Felt quite tired today, went back to bed after dropping the kids off. Wake up at 11, realising that I have 1.5 hours left to clean house,organise recycling and rubbish do three lots of washing, buy food for the weekend and go to the bank and pick kids up.
Rush round like a headless chicken throwing things into the washing machine. Decide to do the recycling at the same time. Find as I have taken my time over recycling, have omitted to put washing liquid into the machine. Decide to throw liquid in and find that there is nothing to wash it down with. Inspiration strikes, fill jar destined for recycling up with water and chuck it in the top of the machine. Its only as the water is cascading into the machine I notice that the jar I have selected still contains tomato sauce and a smattering of garlic. This is now in the machine. So now the washing is actually dirtier than when it went in.
A little later I am in the bank trying to get £2.95 of charges back. They tell me as it relates to a credit card, I have to call the credit card company,. despite it being the same bank. so I have just queued up for 15 mins to hear that hey cannot help me. Bank staff were very polite though so I just sighed and left (but took about 10 pens for my waiting efforts!).
In the afternoon, following mini movers, I take the kids to the garden centre to buy some potted herbs and a ghoulish pumpkin. Kids complain they are tired. Suspect that I may actually overdeliver on the outings front on a per day basis. We select bulbs to plant this weekend (try explaining the fact that you wont see these tulips for another 4 months to an eager 3 year old!). At the till I am offered a gardening club card for which I get discounts. Fill out paperwork whilst trying to fend kids from breaking the glass items eversohelpfully located next to the till.
We were so close to leaving, the exit was about 6 meters away, when I spot the "guess the weight of the prize pumpkin". have a meaningful discussion with the kids about how much it weighs. As much as Igglepiggle was one theory. As much as Daddy (!) was another. As I am filling out our guesses, I notice its extremely quiet. Thats because my son is staring in horror at my daughter who has left a perfect imprint of her teeth in the prize (no more) pumpkin. Look around for witnesses, luckily there are none. Heard the kids out of the building, tell Madam off. Boy wants to know all the way back why we cannot have such a big pumpkin as the one int the garden centre.......As garden centre now have our home details, I am awaiting a bill to come through the oh so delayed post for damages to the pumpkin.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Fridays off
May have to start with a yoga class, found one which starts at 9:30 for an hour. Trouble is that I will probably be hyper for the next few hours, then feel REALLY tired by the time I pick the kids up.
Invitation to be my butcher (as in supply the meat, not carve us up!)
Butcher in the village has had his two chances and I am still bewildered about his meat. Its all from Scotland. He assures me that the meat is organic / free range but I am not convinced. For instance, one "organic" chickenbreast, was soo large and fat that it could have given Dolly Parton a run for her money!
I have ordered a duck for Saturday, this will be crunch time. I have also taken a business card and will be googling him to make sure he is not sweeney todd in disguise. Sooooo, the lack of butcher situation is slightly worrying, only to me ofcourse, other family members just expect meat. So, if you are a butcher then please answer the following:
1. Do you stock organic and free range, LOCALLY, sourced meat? If yes, proceed to question 2.
2. Will you be able to prove to me that the meat is local / organic / free range?
Once you have shown me one example, I will believe you and trust you.
3. Do you have the ability rather than asking me what weight I want (which will ALWAYS be in kg and gramms!) I will just normally say: 4 hungry adults (duck!), one large (whole chicken), 4 famished carnivors (fillet steak!). If your answer to 2 and 3 is no, then goodbye, you are the weakest link.
4. Will you be able to take my hungarian cookbook pictures of the meat and translate that into a cut of meat that I want. Mr Archer my previous butcher was a pro at this, he used to relish my visits with the aforementioned cook book.
5. Will you be able to take the fact that for the first few visits I will check the meat in front of you, if I find any clotted blood on the meat, this will be met with death ray stare and be rejected immediately?
6. Will you be able to offer me at least two suggestions of what meats / cuts other than I normally buy, when I am not in a creative mode? Sausages as an alternative are not an option.
7. Will you be able to handle the fact that I will use Mr Archer for our Christmas Turkey, Easter Ham and birthday / anniversary / cheering up steak?
8. Do you like Tesco?
9. Do you have a vacuum packy machine?
10. What are the scores on your doors?
11. Will you give us free samples / ice cream and tasters?
12. Will you be able to make conversation on anything other than non meat related products?
If you think you are upto the challenge, then, please feel free to apply. We will reward you with more custom that you can imagine, especially as we dont leave leftovers. I will always put the leftover pennies change in the charity box and I promise my kids will keep your other customers entertained with exactly what noise the animal used to make before it was destined to grace our plate.
I have ordered a duck for Saturday, this will be crunch time. I have also taken a business card and will be googling him to make sure he is not sweeney todd in disguise. Sooooo, the lack of butcher situation is slightly worrying, only to me ofcourse, other family members just expect meat. So, if you are a butcher then please answer the following:
1. Do you stock organic and free range, LOCALLY, sourced meat? If yes, proceed to question 2.
2. Will you be able to prove to me that the meat is local / organic / free range?
Once you have shown me one example, I will believe you and trust you.
3. Do you have the ability rather than asking me what weight I want (which will ALWAYS be in kg and gramms!) I will just normally say: 4 hungry adults (duck!), one large (whole chicken), 4 famished carnivors (fillet steak!). If your answer to 2 and 3 is no, then goodbye, you are the weakest link.
4. Will you be able to take my hungarian cookbook pictures of the meat and translate that into a cut of meat that I want. Mr Archer my previous butcher was a pro at this, he used to relish my visits with the aforementioned cook book.
5. Will you be able to take the fact that for the first few visits I will check the meat in front of you, if I find any clotted blood on the meat, this will be met with death ray stare and be rejected immediately?
6. Will you be able to offer me at least two suggestions of what meats / cuts other than I normally buy, when I am not in a creative mode? Sausages as an alternative are not an option.
7. Will you be able to handle the fact that I will use Mr Archer for our Christmas Turkey, Easter Ham and birthday / anniversary / cheering up steak?
8. Do you like Tesco?
9. Do you have a vacuum packy machine?
10. What are the scores on your doors?
11. Will you give us free samples / ice cream and tasters?
12. Will you be able to make conversation on anything other than non meat related products?
If you think you are upto the challenge, then, please feel free to apply. We will reward you with more custom that you can imagine, especially as we dont leave leftovers. I will always put the leftover pennies change in the charity box and I promise my kids will keep your other customers entertained with exactly what noise the animal used to make before it was destined to grace our plate.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Quick Summary
I am trully happy in the house, just love driving back, turning the corner and have a smile on my face. Neighbours are lovely. Kids happy happy happy. Hubby happy too so it counts for a lot. Amazing what four walls in a different location can do for ones life.
Kids have never made me laugh so much, there are days when I cry with laughter. Today, I took them to mini movers and we pretended to be spaceships. The boy loved being a shooting star, I think the ABBA music helped!
Madam is just jolly, she is still eating for england just returned from dinner at M and V and to my consternation after four slices of pizza she polished off most of my dahl, beef curry (lovely, spicey and hot!) and gave me a filthy look when I dared to eat some rice when she was not looking. The boy is sooo funny, hubby and I call him the health and safety executive as he keeps telling us how dangerous everything is.
Taught him to rock climb a wall that a 6 year old could not scale. He was pretty pleased with himself. Tomorrow he has a golf lesson whilst I take Madam swimming. Then, I won us a family ticket to see the Gruffalo so we are heading off to see that. Sunday LM is over as well as RandB and kids, FatNav and SB. Should be a really good day.
Taught Madam the chorus to Delilah and we sing it loudly in the car when the boy becomes mr health and saftey (watch out mummy, slow down, thats dangerous, when I am older, I will drive!....). Boy orders us to stop singing but we just get louder, wish I knew more than one verse.
Er, think thats mostly it.
Kids have never made me laugh so much, there are days when I cry with laughter. Today, I took them to mini movers and we pretended to be spaceships. The boy loved being a shooting star, I think the ABBA music helped!
Madam is just jolly, she is still eating for england just returned from dinner at M and V and to my consternation after four slices of pizza she polished off most of my dahl, beef curry (lovely, spicey and hot!) and gave me a filthy look when I dared to eat some rice when she was not looking. The boy is sooo funny, hubby and I call him the health and safety executive as he keeps telling us how dangerous everything is.
Taught him to rock climb a wall that a 6 year old could not scale. He was pretty pleased with himself. Tomorrow he has a golf lesson whilst I take Madam swimming. Then, I won us a family ticket to see the Gruffalo so we are heading off to see that. Sunday LM is over as well as RandB and kids, FatNav and SB. Should be a really good day.
Taught Madam the chorus to Delilah and we sing it loudly in the car when the boy becomes mr health and saftey (watch out mummy, slow down, thats dangerous, when I am older, I will drive!....). Boy orders us to stop singing but we just get louder, wish I knew more than one verse.
Er, think thats mostly it.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
First post, wireless at that!
Every move has uncertaintly. This one had a high risk ratio as we were moving into a village, without knowing much about it. We were also moving to a house which hubby had doubts about and I really liked from a size point of view. To throw some further "entanglement" into the equasion moving with two kids is never easy, either pre or post move. Whenever the kids dont understand anything I just mention Schrodingers cat to myself, chuckle, then get back to reality. Moving is something akin to this.
Move went well, mainly thanks to team of expert movers. I will put their details as a link. They were fabulous, very easy going, removed doors, pivoted furniture like they do it in their sleep. It took me two weeks of packing boxes from 7pm to 10pm at night and then the whole of the day before the move from 7am to midnight to pack boxes. I stopped counting at box number 152 as all I was writing was "stuff from garage /eaves / which we have not used in 10 years. I reckon about 175 boxes in total. Movers cleared the house of boxes and furniture within 3 hours. Thats stopping for two tea breaks as well.
I went out with the kids and had a good day out. Went back to the house for 2:30 to meet Alex who is an oven cleaning guru. He transformed carbon covered grime into sparkling fresh new like oven. Had to keep the kids upstairs for fear of them getting near the chemicals. My fav bit of the move came next. Once I had read enough books to them, sung all the songs we knew, I took out some chocolate and we ate in on the floor of our former bedroom. Boy counted out the pieces so we all had equal amounts and Madam did her best to squeeze as much chocolate into her mouth as possible in one go.
The new house is great. I wonder when it will morph from "new house" to home?!!!
Its wierd going back to the old house as I dont miss it. Whenever I turn the corner into our new road I feel insanely happy. Everyone is so friendly. i had not even turned the engine off earlier when Shirley from accross the road came to introduce herself. It would seem that the average age is 60plus. They all like their alcohol though. Mentioned to Shirley about my Mount Gay Rum adventures and she muttered approvingly.
I love our ensuite. The shower cabin reminds me of Morks egg cabin and our bedroom itself is large. I wont mention the boxotpia which resides around the house. am not rushing unpacking the boxes as we need to move some furniture around.
Kids love the house, the boy shut Madam in the airing cupboard telling her, "you have been naughty, in you go". All I heard was the sound of muffled sobbing "Me not been naughty". Kids keep using the upstairs landing as a mini athletics track, holding races.
I have managed to unpack most of the kitchen and the kids room. Clothes in the kids room were unpacked amid a game of hide in the built in cupboard and shout "its spooky". I gave up after about 20 mins as I had pins and needles.
There are some nice items to go on the snagging list, one being that their is no stopper to the top drawer of the dishwasher, so, when you pull it out, it falls off.
I think thats it. We are very happy, but extremely tired.
Move went well, mainly thanks to team of expert movers. I will put their details as a link. They were fabulous, very easy going, removed doors, pivoted furniture like they do it in their sleep. It took me two weeks of packing boxes from 7pm to 10pm at night and then the whole of the day before the move from 7am to midnight to pack boxes. I stopped counting at box number 152 as all I was writing was "stuff from garage /eaves / which we have not used in 10 years. I reckon about 175 boxes in total. Movers cleared the house of boxes and furniture within 3 hours. Thats stopping for two tea breaks as well.
I went out with the kids and had a good day out. Went back to the house for 2:30 to meet Alex who is an oven cleaning guru. He transformed carbon covered grime into sparkling fresh new like oven. Had to keep the kids upstairs for fear of them getting near the chemicals. My fav bit of the move came next. Once I had read enough books to them, sung all the songs we knew, I took out some chocolate and we ate in on the floor of our former bedroom. Boy counted out the pieces so we all had equal amounts and Madam did her best to squeeze as much chocolate into her mouth as possible in one go.
The new house is great. I wonder when it will morph from "new house" to home?!!!
Its wierd going back to the old house as I dont miss it. Whenever I turn the corner into our new road I feel insanely happy. Everyone is so friendly. i had not even turned the engine off earlier when Shirley from accross the road came to introduce herself. It would seem that the average age is 60plus. They all like their alcohol though. Mentioned to Shirley about my Mount Gay Rum adventures and she muttered approvingly.
I love our ensuite. The shower cabin reminds me of Morks egg cabin and our bedroom itself is large. I wont mention the boxotpia which resides around the house. am not rushing unpacking the boxes as we need to move some furniture around.
Kids love the house, the boy shut Madam in the airing cupboard telling her, "you have been naughty, in you go". All I heard was the sound of muffled sobbing "Me not been naughty". Kids keep using the upstairs landing as a mini athletics track, holding races.
I have managed to unpack most of the kitchen and the kids room. Clothes in the kids room were unpacked amid a game of hide in the built in cupboard and shout "its spooky". I gave up after about 20 mins as I had pins and needles.
There are some nice items to go on the snagging list, one being that their is no stopper to the top drawer of the dishwasher, so, when you pull it out, it falls off.
I think thats it. We are very happy, but extremely tired.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Reaction to the house
Took the kids to see the house yesterday, after checking that their room was big enough to play hide and seek in, they then ran round the house like loonies. I guess a house devoid of furniture is an exciting place for kids. Whilst the sound of scretching kids filled the air hubby and I tried to talk to the landlords. Practically impossible.
Boy then announces he needs a poo. Take him upstairs, landlady desperate to show me something upstairs, follows. At one point, boy is on the toilet yelling "I have finished, wipe my bottom", meanwhile Madam is jumping up and down like Tigger in one of the bedrooms screaming look at me, and Landlady is carrying on talking to me about the rubbish collection rota. I am trying to pay attention to landlady hoping she does not tear up the rental contract. Helpfully there was no toilet brush......
Also, I have ascertained I need to put the kids out on a Thursday for collection and the neighbours two doors down have rubbish the same age. Sanity, what sanity?
Boy then announces he needs a poo. Take him upstairs, landlady desperate to show me something upstairs, follows. At one point, boy is on the toilet yelling "I have finished, wipe my bottom", meanwhile Madam is jumping up and down like Tigger in one of the bedrooms screaming look at me, and Landlady is carrying on talking to me about the rubbish collection rota. I am trying to pay attention to landlady hoping she does not tear up the rental contract. Helpfully there was no toilet brush......
Also, I have ascertained I need to put the kids out on a Thursday for collection and the neighbours two doors down have rubbish the same age. Sanity, what sanity?
Sunday, 23 August 2009
circa 6 miles with two kids
We did the undercliff walk from Brighton to Ovingdean yesterday. Kids loved it as they got to run around, balance on the mini walls and match the screetching of the seagulls. It was a glorious day. We watched the boats and tankers as we ambled along to Ovingdean, had a paddle in the sea. Consumed ice cream and walked back. Really was a perfect day out.
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