type A at home

I love whiteboards. I love laminated worksheets. I love organising. I love finding homes for things. I love clean and tidy. I love fresh smelling. I love quiet.

I did a reasonable job attempting to be a more chilled out version of myself now that I am a stay at home mummy, however, that actually made me way way way less chilled out. Ironic. Sometimes you need to embrace your inner control freak organising dry erase cleaning self, and let it be okay. Because it's who you are, no matter how hard you may try to not be this way. I have photos of myself aged 5 years old in my bedroom, and I know, from looking at my little serious face that the reason I had the photos taken was because I was particularly proud of how tidy my room was at that point. At college, I was the girl with the desk sized Filofax. It was my whole life in there. I've sinced moved on to the monthly moleskine (it's good and less bulky) Some people may recall my colour-coded dry erase monthly wall planner in room 503 in Florence. I updated it every 2 weeks. I scent (and occasionally colour) match my cleaning products (really I do). I have trialled various different 'clean scent' candles chasing that perfect scent of fresh laundry/cut grass/dewy morning/sunshine feel. I plan my meals monthly- I don't stick to the days, but I know what we'll eat this month. Most of my pinterest time is spent on looking for more creative organising solutions or quiet activities for my children. Achieving at least some quiet with two small boys is a major accomplishment and one in which I pursue mightily.

Last week I couldn't take trying to be chilled out and go with the flow girl anymore. Back into action sprang Laura -Type A. A few hours later I had drawn up a schedule - daily, weekly, bigger tasks and monthly goals. I created a daily routine sheet, detailing hours from 8am -10pm, with a goal for the day at the top. I took them to Staples and had them matt laminated, so I could write on them with pencil. Because that's the smarter option if there is any risk they might ever get wet. Achieving a day where my counter top is not completely soaked because of a car wash/hand wash/washing up/waterfall incident is rare. I put my fresh laminated sheets in a cute bird ring binder, bought a new eraser, sharpened my pencil and got down to business. (I was pretty excited, I have to be honest) 

 

I'm reaching the end of my first week with my new planning system in place. It's kept me focused and on task on the days Joel is in pre-school, so that my house is clean, jobs are getting done and I can have downtime with the boys resting in the knowledge that I have that time and I don't actually need to be getting on with anything other than building duplo, or making rubbish for the rubbish truck, or reading books, being a tickle monster, giving cuddles, playing alphabet games, singing songs and generally just being fully present with them.  Because, as they grow up, I know they won't really care whether the house was clean and tidy, or if I was on top of the washing or the ironing. As long as I feed them, the won't care that I plan meals monthly. But I know they will care, and they will remember a mother who was fully present with them. And they will care and will remember if I was being the best myself I could be, rather than a stressed version of what I thought I should be. And they'll remember I had the time to make silly faces in the camera phone with them.

 

And that is what is most important in any schedule.

 

p.s. The perfect clean scent is 'After the Rain' from Arran Aromatics in Scotland.

Pricey but so worth it. Breathe deep, breathe clean, breathe calm. Repeat.

 

p.p.s. I had sticky toffee pudding and custard today. I didn't make it, and that made it even better. Sometimes tesco's finest is better than mummy's.

 



 

goo, twang and the sounds of silence

let us be clear about one thing. a baby with a goo coming out of their ear is never a good time.

Over the past few weeks, we have used over 500 tissues, 3 bottles of calpol, 1 bottle of calcough, we've bleached the bathtub for various bodily fluid related reasons 4 times, there have been 2 gp visits and 1 out of hours clinic. Joel now has 2 inhalers, the baby has an inhaler, there have been tantrums, tears and the evil that is technic lego in the hands of 3 year old (it has since been rehomed in the loft) It's been a bit full on in the poorly department. And now to round it off, Mummy is silent. Silently eating cake. I've had no voice since Wednesday and it doesn't seem like it wants to come on back any time soon.  Joel asks me regularly if I'm sad, because I'm not talking. I try to reassure him using mime and a tiny whisper. The baby on the other hand has started to say 'ma ma ma ma ma' while combat crawling around after me. He holds on to my face and just looks kind of confused that I won't talk back to him. He's reassured by snuggles and food.

While my voice was planning its escape route, I was reading the book 'The Help' - if you've not read it, it is brilliant and I'd highly recommend. Though be warned, if there is any sort of twang lurking inside you-- it will leap at the chance to be reawakened and used. You will find yourself breaking out your 'all y'all' and 'quit it, momma is tired of you fussin' and so it was with me, I found the lazy vowels of twang easier to operate in during the voice is tiptoeing away stage. Now it's just gone and with it the moment of twanginess. I imagine when it returns it will do so as full English.

Few things will keep you sane while dealing with poorly children, my top 3:
1) copious amounts of tea
2) masterchef the professionals (they make it look SO easy!)
3) snickerdoodle cake

Now I have wanted a brilliant snickerdoodle cake recipe for a long time. I love snickerdoodles, they are little bites of happy. However to make them is a long time of super fiddly. So something that delivers the taste, without the faff, show me where I sign up! With a little adaptation, I've made this one dairy free :)

Snickerdoodle Cake

1 cup butter (or dairy free spread)
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 sour cream (I substituted Soy yoghurt)
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt 

1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.  Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add in the eggs 1 at a time and scrape down sides after adding each. Add in the yoghurt/sour cream and mix well. Then add in the dry ingredients and mix well.

Mix your sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle half the mix on the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Top with the batter and then sprinkle the other half of your sugar/cinnamon mix on top. Bake for 25-30mins. You want it a little squidgy in the middle, a bit like brownies. If a tester 2 inches from the side is clean, you are good to go.  Awesome awesome awesome. They lasted less than 48 hours in this house.



 

 

yummy mummies and chillaxin

I am not a yummy mummy. I am a fake imposter wanna be yummy mummy. Yummy mummies do yoga, they do not justify curly fries on the basis that cayenne pepper is a metabolism stimulant, nor do they surmise that because the cake has pumpkin in it, then surely it counts as 1 of your 5 a day. Yummy mummies look out for their children. They do not laugh inwardly when their child face plants into a shop window out of excitement and sheer desperation for the ride on bulldozer behind the glass. Yummy mummies look chic and stylish. They wear long cardigans and are cool. They do not accidentally (and repeatedly) dip the hem of their long cardigans in potties full of wee. Nor indeed in potties of wee and bonus poo. That's just not cool. Yummy mummies are not seen at A&E with blood/tea/snot stained clothes. Yummy mummies don't get follow up calls 'just checking on your son's head injury'. Yummy mummies are way more protective of their children (and thus, less fun.) Yummy mummies have nice makeup. Someone tells them when they look like a linebacker because their mascara has smeared under their eye. They don't let them walk around like that. Yummy mummies stick together, they have appearances to protect. Other mummies just commiserate and think 'I know how she feels' but they generally, say nothing.
I am not a yummy mummy.

Yummy mummies do not 'chillax'. Yummy mummies stimulate their children with educational activities on afternoons at home when they are not taking a nap, but need to do quiet activities. They do not play Fireman Sam DVD's on a loop and leave their child unsupervised with a tin of marbles and a bowl of grapes. Just so you know, a three year old will get confused.

It is important however to instill in your child a sense of the word 'chillaxin' from an early age.

Mind you, it is also important for there to be some educational toy time as well...

and when they ask for just '5 more minutes' sometimes its okay to give in.

Because you'll need those 5 minutes to find their trousers anyway.

Yummy mummies always have children who are fully clothed. and matching.

 

 

I am definitely not a yummy mummy, but I am fun mummy, and I do eat carbs (quite regularly), and I have adventurous children, and I now wear more fitted cardigans until potty training is over, and I'm okay with that. Yummy mummies are overrated, and they don't eat cake, and they don't drink full fat lattes. And life is way to short to be doing with that. :)

 

The cake recipe is for Michael and Harry and the Pumpkin Spice Creamer is for the lovely Claire Newdick, who will need serious coffee for all the work this week!

 

 

Dairy Free/Egg Free Chocolate Cake

 

2 1/4 cups plain flour (you can use self raising, just omit the salt and baking powder)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup warm coffee (decaf is a good choice where children are involved)

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp veg oil

2 tsp of vanilla extract

 

 

Preheat oven to 350F/ 175C  grease a bundt tin if you've got it, or a large round cake tin. These also work well as cupcakes.

 

Put all the ingredients in a big bowl and give it a great big stir until they are all combined together. Pour into the tin and bake for about 35 mins until a toothpick comes clean. Though, you can also bake it 10 mins less and have a really squidgy fudgy bit, since there are no eggs. Lovely either way. Leave plain or top with icing sugar, or a glaze or more chocolate sauce.

 

Pumpkin Spice Creamer (because the UK Starbucks don't do autumnal lattes)

 

1 tin of sweetened condensed milk

1 tinful of normal milk

(full fat if you're me, semi-skim if you're other people, skim if you feel guilty)

3 heaping tablespoons of pumpkin puree 

 (I used butternut squash puree, worked just as well)

3 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice  (The blend below gives you nearer 2 teaspoons, so save some for your next batch, or halve it and just do a large pinch of ground cloves)

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Put all of that together in a large jug and blend together with a hand blender or serious whisking. Makes loads, but you'll drink it, because its addictive. Nice in coffee or hot chocolate. Keep it in the fridge and shake it well to re-blend it before you use it.

Hello yummy autumn......

somewhat unprepared.

Yesterday I murdered a slug. I would like to say I'm not proud, but actually, I am a little bit. It was a big fat slug and I picked it out of my strawberry patch, took it to the hedge, and disembowled it. I didn't realise slugs had bowels. I was somewhat unprepared for this and quite relieved I was by myself with my purple flowered girly trowel doing the grisly deed and going 'ooooh yuk!' Anyway, I, the slug murderer, have triumphed with a harvest of.............    One strawberry!

Joel was dead excited and happily ate it. I confess to now having a box of strawberries from Tesco, so that he doesn't get too sad if the slugs eat the rest of the slowly ripening crop.  I've really enjoyed the sweet moments of sitting on the back steps eating strawberries and throwing the green bits in the grass.



Today was a crafty make it sort of day. We needed some chilled-out-at-home activities to combat the exhaustion of the past two weeks! So we attempted cloud dough and a jellyfish in a bottle.



Cloud Dough construction zone

Jellyfish in a bottle

 

 Cloud dough review: Good fun playing, easily made up (just mix 4 cups flour, 1/2 cup baby oil) however, gets everywhere and must be proactively contained in the kitchen, on the mat.

Jellyfish in a bottle: awesome. I'm quite pleased with that one. Even Daddy was impressed. One nappy sack or veggie bag from the shop, some string and blue food colouring.  Cut the nappy sack so you have 1 flat half. Tie a string around the top for the 'head' but leave enough slack that you can put water in the head, then cut some tentacles randomly. Fill your bottle with water and a few drops of blue food colouring. Fill the head of your jellyfish with water so he sinks a bit in the water. Pop him in, cap on and turn upside down. again and again and again and again and again........... :)

Although somewhere, in what should have been an idyllic sort of mother son bonding time over strawberries and craft, there's always the discipline that just doesn't go to plan. Parenting books don't really prepare you for this one. They tell you just put little Johnny back on the step as many times as it takes for him to get it.
Well, what if, after they spit on the floor for, I don't know, the 8 millionth time, you take a more 'drastic' route and instead of the step, you sit your naked bottomed child on the cold stone floor of the bathroom and then you think 'I know, I'll shut the door! He'll be really upset by that!' Smugly you walk away, thinking, 'that'll get through to him that I am serious about no spitting.'  Then you hear a little voice going 'Ah!' followed by giggles and you realise, you've put him in the only room in the house with an echo. and he's playing. not bothered by cold floor. not bothered by your seriousness. 'Ah!' giggle giggle. 'Ah!' 'Oh!' giggle giggle giggle.   Epic discipline fail. I just left him shut in there until dinner was ready and let it go. I will recommence the war on spit another day.

 

I look up to the mountains -- does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth! He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep...The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. 

Psalm 121: 1-8

did that really just happen?

Hello, my name is Laura. I am of reasonable height and in decent shape for my size. I can wear most of my trousers without worrying about muffin top (or cake top on a bad day!) I own a lovely knitted poncho that looks like little flowers all strung together. Today, I wore my lovely knitted poncho top over my pajama top to go to the doctor to get some drugs for a fairly ouchy infection. I was attempting to look like I was not, in fact, wearing my pajamas in public. Moderate success.  As you do, when trying to fly undetected, under the radar, you meet someone you know. I met a lady I know vaguely from school in the doctors office. For the record, I look like death today.

Her opener: "Congratulations! When is your baby due?"  me: "I had him. 6 months ago."  Ouch.
Do I look pregnant? I hope not. If so, must lay off of eating cake. Or stop wearing lovely poncho.

Anyway, here are the 'Did that really just happen?' highlights of late:

1) "Your lunch went in your tummy mummy, you've got a baby in your tummy." 
NO I DO NOT.

2) "I driving my fire engine through wee wee" again, noooooooo.

3) "Why is baby Luke crying?"  "Cos I hit my bottle with the train track and it hit him." (the mind boggles at the different expressions of the same basic bullying.)

I find the best thing for times like these is something a little bit gooey, squidgy and chocolately.

Chocolate Chip Bread and Butter Pudding

8 slices bread, crusts on or off, your call.
butter/dairy free marg
chocolate bits (tesco value plain chocolate is dairy free and a steal at 30p a bar)
about 30ish g of sugar (about a 1/4 cup)
1 pint soymilk/ almond milk
2 eggs
nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 150C/ 300F.  Butter your dish, and butter your slices of bread on 1 side. I like to cut them in triangles. Use plain chocolate and enjoy cutting it up or beating out frustrations on it. Or if you feel at peace, use chocolate chips. (I used DF plain choc and it came out lovely)

Layer the buttered bread slices covering most of the bottom of the dish. Top each layer with a generous sprinkle of sugar and chocolate bits. Then mix together your soymilk and eggs and pour over the top. Let it hang out for about 30mins to let the egg and milk soak in. Have a cuppa, make some dinner....  Then sprinkle some nutmeg over the top. Pop it in the oven for 45 mins - 1hr, until its a bit golden on top and a knife in the middle comes out clean.

This version is creamier and gooeyier (sp?) than your average bread and butter pudding, but tastes like pain au chocolate only softer and more custardy. I would have a picture, but it got eaten too quickly.

slugs, stolen goods, and the art of the Spanish language.

I am now happily eating lemon blueberry cake and drinking a much much much needed cup of tea.

Today was a very busy Friday. Joel and I have been patiently waiting for our strawberry crop to fruit and ripen for us to pick and try one. We were waiting for today because our first big red strawberry was going to be ready. Daddy was out in the garden, we asked him to check on our fruit and lo and behold,  a slug had gotten there first. Right in the middle of our lovely juicy ripe strawberry a baby slug had happily munched away on half of it. I was annoyed, Joel's face was the picture of disappointment. We deemed it a naughty slug. I looked up what to do to keep slugs away--consensus seems to be eggshells or beer. Joel liked the word beer. Eggshells were what we had to hand. We then crushed all the eggshells from today (5 in total) and spread them around to defend our strawberries. Later I checked the shells were doing the job, only to find the most enormous Jabba the hut slug I have ever seen under one of my strawberry plants. So I did what you do. I flicked it 15 feet into the hedge with my trowel. Nothing messes with my berries.

We also did some much overdue DIY this week. Finishing off the trim in the conservatory (it's taken us since Sept 2010 to finish this job.) And hanging some shelves. We need to pick up some bits to tile a splashback in the downstairs loo and so we took a family field trip to Wickes. Whenever I walk in Wickes with the children, immediately, the annoucement about how parents must look after their children is played. I wonder if they have a button they push....  Anyway, we looked at tiles, decided we needed to do more research, went back to the car only to realise that Joel had tucked, under Luke's carseat, on the trolley, some particularly lovely stone border tiles. Daddy and Joel returned the stolen goods.

While making dinner- we created the kitchen mess. While it was fun--  mixing crushed cornflakes, chicken breasts, DF ranch dressing and toddlers gets messy. Then they wash their hands and dip the tea towel in the washing up bowl, lifting it up to say "It's dripping now mummy" Really? Shock.  Then we made cake. Joel's learned that he likes batter. So now instead of waiting to lick the beater or the bowl, he just tries to dig in. Managed to stop his hand, only to turn around to get blueberries out of the fridge, to find him then dipping the beater back into the batter and trying to load it into his mouth. Boy likes cake. Even not yet cooked.

On the plus side, we learned some Spanish while making all of this mess. Joel is pretty good at 'Hola' and 'Buenos Dias'. Quite liked 'bombero' as well.

Lemon Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup butter (dairy free spread)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 cups flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk  (can use soy or almond or oat and still turns out well)

1 pint blueberries (2 x 125g packs. They are 69p at Aldi this week. go go go)

Grease a 13x9 pan, or a tube/bundt pan. Preheat oven to 190C/375F.  Cream together the butter, sugar and eggs. Add the lemon juice and zest.  Then add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk. Dust the blueberries with flour and fold it. Pour it into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 mins, until a tester in the center comes clean. I like to drizzle a glaze of icing sugar and lemon juice on top. Your call. Just as nice without.



hello friday

Cup of tea. check. Baby now in the jumperoo. check. Washing on. check. New pajama bottoms. check. Sheets changed. check. Time 6:45am. Ugh. Nothing says good morning quite like exploding baby poo.

It's always when they look sweet and lovely and you think, 'oh I'll just change him here in the bed, he looks so cute, maybe he'll go back to sleep really quickly after....'  Then you get the nappy off, and then you get machine gunned with poo. All over me, all over him, all over the bed. Hello Friday. Lesson learned (again) : Use the changing mat. That's what its there for.

It is though, a beautiful sunny morning and baby has been learning how to turn around in the jumperoo and so has occupied himself for the last half an hour which is a total bonus, it means I could recover with tea. Recovering with tea has rather been the theme of this last month, which has seen so much-- an ambulance ride, hospital stay, potty training, a week's holiday at the beach, the start of weaning, the change of my grandfather moving in with my parents, re mortgage of our house, the passing on of two wonderful, godly men-Bob and Andy, the deposit for the little one to go to nursery in September (means I am actually going back to work soon...), a 3rd birthday for Joel and our 8th wedding anniversary.

Sometimes you don't realise how much God has brought you through until you look back to see where you've come from.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.

A better reading of that verse is-- 'I am strong for all things in the One [Jesus Christ] who continually infuses me with strength.'  I love that interpretation. I am not trying to do everything on my own, I am not even working from a bag of strength that was once given to me. I am able to face everything in life because I have Jesus, who is continually with me, infusing strength into me at every point. A friend of mine, on long walks back up the ginormous hill to their house, used to give her daughter raisins or grapes on the way, one every few metres to keep her going. Jesus gives strength, all along the way, so much so that when you reach the top of the hill, you don't even realise how far you've come until you look back and think, wow- look what we did.  It's not on my own, it's not Jesus on his own. It's us together. Him and I. I and Him. And that keeps me going. Along with tea and the occasional batch of lemon bars.

Lemon Bars

Oven to 175C/325F  Lightly grease and line a square cake tin with greaseproof paper.

6oz plain flour
4oz butter
2oz white sugar

7oz caster sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon

icing (powdered) sugar

Rub together the flour and butter (or dairy free marg) until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and press the mixture into the bottom of the tin. Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes.  While that's baking, mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and lemon until smooth. Pour this over the base and put it back in the oven for another 25 minutes until set but a little wobbly in the centre. Cool in the tin on a rack and then sprinkle with icing sugar.

Joel calls these 'sugar bites' and he'd be right. But soooo yummy when recovering with tea.