a reminder of a lovely present

isn't this ring just gorgeous? it's by www.linksoflondon.com

it reminds me of a ring P bought me years ago, a costume ring, is that the word, that had lots of blue beads attached, and they moved, too! Unfortunately I lost the ring over the years, but I still have one of the beads that fell off before that. The ring usually left a dark mark on my skin but I loved it. I'd admired it in a shop and he just got it for me, I think it might have been one of the first presents he ever got me. One of the first times I'd realised how generous and observant he is...

sunday baking - apple cupcakes (no icing)

upon browsing some blogs i came across this recipe for blondies, and it looks absolutely delicious! Instead, however, I'll made my mum's simple apple cake recipe (but in a cupcake tin) to use up some cooking apples!
I'll be added some wholemeal flour, to make the cakes a slightly healthier treat. I've tried it last week, but they turned out a little too dry, so this time I added a spoonful of natural yoghurt, to get a moister consistency. Anyhow, the basic recipe, about right for an 8 or 10 inch round tin or 12-15 cupcakes, goes like this:

125g butter
125g sugar (I use some brown, some white)
3 eggs
some vanilla sugar (I include this in the 125g)
175 g flour mixed with 1/2 Packet (about 1 tsp) of bakind powder
   (I usually use selfraising: when I'm making this in Ireland)
2-3 cooking apples or sour eating apples, cut into wedges then into slices

you beat the butter until fluffy, add eggs and sugar alternately while beating. Fold in the flour (already mixed with the baking powder), and finally fold in the apples.

I used 100g white self raising flour and 75g wholemeal flour, plus a tablespoon of natural yoghurt. This made enough batter for 12 cupcake papers and 2 buttered ramekins. At 200C (no fan) the cupcakes were done after about 20 minutes, the ramekins after another five. The top should be golden and an inserted skewer should come out clean.

For dinner I made Lakeshore Pork from one of the Avoca Cafe Cookbooks (Avoca Cafe Cookbook: Bk. 1 / Avoca Cafe Cookbook 2), first time I've tried it, it's soooooooo good! Emm was stuffing her face and demanding more and more sauce, we obliged, of course, and mashed her potatoes with lots of the appley mustardy goodness.

We're lucky she didn't puke up all that dinner, because this is what she got her daddy to do, soon after!

The laundry basket swing, great exercise for P!

He's off to Italy for work tomorrow, I'm not looking forward to being a single mum for 3 days! And I'm always nervous when my loved ones are flying... In fact, I'm kind of nervous for anybody that I don't have right in front of me, you never know what is going to happen, like those horrible deaths at the Love Parade in Duisburg, and I'm trying to be grateful for and aware of every happy moment I have with my family and friends. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10755856 My thoughts are with the families and friends of those injured or killed. I've only just heard about these sad news.

peanut butter button cookies

Today I made these peanut butter cookies from 'like mam used to bake', thinking they might turn into a total disaster. I didn't have enough butter so added a little oil and milk, then I didn't have enough peanut butter (and only the crunchy type, I always go for crunchy!) so I added some dark tahini. I also decided to use less sugar, 6 oz instead of 7.5. I used mostly white and a little wholewheat flour, and it was selfraising. I know, I know... it's a much better idea to try a recipe to the letter, first, before making any adjustments, but I was in a rush, and not very organised, and you know, I can blame pregnancy brain for adding the flour to the mix before actually mixing it! Aargh!

Well, the first tray got a little too dark, as I was distracted by Emm coming in from the garden, having covered herself in soil, asking to be cleaned! Thankfully that was the tray with only six cookies on it. The other one had twelve, and they turned out perfectly! I froze dough for another 8 cookies, so my yield was 26 cookies.

I'd sneakily eaten one of the giant chocolate buttons, and lucky me, there were exactly 19 in the bag!

Anyhow, we had a great morning/lunch playdate at a friend's house, with the delicious biscuits (could have done less sugar again, they were still quite sweet), lattes, later some pizza for lunch, and then some of my friend's delectable chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven to go with cups of tea. At the end of this Emm was thoroughly tired out and asked for 'auto, home, soother, bed'. And true to her word she went straight to sleep, bliss!

It was great to catch up with my friend, after being away for so long! we're planning to go swimming and we might go and see 'his and hers' in the cinema, and i'm going to look into antenatal yoga classes for us. my social life is taking off again! It's always strange having been out of the loop for a whole month!

Happy News!

We're expecting a baby at the end of Januray! This photo is obviously not today's (13 weeks), but one from when I was pregnant with Emm!

I've felt a lot sicker with this pregnancy so far, and the heat in Germany wasn't helping, nor was the stomach flu... I thought I was over the worst but got sick again last night. But of course I know that I'm lucky compared to many! I mostly feel really nauseous, and gag a lot, but I'm able to keep it down almost all the time, apart from maybe 5 times so far. Still, the constant nausea is kind of annoying!

We had our first hospital appointment and official scan last friday, so it feels OK to tell! It's strange though, having a toddler to run after means I don't have time to worry as much, and I don't feel as attached to this baby yet. I that normal for a second baby? It's becoing more and more real though, some days I even look like I have a little belly already! Although I still don't weigh as much as I did when I got pregnant with Emm, I just about got back to my usual weight of ten stone, while I was nine and a half for most of Emm's life. I lost all of the pregnancy weight within the first three months of breastfeeding, and then another three kilos (half a stone) soon after, she was just a very hungry baby I suppose!

It's strange, I was kind of worried during my pregnancy with Emm, about my breasts sagging, my waist disappearing, the dreaded jelly belly, but I was very lucky, and while I wouldn't mind my breasts being a little fuller, I actually like the softness of my belly. Proof of what my body did, grow a baby, cell by cell...

Well, I better finish this post so I can get some sleep, letting my body do its good work!

the little one's pursuits during our holiday at the grandparents'

mostly exploring... on her own,


or with her cousin!


And playing hide and seek with the kittens!


Apart from that she spent a lot of time learning new words (by turning into a little parrot), eating, visiting the hens, the rabbits and the dog, and of course charming everybody around her. We also both got the stomach flu, suffered through a humid 37C degrees in the shade, and lost a bit of weight, but I'm sure it's not going to take us long to put it back on. Due to the heat and the flu we didn't do as much as we might have liked, but still, it was lovely to spend the time with family, and the weather meant there was a lot more hanging out time for everybody, anything non essential was put on hold as none of us were used to it and everybody was very mellow!

It's good to be home, I have so much more energy in about 20C degrees less, and while P was with us in Germany for the last 10 days, it's so nice to be back in our house, it's always a bit weird being in your parents' house with your own family...

Waiting for the flight home

While we were waiting for our delayed flight home, Emm and I went for a few rounds with the stroller, in a vain attempt to get her to sleep. This storage building was transformed into a jewel by the setting sun, nearly imperceptibly the pattern on those window panes changed, ever so slowly...

home alone!

P took Emm with him to his parents in the Midlands and I am home alone! For the first time since she was born, which is over nineteen months! I was worried sick about the two of them on the road for 2 hours, even though P is a very careful driver. But they arrived safe and sound and I'm a lot calmer now. I was craving a weekend of doing nothing, but i couldn't help but sweep and mop, and tidy away the laundry and put on some more, and to mow and fertilise the lawn.

Then I cycled to the veg shop, yes, cycled, just got on my bike and went, no buggy, no wrestling with car seats and keys, and mainly, no toddler to lift and carry! So easy!

So far I'm really enjoying my little holiday, it's strange to have the house to myself, to do what I want, with no demands on me. I even had crisps with my ham sandwich for lunch, I never do that when Emm's around as it would be setting a bad example for her.

I'd say it'll be very lonely tonight, but for now I'm happy as a piggy in sh*t, especially as the house isn't a pig sty! Usually the first thing Emm does in the morning, is to get at least half of all her toys out and spread them out all over the house. Later she'll insist on eating her snack at her own little table and as soon as I look away she'll be sneaking out and I'll find banana squashed into the sofa, and she'll carry in compost and grass from the garden... but today I'll only have to clean up after myself!

Some of the things I might do over my quiet weekend is to...

  go for a swim, the tide should be in soon
  start the next sookie stackhouse  novel
  eat lots of fresh strawberries with greek yoghurt
  sleep in for as long as I like
  shower for as long as I like
  paint my toenails
  surf the web uninterrupted
  have a mid day nap

But by this time tomorrow I think I'll be waiting at the door for my husband and daughter to arrive back!

June! And the sun is shining, too!

I've managed to let all of  May go by without a post. I have excuses though, we went to Germany for my sister's wedding, which was brilliant, even if it was extremely cold. 7 degrees in the afternoon is not a lot for mid May! Emm was supposed to be a flower girl, but she decided she'd rather hold on to the basket and keep all the petals to herself...

Thankfully we got to fly to Germany, we were worried we might have to go by ferry and car on a murderous 24 hour trip trying to make it in time for the big day. On the way home however we got delayed for two days because of the ash cloud, we didn't mind to much though, we knew before we'd set off for the airport, P could work from my parents' house and Emm and I got to spend another day with the family. My dad's birthday will be next hopefully the volcano will stay quiet for that!

After Germany, we had a week at home, before Emm and I headed off to Switzerland, with my friend Deborah, to visit friends of ours in the Alsace and in Zurich. We had a great time, although Deborah might have had quite enough of toddlers and babies! Emm took a real shine to her and was babbling Debbie-Debbie-Debbie all day long. She even talked about her in her sleep! The lives of the two friends are so different. The girl in Alsace moved there because of her husband's job, and he picked a run down house in a tiny village for them to live. She didn't have much influence on the decisions as at the time she was just after giving birth to their second child, and having a horrible time with breastfeeding (mostly due to undiagnosed thrush and lack of support from her hospital/GP/nurse). She's now stuck there in a dark and dingy house, with no friends, with nobody to talk to all day with a very lively 4 year old and a baby! The other friend is happy as a flea, having decided to move to Zurich after separating from her husband, meeting her new partner there and  living  in a bright and modern apartment with their new baby.

Now we're back home, with a mountain of laundry to do, but the sun is shining and we're in and out of the garden, hanging the washing, swinging, playing with stones and herbs... Emm loves the herbs, she picks bits of oregano and thyme and chews on them. If she tries to put stones in her mouth I have to be strict though, I say no quite sternly, take the stone away and bring her into the house with me. Hopefully she'll learn soon and I can be a bit more relaxed outside with her!

I just hear another load of washing finishing, so I better head off, to my probably boring, but very enjoyable life!!

mothers' night out

We recently had one of our local mothers' nights out, as always great fun! It's amazing how having a baby changes your social life! Cut off your work mates by distance and change of schedule, the local mums replace the colleagues. They are the women who have the same problems and joys as yourself, instead of moaning about your boss you'll be moaning about your husbands (never in earnest though) and instead of lunch in town it's playdates at your neighbours'...

Recently we went out to a chinese restaurant that had a '4 courses and a bottle of wine for two' offer, which went down very well. The proprietor was happy to see a big group of lovely ladies take over the majority of his restaurant, and I could see the interest, and dollar signs in his eyes when he realised we weren't there to celebrate a birthday, or anything else for that matter, we were just there for a night out. The food was lovely, and the more energetic of us insisted we try a nightclub in the area.

The nightclub was some experience. It had recently been done up and looked promising, and we negotiated a reduced entrance fee, but once we were inside, the clientel and band slowly caught our attention! A trio of middle aged dolled up ladies were singing their hearts out on the stage, dressed in trendy sparkly dresses and leggings, hair and make up also much like you'd see at a 21st birthday party! My friend described one of them as a 'postmenopausal Pink'! Their voices were impressive, their dancing looked extremely tired and bored. Apparently they were big in the 80s, I wouldn't be surprised if their songs were recorded and just played back!


The guests were scary looking, to say the least! It felt like we'd walked into the set of 'shameless'! Hair was dyed either pitch black or snowy white (aka platinum blond taken to the extreme), emphasising the orangey brown make up (just like the band), big golden earrings were weighing down earlobes, competing for attention with clunky gold necklaces and rings. The age ranging from teenagers to pensioners (I think a birthday was being celebrated in one of the corners, that would also explain the extremely classy balloons on every table!).

Some of the older women looked like the kind that would be the boss in her prison common room, stocky, at first glance mistaken for a man, wearing leather blazers or checked shirts, and heavy work boots. Some of the young ones were sporting belly tops (showing off a post baby belly) and low slung jeans. We soon decided to try and avoid eye contact in case we'd provoke a fight, so I can't remember what the guys looked like!

After a few drinks however, we relaxed and had a great time, some of us even hitting the dance floor! Everybody in the place was just there to have a good time, scary outfits or not! I wonder if we looked pretentios to the other guests!

First night away from Emm for the two of us

Last week P and I went to a wedding and stayed over! His mum came to babysit, and Emm didn't seem to be upset in the slightest when P and I left in our finery. While I was really reluctant, I've never left her with anyone but P overnight, and I only spent one night away from her so far, I have to say it was great after all! I couldn't resist to text hourly until she was asleep, but still, The ceremony was lovely (even though the priest kept calling the groom Ann instead of Alan!), the bride was stunning, the food delicious, and the drinks plentiful! I chatted to loads of people, even though I hardly knew anyone, and was on dancefloor for almost every song! It was a great night! We even lasted through another round of drinks in the residents' bar, and then hit the hay.

We had one of those hotel rooms with a double and a single. I woke up the next morning wondering about the pillow and folded duvet on the floor... Then I remembered! I woke up in the middle of the night thinking 'Oh no, Emm can't sleep in the single bed, she'll fall out!' I then decided to make her a bed on the floor, thinking 'good job she's still small, I can fold the duvet to make a mattress and a blanket!' Only when I looked for her in the double bed and she wasn't there did I remember that she was at home in her cot, safe and sound!

Thankfully I wasn't hungover at all, as I stuck to vodka and soda, apart from the wine and champagne early on, but I must have been drunk enough, to build a bed for the little one!

Emm had the biggest grin on her face when we came home, so sweet... She also started saying Granny now, even though it sounds more like gaddy! She's got about 80 English words now, and 45 German, we wrote down all the ones we could think of last week. I think that's not bad for 18 months. And she's started to walk on her own, which is so cute, she's so proud of herself!

No crafting done in ages, I hope I won't have to start her dress again, but maybe I should?? She hasn't put on any weight in ages, but she grows and grows, all her tops are getting too short, and she went from 3.5 to 4.5 in her shoe size in 8 weeks!

Anyhow, enough proud mammy babbling, I'm off to help my friend declutter her wardrobe!

i successfully ignored my bad mood today!

i was so tired. and terribly premenstrual... moody, in need of ridiculous amounts of chocolate, crying at the newspaper i'm lining my compost bowl with... this morning i was tempted to not do anything, to stay at home and clean and tidy up and nap when emm sleeps and then laze about for the rest of the day.

but thankfully i changed my mind! instead i baked 16 carrot and pineapple buns, brought them up to mum&baby coffee morning and spent a lovely 2 hours, as did emm.
then, even though i'd more or less decided i wasn't going to go into town for my colleague's birthday lunch, i changed my mind, and called to say i'd be a little late, got petrol for the car and we went in! that way i just joined them for a dessert and coffee, instead of the whole wine and dine occasion, which would have been too expensive, and too long for emm to sit through! she had a great time playing with several of my colleagues, i got to catch up with my friends from work, and by four o'clock we were on our way back home, in great humour, and with possibly girly drinks planned for tomorrow night!

sometimes it's good to just ignore the tiredness and feeling down, and make the most of the day! err, probably always, really! as long as there's a smidgen of energy left in me!

the physical tiredness is catching up though, so i'll be off to bed now!

a perfect sunday afternoon

After an already great Saturday with cycling (with Emm and my friend Deb) and lunch (where P joined us), today turned out to be lovely too! I finally mowed the lawn (as the ground isn't like a sponge anymore, yay!), in the meantime Emm crawled around the rest of the garden, which resulted in her first set of clothes doing the rounds in the washing mashine by half twelve.

Then we headed out for a surprisingly good value lunch in 'Seasons', to the pound shop for a bucket and spade, and then to the beach, where Emm had an absolute ball, as did her parents. She was so content, she loved everything, the sand, the seaweed, all the stones and shells, paddling in one of the low tide puddles... She conked on the way home in the car and was transferred to her bed without even blinking an eyelid. Which gave us time to mess around in the garden a little more. In the evening we just picked up some pizzas, as we were all drunk on sunlight and fresh air.

We'll have to be good for the rest of the week and bring packed lunches and no more ordering out, the quota for eating out and lazy food is definitely used up already! Thankfully I have a stew ready to be finished tomorrow and fridge and pantry are stocked well.

Such a treat, a whole sunny weekend! My freckles have come out, my toenails are painted, I daresay, summer is here! Hopefully it'll be a good one for a change!

bread

After lots of cookie baking i made some easter bread to bring down to the inlaws last weekend, it's a lightly sweetened white yeast bread dough, with sultanas and raisins mixed through, glazed with a mix of honey and butter. The eggs in the centre are died with red onion skins (not really the colour i was expecting) and the chocolate bugs and bunnies are from germany. 

I'd love to be the type to bake my own bread every other day, but unfortunately I'm not... Luckily our local shop recently started to sell Aisling Bakery Breads, they do a great 'Turnover', it's only a euro and has all of four ingredients: Flour, water, yeast and salt. It's really delicious! And only on Tuesday I discovered they also started to sell Soul Bakery Breads, the fancy, fruity ones! I got a Raisin and Apricot loaf, no added sugar, no crap, but it's so sweet and lovely, especially toasted, spread with a bit of salted butter! I hope it's not a once off and they'll continue to offer them! 

I've just put Emm to sleep and better start thinking about what we'll have for dinner tonight and make a shopping list...

IKEA bootie

Hours of unpacking and assembling later (I can feel my arm and shoulder muscles something shocking!) here we are with our new set up! I think I will need an oilcloth tablecloth, as the veneer won't last long with Emm at the table! It looks lovely and uncluttered, although it'll take some getting used to. It's so stark and dark, whereas my old table and chairs were light and warm...

But there is so much more space now, and the table extends out on two sides, so we'll still be able to have people over for dinner (hence the two extra chairs in the corner (they'll go into the attic for my sewing table and the desk (formerly known as kitchen table). It's nice to properly sit 'around the table' as a family now, before it was always one of us sitting next to Emm, which was really awkward for helping her eat.

The dark furniture brings out the dark bits in the wooden floors, and the lower design makes the room look higher, but at the moment the focus is really drawn down, I will have to get some dark picture frames, and maybe some wallmounted shelves (scary, with our hollow walls...), so there is a bit of contrast above 'waist level' in the room! The kitchen and dining area don't flow as well any more. I was all for getting the light ash colour, but P loved the dark, and it goes better with the chairs. We didn't go for the Tobias chairs in the end, it's very wide and bulky.

Emm's new shoes

Aren't they too cute? I got them 2 weeks ago for her! She sometimes takes off her much more expensive proper pre-walkers and brings me these to put on her!