Yesterday...

... I got to meet two wonderful sisters (and their parents) who I got to know online through Etsy and who are over here from the USA for a short time. They are Ace and Mags (online nicknames) and the former has an etsy shop (which is currently set on vacation mode as she's away, and has just moved house).

(L to R Mags, Ace, Debs and Sophia)

Unfortunately my mum and my camera's auto focus don't get on well, so this is the best shot I have of us at Covent Garden yesterday.

It was also Sophia's first time on the Tube. She was a little overawed, but kept the whole carriage entertained with her sheer beautifulness!

Much overdue thanks (part 2)

This post is another big thank you to an Etsy seller who so lovingly donated something so that I could have free stuff! Today I'm thanking Kim of the shop kjmSILKS. She sent me the beautiful silk scarf which my mummy is kindly modelling for me in this photo. I meant to take a close up of the detail, but I didn't, and I want to get this post up, so I'm afraid you'll just have to trust me when I say it's truly lovely.
Thanks Kim, I really appreciated your gift :-)

Much overdue thanks (part 1)

Way way back, around 8 months ago (!) I had the privilege of receiving some parcels from across the seas, thanks to Etsy and a wonderful idea of an esty baby shower. This week I finally managed to capture Sophia with two of the four things that I was lucky enough to receive, and so I'm finally writing the blog post about them that I promised.
I know that they're not the best photos ever and I apologise to littlealouette and Maryum for that.

Maryum of the etsy shop SweetDesignsbyMaryum sent the adorable dress that Sophia is wearing. She was diligent in checking the size and specification of what she would be making to ensure that it would be something that we could use, and as you can see Sophia and I are very happy with the result. Better still, because she made it with a fairly large size vest as the basis, Sophia has been able to wear it when she was small, and it still fits her now, and is actually perfect for the spring/summer weather we've had recently.

Joe and Amy Sharp from the shop littlealouette sent the wooden teether that Sophia is holding. Although she was seemingly more interested in my water bottle and camera strap, Sophia actually loves this teether and it's had lots of use both being chewed on and also just as a fascinating toy to hold and play with.

Thank you so much to both shops. I really appreciated your kindness and generosity. Sorry it's taken so long for me to return the favour! Readers, please click over and check out their shops :)

random thoughts

Why do they always talk about the torque a car has on 5th Gear, but never mention anything like that on Top Gear?

Similarly, why do they list car stats on Top Gear by saying time it takes to go from zero to sixty mph, whereas on 5th Gear they talk about 0 to 62.

Sophia loves it when you tickle her face with your hair.

My glasses make me feel like I'm living life in HD, and I'm not sure I like it. Hopefully my eyes will settle down and accept the new norm soon.

I've been having lots of random but vivid dreams lately. Some of them I can work out where they came from, other times I wake up and I'm all "you what?!".

unimpressed by mummy's new glasses

They're purple and everything. Not sure you can really see that properly in this photo. I can't make up my mind on the date stamp. I wish you could have it on, but then remove it if you wanted to for individual photos.

Reduced dinner

Everything we ate for dinner last night was bought reduced. Now, I know that we were meant to be 'eating what we'd got' for the week, but I had to go to morrisons to buy toilet rolls - they're one of those essentials you can't hold off buying, and of course I checked for good reductions, and I found lots of things.

Actually, before I left the house I looked at our almost empty fruit bowl and had a passing thought that it might be good if I were able to buy some reduced fruit. And I found loads - bananas, apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. As well as those new potatoes you see on my plate and also the mushrooms. And some pork chops and turkey which I've put into the freezer for another day.

But back to our dinner. I reckon the total cost of the actual dinner - meat, veg and the fruit in the smoothie, can be no more than a couple of quid for both dinners. And it's only that high because the pork was over a pound for the two pieces (one each).

The menu thus far

I made pasta bake on Monday. We had the pasta and sauce, and when I checked the fridge we had a bunch of veg which I'd mostly bought reduced so needed using, and so that's what I did. I also had some reduced blocks of cheese which cost around 19p each and a packet of mince I'd got for 60p, so all in all I was able to make LOTS and lots. In fact we had it for dinner Monday and Tuesday, and I'll probably eat the final leftovers for lunch today.

Not sure what we'll have this evening. Acutally, we'll probably eat at my in laws. Menard is going there after work to do some painting, and I'll take Sophia over for them to look after while I'm out tutoring. So hopefully they'll feed us and I won't have to russle anything up when we get home at 7pm.

We have plenty of options for the rest of the week, so I'm confident we can 'eat what we've got' all week, maybe even longer.

Eat what you've got week

I've been thinking. Which is always dangerous. But anyway, inspired partly by this blog, partly by the fact I've officially resigned from my job to be a full time mummy but my maternity pay is now over, and partly by the fact that they're just really full, I've decided that this week needs to be 'Eat out of the store cupboard' week.
I've actually been doing this with my freezer for a couple of weeks, because it had got very full of sausages and pies. We've used up all the sausages, but have a couple more meals worth of pie, and we also have various other oddments in there, including 24 doughnuts (part of operation doughnut, which may or may not be explained in another post). But in the tin cupboard I have a whole wealth of variety. Well, I think I do, I haven't actually looked at what's in there, but I will in a bit and list it here. I know that we have 8 tins of baked beans which won't even fit in the cupboard. To Menard beans means Heinz, so I tend to stock up on those when I find them on offer, which I did last week.

I'm pretty sure, from memory, that I have a bunch of soup, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, tuna (yucky stuff, but maybe I can persuade Menard to eat it), rice, pasta, pasta sauce, olives, and probably some other things. I reckon we can make some exciting meals out of that. I also have flour, sugar, and other things that you might use for baking, various dried fruit, and some baby food (which I've been buying when I have coupons and will use when we're away on a church conference and not able to make my own baby food).
In the fridge I've got some vegetables, but again I'm not totally sure what. I know I have a lot of cheese. I really do need to sit down and make a list. I can tell you that the fruit bowl had a couple of bananas, about three kiwi fruit, maybe 5 apples and some little orange things (bought reduced and were labelled as 'easy pealers' so I wouldn't like to say what exactly they are). I'll do a proper survey, work out what I might need to purchase to make it through the week (most likely for making baby food, since I know I need to whip up a bunch of that) and get it this morning. And then I'm on my own, or on my own with the cupboards. I'll let you know what interesting meals we end up with.
I actually didn't have as many tins as I thought I did, although I guess it's still a lot. Here follows a list, so feel free to stop reading now.
Soup
Mushroom (I don't actually like mushroom soup, but it got bought once by someone else who lives in this house, so I guess it will be used at some point)
Spring Vegetables
Chicken and Vegetables

Beans
Kidney
Sweetcorn x2
Chickpeas
Cannelloni x2
Baked beans x8!

Tomatoes
Plum tomatoes x2 (ok, methinks I may have to buy some more of these)
Tomato and garlic pureePasta bake sauce x2

Meat/Fish
Red salmon
Tuna x2
Sardines

Carbs
Boil in bag rice (one sachet left)
Rice
Pasta
Spaghetti
Couscous
Lasagna sheetsRice noodles

Other
Peanuts
Pine Nuts
Raisins
sultanas
Dried Apricots
Dried Apple rings
Baby food
Packet to make rocky road
Bar of chocolate
Lots of herbs/spices/condiments
Oats

And some other random bits and bobs that may or may not get used.

Uh, I'm not too sure about that mummy

What a week

It's been a big week for my baby girl. On Sunday she learnt to clap and in the evening she took her first few leg shuffles forward. By Monday evening she was moving forward proficiently. On Tuesday evening she puked all over mummy, daddy and their bed, and it was proper grown up sick rather than baby sick! On Thursday Mummy discovered that she had at least one (possibly two) teeth coming in on her bottom gum. They're only buds at the moment, but enough to see and feel, and obviously Sophia's discovered them herself. She keeps putting her finger in to feel them and making funny faces.

She also recognises the camera and heads for it when I get it out, so I end up with lots of photos like this.

It's too early in the morning for my words to come out right*

But apparently I think best about blogging before 7am. Maybe it's to do with the fact that I don't worry too much about what to write or what I'm writing, I just do it.

Sophia was a bit poorly and sick last night, so woke up hungry for milk around 3am. She's fed and happy now, but a little bit too awake to go back to bed. So I'm giving her a little time to play before I try to settle her again. I'm also sneezing lots, which is weird cos it poured with rain yesterday. Maybe I'm allergic to being puked all over, although most people would probably say that they were allergic to that! Anyway, I'll take an antihistamine before I go back to bed.

I'm not quite sure what we're doing today, but hopefully all the things that need to be done will be done! It may depend on how sleepy I'm feeling.

I'm impressed by how much I've said about nothing in this post already, but at any rate I shall leave it there. Good morning and good night rolled into one!

* Line from a 'A Perfect Day' by Natasha Bedingfield