all this food, and we were so full that we went back to the office for the last hour of work feeling satisfactorily comatose and badly in need of a siesta. I was lavished with red roses, two boxes of chocolates, candles and a whole sheet of poetry composed by our very own in house poet. If I was ever in doubt about how my team felt about me, this said it all. Romantic!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night when it's my leaving dinner, with my whole team.

I decided to take a survey on my values and this was my result....

You are an Open-Minded Achiever

You are someone who craves personal success, putting 100% effort into everything you do. It’s a quality that others are likely to admire and you take pleasure in knowing that your many achievements and accomplishments are respected. You like to challenge yourself to use your abilities and talents to the full and you apply these to reach your career and personal goals. As well as setting high standards for yourself and being keen to go the extra mile, you’re probably less tolerant of underachievement in others.

You enjoy as much variety in life as most people, balancing the need for stimulation with familiarity. You are reasonably willing to tackle new challenges and fairly comfortable with change. Most people probably see you as someone who enjoys excitement and risk-taking in some situations, while being noticeably less daring in other circumstances. You’re unlikely to be seen as a reckless thrill-seeker, but you have your moments when the need for excitement gets the better of you!

In general though, your need for some stability and continuity in your life provides a useful balance to your very high level of ambition. This will prevent you from becoming too restless or easily bored, and will give you the focus and persistence to see things through. Your friends probably consider you to be someone who strives to deliver great things, whilst also affording some time to finding satisfaction from other aspects of your life.

It does sound a lot like my colleagues and manager described me. I'm going to miss it bad. But I just hope I will never regret it. 

So I used to be Nargis AL-Sadiq, SSM, ACIB, BSc (Hons) 

While my other working friends made fun of me for becoming an unemployed chav, I considered whether being retired sounded better, but then got mocked for being a pensioner...so I decided to give myself a new title I am now a full time stay at home mum....Nargis Al-Sadiq SAHM

or FTSAHWTKM (full time stay at home with the kids mum)

How to have a lie in

My husband, A is not a morning person. He is a great dad and husband, but not a morning person. It takes forever to get him out of bed, like a teenager, and then its grumpy time. Most mornings I am up and raring to go, in a good mood and looking forward to the day ahead. But occasionally, I really want a lie in, and fighting for this just wakes me up anyway so I never get one! If I want one, I actually have to plan it in advance and get clearance from A and strict instructions to get up quietly with the children, leave me undisturbed and shut the door.

Today, I woke up and decided to take the sides off my little boy's cot, and turn it into a junior bed, as it is a convertible cotbed. I've always disliked the look of cots, they are just wooden cages after all, and I've been waiting till K became old enough to sleep in a normal bed. I also did this because K has been waking up at 6am and instead of laying there quietly or calling out, he cries. He cries really loud, until someone comes to get him out. I'm hoping with this freedom from the cot he will get up in the morning without crying. The downside to this is that he might be climbing out of bed every two minutes...as R did the same when she graduated from the cot, I think it took about 2 weeks for the novelty to wear off, but it's the price I have to pay for a more aesthetically pleasing room and to be able to stay in bed till 7am without being woken. That might happen in few weeks time, and over the next couple of weeks, I am expecting and prepared to be sitting with K in his room and making sure he stays in his bed until he falls asleep.
It took me a full hour to convert the bed, in spite of my two assistants R & K.  K took ownership of the toolbox and after inspecting each item, his job was to make sure that the entire toolbox contents were scattered all over the bedroom floor and in my way all the time. R wanted to hammer bits of wood but I didn't have the heart to tell them to go away, so I let them 'help'. I got R look after the nuts and bolts and passed them to me when I asked for them, and K handed me whatever tool he thought I needed. When it was finished, it looked so cute. R and K were also extremely proud of their work and jumped into the new bed saying they wanted to sleep in it together. Let's see what happens tonight. I can foresee conflict. I have a strategy in my head for dealing with this and it should work because I can predict my little ones quite easily.

A packet of desiccated coconut

Well I have thought about starting a web log thousands of times, but never thought I would actually get down to it.....well never say never. Let's see how it goes, as I'm completely new to this all. And let's also see how far I get. I think I should commit to writing a weekly blog, rather than ad hoc, because that would mean never!
As the title suggests, my two current "interests" or activities that occupy the majority of my life at the present time, are my two lovely kids, and the cooking that goes on in my kitchen.

In fact, as I type, I have a cake cooling in its tin on the kitchen worktop. It smells heavenly, and I can't wait to try it to see how it has turned out, because I invented it from scratch. Not really, but I took 6 cake recipes and then combined and altered them to my liking. I did this all because of a packet of desiccated coconut which I found in my larder, nearing its expiry date. I love coconut in all kinds of dishes, sweet and savoury, and I became determined to put this packet to good use before it expired. I also had some other ingredients that I wanted to use up, like polenta, and some eggs and milk nearing expiry.
I felt like eating coconut cake, so I googled, desiccated coconut cake and came up with 6 different recipes. Some made with ground almonds, some with semolina and some flour-less cakes.
I liked the idea of flour-less, so I made up my own bespoke cake mix, using my own bespoke measurements and came up with the one now cooling. I must wait till it completely cools, because in my previous experiences, my own impatience, led me to turn out the cake while it was still too hot, causing it to break, collapse or burn my mouth tasting it. But I can't wait any more, I'm going to taste it now while it's still in the tin.
Wow, it tastes as heavenly as it smells. Wow I could eat the whole cake. And it has just dawned on me that I didn't even write down the quantities of the ingredients I used, and I cannot remember them! How am I going to ever repeat this cake? I know I used 3 eggs. I am going to have to resort to fishing the packets out of the bin to see how much the full packet weighed, and then guestimate the quantity used in the cake. Greeeaaat.
But I am so satisfied that this cake is a success. A delicious, heavenly success.

I don't really like the word 'kids', but used it for the purpose of the title of the blog, as ''Children and the Kitchen'' doesn't sound as good. I prefer the word 'children', as it has a sound of innocence to it, whereas 'kids' sounds more unruly. Offspring is the worst though! Or issue! Whatever they are called, they are my world. My little girl, R, is nearly four, but she would correct me if she could read what I've just written, saying she is not a little girl, but just a girl, and she is already four. Her next birthday she insists she will be turning six, and when I question her about the missing age five, she says I'm wrong.
My little boy, K, is nearly 2, and does not have enough vocabulary or sense to think otherwise.
R is now begging me for a slice of cake....and her verdict is ''wonderful''!