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Saturday 30 April 2011

Igniting Passions...of Interest!

I've been tagged by the lovely Gillian over at Little Family of 3 in this meme which is forcing me to remember that I do have interests other than Madam!

Click, click!
Well, as you may have gathered from my blog, photography is certainly one of my main interests.  I can't go anywhere without my camera.  It's not a fancy one, but it does the job. :)

Cha-Cha-Cha!
Before Mr B and I got married, we took a 10 week course in dancing lessons.  It covered the favourites from Ballroom and Latin American dancing.  I particularly loved the Samba and the Waltz.  I also love street dancing, R&B, all sorts really.  All very different styles, but each so much fun!  So anyway, Himself and I took this course, had planned to do a very graceful Waltz for our first dance, but much to my shame the amount of 'Dutch' courage we had both consumed meant we were only able to perform that timeless tipsy shuffle!

What you're reading!
Obviously, blogging is another of my loves, albeit a fairly recent one.  I'm lucky to have some lovely friends in the blogging world who have helped to pimp up my blog (*ahem* Mrs McC).  I don't post that regularly, nor do I have fantastic give-aways (yet!!) but I do so appreciate all of my lovely followers!

Baking
I do love baking cakes, cupcakes in particular.  Also, finding new designs of the weird and wonderful genre and surprising my friends with boxes of delicious-ness. :)  You can see some examples here.

Ooh dear, I think that's it!  How sad, that's not a lot of interest in my life, is it?!  Still, that leaves me with more time to focus on the most important aspect of my life:
Family!

(p.s- that's a lot of grandkids for my poor mother in law to handle!) ;)

Wednesday 27 April 2011

What's In My Fridge...

I've been tagged by the lovely The McCaskie Clan in this meme, entitled 'What's in my fridge'.

I must admit, I'd seen this meme bouncing around my favourite blogs, and I had rather hoped I'd not be tagged!  The contents of my fridge are somewhat unhealthy and meagre, but in the name of blogging- here goes!


Light mayonnaise
Passata
Pickled onions (stinky but yum!)
Grapes
Munch Bunch yoghurts
Cooked sliced ham
Cooked sliced chicken
Mature cheddar
Bertolli
Soft cheese
Dr Pepper Zero
Pepsi Max
Volvic strawberry water
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Red peppers
Courgettes
Onions


And in the door....
Unsalted butter
Baking margarine
Strawberry jam
Strawberry Squashems (Madam likes her yoghurt!!)
Semi-skimmed milk
Rose wine (much needed after some days in this household)
MORE strawberry water
Whole milk

In my defence, the freezer contents are much healthier!!  Hmm, maybe to start a 'What's in my freezer' meme?....

I shall now tag a few bloggers of my own, get my own back! ;)

The Gallery- Green

This weeks Gallery theme from Sticky Fingers is 'Green'.  

My contribution is a photo of Madam (shocker, I know!) taken on a family picnic about ten months ago.  It was really her first time on grass, and she'd loved scrunching up her toes in it, and letting it tickle her hands as she waved them over it.

 I love to look at it as it reminds me that you don't need to spend loads of money on a day out, or have the latest gadgets in your house to have fun.  Simply pack a picnic, pop a rug down on the green grass and maybe even grab a football- hours of family fun!







Thursday 21 April 2011

Let Them Eat Cupcakes!

In a couple of my earlier posts, you may have noticed I enjoy making cupcakes.

I will do sensible ones, if someone requires them for a formal little tea party or maybe a christening, but on the whole I enjoy letting my creative side out to play!

What do you think?

Burger complete with lettuce, mustard and a dash of ketchup!



I want my Cookie!!




Not so much Tickle-Me Elmo as it is Eat-Me Elmo! 


One of my favourites to do- chrysanthemums


Sunflowers complete with little Smartie ladybirds is another fun one to do.


I suppose my utmost dream is to have my own little cupcake shop somewhere.  I'd better get on and polish off that 5 year plan, methinks!

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Nowt wrong with hand-me-downs!

Having two older sisters, my wardrobe was full of hand-me-down clothing, the dolls I played with had already been given haircuts and piercings, and the less said about my shoes, the better...  But still, I don't believe there's anything wrong with saving a bit of cash and passing clothes, etc, along to the younger sibling or cousin.  Nothing the matter with second-hand toys! :)

I think Madam proved that today by spending almost THREE HOURS playing with her latest toy:


My darling biggest sister was good enough to hand down her two daughter's play kitchen for Madam's enjoyment.  With play food, utensils, an oven one side and a dishwasher the other, I'm pretty sure she won't be in the house much at all this coming month!



I'm sure she can't get any more excited, can she? 

 I guess I'll find out next week, when my sister gives us her Wendy house- ahhhh!!

Thursday 14 April 2011

Fly Me to the Moon (& Stars!)

I was recently contacted by my local netmums board to help review a new cereal from Coco Pops.  Now, you should know- I lurrrrve Coco Pops!! As a kid, they were my weekend breakfast treat, for putting up with healthy breakfasts during the week to 'help my brain wake up for school'.  I'd have a big bowl full, stirring them for ages first to make the milk go chocolately, then scoffing them down in rather indecent haste.  And, of course, saving the milk to slurp down after all the cereal had gone! :)


Well, I say their new cereal, it's actually been re-developed, after Kellogg's listened to previous feedback.  This cereal is now:
  • High in Fibre and contains wholegrain
  • A source of six B vitamins, vitamin D, iron, calcium (even without adding milk!)
  • Low in fat and salt (always a winner in my book)
  • 9% of the guideline daily allowance of sugar per 30g bowl, adult and child GDA
  • LESS sugar than leading children's cereals, including Coco Shreddies, Nesquik and Sugar Puffs
  • LESS salt than leading children's cereals, including Cheerios and Shreddies
  • LESS fat than leading children's cereals, including Weetos, Cheerios and new Weetabix Choc (good news especially for me!)
I will admit to giving Madam chocolate cereals from time to time, she's tried chocolate mini Weetabix and chocolate Ready Brek.  She wasn't keen at all on the Ready Brek, and I wanted a cheaper alternative to Weetabix, so I jumped at the chance to try:

Here's what the creators had to say:

"The Coco Pops Promise

Coco Pops Promise

Listening to what parents have to say is a big part of the Coco Pops Promise - a long term commitment to keep making nutritional improvements whilst making great tasting cereals your kids love!

A recent survey on Netmums has shown that 69% of those taking part would prefer their kids to eat higher fibre foods and 74% want more ways to get fibre into their kids.

That is why 'Fibre' is a big focus for the nutrition team at Kellogg's, and the first part of the Coco Pops Promise was to develop 2 high fibre cereals. 8 out of 10 children do not get enough of this important nutrient1 and our focus has been to help parents get more fibre into their children's diets."
What's the big deal on Fibre though? Why it is good for us, and how do we get it?
Fibre is usually found in plants – fruit, vegetables and grains such as wheat and oats. In grain, fibre is usually the outer layer. And a very important layer at that!
Different types of fibre work in different ways – some fibres can help to keep us feeling full and satisfied. Others can help improve digestion by helping food move through the stomach and digestive system, and some provide a food source for the friendly bacteria that live in the lower part of your digestive system.
That all sounds good to me, so on with the tasting!  Well, they certainly looked like crescent moons and stars:

I shared a bowl of them with Madam.  I really liked the way they stayed crunchy even after five minutes in the milk, I can't stand soggy cereal!  Unfortunately, that made them not so brilliant for Madam.  I think it's due to the fact she doesn't have all her back teeth, but she wasn't able to chew these very well.  Hey, at least that meant more for me!  I was slightly disappointed at the chocolatey-ness of the milk, it tasted quite mild and hardly changed the colour at all.  I guess I'm just desperately trying to resurrect the breakfasts of my youth, haha!


Overall, I quite liked this cereal, but I rarely have breakfast (or rather, time for breakfast!), and as Madam didn't enjoy them too much, I'd probably not buy them unless they were on special offer.  I'd be more likely to buy them too in the future, when Madam has all her teeth! :)

Feel free to leave a comment if you've tried this cereal, or if you're likely to try it after reading this. x

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Is Breast Best?

Don't worry, I'm not here to start a debate!  I was watching the BBC3 documentary last night, presented by Cherry Healey.  I found myself in a similar position to her when Madam was born, I managed to exclusively breastfeed for just the first three days, as the importance of baby getting colostrum had been drilled into me at pre-natal classes.  However, I suffered from extreme pain as Madam wasn't latching properly, and started supplementing her diet with formula milk at 4 days old.  I got infection after infection in my breasts, had cracked and bleeding nipples, yet I still felt incredible guilt for not purely breastfeeding!

It was nice to see different groups represented, from a teen mum who didn't want to breastfeed at all, as she didn't see her boobs to be anything but for 'show', to a group of lactivists who strongly felt that boobs had no other purpose than to feed babies.  I think the programme presented itself well, without making formula-feeding mummies feel too bad, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more on the fact that formula has come a long way into being something that provides the nutrients, etc, that a baby needs, even if it's not as good as breast milk.

Still, I must be honest- I was very glad when Madam weaned and I had the 'twins' back to myself!  Those midnight milky burps were missed a little, but the joy at seeing different expressions on Madam's face as she tasted different things was great!



(Even if she did make one hell of a mess!)

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Blog Envy!

I am fairly new to this blogging lark, but I do love it.  I sometimes find it hard to come up with interesting, witty and eye catching posts, but nevertheless, I waffle on!

I have found myself recently getting a case of the old green eyed monster when I view other people's blogs; they're so pretty!  With personalised banners and photos, fantastic reviews, and the posts are always great fun to read, where am I going wrong?!  Actually, don't answer that, my fragile ego might not withstand an onslaught...

Still, I have my gorgeous Madam to keep me smiling (and the fact that my followers recently increased!).   More and more, she has been coming out with little sentences, for instance "I want teddy", "I go in the car" and "I want juice please!".  Hmmm, guess I should get used to the 'I want' phase!  To treat her for being so fantastically clever and beautiful (me, biased?), Mr B and myself will be taking her on a little outing at the weekend, somewhere with animals, ice cream and hopefully sunshine, so keep your eyes peeled for lots of photos.




Anyway, I'm off to Google 'be a better blogger'! ;)

Wednesday 6 April 2011

The Gallery- Mother Love

The theme this week from The Gallery is Mother Love, and here is my contribution:


I still at times struggle to comprehend that I am a mother.  In my head (trust me, scary place to be) I'm still 16, and trying to decide what I want to do when I leave school!  Whereas in the real world, it's a decade later, I've been married for almost two and a half years and we have a beautiful 16 month old daughter.

So what does Mother Love mean to me?  Well, I think that until you have a child, you can't comprehend the amount of love that your heart can hold.  You can't understand how the smallest things, like a little smile or tiny fist clutching your finger, can make your heart feel fit to burst with love and pride.  Even a baby burp can invoke a round of applause!

Before I was a mother,  my camera was simply handy to have around.  Now, it's an essential part of my life, lest my Madam should do something incredible or funny and I'm not there to capture it forever.  Before Madam, I'd make sure my hair was done and make up on every morning, now you'd be lucky to see me washed and dressed before lunchtime!

But that's mother love; giving up your body for the best part of almost ten months, and handing over your heart to this perfect little person for the rest of your life.

p.s- my picture truly shows motherly love- I HATE the snow!! :)




Monday 4 April 2011

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

My baby had her first hair cut!  Well, it was actually just a trim of her fringe, but there was still enough for me to pop into her little 'First Curl' keepsake box.



My mum is a hairdresser, and she's been nagging at me for weeks to trim Madam's hair, but I guess I just couldn't accept that hair cuts means longer hair, which means my baby is starting to become a big girl, even though there's photographic evidence to show she's certainly growing up. :)

Saturday 2 April 2011

Neglected!!

Not to worry, no need to call child services for Madam.  I'm referring to my poor, passed over blog!  I've not written here since the 14th of March, and I have missed this!


The main reason is that we finally moved back into our house- can I get a 'woop woop!"?  After almost one year to the day that we moved out, I get to yell "Honey, I'm home!"  Not long before Madam was born, we started plans to build an extension, so we could get a new bathroom and turn the old one into a nursery.  What with one thing and another, the work took a while longer than I would've liked, but hey!  All done now.

Madam adores her new bedroom, I've done it in the style of early Winnie the Pooh.  I always loved him when I was little, I'd watch episode after episode of their adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood, and I still have many of the books.  I've passed them onto Madam, and I love few things better than sitting her on my lap and reading to her (I even do the voices, but don't tell anyone).

We've not yet had a chance put her curtains up or do a few little 'polishing' bits, but I already love her room!  The three main walls are a pale green, and on the fourth wall there are three panels, each painted a different pastel shade, taken from the cover of my Winnie the Pooh 'Baby's First Year' book.


Of course, the best bit about her room is that is contains all of her books and toys, haha!  No more mess in my living room, I can see the floor!

Another plus of the extension work is that we got to extend and vamp-up (no, that's not a real word, is it?...) our kitchen, so I have lots of worktop space to make cupcakes.  And some dear friends of mine just bought me a very thick and glossy cupcake recipe/design book, so you'll be seeing some very mouthwatering photos in my blog posts to follow!