Freezer survey

I've just done my freezer survey, I have a lot of pork. It's portioned up. If I'm cooking I'd probably use one. M usually uses two of the marinated ones

M curry for work o o o
Meatballs o
Fancy sausage pack of six o
Stock O o o (that means one big and two small pots)
Bolognaise tiny pot, and rice, tiny pot. Clearly needs to be a lunch one day!
Lasagne o
Soup o o o o o
Pastry o o
Quorn chorizo o o (not really sure what to do with this, maybe on a tart made with some of the pastry!)
chicken tikka masala o
Beef mince o o
Stewing beef o o
Turkey mince o o o o
Marinated pork portions o o o o o o o o o o
Chicken portions (boneless thighs mostly) o o o
Pork ribs o
Pork ( joint or chops) o o o o o o o
Chicken (whole) o
Wraps (forgot to count)
Sausages pack of twenty o o
Puréed veg sauce (for use with mince to make lasagne etc) o o o o o
Quorn 'mince' o
Quorn 'chicken' o
Mixed frozen veg o
Peppered slice (m will prob take to work) o
Curry sauce??? O
Fish fingers pack of ten o o
Pot of cooked chicken o
Daal o
Mashed bananas o
Ice cream
Ice pops

And there you have it, the delights of my freezer! ( well, freezer and freezer shelf in fridge)
Coming soon. Contents of my cupboards!

Ten Ten Fourteen

Well, I appear to have failed to blog every day in October, but I am getting back into the swing of blogging, so that's gotta be good,right?  Assuming anyone is out there reading!

Having done a couple of hops this week, preparing for Sophie's party tomorrow, I'm feeling that the bank account would appreciate a little less spending in the next week or two, so I'm having a minimal spend challenge for myself. And I welcome your support keeping me on track, or if anyone else wants to challenge themselves and comment or blog about it, that would be fantastic too.

I'm probably going to make the rules up as I go along, but so far I'm thinking
I'm allowed to buy
Milk
Bread (though I will be making my family eat wraps from the freezer, healthy muffins for breakfast instead of bread, and I may try to make some - I think I have some bread flour in the cupboard)
Loo roll. Nuff said!
Nappies
Baby wipes/tissues if we need them. I have a fair number in the cupboard upstairs.
Petrol
Any medication etc needs thst come up.


I need to do a freezer and cupboard survey,and I will post them here. So recipes/meal ideas welcomed! I know I have a lot of pork in the freezer, much of it marinated cuts like belly slices and chops.

Any thoughts?

October eighth

Blank mind.
Tired
Busy week
More busy to come - Sophie's party on Saturday, need to cook/decorate various things.
Ought to go to bed, but playing on iPad.
This is a nothing post, written cos I don't want to miss another post!

About October seventh

It was Sophia's birthday yesterday and then we had our first life group at our house which Menard and I are helping to lead. So it was a bit busy to post.

I did take photos from the day, but my iPad doesn't like talking to blogger, so it will have to wait until I can get on a computer.

Highlights of the day:
Sophia declaring it was the worsest birthday ever after being told off for hurting her brother a nd then daddy told her she had to put her shoes on to go to school (she really loves school, she just didn't want to stop playing with her presents!)

The hello kitty cake toppers I ordered late on Thursday, arriving on Saturday, meaning I could use them to put on top of cupcakes, which a) was like what Topsy and Tim had for their birthday, and b) softened the blow that the big hello kitty cake is being made for her party (so there are lots of people to eat it) and not for her birthday day.

Soph declaring it was the bestest birthday ever, after playing  with her hello kitty toy kitchen, play tent, and hoopla hoop all at once, and eating her hello kitty cupcakes!

October sixth

Tomorrow my Sophie baby turns five.those five years flew by! This time five years ago I was in labour, either on my way to hospital or sat on a birthing ball, or maybe the end of the bed, eating sausage and mash for the second time in a few hours. I hadn't eaten much all day, so they made me eat some more!

Tomorrow she'll go off to school as normal, and she's excited about taking sweets to give her friends at the end of the day. We'll do presents and cupcakes, and then on Saturday we're having her party with lots of friends coming over. She's very excited about the Hello Kitty cake I'll be making (I'm still working on my plans of exactly what I'm going to do!)

October fifth

Had a lovely afternoon. Menard was at work, but Sophie was being my kitchen helper. She mashed up some bananas which were very ripe, so we could freeze them. She helped me wash up and put things away, and helped me peel onions and chop green tomatoes for making chutney. She and I both cried from the onions! But that's another job from the to-do list ticked off, and gets the bowls of green tomatoes off the counter, and possibly that will be a step forward in the fight against fruit flies, which are everywhere today. If anyone has any good ways to fight them, let me know!

About October fourth

Yesterday we went to visit my mum and dad and to do the 'jumble trail' around their local area - people could sign up on a site to say they would be putting out a stall to sell all sorts of things, aka jumble. Americans would probably call it a yard sale trail.

Unfortunately it rained and some of the folks obviously decided to call off their stalls, but the hard ones were out with gazebos or similar make-do shelters!

I picked up quite a few bargains...
Two kids scooters to live at nana's house (unless our current ones fall apart) £3 each
Books. Which will probably be Christmas presents £1.50
George pig top for JJ 50p
3 in one puzzle set 50p
Plastic divided kids plate 50p
In the night garden figures 25p for six!
Dressing up outfits 25p for fireman jacket and another outfit, can't remember what!
Duvet cover and pillow case with cars and trucks on for JJ £2
Wonderful tiger hat and mittens 30p
Christmas tin we'll use to put sweets in to give as a gift 10p
Another book-hardback collection of stories 30p
A shapes pairs game 20p
Foam sticky letters and foam smiley faces 40p
A make a doll kit with ribbons, buttons etc to make the clothes. Retailed £15, lady sold it to me for £3
Plus for free - carrier bag of clothes for Sophie, two pairs of shoes, cars for JJ, two clip on lights
And there may have been something else, I just can't remember what!

Had a lovely time anyway. And didn't get too wet, well, I dried out afterwards!

October third

All I can think of today is oh. I want to go to bed!
It's Friday, we made it to the end of the week!
Unfortunately, M is working various shifts this weekend, so I may be happy when it's got to Tuesday and he's off again!

Sophie and JJ make me laugh. When I collect JJ from preschool he tells me all about it, well, he says "i play SAND, CARS!". But then when we collect Sophie and she's telling me about her day, he will continually interrupt with "me talk 'bout my school too mummy, my school!"

October second

Right now we are going through a terrible twos tantrum stage with JJ. He'll be three in December, so I hope they finish soon.

But the big thing around here this coming week is that my baby is going to be five. That teeny tiny baby grew and grew and grew and grew some more (seriously! She's in age 7-8 clothes, and many of her clothes are 9-10!).

My Sophia Louise is turning five on Tuesday. Wherever did that time go?! She started in proper school (rather than nursery or preschool) this September, she's learning to read! (still at learning sounds stage, but she's getting better and better), she loves books, playing schools, and a whole big bunch of imaginary play.

Over the years she's had an imaginary friend called Sophie (as confusing as you might expect it to be), she's had imaginary dogs, including one called pink dog, who was, you've guessed it, pink.
There's been Ollie, and he's still around. In fact the other day, Sophie's imaginary friend Ollie went to preschool with Jaiden. How's that for confusing?!  I love my Sophia and her imagination, although sometimes I wish she would stay in the real world a little more often when I'm asking her to put her shoes on or get dressed for school.

October first

Today was the first day where Sophie was at school all day and Jaiden was at preschool all day.
I have to say, I think Wednesdays are shaping up to be good days!
I did some chilling, some cleaning, some tidying, some walking with friends, a meet and great with Sophie's school parents association (now known as friends of... To be more inclusive to all adults who want to get involved)
And collecting Sophie (M got JJ. Collection is the only potential tricky point of wednesdays - collecting them both from opposite directions, with only a few minutes to get from one to the other. But it will be fine if M is not on a shift!)
Now we're sitting watching fireman Sam - JJ's choice! And I'm being critical of all the silly reasons they're calling Sam out for!

More clear as mud conversations

JJ:  I am a nee-naw man.
Me: Are you a police nee-naw man, a fire nee-naw man, or an ambulance nee-naw man?
JJ: I am a nee-naw man, a nee-naw man like my puzzle.

Ah yes, that clears that up then (the puzzle is 'rescue squad' and has fire engine, ambulance, police car, tow truck, rescue helicopter and a life boat.  My bets are on fireman though, as he's pretty obsessed with fireman Sam at the moment)

September goals

Been thinking a lot about de cluttering and making our house less full of stuff lately. I also need to work on de-cluttering some of me, but I think that would easily take its own post.

I've been selling stuff on Facebook, in my local selling groups, and in my own Facebook group. Plus trying to give things to people who could use them, and of course sending things to charity shops.

I'm also considering starting a business venture, as a de-cluttering and organising consultant. Dunno if that's gonna work or not, but it's something I enjoy doing, so if you know anyone who needs help tackling a problem area, working on loosening emotional attachments to belongings, or just fancy a bit of help cleaning out the under stairs cupboard, just give me a shout!

Aspirations

Me: whatcha gonna be when you're older, JJ?
JJ: I be bigger and bigger and bigger
Me: ok, but what do you want to do when you're older?
JJ: I be a tiger
Me: um, ok, but what job do you want to do?
JJ: I be tiger who goes work.

Well, there you have it folks! He then proceeded to spend the rest of the car journey practicing his roar.

Awesome God!

Had a blogging  break? Uh, yeah, so I did a little bit. But there's been so much going on.

In March we moved from outer London to outta London! Not too far, still near enough to visit friends and relations, but far enough for it to have a totally different feel to the town. Yeah, it's a town. Don't think it's big enough to be a city, so that's different for a start. One of my best friends lives across town, and even at busy times, if I pick the right roads, I could get to her house probably in ten minutes.

Why did we move? Well, mostly because God told us to. We talked a bit about that  in a talk we did at church, which was recorded. I'm not going to link direct here, but if you know me in person, you could probably find it if you wanted to!

We, well firstly Menard, felt God's call to come and be a part of a church plant - a new church , still in the setting up phase. It took me a while to feel it too, but once I did, we went for it! I don't talk a huge amount about my faith on here, I proble ought to do it more! But this I will say, our lives for the past year read like an adventure book of how God has done stuff to get us here, and really just shown us that He wants us here, and  He's the one who's going to get the glory for making it happen.

I have more testimonies of God's faithfulness than I can really remember.  Some big ones include getting us a place to live. Getting us a place in a school which was our first choice, despite a phone call which showed us thst she definitely didn't have a place there initially. A preschool place for Jaiden. A new job for Menard. Enough food to eat and covering our bills and financial needs in the over two month period where we had no income coming in from Menard's job (he didn't have a job/it was the period inbetween jobs/during the first month of his new job, before he got paid)

I'm actually tearing up, Just writing about it. I am truly overwhelmed and humbled by how awesome God is, and how clear it's been that we are in the right place. We're getting stuck in at church, have made some friends who will be friends for life, and have generally thrown ourselves into life here in new town.

When I'm grown up... A peek at the world of adults from Sophie's viewpoint

The other day we had some biscuits and I let each of the children have one. Sophie asked for another, and I told her no. This caused her to become distraught with frustration and anger (not an unusual occurrence round here at the moment, unfortunately). She was so cross that I would deny her a second biscuit.   She finally choked out "when I'm a grown up, I'm going to go to the shop and buy all the chocolate biscuits and eat them all myself and not share with you".  There was a pause, and then she added, " but mummy, you will take me so I know how to get to the shop, won't you?"

The highest compliment Jaiden can bestow

Yesterday JJ and I popped to tesco to pick up a couple of things. (We came out with five bags full, but that's another story!).
On the way out we spotted a man in a high visability jacket standing in line at customer service. JJ was very excited "look mummy, bin lorry man! Bin lorry man!" (garbage truck guy, for our American readers). When we got outside he looked all around and said "oh no! Bin lorry gone. Bad man took non lorry, Bin lorry man sad".  He cannot comprehend the idea that someone in a fluorescent jacket could be anything but a bin man.

Case in point. As we got in the car, we spotted a guy who works for the store, also in a bright tabard, pushing trolleys to go away. JJ shouted with abundant glee " 'nother bin lorry man  mummy, 'nother one!".
Absolutely no persuading otherwise, that guy was clearly a bin man, moonlighting as a trolley pusher, or maybe just being helpful in a spare moment. He was a bin man, no doubt about it, and most importantly, as far a JJ was concerned, it was the best thing ever!

Happy happy

Auntie cuddles today!
Hannah and her baby are here for a few days. Staying at my mum's, but they all came over today. I got lots of cuddles, first time since Christmas! And was far too busy to take photos! Aunit
Soph took some on nana's camera though, so if I can get a hold of any of those, I'll share.

I'm blogging over at my other blog, as I try to get a hold of my eating and weight, so I'm hoping to be there most days, though it will be mostly food diary type stuff.

Missing you

We're in the process of packing up our world and moving a bit further out of London, to join a church there.
I will be back soon with more.
We have a fantastic testimony of God's faithfulness in finding our new house and many other things along the way...

Sophia's Peppa Pig Birthday Cake

Before piped features

With features (excuse the shadow, it's funny light in my kitchen)

With candles

Soph blowing out candles will come later, cos Menard took those

melts my heart to see this

Soph

"Sophie, do you want crumpets for lunch?"
Sophie looks at crumpets...
"those aren't trumpets, they're drums"

heard just now...
"I'm dressing up to look like Jesus"

Beach fun

My babies

Soph Feeds Goats!

We went with a friend and her daughter to a local 'garden centre' which also has an animal area. 

('garden centre' cos it seemed to sell anything and everything)

The girls had a fantastic time feeding goats 

(food available for 20p a handful from a little machine)

And JJ missed all most of the fun by being fast asleep. 

Chicken photographed especially for Bren

Wednesday midweek mayhem

Why hello there, have you all enjoyed your vacation?
You weren't on vacation? And I wasn't on vacation. So why the long blogging break? Yes, you there in the back? Any ideas? Nope. Ok, let's just move along now then.

Life is plodding along here. We had 3 babies born within my circle of friends last week, so I've been busy assembling rotas to feed them, thanks to my "Meals for New Mums (and dads)" scheme I decided to set up to bless them with food, knowing how blessed we were when folk brought food over when we had tiny small babies. Ok, so mine were never that small, but I grow 'em big apparently.

Jaiden has more and more words everyday. And his cheeky personality is just shining through. We'd had a couple of nights where he was awake for aged in the night, so last night Menard got him up abut 9 and changed his nappy, and both Soph and JJ slept through til half 6 this morning, so that was a success, I'd say.

We need to get dressed in a bit and head out to meet a friend this morning, and this afternoon I've got small group which a friend has set up for mums with littles. The 3 pregnant ladies were all a part of that group, and still are, except now they're mums with littles too!

Happy Birthday...

... to ME!

Eurovision party tonight. Yay!

Words JJ has said so far today

Mummeeee
Bah (Bath)
Bye
Dir-dir (dirty)
Hat & Head (patting the top of my head|)
Ooshed (finished)
Shoo (tissue)
NO!
More!
Meeeee
Nana

And that's just the ones I remember. He has soooo many words now.

Horsie horsie don't you stop

Riding nappy packet horses!

Jaiden - things I'd like to remember, but don't have time to make into a post of their own

Today's accessory of choice is one welly boot (Soph's old ladybird ones, so two sizes too big). Every so often it will fall off, and much is the gnashing of teeth before it's properly restored onto his foot.

JJ's started having a name for himself.  Especially if looking at a photo of himself, he gets very excited, pointing to the picture and then to his belly. He says "Ja-da" (Ja pronounced as in German for yes), or "Ja ja" - the variations of what we call him - Jaiden or JJ.

He's obsessed with Sophia's fluffy bear. Fluffy is the bear of the moment for Sophia, and consequently for JJ too. Fluffy has a nappy and soph often declares that he needs his nappy changed because he's done a poo-poo. Today I left JJ while I was in the bathroom, and I thought I heard him saying "poopoo". When I came back into the room he triumphantly waved bear's nappy above his head shouting "POOPOO!".

Cake Pops

A lovely lady called Hazel (who happens to be the mum of Danielle, who has the honourary title of auntie to my kids) has a new venture in cake, and we all know how much I like cake.

I haven't actually tried any of her cake pops yet (hint hint), but my children have, and judging from their enthusiasm, it was good!

Go check out her facebook page and like it, and then come back and see my kids enjoying her work!

Here are some pics of them enjoying the amazing cake pops she sent them for Easter...

 Soph excited about a parcel with her name on it!

 "Look mummy, it's Peppa Pig"

 It went in his mouth all at once! (It was a hot air balloon)

"Yum!"

In appreciation

My lovely friend Julia set up a group on facebook for people in our local area to share and request 'family' items. Soph and JJ are modelling the lovely welly boots that we got today from two of the women in the group. Thanks ladies!

He's Alive!

(now I may be giving you a spoiler here, given that today is Good Friday, but just wanted to share that it turns out ok!)

Recipe book

Quick post written one handed as JJ's sleeping on the other!

I bought myself a recipe book yesterday and today I've been writing in recipes from random scraps of paper, most of which I found yesterday when I gave my 'baking stuff etc' cupboards a good tidy up and clear out.

I found one recipe, which originally Bekki found somewhere, written on four different bits of paper,meaning I'd rung one or other of the family to get it on four separate occasions!

Do you have a popular family recipe you'd share with me? Either in the comments or on your blog, with a link in the comments. Pretty please? And I'll share the banana cake recipe one day soon when I have two hands to type with!

(It amuses me every time that blogger's spell check fails to recognise the word 'blog')

Cooking

When I was little my dad was diagnosed with coeliac disease, this means (very basically!) that his body can't tolerate gluten, and he needs a gluten-free diet. Twenty plus years ago, the availability of gluten-free products was very limited, and those that there were didn't always taste good. That meant that it was better for my parents to get gluten-free flour, and make things from scratch.

I don't really remember what it was like before my dad was diagnosed, but I'm pretty certain my mum did a fair amount of cooking from scratch anyway, but after, they cooked pretty much everything from scratch, and I grew up thinking that was normal.

I am sooooooo thankful that that's the case. I was just looking on facebook and one blog or other was asking people their essential freezer meals, and then attempting to re-create them from scratch. I had a think about that, and realised I don't really even think of buying any freezer meals*, cos I just think that fresh/home cooked would be better.

I'm not saying I don't buy junk. sure, everyone does. But I've never bought a cake mix in my life - it just wouldn't even occur to me to do so!

I think what I'm trying to say is thank you mummy and daddy for the way you raised me, teaching me to cook from scratch. Cos it seems that's a skill a lot of other people are attempting to learn later on in life!

* In the spirit of full disclosure, I do sometimes by ready meals off the reduced shelf for Menard to take to work for lunch. But I wouldn't dream of eating them myself! I'd much rather have homecooked lasagne than the stuff you buy as a ready meal.