Week 4, 22nd - 29th December 2013

22nd December - It's the simple things that have the most effect. I was worried when starting this experiment that I would be tempted to throw money and materialistic things at it rather than try and take the time and effort in thinking of things to do every day. All that happened today was that I made the effort to email someone I know. I was on the computer anyway and rather than just log off, I picked out a person from my contacts list at random and sent them an email and picture of the family. They responded a few hours later telling me that it had made their day to hear from me. How lovely!

23rd December - Had a lovely afternoon today with friends over. The kids played wonderfully together and the adults put the world to rights with good food and drink! Then the call came, 'Help, we haven't got any heat or hot water, the engineer can't come until tomorrow and its blowing a freezing hoolie - what shall we do?' Off we go and deliver our free-standing radiators!

24th December - For some, spending time on their own is a luxury. I am sure some of you will understand - all day you get tugged in numerous directions, there is a never ending list of things to do and people to see. The only solitude you get is on the loo - and only then if you are lucky (I say this because for me there is usually a small person knocking at the door asking what I am doing!. So when we do eventually get some time to ourselves we consider it a bit of a treat. However, have you ever considered what it would be like to be in a permenant state of solitude? Sure for a while we would cope but by the very nature of our species, we are social creatures, we do need contact with other people, no matter how small that contact might be. I know I have always avoided asking the question 'how are you' to certain people, mainly because I know that I will have to listen to them drone on for the next hour or until I break off the one-sided conversation with some fictional appointment I have to attend. For that reason I all of a sudden felt quite guilty. I realised that I might have been the only person they were likely to speak to that day and I dismissed them so easily. I am going to try not to do that again. The mole man (mammal no annoying blemish) came today to check the traps, from experience I usually wave cheerily from the window and don't venture outside until his van is gone. Today I went out and had a good old chat with him - it felt nice.

25th December - No Social media was to take up my time in any way shape or form. It was interesting to read back a few days later the posts people had made, not being able to stay away from FaceBook, Twitter etc for even one day.

26th December - I text a friend of mine a smile, they cost nothing (I have free texts you know!).

27th December - Yes I know tickets are not transferrable, but I threw caution to the wind and left my paid ticket stuck on the machine for someone else to make use of. It would normally be thrown in to the foot-well of the car!

28th December - Friends have moved away - not a million miles but it does take a bit of planning to make arrangement to go and see them. It shouldn't seem like an effort to see friends should it? But sometimes life and stuff gets in the way and before you know it weeks, if not months have passed and you still haven't got together like you both declared during the pinky promise ceremony 6 months ago! Trouble is I get so busy that when I do have a window of opportunity, I usually collapse on a sofa. I think I ought to change that if I can. We had a great afternoon and I really wished we could have stayed longer.

Week 3 - 15th to 21st December 2013

15th December - Today was the dreaded soft play trip. I wouldn't have minded, but the people we were meant to be going with ended up not coming and then to top it off, when we arrived, we were told that the place was going to be closing early due to a private booking. So £10 for one and a half hours seemed a bit steep. However I smiled through gritted teeth and handed over the dosh. I have to say that once were were in, people were starting to make moves to leave so in actual fact the place was not as horrendous as I thought - plus the children had a blast! On the way out, I said to a member of staff that we had had a great time - to which she smiled in a manic sort of way and jibbered something as she took another swig of her coffee!

16th December - On the way home from our family in the South, we stopped - as usual - at our normal halfway point, to have lunch. After finding a table, battling through the various retail outlets to get something to eat and eventually sitting down - I was wondering how on earth I was actually going to be able to do or say something meaningful today. 6 hours in a car from door to door meant that apart from saying something quite lame to my family in the car, it was going to be quite tricky. So far, no one in the service station had even given me any reason to be anything but just about civil, so you can see my dilemma. Then, salvation! A local group of school kids with their teachers turned up and dressed in santa hats proceeded to serenade us all with some carols. It was lovely and when they inevitably came around with a bucket (not to vomit in), I made sure I told them what a splendid job they did and it had really cheered me up. Job Done.

17th December - Just a quickie today, my craft club had their Christmas lunch. I did not purchase a rude or lame secret santa - as is the normal course of events. I hope the recipient loves it.

18th December - Last theatre rehearsal of the year and I gave a pal a lift and as it was drinks and nibbles, I did some sausage rolls. They didn't poison anyone so as far as I am concerned this was a very nice thing to give to people!

19th December - Coffee in a well known cafe within a well known department store. Sadly one of the elderly customers had a very severe accident in the bottom department. The staff were like a well-oiled machine. Not only did they attend to the 'deposits' in a swift and correct manner but they preserved the dignity of the said elderly person with such care and attention. I was seriously impressed, so I told the manager what I thought. He agreed with me and said that he would make sure my comments were passed on to the team that afternoon.

20th December - You can't beat a bit of Panto and my local one at the moment is Cinderella. I found myself trotting along to this one tonight - with 21 kids. Not all my own - I am not that fertile (or sexually active!)and we settled ourselves in the front 2 rows. We got soaked with a water gun, snowed on by snow and picked on by the Dames - it was fantastic. 'The Princes' Balls get bigger every year' had me snorting with laughter to myself all the way through to the extent that the 4 year old next to me thought I was having one of my 'turns'. Lots of social media feedback was given and bearing in mind I did this after my own kid had decided to throw up the contents of his stomach all over the hall floor when we arrived home - its testament to how good the show was!

21st December - Feeling unwell, I went along with my Theatre group to sing carols in the foyer of the local supermarket. I got concerned when my words wouldn't come out and I was singing 'feck the balls with jowels of dolly'. I retreated homeward and slept off, what I now know was a migraine and not a stroke - Thanks web MD (I am never going to self-diagnose again). By the time I write again (although this blog will appear after the big man has been), I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and no matter where you are or what you are doing, have a lovely time. x x

Week Two - 8th to 14th December 2013

Ah Ha! Gotcha - I bet you thought that this was another of my one hit wonders and that I would not be posting anymore of the niceness that I have been spreading in the world! Well, I was away last weekend and didn't have access to anything I could write my blog on that was bigger than my iphone so I though it best to keep you all in suspenders until today!

Credit for this picture goes to - http://www.fogeygentleman.co.uk/index.htm So here we go -

8th December - I normally snoop about other peoples websites and very rarely leave comments, unless I am particularly vexed or have something useful to add to a conversation. But today I decided to leave a comment complimenting the person about the use of wonderful images.

9th December - Being a school bus driver must be on a par with spending life like a cracked record (repeating yourself all the time), rounding up sheep (rounding up small children), being deafened on a daily basis (with the shrieking of said children) and not one able to clout them around the heads. I told our school bus driver what a brilliant job she does, she just smiled wearily before replacing her ear defenders and getting back in the drivers seat.

10th December - Picked up a bin that had blown over and all the road. Everyone else was just driving past and over it all - normally I would have done the same!

11th December - One of my friends is a splendid gal, she does lots for other people and in fact and in my opinion she is walked all over by quite a few of them. She went off to a local eatery for the evening with her mum - I slipped said mother a few quid to buy my pal a cheeky drink (or two!).

12th December - Spent a good 2 hours having a chat with a friend of mine. I had quite a bit of other stuff to do, but it wasn't as important as giving someone in need, a little bit of care and attention. Yes I was running horrendously behind with all of my stuff for the remainder of the day but some things are worth doing.

13th December - Went to the other end of the country today a-visiting rellies and to get the gifts delivered and do the rounds of sitting with old aunts, drinking their sherry and eating cake. Its a terribly hard job. We spent all day travelling, collapsed in the hotel but still managed a kind word to the rather harassed lady behind the bar who was grappling with the corkscrew! It was going to be a long night for her!

14th December - I now remember why I love living in a rural location so much. The City is bloody hell on earth and I seriously struggled being nice to anyone today. Shop assistants with no more goodwill and cheer than Scrooges left earlobe. Rude shoppers - all elbows, trolleys and buggy's. Apart from one staff member in Poundland - YES - I went into POUNDLAND, and I am not going to be embarrassed about it either. There were queues for queues reaching as far as the eye could see. Plenty of pushing, shoving and bad tempers but I reached the till and this chap was smiley, happy and took an interest in me and how I was feeling. What a nice chap! I left some feedback via their customer services. He made my day a whole lot better.

Week One - 1st - 7th December 2013

Ok Sunday - here we are my friend, it is time to spill the beans and tell you all just how extra nice I have been this week. How, I have attempted to go out of my way to do something a little bit extra for other people and spread a little kindness. Here goes.... Sunday 1/12 I kicked off the challenge in great style and held a party, which I think very well. It was mainly combining two lots of people - a post-production party and also a Christmas get-together. Made sense to me to have both at the same time and everyone seemed to really have a lovely time. Lots of laughs, good food and wine! Shame some people couldn't come at the last minute, a few with good reason, more than a few without. Monday 2/12 During the arduous task of returning the hired glasses from yesterdays party, back to Tesco. I was stood in the queue wondering if indeed I was still over the limit and should I actually be driving anywhere for the next week - there was a lady in front of me. She was on her phone and looking very down in the dumps, I started thinking on how I might be able to shine a little happiness into her life. I saw she had a really lovely dress on, so I complimented her on it - out of the blue, no warning and the smile that spread across her face was priceless. Tuesday 3/12 Sat in my drawer at home, amongst the christmas supplies were 2 packs of cards that you pop a picture of your own in. They were destined to sit there for another year until I gave them to a friend at my craft club to pass on to her daughter to create some nice cards featuring her little boy to send. I would have normally kept them on the off-chance I would have used them for something, sometime. Wednesday 4/12 Gave someone a lift, it was on my way, added another 15 minutes but was worth the effort as we had a nice chat, opposed to me talking to myself in the car (as usual!) and took them home again. Thursday 5/12 Got good customer service today, so fired off an email to the relevant company asking that it be placed on the staff members personal file. Friday 6/12 Local power cuts meant that this was the second day of outage for some people I know. Had some over to fill flasks, get hot drinks, charge their phones, have a hot lunch and to stay a while. Opened the house up when in all honesty I probably would have helped in some way, but not to this extent. Saturday 7/12 Attended a Christmas Fayre and complimented a stallholder on their stall and the goods that were on it. I would have normally just looked and then poached some ideas, this time I bought. Week One done and now dusted. I have to admit that going that extra mile does take a little thinking about, but so far has been worth it. From this week I have seen that sweeping, expensive gestures often are not valued as much and it is the simpler things that mean the most for some people. I am wondering if all this will prove that karma and pay it forward really do exist and I will receive some of the happiness back - maybe the spreading of it will be all I need?

Play Nice Now!

So, towards the end of November I realised that it would have been nearly a whole year since I posted on here. Not very good eh?! To be fair to myself, it has been rather a busy time for me. To be extra fair to myself, I do tend to take on more than I can chew. Sue, a blog is a great idea, but where can I actually get the time to post on the damn thing amongst running the house and doing all of the other millions of things I rope myself in to? Crikey, sometimes I don't even have the time to go to the bloody loo! It struck me, that now I am managing to get on top of things - the house no longer looks like a bomb site (well not all of it anyway), my theatre directing stint is over and yes, although my Uni degree has just started again and the next production rehearsals have begun (I am in the chorus btw!) - I would like to raise this old and crusty blog off out of the grave and start over. And what better way to start but by doing something meaningful? I decided that from 1st December, I will attempt to do something kind and/or meaningful every day for a whole year. My aim is that as the 1st of December falls on a Sunday, this will be the day that I write about the week gone by. So, join me on 8th December to see how the first week has panned out!

All Mouth and No Trousers

As much as I keep trying to put a rational point of view across, there will always be numpties who try and swing it into the political arena, when actually there is no need. It all started with me reading quite a few posts on the netmums site from people- who are employed by the way - who are missing meals and who cannot afford to heat their homes because the rise in costs have pushed them over the financial 'ledge'. People are seemingly quick to blame the current government, when actually I feel the country would still be in the mess it's currently in, no matter who was in power. I don't give a rats if you have a degree in politics, social sciences and social welfare - it's living in the real world that counts, not by reading about it in text books. I am constantly flabbergasted by individuals who spout vitriol about various political parties (depending on their choice) having done them - personally - apparent injustice and in 'their' opinion 'ruined the country' when actually these people, with said opinions, have homes, mortgages, businesses, jobs, are earning a decent living, have food in their bellies, enjoy foreign holidays, had a nice Christmas, go out once in a while, are probably drinking a nice glass of wine tonight whilst watching the tv, have had an education and live quite comfortably thank you very much. So, in essence mate, YOU have not actually suffered in any way then under whatever government you are choosing to give your verbal diarrhoea to? YOU have not ever had to make a choice between keeping warm and feeding yourself? YOU are not on the cusp of being homeless? YOU are not living in a permanent state of anxiety about giving your family their basic needs? Basically then my friend YOU KNOW NOTHING. OK, level head MM - keep calm, free speech and respect other people opinions and all that jazz. No matter what flavour of party is in Government, there will always be mess that has to be sorted, there will always be things implicated that a percentage of people will not be happy with. But rather than blathering on with small minded and selfish - 'oh I am so hard done by' (when actually I am not) - views. Get off your backside and do something to help others. Oh, I am sorry - I am sure your work/holidays/socialising/bone in your leg doesn't allow you the time to actually help does it? But then again your opinion is, that it's not your problem isn't it?!

Menu Plan - February 2013

Spurred on by saving nearly £40 of my grocery budget last month by planning ahead, I have decided to have another go. Here is my menu plan for February - not set in stone as things do crop up, but here we go; 1st - Toad in the hole with mashed potato, veg and gravy 2nd - Lamb curry, rice, naan breads poppadums and pickles 3rd - Out for dinner 4th - Lemon and garlic chicken with new potatoes and vegetables 5th - Spaghetti Bol with spaghetti and garlic bread 6th - Fish, chips and mushy peas 7th - Shepherds pie, vegetables and gravy 8th - Gammon, egg, hash browns and beans 9th - Pizza-topped chicken with salad 10th - Kung-po king prawns with noodles, stir fry veg and prawn crackers (Chinese new year!) 11th - Lasagne, salad and garlic bread 12th - Mediterranean chicken with rice and vegetables 13th - Pizza and salad 14th - Mexican starter, Steak, jacket potatoes, mushrooms, corn on the cob main, tiramisu dessert (Valentines meal with hubby, the children will have fish fingers and chips and farmed off to bed!) 15th - Sausage, bacon, egg, hash browns and baked beans 16th - Tuna pasta bake with salad 17th - Roast chicken, stuffing,roast potatoes, parsnips, vegetables and gravy (Sunday lunch) 18th - Italian sausage spaghetti 19th - Herbed baked salmon with rice and vegetables 20th - Chicken fajita wraps with salsa, guacamole, sour cream and salad 21st - Steak pie, potatoes, vegetables and gravy 22nd - Meatloaf and vegetables 23rd - Chicken kebabs with pitta bread and salad 24th - Roast lamb, roast potatoes, parsnips, vegetables and gravy (Sunday lunch) 25th - Chicken and bacon pasta bake 26th - Sausage and mash with vegetables and gravy 27th - BBQ chicken, chips and coleslaw 28th - Pork loins, new potatoes and vegetables

Maverick Mummy - Cooking

I love food - it's not hard to notice that most of my FaceBook posts are indeed of the edible variety. I was popping on recipes, tips, hints and information on my own page , but people were forever asking for details and I would find myself faffing about trying to find them or type them up. So, the FaceBook cooking page was created, here is the link http://www.facebook.com/groups/530469143650305/ Nothing on it is rocket science, just a basic knowledge of cooking and if, like loads of people, you worry that you know nothing - then there are plenty of nice and helpful people to assist - there is no such thing as a stupid question either. For those who follow my - rather sparse and sporadic blog (which I intend to change in to a regular feature in my life), you will know my feelings on skills being lost as each generation passes so I do sympathise with the people who just have not been taught how to boil an egg or knock up a quick sponge cake. That is where I come in, not by throwing them out to ridicule, but to get them the advice and information they need. Happy Cooking! x

British Food Poverty - Should Shame Us All

How is it that in, what is readily accepted to be, one of the more affluent countries of the world, are we in such a state? Now, before any of you get on your political high horses - stop right there, Governments past and present have a great deal to answer for but blame does not entirely lay at the doorstep of number 10 or the big house full of crumbly politicians. I don't want to go into the realms of all that monkey business and global economy as quite frankly it's not going to help you, me or Joe Blogs next door. There has been and always will be people living in sub standard housing, having to contend with food poverty, fuel poverty (as in heating), crap wages and a rubbish standard of living. I said some years ago that we were heading for a recession, and a significant one at that. I felt it prudent that we should tighten our belts and be just a little more thoughtful and resourceful about how we lived. We now have a fruit and veg plot - admittedly we would have starved this year if relying on this produce alone - but you learn fast. We have chickens and ducks, I bake a lot more than in previous years, cook from scratch rather than relying on ready meals, jars and packets, make my own bread, preserves, chutney and even dehydrate foods to store. I like to make do and mend, up cycle, make something tired look refreshed - which often is a thank less task, especially when it comes to trying to refresh myself sometimes! All in all, I looked at things and cut my cloth accordingly, whilst people all around me continued to deny that a recession would come, ignored food and fuel prices going up, still lived at a standard of living that was getting more and more difficult to maintain but remained in this bubble that had to burst sometime - and they have started popping all over the place now. Some people I know, now regularly put their mortgage/rent, council tax, food bills on their credit cards. Now if personally if my situation got to this, I would be looking to cut my outgoings - sky, mobiles, non essential activities or purchases. I would look very carefully at all my expenditure and make sacrifices. But actually these people are so desperate not to lose face or standing within their family/friendship group, that they will not do this in order to keep up appearances - even taking out these horrible payday loans on a rolling monthly basis. To these people I say - for gods sake get a grip and to be honest, I will really struggle to show sympathy when eventually the poop does hit the fan. What bothers me however, are those people who are genuinely stuck between a rock and a hard place. Lets face it, it is not just the problem of the unemployed and low wage earners anymore. It's is now creeping up into the middle income bracket. Those people who work, have travel running costs linked to work, child care, reductions in hours to contend with, seeing their expendable income reducing every month because the cost of living is getting more and more expensive. These people do cut their cloth, they make necessary adjustments to their expenditure, they down brand their groceries to save money, they shop at cheaper alternatives but still money is tight. For instance, it costs us about £600 to fill our oil tank, a further £100 for coal and this will last, if we are carful for 3 months over the winter- that is over £200 a month for heating alone. If we have temperatures that came in 2010/11, then this will not even last 3 months. I will also point out that I don't have the heating cranked up full and waltz about in a t shirt either! A friend of mine said the other day that she didn't know what she was going to do if her finances got any worse. She had already made deep cuts in her outgoings, she shopped in the cheapest places available, yet still sometimes went hungry in order to feed her children. Yet she and her husband both work full time - they are totally and utterly miserable and I can't blame them for being so. Reports from the charities that run food banks say that there has been an alarming increase for their services over the last year. This has to, surely, make us sit up and worry. I know I do, I worry for my friend, my family and in all honesty for my little unit but what can I do? Keep going, that's all.

Scrap In The Scrapstore

So, if any of you have been watching the Channel 4 series - Superscrimpers - you will have undoubtably come across the notion of the 'Scrapstore'. I knew these existed a while ago, as a friend of mine who lives in Somerset has one very close to her. She was telling me that you could basically fill up a shopping trolley of stuff for £10. No this, sounded like an opportunity too good to miss, but again - living in the North of Northumberland - it seems we don't have children (not a great deal of things to do for the children, but its getting better), we don't plan to have children (the maternity unit is closing and the nearest birthing care will be a 60 mile trip!), we don't wear decent clothes (hardly anywhere to buy glad rags. And unless you go into Home Bargains (which do some pretty good deals and I go there often), no decently priced anything really. So I discover the nearest Scrapstore to me is in Selkirk - 60 minutes away. The moment I find out about this Aladins cave I want to go - it was midnight, but I wanted to go the next day but 'coises' it is closed for a holiday for the following week! Aaaarrgghhh. I patiently count down the days and today was the day. So before the epic trip I thought I had better ring to find out what I need to bring to become a member. The friendly chap just said 'nothing at all', so off we went in the car.

Inevitably, we get there and we can't find the place, so another call to the friendly chap and he talks me in - I am on in-car speaker by the way before any of you go and report me to the rozzers!. I walk in and my eyes pop out on stalks, everything you can think if is there; fabric card, cardmaking stuff, paper, buttons, ribbon, felt, plastic, paint, frames.... the list goes on. The majority of things there are salvaged from companies who donate them, other things are new but very very cheap indeed. My friendly chap explains how things work - its not like the one in Somerset as those particular ones are heavily funded - you choose what you want (some things are priced) and then make a deal on what you pay. There is a membership fee £7 for individuals, £25 for groups who have up to 25 users, although friendly chap said that I didn't have to become a member - but quite frankly if you didn't that is taking the p*ss, they are a charity for flips sake! So my little haul - is pictured below. Now bearing in mind I had the ankle snappers with me, I couldn't concentrate and luckily (according to the hubstacle!) didn't spend as much as I could have done!

There is a large sheet of silver card, orange, yellow and black felt, a huge piece of navy fabric, sheets of thick card, box of cardmaking bits and pieces, coloured labels, coloured papers, bias binding which came to £11, with my membership, I spent £18 which by any stretch of the imagination is a total and utter bargain. I love this place - its my new best friend!

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?