Wednesday Baking day!

Wednesdays have become something of a regular baking day with the children. During the school pick up time, it was raining heavily, very cold and very windy. It feels so good to be able to come home, shut the world out and get changed into our comfy pyjamas and warm slippers at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Then after a quick snack, sleeves rolled up, hands washed and aprons on!
R is so excited about her ability to read and write sentences so she was able to pick out the ingredients we needed from my baking bag. R and K took turns to crack eggs, whisk them, add the carefully measured ingredients as chosen by R from her Princess Book of Baking. There were no squabbles, arguments or rifts of rivalry. Just lovely pleasantness, chit chat and bonding, not to mention all the hidden learning going on!
I am full of gratitude for the quality time that I enjoy with my children. I cannot think of a better way to spend an afternoon with them when it's horrible outside than to work together on our little projects. Our next task will be making Christmas cards, and others we have lined up are decorating jars, scrap-booking and writing journals.
We turned out 2 batches of muffins, one plain and one chocolate batch. After dinner, we set about the task of decorating these with buttercream, jelly candy butterflies and multi coloured polka dots.
Then of course it was tasting time!

And the washing up afterwards.....

And finally a lovely cup of coffee from my new Tassimo T40 machine which I got in a better than half price deal!

My Girly Girl

I gave myself a pampering session and a bath but the most satisfying part of the day was nursing my poor little baby girl back to her normal self after a night of being sick. It was a relief to see that it was only a 24 hour bug and it went through her system very quickly.

My little R is a girly girl. She loves glitter, princesses, mermaids, Barbies, hair accessories, pink clothes, dresses with sequins and frills that twirl. She is choosy about the way her hair is styled and will not allow it to be cut, or even trimmed. I haven't been able to get her hair cut since she was 2 years old. All it needs is some tidying, but she refuses to have it cut half an inch. But I love all this about her! 

I find it fascinating that she is like this without my influence. As a baby, I used to dress her in pink babygros with heart and strawberry motifs but that is as far as I've gone when it comes to gender stereotyping. Most of her wardrobe is full of clothes of all imaginable colours, but the ones she wears the most are the pink ones. As she's turned 5 this year, I gave her the party she loves, which is a princess party complete with princess dress and princess cake. Up until now, she has not had a girly party, and there's no time like the present, because before I know it she might have grown out of the girly phase.

I had a personal training session at the gym which went really well. I found myself feeling very driven and determined. I promised myself that as soon as I go back to work, I will do some personal training sessions.
As I was walking home from the gym, I crossed paths with a transgender male. The man was dressed as a woman, in a knee length skirt, pick capped sleeve t-shirt, long, straightened hair, (possibly a wig?) and make up on his face. But what gave him away was his angular jaws, and his manly legs. I've never seen one in person before and it was strange to see him right there in front of me. I wonder how one ends up that way, being confused about their gender. It's such a core part of who we are, and the most fundamental part of out identity is whether we are a male of a female, yet some people cannot bring themselves to accept the body they were born with. What an incomprehensibly traumatic experience.

I then started thinking that some day my children will see these sorts of people and start asking me awkward questions. My daughter has already started with the questions. I love the scientific questions she asks me. Like, where does rain come from? How does it stay up in the sky? Why can we see the moon in the sky in the daytime and at the same time as the sun? It's endless. But I love answering them, and I often find myself stuck. I hope that both of my children never lose that wonder. So I make a huge effort out of making their learning fun.

I have a question of my own here: How can one person have so much capacity to love another?

Halloween Half Term

My plans for half term were to spend a lot of quality time with the children, as on school days the time in between school pick up until bedtime just seems to evaporate. There is always so much to be done during the week, whether it's a school activity, swimming lesson or playdate, then cook dinner, reading and bath followed by the bedtime routine. The one thing which we never ever miss out is our bedtime story. We snuggle up into my king bed with me in the middle and each child either side of me, with their chosen story for the night. It's the favourite part of my day, firstly because I get lots of cuddles and giggles, and second it means that I am closer to my daily 'me time'!

One of the quality time activities I planned was baking of course! R had received a cookbook as a birthday present as well as a baking set, apron and hat so we decided to put these to use. She took her time poring over every pretty picture of baked goodies and settled on a few of her favourites. The next step was to find all the ingredients and this meant a trip to Tesco because R had picked some of the most intricately decorated recipes that I did not have all the ingredients for. Luckily I managed to go on my own to do the shopping otherwise R would have wanted to buy everything on the shelves. It was just as well, because I very nearly did this myself! There was a 3 for 2 offer and I just had to make the most of this and replenish my supplies of baking ingredients. I now have a huge bag of supplies in the middle of my kitchen and I need a whole cupboard for baking! This means a major reorganisation of my kitchen, which I have left for another day...for now we can use them straight from the bag in the middle of my kitchen.

So far we have made chocolate biscuits and vanilla biscuits. For the first effort, there were ok but a little too greasy. I accidentally added too much sugar because I measured the wrong quantity and realised just as soon as I had put it into to mixture, which is irreversible. But the children still ate what they made and were very pleased with them. Somehow I forgot to take a picture of the finished goods, but I did managed to get a picture of them in the process.

We also went to Bekonscot Model Village, which I have not been back to myself since I was a child. The weather was always going to be a nuisance as it is an outdoor attraction, but I had to take the chance as R has been asking to go for a whole week. As it turned out, the sun was shining on the way there, and when we arrived it started to rain. That didn't stop us as we had our umbrellas with us and we could carry on along the route through the village. Luckily the rain wasn't heavy and only lasted for 5 minutes and then stopped and for the rest of the time it was quite bright. The rain never dampens the children's excitement at whatever they may be doing. They were thrilled at feeling like giants among a zoo, funfair, castle, hotel, horse racing and mini steam train among many. We ended up going around the village three times and then they spent some time in the very pretty and colourful playground there.

Camera, Photo, Canvas!

I realised while reading back over some of my recent posts, that I have not been posting many photographs. This is really because I am hardly ever using my proper camera, but my iPhone to take pictures. My digital camera is not that great anymore, and what I really, really need is an SLR camera.
This brings me nicely onto the blog of a friend who is running a competition to win a 20 x 28 inch canvas from HelloCanvas.co.uk. You can read about her review of the canvas she had made, as well as the details of this competition on her blog http://allbabyadvice-blog.com/

This is the photo I would love to have on a canvas. Naturally, it's my two children and although they seem to be naturals at having their picture taken, this is not the case at all! Like most children, it is so hard to get them to both look in the same direction at the same time and I struggle to get R to stand still without striking the most ridiculous poses and face pulling stunts.
This almost acceptable picture was probably achieved after about 30 shots, and it's the best of many, many, many more!
So it will be a reminder of my hard work and a motivator to keep at it. One of my next goals will be to get a good close up of their faces together, and also one of me and them together, good enough to get blown up onto a canvas.
It is also the day before K is due to have his plaster cast removed, so this is probably the last picture taken of him with it on.

Thoughts of the day....

I discovered a new set of feelings today. Well, I seem to be feeling them each and every day. Feelings I never knew I could have. Feelings that just grow and swell within me day after day. My children fill me with wonder and amazement every day. Sometimes I just stare at them in awe! Is that weird? Sometimes I feel that I don't want them to grow up anymore so I can enjoy their sweet innocence perpetually. I love their wide-eyed innocence when they are in awe of something they find truly amazing.

As a mother, I make lists in my head as I drift off to sleep. When I saw this scene acted by SJP in the film "I Don't Know How She Does It" I was so excited that I could show my husband that this is exactly what goes on in my head as I lie in bed.
Another line from the movie which I loved was the following description of mothers:
"While apart from their children, mothers are wondering what they're doing, wishing they are safe and hoping they are happy."

Lessons in life: What you can and cannot do

1. You cannot make everyone happy, so look after number 1, because no-one else will

2. Pick your battles - it's a cliche but you win some, you lose some

3. You are not always right

4. Learn how to make decisions, it is an essential life skill which you don't learn at school. At school you mainly learn how to follow instructions and a set of rules. 

5. Respect and trust have to be earned in any relationship, even from your own children

6. Take everyday action towards your goals

7. You are only limited by your attitude

8. Be grateful for all you have

On that last point, I feel that I'm finally starting to get my life back. I don't have the duty of taking K with me everywhere. There is so much we take for granted in our lives. Our health. Our ability to see, hear, walk, talk, feel, touch, and even just to breathe. Our wealth. The roof over our heads, clean running water, heating, electricity and gadgets. Cars, education, holidays, restaurants and entertainment. Doctors, medical care and medicine, laws and their enforcers. We are lucky enough to see all these things as necessities in our lives. Imagine if you lost just one of these things. It can turn your world upsidedown. Now imagine losing 2,3 or 4 and you have entered what the Western developed world calls a Third World country....

Courgette, Carrot and Chocolate

The title of this post might suggest that I have made something using all these ingredients in the same recipe. This is not the case, but I have used all these ingredients to make something which you might not easily guess.
Let me first tell you how I came up with these three things. Well, I found myself with an abundance of carrots and courgettes (and also mushrooms) in my fridge so I decided to make a batch of ragu using these vegetables finely grated in it. I have frozen some to use later. And chocolate...I had a large and tempting bar of cooking chocolate in my kitchen pantry which I wanted to use before its use by date.
I still had an excess of vegetables so my next plan was to make cakes. I made a carrot and walnut cake, and a courgette cake. Some of you may have heard of a courgette cake but those of you who haven't, it really works! It was the first time I've made it and it looked and tasted like a real sponge cake.
So here are the recipes

Carrot and Walnut Cake

150g wholemeal self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp ground mixed spice
7 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 medium eggs
100g butter or reduced fat spread. I love to use Flora Cuisine in baking, it is already in liquid form so you don't have to soften it as you would with butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g finely grated carrots
60g roughly chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to fan 160C
Line a cake tin with baking parchment
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together
Place the mixture into the tin and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the tin size.


Courgette Cake

I couldn't find the photo of it but it did look very similar to the carrot cake above!

250g finely grated courgette
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
75g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, and grease and line a cake tin
Make sure the grated courgette is sieved to remove excess water.
Cream the eggs, sugar and oil in a bowl.
Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and mix well.
Stir in the courgetter
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes
Test it with a wooden skewer and if it comes out dry then it is ready.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning out.

Variation
Add in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder and half a teaspoon of mixed spice.
Add in 50g chopped walnuts and the juice and zest of 1 orange


Finally, I made a chocolate cake for A's birthday which happened to fall on Friday13th this year. I'm not a very superstitious person but I am very conscious of days like Friday13th, and while I don't have a fear of it, I do feel slightly relieved when it has passed without incident.
It is the best chocolate cake I've ever made, and it can only get better so I am now waiting for the next occasion to bake a cake. I usually have a homemade maderia cake at all times, but I have built up a resistance to it which means I can bake the cake and not eat any of it. I haven't managed to do with chocolate cake yet. When I make a chocolate cake, I EAT chocolate cake!

Here's how I made it


225g Self raising flour
35g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
4 tablespoons water
125g caster sugar
125g light brown sugar
150g butter
3 medium eggs, beaten
150ml cream

Preheat oven to fan 160C
Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm tins with baking parchment
Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside.
Place chocolate and water in a small heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water
Using an electric whisk, cream the sugars and butter together until light and fluffy
Gradually add the beaten eggs, with a little of the flour after each addition
Add the cream and the melted chocolate
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until firm
Leave the cake to cool

To make the ganache, place 200g plain chocolate, broken into pieces with 300ml double cream over a bain marie until well combined and melted.
Pour over the centre of the cake and gently spread out over the top and sides of the cake

I made mine using a bundt cake mould and it works just as well!

Banana ice cream crumble

A simple but SO satisfying dessert, or just when you feel like a treat, and best of all it's extremely easy!!

Take a ripe banana, peel it and cut into 1cm thick slices. Put these on a plate and put it in the freezer for 2 hours or so. When the banana slices are frozen, mash them up with a fork until they resemble ice cream, or you can put them in a blender instead.
Crush some plain digestive biscuits in a bowl. Add a scoop of banana ice cream. Crush some more digestives over the top, and drizzle with golden syrup, honey or toffee sauce. Eat. Enjoy. Wow.

PJ Sunday

I woke up this morning feeling very relaxed. I had a relaxing evening last night, doing nothing much, and the children woke up late, which meant a long lie in for me!
I have a few errands to run and I had planned my day to fit them all in. However, my children had other plans. They were not interested in tagging along to my chores, and all they wanted to day was spend the day in their pyjamas and playing at home. So that's exactly what we did! My errands can wait till tomorrow.
They played so wonderfully together, and really enjoy each other's company. They spent almost the whole day going from room to room finding creative ways of entertaining themselves. Why disturb their hours of joy by taking them on errands which are so boring for them? The fact that is was pouring with rain for most of the day made even more sense! The afternoon brought some sunshine so they were able to play in the garden as well. Yesterday they helped me do some gardening, and they wanted to do more today.
In the afternoon, I left the children with their dad who was home from work early, and I went to do my gym and swim workout. The Wimbledon men's final had just started and I went to watch it during my workout. Thanks to the rain the match was interrupted for 45 minutes and when it restarted I was so engrossed that I hardly felt the workout, though I did pause several times during the tense, nailbiting moments. But it was not to be, Andy Murray lost the game but won our hearts with his emotional outpouring speech. I wish he would just smile more, though who can imagine the amount of pressure he is under. Federer, on the other hand is pure genius, there's no other way to describe him, he's a prodigy of tennis.
After I came home, I put the children to bed and sat down to organise the week ahead. Meal planning is not something I always enjoy, especially when I would rather be reading one of my new books from Amazon, but it's something that I have to do. This week however, I am in a very experimental mode and I have a list flying in my head of new recipes to try that I have not attempted before. The recipes require shopping for ingredients that I have not used before and I love trying new things, I get a little buzz when I go out to find them! So if you want to know what these dishes are, and how they turned out, keep following to find out!

School days

When R is at school, I really miss her. She is so wide-eyed and animated, as most 4 and 5 year olds are naturally. K misses her too and from about 1pm everyday, he asks me several times if it is time to go and pick her up. When we do go to pick her up, it's the highlight of his day. He sometimes hugs her and starts telling her about what he did in the day.
On the 7 minute drive home, we talk about her day at school and we also manage to make plans for the rest of the afternoon. Some days we do some gardening, wash the car, bake bread, and play fun games.
On other days, all she wants to do is watch her favourite children's tv show and raid the fridge for snacks. K is happy to go along with whatever she wants, though I don't know how long this will last!
There is one thing that I'm struggling to get her to do is her spellings and reading books from school. Struggling and she's only in Reception! Now I'm not looking forward to the next 12 years of school that we have to go through!

One particular day, I got out of the car and opened the back door to let the children out. I saw R's face looking at my shoulder. It was a face of terror but she didn't say a word. She just went silent. I asked her what was wrong.
She replied in a very slow and stutter-y manner "There's.....there's something....on your collar"
Me, frozen: Well, what is it R?
R: Erm.....errrr....
Me: WHAT?!? What is it? Is it moving? Is it alive?!
R: Yes I think so

I felt like I wanted to scream and throw off my jacket, but I kept calm. I didn't want the children to see me panic hysterically! It took a lot of focus for me to appear brave and cool. I dropped the bags in my hand and slid off the jacket. I looked at the collar, and there was a small but extremely disgusting insect on the collar. It was a neon green insect with red edges. I flicked it off with an umbrella, shuddering at the thought that it could have gone down the back of my neck! Obviously, the children were fascinated by this insect and wanted to make sure I had not harmed it!

Time for a coffee on my comfy sofa I think!

My Favourite British Things

Food
Fish and chips - steaming hot, oily, salty chips!
Sunday roast - the gravy oooooooooh
Cream teas - no explanation needed

Culture
Children's books - Julia Donaldson, Harry Potter, Roald Dahl
The Royal Family - Royal weddings, Jubilees, the pageantry and pomp
The Science Museum

Geography
The countryside - the quietness away from the hustle and bustle of the city
Seaside towns - the ice cream, sticks of rock, arcades and rock pooling

Designers
Matthew Willamson
Jenny Packham
Cath Kidston - who doesnt'?

Sports People
David Beckham
Amir Khan
Rebecca Adlington

Actors/actresses 
Dame Judy Dench
Thandie Newton
Emily Blunt
Colin Firth - Mr Darcy!!
Clive Owen

Chefs
James Martin
Nigel Slater
Rick Stein
Rachel Allen
Delia Smith

Music
The Beatles
Adele
Dido
Ed Sheeran



My un-favourite British Things

Marmite - it's a love it or hate it thing, and I'm a 'hate it'
The weather -
The press - who do they think they are?
Tulisa
Jamie Oliver

A mixed bag....

I recently decided to start running, but after just a week, the weather went back to heavy rainfall for days on end. This annoyed me, especially after a week of warm, dry weather which is what inspired me to go running in the first place. So I decided to join the gym so that I could keep going with my fitness plan, and ironically, it hasn't rained all week so far!
I can already feel the difference it has been making and I want to keep my motivation level high enough right through to the end of the summer (although it has been rather more like Autumn lately)
I much prefer swimming to gym because it works out the body all over and there is no sweat!
I can't wait till I see the results I want!

I had heard about a Toddler World activity at a leisure centre so I took K to check it out. The facility was huge and there was an endless amount of fun things to do. There was a bouncy castle, ride on trikes, hoops, basketball and soft play. It was the best way to spend a rainy morning.

 I haven't been baking for some time and I felt the urge to make something I haven't tried before. I have my signature madeirorange cake perfected and I wanted to try something new for a change. I also had a lot of carrots and walnuts to use up so what better way to do so than incorporate them into a cake. I was so pleased with the result that I will be making this on a regular basis. It uses hardly any sugar, and I may even leave it out altogether next time.




Today, I took the children to my old school reunion. I got the invitation many weeks ago and had forgotten all about it until I was going through some paperwork and it reappeared. I have been looking forward to this, although my sister and my friends from school were not around to go with me. I live only two streets away from the school but I haven't entered the grounds since I left in 1997. I was at Northwood College from 1987-90 and then again for 6th form in 1995-97. In between, I went to secondary school in Abu Dhabi where we lived for 5 years from 1990-95.
It felt very evocative to be back there. It was also strange giving my daughter and son a tour of the school, showing them my old class rooms, library, playground, assembly hall, dining room and sports fields. There were displays of photographs, yearbooks and uniforms. There was a lovely BBQ lunch, cream tea and a live band playing which my children enjoyed. A surreal Saturday afternoon for me!

In the late afternoon, I decided to bake bread with the children. They love making bread and cakes and get such pleasure from seeing the results of their efforts. We measured out the ingredients together, made the dough and kneaded it by hand, but knowing that the children's patience is very short, I should have used the mixer. They loved rolling it into long thin shapes and twisting them. I gave them a bath while waiting for the dough to rise and after baking, they resembled breadsticks which they ate warm with hummous and olives for their dinner.

Den building day

This weekend I have the children all to myself, and it has started becoming quite unusual for this to happen because there are always friends to see, birthday parties and playdates to go to and so on. So when a friend of mine had to change her plans, it felt quite nice that it was going to me just me and my children.
We had a plan arranged for the morning, to go to an Outdoor Explorers session, organised by the local children's centre and today's activity was den building. Although it was very, very windy, the organisers took us into a well sheltered spot in the woods and the group got started. I have to say it was so much fun! The children were so excited about the whole thing, and I must admit I really enjoyed it too! All the materials were provided such as tarpaulin, camouflage nets, blankets, fabrics, pegs, string, cable ties, torches, and of course the branches from the wood itself.

Here's what our finished den looked like

We didn't want to take it apart and the children even wanted to sleep in it. We got home just before it started to rain and they were inspired to make a den at home and here it is

They spent hours hours playing and sitting in their den, reading books and playing ''house''. I took them a 'picnic' lunch and snacks to eat in it. They loved this so much that they even asked if they could sleep in it at night, and seeing as it was bringing them so much joy, I let them!

While they spent the afternoon in the den, I had time to myself to read magazines, drink tea, paint my nails and eat from the first delivery of my new Graze box!!

Half term at Haven

I decided to take the family on our very first UK holiday. I knew the weather was going to be unpredictable, but I was not going to let that stop me. It's half term, it's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we have our new car, so a bit of rain is not going to dampen my spirits! 

It was the right time to start, with the children being almost 5 and 3, it is our first road trip, our first holiday with no with no buggy, with both children being toilet trained, sleep trained and with any luck, R will have some memories of it. 

To make R's wish come true, I booked a caravan holiday on the South West Coast of England, in Weymouth, Dorset. 

There is so much to see and do in Dorset that the 4 nights were simply not enough. 

Despite the weather being cold, wet and windy we managed to fit in a whole load of activities including swimming, kite flying, mini golf, biking, sand building, arcades, beach exploring, seaside attractions, arts and crafts, live music, singing and dancing. 

There were so many local attractions to visit and so many historical sights to see including the Jurassic coast, 1000 year old castles and stately homes. 

We spent our nights in our caravan, played lots of family board games and making good conversation. 

The only television we watched was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 

The only thing we missed was being able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables because it just wasn’t on offer at the places we went to eat. By the end of the 4th day, R was actually craving it, asking for peas, peas and more peas. 

Sandworld

Portland Bill

Weymouth Beach and Harbour

www.lulworth.com

Rambling in the Rain

While I was looking through iTunes for running tracks, I came across albums that have been compiled specifically for running or workout purposes! I love the idea of this because I was just about to compile my own album to run to.
For once, the weather was warm and sunny and so after school I took the children to Ruilsip Lido with a bag of stale bread to feed the ducks. The children love doing this only today there were far more swans and geese than there were ducks. The swans started running towards us as soon as they saw me rustling a plastic carrier bag and the size of some of these swans dwarfed poor little K who was terrified. R found the whole greedy swan thing quite funny and was determined to stay until she had finished feeding the swans all the bread.
It really is annoying just how much the weather affects my mood. I do wish that it didn't make any difference to me, just like the children, but it really does make me feel down when it's miserable out there. I think I should do something about this because I don't want to pass on my mood and moaning to my children! We had an amusing conversation about the rain the other day. R asked me who make it rain and why. I gave her the answer that all life needs water to live and grow, such as trees, plants, animals and people. She thought about this for a moment and then said, ''But mummy, we get water from the tap, we don't need rain. So why does it have to rain?' I then gave her the explanation of how the water from our taps gets there. And more questions followed. They went on and on and on. I really enjoyed being asked these kinds of questions as they reveal quite a lot about her thought processes. I love answering them too and seeing the look on her face as she takes on board the information I give her. One of her questions was "What if it rains so much that the rivers flood and the people and houses and trees sink?" I had to think about that one, the challenge is that the answer I give needs to be age appropriate, easy for her to understand and the foundation upon which she will build on.
This conversation reminded me of the incredible amount of power we have over our children, in that we can make them believe anything we want, and it also made me feel sad that there are many parents who exploit and abuse this power for financial gain. This is the case in many third world countries (child labour), but even in the world's most developed countries beauty pageant competitions exist for under 5's. If you haven't seen Toddlers and Tiaras, don't watch it unless you want to witness an ethically and morally wrong activity. I would even challenge the fact that it is a competition.
The capacity and potential to learn that children have is astounding.  Each and every day, there is something new that my children say or do that makes me swell with joy. Even more astounding is the capacity of my love for them, it just keeps expanding and growing, and in the words of one of their favourite characters, to infinity and beyond!

Sunny Days

What a difference the sun makes! This week we have had the hottest day of the year so far at 28 degrees.  We've been up to so much now that the weather has opened up so many activities to us. I've had a list in my head of the things I want to do in the summer so at the first hint of a warm week I put my plans into action. Who knows how long it will last so I am going to do as much as I can in as little time as possible to make the most of it.

I started by mowing the lawn, which I have not done since I was a child! I used to cut the grass in my parent's back garden during secondary school. The grass in my garden was almost up to my knees. I had a gardener, but he hasn't been turning up and I have lost his number so I thought why wait for him when I can do this myself! So I had to go through a lot of junk in my shed to find the lawnmower right at the back in the remotest, hardest to reach corner. Off I went about mowing and found myself really enjoying it! I have lost the skill of mowing in straight lines as I seemed to be manoeuvering it like a vacuum cleaner and ended up with a patch in the middle of the garden looking much like a crop triangle! I had stop in the middle of mowing to give K his lunch as he had just woken from his nap and then rush off to school to pick up R and rush her and her 2 friends to their swimming lesson. Rush over, I completed my mowing and felt quite satisfied at making my gardener redundant.

A lot of garden toys and games were next to come out of the shed after a winter hibernation.
Next, I looked for all my gardening tools. Shovels, spades, fork, gloves, plants pots and watering cans.
I have always wanted to grow my own vegetables and this is the time to do it. I went to buy compost and some seeds to plant. R's choice was beans and sunflowers. So we started with these and planted them first. We also have some window pots growing parsley and cress. The next thing to do is set up a raised bed and plant some root veg and herbs. I couldn't go to the Chelsea Flower show this year, and I would have really loved to go as the weather is perfect for it, so I will have to wait till next year.
At least I can admire my own garden....here it is




Another thing I love doing which really makes me sound like a 50's housewife is hang the washing to dry outside. I love drying the laundry outside, and when I don't have laundry to wash, I will go and find something to wash! As it happens, I do have a lot of washing at the moment, including bedsheets and linen so I ended up hanging so much washing out that by the time I had finished putting them on, some were already dry, that's how warn it is! I also swept the driveway as it was looking very untidy.

R and K decided to play camping in a sleeping bag. The pair of them wanted to be zipped up into a thick, heavily insulated and hooded sleeping bag in the middle of the garden! Then they wanted to bring pillows and blankets too in the middle of the afternoon sun and they looked like they were supposed to be in Iceland. After this game, they played a teddy bear picnic game which is one of their favourite games...using a sledge! I gave the children their dinner outside as well. They played with their ride on toys, the slide, trampoline and bubble blowing. They watered the plants and dug pebbles up with their spades.

I got the fan out as well and then decided to move my dining table around to make it easier to come in and out from the house to the garden.
The next job was to clean the barbeque so we can use it again. Found the charcoal and tongs. Now I need food to grill so a trip to the butcher is required.




Finally, I found a very old plant pot which looked very ugly. I decided to transform it by painting it and voila, it looks amazing now. I want to do more of this!