Sunday 30 June 2013
Saturday 29 June 2013
26/52
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.
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So this week I'm sharing a lovely picture of Biscuit struggling a little with a toy tractor on a day out at the farm, it was freeeeeezing! Still, she made the best of it, even though pedals apparently are not her friends!
Wiggles caught in her favourite pose. She's been doing a lot more sofa cruising, using it as a safety net so she can practice standing up without holding on and perfecting her balance. Here she's slung poor Herman the teddy bear to one side, ditched him in favour of adventure, and she looks particularly cheeky about it too!
Friday 28 June 2013
Post Comment Love!!
Hello lovelies!!
P.S Don't forget about the Google Reader demise, be sure to keep up to date using Bloglovin' instead. :)
I am a happy girl today! Want to know why? Of course you do!!! I am very happy to be featured as today's newbie as part of Post Comment Love. Click the pretty little link below to find out more about this fantastic series...
A big thank you to Vicky of Verily Victoria Vocalises and Jaime from The Oliver's Madhouse for the letting me join in the fun. Pop over to Jaime's lovely blog to read my post?
A big thank you to Vicky of Verily Victoria Vocalises and Jaime from The Oliver's Madhouse for the letting me join in the fun. Pop over to Jaime's lovely blog to read my post?
And if you're here visiting from #PoCoLo hello and welcome!!! Lovely to have you! Come here I'm going to do "Mwah, mwah's!"
P.S Don't forget about the Google Reader demise, be sure to keep up to date using Bloglovin' instead. :)
Thursday 27 June 2013
Currently.....#21
Hello darlings!! How has your week been so far? Mine has been strange, Mr Husband has been off work all week, which has been lovely, but it's made my head think that every day is a Saturday! No bad thing that....
If I had a list if favourite bloggers Ot and Et and Harvesting Kale would be on it! Why? Well one of the many reasons would be Currently! I thought I'd shake it up a bit, today I'm going to plump for a more visual version of Currently. So I have been...
Eating:
I made the behemoth of cakes. It was huge, seriously massive. And fattening. And goooooooood......We were eating this Mother Hubbard for DAYS!
Drinking:
Watching:
Reading:
Learning:
Next week: Loving, Craving, Missing, Listening, Wishing.
Eating:
Drinking:
This puppy. In my favourite glass. It's got a spiced Christmassy taste, but deliciously cold it works in summer too. Summer, ha! When's that due?
Watching:
Image courtesy of Channel4.com
A new French supernatural drama on Channel Four "Les Revenants" or "The Returned". It's just my kind of thing, it's creepy and twisty and I am a bit obsessed with it right now! Oh and Mogwai have written the soundtrack! I am desperate to know how it turns out....
Reading:
Biscuit's school books! She loved this book. Fin, the bad lad broke into a scout hut and stole a laptop. She read the word laptop!! He got his comeuppance, he ended up in jail sobbing. Hahaha!
To relax a little! Because Mr Husband has been at home this week we let Biscuit scoot on her scooter to school. Usually she isn't allowed her scooter on the school run because I can't manage a scooting child and a buggy. But because we could each concentrate on one child we decided to give in to her pleading and give it a go. She was so, so pleased! Above we have a picture she drew of her scooting look at that smile!! I think we figured out that we needed to unwrap the cotton wool a bit....
Next week: Loving, Craving, Missing, Listening, Wishing.
Join in?
Wednesday 26 June 2013
Catching up......
Do you ever meet up with friends and find yourself stumped when they ask "So....what have YOU been up to?" I feel like that a lot! Despite the fact I know we've had a busy time lately I'm struggling to remember a lot of what we've been doing to keep you up to date! But here are some of the highlights:
It was Biscuit's school fete a couple of week's ago, which she adored! She had a go in everything there was to offer, nail painting, face painting, the art table, grown your own sunflower. She even won Mummy a bottle of plonk of the tombola, happy Mummy! Wiggles and I were papped enjoying the fun by a local photographer and friend:
It was Biscuit's school fete a couple of week's ago, which she adored! She had a go in everything there was to offer, nail painting, face painting, the art table, grown your own sunflower. She even won Mummy a bottle of plonk of the tombola, happy Mummy! Wiggles and I were papped enjoying the fun by a local photographer and friend:
The allotment is going well, it's that wonderful pre-fruit stage where you can see its all forming, but not quite there yet. Mmmmm....fruit!
Last weekend we were supposed to be joining in with our village's midsummer picnic, but sadly I was poorly and couldn't go along. Instead Biscuit went with her grandparents and had a marvellous time dancing to the live band by all accounts! Bit gutted I didn't get to watch her...
We visited my MIL & FIL last weekend, when I was all better, they are lovely and we don't get to see then enough! I'm really looking forward to visiting my Sister in Law in the school holidays. It's going to be lovely to catch up with her too, she hasn't even met Wiggles yet!! Dear, dear!!
My lovely friend Impressive E gave birth to a beautiful baby girl two weeks ago, henceforth to be known as Tig. She had a pretty horrendous birth that involved a complicated C-section, five hours in surgery, interventional radiology and a uterine stent. Not fun. Not fun at all. My poor chum was amazingly looked after by the hospital, but as you can imagine wasn't in great shape after all that. She's gradually getting better, getting used to having a tiny new baby again and all that goes with it. Poor love is shattered and we're all trying to do as much as we can for her to make life a little easier. Tig is a darling though and very much worth it. She makes me hideously broody!!
Coming up we have Craft Fairs, BBQ's, Farm Parties, Meet the Teacher Evenings, School Concerts, Sports Day, a cocktail night, a history walk, a visit to the Harry Potter exhibition and a Music Festival to name but a few things!
Happy days indeed. Hope yours are happy too!
Love, love,
Monday 24 June 2013
Meet Mary!
Hello to you!
I hope you've all had fabulous weekends? Today I am turning my hand to something a little different and I have my first ever guest poster, something I'd like to start doing every now and then, it strikes me as such a nice friendly thing to do, like a "Meet my friend....." conversation when you bump into people. In my mind anyway! So I'd like to introduce you to lovely Mary, with whom I have swapped blogs for the day! How exciting! Do head over to her fabulous blog to have a read!
Over to Mary...
Hello everyone! :) I'm Mary and blog over at Secret Obsession. I live in a humble small town in the Philippines. I'm currently in my senior year of college. My blog is a documentation of the things I do in life together with experiences, some inspiration and anything that floats my boat. I'm glad to be here at Kate's blog today! :)
- How long have you been blogging?
- About more than a year already. I started blogging on Tumblr in 2012 and decided to move to blogspot just this April. :)
- What kept you blogging all this time?
- I guess that would be the need to share and express my sentiments. And the #1 reason I'm still blogging is my readers!
- When you started blogging, what came in to your mind?
- Before, I never really knew what blogging is. Before I formally started a personal blog, I've signed up with different blogging platforms without any idea of what to do next. Hahah. When I entered tumblr, I guess I sort of got the idea. I read several descriptions stating that 'this is my online diary where I post...' and I said to myself, 'Hm let me try this.' Since then, I fell in love with blogging, expressing myself on the internet, interacting with wonderful strangers, reading other people's blogs and reminiscing moments through my blog posts!
- How did you come up with your current blog name?
- Secret Obsession is not just a couple of words. They describe my hobby that is blogging. :) Yup, my blog is my secret obsession and I'm the only who knows it. I guess it's better that way since I'm not too confident about letting other people read my thoughts - not even my parents! :D
- For you, what is blogging?
- For me, i guess the most basic definition of blogging is letting your voice be heard through your blog. It is simply an expression of oneself. It is both an emotional and creative outlet. Blogging is a fun way to make friends, learn about people and places and the things there is to learn about life and everything in between!
Sunday 23 June 2013
Five Among Friends - Round Two
This was going to be a one off, but these delightful bloggers are too great to just swish by the once so we've decided to turn this into a running thing. Each week one of our gang will pose questions and then we'll all answer them. Like a virtual dinner party if you will!! Where we all have blogging I'm common! This week Jay at Crafty Spices is kicking us off with these questions:
1. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
The people. Hands down. I've "met" some great people through blogging that I would never have known about. My world got bigger and I got blessed with lovely bloggy chums :)
I'm pretty new to it all really, so right now I can't think of much I dislike. We're still in our honeymoon phase!
3. What is you favorite thing to do with your little ones?
I love to go on walks with them, just the four of us, no one else for miles! We play silly games as we walk along like "Where's Wiggles' sock?" and we always laugh and chat and just enjoy being together.
4. If you could move anywhere in the world (and if money was no object) where would it be, and why?
4. If you could move anywhere in the world (and if money was no object) where would it be, and why?
I wouldn't move anywhere as I love our little village, but I would buy holiday homes in The Lake District, Austria, Paris and Barcelona, to name but a few!! I'd love to be able to pick everyone up and take them away somewhere beautiful on a whim. I chose these place because they all hold happy memories for me and it'd be lovely to create some happy memories for my girls there too.
5. What is the most embarrassing thing one of your kids has done in public?
I think I've been really lucky with Biscuit, she's such a good, sweet and sensitive girl. She's never really done anything THAT awful to me. I suspect Wiggles will be a whole different kettle of fish! I can remember being mortified once when Biscuit had the biggest shouty tantrum at a picnic will loads of other Mummies. She was tired and hungry and refused to listen to reason. I whipped her off home and sent her to her bedroom. I think it did the trick because we've never had a repeat performance. I was so ashamed of her though, everyone was looking and she was yelling and screaming, ugh! Even the memory makes me shudder.
So those are mine, check out the Five Among Friends Crew for their responses to this week's questions!
Saturday 22 June 2013
25/52
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.
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I love this picture because it captures each girls' personality. You can see Biscuit's attention has been caught by something in the sky and she has her cheeky pondering what's happening face on.
Wiggles has her plotting escape face on. She wears that face a lot!
I swore I'd never be the sort of Mother that dressed by children in the same outfit, but I cracked. I couldn't resist this! The sun had come out for once and I thought they looked super, super cute in their little t-shirts together. Plus Biscuit thought it was marvellous that she matched her baby sister and was happily telling everyone we met. Little cuties!
Friday 21 June 2013
Currently....#20
Hello lovely readers!! I usually join in with this link up on a Thursday and I'm a bit behind. Better late than never I thought!!
I wouldn't want to miss out on joining Ot and Et and Harvesting Kale for this week's Currently! So my lovelies I have been:
Capturing: Wiggles is at that gorgeous wobbly legged stage just before walking. She can crawl like a demon and when the fancy takes her she can escape at high speed! After we've collected Biscuit from school she likes to go to the swings, Wiggles likes to try her very best to join in with the big kids and I spend my afternoons trying to catch her and bring her back to safety! She likes to stand up by the slide, stand up and push the seesaw and try and get to the roundabout before I can get to her. She is a pickle!!!
Releasing: THE BEAST! The other day I threw a full force wobbly at a lady who had ignored a perfectly legitimate complaint that I'd made. I really told her off. Then I felt guilty. And apologised, because I am British and that's what we do. Even though it was all her fault. Stupid Beast.
Sending: I have finally sent Wiggles' thank you cards off following her birthday. I am a huge believer in saying thank you properly and I know it means a lot to people. Plus if anyone goes to the trouble of buying my little girls a gift I want them to know how much it means to them. The trouble is I'm a lazy thing and I find it easy to put these things off!!
Mending: Have I been mending anything? I'm not so sure this week! I am a mender. I far prefer to rescue things rather than throw them away. I think perhaps I'm going to list the things that need mending around my house in the hope that Mr Husband will spot it and take the hint!!
1) The kitchen bin lid is wobbly and needs gluing
2) The lightbulb in the left in the downstairs loo could do with sorting, though I'm not sure how!!
3) The runners in my wardrobe doors are wobbly and need mending.
Also Biscuit's second spare school jumper needs a button and I have a dress that has a mysteriously split seam. Any chance? Yeah right!!!
Recommending: Ooooooh fun!! Ok, I'm recommending some music.
Iko - a good place to start would be this track. I saw this very talented man live above a tiny cramped pub in London a few years back and his sheer talent took my breath away. That first line "This is all I have, rich dreams that I can't afford". His voice breaks my heart.
and
Mew - here is a link to their whole first album, which will always hold a very special place in my heart. They're Danish and I think this helps form their really unusual approach to song writing, so many twists and turns and an almost ethereal vibe. I have seen this band live several times over the years and they have never failed to amaze and astound me. I can remember seeing them play in an old church once and I felt so emotional and moved by what they were doing on stage. Just amazing.
Next week: Eating, Drinking, Watching, Reading, Learning.
Iko - a good place to start would be this track. I saw this very talented man live above a tiny cramped pub in London a few years back and his sheer talent took my breath away. That first line "This is all I have, rich dreams that I can't afford". His voice breaks my heart.
and
Mew - here is a link to their whole first album, which will always hold a very special place in my heart. They're Danish and I think this helps form their really unusual approach to song writing, so many twists and turns and an almost ethereal vibe. I have seen this band live several times over the years and they have never failed to amaze and astound me. I can remember seeing them play in an old church once and I felt so emotional and moved by what they were doing on stage. Just amazing.
Next week: Eating, Drinking, Watching, Reading, Learning.
Join in?
Thursday 20 June 2013
I wish....
I thought I'd try out a little something different this week, when I saw that the fantastic Sarah and Stuart at Mummy v's Daddy had come up with this great idea for a link up I really wanted to join in. So here goes;
I wish...
I didn't have such a short temper when I'm tired...
I had a cleaner!
I wasn't so useless with money...
I had savings!
I had better hair
I wasn't so completely at useless maths
I could follow a crochet pattern...
I was an always early person, instead of an always late kinda person
I was better at dieting and exercise...
I was going to BritMums Live!!!
I was going to BritMums Live!!!
I was better at finishing projects that I've started...
I could afford treat my children more often...
I could go on, but thought I'd limit myself!
Actually writing this has made me think, I'm pretty lucky really.
What would you wish for?
Tuesday 18 June 2013
The Best Cookie Recipe in the World....
Hello lovelies,
Because I flippin love you (yes I do, oh yes I do!) I thought I'd treat you all and share with you what I believe to be the best flippin' cookie recipe in the entire world. I can remember my Mum making these cookies when I was a little girl, she used to freeze them (why?) and I would sneak to the freezer and eat them secretly whilst they were still frozen. That's how much I love them!
I still make them today, in fact I made some for a friend the other day to cheer her up. I didn't realise that she had family visiting when I dropped them over and apparently my timing was perfect as she'd forgotten pudding and these went down a storm! Her Mother in Law ate three. Mother in Law pleasing cookies! I felt pretty darn proud of that....
So here's the recipe, I'm afraid I didn't photograph every stage in the process as it involves getting your hands sticky and I didn't want a sticky camera. You will need:
8oz Self Raising Flour
4oz Butter or Margarine
4oz Sugar
2oz chocolate chips, I used a good quality bar and chop it up as I like my bits chunky. You can use plain, milk or white, whatever you prefer, in this particular instance I used milk and white chips together. I know, I'm such a lush!
4oz golden syrup
This recipe is ridiculously simple! You just:
Rub the flour and butter together into fine breadcrumbs, add the sugar and chocolate chips, then add the syrup and squish all the ingredients together until you have a sticky dough which should look something a little like this:
Honestly, try them, they are AMAZING. In fact, if these aren't the best darn cookies you ever tasted I'll eat my hat! Ok, maybe not my actual hat, maybe just some more cookies so I can decide that you're definitely bonkers.
Let me know if you try them!
Love, love,
Because I flippin love you (yes I do, oh yes I do!) I thought I'd treat you all and share with you what I believe to be the best flippin' cookie recipe in the entire world. I can remember my Mum making these cookies when I was a little girl, she used to freeze them (why?) and I would sneak to the freezer and eat them secretly whilst they were still frozen. That's how much I love them!
I still make them today, in fact I made some for a friend the other day to cheer her up. I didn't realise that she had family visiting when I dropped them over and apparently my timing was perfect as she'd forgotten pudding and these went down a storm! Her Mother in Law ate three. Mother in Law pleasing cookies! I felt pretty darn proud of that....
So here's the recipe, I'm afraid I didn't photograph every stage in the process as it involves getting your hands sticky and I didn't want a sticky camera. You will need:
8oz Self Raising Flour
4oz Butter or Margarine
4oz Sugar
2oz chocolate chips, I used a good quality bar and chop it up as I like my bits chunky. You can use plain, milk or white, whatever you prefer, in this particular instance I used milk and white chips together. I know, I'm such a lush!
4oz golden syrup
This recipe is ridiculously simple! You just:
Rub the flour and butter together into fine breadcrumbs, add the sugar and chocolate chips, then add the syrup and squish all the ingredients together until you have a sticky dough which should look something a little like this:
Mmmmmm, squashy! See what I mean about not wanting to get that all over the camera? Then you roll the mixture into small dainty balls if you're feeding a lot of people, or hoofing great balls if you feel in the mood for monster cookies.
Space them out well on a baking sheet, squash them down a little bit and bake in the oven at 190 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes (depending on size you went for and the shade you prefer). They should come out looking a little something like this:
Honestly, try them, they are AMAZING. In fact, if these aren't the best darn cookies you ever tasted I'll eat my hat! Ok, maybe not my actual hat, maybe just some more cookies so I can decide that you're definitely bonkers.
Let me know if you try them!
Love, love,
Monday 17 June 2013
Five Among Friends - Round One
One of my favourite bloggers EVER is Taby at The Closet Intellectual. She came up with a lovely getting to know you idea which we're calling Five Among Friends. We're answering five little questions so you can find out a little more about us. I seriously love the fact Taby got her husband Jeremy to answer, so cute! I'm going to try and lure in Mr Husband in the future....
So here's what I had to say:
1. What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod/mp3 player?
So here's what I had to say:
1. What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod/mp3 player?
I actually don't think my ipod is all that uncool. Although, maybe it is, but I just don't realise it! I think maybe it's this:
I'm not sure I'd want it blasting out at a party!
2. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
At work the other day our Friday afternoon was going a little slowly so to make it a little more fun we decided to come up with a list of curry based song puns. It started out with "Tikka Chance on Me" and progressed onwards to such delights as "Don't Korai for me Argentina" "You Can't Curry Love" and many others, before we finally peaked with "Tears on my Pilau". It got silly, but by the end I was quite literally crying with laughter.
3. What is your perfect Sunday afternoon?
A walk with my husband and my girls in the sunshine, home for a lovely lunch together, a spot of baking followed by cake eating, then a lovely evening cuddled up on the sofa watching a detective drama with some nibbly snacks. That would be my idea of perfection.
4. You just won the bazillion dollar jackpot! What's the first thing you run out to buy?
The first thing? Hmmmm....that's a toughie! I am a hoover pig, so the FIRST thing I'd probably buy would be a celebratory cake. Then I'd buy a shed load of totally unnecessary stuff to cheer up the days of the people I love.
5. What is the craziest thing on your bucket list?
I am a dull creature! Until a couple of years ago I wanted to go Zorbing, but then lovely Mr Husband paid for me to have a go as a treat. It ended like this, but it was amazing!! I still have a whole lot of stuff on my bucket list, but it's not all that crazy! I'd like to see every one of Shakespeare's plays, I'd LOVE to zip about on a Segway and have singing lessons and dye my hair pink again....
So those were my answers! Check out the other lovelies on the list above who are joining in if you'd like to read theirs!
Have a grand old day!
Sunday 16 June 2013
Shoulder to Shoulder to Day
Today I am proud to be hosting the #S2S2D blog hop. I have only been blogging for a short period of time, but I feel privileged to be a part of this community, I have connected with and feel like I know some truly wonderful people thanks to this little blog o'mine and I will always be grateful for that. I have watched bloggers surround and support people through troubles and hardship and I have been both impressed and humbled by how thoughtful and wonderful they are to offer their kind words and wise counsel. Never more so than in the case of the lovely Emma from who blogs at Crazy with twins . You may have heard that she recently underwent radiotherapy after having surgery for cancer, after which she was left radioactive, was kept in isolation and away from her family and was unable to hold her young children due to the amount of radiation she was emitting.
To see Emma through this incredibly difficult time some super thoughtful bloggers, Tori at Verily Victoria Vocalises and Phil from Fragments from Firefly Phil came up with the idea to hold the Shoulder to Shoulder to Day Blog Hop every day of her period of isolation to try and put a smile on Emma's face. And then the most wonderful thing happened! Emma's system cleared itself of the radiation far quicker than anyone anticipated and she could finally give her husband and her babies a much needed cuddle. When I read this post it brought tears to my eyes, it was so, so wonderful.
So, why are we still blog hopping? Because although Emma had good news the utter bastard cancer still exists. We wanted to raise awareness, to encourage people to be brave, to get anything that's unusual or that they're concerned about investigated by a doctor and not to just leave it. Let's face it, if Richard Blackwood can have prostate examination live on television (anyone else see that this week? No? Just me?) we can all manage to man up a bit, right?
And rather than resting on her laurels, Emma is now running the Race for Life, for which you can sponsor her if you would like and she's also fundraising to buy an iPad for the iodine room at The Cheltenham General Hospital where she received her treatment. What a girl!
So, following in the original spirit of this hop, to put a smile on Emma's face, I'd like to share with you a video of my family, taken last year at our Jubilee Street Party. It features my lovely Mum, sporting an excellent curly wig bellowing her head off, my Dad, who is an accomplished flag waver, my wonderful friends and neighbours and my husband and child, running for the hills at the end. They're not drunk, they're just nuts! It never fails to make me laugh, I hope it does the same for you. Please do link up below if you have something amusing you'd like to share; enjoy!
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