Unexpected Sunday

Today we were supposed to be visiting Papa and Toot (Happy Birthday Papa!) but due to The Weather we stayed put. So here we are with an Unexpected Sunday to fill as we wish.

We began with breakfast, as you do. Miss T began with Marmite and hazlenut chocolate spread on (the same bit of) toast. A wrongness of the highest order, but she seemed pleased:

Then we went to buy the cat a new bed due to a Certain Someone ('It was me: Custard!') destroying the last one. A new popcorn maker followed to replace the one we melted with over use.

Then on to Waitrose. Where we bought yummy Sunday roast stuff and got back to the car to find the battery was completely and utterly flat. Dead. Last time this happened was in the Ikea car park, a bit too far from home to call for help, but this time a dear and lovely old friend of ours came, via Halfords for spark plugs, and jumped started us. The wait gave W and I just enough time to polish off a whole tray of Parisienne macaroons. Very nice.

After a prolonged sojourn to the shops we got home rather later than planned. Roast for tea then. So W knocks up a (delicious) blue cheese, parma ham, black olive and sun dried tomato tart for us, while the kids had crumpets. Because what they need is more refined carbs, obviously.

Custard: What. Is. That?

W: It's a tart.

Custard: Bleurgh.

FHB: I know what tart is. It is black and it melts and gets on your shoes and you get told off for getting it on the carpet because it sticks to everything.

Mouse: No, Tart is from the the jungle. Tartzan. He swings in the trees like a monkey. But he is a man.

W and I: Snigger...

Anyway, here is what the rest of the day holds for me:

Die cutting alphabets with my lovely sister-in-law's Sizzix...

A bit of brewing...

Crochet crochet crochet...

A little easy peasy embroidery for Christmas...

A bit of this, maybe with a film...

Definately some of these. The hazlenut Baileys is filling in a gap for me until I can get my hands on some Marks and Sparks Gingerbread irish cream. It keeps selling out locally. I HAVE to try it!

But...(insert your own horror film music here)...LOOK at what else I have got to tackle this afternoon!!!!!!!!!

Aaaargh! I have had to put it on our bed so that I have no choice but to put it all away today. I think the kids might actually have run out of clothes!

Well, best crack on with it I suppose. Sooner it is done the sooner I get a large Baileys infront of the fire!

Hope you are having a wonderful warm Sunday x

What to make?

It is Saturday. I have been at work all morning thinking about all the things I want, and indeed need, to make this afternoon and in these far too few days before Christmas. I get home to find that One Of My Children has lost the keys to the craft cupboard (again). Last time this happened I had to buy a new cupboard from Ikea, just to get a new key. This was three weeks ago. I am upset. I do not need another cupboard.

Anyway, irritated though I am, (and I shouted so much that my voice has gone croaky- I'm so proud), My bears do make me laugh. FHB (dressed as a doctor) has spent the last half hour merrily chasing Miss T around, sliding on the rug and squashing her. She seems to be thoroughly enjoying the experience and much squealing has ensued. Custard is wearing a leather trimmed black beret and looks like an 80's militant activist- a very small one who looks a bit as if he needs a cuddle from his mum.

Mouse is looking forward to getting out her sewing machine for some Cwistmas Cwafting...but can't because we have lost the key. I am sitting here trying to work out what we can make with last years Christmas cards, that does not involve me having to clear up Glitter. I don't feel up to Glitter this afternoon!

I think I may just sit and catch up with my Jumpers for Small People. And have a nice slice of cake.

x

Photos

Me: Can you do the photo software tonight please?

W: Why can't you do it?

Me: Because I'll get it wrong, phone you for help and you'll say that I always break the computer. So it's easier if you do it.

W gets out photoshop (semi-demolishing cupboard in process). I laugh a great deal.

Me: Do I need the software for my camera too...cos I don't know where I've put it?

W: No, you can just load photos up onto Windows.

Silence.

Me: So, all this time I've actually had photo software on the new computer?

W: Didn't you know?

Me (patiently, through gritted teeth): No. I did not know. Or I would have been using it, wouldn't I? (Forced smile).

So there you are folks. I have photos. I always had photos. Grrr.

Here's a couple from Greenwich the other week:

The bears love Greenwich and always head for the canon. We have the same conversation every time:

Bear: That is a really big gun.

Us: Yes it is.

Bears, shimmying up canon: Can we climb on it?

Us: No. See the big sign saying 'Do not climb'?

Bears (disappointed): Oh, right. Is it real?

Us: Yes, it is three hundred years old. Be kind to it.

And so on.

Sadly the Cutty Sark is still hidden by her bandages. I LOVE the Cutty Sark. Drinking a hot coffee, sitting on the banks of the Thames early on a Sunday morning, gazing at the ship and then the river, deciding where we'll live when we win the lottery...

x

Captain Custard

My smallest boy is a funny little sausage. He is three, but thinks he is six, like his brother. He is a Big Boy too, solid and square without an ounce of fat on him. He has bright blond hair that curls over his ears and when Toot cuts it neither of us can bare to chop them off.

Custard is a noisy boy . His emotions are right there at the front at all times. If he is happy then the world smiles with him, if he is upset, angry, excited, in pain, then he is Vocal about it. He is a dear dear boy. He loves us all, worships his brother and wants cuddles and kisses from W and I whenever possible; He needs to be overtly loved.

Custard's main interest is movies. He loves films. Watches films avidly. Is quite discerning about what he likes and does not like, and makes quite surprising choices. We probably let Custard watch things that are a bit too old for him. The paradox here, I suppose, is that our kids are not allowed to watch Power Rangers and Ben 10, but they do watch Star Wars and Narnia. It makes sense to us and our life (and you know, Star Wars was the first thing I saw at the cinema, ever).

Custard's current films of choice are Narnia: Prince Caspian, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Wallace and Gromit and the Were-Rabbit. A re-enactment of the film will inevitably follow a watching. His idol of the moment is High King Peter from Narnia. Custard will appear dressed as a knight, wielding a fabricated sword (we confiscated all the toy ones) and demanding Turkish Delight. He had Toot cut his hair so he could part it like Peter's.

But Peter faces a new challenge. At the weekend we sat and watched the first Harry Potter with them. (Fear not, we warned them when the scary bits were about to happen and they all hid, Custard behind a cushion, FHB and Mouse under my wings). Custard LOVED the film and appeared in the Harry Potter robe shortly after the film finished. On the way to school the next day he says to me, very thoughtfully that 'King Peter is good, but Ron Squeezly from Harry Pottimer is much cooler.'

I chuckle to myself and wonder if I should ask Toot to start practising Ron Weasly hair.

The big thing about my smallest boy is that he is Properly Funny. He knows just the right moment to make a joke, or a silly noise, and he does things that make me roar. Today I have had a ho-down in the kitchen with him to Cotton-Eye Joe. When I returned several songs later he was doing a ho-down to some greasy bassy Metallica. He then treated me to a blast of 'a bottle of rum to fill my tum and that's the life for me', complete with pirate-y drunk actions. As I type he is channelling his inner Troy Bolton and leaping around to High School Musical.

I do love this little boy who makes us all laugh.

x

Am on the case with the photos. Next time...!

An Account of the day

Well hello. Photo free again I'm afraid, so I made a list instead. I do love a list:

1 grey drizzly day
4 tired bears
2 pairs of mysteriously wet pyjama trousers found on the washing pile
1 irritated husband
5 loads of washing done
7 radiators heaving with drying
45 minutes in the swimming pool with
1 much put out toddler
2 fountains
1 bubbly mini jacuzzi
1 teeny tiny slide
1 really pleased Me
1 bout of hysterics at Miss T: 'ME! WET! COLD! ME. GET. OUT!' (repeatedly).
2 hot chocolates
2 old ladies, very kind about being sprayed with the crumbs of
1 almond croissant
1 unfortunate toilet incident resulting in the loss of
1 pair of Buzz Lightyear pants and
1 very upset small boy
1 hot shower
2 croissants
3 yoghurts
3 bananas
2 clementines
1 tin of red soup
4 jaffa cakes
3 school pick ups
1 egg shaped bonk on the head
3 more bananas
4 pears
2 ginger snaps
7 chocolate jazzies
2 kinder mini bars
1 fortuitously discovered Fox's crunch cream
1 hour blissfully spent browsing blogland with
1 enormous cup of coffee
1 packet of spaghetti
2 lots of homework done
4 lists (!) made
4 jumpers added to row by very slow row, for the smallest of my relatives
1 new bit of cwistmas cwafting begun, with a little help from my Mouse
1 bear in bed before 6pm, very tired and tragic
3 bears watching
4 penguins on telly
1 exhausted me with at least
11 things whizzing around in my head that I must do tonight
0 chance of actually doing any of them.

x

The weekend

Hello! A photo free post today as I am on the new computer. W has downloaded a trojan virus onto the old laptop, which is a right old pain as all my photo software is on there. But never mind.

We had a lovely weekend involving coca-cola cake (Nigella, never lets you down); a trip to Greenwich market (I love it, always heralds the start of Christmas stuff for me); a knights helmet and admiral's cap; a mighty fine pub roast in the Old Brewery at Greenwich (involving chocolate beer, oh yes); a visit to see some lovely old friends (whose kids, it turns out, are as wild as ours); a spinach and feta borek (in the car, on the way home, accompanied by the snoring of four sleeping bears); bacon and mushroom coddled eggs with rye bread (for tea, just so yum); and three quarters of a bottle of gin with W (on a school night [!] as we moved furniture round in an attempt to wrest a little more space from our heaving at the seams home).

After a truly terrible night's sleep (three quarters of a bottle of gin, go figure), two bacon sandwiches and several cups of coffee I have spent the day today shuffling books around. W informed me that I should get rid of some in order to create more space. I am greatly offended! It has now become a point of honour to rehome all our books comfortably and aesthetically in order to retain them all.

Miss T is under the weather today and dosed up on Calpol. She snuggled up on the sofa this morning with a hot chocolate and cbeebies and just stayed there...unheard of! So I have sorted and shuffled and squeezed in a few rows of crochet here and there. All is calm...

x

This afternoon...

Today is a grey, blustery, cold day, but until 3pm it was not wet. Then, just in time for the school run, the rain came down in stair rods. Joy. So five of us, soaking wet, arrived back home and steamed gently infront of the radiator for a while. I'd love to be able to turn the fire on, but I don't trust my children. I made a huge jug of hot chocolate instead.

While I was doing this, my bears were busy. FHB reappeared in clean clothes, soaked right through (How? I have no idea. He told me some long-winded story about falling in mud. In his bedroom). Custard dressed himself up as Buzz Lightyear, Mouse located a bag of girly stuff to deck herself out in, and Miss T found something sticky. Then they proceeded to chase each other around the house at great speed shouting 'BENNY HILL! BENNY HILL!' Truly, W and You Tube have got a lot to answer for.

So, with my children occupied in riotous fashion, I have settled in my chair for an hour with this:

And these:

to occupy me.

Note my lovely seventies mug. I love it with all my heart. It is my favourite all time mug from my childhood, retrieved from my Mum and Dad's garage when they had a new kitchen fitted recently. Honestly, to me, everything tastes a little sweeter in it.

x

New Toy!

Look what I found in The Works:

Goodness me but I have had FUN with this! It is quite possible I am going to engrave EVERYTHING in my house!

FHB had a go too- Cwistmas Cwafting has officially begun!

x

My Nose

I have been at work this week, me and my nose. My poor, post cold, crusty, sadly cold-sore riven snout. (Oh it's all glamour!) Luckily I work in the operating theatres at my local hospital so I think, 'Excellent, I can put a mask on and noone will have to look at my nose'. I am, indeed, quite embarrassed about it.

So I am walking down the corridor. It is very long and very busy. One of the porters very kindly says to me: 'Rach, you've got a nose bleed'.

My hand flies to my face. No blood. 'No', I say, 'That's just my crusty repellent face'.

Sob. I reach for the face masks...

x

A little letter

Well, my week at work and lovely busy few days with the family certainly took their toll- W and I have taken it in turns to be poorly this week. Nothing more than a miserable streaming cold, but taking time off to look after yourself when you have small children is impossible, so my cold has lingered and my nose hurts from all the blowing!

Added to this, Custard has been making his feelings known about going back to school: I do not want to go...I can't walk...Why do I have to go?...Why are you leaving me?...You WILL remember to get me won't you?...I hate you (repeatedly)...Aaaaaaaargh! (loudly, while producing crocodile tears at the nursery door).

As is ever the way, he has a jolly nice time while he is there, but then when I get him...:You have not brought the car/the bike...I will NOT walk...You have not brought me a KitKat/banana...You have to push me home...I hate you (I really do get a lot of that).

Truly this is grinding me down. And they have only been back at school for four days!

Despite all this (and to be fair, the other three bears are being mainly pleasant) I have been hooking away getting several christmas projects finished. I also finished the hexagonal baby jacket- it is just waiting for its buttons, while I am just waiting for my friend to produce her baby so I know what colour to sew on. I will get round to posting a photo of it soon...

In the mean time I have started on a cardi for Miss T:

And finally, FHB provided me with my chuckle of the week. As I pottered around upstairs collecting up the various bits of shredded paper, discarded clothing and so on one morning, I found this:

Would you like a translation? Here you go: Custard has been disgraceful. Is he like this at home?

I had a chuckle. Then I turned it over:

He has bited his friend. From teacher.

Hahahahaha! I did laugh. Then I went to the kitchen and showed W. We chuckled quietly, it was very early after all. A few minutes later I hear FHB telling his brother about The Letter, ending with: And I can't believe she fell for it!

X