I thought it had been a while since I had tried a new recipe (and of course shared the good, the bad and the ugly details of said recipe)!
If you are a regular reader, you will probably know I love Thai food and often try out different recipes for different curries. I also love introducing lots of different cuisines to the children; we don’t allow picky eatings in our house (although I don’t make the kids dishes to spicey).
Anyway, one famous Thai dish I have never tried out before is Pad Thai. I have bought some rice noodles especially for the job and some fresh lime too, plus I have some freshly laid eggs courtesy of my lovely chicks! I’m going to have a go at a prawn one tonight as there were some lovely big king prawns on half-price I picked up the other day! If not I would probably do a vegetarian version, as I have tried one made with tofu before and it was so delicious. I do try to eat a vegetarian diet when I can, and tofu is both cheap and very nutritional. I will let you know how it goes down anyway!
Sadly, yesterday I realized that when it comes to making dresses, I am not supermum as I first thought. Darning snags on clothes is one thing, but making a dress from scratch… I don’t think my skills can do my little girl justice on stage so I have been looking into buying something instead. I do feel a bit guilty about that, but still, I don’t want to let her down with my shoddy attempts. I gave up after about an hour yesterday having come to realize that I really was not up to the job.
Some good news though, James our little hamster is doing very well now! We bought him after one of the Bayard books did an article on hamsters and the kids were determined to own one. We also have lots of chickens (who lay me delicious eggs) but Michael was joking the other day as this month’s DiscoveryBox has a really cute feature on macaque monkeys and he was saying he wouldn’t be surprised to come home and find a cheeky monkey running around the place. Whilst I do admit my place might sometimes be considered a bit of a madhouse, I don’t think it has quite come to that yet!
Well, wasn’t the X factor results show a complete shock last night!
Whilst I have been slowly coming around to “Jedward” (especially as my younger kids do love them) when they were in the bottom two with Lucie, I was certain their X factor journey would have to come to an end. Lucie is BY FAR the better singer, a really talented young lady in my opinion! When Simon chose to put it to the public vote though, I was completely gob-smacked. I thought then that Lucie would be going home, as I know the twins do have a cult following, and doubted they would have received the fewest votes of all. Whilst they are thoroughly entertaining and I don’t mind seeing them again in the competition, to me it seems so unfair that Lucie had to go home. I suppose that is just the nature of the competition.
I was excited when Dermot mentioned about the charity single the contestants will be releasing for the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity.
I really can’t wait for the single to come out! I have just joined the official group on Facebook too to follow the updates.
On another note, wasn’t the weather lovely on Saturday? We all went for a lovely walk through the woods and it was just delightful. I love this time of year, as you have to wrap up as it is pretty chilly, but with the beautiful blue sky combined with all the beautiful russet autumn colours set against the green of the land makes me feel very content indeed. That and watching the kids run and leap through the leaves on the ground makes me go all gooey inside too. I think it’s moments like that that make me feel like the luckiest person in the world, with four beautiful children and a wonderful husband.
I have been teaching the kids, with a little help from the latest Adventurebox book, all about the leaves too and helping them understand more about the seasons.
Right, I suppose I really must stop reminiscing about my lovely weekend; I am supermum and I have a Dorothy dress to get making. Wish me luck!
Well, thank goodness it is all good news from my house today!
James the hamster was suffering with a case of constipation, and the vet says he will be just fine. I feel very guilty of course, as the suspected cause is too much dry food. James is going on a diet now… He had some medicine, and we are now going to feed him more vegetables instead of the dry food. Apparently it is just one of those things really, but we are going to be very cautious in future.
The other good news is that my eldest daughter Ellie, has just phoned me to say that the parts in the school play have been announced today and she has been given the part of Dorothy! She is so thrilled, she gets her script today and rehearsals are going to start on Monday. I just hope its not all going to be too much for her, as she has started on the Netball team as well, and is starting to get a little but more homework to do this academic year; all preparing her for the start of secondary school next year I suppose. Still though, I am one very proud Mummy today!
Guess who is going to be making one of these then soon?
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
We had a very distressing night last night; our little hamster “James” who we only got this summer seemed very unwell. He was lying down and not getting up and seemed to be having difficulty breathing. Obviously the kids were really upset, and whilst hamsters aren’t expected to be around for a very long time, a few months old he still seems a baby to me. He seems a little better this morning, but I am taking him to the vet later. For the children’s sake I hope he is going to be alright, they were very sad saying goodbye to him this morning before school. Fingers crossed.
Well, our new “Box Books” have arrived for November, and I must say I am really pleased with them once again. The StoryBox book is great for my younger ones, and this month I am especially impressed by the Wonder with WhizKid feature “how do our ears hear?” I think this feature is especially useful for helping to explain fairly complex ideas to younger children, and learning this at a young age will only help them later on when they have to learn about it at school.
Speaking of school, my eldest daughter, who unfortunately is a total perfectionist and sets herself very high standards (at only 11 years of age) is auditioning for the Christmas play the school are putting on today. As she is in year 6 (the top year at primary school) she is hoping for a lead role, so I have all my fingers and toes crossed for her today. They are doing a performance of the Wizard of Oz, and I know she is hoping for the role of Dorothy. I just need to encourage her and let her know I willl be so proud of her no matter what part she gets.
Good morning everyone.
As I am sure many of you are aware, (I have made it no secret) I am a huge X factor fan. The one thing I was not too happy about initially was the fact that the twins were put in the final 12. I though Louis had made a huge mistake! But here we are, having had four weeks of live shows, and week after week the boys come out to booing audience and they really do their best to entertain. I’m really not quite sure what planet they are from, but I must admit, I do secretly look forward to their performance! They make me feel good and the kids just love to watch them, so I have to ask myself, are they really all that bad? They are certainly doing the job of entertaining us all. Plus the fact that they have received so much negative press, and at just 18 they are able to come out week after week and give it their all; I really do respect that.
The real turning point for me about the terrible two was when I heard about the work they were doing for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. Along with the other final contestants, they are releasing a charity single, with the proceeds going to this fantastic cause. One of my friends daughters received life saving treatment their, and I have only ever heard good things about the charity. All of the contestants went down to the hospital the other day, and from what I have read the twins were really lovely and hands on with all the poorly children. It must of really made their day to see them, and I just can’t help but think they are not so terrible after all!
I will certainly be buying the single to show my support (of both charity and X factor)!
Good morning everyone! I hope you are well and had a lovely weekend.
We have been total slobs this weekend, as I couldn’t resist buying the new DJ hero game. In all honesty I think I still prefer the guitar hero game, as before the days of children I was a bit of a rock chic. Still though, the new game is lots of fun and very addictive; Michael loves it too. So that means six people in our house all desperate to have a go; besides X factor it has taken up the best part of our weekend.
I did still manage to cook a scrumptious roast dinner yesterday though; it’s really starting to feel like winter again (especially when we have been stuck in the house all weekend) so I thought it was about time I did a proper family roast (I can’t remember the last one we had as a family – how shameful of me!). I even made some home-made bread sauce (Delia’s recipe with real cloves – a bit of effort but to die for!) to go with the roast chicken (non of that packet rubbish!) and I am looking forward to my favorite “leftovers” sandwich this lunch!
Whilst I have lots of housework and jobs to be getting on with, all the kids are back at school today after half-term…. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have another quick go on DJ hero!
Isn’t it just typical! There are so many exciting new things for us to do as a family now…. after the kids have been off school all week!
The new edition in the guitar hero family is DJ Hero which is released today. The kids (and Michael and I) are dying to get it; I think as we all love it so much I might treat us all as a little early Christmas present. Well we couldn’t honestly wait that long! We have the whole band – despite what my kids say about me being uncool, I think I must be quite the funky yummy mummy when I rock out! I’m expecting DJ hero to give me some more cool parent status also.
Then the new Bayard books are going to be coming soon (assuming Royal Mail don’t throw their dummy out again).
And having read some rave reviews about the new Roald Dahl Fantastic Mr.Fox film (apparently it is very true to the original Dahl version) we have that to look forward to as well.
Plus of course the next installment of X-factor this weekend. 
We went to see the new Disney film “Up” last night, and I must say I really really enjoyed it.
It is a really heart-warming tale and much in the way Marley and Me made me cry like a little girl, the way the film depicts a couples life together is very similar and I had to slyly wipe away to odd tear. In terms of for the kids, then animation is amazing and there are lots of laughs too so it will keep your little ones happy. One thing that was really hilarious is that all the dogs in the film have special collars enabling them to “talk”. For me this is where the humor really kicked in; especially when they all get distracted by a squirrel and indeed the “cone of shame”.
If you have little ones and are hoping to head to the cinema I would definately recommend it. Our next movie (next wednesday hopefully) will be the new Fantastic Mr.Fox. As a huge Roald Dahl fan, (and a secret George Clooney fan too) I’m really looking forward to that too!
