Back to Work

Oh what a glorious break I've just had for Christmas. 

And oh what a glorious return to work, a lovely break from the children!

Things that come to mind for me in January is starting the year off right. 

This year my post-Christmas return to the office was on December 30th for phone cover, and then fully back on January 2nd. 

Part of my plan for going back into the office was preparation. 

What to wear, my plan for 2015 is to give myself a uniform of sorts. Mornings are much simpler when you don't have to get in a fight with your wardrobe. 

Personally I'm a fan of the shirt and trouser look, and then graduating to a skirt if the weather allows during Spring/Summer. Saying that my office and it's variable air conditioning does mean it can feel like Club Tropicana when you're living in an Ice Palace, or visa versa. 

In my office I keep an emergency cardigan for those I didn't bet on that moments. 

Another thing I like to plan in advance are meals. 

I am often in the office over at least two meal times, and on the odd occasion three. Not good, but often unavoidable. 

This is where a bit of forethought is advisable. Packed lunches are key for keeping costs down, although on treat Friday Featherstone's Butchers in Howden is simply the best! 

I tend to have a stash of meals in the freezer ranging from Dahls and curries to Chow Meins and Stews. I like to cook a batch of something on a weekend, portion it up and then freeze it for work. 

On an early shift more often than not I'll arrive at the office with a coffee in my hand and porridge in my food flask. I tend not to eat before leaving home on an early shift. Also, if I didn't bring breakfast with me the urge to go to McDonald's drive thru would be all consuming... Oh those Hot Mocha drinks!

Another bonus to eating well at work, is the not having to be so good when I'm home. I don't spend much time in the house during term time. Between Brownies, Scouting commitments (either ferrying or volunteering) and Avon bits and bobs, I'm a busy little bee. I'm lucky that most evenings there is a meal for me made by the husband. From a jar, but it's a meal nonetheless. For this I am grateful. 

Generally I get a 30 minute lunch break. This time I am planning to actually take them and leave the office so I can go for a walk. I am lucky enough to work in an amazingly beautiful town. Just a few minutes from my office is a wonderful park, a couple of historical landmarks too. I'm a lucky bean. Now to take full advantage of them. 

How do you prepare to go back to work?

Free For All Friday: 10 Things to Do in Autumn

1. Make a family time capsule and bury it in the garden (or hide it in the loft).

2. Have a baking day, nothing says Autumn to me like the smell of baking. Apple pies, rock buns and parkin all hold special memories.

3. Go for a night-time walk and see what stars you can spot (there are apps that can help with this).

4. Board game tournament, winner stays on. 

5. Movie marathon, pjs and duvet optional. 

6. Start a craft project. Crochet/knit a blanket, mug hug.  Try this blog for ideas torontoknitcafe

7. Drink hot chocolate at sunset, at the beach

8. Make a family 'Bucket' List. For ideas visit dazeofadventure.com 

9. Tell spooky stories. here

10. Wrap up warm and go for a walk kicking though the autumn leaves. 

My Life Monday: Word Building

Today I've been spending a bit of quality time with my eldest boy JJ.

He's currently 8 going on 30, with a touch of toddler strop thrown in for good measure.

It would appear he has entered the word building phase, taking different sounds and putting them together to use in place of the expletives I must admit I try hard not to use.

Today we have had boosh, skidoosh and skidooshi. None of them have any particular meaning to him but they are littered within conversation.

Now I can just about recollect the heady days of being an 8 year old. One of my words was squaz. It mean a little bit, gizza squaz of that paint. A bit more than a squaz was a squazidick. I still love the feel of that word, although I can't really use it in day-to-day life with many people.

Then again, when I was 8 I was obsessed with being a witch trapped in a human dimension and I could only pass to the wiccan side via a tree or through a certain pair of goal posts at the local school.

Things seem different for boys, at least it does for my two. Games with no defined story or that aren't based around some sort of video game just don't seem to happen.

It's a shame, I'm trying hard to instil some imagination into these two but they're not going for it yet. However, they're constantly making up new gangs. Prank Gang, Secret Agent Spy Group and Weird gang, so you never know it might just be me sucking the imagination out of them.

Family Friday: Cooking Kid

Last week I set my Cubs a task, to help their parents at home in a range of chores/activities.

My eldest son JJ was no different.

For a week, he cleaned his room, made his bed, he sorted out the shoe cupboard and laid the dinner to list a few of the tasks.

He also cooked. His favourite food is lasagne, but I wasn't feeling the stress of teaching him how to make a bechemel sauce. Instead I headed to the cupboard and pulled out this beauty.

I've never really been a packet user. My mum used to way back when, for things like savoury mince, but as I was a diet club member for most of my adult life (somewhat unsuccessfully may I add) I have avoided them. However, I thought this looked interesting and a good cupboard standby. 

All JJ needed to add was some meatballs, which he made from lean mince formed into balls with some salt and pepper, onion and red pepper. 

Those knife skills just scared me!

He fried off the meatballs, onion & peppers. Added the sauce mix to the pan and left it to cook out and thicken, 

At this point he also boiled up some pasta (that's the shiny pan). 

After mixing it all together and topping with cheese we baked it for roughly 20 mins. 

The finished dish looked like this:

I think it's fair to say he did a really good job. I enjoyed my tea that night anyway!

If I see this packet mix again I will definitely be buying it. Quick and simple to make and it was quite simply child's play. 

My Life Monday: Things They Are a-changing

For the last eight years I have been working part time at my office.

Next week I am going to return full time. New department, new role, new responsibilities.

I also embrace the whirlwind that is shift work, five days a week. I will still be publishing on this blog daily, I will still need to keep on top of the housework, the boys and their homework, cubs and just who will take the boys to school and bring them home (depending on the week).

This means I have, for the last few weeks, been trying to get the house in order so I can maintain, rather than fight an uphill battle in 15-30 minutes a day.

A few weeks ago you will have seen I worked on the de-cluttering of my bedroom. That is still remarkably tidy. However, little bits that needed to be finished still need doing and there are a couple of other areas that are starting to fall behind again.

The bathroom got attention last week, the joy of living surrounded by boys.

The kitchen is this week's task.

I'm also working on getting back into the groove with planning shopping around a pre-decided meal plan.

I also need to start to use weekends for doing things with the kids... and sleeping!

I'm going to be a busy BeeBee.

Family Friday: Half Term Ideas

As a parent with my finger firmly attached to the internet, I have been looking around for things to do with the boys when they're off on Half Term next week.

The youngest boy child has decided that he really wants to go to the seaside... wind and blowy gales included, the eldest has come home with a list of chores to do for Cubs so he can get his Home Help badge. Oh what a Cub Leader I am, bribery with a badge so he'll tidy his room for a week.







On his list are the following:

1. Cook a simple one-course meal. I'm thinking along the lines of beans on toast (or more likely spaghetti hoops then his brother will eat it too).
2. Lay a table and serve a simple meal. This can be done with requirement number one. 
3. Wash up afterwards and show how to clean a saucepan or similar cooking utensils, cutlery, glassware, etc. This may include loading and unloading a dishwasher. Anything that means I don't have to!
4. Under adult supervision, wash and iron your Group scarf. I hate ironing those, and he screws it up in seconds.
5. Sew on a badge or button. He has plenty of buttons that have popped!
6. Keep your room clean and tidy and make your bed for a week. This one is my favourite! 
7. Clean two of the following: windows, silver, brass-work, basin or cupboard. Would it be cruel to pass him all the spoons that haven't been polished for 10+ years.
8. Clean and tidy a living room. He'll hate me for this!

And if I'm brave I may also add make a cup of tea/coffee to the list. 

If he manages it he'll get this badge for his uniform.

Now what to do on a windy day on a UK beach when the winds have been at their worst? 

We could head towards Hornsea, a shale beach with lots of rocks. Suitable for making pets with...

and some gorgeous fish and chips. And some kite flying to boot.

We could also go to Bridlington or Scarborough, which at least have shops close by to shelter from the biting wind, before a final decision is made I best keep an eye on the weather reports.

Family Friday: Simple Car Game

My eldest boy has a favourite game, the one where you take it in turns to make up a story. Each person telling a different part of the far-fetched tale.

It's a great way to pass the time, but I find that it takes far too much concentration when you are trying to drive the car. So we've started ABC lists instead.

So far we have had animals, fruits, vegetables, names, places and word association, the only limit is your imagination and not knowing any 'X' words.

I've found this also rather good for distraction purposes too.

Family Friday: Valentine's Day Crispies

Family Friday: Minute to Win It

This is a game I came across while on @pinterest.

In the USA there is a game show where you are challenged to complete a series of light hearted challenges in under a minute.

These are some of the ideas I came up with to play with my cubs and family...

Bucket Head: Catch three balls in a bucket on top of your head.

Defying Gravity: Keep two balloons in the air.

Breakfast Scramble: Assemble the front of a cereal box that has been cut into 12 pieces.

Dizzy Mummy: Unroll a small roll of toilet paper with 360 degree spins of the arm. (You may need to unravel some first to make it an attainable task.)

Separation Anxiety: Separate a pile of 25 multicoloured sweets into five separate containers in a separate colours with chopsticks.

Tweeze Me: Players use tweezers to relocate five Tic Tacs from one bowl to another.

Face the Cookie: Players move a cookie from their forehead to their mouth using only their facial muscles. 

Snail Trail: Same as Face the Cookie except using an After Eight Mint!

Faster Pasta: Using a stick of raw spaghetti held between your lips pick up 3 pieces of raw penne pasta. 

Number of the Beast/666: The task is to roll 6 sixes in 60 seconds

The only limit with this game is your imagination. 

Present Haul

Glimpses of My Family Christmas

Family Christmas Make up and Hair

Family parties are rife this time of year. We spent ours with my inlaws.

So I donned a shiny smokey eye, a hot pink lip and a textured top knot for some extra height. Plus, I find when I have to bend over to see to my kids that having my hair down is a bit of a hindrance.

To make this look I used the following products:

Avon's BB cream in Nude, MUA blush in Shade 01, Avon's Lash & Line, Glimmerstick eyeliner in Blackest Black, Color trend lipstick in ???? and GOSH's eyebrow palette, the wax is a god send.

For my eyes I used the MUA Immaculate Collection Palette, I covered the eye in the white, the bottom lid with the silver and smoked out with the darker grey. For more depth I added the teal to the inner corner.

I love this palette so much, the only thing that would make it better would be to have more matte shades in there. There is only so much glitter a girl can cope with. 

Getting Ready For Santa

What are your traditions at Christmas?

As a child, mum and I used to spend Christmas at my grandparents house. So when mum finished work we would dress our tree at home, wrap our gifts then go down to their house. Where we would decorate their tree and wrap some more gifts. Then we'd go to a Christingle service in town.

I would wake up Christmas morning, mum and gran would have already put the turkey in the oven. There would be a selection of cold meats and pickles on the table for breakfast. Pork pie and pate for breakfast how decadent can you get?

My uncle would arrive later and we would all have dinner. Not a lot changed over the years, first my uncle got married, so my aunt, cousin and later 3 cousins would also come for dinner. As we all grew the venue changed to my uncle's house in a nearby village. When I became a teenager I no longer slept at my gran's house and the traditional breakfast changed into bacon sandwiches at home with mum.

One year we even had Christmas in a pub, that one I approved of - even though I was driving.

Then things changed again, mum died. I lived with my mum, Christmas 2001 I got engaged and my now husband moved in. Gran and grandad began to spend Christmas day with my Aunt and Uncle and their great-grandchildren.

Then at Christmas 2005 I was poorly, and pregnant, and on a ward in a hospital in York. My first son was born December 28th. Pretty much against his will. As I recovered he got sicker. Surprisingly not my favourite Christmas in memory, that is still when I got my roller boots.

By 2007 we had 2 baby boys at home and the urge for tradition stuck back in, after years of having turkey curry and turkey and bacon sandwiches for Christmas dinner.

Christmas 2009 was the first one without Grandad. Gran continued to have her lunch with my Aunt and Uncle, I started to do a buffet on Boxing Day for my in laws and my gran.

This year is my first one without my grandparents. The first one where I won't step inside the house I visited every Christmas for 36 years where ever I lived in the country, the first one that the new family living there will spend in that house. I won't be doing a Boxing Day buffet.

However, this year I am taking the boys to see Santa, the boys are going to their first pantomime in York, I have dodged the is Santa real questions and watched some of my favourite Christmas films. I have had my Starbucks Red Cup, taken part in making another Christmas special magazine, and gone to Christingle... it's all about the orange, a candle and the sweets you can burn (okay not the definitive meaning of the Christingle, but it's a selling point for getting some into church). There have been works parties, parties with cubs and scouts, sneaky pub visits and familly get togethers.

All I have left to do (at the time of typing) is the Santa Spruce up. The big clean you do before the big guy in red arrives. If you don't have a tidy house/bedroom/clear floor Santa won't come. It's a health and safety issue don't you know! If he can't see the plate of mince pies on the table how can he eat them?

Happy Christmas Everyone.

What I Ate Wednesday: Festive Edition

Merry Christmas

This going to be a picture heavy but short.

Breakfast:

Freshly baked pastries. Bought from Langlands Farm Shop and baked this morning by my fair self.

Lunch:

Traditional lunch. A mix of Turkey and Pork with potatoes, swede, apple & onion stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.

Supper:

Baileys coffee & slice of Christmas cake.

Snacks:

Cherry & Baileys liqueur chocolates.