Pasta anyone?

Last week We toddled off into London for the Launch of Annabel Karmels latest book Top 100 pasta Dishes.

We have met Annabel before so it was great to go back and meet her again, and this time actually see her doing a cooking demonstration and then we got to try and make it for ourselves.

Eliza was really excited to cook with Annabel again and Jerry was really happy there was food on offer and started eating pretty much from the moment we arrived until we left!

Eliza Seeing Annabel coming over!

The chicken Salad we made was so nice, I was incredibly selfish and waited until the kids were playing when we got home and ate the entire lot lol. I didn’t pick up the recipe so I am waiting to get that and then I will share with you because it’s so yummy!

Making fresh pasta

After we had made our pasta salad we made some fresh pasta, thankfully the pasta had already been pre cut into rectangles so all we had to do was fill it and cut them. Jerry was very taken with the knives and really impressed Karin over at cafebebe with his skills.

I even got a turn with the knife!

I also of course got to mingle with some other mummy bloggers,like Cherished By me and Mummytips who told me that this dish is very good for hangovers.

I also met briefly viewfromnappymountain it was hard to talk to many of the others, Jerry wasn’t on his best behaviour, and was finding being confined hard, that child needs discipline.

I did get to have a quick chat with Young and Younger mummy blogger who for a mum of 8 month old twins looks bloody fantastic and gorgeous. Really shouldn’t be allowed to look that good with one baby of 8 months old!

I’ve said how much my boy likes to eat well, they  filmed him eating watch out for that lol

Does he ever stop eating?

Overall I had a really great time, I love cooking more ever, moving to suburbia gave me a little extra kick, I really enjoy learning new things and quick tasty things like the salad above, the kids and I are big salad peoples so perfect for weekday lunches for us. I really had a great time with Annabel again. Hopefully more demos will come up and I’ll get to go back!

Thanks to Annabel and all involved we had a fab day!

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Remind me..

Today we went to Toys R Us. My son has a HUGE obsession with Aircraft the first words out of his mouth every single day are “copter” and “airplane” and he repeats them ALL DAY LONG copter, copter, airplane, copter,copter,airplane and repeat.

Today he missed out on his nap. My father rang me just as he was drifting off, here’s the thing. I still breastfeed Jerry at 23 months to sleep. He’ll sleep anywhere strollers, car etc but at home no self settling just me. So of course I had to take this phone call. My father lives in Saudi Arabia I don’t speak to him very often so to sacrifice Jerry’s nap time seemed like a good idea.

Then we went out to the toy shop to find a bloody airplane/copter as the one he had and loved broke and went in the garbage.

He was OK but after 1.5 hours of us looking at every single toy on the shelf he’d had enough!

Back home he played with his copter and then I decided really enough was enough and he had to go to sleep. MUCHO crying in my arms little bit of a feed and he was asleep, but he didn’t want me to leave every time I moved he cried hysterically so I had to wait until he was dead to the world and sneak up. Which I did. Eliza was playing quietly in her room where I should of bloody left her.

But NO….I got to her room where she is playing under her bed she flies out when I say I am going downstairs and promtly hits her head on the edge of her bed and SCREAMS and I quickly say “please DON”T SCREAM!!!!!” while hugging her and hoping she hasn’t split her head open, and I really don’t want to be the parent that says “it’s OK come on get over it” because I know that when you have hurt yourself and someone says “oh come on that didn’t hurt” you feel like maiming them.

Down stairs we go, I go out to our car to get the garbage out of it and come in Eliza walks around the corner and taps and I mean taps her fingers on the sideboard in our hallway and she lets out this ear piercing scream and starts this “ah ah ah ah” and frantically screaming at the same time, BANG I hear Jerry get out of bed and him coming down the stairs crying, and I just lost it and yelled at her that unless she actually really, really hurts herself or looses a limb that screaming like that was banned. And I would take her new toy pony and put it in the bin, because I am a mature grown adult that has power like that.

Meanwhile Jerry is still screaming in my arms and shouting “copter, airplane” handing him new airplane peace is restored and I re-warn Eliza that unless she thinks it’s hospital worthy to keep the screaming down.

Where was my husband through this all?

In bed asleep my friends

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Making work for yourself

Yesterday I tweeted that I had now “finished ironing all my sheets and PJ’s”

I got a few comments mostly “you iron PJ’s?”

Yes I do. I only iron the kids ones mind you. I also when the urge strikes me, iron all their vests.

I really like seeing that hard ironed line on their shirts and crease free PJ’s I really like seeing it all ironed and in the wardrobes in clothing order of course you know all skirts together all trousers together. Mine and my Husbands wardrobes are less desirable, everything is ironed but our PJ’s.

I iron all our sheets because I love having the bed look all crisp and all that.

Growing up my parents didn’t have an Iron. When I was 13 I was finally sent to school. I started school in a crumpled shirt and was quickly told this was unacceptable and it must be ironed. I told my mother, who bought and Iron and a Board and said there you go. I ended up suddenly ironing for two people every now and again, why she needed things ironed after 13 years of not doing it I’ll never know.

And so my penchant for Ironing started. I try to do a little bit every day or every other day or I get really behind. Really sheets, PJ’s, vests don’t need to be ironed. I choose to iron them for my own little OCD.

I also do things like polish all the kitchen cupboard once a fortnight, because I can’t bear it if they get dull, and what if someone comes and see’s a bit of dry milk on them. I will for sure be shunned from my circle of friends.

I hoover twice a week and if some one is coming I’ll do it the morning they are coming and I’ll dust everything I can before they come, because they are coming to see how dusty my house is not me of course.

I feel like I never stop cleaning. This place is huge.I can’t bear it when the sunshines through and shows up dirt or dust I HAVE to clean it or I can’t focus on anything else.

It’s really important to me to have a clean home and everything, well nearly everything in it’s place all the time.

The kids rooms and playroom are always trashed by the end of the day, but between us we tidy them all up before bedtime. I like the kids to A) look after their toys B) understand I won’t be the only one who tidies up. we all do it together  C) how lucky they are to have toys.

I think my obession with keeping things orderly and clean comes from my teenage years where my life wasn’t in my own hands, where I was fully controlled by someone else, where every move I made was practically monitored and noted. In my room where I spent a lot of time, I would clean and re-organise knowing that I had no or little control over other aspects of my life. And I guess that has carried on into my adult life.

But it does make extra work for myself time I could spend better with my children, who have to occupy themselves as I scan the spare room for lint 😀

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The day I nearly died

Tomorrow marks Eliza’s 4th Birthday. 4 YEARS I can’t believe I’ll have a 4 year old. I have a special day planned for her. No doubt or maybe not I am not sure, but next year she might be at school on her Birthday I want this to be special for her.

This picture is of her a few minutes after she was born. I was already on the slippery slope of trying to stay alive for her. I hadn’t even seen her at this point, she was taken from my womb into another room with Daddy.  And then brought back to me where I said Hello to her shortly followed by  “get her away from me I’m going to be sick, and I was and proceeded to be very sick. I remember my husband being forced out of the operating room.

I then felt utterly peaceful and closed my eyes the light was intensly bright and I couldn’t keep them open any longer. I felt so peaceful. I was thinking of nothing. I remember nothing from here on except that feeling of peace. What followed while unconcious was 4 hours of life saving operating. My uterus had torn on both sides as they took her out. I had a blood transfusion which saved my life.  Not to forget a head surgeon who had been called in, he was on his way home. The 3 surgeons there couldn’t stop my bleeding, I ended up having 4 surgeons working on me.

In recovery I was tired, still not even thinking about my husband or my daughter instead I lay there and thought how out of breath I was, it was around now I started to become more aware I was in fact totally alone with 1 nurse. I asked her why I could barely breath. She said “I’m not sure” I now was terrified as I felt like I was suffocating said “get a F’ing DR NOW” DR came VERY quickly and it was established I had an embolism on my lungs, this was sorted out very quickly I don’t remember how.

My husband burst into the recovery room at this point with a screaming child and was shouted at for coming to see me and told to leave. I again got LIVID and said he’s going no where and I haven’t even seen my baby yet. So they let him stay. he’d been crying he thought I was dead for 4 hours they told him “she’ll be up soon” never anything else, they gave him nothing to feed Eliza nothing at all not even a bassinet to put her in.

I stayed in hospital for 9 days 1 day in intensive care, where I knocked the nurses by refusing to have my baby brought to me when I was told and to rest. I demanded my baby stay with me all the time and that she be at a height I could reach her, if I needed help I’d call. Eliza and I slept a lot.

That was probably the last time I ever slept properly lol

Tomorrow 4 years in photo’s oh yes stayed tuned 😀

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Party bags homestylin

So I really wanted to add a personal touch to Eliza’s 4th Birthday Party for her little guests.

I bought some blank canvas bags and used textile pens on them, lets get something straight. I did them, I didn’t let Eliza near them as she, despite being able to draw a few things wouldn’t listen to me and I wanted them to look pretty not “arty”. Now here’s the thing, I can only draw slightly better than her, and my husband, well he did charcoal nudes of me for an exhibition once, so you know he can draw and REALLLLLY well. And no you can’t see them, there in a time capsule in Kyrgystan.

Don’t laugh OK….

So I showed my husband my incredible art skill via MMS and he didn’t respond, you know he’s at work very busy man. So I pounce on him as soon as he walked in the door like I normally do only this time with Party bags in my hand and shout “LOOK WHAT I DID” and he said “Yes I saw” And?….. 😀 “they’re very, um, they’re very…..Homemade” “Did they not have other bags there?” I was upset, mainly as I had to hide in a cupboard while doing it so the children had no idea I had pens in my hands and wanted to join me.

However earlier in the day, I had shown Eliza who exclaimed “they are fabulous mummy” and “I love them” And that’s all that really matters her and 8 other small humans think their fantastic.

Next year I might let Eliza do them or maybe Daddy could draw some elaborate art on them 😀

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