Tidying

Photo credit - John Nettleship

No, not of that sort. I hate cleaning anyway - I will never be house proud, but then, nor do I live in a complete tip but it is like fighting a losing battle sometimes.

I did, however, have a certain amount of tidying up of loose ends to tackle that have been building up. They sat there niggling at me, occupying a little part of brain that nags me as I'm going to sleep, or when I'm trying to have a quiet moment.

No more. Yesterday, without too much work on and alone in the house, I set about my chores.

First, I filled in my tax return. My affairs aren't too complicated and I had everything I needed. At least I thought I did, until I realised I needed the PAYE reference of the people I've been doing casual work for so I fired off an email and got my answer in 10 minutes.Racing through the rest of the form, I signed and dated the form with a flourish, and placed the form in an envelope on the side.

Once that was done, it seemed natural to continue on to renew our tax credits claim. I had husband's P60 but had to ring him to check some details, then I had to guesstimate our income for the coming year. (Oh yes, I am a pro at this now.) No real form-filling this time - I prefer to ring up. Ringing up at lunchtime is always a bit of a lottery but after a lengthy recorded message, part of which warned I may have to wait some length of time to speak to a real person, the call was answered within two seconds. After ploughing through the information, I gave her the numbers I had for last year and this year and we were done in 10 minutes.

Two tasks done and I was on a roll. There was only one thing for it - tackle the filing. Eurgh. I fortified myself with a sandwich and a brew, before heading up to the spare room and sorting all the paperwork into piles. It would appear I haven't filed since last August - how the hell did that happen? As ever, it took less time than I think it's going to do, probably the reason I left it so long. Another job ticked off. Surely I couldn't  get anything else done?

You'd be wrong. My old laptop has been lurking around since it failed last November, waiting for me to afford a repair and find someone local who can do it for me. Months ago, someone recommended a local company to me but I couldn't remember their name but a quick Google threw up their website. I tried calling the number and there was no reply.Ten minutes later, I tried again and this time, someone answered. I explained the problem to them and they told me they think it's a simple repair and probably won't cost more than about £50. Result! All I have to do is get the laptop to them. So, after a quick dash round, I picked up laptop and envelope containing tax return and headed out, stopping to buy a stamp for the tax return and posting (another job ticked).

So, tax return sent and the laptop got dropped off and I still made it to school in time to pick up the children without suffering the indignity of turning up late and having to collect the children from the main door instead of their classroom. In fact, I was early!

Since then, I've made tea, had Missy Woo read to me, tidied up the kitchen, stacked the dishwasher, and answered some emails about work. I'm thinking of having the night off. What do you think? Where do I get my medal from? 


That little part of my brain been silenced, for now, at least. Until the next thing crops up, that is. 

Just to prove that it didn't rain every day on our holiday

Here are the pictures I took when we headed to Bigbury on Sea. Believe it or not, it was raining until a couple of hours before, but we took full advantage of the sun - rightly so as that was it for the week.

Bigbury-on-Sea takes dedication to visit. It's a good half hour from the A38 and is now single track roads for most of that time. I wouldn't like to do it in a big car, or when it's raining, put it that way. It is worth it though - the bay is beautiful and across the sand is Burgh Island with the beautiful (and expensive!) hotel that you can only reach by sea tractor at high tide.

This was our view from our spot looking towards the island next to the rockpools, which the children enjoyed exploring. And yes, the sea was not far away.

After a couple of hours on the beach, we wandered up to Bay View for - you guessed it - cream teas. The views were even more stunning - Bay View really lived up to its name, and the scones were fab, still warm from the oven.

Tip - take change for the car park; it's £6.50 for all day and £3.90 for 3 hours. Pretty much everything you need is there - shops, cafe, toilets, cream tea.

A beautiful spot.

Meal Planning Monday - the is it really June edition!

Well, is it? The weather has been very strange of late. Our holiday was interrupted by a few days of terrible rain and the same has been happening since we returned. One day, it might be nice and then it's awful. Saturday was one of those days so it was a good job we were planning to spend most of it inside, what with Missy Woo's dance show.

So, I'm planning for another week and I'm not entirely sure what to expect. Normally, I'd be cracking out the salads and stuff, but I am really not sure what is going to happen so I'm still planning to cook. Apart from that, I don't think we have much on this week, apart from Saturday when husband and I both have separate commitments in opposite directions at roughly the same time so the children are going to Granny's until I get home, so no cooking will be planned.

Here's our week anyway. Monkey has requested honey and mustard pork for today but I've decided to try something new to go with it.

Monday - Honey and mustard pork, slow cooker garlic mash, broccoli
Tuesday - Smoked haddock and leek baked risotto
Wednesday - Goat's cheese polenta with mushrooms
Thursday - Sandwiches (yawn.... )
Friday - Sloppy Joe bake
Saturday - free
Sunday - One-pot chicken and chickpea pilau

So that's our week. How is your week shaping up? Do tell me, and then head over to Mrs M's to find the other MPM entries this week. May the rain on you be brief and the sun be warm and plentiful.

Learning to be a ballet mum

When I was small, dancing lessons weren't an option for me. I remember asking when I was small but my parents couldn't afford it - for a start, I'm one of four girls -  so it was off the agenda. I never got to experience classes, exams and preparing for shows.

So, when Missy Woo wanted to start doing dance classes, I was a bit lost. We are very lucky in that there is a lovely, small dance school that meets just around the corner from home. It's run by a lovely lady who is not pushy but great with the children and is universally known as "Miss Lizzie" (yes, even the parents seem to call her that!). Missy Woo started at class and I really didn't know where to start, but somehow, a spare uniform became available and we found ballet shoes so she was all kitted out. A few weeks in, we found out they were doing a show, and we bought her costume.

On the day of the dress rehearsal and show, I was asked to put her hair in a bun. Now, my hair currently is about the longest it has been since I was around Missy's age. I don't do things like that - I just about manage to put her hair in a ponytail of a morning for school and even then I struggle because she has a double crown. Thankfully, Lizzie - being a lifelong dancer - is an expert in doing buns and put her hair in a bun for me. Problem solved.

This year, the annual show rolled around and this time, Missy is in two numbers because she now does  modern classes as well as ballet. Costumes have been bought again and I was asked to put her hair in a bun once more.

I could have chickened out and asked someone else to do it this time, but figuring this is not going to go away, I thought I had better learn how to do it myself. In order to do my training, I did what I always do. I turned to the Internet! I spent Friday evening looking through several different videos on YouTube of people doing  a "ballet bun". What struck me was that the basic method was the same, but everyone had their own little ways.

This time, I figured I had better be prepared. A quick trip to the supermarket yielded some 79p hairspray and some grips that match her hair colour, to add to the bun net I'd kept from last year. I decided to do her hair at home so we weren't in a rush and there were no smug parents around doing theirs in 5 seconds flat. I went for the twist the ponytail then pin it like mad as it twists in on itself method. It actually took me much less time than I thought, and my first attempt stayed in place for the whole afternoon and the first half of the show until she had to take it out for her second number (which needed a ponytail.) So, I'm quite proud of that, given how ham-fisted I am.

And, in case you missed them - I've tweeted these twice - here is Missy Woo in her costumes ready to perform at dress rehearsals. First, her ballet costume for "Zip A Dee Doo Dah".

And second, her funky 70s costume for "Carwash".

I still haven't seen the full show as we're going today, but she was very excited to discover when she went to get ready for her first show that some of the mums that they were putting make up on the girls.

She's a proper little ballerina now. And me? I'm not quite a ballet mum, but I'm getting there.

Why??

Photo credit - immrchris

In order to ease myself back into blogging (if you don't use it, you lose it and I seem to have lost a few blogging muscles recently!), I have got myself tagged in a meme to make me get my finger out and write. It doesn't really help that I have quite a bit of work on at present and my head is full of other people's words as one of my assignments is typing up a manuscript over 25,000 words long.

Anyway, I was tagged by Very Bored in Catalunya to take part in this one, originating from the good ladies at Mummy Central. The idea is to turn the tables on your children, who constantly ask why (and God knows, my two do) and have your own vent.

Here goes.

Why do you wake up so early the morning after we've let you stay up late?

Why do I send you to find something, only for you to come back and say you can't find it, yet I find it straight away when I go to look?

Why do you squirrel things away in your school bag in the hope I won't notice when I can tell just from picking it up what it's got in it?

Why do you want a toy every time you enter any retail establishment, whine or stamp your feet if I say no, but if I say yes, you play with it for an hour then never touch it again?

Why can I not go to bed and sleep earlier in the night so I can get a decent night's sleep and get up at a reasonable time?

Why do you not want to hug me until I want to sit down and get on my laptop, then you insist on sitting right up close to me and lean over my shoulder?

Why, when you go out to play, do you come in and go back out again several times an hour until it's time for tea, or bath, or bed?

Why do you only want food when you don't have anyone to play with?

Why are you complete angels at school and the teachers not recognise the children I describe when I tell them what you are like at home? Why can't you be angels for me?

Why can't you learn to shut doors, turn lights off, wash hands, flush toilets and tidy rooms without me having to remind you every two minutes?

Why do I have to start every day you're at school by clearing up the mess you have made in the living room?

Why are you last out of school on the days we have to be somewhere by 4, but first out if we have nowhere to go?

Why do you spend all day complaining that Daddy is not here but once he's home, only want me?

That's better. I feel cleansed.

Do you want a go? I'm tagging a few people but *hangs head in shame* I've not quite reached the requisite 5 so I might get told off! Here are the guidelines:

1. Post your whys – as few or as many as you like.
2. Link up your post below, and it would be great if you could leave a comment too.
3. Tag 5 bloggers to keep this going.
4. If you’re not a blogger, leave your whys as a comment below. We’d love to read them.
5. Show your support by reading a few others and commenting on them.

So, my taggees are:

Sally from Who's the Mummy?

Sonia from This Mummy Loves

Rachel from Mummyglitzer

Dave from The Big Div

And if you want to be a fifth, just tag yourself. What are you waiting for?

Meal Planning Monday - the getting back to normal edition!

Right, I'm back to it today. You remember me, don't you? What do you mean, no? Hmph!

The blogging (rightly) took a bit of a back seat on my holidays - yes I managed the grand total of one post, done on my iPad, whilst I was holidaying. Maybe I'll do another post about it, but we had a very mixed week of weather with more rain than not. Two days were completely awful weatherwise, three were OK, one started badly but improved drastically but none were completely gorgeous days from start to finish. Still, we had a lovely time and I ate way, way too much. I will have to watch what I am eating very very carefully over the next few weeks.

So, today we're back to normal. Not totally, as the children don't go back to school until Tuesday but as good as. We seem to have quite a few things on this week, what with it being Father's Day on Sunday, and Missy Woo is in her annual dance show. It's a lot earlier this year because they couldn't get the hall they wanted on their preferred dates so they have had much less time to rehearse, and it comes straight after half term - plus Missy Woo was sick on the day of the last rehearsal before holiday. I'm sure she'll be fine though - she received her costumes on the day she was ill which cheered her up immensely. We're going to see her dance on Sunday afternoon but I have to spend Saturday afternoon watching her final rehearsal so food over the weekend has to be quick and simple to do, which means beef twice in a row.

So, here's our week in meals. What's yours?

Monday - Sticky sausages with potato and sweetcorn salad
Tuesday - Sweet potatoes with mushrooms and rosemary
Wednesday - Fried fish and tomato curry
Thursday - the usual exciting sandwiches!
Friday - Sticky chicken drumsticks with coleslaw
Saturday - Burgers and salad
Sunday - Slow cooker chilli with tortilla chips

Devon so far

Ah yes, blogging. I remember that. If you are wondering why I haven't been posting, it's because we're on holiday in Devon this week. We've returned to Finlake Holiday Park that I blogged about last summer.

We travelled down on Friday and stopped over in Bristol so that the last leg wasn't too onerous, which was a good job as it took us nearly 3 hours thanks to a van fire. We still arrived very early so we had a few hours to kill before we got our lodge which is nice but not as nice as the one we had last year as it's smaller although it has a hot tub but that's not much use when you have no washing machine.

We've made a few discoveries of new places, thanks to my sister who lives down here. On Sunday, we went with them to two places that I had barely registered before. The first is Haldon Forest Park which we must have passed several times as it's just off the A38 but never realised was here. There's miles of tracks for walking and cycling, there are zip wires, you can even try out Segways and maybe archery. The kids loved it and we need to go back to explore it some more as we were soon off somewhere else. However, Monkey didn't like all the walking which is odd, considering he is the more active of the two.

After our walk, we set off in convoy for Shaldon Zoo. Poor husband (who was driving) thought it was just down the road, but it's not, it's near Teignmouth. I knew there was a Zoo in Paignton, but not here. It's really small as are the animals; mostly small primates and a few birds but it was a nice place for an afternoon. It was raining by then but it was fine to visit as you're sheltered by trees. Monkey Ioved doing the quiz and they both loved the macaw whose only word was "Hello"! We thought it was a great little activity for a morning or afternoon: oh, and we can recommend the cream teas from Ode True Food just off the car park!

Whilst we were there, I got a tweet from a lovely blogger, Jenny asking me if I'd like a voucher she couldn't use for Dartmoor Zoo that had to be used by this week. Risking animal overload, we said yes and thanks to the lovely receptionist at Finlake who printed the voucher for me, we set off on Monday to give it a try. It's tucked away on the edge of Dartmoor but was very busy when we got there, it being a bank holiday. The story of the current owners and how they took on the zoo became a book and then a film starring Matt Damon, albeit the zoo in the film is in the USA. Whilst not the biggest zoo, it certainly has some of the crowd pullers: lions, tigers and an enormous old brown bear.

The children were fascinated although once again, Monkey's patience wore thin and he kept asking how many more animals we had to find, before finding them and being utterly fascinated by them. The only thing that took the shine off or visit was their "restaurant". I put it in quotes because there is no way it's a real one. The queues were enormous, largely because they only had one small self-service coffee machine for dispensing hot drinks - despite there being a massive commercial machine sat gathering dust behind the counter. And the coffees we did get after waiting for 15 minutes were tiny. I am now so glad we took a picnic!

So, that's what we've been up to so far. The next few days look to be difficult weather wise so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the usual things the children like to do here, like golf and swimming, along with meeting up with more family members will keep them amused and make the weather less of an issue.

I've blogged about these places because we enjoyed them, not because I was asked to. All opinions are my own.