A Night Out!

I was big and brave last night and went, on my own, to Clapham to meet up with some lovely internet weirdies. Strangely for me it isn't meeting the internet weirdies that bothers me but the Going Out On My Own! I am a member of a lovely forum who are very close knit, fun to be around and supportive. Yes you get the occasional loon but that is true in real life! In fact some of my best friends were initially internet weirdies, I like the fact you can get to know someone before you meet them.

Anyway, I went out and I played Evanescence very very loudly in my headphones to block out as much of everything else as I could. The iphone directed me to the bar with only human error resulting in my brief moment of getting lost. There was a small issue finding the table but they spotted me just in time before I bolted and even bought me wine! It was a fabulous evening and it was great to put faces (and occasionally real names!) to usernames (and a bit of a confessional for me admitting my old username). I got fairly drunkled and had a fantastic evening with them.

Of course I have a hangover today so the children's play is very very very loud and Paul is scraping the fireplace as previous owners saw fit to paint it in black hammerite or possible gloss! We had a man around to quote for restoring it so hopefully it will look fab when it is all done!

The Bruise.

After the Kamikaze Kid performed her latest stunt the other day I took a photo to show my Dad and Stepmum via facebook. It is a fairly impressive bruise poor love and is developing into a rather fetching couple of black eyes now.

The first pic:

The developing bruise:

 

Forgive the world weary look, it took a while to get this picture (she is a perpetual motion demon today). I have to say these pictures just don't do the bruise justice. It is a lovely blue colour and she has a distinct star trek alien look to her. This is a very bad one from the side:

Poor poppet had a disturbed night last night and we think her nose was hurting her a bit. She seems brighter today and we will give her nurofen before bed to pre-empt any wakyness.

On a brighter note we started the run up to potty training today. From now on when we are home she will be naked from the waist down (ha! Who am I kidding, she will be starkers!) in the afternoons and the potty will be freely available. Today it has been Potty: 1 Floor: 0 so far. The plan is to ditch day nappies during the Easter Holidays, I think she is ready but I want to work up to it slowly for her as it is a hell of a change and my children suit the slowly slowly catchy monkey style. I am secretly hoping that she refuses nappies off her own back before that though, she is a very determined child and once she gets an idea in her head that is it, you are just along for the ride!

Wooo we have our first proper joke!

Phoebe has coming out with jokes like;

What did the duck say to the other duck.... QUACK!

and so forth for ages but today she actually made a joke that made sense! A momentus occasion and no mistake (although just the one telling would have been nice...!) it was the old:

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Justin

Justin Who?

Justin time for school!

[cue hysterical laughter from the back seat]

I was expecting 'Justin Tumble' or something given the girls undying love for Justin and his alter ego Mr Tumble. But no I got the real joke, yay for Phoebe! Like I said I could have done without the Justin time for tea, breakfast, lunch etc!

And the Kamikaze Kid strikes again...

Clara appears to have a magnet attraction to the ground, some may refer to this as "gravity" I prefer to consider it "an accident waiting to happen".

At 8am, I was just getting out of bed, shouting goodbye and love yous to Paul as he got ready to leave when suddenly we heard that thump thump thump thump THUMP sound. I leapt out of bed and ran to the top of the stairs to see Paul kneeling on the floor holding a screaming Clara where she had somersaulted down the stairs in spectacular fashion. He caught her just before she hit the front door. He was so busy checking her teeth and mouth for injury that at first he didn't notice the bridge of her nose which was going a rather nice blue colour and was swollen. Poor poppet! Thankfully it isn't broken (at least we don't think so, she doesn't mind it being touched) just very very bruised and a bit swollen and she has a carpet burn on her forhead. She has had some kiddy arnica and some nurofen for the pain and has been running around as normal so I think we can hold off on A&E (although I did ring Dad to confirm that there wasn't much point as she wasn't showing any signs of concussion). She even went swimming but I kept her off the activities which could result in water wooshing up her nose as I thought that might be too sore for her. I am anticipating two cracking shiners from her in the next couple of days!

We are off to see our friends Mahri-Claire and Greg tomorrow and I have been told that Kamikaze Kid #2 has a matching bruise after an altercation with a coffee table. I wonder if I could whizz up a couple of bubble wrap body suits for them... or maybe we should just buy them one of these each!

[deep sigh] I need a break.

I love my children I really really do. They are funny, unique, clever and intelligent. They are also very very full on and hard work. My house is a mess and I find it near impossible to clean and tidy whilst they are here creating a whirlwind of destruction behind me undoing all my hard work. I would dearly love a week off from them at the moment but it just isn't an option alas so I making do with my 6 hrs (3hrs on Wednesday and Fridays) whilst they are both at preschool. It just never seems enough to get everything done.

I am desperately trying to clear and declutter the house, so far I have given away a HUGE box of stuff to freecycle and binned 2 big bin bags full of junk from under the stairs. But there is still STUFF everywhere. It is so disheartening.

The state of the living room also gets to me, I have plans to redecorate but again finding the time is the tricky bit (I will ignore finding the money bit!). It is almost worse because I have these plans because now all the things that need fixing and cleaning to make the house lovely are leaping out at me screaming to be done.

Girls just wanna have fun!

Today we had a girlie day. Phoebe and I set off at 9am to go and get our friends Natalie and Martha to go and have said girlie day. We had decided to go skating in Guildford and to get Phoebe and Martha on the ice for the first time. I had taken the portable DVD player with me so Martha was thrilled that they got to watch her choice of Sleeping Beauty all the way there. I have to say it was a very reasonable price to go skating, £8.60 inc skate hire for one adult and one under 5, bargain! Anyway we swapped boots over, the small one donned helmets (their choice and free rental) and wobbled over to the ice. Martha took to it better than Phoebe who only managed a quarter of the way around the rink before declaring she had enough and wanted to get off (a very nice young man who works there helped me get her back to the gate as she was in the "I am NOT going to help myself, no sirree" kind of mood). Whilst Martha managed 2 whole circuits with Natalie! For a first time for 2 four year olds who don't really know each other very well it wasn't a bad start at all! My feet hurt like no ones business, I suspect I chose the wrong sized boots with my odd feet. There are no pictures of the adventures because a, no cameras on the ice and b, there were signs all over the place about cameras. I could have got away with a P&S but of course I took the 5D lol!

We then decided that it was mandatory to have a hot chocolate after our icey adventure so we went up the stairs and procured one at the cafe. Then we headed further into Guildford to find Pizza Express for a fat lunch of lemonade, garlic bread, pizza and, most importantly, ICE CREAM!

 
love Pizza Express, it is so child friendly without making a big deal of it! The waiters talked to the girls as if they were people instead of ignoring them and talking to just the adults. And of course the food is yum too and pretty well priced! Inbetween courses we cracked out the entertainment devices of Natalie's DS lite and my iphone and the girls had fun playing the games on them whilst we chatted about random bits and bobs!

 It was a fabulous day, the girls had so much fun together and it was nice to see them interacting as 4 yr olds and equals. Most of their friends, particularly in Martha's case as she is at Big School already, are either older than them or much younger so it is nice they now have someone of their own age to play with. It was also nice for us Mummys too as it isn't often we get to go out with just one of them (Clara and Martha's brother Monty, were with relevant Daddies) and it was also nice to remember that having fun with your children is a vital part of their childhood. Difficult to remember that when you are in the quagmire of the day to day grind of it all!

We are already planning Girls Day Out Mark 2 :D

3 plain tee-shirts, 2 bored Mums....

Phew! I think this is the first time the house has been quiet today. We had Mybecky and her two lovely girls over to play, and play they really did! We did pop out in the afternoon to go to town, Mybecky knows I don't go out otherwise. Phoebe has had a growth spurt and has chilly ankles and wrists as a result. However £60 in H&M has seen her the proud new owner of 7 new tops, 4 pairs of trousers and 3 dresses... quite a haul! 3 of the new tops we bought we plain, and frankly boring. So we set too jazzing them up on our return whilst the 4 girls were trashing the house under the guise of playing "families".

We had 3 tops, one grey marl, one bright salmon pink and one baby pink. Now it just so happens that Mybecky has recently purchased a hot iron for attaching gems and sparkles to fabric sooo with the pale pink top we did a firework  burst on the front:

We decided Buttons were the way to go for the Grey Marl, good job my fab order from Chain of Daisies arrived! :

 

As for the Salmon Pink one, we decided applique was the way to go. Originally I was going to do a Miffy-esque  bunny on it in a pretty dress. But a, the brush cotton wasn't thick enough to not show the pink through b, I didn't have enough felt and c, you can buy Miffy tops. So instead I took the dress pattern I had and decided on a washing line, the pants and single sock was Mybecky's idea and I think it is very cute!

I still have to do the sewing bit of that one but I am zonked for the day so it can wait until later! However the other two tee shirts are complete and look fabulous! Here is a close up of the sparkles:

 

And here is the simple pattern we went for with the buttons, they are actually reducing in size although it doesn't look like it because of my angle:

  

Yes I know it isn't a straight line but it adds to the charm ... okay!

So for the princely sum of £5 Phoebe now owns 3 fabulous and unique tops! Wooo!

Ps. For those not in the know, Mybecky is called that as that is what Phoebe calls her and has done since she started preschool! He mother wasn't that mean lol!

Happy Valentines

44/365
Originally uploaded by Kat T

Today has been a funny day. My Father arrived from Greece late last night and we sent the girls down to see him this morning and they had a fabulous time playing for a couple of hours whilst Paul and I caught up on some sleep. I got a bunch of lovely red roses and a lovely card, but I wasn't able to get a card for Paul (as generally it requires leaving the house) so I bought him Mario on the Wii in a red box. Then Daddy took us out for Lunch at Wagamamas where we all had fabulous food and the girls were on good form. Clara fell asleep on the way home and Phoebe scooted beautifully around town (well mostly, the rules are not on the roads, stop to let people by you and not in the shops she is pretty good at the first and last but the middle rule needs a little work). Dad also treated the girls to a Peppa Pig box set which has been much watched already and they are very grateful! New found love of Peppa since yesterday's theatre show. When the girls went to bed Paul and I had our supper of left overs (still being stuffed from lunch) and played a little Mario before settling to watch Dancing on Ice. It has been a lovely day.


Except something has been weighing on my heart. An Internet Weirdie Friend's baby died today, just after midnight she had a cardiac arrest and passed away. Her name is Anastacia Callisto meaning Resurrection Most Beautiful. She was only a few days old, perfect and beautiful in all ways but one, she suffered from a severe diaphragmatic hernia and she had a lot of her lower organs in her chest cavity. It is an exceedingly rare condition. Her mother, Cathi, has shown so much strength, bravery and courage throughout her pregnancy and her post was the one I hoped I would never, ever see. My heart just breaks for her to have to let her baby, her beautiful daughter, go so soon is unbelievably cruel. I am not alone in my feelings, so many of our fellow forum users feel the same as me tonight. I hope our unified feelings and wishes for her is helping her and her family in some small way in their loss and grief tonight and for as long as she needs them. All my love is with them at this time, please if you can find the time spare a thought or prayer for them, there but for the Grace go we all. No one should have to survive their children in this fashion.

Peppa Pig Party!

Phoebe and Elijah dancing with Peppa
Originally uploaded by ***Vix***

Today our friends Mahri-Claire and Greg came to play with their two gorgeous boys Elijah and Sebastian. Last year we got tickets to take the children to see Peppa Pig's Party at the local theatre. It is a great big Peppa Pig Puppet show so there were people on stage with little puppets. The kids LOVED it, loads of singing and dancing of songs they knew and then new ones they could learn. We were surprised because Phoebe and Elijah took too it so well and were singing and dancing along like pros. The smaller ones of Clara and Sebastian were entranced too!

I can highly recommend it if it is showing near you and your children are Peppa fans!

Ill Timed Peace

At 5pm I went into the kitchen to make supper for the girls. As I left the living room Clara moaned that she was cold so I threw the Slanket over her. When I came back she was sound asleep. Knowing she makes Mao look like a fluffy little kitten of lovliness when woken I left her until supper was ready. Phoebe sat down at the table to eat and I moved Clara to wake her up, she didn't wake. I gently tried to wake her and nothing so I gave in. Then Paul called so I put her down on the sofa (literally dumped to oneside) and there she stayed, still fasto. She must have been knackered! Well if she will drop all naps. Still, she looks dead cute whilst she sleeps doesn't she!

What a difference a day makes....

I am such a lucky girl!
Originally uploaded by ***Vix***

24 little hours!

Yesterday I felt so ill I could have curled up and died. I spent the day in bed because if I dared sit up for long I went a rather unattractive shade of green / grey. Worse if I dared eat something, I could sip ginger ale
s l o w ly and that was my limit!

Today I feel like a new woman :D. I went to bed last night with my stomach so bloated I looked at least 7 months pregnant, I think I gave birth to my little wind baby over night as normal flab has returned! Phew. I got to rest this morning as well as the girls went to school (where they had a LOT of fun). This afternoon we played shops and cooking, ok so the girls were cooking each other (in the toy box, which is a large drawer) and eventually bunk beds too (they seem to have a bunk bed obsession). Why all this play took place naked I will never know!

My day was further brightened by this lovely button broach from my friend Caroline at Chain of Daisies. I ordered one of her gorgeous Button Packs so I could make some pretty things for the girls. She emailed me to ask if it was ok to split the package (I ordered something else too but I'm not telling what). I could literally reply that it was no problem and I'd write more but I was sick. So she sent me this lovely broach as a get well giftie! Isn't she lovely?! I love love love it!

The big news of the day though is that Clara independently took herself to the potty AND produced! Admittedly it was after one puddle on the floor, after which I said if she had to wee to go to the potty. Erk, this means I have to think about potty training her in the not too distant doesn't it? I think I will put it off until the Easter hols as then I have a 3 week run at it with her. She was so proud of herself too, and absolutely livid that Paul took the potty away to flush her prized doings. I am not sure I am ready for 2 potty trained children, that is so grown up isn't it! Where have my tiny babies gone? No wonder I am broody at the moment (not happening...really really NOT happening).

Misses Phoebe and Clara had a Mummy who was sick sick sick...

And Mummy called for Daddy to come home quick quick quick.
She took to her bed with her laptop and Phone
whilst Daddy did the childcare without a moan.

Uff, Noro'd again! Not fair! And why, oh why oh why is it Tuesdays I get sick?! This week I am pretty poorly though and physically can't leave the house (or the bed without going green). Thankfully Mybecky was an Angel and picked Phoebe up to take her to school whilst Paul was on his journey home. When he got home he took Clara swimming, he has done all the other childcare too. They are all 3 of them out again at swimming for Phoebe's lesson so the house is strangely quiet.

I have to be better for tomorrow as Paul has to go to an onsite job and no one else can do it. Hopefully the day in bed will see me right enough to do the half day tomorrow (both girls in school in the AM, phew!) although I think I will hold off any food consumption until tomorrow afternoon, just in case.

Stupid virus!

Housework is bad.

Anything less than 2 eyes locked on this child is generally a mistake.

A recipe to share.

I made this for Paul and myself tonight and I just have to share it with you because it is sooo good. No pics because we are fat gits who ate the lot!

The base recipe comes from here but I adapted it a bit as a meal to serve two. Soooo,

Totally Thai Pork

Marinade:

1 can of coconut milk (I always go full fat with this as the reduced fat ones are far too watery).
2tbsp thai fish Sauce
2tsp Ground Coriander
2tsp Ground milk curry powder
2tbsp brown sugar

Stick it all in a pan and give it a good whisk so it is all combined. Then in another dish put 2 (assuming 2 of you are eating that is...) pork loin chops and pour enough marinade over to just cover them (store and freeze the rest for next time you make this), clingfilm and abandon for as long as you like (min 1 hr IMO) in the fridge. When it comes time to cook heat the oven to about 200 degrees, line a baking dish with foil, bung loin chops in with a splash of the marinade (save what is left for later) on top and stick them in the oven for 15 mins.  When they come out cover with more foil, leave in a warm place to rest for another 15 mins.

Whilst they are cooking make the dressing for the cucumber salad (apols for the American cup measurements, I didn't translate as I cooked so now I can't remember!:

1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of white wine vineggar
2 tsp (ish) of easy prechopped chillies (because I am lazy).

heat the vinegar and sugar together in a pan, when the sugar is dissolved put the chillies in and leave to cool. Then grate about half a cucumber and 3 spring onions (oh got to love a magimix). When the dressing has cooled a bit put a couple of tablespoons over the cucumber and leave.

Put the rice on to cook (I do 8floz rice in a pan with a bit of salt, heat slightly whilst boiling the kettle and then pour 16floz of boiling water of the rice. Put a tight lid on and cook until all the water has gone, et voila perfick rice!). When it is done mix in the remaining marinade into it and heat it through until it is dry again.

To serve pour the excess liquid off the cucumbers and spoon another couple of tbsp of dressing over it. Pile up rice and cucumber salad on the plate and then carve the pork onto the plates too. A wee bit more dressing on the pork and serve.

Yuuuum!

Duh Duh Duh Duh Click Click....

Duh duh duh duh click click... the Apple Family....

When the girls were little and Paul used to go into engineer problem solver mode I would point out that that neither of the children had apple logos stamped on their bottoms! Seems I was wrong...

Or not, we had a new addition to the Apple Family we have here (well, he fixes them so we would be a bit dim to have anything else really!) as my lovely, shiny, wonderful new (better than Paul's)  iPhone arrived today. Oh it is a thing of beauty after the last phone I had. It even made the housework bearable as I was able to put music on and ponce about whilst I did it. The iPhone had two Apple Stickers in with it, I presume for sticking somewhere to advertise what an apple geek you are, and I just knew when I saw them what I was going to do with them! Thankfully I have still to find the USB port for the girls, my favourite pre baby statement from Paul was;

They update overnight!

Meaning they learn fast but oh I laughed and asked where to stick the cable! Nearly as much as I laughed at how he would handwash the nappies each night...



(as you will have noticed I am still blogging despite contemplating otherwise but I am trying to not look at my navel so much)

Okay I couldn't resist this one.

Revenge is theirs, as I type this out I can see my Granny and my Mum cackling wildly in my head.

When I was a wee child, younger than Phoebe is now I was staying with Grannie in her house whilst Mum and Dad were (I think) house hunting. I was in the bath and had the pumice stone and was determinedly rubbing it on my arm. Granny told me to stop it repeatedly until I finally stood up, hands on hips and declared;

Granny! You've just RUINED my day!

Well the fates saw fit to use my mould over again when I got pregnant and Phoebe is a true progeny of me. Paul jokes that he was only the catalyst for me to split like an amoeba. Anyway having shouted at Phoebe to give me the remote control for the nth time I went and took it. Whereupon she wheeled round, hands on hips and screeched with all her little might;

Mummy! You have spoilt my day now, I am goin' somewhere else!

And with that flounced out of the room.

I am so beyond screwed when she hits her teen years if mine are anything to go by... sob.

Good / Bad

Good:
AntiD's upped (I think I am on the max dose for a GP prescription now).
My iphone should arrive tomorrow (YAY!).
I am going to dye my hair violet this weekend with any luck... maybe with a bit of bright pink too.
My children are beautiful, independent, cheeky & funny little creatures.

Bad:
Head is varying between confused and a heavy dead feeling.
I had to park around the corner from the house today as all the spaces were gone on the road (I drove the block 10 times in the hope that someone would move) and I could feel the panic rising as I walked home.
It is midnight and my brain is whirring and I can feel my blood pounding.


Shit, could I be more of a navel gazer at the moment. I think I am going to have a break from blogging for a while.

x

[mutter] Well I suppose they shared [/mutter]

Hmph, I appear to have the Bratfinks delightful stomach bug, I am not amused. Today school runs were done in record time and minimal parenting. Thus every single toy is out and on the living room floor, there is a large spill of orange juice at the top of the stairs and I just dispatched Phoebe to go and find her own ketchup because I cannot be bothered to go. Whoopsy I am a bad mother today!

In other news apparently my Stepfather's operation on his gippy hip has gone well and he is back on the ward revelling in all you can take morphine. At around 5pm I started to get a little worried that I hadn't heard anything until I realised that yet again my mobile phone had no charge (it is a pile of poo, but I am hanging out for an iphone) and Mum had in fact text me along with everyone else at 2pm. Here is hoping his recovery is fast and painless! I think I might make some baked goods for Paul to take with him to Mum's house tomorrow. Cake always helps doesn't it?!

I have also booked myself in with the GP for an appt on Weds. More meds needed (uff) and I my thumbs are still very sore so I think it wouldn't hurt for them to have a shufty although I doubt they can do anything tbh. I would say early night for me but, well, [bitter laugh]. To her credit Phoebe has been trying to cheer me up, by giving me kisses and cuddles and telling me that I have been a very very good girl today, even if I did have to send her to a room because she wouldn't help tidy up the toy palooza.