The Coldstream Museum

Yesterday afternoon we took at trip to The Coldstream Museum, which is situated just over the border into Scotland, about 15 minutes from our home. I am ashamed to say that we have lived here for over 3 years and this is the first time that we have visited. In fact, if I am truly honest, we haven't really visited many tourist/local attractions in the area - something I am keen to remedy. Here is the link to the museum http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/directory_record/10701/coldstream_museum

There is parking 20 yards from the entrance, it is free to get in and it really is a gem of a thing. Its clean, well presented, informative and above all very child friendly. There is the mandatory donations box at the entrance and a small stocked gift/souvenier shop. It is a small venue, so don't think you can fill half a day - I would say a hour or 90 minutes at the very most but we had a most pleasant time. There is an area dedicated to children, where they can dress up as a guardman - even with a bearskin!

Er - this is not me by the way, but she looks like she is having a good time in a very 'Benny Hill' kind of fashion! There is a puppet theatre, Aardvark and Rhino put on a lovely show for me, and this also gave me an idea for (yet another!) project. Watch this blog, it will be coming soon! Crayons, colouring in, a lovely wooden castle with figures, books and many other things all gave the children activities whilst hubb looked around. In another room, they also had a mini beast exhibition - slightly off the subject of the museum, but very captivating for the kids. Plus I saw a butterfly house that I have been considering ordering for a long while now (it comes with caterpillars!) in action.

When we came out, the sun was shining so we ambled to the top of the road to the bakery, got some tasty treats and then returned to the square near the museum to sit in the sun and eat our stash! So, not including the fuel for a 30 minute round trip, entry to the museum was free, although we did stick a few pounds in the donation box, and £3.00 on cakes it was a few hours well spent. We all loved it and Coldstream should be proud of such a nice little museum.

Big Headed Boaster

So, after a rather 'tart' chat with my husband the other evening, he decided to 'advise' me that sometimes my FaceBook posts can appear very 'Look at me, Look at me, aren't I wonderful and aren't you all crap'. So, obviously I asked him what he meant and it seems that because I like posting what we all get up to, it could be taken as being 'show-offy'. So, I threw the question out there to my FB pals - ending with the option for them to delete themselves off my list or not to read my posts in the first place! I suppose this blog is really a little extension of what my family and I get up to as well, but I do like sharing things with people. If I find a bargain, get a good deal, have a good idea or tip - then I share. I love other people having positivity in their lives. Anyhoo, my friends seem to all think the same and that is they like reading my ramblings and some of them actually do get some inspiration from me - so immediately this does make me sure that I don't need to reign myself in. The hubby was of course only making sure he was protecting me and its nice that our relationship can withstand these honest discussions and opinions without the other person flying off the handle. Onwards.....

Herman - The German Friendship Cake

Just over a week ago, a friend of mine handed me a small plastic container, filled with what looked like pancake batter. On opening it, it smelled like slightly yeasty - sour milk. She went on to tell me that his name was Herman and I had to follow the instructions for the next 10 days. Herman is a sough dough starter mix, as I understand it, it is from the Amish community and was circulated to sick people. I would imagine to bulk them up - this cake is not for those who are looking to lose weight!

On getting him home, I placed him in a large bowl and covered him up. The instructions were as follows. Herman – The German Friendship Cake These are instructions for when you receive your batch of cake starter – which will resemble a thick batter. My name is Herman and I am a sour dough cake and I need to be kept on your work top for ten days without a lid on. I will die if you put me in the fridge! If I stop bubbling I am dead. Day One – You get Herman today Take the lid off him Place him in a mixing bowl capable of holding 2 litres Cover him with a tea towel Day Two – Stir well Day 3 – Stir well Day 4 – Herman is hungry! Add the following ingredients 115g/4oz plain flour 225g/8oz granulated sugar 235ml/8floz milk Stir well and cover again Day 5 – Stir well Day 6 – Stir well Day 7 – Stir well Day 8 – Stir well Day 9 – Herman is hungry again! Add the same ingredients as Day 4 Divide into 4 equal portions, along with a copy of these instructions and pass on to a good friend Remember to keep a batch if you want to start a ‘Herman 2’. Herman 1 stays with you and is ready to be baked. Day 10 – Herman is starving! Stir well and add the following ingredients 225g/8oz plain flour ½ tsp salt 225g/8oz caster sugar 160ml vegetable or sunflower oil 2 eggs 2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks 2tsp vanilla essence 100g walnuts or almonds (optional) 2 heaped tsp cinnamon 200g raisins or sultanas (optional) 2 heaped tsp baking powder Mix everything together and place in a large, greased roasting tin 12x8’’ Or place in x2, 2lb loaf tins, preferably lined. Sprinkle with 50g brown sugar and 50g melted butter Bake for 45+ minutes at 175C/350F/Gas Mark 4 Check after 25 minutes – he may be ready Allow him to cool and then cut him into fingers, delicious with cream, ice cream or on his own He can be frozen This recipe is the traditional one but there are variations on what you can do with the mix on Day 10.

I managed to look forward to seeing how Herman was getting on each morning and finally, I got to Day 9, portioned him up - kept another for myself to start Herman 2 and then asked if anyone wanted one. Within a very short space of time, my remaining portions had been given out and I realised that if I wanted to constantly keep Herman on the go, I would have to find people to give portions away every 9 days! Mind you I don't think that will be a problem, and if it was my researching came up with some very tasty bread recipes and we love our bread in this house. So, I followed this traditional recipe to the dot - in hindsight I will split the ready to bake version in to 2 2lb loaf tins as it was quite difficult to get out of the massive tin in one go. The cake was gorgeous, and if I am honest, it was even better a day old. Why I have never heard of this before, I have no idea. I now have another portion on the go and would like to try a pear and chocolate one and also make some sourdough bread.

Give it a go!

Art, Picnics and Walks

Everyone had a massive sleep in this morning after the excitement of the circus last night. Well, I say everyone, but someone had to get up let the dog out, pick up the poop, feed and water the chickens, water the veg in the greenhouse, give the cat her breakfast, the dog his biscuits and the greedy turtle her dried shrimps. Yes that was me! By which time of course the children had woken up and were also wanting to be fed! I was keen to have a relatively easy day today, Aardvark and Rhino spent the morning drawing pictures of the circus and it was today that I got to cook Herman, the sour dough cake that has been bubbling away on my kitchen side for the last 9 days. Typically, as I am writing this on my iPad, I can't be bothered to faff about with images, so I will post pictures and the recipe on another day - but FYI, it tasted totally lush. Anyhow, as Herman was cooking, I was thinking about our activity for the afternoon, which was going across the border into bandit country - sorry, I mean Scotland, to visit The Hirsel and have a bit of a wander about. On a whim, as the weather was very nice today, we decided to pack up lunch in picnic form and take it with us. I won't bore you rigid with information about The Hirsel, you can find out all about it here; http://www.discovertheborders.co.uk/places/26.html £2.50 to park in the car park, but apparently there are no wardens, so risk it if you feel inclined. After lunch at the lakeside, I did a quick detour to the craft centre to see Laura from Briget of Edinburgh as I am face painting at her businesses 5th birthday party next month (it's a free event btw with bucks fizz and nibbles!). We then went on the blue walk, which is about a mile around the lake. Even though there hasn't been rain for a few days, part of the walk was very muddy, so suitable footwear is still recommended. The children thoroughly enjoyed looking out for rabbits, listening to birdsong, watching for fairies and smelling the wild flowers that they managed the walk with ease. And not one of them slipped over and fell in the mud! There is a nice playground for the children, what looks like a lovely tea room - but today we didn't sample it as I had my skinflint head on and we took a flask of coffee and homemade flapjack in the picnic hamper! The sun beamed down on us and we trundled the 20 minute journey home happy. That changed of course when we got back as Aardvark decided to kick a chicken and got caught red handed, so quite appropriately she got a massive telling off. Aardvark and tellings off, do not go well together, she doesn't cope very well with it, but we think this is positive as she now shows empathy and seems to care about what she has done. So for the rest of the afternoon, she made sure she kept telling me she was sorry and that she wanted to tell the chicken she was sorry. We agreed that she would go out tomorrow and feed them, she could apologise then - how she will remember which one she tried to drop kick I will never know.

The Big Top

I was way too tired to write last night - its my age. Anyhoo, yesterday saw a first time experience for both Aarvark, Rhino and The Hubstacle - a trip to the circus!

Things have changed since I last went to one - nowadays (and quite rightly so) there are no animals. So I was intrigued to see exactly how they would fill the show - I was not disappointed. To start, I was given some free tickets by a friend of mine, the deal was each ticket got 2 people in for nothing as long as you purchased a circus brochure priced at £4. So in essence, our family of 4 people would have cost £8 - which in itself is great value. However, earlier in the week I had decided to be a bit cheeky and ask the circus box office if there was any chance of upgrading the ticket to first row ringside? To my surprise, they said yes and then to my delight they said it would be just £4 a head and because they were ringside seats, I wouldn't have to buy the brochure. So the top tickets cost us £16 and if we had just rolled up to the ticket booth they would have come in at a whopping £74! So, the day came around and we didn't tell the children where we were going, so when they saw the big top they were very very excited. What amazed me was how hard all of the circus staff worked, they all had 2, sometimes 3 roles throughout the evening and the whole thing seemed to run very smoothly. There was food on offer - chips, candyfloss etc etc which was reasonably priced, those light up whirly wandy things - which weren't so reasonably priced but seemed to go down well. We got shown to our seats and waited for the show to begin.

Sadly, I wasn't allowed to take pictures during the performances (safety reasons) but the first half was a great show of acrobats, the resident clown, scantily clad dancers (that pleased The Hubstacle), gynamstics, a lady flying high on the trapeze ring, fire eaters - in fact the first half (which was about 45 minutes) went by very quickly. The circus was not short of ideas of how to make an extra pound or two and used every moment and every opportunity to get you to part with your cash. The interval was billed as 15 minutes, but was closer to 25. During that time, you could fill up on more food, the facepainters (the sexy dancers actually - dressed more appropriately) came out, there was balloon modelling, lighty-uppy things being sold again, pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie Mouse, as well as a raffle. It was during this time you could have easily spent a fortune (but as we are cruel parents, a packet of sweets - 3 for £1 from tesco was all they got). The second act was just as good and it was pleasing to hear that the audience really got into the spirit of things and clapped and cheered - which clearly made the performers more at ease (there is nothing worse than the tumbleweed blowing across rather than clapping!) All too soon, it was at an end and we walked back too the car - both children chattering about their favourite bits. It all went very quiet in the back of the car on the way home as tiredness hit them and within 2 minutes of being put to bed - both of them were fast asleep. So - to sum up. It was a wonderful evening of entertainment - amazing value, especially considering we got the tickets for free and only paid a nominal amount for some of the best seats in the house. We could have spent - easily another £30 on top of that if we had purchased everything else on offer. I know we would not have gone if we had to pay full ticket price, so we were very grateful to my lovely friend for the tickets in the first place!

The Sun Came Out And We......

...... did some indoor activities! After weeks of rain, rain - a bit of wind, and more rain. We, in our infinate wisdom, decided that the place to be was out of the harmful UV rays and continue our path to severe Vitamin D deficiency! Actually today was actually a canny decision and it was remarked upon by the hubstacle as a genius plan. You see, this morning we decided to go swimming. Aardvark had progressed so well in her swimming lessons that we are keen that she doesn't lose momentum over the summer holidays. So after dragging the hubstacle away from his new iPhone, we get to the sports centre at 11am, only to discover that the twit had forgotten his raquet for raquetball (he was meeting a friend after lunch for a game), so we go back home - as he is not capable of entering a swimming pool on his own - and finally get into the pool at 11.30. Our local pool is The Swan Centre in Berwick upon Tweed. It was a public session and because the sun was out, hardly anyone was in there. This pleased Mr 'I can't stand other people or their children' and I was a little appalled at the fact that I had no excuse not to go on the water slide with Aardvark due to massive queues. I ended up screaming like a banshee three times in a row - I swear we went at about 50mph down the damn thing.

So, although we love swimming - there is clearly only a certain amount of water time we can actually put up with and with childre aged 3 and 4 - this equates to about an hour for the 3 year old. So after not getting much change from £10 it wasn't an amazingly cheap option. We got dressed and went for lunch in the cafe - I usually moan about the short opening hours of this cafe, but they had extended it for during the school holidays. I also think they are missing out on a huge revenue to serve meals after swimming lessons. Personally speaking, they have good food on offer at good prices, I would take the children there for their dinner after swimming lessons. Anyhow I digress, our lunch was a tuna melt, curly fries, cheese and onion toastie, cheese sarnies (all served with salad garnish and crisps), orange juice, coffee and a slush puppy. It came very quickly after ordering and the lady serving was very nice indeed as was the food. Price was about £12.

Finally, The Hubstacle played his game of raquetball and while we waited the cheeblies and I went into the soft play area and spent just over an hour in there. The kids loved it and were running, jumping and climbing the whole time. Again, it was almost deserted which gave them all space to let off some steam.

So for just over £20, we had a swim for 4, a lunch for 4 and softplay for 2 children - all in all 3 and a half hours of activity which equates to reasonable value for money in my opinion. I have heard many different opinions about The Swan Centre - that its dirty, shabby, the staff are not interested, the food sub-standard, the pool too cold etc etc. Ok, some areas of the changing rooms need attention, they probably do need more frequent cleaning - especially at high usage times. But, every member of staff I came across today, were eager to help and had a nice attitude. Well done Swan Centre, on this occasion I have no complaints.

Buttercream and Paint

Day 2 of the Summer Holidays, after the jam tart debarcle yesterday, we ran out of time to decorate the cakes I got the children to rustle up in the wake of the pastry disaster! This is NOT my actual cooker by the way!

So, this morning's activity was getting stylish with cupcakes and buttercream icing - or in Rhino's case - just shoving it on and eating as much as possible without being seen.

The end result was a very pretty cupcake stand, 2 happy children, a happy hubstacle (he got to eat the cakes) and a pretty chuffed me - I had just about got over the pastry incident!

So, I had a few errands to run and the cheeblies were left in the capable hands of Daddy - he even remembered to feed them at lunchtime (I was impressed!).The circus is in town and I was lucky enough to be given 4 free tickets, that I was even luckier to get upgraded to front row ringside seats! This will be the first time that the ankle snappers and the husband have ever been to a circus. Mind you, they have changed from the days of my childhood when animals were involved. I remember being in awe of seeing these beautiful creatures - then when I grew up and found out about how they were treated, it was not so appealing. The circus now consists of acrobatic acts and as the hubstacle is obsessed with Cirque du Soleil (well the ladies in the skimpy outfits anyhow!) so I am hoping the whole thing will go down well in all areas!

So this afternoon, it was painting and drawing for the kids whilst I set about trying to research other activities for the holidays. I contacted a couple of friends suggesting that when the weather gets better (the South of England is currently on a heatwave - we here in North Northumberland are most certainly not!) on a sunny day pack up a few disposable BBQ's, picnics, games, swimming cossies and get a load of us down to the beach. The kids can play together and the mummies can have a nice get together! It seems that concentrating on the computer for 2 minutes more than usual means that all hell breaks loose with the paint - never mind, memories in the making!

It may not have been a laugh a minute, adreneline fuelled, go go go day - but it has been productive and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Boiling - and its not the weather!

A quick add-on entry because I have a few things I want to blog about but they are going to have to be in seperate posts or you - dear reader - will be in danger of going comatose. However - this one is to vent a little frustration over a couple of issues that have been swimming around my pea-sized brain.

Firstly - this is a public blog, I am not an idiot, I know there are people out there who just want a bit of a nose and see what I have to say - I suspect in the glimmer of hope that I might actually blog about them or spread some gossip about someone we mutually know. - Sorry to report that WILL NOT HAPPEN. If I have got something to say to someone I know, then I will say it to their face and you will not find me slagging anyone directly on here, so do one and go get your kicks elsewhere. Better still, how about actually joining the followers on this blog and show yourselves!! Next, someone emailed me - yes I do receive random emails from people who actually want advice, help, or just a bit of a chatter. So I suppose I can be likened to Marje Proops - just without the glasses and dodgy 'do'

A lady emailed me asking what to do about being excluded from the 'mummies' at her child's local primary school. This woman seemingly hosts coffee mornings, playdates, likes to be involved but never ever receives return invitations and the other women just go ahead and organise things themselves, excluding said lady - even though they are quite happy to snaffle all her chocolate hob nobs on a regular basis. After asking a few pointed questions - is your child the spawn of satan? Do you observe bad personal hygiene? Is your fashion sense ten years out of date? I came to the conclusion that this woman was trying too hard and in essence being walked over by these horrid people - who were probably as we speak enjoying a get together and laughing up their sleeves at how gullible my email buddy is. Now me being me - I would personally face up to them all, but I understand that this is not always the acceptable course of action for everyone. We came up with a plan, one that she was happy with - strong laxatives in their coffee was ruled out (only just mind you!) - and that she was going to stop inviting the adults around and so her child did not get left out continue one or two of the children coming for a play. I await to hear how it is going but it totally enrages me that people can be like this to each other. So my message is this - if you realise you are acting like one of these cretins - wind your neck in and show some decency in your life.

Coping With The Summer Holidays

The world of parenthood seems to be divided in to two camps when it comes to school holidays - especially the six-weeker during the summer. The first group being the ones who totally and utterley dread it and the second being, those that don't. Its as stark as that really and I can actually understand thoughts from both sides of the camp wall. But does it actually have to be that bad? This is the last year that Ardvaark will be free from the realms of term time restrictions, we have always pretty much done what we want and when we want. So this year, I thought I would get in to a little bit of practice. Now, those of you who know me - might think I am ultra organised. Those of you who know me really well know that it is all a good facade and in reality I like to think I can be organised but all to often it goes to pot. So, I am going to attempt to document our Summer Holidays and hopefully give you all some inspiration along the way. For those who don't know me at all, I live near Berwick upon Tweed in rural Northumberland in the UK and have 2 adult children who live down South and 2 children here 'oop 'narth aged 3 and 4 years old. So today the ankle snappers and I spent our morning in the library - which is a very pleasant place to be actually. They always have a table with pictures and crayons for the children to colour in and a corner where there are some nice toys to play with.

When we eventually got home - me staggering under the weight of childrens books, we had a good look through them. They are allowed 20 out per card - so I made sure I lied when Arvaark asked how many she could take out. Lunch was eaten and then the children amused themselves for a while before we embarked on making jam tarts. This usually easy activity, was a complete disaster - the pastry just went horribly wrong. Mummy had a bit of a hissy fit and binned it all. We then went on to make some butterfly cakes.

Its a nice easy recipe 6oz butter 6oz caster sugar 2 eggs 6oz self raising flour half a tsp vanilla paste splash of milk Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs one at a time and mix well, as the vanilla paste, then the flour. Fold in well to make sure there are no lumps of flour, splosh in a glug of milk. Then divide between 12 case cases. Cook for about 12-15 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees celsius. But by this time, it was periously close to dinner time, so we didn't get to decorate them - this will be a job for the morning.

After dinner it was a bit of tv watching before a cats lick, teeth brushed and pj's on. Tonight we had decided to let them sleep together in Ardvaarks room - something they were both very excited about. We knew there was likely to be incidents of noise, laughter, getting up to no good and no sleep. But we thought it might be fun for them. It lasted 30 minutes before I had to go up, intervene and seperate them again and within a few minutes they were both asleep in their own beds. Perhaps this is something to try again in a year or so? So today has been a good one, the children have enjoyed themselves, I still managed to do things around the house and haven't gone potty and I haven't spent any money! Bonus.

Lazy or Just Unskilled?

So, earlier today I posed on FaceBook, the question 'Is it lack of knowledge and skill behind the reason why people say they can't cook good, healthy, cheap meals?' My panel of experts - well the people who answered - seemed to be very much of the opinion that it was either the way people had been raised or that they were actually just plain lazy. I was talking to the hustacle about this evening and I think that nowadays we have pretty much whatever we want, whenever we want it, its almost expected and we seem to have a need for instant gratification. I learned how to cook, not gourmet meals by the way - from ever since I can remember by my Nan. My grandad taught me the basics of gardening (which I still find a challenge!)I could mend a hem, darn a sock and do basic diy. These were all skills that were passed down to me and as the years have gone on I have added to my knowledge by learning things myself and from others. Although we all think about money nowadays when we budget our family finances, some of us are still buying convenience foods, takeaways and spending a heck of alot more than we need to but why? I appreciate that most 21st century people are busy, working and bringing up families - it is exhausting - I know that and I have even been heard to say 'can't be bothered to cook, lets get a takeaway', but this is a choice - for some they seem to choose these options because its too much like hard work to cook a meal or genuinely they dont have the first idea of how to shop for, prepare or cook a meal from basic ingredients. So, are we losing skills because they are just getting lost as each generation passes? or are we becoming a nation of unskilled who will starve to death if all convenience was taken away?

Houdini Posts

Well, am I narked off or what? All my ramblings since February have gone and disappeared. I am wondering if Blogspot Police felt my entries too boring, too crazy or just offensive. But to be honest, I don't think me prattling on about my life would actually warrant more than a deep sigh and subsequent snoring. It's a shame as I thought I had quite a bit to say - in fact very good stuff to say and I can't remember what I wrote and when to even get near replicating it. So I won't sodding bother! So, it's onwards and upwards - let the insanely boring chatter re-commence. Don't say I didn't warn you......