Relaxing - weekend style.

After a horrible week we decided that Friday was the start to great weekend. So we kicked back and relaxed.

Meatball style.

LeeAnn style.

And Murray style.

Last night I finally made the apple pie that had been planned since Monday.

Have you ever seen Christmas vacation?

Do you know the Christmas eve scene where they carve the beautiful, succulent looking turkey and it disintegrates into grey dust?

This was my moment.

The house smelled ah-may-zing.

Like really really good. Like Autumn had properly arrived and brought a touch of Christmas with it.

It smelled like magic.

The pastry was crumbly and golden and crisp. I was so pleased.

But when I cut through the perfect, crumbly , film worthy crust!

The apples were thoroughly undercooked and had oozed at least a pint of juice!!

It still tasted nice! I just drained off the syrupy (yummy) juice and hope that the apples will cook through when I reheat the rest of the pie.

Does anyone know how to avoid ths? I wanted fresh apples , not previously stewed. Is there any way to get the crust and inside perfect?

I wonder if it is too late at 10.50pm to eat apple pie and ice cream.

 Well it is the weekend after all......

I should have seen it coming.

When you start your week with a migraine and a big fat disappointment - it is a sure sign that it is just going to get worse!

I'll back up a little.

Sunday afternoon K and I  headed out with Beebs and Lor Lor (and Laurel with the VERY pink hair!) to a handmade charity event in Dundee. I ended up with a migraine, the blinding, agonising type. Yuck.

Unfortunately it lasted until Thursday!

On Monday I went to buy the wellies I have been drooling over for weeks and weeks. When I finally had the good fortune to find a hole in my old wellies, I wasted no time in zipping off for the red spotty ones!!! But they did not have my size! I am still crushed. I tried again today and there are still none.

You can read about the rest of Monday here

On Wednesday my girl broke her heart going in to School. It was totally unexpected and I was blindsided. Completely.
I had to leave her crying .
I shattered into a million pieces.
I left crying and cried all the way home. It was 9am! How was I going to make it to 3pm without knowing how she was?  I finally pulled myself together and got on with my morning.
I was sitting playing cars with the new little boy I care for. He is 18 months old and adorable. He somehow lost his footing and caught his mouth on the table. Hard. After some ice and more tears (all mine! the little honey was still smiling!) I was really a bag of nerves. I had a whole day of worrying about two kids to do now!

Lor Lor came to my aid and kept me sane  company. We went shopping when the wee man got picked up and the day passed much faster.
K was perfect when I picked her up, she had settled quickly and came home smiling! I put the kettle on for a cup of tea and put a chicken in the oven to roast.
My nerves were settling and I was ready to relax into the evening, the day could only get better right?

Fraser walked through the door with a black and misshapen finger. He had hurt it playing rugby at school. First period.
The School dealt with it in a VERY unacceptable manner and I knew nothing of it until he came home at almost 4pm.
I rushed him straight to the local Hospital but we were already too late for the x-ray dept. We had to go back in the morning.

I was fried! I was so so ready for the day to be over and for Thursday to come.

Thursday morning came and another hospital appointment! Fraser has  fractured his finger and needs to return to the fracture clinic next week. Cue a long letter of complaint to the school for the way they handled the situation!

Mama bear is not happy!

On the plus side K went in to School absolutely fine.

On the down side - K got sick on Thursday night and had to miss school on Friday.

What a week! It was certainly not one I was sad to see the back of!

I obviously had to take Friday off of work, I am so lucky to work with the great families I do. They all were very understanding.

K and I had a snuggly day. We lay on the couch and watched Disney films, we looked through cookbooks and made baking plans. We relaxed and  re-charged. It was just what we needed.

Today was a busier day, K had a hospital appointment for an eye test (on a saturday??)  and I had some fabric errands to run.
I will never do this on a Saturday again!
 People in car parks are rude.
That's all I'm going to say about that.
 I think this post is long and depressing enough.

Tomorrow we are going to get back to what we usually enjoy as a family. I have some sewing to do and we are going to head out for a long walk somewhere, blow away the cobwebs of this horrible week. I will take my new camera and play a little. I can't wait, it's a good thing that it's almost bedtime. x

Giveaway.

I think I briefly mentioned a while back that I was starting to branch out slightly with my handmade goods. I will probably only offer up a few things, at a time, on Folksy but figured it wouldn't hurt to have a facebook page too.

To celebrate reaching my first 50 followers I am hosting a giveaway over on my Polka dot sweetheart facebook page.

If anyone would like to follow along on facebook and possibly win some handmade goodness, then follow this link and leave me a comment to let me know what you would like if you won!

Link for a polka dot giveaway!

Hope to see you all there x

Smile. Breathe. Hug.

I have a migraine. I have a sore throat and some sinus crackly ickyness.

Just another reminder that I need to get back into better eating habits and move my little excercise shy butt!

As soon as I start to push my body and mind in extra ways, my throat starts to flare up and a migraine forces me to slow it down.

K started full days of school today. She stayed in school for lunch for the first time! 9am - 3.05pm. What a long day for Mummy! I am so pleased she chose a packed lunch from home instead of a school lunch, I was able to pack a whole lot of love into that little lunch!

I thought it would be nice to bake some cookies for my two big school kids! used a new recipe and everything! I used this recipe from a pretty life in the suburbs.

K was in great spirits when I picked her up! I was expecting a grumpy mess, but instead got hugs and smiles!

The danger lay beneath!

Unfortunately her tiredness came out in demanding, hyperactive behaviour with a very short attention span for anything. Add on some "lovely" learned behaviour  from her new playground peers and I was just having a party!

Migraine mummy does not cope with these things, not when she is feeling sick, has been working and we had homework to do.

K was too wiggly to concentrate on homework.

She decided thgat clapping her hands loudly and shouting mum 3/4 times in a 2 second time frame, was required every 30 seconds. Regardless of what we were doing/saying at any time.

And K did not like the cookies :-(.

And I ended up raising my voice and being frustrated.

And Mummy has no energy left for cooking tea or for any of the bazillion things left on my list for the day.

When I tried to cook tea I opened up the cupboard and a pot fell out and the glass lid smashed.

And K said s**t.

And, and, and.

Why does this always happen when I spend all day thinking of what will happen later and then later comes and I am this horrible person :-(

So I have come here to purge my thoughts. Re group and remind myself to smile, breathe deeply and hug them all tight.

Tea came straight from the freezer and into the oven, I''l redeem it with a baked potato and some veg.

I will manage to read a bedtime story and will get an early night. My migraine will hopefully clear overnight.

Tomorrow will be a better day. I will be a better person.There is always tomorrow :-)

Better days.

There are always better days x

Bedroom makeover

Slowly but surely bits are coming together. Today I managed to turn my little cushion thoughts into little cushion reality.

Sorry for the picture overload, but I am just so in love with these cushions!! LOVE!!

Oh and I had to move the bed last weekend as we had guests and had to make way for a ready bed, I did hang my frame in the centre, I swear. I clean forgot until I saw these pics, lol.

Another big step

(please excuse the scary rear view!! The camera adds 10lbs ;-) )

So proud of our big girl.

We need a little more practise but she is defintely on her way!

I'm starting to feel it.

The itch.

The need for cool air, fresh , crisp days. Boots, long sleeves, hats.

Last night at 9.10pm I looked outside and it was practically dark. I could just feel this bubbling of joy building up inside me and it just hit me how ready I am. How much I am just over the summer. I always feel like this but this year the grinch has managed to hold out longer than usual!

My time of year is coming. I am done with being too warm and feeling ill whilst rushing around in the sunshine. Today was very hot. We made the most of it though,by spending all day outside. All snacks, lunch and tea were enjoyed out in the garden! I have walked my little legs off to and from school and nursery, went to the park twice and had a very special bike ride with K (more on that tomorrow). It was very busy although there was still time to enjoy an icecream.

But the whole time we were out in the sunshine, I was thinking about things like this

Slowly moving into moments like this-

and scenes like this.

Of course for me, the ultimate comes along after the crunchy leaves have been crunched, gathered, enjoyed and spread out again.

After the pumpkins have been planned , chosen and carved.

That's when the magic begins.

That's the good thing about summer I guess.

The best is yet to come!

Letting go.

I am so tired, my "new life" is kicking my butt!! Work is , thankfully, crazy busy and teamed with all the nervous energy I am using, I'm worn out.

I am so worn out that at 8.30pm I was tucked up in bed. I accidently just posted what I was going to write on here as my facebook status.

And just when I can't seem to find the words - kelle Hampton usually has them. Letting go is tough :-( even if it is "only" for school.  http://www.kellehampton.com/2011/08/letting-go-hanging-on.html
I will NOT think about Monday and all that it will bring , instead I will focus on enjoying afternoons with my girl this week. 

I am struggling , behind the scenes. But I know I'll get through it. I've dine it once before and I can do it again.

It's good for us to remember how precious our family time is x

oops

I appear to have made a little mistake while shopping for our summer holiday.

And unfortunately, unmentionables are un returnable!

(say that 5 times real fast!!)

Fortunately they contain a LOT of fabric!

We may need to play spot the panties in future craft posts ;-)!

A whole new world.

 

Well the day came.

We have entered a whole new world of firsts, early starts, being organised and learning new things.

Aren't they adorable?

Aw my big grown up boy.

And my big school girl.

I love this photo of my babies.

The very special road we walked, together.

I am still gathering my thoughts really.

I am not sure how I feel, well that's not true I do know how I feel.

I feel so proud of her, so happy that she has settled in and is enjoying it.

I feel happy that I get to collect her at lunchtime and we still have the rest of the day.

I just wish I was used to it all already.

I am aching knowing that we will be apart from 9am until 3pm starting next Monday.

I know I'll get there.

I just need to learn to be big and brave, like my two big grown up schoolkids. xx