FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

'The Transport of the Future'

When we were kids, my brother and I had a couple of big old books from the 1950s that I think must have belonged to my mum, or her brothers, when they were youngsters.   My brother kept them in his room, mostly because he was the eldest, and partly because I was inclined to 'mark' the pages of books with a red biro.

These old books, among their tales of derring-do, included full page illustrations entitled, 'How the World Will Look in 1975!' These pictures caused us endless amusement with their prophecies of personal flying saucers and hover-highways.

Confidently I proclaimed that all the major developments had already been made.  There would be no more major leaps in technology or lifestyle because, 'if you think about it', I said, with total conviction, 'there is nothing more to invent'.

I know.  What a nob.

IT'S ALL A BIT WEIRD...

Things are a little weird in our house at the moment.  My first experience (as a parent) of GCSEs is taking its
toll.  No.1 Son has been pretty awesome and level-headed - but the pressure is starting to show.  He's tired and, no doubt, nervous about the results in August.

But that's enough about him!  What about me?!  I'm exhausted.  This parenting lark is tough.

Add to that the pressure of trying to find a part-time job that:

a) Fits in with the family/dog commitments and

b) Doesn't involve a Deranged Boss. (I haven't mentioned her before.  Ex-boss. Trust me.  De-ranged).

SUICIDAL SNAILS...?

....Or, Simply Hiding in Plain Sight?

I am quite the Conservationist.  Virginia McKenna has got nothing on me.  Every time I walk down our garden (I say, 'down' our garden. This means back down our garden towards the house. You will need to assume that I have already been up the garden and coming back down the garden therefore constitutes the second leg of this epic trip).  Where was I?  Oh yes, every time I walk down our garden I check that the bird feeder is replete with Fabulous Fat Balls. 

I know. It's humbling.

Well yesterday the Bird Feeder was, indeed, full enough and on closer inspection I noticed there were some 'little extras'.

Is It Just Me ...?

Back (I may have made that up) ... by popular demand (I definitely made that up) is the latest in my series (again, made up) of ...

Is It Just Me?

We have, these last couple of days, had a Workman in doing stuff to our bathroom. He is here, as I type, clattering away.

We don't usually have too much in the way of Stranger Traffic in our bathroom but, due to an elderly plumbing system, disintegrating fixtures and fittings, and the housing of our Central Heating/'Hot'* Water Boiler, we do have some.

SPRING - STILL SPRINGING!

Especially for Alan and My Husband's Cousins*... because I could tell how much they all enjoyed my earlier post

Yep, still Springing in our garden (and elsewhere too, no doubt).

Quick update on this, posted only a short while ago ...

OOH, KIDS...THEY'RE A WORRY

My Actual Real-Life Family

It's tough, isn't it?  You worry about your kids.

You worry if they're not potty-trained when everyone else's toddler seems to be...
You worry they won't have any friends...
You worry they'll forget their lines in the school play...
You worry how they'll do in their exams...

I have no doubt that I will worry about something about one or all of mine until the day I die.

But it's a rare child who starts secondary school still wearing nappies.  And kids are way more capable than perhaps we give them credit for.


Of course we all learn - as stages pass - that all too often we have worried unnecessarily.


But now, Ladies and Gentlemen, might I suggest that when you open your 11 year old daughter's bedroom door and this is what greets you ...

This is the time to worry.

MEMORIES; LIKE THE CORNERS OF MY MIND...

...Or, alternatively, Like the Ones in Our Book

Hello to you and a Happy (if belated) New Year!

Wooohoooo 2014!
Not sure why that elicited such a whoop from me - I was after all expecting it to be 2014.  As far as I know there were no plans for a 2013a.

And what will this New Year bring, I wonder?  Who knows.  So far in our area we've had torrential rain, resulting in swollen rivers and muddy dog-walks - and, on a more personal note, I've just done 2 hours of ironing.  Who knows what else is in store?  Not me, that's for sure-as-susan.

To wantonly misquote the lyrics from 'Road to Nowhere' - "We don't know where we're going, but we do know where we've been".  It's just we can't always remember the details.

'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY...

 

...Or at least very, very silly.

 

 

 

 

 

Soooo, a little later than usual in the gay old month of December, the Family W set off to purchase the Christmas Tree. It has become a tradition that we always go to the same Garden Centre, at around the same time of the month (although we failed on that count this year) and we always choose the same type of tree - a Nordmann fir.

PASTA IMPERFECT ...

... Or, Why am I not Rich Enough to have a Cook?

Sometimes I am just not in the mood to cook.  At all.

Sometimes I can't even think of what to feed everybody let alone organise providing it. 
Sometimes I am just so darned tired or fed up or lazy that even uttering the words "I don't want to cook" feels like way too much of an effort.

A couple of nights ago I was definitely in a Not Up For Cooking Anything Much mood.  Quick and Easy was the order of the evening. 
I would rustle up some Macaroni Cheese (or Macaroni and Cheese as our American friends call it) to fill the family's hungry tums.


And, because I hadn't given up the fight completely, I would be bunging in some Bits of Ham. 
Stand back Heston Blumenthal.

PRINCE GEORGE OF CAMBRIDGE*

*This Post is not about Prince George.

Not the Prince George

Prince George is largely irrelevant.


Only to this story!  Heck people, Prince G is not irrelevant!  Nothing shakes your world like the arrival of your First Born, Prince of the Realm or not.

This post is about a George - Saint George.

Or, actually - not.

But it is about my world being shaken, so you may want to take a moment to prepare.

Deep breath and ... ready?

ON DISCOVERING THE DISHWASHER IS BROKEN...

...Or, What a load of Bologs

Sooooooo, it was Sunday morning and the only day of the week when we get a lie-in. 
Feeling rested and refreshed, Mr W got up and offered to make everyone a cooked breakfast.  I took the opportunity to have a lovely bath.

I love the smell of a lovely bath.  Can't have too many products in the bath water because I have the Skin of  a Princess; but the odd splash of a baby product, coupled with the smell of what I can only assume is chlorine, and my nostrils are happy.

There are two smells finer than that of a lovely bath.  One is the smell of a cooked breakfast, and the other is the smell of a cooked breakfast that someone else has cooked.

WORLD BOOK DAY ...

... Or, Really?  Again already?

World Book Day - it's a laugh, innit? 

I wonder, actually, if this is - as the name would suggest - a Global Thing?  Are there parents World - Wide stressing themselves sweaty wondering how on earth they are going to fashion a Book Character Costume for their Beloved Offspring?

I know many people hate and despise World Book Day.  I was listening to one woman complaining about it yesterday morning in the supermarket - but she was also banging on about her 'fat feet' and 'this awful weather', so maybe she was just having an off-day.
I actually quite like Book Day, I love seeing the kiddies racing around the playground in their costumes - and it does seem to get them talking about books...for a bit, at least.

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT ...

... My Kids

Could it be the fast-approaching St Valentine's Day that has got me talking about love?  It could.  But not necessarily.

Here is the first installment in a New Series of  'Things I Love' ..er.. things.

This time on the subject of my kids.

Oh yes, here I go a'sharing...

SNOW IS FALLING...ALL AROUND US...CHILDREN PLAYING...HAVING FUN...

Or...as in the case of Child No.3 - Smashing their Hands in Iron Gates and Spending the Rest of the Day with a Cold Compress and a Calpol Drip 

It is snowing.

Quite a lot.

We had some snowfall on Monday too.  Enough to excite The Dog beyond all reason.  She was bouncing around in the couple of inches of snow like a spring lamb - then she'd bundle in the house and bounce around some more, stopping every once in a while to fix me with her 'have you not seen what is out there?! Bounce woman!!' look.

There was sufficient white stuff around to warrant leaving the car behind and walking No.3 to school.  It's quite a stretch (half an hour each way at a good pace) but I feel sooo virtuous when I get home.
Right up until I stuff my silly face with Dairy Milk.

It's for energy, you understand

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS..?

...Or, Dreaming Can be Bad for your 'Elf *

* sorry about that

It was Christmas Eve-Eve and I was woken by a nightmare.
A really sinister, dark and scary nightmare.  It was Surrealistically Realistic - in that it was definitely odd and entirely weird but somehow plausible.

Anyway, I won't go into Dream Details as, although I find my own deeply fascinating, I recognise they are dull as ditchwater to everyone else.

However, it is fair to say that I woke up thoroughly spooked by Elves.

CHRISTMAS CRAFT MARKET AND OTHERS THINGS ...

... I am Ill-Prepared For.

Aaaah, s'beautiful. 

I am sure I am not alone, but at the moment I am entirely Beneath my list of Things To Do.
On Top Of is something I can only dream about.

I am half way through about a mazillion jobs - including Putting Up the Christmas Decs.  A job I love and usually apply myself diligently to until it is done.   We have already bought and erected our tree - which is somewhat broader in the beam than we realised.  We were well on the way to owning the world's first Spherical Nordmann Fir until some judicious prunage gave us a little more leg room in the lounge.  (I never call it a 'lounge' usually, but 'Living Room' after 'Leg Room' seemed like I was saying 'room' too much.  Something I would never do.)

A HOUSE GUEST...

...And A Most Magnificent Thank You Letter

We are currently enjoying the company of a House Guest.  Our thirteen year old Nephew, Jack, is staying for the weekend while his parents are in Norway.

Norway!

Even with my sketchy knowledge of Geography I know that Norway is in Scandinavia - and I am the Scandi-lover, dammit! 

IWANNAGOTONORWAYTOOOOOOOOOO*whine*

Anyway, of course I am not bitter - I am far too marvellous for that :o) - and I am happy to care for their First Born while they are lording it up away.

IT MAY BE NOVEMBER...BUT REMEMBER, REMEMBER...

 

...Or, Well Hallo(we'en) Again!

 

I know, Hallowe'en has been and gone - and, in England at least, most people have moved on to Bonfire Night preparations - but I can't resist dragging it out a little longer.

It's been a busy week with all The Family home, and certainly our most Time-Consuming Project was the Haunted Gingerbread House. 

GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES AND LONG-LEGGED BEASTIES...

Or...It's Starting to Look a Lot Like Hallowe'en

 

"This is Hallowe'en, this is Hallowe'en...Pumpkins scream in the dead of night."
 
Danny Elfman and Tim Burton, eh?  You've gotta love 'em.

Okay, so it's not actually Hallowe'en yet.  But that doesn't mean I'm not preparing for it.  Because I am. 
In fact, I usually prepare for Hallowe'en from around November 1st.

COOKING WITH KIDS . . .

Or...The Trouble with Cooking with Kids

(I am of course referring to the act of cooking alongside children.  Not using them as an ingredient).

Nothing can be finer, can it, than spending time cooking with your kids?

Well, yes, frankly - plenty of things are finer.  Earwax removal... Filing Tax Returns...Paper-Cuts....

I am quite sure there are about a gerzillion parents who adore cooking with their offspring.

I am not one of them.

In the heady days of Summer Last I made the mistake of declaring in public that I would teach each of my children to cook.  I can laugh now...