Vegetables

On Saturday we dug up the potatoes and ate them (yum!). Today I picked my peas and broad beans and we ate them (also yum!). Neither crop may have been large, but I have a lot of pride in them all the same. I've taken photos, but since my camera is dead they're on my phone, so I need to work out how best to get them from that to the laptop.

So in this post I'll just have to describe the crop to you and you can use your imagination!

Potatoes - 12 pea sized, 12 grape sized, 5 ping-pong ball size, 3 golf ball size and one tennis ball size (total 33, which fed myself, Menard and Danielle for dinner with salad - inc homegrown lettuce, and sausages, and then one more serving which I ate for breakfast the next day).

Peas - 4 pods, which yielded 22 peas

Broad beans - 6 pods (is that what you call the casings?) which yielded 17 beans (2 of them were pretty tiny). We also discovered that you can eat the casings, if they're fresh, which they certainly are, so we cut them up and boiled them with the beans and peas too.

Little bean update

Pretty sure I felt little bean move for the first time today. Very excited :)

Shoppping lists

My freezer is getting emptier, my cupboards are a little less full and a little more random in their content, I think it's time to write a 'money no object' shopping list. By that I mean it's time to stock up on those things which have been in the back of my mind for weeks, maybe even months, but that haven't been purchased because they're not a priority - for example mixed herbs. I ran out of those a while ago, but instead of using those I've been throwing in a mix of thyme, basil and oregano cos I did still have those, now, however, the thyme is running out and the oregano is getting low, maybe I ought to just shell out and get some mixed herbs.

I'm not saying I'm going to go crazy in the supermarket, although sometimes, for me, I think going crazy is when I have say under five pounds left in my week's budget and I go round the whole store figuring out to the penny what I'm going to buy with it! I'm saying it might be time to buy some meat, even if it's not reduced, stock up my herb supply, and maybe even purchase a few things that would make menu planning out of my current stock cupboards a whole lot easier.

Gardening is Delicious!

One of the things that I'm really enjoying about living in a house with our own garden (rather than a flat in a block, with no garden area at all) is that I get to grow stuff.
(I know I've mentioned in the past how exciting it is to be able to dry my washing out on the line, so I won't bother to mention that again!)

Anyway, growing stuff, very cool! I'm not talking about any of your boring common or garden flowers, nope, I'm talking edible stuff all the way. So far I've got potatoes, flat leaf parsley, basil, lettuce/salad (I've got a couple of containers, one with little gem lettuce and the other with a mixture of different salad leaves, including rocket) and I've also got what started off as 'mystery veg' - I bought a box from a charity shop which basically promised that if you buried that, box and all in the garden, you'd get a variety of different stuff as a result. I think I thought that for a quid or two it was worth a shot. A few months on and I've got three bean plants (not sure what sort of beans though, possibly broad bean? I must pick one and take a look inside!) and a pea plant. Now I'm not expecting a large crop from these, but eating anything that you've grown yourself is exciting.

And I've certainly not spent a lot of money on my garden. The containers are all either troughs or buckets with the owner of the house had left in the garden. The mystery plants cost a couple of ponds max (I can't really remember), I got some of the salad seeds free from a tv series last year which encouraged folk to grow their own stuff (you could email and request a pack of seeds, which I did), and the little gems came from the 99p store. The potatoes were my mum's which had started sprouting in the cupboard so she said I could have them. The basil and parsley were seed packets which we received as part of a wedding present (over two years ago) and despite being out of date, have grown well!

I know it's maybe getting a bit late in the season for some of you to plant things, but I definitely encourage you to give it a go - next year if you think it's too late for this year (although actually, a bit of googling or swagging would probably show you that there's something you could plant today!

hello, it's me

Hey lovelies, it's me!

I'm now somewhere between almost 16 and 14 weeks pregnant (depending on if you believe dates or scan). I'm not actually being sick much now, but I'm still feeling pretty sick and tired most of the time, and my bladder still seems to be doing that first trimester thing of needing to be emptied all the time! Due date early December - possibly the 4th or the 13th, or something inbetween!

Sophia is getting so big and boy is she chatty! Almost every day she uses words that I never even knew she knew! Some of her latest include "towel" "bork-it" (broken) "mouse" "f-lore" (floor). Every so often I consider making a list of all the words she uses in the day, but I haven't got around to doing it yet!

Uh, what else? Life is mostly ticking along. I'll try to be back again soon.

(I tried to post this last week as dated, but for some reason I couldn't get it to publish from my computer, so I've put it up from my mum's instead on the 21st, sorry for any confusion!)

It's me!

Hello little blog, this is me and my new laptop reporting for duty.That is a pretty bad photo, but it will do to show that I am indeed truly here. Hurrah!

Problem is, all the searching it just took to work out where the webcam saves photos means that I've forgotten much of what I was going to say in this post.

Oh, I remember, I was going to tell you that the morning sickness is much improved. It's mostly back to nausea rather than actual throwing up, and I even managed to take a shower this morning and not be sick straight afterwards - something my body seemed addicted to doing for the last couple of weeks. I was beginning to think the best option might be to stop showering, although those around me might not agree.

Things are generally pootling along. Little bean is growing nicely, or so the books tell me. Sophia's learning new and exciting words every day and also some odd ones. One of her current favourite phrases is "eat-it!" and is addressed to dogs, other animals and earlier to daddy. Strange child.

swimming not drowning

Sorry folks, I said I would be around, and I haven't.
My Grandma passed away on the first and dealing with that, twinned with morning sickness, has meant that the blog's been low priority. I'll be around when I can. Thanks for still checking in!

Sunny Monday

I've had a lovely day today. This morning we went for our traditional Monday morning walk at a local park/country estate with my mum and the guy who runs the walks and treats us to random historical titbits, and a family who are also know from my church small group. The weather was sunny and the temperature bearable, especially since lots of the walking is done in and amongst the trees. Oh, and of course Sophia came too.

This afternoon Sophia and I met up with a Mum who I first met at antenatal classes and her son who's only 5 or 6 weeks younger than Sophia. We went to another big park, this one had the added bonus of an animal sanctuary with ducks, chickens, pigs, goats and sheep and ponies, among other things. The kiddos loved it and we could have spent the whole day there. There were also picnic tables and a playground area, so they did lots of running around, meaning that hopefully, after all that fresh air, Sophia and I will both sleep like logs today.

The best part about the day? It was all free, or very reasonably priced. The sanctuary only cost £2 for adults (under threes were free) and that included entry to far more than we actually saw. I like a good bargain.

(I promise I won't continually talk about our business, cos this blog was invented for me to talk about my life, but since my life now involves our business, then I think I'm entitled to talk about it every once in a while! Besides, I do need to talk more at some point about all the other things we can do.)

Here we go again

Dear lovely readers, I think I might actually be BACK!
We have broadband. Ok, so the teeny tiny problem we still have is that this laptop is pretty much busted, but I'm hoping that it'll allow me to pop my head in here more often than once in a blue moon.

I have lots and lots of things to tell you all, but the first thing I'd like to do is to tell you about the business that Menard and I have set up along with another couple. (Actually, maybe I should say they set up with us, as they have the talent and Menard and I have the shouty-ness for telling people about it!)

It's called EM Photographic Services and we do lots of things! If you can't wait to find out all of them, then follow the link and take a look at the website, in the meantime I will focus on canvas art.

Now, it's a known fact that everyone either has a piece of Ikea art up on their wall, or knows someone who does! We are the antidote to mass produced artwork. We use quality photographs taken by one of our own team, David Evans, and print them onto high quality paper to produce beautiful artwork.

Of course, at this point someone may say "what if your business grows big too? Won't it still be mass produced artwork?". I have a couple of answers to that; firstly, even if lots of folk ended up choosing the same photo for their wall, each canvas will still have been created the highest quality we can achieve, and by a small team of workers, not a giant big corporation. Secondly, and I will cover this in more detail at some point, you can choose to have us put YOUR artwork on canvas, and then you really will have a one of a kind piece of art.

I feel like I got a bit lost on a wiggle there, so let me come back to my original thoughts and reason for this post... We need your help! (and I don't just mean to buy our stuff, although that would be great if that's your cup of tea).

We've put together a selection of photos which David has taken and worked on, and which we believe might make good wall art. However, there are only four of us and we're probably pretty biased, so I would love it if you guys, my lovely readers, could give us your thoughts too.

Now I'm hoping that this link from David will work, or if you are on facebook you can follow these instructions.

Search on facebook for 'emphotographic' or 'emphotographic services'.
Like us if you like!
Look at the wall and check out our 'Available Artwork' album.
Leave some thoughts, either there, or back here.
Enjoy the rest of your day

We would like to know if any particular photos stand out to you. What's your favourite? What would you definitely not want to see on your wall? Anything else?

Thank you my lovelies :)

quick hello

Oh dear wonderful readers, assuming that anyone is actually still around to be reading, I so want to be blogging, but our broadband won't be set up until the 3rd May and internet is tricky until then.
We're settled into our new place, in fact feels like we've been there for ages, which is good. A few other bits and pieces going on, but you'll hear about them in due course.

Bag update

Well I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but we are moving this weekend. Hence, a lot of sorting and cleaning out and packing is going on, and I've also lost count of how many bags we've got rid of!

However, I know we've thrown out at least 5 bags of rubbish, as well as maybe 3 or 4 to the charity shop and 2 more passing things on to folk who will use them. I think I'm gonna stop counting and just concentrate on getting rid of stuff as and when the moments arrive, and do our best to not pack junk to take to the new place!

I'll be back again soon. Hopefully, if I don't get lost in the boxes!

Less is more

Yesterday with Sophia's help (she tore up some old magazines!) we filled a bag with paper to recycle so that was bag 3.

Bag 4 was filled today with 15 or so books to take to the charity shop. These were actually books from my old bedroom in my parent's house, but since it's my stuff and it needs reducing, I figure it counts! I came out of the charity shop with one new book which I'm looking forward to flicking through and possibly sharing with my friend Danielle - it's by money saving expert Martin Lewis.

Sophia's had a great afternoon. Now we live in a ground floor flat so she doesn't get to do stairs on a regular basis, but this afternoon at my parent's house she did lots of practising, both up and some down (trying out a few techniques, including sliding down on her bottom!)

And who can resist requests such as "bit-dit bease mama?" (Let's see if anyone can try to translate that!)

Challenge

Ok so, my blog needs some loving, my house needs de-cluttering.
Looks like 40 bags in 40 days is a match made in heaven.
Let's do this!

I found this challenge on Owlhaven, and clicked over to Clover Lane

Now I'm gonna cheat a teeny tiny bit, cos I actually did a bunch of clearing out on Monday and have already got rid of two bags of stuff.
Bag one went to a charity shop and was books and a few items of toddler clothing.

Bag two went yesterday and it was books and magazines - I returned some books to their owner, gave away a duplicate book of Sophia's to her little friend J and took some magazines in to our doctors surgery.

Here's to bag three (or more) today

Thinking thoughts

the page is blank and empty, waiting to fill up with text

the thoughts don't come right away,

they linger in the mind

and on the fingertips

waiting to be uttered,

pondering, thinking, wondering

what next?

Sharing

Milk for Sophie

Hm, baby looks thirsty

This is tricky, how does Mummy manage?

Ah, here we go, milk for baby

As requested

Eating lunch is such hard work

Cheeky monkeys

today thus far

Yesterday I popped into Morrisons after an afternoon of bits and pieces, including visiting auntie Yvonne (my sister in law, and Sophia's auntie). I didn't find much on the fridge reduced shelves, although I did score some chicken drumsticks for 99p (reduced to more than half price) and a couple of patties which can be frozen, and which Menard can take for his lunch to work.

However, on the fruit and veg table I found tons of apples. I came home with two packs, each of 45p, so a total of 90 pence. One bag was fairly small red apples (unlabelled) and contained about 20 apples! The other was mixed larger apples and had about ten. I'd say that's a score!

I also found a bag with three butternut squashes for 45p and a bag of little carrots for 45p (pretty much everything was 45p!)

This morning I have stewed some apples to put in little pots and freeze - I take one one pot of fruit every day and mix it into Sophia's porridge for breakfast, this gets fruit into her, and cools the porridge down quicker!

I made apple muffins with a recipe I found at All Recipes (and used that particular one cos I had all the ingredients, well sort of. I used all granulated sugar instead of a mix of caster and soft brown, and I didn't have any icing sugar to put on the top). They turned out really nicely, and gave me an excuse to use my new silicone muffin cases which Bekki gave me for Christmas. I used the circles and the stars and they worked brilliantly. Hurrah! My waist line will thank me for not eating them, although I tasted one with Sophia to check how they turned out, so some are going to my friend with a fairly new baby (about 5 weeks old now I think) and some have been frozen and M will take them to work as part of his lunch.

I also cut up lots of apples and froze them, to be turned into stewed apple or apple cake or something at a later date. I have 6 large apples left, but I'm all appled out for the time being. I'll do something with them either later today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile Sophia was having all sorts of fun. Drawing on her leg with biro, eating apples (bites out of multiple apples, thanks darling!), playing with plastic pots out of the 'safe cupboard' in the kitchen, putting washing (and an apple) in and out of the washing machine, etc etc!

I've also cleared up the kitchen and done what felt like endless washing up, we've watched builders out the window (who were coming to sort out the mess they made when they decided to paint the building in the rain) and Sophia's been fascinated by the shadows their ladders made against the window blinds. Oh, and we hoovered the living room to pick up all the bits of apple Sophia had showered it with!

I've probably done some other stuff too, like writing this blog post. But now it's time to stop writing and change a stinky nappy, and shower and exciting things like that, so we can head out to see Lyndsay and baby later on.

plodding along

Life is plodding along around here. I think I'm finally mostly better from the nasty lurgy that I've been suffering with for over a week. It started with a horrible sore throat, and went on to be a high temperature, dizziness and coughing to name a few things.

Sophia is growing taller and wiser every day. She says so many words now. I can't believe how time has flown.

I've got some photos that I need to upload, so I'll try to do that soon.

Mind's gone blank, so I'll leave it there, but I'll try to be back soon.

(I don't know if I mentioned that if I'm not around here you can trying hunting for me at my other blog, Can Big Change to Beautiful? - link on the sidebar)

God is Good

A lovely afternoon was spoiled by my purse being stolen :(

I've cancelled all the card and starting fraud proceedings to claim back the money they got on my credit card and debit card. And just been ringing/on-lining to get replacements for all the loyalty cards.

Most frustrated that i was carrying all Sophia's Christmas money (cash) that i was going to pay in to her account, but hadn't yet. Oh and the parking ticket for not moving my car in time (cos i was in the banks getting stuff sorted out)

But, God is good. Sophia and I are safe (they just took the purse from my bag. And my bank caught the cash withdrawal on my credit card super quick and called me right away, so i got them cancelled within maybe an hour of it being taken)

And when i got home the silly car that's been parked in what i consider my spot was gone and my space was free. And the buzzer on my car (when the engine is off and you open the door) told me I'd left my lights on so i could turn them off and not get a flat battery.

And "He that is in us is greater than He that is in the world" - that's a verse I had on a card in my wallet.

And now most of my loyalty cards will now finally in my married name. And I discovered that for one store i actually had two cards, so they're combining them and that's some free money i never knew i had!

And the bank lady was lovely when i cried on her, and so were the ladies in the other bank and....
basically i have so many reasons to be thankful.

God is GOOD!

Winter Cannellini Bean Soup

(as found on the back of the dried cannellini packet. I made it with most of the ingredients in the recipe, just not necessarily with the exact ratios!)

Serves 6-8

1 tbsp Olive Oil
4 Shallots, diced (I used onions)
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
3 Celery sticks, sliced
2 Leeks, sliced
140g Streaky bacon, diced
1 1/2 litres Stock (I used some I'd made as per earlier post)
2 Bay leaves
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Flesh parsley, roughly chopped (I didn't have this)
500g Cannellini beans
Salt and Pepper to taste (I didn't use any)

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the shallots, garlic, celery, leeks and bacon. Cook over a medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned.

2. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaves (I didn't have any!) and oregano and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 15 minutes, add the cannellini beans, cover and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the beans are heated through.

3. Stir in the parsley and serve immediately.

This soup is yummy. I used less beans and less stock, cos that's what I had, but I think it tastes great. I used dried beans that I'd previously soaked and boiled, but you could use tinned beans instead.

Yo!

New year, new resolutions.....
I will blog more!

WIshing you all...

... a very Happy Christmas!

Sophia is very much enjoying this, her second Christmas, so far. (We've let her open a few presents on the days leading up to Christmas, so she's getting the hang of this tearing off wrapping paper thing!) I'm sure there will be some photos to share in the next few days.

Let's have a wonderful time celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Snow!

We went out to play in the snow. Sophia was unimpressed.

"Uh, so why are we out here Mummy?""Maybe we should try over there?"
"No mummy, I really don't like this".
"But if you blow raspberries at me, then I might manage a smile for the camera"

I'm still here, oh little blog of mine

Just doing lots of mummy things and getting ready for Christmas things. I think of you often, but mostly as I fall asleep at night, and thus many posts have been written, but only in my imagination. I will be here properly soon, I hope.
I'll leave you with some of Sophia's words...

Hat!
Head!
Hot!
Hup! (meaning up, to be picked up)
Gees (keys)
Da-dad (Grandad - he's the first member of the family to be named other than mummy and daddy)
Hiya
Bu-bye
Ess (Tess, Nan and Grandad's cat)

It works for me

I'm still in my p-jams, but have been a bit productive this morning. I made pumpkin risotto and I've got my second lot of stock going in my crockpot (I used some of my first batch in my risotto). This lot is chicken and vegetable. I had to make it cos my freezer was getting full of vegetable peelings! (Check out those links if you're confused!)

Anyway, while I was cooking I was making great use of this and these both bought on Etsy. The former is a oven mitt made by my good friend Bren of goodkarma and the second set are two mitts made by Buggie (as I call her! Who is also a good friend) of LadybugsDesigns.

I actually bought both sets a couple of years back when I was young free and single. But they get used all the time now. I use them to hold my metal pans when cooking, but I also use them to hold Sophia's bottles when I take them out of the steamer.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say (and I know I'm saying it a bit late, but there is still time!) is that although I actually bought these things for myself*, I have also shopped online for presents for Christmas this year, and shopping on places like Etsy and Folksy** (UK version of etsy) works for me.

*It occurs to me that actually although I bought the mitts from Buggie, I believe that my sister paid me for them and gave me them for Christmas. So thanks HB :)

**I bought a present on Folksy this year, but I can't link to it, cos that would spoil the surprise!
(Do check out some of those links. I wish I had time to give you lots of links to friendly folk over there, but Sophia's crying so I gotta go)

I'm linking this up at We are THAT family for Works for me Wednesday

jumbled thoughts

Today's a pyjama day.

Sophia is currently sat on my lap, holding my phone to her ear and saying "hi hi hi!".

This evening I've got a "Mum's night out" thanks to Teeny Tots, the mums and toddler group that our church runs. I'm looking forward to Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings. I think Menard will be having something like cheese on toast, but I only feel a little bit guilty!

Christmas shopping is going well, especially thanks to the internet. Good old online shopping. Only a couple more things to get. Time to start wrapping, although that'll probably be easier when Sophia's in bed.

Sophia's currently making her own additions to the master Christmas list - I'm the coordinator for the extended family. Maybe she's adding what she wants. That'd be handy, cos she's one of the few people I haven't bought for yet!

Thanks Julie and co for my new coat

"Ooo, new coat!"

"It keeps me warm and cosy, mummy"

Trying to be frugal

Being a stay at home mum is one of the best jobs ever. I wouldn't give up the quality time I have with Sophia for anything. However, realistically it means that less money is coming in to the household that before I had a baby (I won't even bother to try to figure out the child care versus my wages calculation, cos that wasn't a route we wanted to go down).

I've always been a bit of a saver. If I was given money for birthdays or Christmas I would often end up paying money into my savings account and then forgetting about it. Of course this has come in handy now that I'm a married adult who needed to find money for things like deposits for landlords etc. I loved to read household tips books growing up and one of my favourite books to dip into was 'More with Less'. (I can't find a good link for that, but it's a book by a lady called Doris Longacre sharing thoughts and ideas from herself and others about living in a way that better stewards the resources God has given us). Nowadays I'm also into frugal blogs. Some of my current favourites include Frugal Hacks, The Path to Frugality, The Common Room, and The Simple Dollar.

I've been making stock now and then for ages - my mum does it, and so I do too, but a post on The Simple Dollar inspired me to be more intentional about it. He (Trent) posts about how they have bags (or it might have been boxes, I use bags) in the freezer and any time they have bones or leftover vegetable peelings or scraps, they toss them into these bags and freeze them. Every once in a while, when the bags are full, they crank up the crock pot, toss them in with some bits and pieces, and the result is delicious and nutritious stock. That's just a quick summary, so go over and read the original post 'Turning kitchen waste into something sublime'.

Uh-oh!

I haven't posted lately about how Sophia's communication is developing. It seems like every day she learns a new word, either to understand or to say for herself. The current favourites are "uh-oh" and "ooos".

'Ooos' are quite obviously shoes, and since mummy often counts them as we put them on "one shoe" and "two shoes", Sophia can frequently be heard saying "ooo ooos" (two shoes). [It's always really hard to represent sounds accurately, given that there will be variations in the regional dialects of those reading this post, but you can read 'ooo ooos' as pretty much the same as 'two shoes' but without the 't' or 'sh' sounds]

But my favourite is "uh-oh". We've always been parents who down play little tumbles by saying "whoops-a-daisy" or "uh-oh!", so that Sophia can learn for herself that she's fine, she can pick herself up and carry on. Obviously we're there to offer assistance if she needs it, but we want her to learn that she doesn't need to be picked up and soothed for every tiny little thing.

"Uh-oh" tends to be used when something has been accidentally dropped, and Sophia's picked up this meaning with glee. Two case examples...

The other day I was cooking in the kitchen and Sophia was sat in the corridor with a basket of toys (right outside the kitchen, so I could keep an eye on her, but outside the babygate to keep her safe). Sophia had been playing for a while when she decided a fun game would be to drop her toys over the gate, and as each one went over she gleefully called out "uh-oh!".

Yesterday I observed Sophia at the point where she's got bored of her dinner and decided it was time to show us that. She said "uh-oh" and then (after she said it) she threw her cup on the floor.

Other Sophia words:
Daddy
dirty
Mummy (but still mostly mum-mum or ma!)
Doe-dee (Sophie! Her name for herself)
Oh! or Oooh! (to be used as an exclamation, when pointing at something, just for fun...)

Random Debbie Thoughts

I was driving along the A406 to a friend's house the other day (and that visit totally deserves its own post) and passed under a couple of bridges and got thinking about graffiti. Yes, so I think about odd things when I'm driving.

But anyway, most of the bridges seem to have graffiti on them, and it's usually written so that you can read it from below. Ok, so some of it is just pictures, but I'm talking about the written graffiti. And I suddenly thought, hey, not only has someone been foolish to hang off a bridge to write that (cos these things are way up high above the road), they've also obviously been practising writing upside down! I'm sure if I were graffiting a bridge, what I wrote certainly wouldn't turn out half as neat and tidy cos I'd be hopeless at getting it all even!

(More posts about Sophia coming soon for those of you who don't think a post is worth reading unles it has a cute baby story in it)

Walking!

Thanks to Auntie Bekki we finally have proof to show y'all that Sophia's walking

Good morning

This morning Sophia woke up at 5.30am. But she slept through until then, so I think it's an improvement.

So far this morning I have

rummaged around for things to put in shoeboxes

counted some of the pennies from our penny jar into money bags

changed at least two nappies (I've lost count)

chased Sophia up and down our halfway about six million times

jumped on daddy (actually Sophia did that, I just watched)

and probably some other stuff too

All before 8am. No wonder if feels like time to go to bed again. But instead I think I better find some breakfast for us (Sophia's had some milk, so she's fine!)

Pumpkin and Sweetcorn Risotto

This recipe is from Allrecipes

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
225g risotto rice
500g pumpkin or 1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 1cm pieces
2 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
pinch of saffron
850ml vegetable stock, hot
150g frozen sweetcorn
125g mozzarella cheese, diced
50g pumpkin seeds

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a moderate heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook gently for 4–5 minutes until softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the rice, pumpkin or butternut squash and sage leaves and cook for 2 minutes longer. Stir the saffron into the hot stock, then pour about a quarter of the stock into the pan and stir well until it has almost all been absorbed, stirring frequently.

Continue adding the stock, only a ladleful at a time, making sure each is almost completely absorbed before adding the next, and stirring frequently to produce a creamy texture.
With the last addition of stock add the sweetcorn and stir well. Once all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender (this will take about 20 minutes), stir in the mozzarella cheese.

Season to taste, then cover the pan and allow to stand for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the risotto with the pumpkin seeds and serve at once.

How I actually made it, and a few comments:

I did this with pumpkin, you can use other seasonal squashes or courgette (zucchini). You can also add things like carrots - Danielle, who originally cooked it for me did this in hers.

I added cumin too,and I put mixed herbs instead of just sage, cos I didn't have any sage, but the ingredients on the mixed herbs said sage first, so I figured that was the largest ingredient of that anyway! Also I didn't have saffron but put a shake of paprika instead.

I didn't have just corn frozen, so I put in frozen mixed veg (corn, carrots, peas and green beans which are already cut into cute little cubes). That made it look really pretty actually. And I threw in some chick peas, cos I'd been cooking some from dry in my crock pot.

I ended up needing a lot more liquid than the recipe said. I think if I'd cut the pumpkin up smaller it might have cooked better quicker and needed less liquid. I started off with vegetable stock, but for the extra I just added hot water, cos the flavour gets very concentrated, and I figured more stock would be too much flavour.

I didn't have any mozzarella, so I just used grated cheddar cheese. Another time I might use a combination of the two. I'm not sure how much I added, I just went by taste, and it was yummy!

Final few changes (you may wonder if i can actually cook a recipe the way it's written!)

I put in a bit more onion and garlic than the recipe said. I didn't put pumpkin seeds on the top.
And I didn't use risotto rice - rather just long-grain rice!

My thinkings

Well so much for the whole posting every day in November plan - I didn't commit to it out loud cos I wasn't sure I'd manage it, and it's probably just as well!

Random bits and pieces....

This morning I found Sophia cradling one of my shoes, and saying "baby". I knew she had a weird thing for shoes!

Today Sophia had her 13 month injections. There were two, and poor baby is too clever. She watched the nurse intently after the first one, as she was getting the next one ready, and poor baby kept whimpering and trying to get off my lap cos she knew what was coming. Miss Sophia milked it all morning, requesting milk and more breadsticks or rusks, or cheese, or whatever she could see that mummy was putting into the supermarket trolley (we went shopping afterwards cos we needed some stuff and cos mummy needed some retail therapy!). And Mummy had mummy-guilt and gave in to her every need. At least up until lunch, after which she had a good long sleep.

This afternoon I've been making Pumpkin and Sweetcorn Risotto. I'll share the recipe and a link, but I'll do it in a separate post cos I made so many changes to the original recipe! My friend Danielle brought some over for lunch earlier in the week and it was delicious so I got the recipe and gave it a go myself. Sophia loved it too, so I think that's what she'll be having for dinner tonight.

She's a secret cappuccino drinker*

* Well, the froth anyway! She loves to share with Nana anytime she gets the chance

Apple and Ginger Jam

My mum went to stay with her mum recently and brought home a lot of apples from her tree, and she gave some of them to me. I've used some of them for apple sauce for Sophia's breakfast (she has porridge with fruit in for breakfast) and I decided to make Apple and Ginger jam with some of them. Here's the recipe.

2 1/2 lb Apples (weight after peeling and coring)
1/2 pint water
1 - 2 teaspoons ground ginger
2lb sugar

Peel the apples and core the apples and cut them up into small pieces. (I went for sort of cubes)

Tie the cores and peel up in a muslin bag (Now I actually didn't do this, but instead added a dash of liquid pectin I'd bought at Sainsburys)

Simmer the fruit (and muslin bag or additional pectin) with the water and ginger until a very smooth pulp. (I actually still had a few lumps of apple left, but I think that just adds character to the jam!)

Remove the muslin bag (if you used it)

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved

Boil steadily until set.*

Pour into sterilised jars** and put on the lids. Leave to cool

*To test if the jam is set I have some saucers in the fridge, when the jam is beginning to thicken up and look more jammy I dollop a blob of the jam onto a saucer and put it back in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile either turn down the jam or remove it from the heat. Use a finger to push the jam on the saucer, if the jam has a skin which wrinkles when you push it, then the jam is set. You can also use a jam thermometer to see when the jam has reached the correct temperature

** I wash my jars and lids in hot soapy water and then put the jars on a baking tray with sides (so a tin I guess, rather than a tray, the sides hold the jars in!) I put them in the oven on a low heat for at least 15 minutes. (140C/275F/Gas mark 1). Some people suggest doing it with the jars upside down, but I do them right side up cos that's what my mummy does.

Fireworks

This evening we had a few fireworks which Menard let off in his Mum's back garden. They were rockets, so very loud, and made me jump every time. We also had some sparklers to play with. Sophia was totally unfazed by the fireworks, she didn't even flinch. Instead she was too busy watching her auntie Yvonne holding a sparkler. And her response to those? Well to point and say "Oooh", of course!

Daddy!

Sophia's definitely started talking. She says "ma-ma", which she's been doing for a while, but finally she's started saying "daddy". Yep, not just "dada" but "daddy".

Of course, we may have a few identification issues. I just saw her saying "daddy" and pointing to the television at (both!) Grissom and Warrick (on CSI)!

Frugality meets Hospitality

Themes that I seem to have been hearing and reading about a lot lately are frugality and hospitality. I've been feeling challenged to try to find a way to combine two two together into our everyday life.

I want to be frugal, I want to carefully steward the money that Menard earns, which at the of the day comes from God. I am actually one of those strange people who finds shopping exciting. I love the mathematical exercise of comparing prices, not only within store (to find the best price per unit) but also recently comparing different stores. I discovered the site MySupermarket at the weekend, and I've already used it to compare nappy prices and work out which of the stores in our area would have the best deal. A few minutes online saved me having to visit all the stores to find the figures and work out which was best, before having to then return to make my purchase. I love the way that the site allows you to compare individual items, or the whole trolley.

I also love having guests over. Menard and I really desire for this house to be a welcoming place, a home where we can serve others by inviting them into our lives. Cooking in my crockpot, among other ways, allows me to be hospitable, but also frugal.

Dead (wo)man walking

I feel rough. I can't smell or taste. I feel like I can't breathe. My head is full of gunk. I want to go back to bed. Thank God for in laws - we'll be going to visit them this morning so they can take care of Sophia and I can flop on the sofa and die quietly.

Crock-potting across the universe

I've been using my crock pot a lot recently. There are a number of reasons for this, firstly I actually find it to be a lot easier to get organised about dinner in the morning than later in the day when Sophia's getting tired and cranky. On some days when we've had guests over for lunch this has actually meant I've had things in the crock pot by 7am! (well if I'm up with the baby anyway!)

Secondly, I love love love coming home to a house smelling deliciously yummy. Actually, we live in shared flats and you can generally smell whatever I'm cooking out in the shared hallway. I hope other people don't mind too much!

Thirdly, you can buy some of the cheaper cuts of meat and still produce something that tastes fantastic- I've done a couple of pork casseroles with shoulder joints and other nameless parts - just labelled 'stewing pork', bought at a fraction of the cost of other fancier cuts.

Fourthly, using the crockpot has been a great way to ensure that I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen preparing the meal when we have guests over. It's all ready when we are. All I might do is quickly prepare some rice or mashed potato and boom, it's done.

Finally, it's just so easy. Ok so of course there are some complicated recipes out there, but mostly what I've done has been really simple and yet tasted amazing.

Today I'mmaking a variation of this recipe. I'm using four chivken legs rather than a whole chicken, and I changed the spices to what I had on hand. Finally, I put in a pinch or two of salt, not 4 teaspoons like the recipe suggested. It tells you not to add any liquid because the chicken will just cook in its own juices, and I'm glad I didn't because it really had produced loads. It smells delicious, so I'll let you know how it tastes.

-9 (28th January 2009)

Written 28th January after taking a pregnancy test. I'd intended to write more letters, but this was the only one I wrote while pregnant.

Dear Baby,

I've wondered for the last couple of weeks whether there was someone growing inside of me, and this morning I saw that blue cross on the test, and knew for sure. Well, pretty sure. I'm going to do another test in a few days and go see my doctor to be sure sure.

I want you to know that I love you. I will always love you. I will do all I can for your good. But, even when at times when I fail, when I let you down, if I make the wrong decisions, there is a God in heaven who will never let you down. I'm excited about the chance to teach you about Him. I know that he holds your life in His hands.

I love you,
your Mummy

wedding dress pics

Since I seem to be going with some blasts from the past, these are photos of me the day we bought my wedding dress in February 2009. I look pretty rough as I was suffering with some pretty nasty morning sickness that day!

life changes forever

I've been looking through my draft posts which I wrote but never posted. I found this one, which was written at a very emotional time. Reading it made me well up with tears, because I know how it turns out. It's like watching a film but already knowing the ending. I know that God is good. I know Sophia and she is a wonderful addition to my life, to our lives. And I'm still trusting God for our future.

written on 28th January, 2009

Today I found out that I'm almost definitely pregnant. Life is about to totally change forever.
I'm a good Christian girl, I've never done anything this big before. Even last year when I was depressed and full of rebellion, I didn't do anything like this. What went wrong?

I guess the answer is, I slipped up. We slipped up. People do it all the time. Every day people make the wrong decision, they do things they shouldn't, just not everyone's mistakes have such big and such direct consequences.

Right from the beginning I knew for certain that if I got pregnant, I would be keeping the baby. I refused to even think about the morning after pill. Well, that's not quite true. I thought about it, I thought about it a lot, but I knew that there was no way that I could sqare that with my conscience. I belive too highly in the sanctity of life. Even at conception, a life is a life. I know that to the very depths of my being.

So, I'm keeping my baby. I have that Madonna song going round in my head. I wonder how I could have been so stupid. And yet, also, there's a part of me that's excited. Scared wittless, but excited. I know that God has good plans for me, for us. All three of us. I know that although we messed up, God forgives. That God can turn all things around for good. And I choose in my heart to belive that. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I don't even know if this fragile life within me will reach term - I know how fragile it is, and that not all pregnancys will result in a baby. But, whatever happens, I'm going to trust in God.

Whatever people say, however people treat me, however I'm feeling, I choose to trust in God, because he first chose me.
And I claim these verses for me, and for my baby.
Psalm 139: 13-16
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

I had a dream

To really appreciate the funniness of a dream I had last night in the drowsy time I had while feeding Sophia at 2.30am after she woke up with wind, wet and having done a poo (well at least she's multitasking) you need to know two things.

Firstly, lately Menard and I have been watching a lot of the program Grand Designs, where "Kevin McCloud follows self builders in pursuit of architectural brilliance" (I stole that sentence from their summary when you search for them on swagbucks)

Secondly, my house is full of 'value' products from Morrisons, which are all packaged in an attractive bright yellow.

I dreamt that we were building a house, at least I assume that's what we were doing, I just sort of launched into the dream at the point the materials were arriving to cover the roof.

We had piles of black tiles, possibly slate, and they came in packs of ten and packaged in beautiful bright yellow Morrisons value wrapping!

sort of here

Totally meant to blog this evening (Sophia sleeping, Menard out) but I got caught up with swag bucks.

Anyway, um, hello, this is really just one of those mark the page with something posts (like a cat marking his territory?! Hm, maybe not!) I really want to get back to proper blogging soon, so in the meantime go sign up for swag bucks (and if you do it through my referral link, then I'd be extremely grateful!)

I'm back! (again again, or something!)

Hey lovely blog folk, things have been a bit ick around here. We've all got a horrible cold and I've been suffering with these nasty headaches too. I've come to the conclusion that sugar is one of the culprits for the headaches, so I'm doing my best to cut that out of my diet. And that can't be a bad thing when it comes to trying to lose weight either, so I guess that's a good thing.

Oh, but the biggest news around here is that SOPHIA IS WALKING! She started on the Saturday, three days after her birthday, and she's just got better and better since :)

There has to be cake...

She was a bit confused about the concept of blowing out candles rather that trying to touch them, but we got there with a little help from mummy!

Happy First Birthday Sophia!

One year ago our little baby girl arrived and totally roacked our world. How quick time passes!


(I wanted to compare with an up to date photo, but can't find the camera leads. Will post more pics soon, hopefully!)

A quick link

I have been enjoying making chutney and jam lately (homemade Christmas presents here we come...!)
Today I made caramel apple jam, and judging from the taste of the leftover bits stuck to the wooden spoon, it's delicious!

The much awaited Green Tomato Chutney recipe

Last year my friend Danielle made some green tomato chutney and gave me a little jar of it, and it was yummy! I decided that if I ever got the chance I would either steal her entire supply of it, or even better, get the recipe.

This year, thanks to the heat and then the rain, my in laws had a lot of tomatoes that were refusing to turn red. I asked them if I could have some, and they graciously gave me many many of them, and I also had lots of onions my father in law had grown on his allotment. How could it get better than that? Homemade chutney, made with homegrown ingredients.

Danielle duly gave me the recipe, and thanks to the power of google (actually, come to think of it, it was the swag bucks tool bar I used) I was able to search and find the original website the recipe came from. And since I'm a bit lazy I will just give you a link to the yummiest chutney I know. I took some photos when I was making it, but I'm not awake enough at 6.45am to do all that camera/computer/leads malarkey. All I can say is check out the link and try it! Also, it really is worth dicing up the tomatoes and onions - they pretty much stay the size you cut them, and if you cut them too small it'd just be too chunky.

I made 5 jars, one's going to Danielle, one's gone to my in laws, and I may give one to my mum. The other two I'm fiercely guarding. It's just too yummy!

hello, oh blog of mine

See, I knew that my blogging streak wouldn't last, but did you enjoy it while it did?

Today I'm at my parents' house. My wonderful daddy looked after Sophia while I got my hair cut. I also looked for some new clothes, but only managed to buy some underwear, but that was needed, so it's all good.

Ok, Sophia's trying to help me type, so I shall leave you with this... a rare photo of Sophia with a hat on (note my arm putting the hat on, and Sophia's hat about to pull it off again!)

Who would've thought it?

I don't eat fish. The thought of eating fish makes me feel queasy, even the smell of fish makes me feel sick, I avoid it at all costs. And yet, nowadays I buy it about once a week and cook it, without feeling sick, for Sophia. Wow, things have certainly changed.

I've been making green tomato chutney. I made one batch Saturday night and took some photos as I did it, although they weren't that good. I bought more onions today as I have enough green tomatoes to make one and a half times the original quantity I made. I will post the recipe and my photos once I've got the camera and computer to agree to link up.

Dreaming

I had a funny dream this morning.

I dreamt I'd gone back to visit the school where I worked before I went on maternity leave and didn't go back! I walked into a classroom, which was sort of the one I used to work in, but also differnet. It was Friday afternoon and that's the teacher's non-contact time, so there was a supply teacher there, but she was getting all flustered over teaching them about 'more than' and 'less than' (> and <). I was even getting them to tell me thumbs up or thumbs down or in the middle (or green, amber and red traffic light colours), to indicate how well they thought they understood. I was an amazing teacher!)

Buy anyway, I noticed I could hear this sort of babbling noise that someone kept making in the classroom and I was going round trying to find out who it was. I was getting so frustrated that I found out the classroom next door was empty and sent the supply teacher in there and was in the process of sending the children there with her one by one to figure it out by process of elimination. I was down to a couple of boys and I was looking at them, but none of their mouths were moving, so I just didn't know who was making the noise...

...and then I woke up, and realised it was Sophia chatting away to herself in her cot.

The fun of free food

Guest post by HB my sister:

This summer I have loved eating free foods picked from the wild. My husband and I had a week at my in-laws house while they were away on holiday.
In their garden they have a large number of runner beans, an apple tree and a couple of plum trees. So we had a feast of food to eat!! We'd been instructed to pick the beans daily and eat as many as we could and give some away. Believe me, there were masses of beans, I'm amazed they weren't coming out of our ears!!! But it was lovely being able to give away beans to friends and neighbours.
We picked many plums and apples too and I made a lot of crumbles for puddings while we were there. We were also able to take some away with us to share with my family and to bring back home with us.
On the way back home, we also visited a friend and decided to go blackberry picking along a country lane. By the time we were home we had several bags of fruit to put in our freezer and we are still eating our way through blackberries now!!
I wish I had fruit trees in our garden. Maybe when we next move I'll have to put it on my wish list!! In the mean time I'll just have to carry on raiding my family's gardens and the wild!! I thoroughly recommend you give it a go too :-)

Daddy's girl

Thinking thoughts

Why, when the weather is about to turn, did I suddenly feel like cleaning and washing everything - like the pillows and duvet cover...? I'm trying to be realistic though, cos I know it's going to rain tomorrow!

I made apple cake and Menard says it's yummy. I'm trying to avoid eating any, but it does smell good.

Sophia is getting better at walking with her push along toy. I'm sure she'll be doing it by herself anytime soon.

I'm starting to think about Christmas. I know it's still September, but I figure at least this way things will be ticking over in my mind and I'll be all organised. Worth a try anyway!

Holday smiles

(Thank you Grandad (aka my daddy) for letting me raid your photo collection!)

I'm addicted... to my slow cooker

I have a copy of 'Fix it and forget it lightly' and I decided that I wanted to start using my crock pot more, this is apparently a match made in heaven!
Last week I made bolognaise sauce and then on Sunday I tried a recipe from my cookbook, and this is the one I made and loved...

Lemon Garlic Chicken
(makes 4 servings, ideal slow-cooker size 3 1/2 quart)

1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 chicken breasts (I used turkey breast steaks cos that's what I had!)
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 cup water (I put more like 1/2 cup)
3 Tbsp lemon juice (I put about half a lemon, but didn't really measure!)
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I used 3 cos Menard loves garlic)
1 tsp low sodium chicken bouillon granules (I used vegetable)
1 tsp minced fresh parsley

(can you tell I'm one of those people who uses a recipe just as a basis?!)

1. Combine oregano, salt and pepper. Rub the mixture all over the chicken. Brown chicken in the butter (or margarine) in a skillet. Transfer to slow cooker.

2. Place water, lemon juice, garlic, and bouillon in skillet. Bring to the boil, loosening browned bits from the skillet. Pour over the chicken.

3. Cover. Cook on high 2 - 2 1/2 hours or low 4 - 5 hours.

4. Add parsley and baste chicken. Cover. Cook on high 15 - 30 minutes, until chicken is tender.

Per serving 180 calories

(Also posted on One Weigh or Another)

The Very Hungry Catapillar...

I seem to be creating my own version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar on the top of my fridge...On Satuday he ate through three pears, four avacadoes, some crossaints and a box of plums...

Introducing

There are a whole bunch of blogs which I read intermittently (because sometimes I forget about them and sometimes I just don't have time to read) that I've been thinking I ought to add to my blog roll.

So here they are...

We are that family - I started reading this blog when Works for me Wednesday moved from being hosted by Rocks in my Dryer to here. I got hooked by the posts about real life, real love, real faith, and I'm still reading.

The Diaper Diaries - I remember following a link from someone's blog to find this blog. Probably Shannon's blogroll over at Rocks in My Dryer (before she changed her blog around and I had to start finding other people's blogs for myself!). I have dabbled a little into her 1 Cor 7:5 challenge, and would recommend it to other Christian wives!

The Common Room - I first came across this blog while living with Blest for three months (My Texan adventures!). I have come to recognise that The Deputy Headmistress, as she calls herself, writes wise, thoughtful and thought provoking stuff both at this blog and at Frugal Hacks. I might not always share her opinions or come from the same background, but I always come away with some little nugget to chew upon.

switching off, one plug at a time

Ok, I have a question. I'm sure I could google it and read lots of articles, but it's more fun to ask my readers...
I've got a bit obsessive about turning off switches in this house, especially in the kitchen (although obviously not the fridge or freezer). But I generally just switch them off, I don't remove plugs from the socket. Do I actually save energy/money by doing that? Or should I be unplugging things where I can as well?

Less than 12 hours old

How time has flown.

Debs thinks about blogging

I am a blogger. I still blog. I write blog posts ALL THE TIME. Problem is it's usually when I'm lying in bed, or sat in the car, or even on the loo! When I sit at a computer there are way too many things to distract me from the actual sit down and type it bit. There's facebook and twitter, my blog roll and other people's. And then there are all the blogs that I read that I really need to get around to adding to the blog roll. Then there's replying to tweets and checking my @debsenglishrose messages. Then making some comments on facebook, checking my emails, saying hi to the goigs, looking at ebay to see if any of my stuff has sold, and then refreshing the page to see if anything else has changed in the past ten seconds. And... no wonder I'm better at blogging in my head than at the computer.

Well, I'm trying to change. I love blogging, and I love the feedback I get from other people. People who have similar lives to mine, and people who are totally different. People who comment, and people who don't so much (but who I would love to hear from once in a while, especially if you knew me in a past life, so to speak - Esther, Imogen, Bud I'm talking to people like you..!)

I have so many blog post ideas wandering around in my head. Things like showing you photos of Sophia that have finally been uploaded from my phone, we're talking early days here people, blast from the past and all that! Not to mention photos and stories from our holiday just recently. And then (I like those two words today) there are ideas that are just forming. Ideas that I'm trying to get straight in my head, that I'd like to blog about, but I'm hesitant to do so cos I don't want to be shot down (for example, thoughts on contraception). And then there are the random, out of nowhere, silly thoughts that surely my blog ought to be a good outlet for.

Ok, so I'm trying. Watch this space. And if nothing happens, go away for a few days and do your own thing, and then come back and watch some more. I'll be here, eventually. Blogging's in my blood, I just can't help doing it.

Does not compute

I was reading a post on Kathleen's blog yesterday about buying school supplies (at least I think I was, I just looked and I can't see it anywhere now, did I just dream it?) and it reminded me of the same thing I've thought every time someone talks about school supplies at this time of year.
"What? You have a list of things that your child has to have for school?!"

You see, over here (by which I mean my limiter experience of British schools) sure you get ready to go back to school, but you decide for yourself what you need. At primary school (age 5-11) I recall that we were mostly encouraged not to bring our own stuff from school, but rather use the school's pencils etc. I can understand that thirty 5 year olds arguing over which pencil case belongs to which child is not really ideal. I think that towards the end of primary school we were considered sensible enough to bring in our own stuff to use, but again, there were school resources there to use, and we were encouraged to use them.

Or course at secondary school you had to bring your own stuff. I remember the days when my pencil case had been the one thing that hadn't been stuffed back in to the weighty overpacked bag and I'd have to spend the day blagging off over people. Pretty much you were on your own with that. But no one ever told us buy this folder and not that one, or buy such and such. Actually, to be truthful, I vaguely remember being told what sketch pad and pencils to buy for Art lessons, but that's about it. Oh, and maybe an apron for Food Technology.

But really, this whole list of exact specifications of what to buy just does not compute in my brain.

Bargainous!

Those of you on twitter, or who pay attention to my twitter box on my sidebar may have noticed that charity shop shopping was the thing to do while on holiday this year. My grand total in the end was 51 charity shops, two children's stuff second hand shops and one general second hand shop. These were found in a number of towns and cities, including, but not limited to Exeter, Exmouth, Sidmouth, Topsham and Cheltenham.

And boy, did we find some good stuff. The photos below show some of the stuff we bought, but not a lot of the stuff my parents got, cos it was getting a bit ridiculous, besides, my mum could only distract Sophia for so long while I laid it all out.
There were lots of toys and books. Notably one on baby signing, and I've now taught Sophia to ask for milk (blue book on the left). The best toy buys were probably the yellow box of Duplo (the small people's version of lego) - 90 pieces for £3, and the box to boot. And the ride on/push along toy. We've been thinking of getting something like that for Sophia to practice walking without us (and she did for the first time today, photo to follow at a later date).
We also got lots of clothes. Actually, a lot of my clothes finds were actually on the final Saturday, and therefore after I'd taken this photo. Here we have several dresses and tops for Sophia, and a cardigan which she was in great need of. Towards the left you can see a blue top and a black with flowers top which are mine. And one of my favourites, the hat at the top, which has strings, so I can tie it on Sophia and she can't take it off again in the next mili-second. It was a total bargain as I got it for 10p!
Finally, a lot of the stuff I found were named brand items. I got clothes for Sophia from Next, Gap, and more... and at prices like 50p or 99p. Sounds good to me :)

I'm back!

But tired and recovering from food poisoning (yeah, not what you want when you're driving home).
Hopefully tomorrow I will be eating proper food and blogging again :)