Camping

Its been a while. And its been busy. My little sister returned from nearly 2 years travelling the world and met Jack for the first time. The family gathered to celebrate her return. And then, even more family turned up to celebrate my Granny's 85th birthday. I think there were about 25 of us. Plus the dog.

It will be quiet for a while longer as tomorrow we are going camping. For a week. With an 11 month old baby. I don't like camping very much. And Simeon is working onsite as part of the youth team (its a Christian camp that we're going to with our church). So, childcare duty is all mine.

I was feeling very anxious about it all but after copious list-making my only remaining concern is the sleeping thing. Recently, Jack has been waking up at about 5am. I usually turn the baby monitor onto silent at this point and let him babble/shout and play/whinge in his cot (I'm not really sure what he does as I go back to sleep!) until Sim's alarm goes off at 6.30. Not so easy in a tent. Also, he has a cold and a cough so is a little more grumpy than usual and is coughing alot.

My main concerns are that a) wakes people up by coughing during the night and/0r crying at 5am and b) that I have to get up with him at 5am and walk him round the campsite to keep him calm.

It'll be fine though, right?

Making progress

Polystyrene tiles - removed
Wallpaper - gone
Paint - stripped

Tomorrow am - polyfillering
Tomorrow eve - undercoat
Tuesday - paint ceiling

Next week - paint woodwork and walls
Followed by - a big celebration and maybe a nap

And then - get to work on the playhouse.

Porridge Pancakes (for Laura and Roo)

Find a container with a flat bottom.

A takeaway container works well

Add some rolled oats

And some fruit (sultanas, mashed banana etc)

Cover with milk. This is too much

This is perfect

Microwave until the top is firm and the milk has been absorbed,

roughly 1-2 mins depending on the amount of oats.

Put in the fridge to set (this can be done the night before)

Remove from the container. If the base is still a little soggy,

put it back in the microwave soggy side up until it is firm

Cut into bite-sized pieces

And enjoy!

Beetroot Cake is yummy

Pink batter

Pink frosting

Pink cake

Retail therapy

Work want me to start back on 1st September. Jack's birthday. This makes me incredibly sad. I know that he wont notice. And I know that it doesn't really matter. And I know that there will be plenty of other celebrations. And I know it makes sense to be in work on that day.

To be honest, I'm quite surprised by my reaction. I never thought that it would matter so deeply. But it does. I also suspect there's quite a lot of underlying anxiety about going back to work involved.

'What does that have to do with retail therapy?', I hear you ask. Ok, maybe not. Maybe its really quite predictable. But it was an accident. I didn't mean to. But there it was, so beautiful, so glamorous, so practical, so expensive (shhhh).

And now, somehow, it is sitting next to me gazing lovingly at me. I don't know quite how it got here. But here it is. And here it will stay. Maybe. Unless Simeon finds out how much it cost. Of I am overwhelmed by post-splurging guilt.

PS. The bag is red. Maybe I need some new shoes to match.

PPS. I expect you want to see a photo. The ones I've found online just don't do it justice and I haven't got time to upload one right now so you'll have to imagine a beautiful red bag with a very lovely lining, lots of useful pockets, and clever attachments that let you hang it from the pram handle. One day, I will share a picture of it with you and I hope that it will live up to your imaginings.

At the moment, I am...

Making : a felt playhouse for Jack's birthday
Cooking : beetroot cake
Drinking : tea
Reading: The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
Wanting: an overlocker
Looking: at the mess around me. Arrgghh.
Playing: with stacking cups
Wasting: time wishing that I had more time
Sewing: a maxi dress ( for myself)
Wishing: it was sunny again :(
Enjoying: putting my feet up while the boy is sleeping
Waiting: for my sister Rosie to get home in less than a week!!!
Liking: that I can see a smidgen on blue sky
Wondering: what I should cook for dinner tonight
Loving: my gorgeous family
Hoping: that Jack gets better soon :(
Marvelling: at how much the boy has grown
Needing: to do some serious organising of crafty stuff
Smelling: the laundry drying on the airer
Wearing: new clothes!
Following: Cake Wrecks
Noticing: that I really need to do some cleaning around here
Knowing: that good enough is usually good enough
Thinking: that its gonna take forever to finish stripping the paint in the spare room
Bookmarking: skip to my lou
Opening: no post today :(
Giggling: not nearly enough
Feeling: invariably tired but quite content

Finally finished

I finally finished the quilt I've been working on. It was going really well until I got to the binding. I couldn't find what I wanted anywhere and once I did I then had to unpick it 5 times before I could get it to look how I wanted. It was eventually completed just moments before leaving for the birthday party of the boy whose present it was.

I am rather chuffed with my first effort at a quilt though.