Burnt tongue :(

Just made myself this yummy little lunch - my potatoes, my beans, my spinach. Unfortunately not my butter or parmesan, but a girl can't do everything herself :) Did burn my tongue on it owing to a lack of patience, but I think it was worth it! Just love realising I'm hungry, so digging something up / picking something, and cooking it straight away.

S x

Twitter

Is anyone on Twitter? I've decided that the only way to understand it is to use it, but I really need to get myself some more followers! All welcome :)

(Not much going on at the moment, Sam's with his dad so I'm moping around the house and getting on with stuff like painting radiators...fun fun!)

S x

Faith restored

I've had what for me is a very busy weekend. Friday's dinner plans have been postponed for a week as my friend had to work late, but Saturday saw my friend L collecting me ready for a shopping trip to Meadowhall. Long day! Very wisely we had cake-on-arrival, and a ncot for me, before hitting the shops. We had a plan - just keep turning left, then we can't miss anything. Do downstairs, have lunch, do upstairs. And it worked, we covered every square inch of that shopping centre! Unfortunately the one thing we couldn't control was the goods on sale, and they were disappointing. So six hours later, having just bought some CDs, we headed back to L's house, to start getting ready for a night out with mutual friend C.

So off we went, having had a few drinks to start us off. Great night - involved laughter and dancing, always a good combination for me! I even managed to find myself a very sweet 19 year old who spent the evening pretending to be my 27-year-old husband of 5 years (his idea, not mine!), in order to keep annoying men at bay - it is beyond me why men assume that if I'm dancing it must be for them....err no, I just enjoy dancing! And I do NOT want your number, never mind to go home with you!  Anyway, home at 4am with aching legs.

After a lie in this morning I've very much enjoyed reaffirming that actually I am a fully grown adult, by getting out in the garden and cutting the grass, staking up my tomatoes, creating more growing room for my beans, and cropping some potatoes, beans and onions. Much as I enjoy the occasional night out on the town, I'm happy that they are getting less frequent as I think I'd actually prefer to have dinner parties, if anyone would come!! I guess I'm caught between my grown up, child-centred life, and the young free single lives of my girlfriends. I love having the best of both worlds, but I do feel a bit of a fraud when I go out anywhere without Sam, I want a plaque saying 'I have a child, I'm proud of this'! Mind you, maybe I just need to keep C with me - as I got chatting to this guy last night (Chris, for the record, no surname!) she rushed in with 'You know she's got a three-year-old, right?'!

S x

PS: RIP Amy Winehouse - I hope she finds more peace in death than she did in her troubled life. We've all heard of 'live fast die young', but it's such a shame when someone with a talent as outstanding as that has so little regard for her own life, or for those who love her. Everyone has to do what makes them happy, I just find it hard to comprehend that she really could have enjoyed living like that. 

Dogs...

As I sat Sam at the table with beans on toast for his lunch, I wondered why I had bothered vaccuming this morning. But he ate well, and didn't spill much on the floor. Then he announced he had finished, so I was just finishing my own mouthfull before I took his bowl off him - in that split second he tossed the not-quite-empty-bowl onto the floor (of course, it landed upside down).  When challenged why, his response exasperated me somewhat:

"For Bobby" 

(no doubt everyone can imagine the whiney, 'stupid mummy' tone in which 'Bobby' was pronounced). Well, Bobby is a border collie, and lives at Daddy's house. Surely Sam's dad can't really let him just throw food and crockery on the floor for the dog? Can he? I hope Sam's just pushing his luck, and this isn't genuinely how he behaves at his dad's....  Oh, the joys of absent parents!!!

Afternoon gems

Mummy: Would you like a yoghurt?
Sam: No thank you.
Mummy: No? Okay.
Pause
Sam: Yoghurt?
Mummy: You'd like a yoghurt?
Sam: Yes please.

Everything has to be on his own terms, not at my suggestion!

Bit later
Sam (very excitably): Mummy Mummy Mummy
Mummy: Yes darling?
Sam: Drink Mummy, Mummy - drink please.
Mummy: Drink? I can get you a drink.
Sam (nonchalant): Oh, umm, yeah okay.

So hang on - if I suggest it, he makes out he did. But if he suggests it, he implies I did? What's that all about??? He's just so funny!

Bless HIM

Him? Him who? Oh, my gorgeous little boy of course. I sneeze - he says "bless you"! So so cute!! He amazes me on a daily basis with the things he has learnt without being taught - I get so used to having to teach him everything stage by stage that it catches me out when he just picks something up by himself.
He does make me laugh though - I asked for a cuddle before he went to school, and clearly he was ready to let go long before I was, so started saying "Aaaah. Mummy - aaah" with a tone of "Look Mummy, I've said 'aaah', that means we've finished cuddling and you can let me go again!" He's very sarcastic for a child that can't speak properly!!
So then he asked for a book, and I answered that yes we had time for one book before school. Well off he trots, and comes back with his massive 'Treasury of Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh'. Oh, he's not silly!! Needless to say, we didn't have time to read that one book! Lucky I don't have a copy of 'War and Peace' :) (Lis - I'm reminded of John's sandwich in NZ! For others, this relates to friends of ours: John wanted a snack but it was nearly dinner time, so Ruth said he could have one sandwich. He came back with the biggest two chunks of bread you've ever seen, they could have been 1/4 loaf each! But it was only one sandwich!!)

Just wanted to share some of the smiles Sam has created this morning, hope everyone else's days are getting off to a good start (or have been good) too. GP appointment booked for c.11am, so of course I'm feeling much better today, swelling and pain having both subsided somewhat. Typical!!

S x

Garden update

Arriving home from Naples at 11pm, I was very disappointed that the dark meant I couldn't check on my garden :( And the next day it was raining, a lot! But I grabbed my umbrella and went out for a quick check which was quite disappointing - although one set of tomatoes are doing well, the others have produced no new flowers (and therefore no fruits), the spinach and beetroot seedlings have been munched by slugs, and I could only find two beans of maybe 1cm each. Not what I expected after what feels like an eternity away.

Anyway, feeling much brighter today, and the rain having finally paused, I set out for a more comprehensive check. Although many beetroot and spinach babies have been had there are some survivors, so that cheered me up. The tomatoes were no better than they had appeared. But searching amongst the bean foliage presented these beauties:

and many more that aren't quite big enough to pick yet. So I'm a happier bunny :)

Plus, I somewhat sarcastically stuck some butternut squash seeds in some mud on the kitchen window sill before we went away, as given how expensive seeds are it seemed sacrilege to throw some away, but I genuinely didn't think they would do anything. Well, I came home to this:

Admittedly two sections' seeds failed, but one section has two seedlings (not really visible from picture) so I've now got seven little plants.  Oooh it's all so exciting!  And I pulled another potato plant yesterday and ate the little gems for my lunch. Love it love it love it :)

Sleep time for me, hoping to get a GP appointment tomorrow as my painful stomach now seems to be swollen...hmmm! Night all :)

S x

Naples

Wow, what a fantastic but exhausting week we have had in Italy. We've done Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, Ravello, Positano, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Naples Museum, Herculaneum, not to mention aeroplanes, boats, trains, buses, coaches.... and all in temperatures pushing 40C. Definitely want to go back, but maybe at a cooler time of year :)

Anyway, I know Lis has been posting some updates here so I won't repeat her (plus I've come home ill and am not really up to writing much) but for anyone interested in seeing more photos, this link should allow you to see my Facebook album. Let me know if it does or doesn't work, please!

Hope everyone's had a great week, I'm off to refill my hot water bottle and hope to be back to proper blogging soon :)

S x

I've been bitten...

...by the sewing bug! Those of you who read Lis's blog will know that on Saturday she gave me my first sewing machine. Very exciting. So, on Saturday night I got started! Despite having only left over oddments of fabric and one spool of thread, I set to and managed to make myself a bag - not fantastic, and in fact I didn't finish it as it wasn't worth doing, but it is serviceable if needed. The main thing is that I realised I liked the pattern, but wanted a longer strap and a deeper bag. Sunday was a busy day involving siblings, picnics, and lots of ball games, so I didn't manage anything on Sunday night - but on Monday I took myself (and Sam) to the closest fabric shop and bought *something* (it didn't matter what...I just needed something to sew with!!). Three hours at my machine last night, and I am the proud owner of a pretty cream bag which will perfectly compliment (and complement) many of my holiday outfits, and hopeful be strong enough to last me the remainer of the summer too:

And this morning I have done a little embellishing on the drapes that Lis made for me at the weekend.

Right then, what next? Any suggestions??!

S xx