One week in! (already!)

I have just realised that we are one week into the summer holidays already!

Last weekend we saw heaps of my family, and lots of the little cousins, we've had friends over for a coffee morning, friends visiting from Manchester, a sleepover, trips to the dump, grocery shopping... It's been fun-packed!

Next week Joy is starting swimming lessons (every morning at 9am, Temple Cowley Pool) and the kids are being taken out for the day with their Grandad & Fizzy Nanny. How exciting!

So, not going too badly I reckon!

I've just noticed this on Spacebats...

We are currently looking into changing our ADSL provider as we suspect we may be paying a bit much these days, I just noticed on H&M's blog this provider

It seems that all profits gained are given to Christian Aid. Pretty good idea no??

As our choices are presently likely to be cost driven I am not sure we'll opt for this, but I think it's a great idea, and worth promoting!

You need a little help here Daddy...

You need a little help here Daddy...
Originally uploaded by nikkimay28.

Robin was working some things out on paper the other day at home, Elias thought he needed some help.

The result was a very colourful mind map for Robin to use!

Pics

Take a look at my Flicr site for new photos (from the weekend)

There are also some great new ones on Robin's.

Incredibly Busy Weekend!

Well, it was hardly a rest - but we got so much done - saw so many people- and went so many places!

Saturday Robin was taking walls out at my parents. Heidi, Mum and Caleb & Elodie came here. After Robin got back we pretty much just hung out and Robin got a bit of work done.

Sunday morning, Anni & Ciaran with their little girls came over to see us (they only decided to visit from over in France the day before!)

At 2pm Robin was at Church to set up the band

We went at 3pm to set up kids and we sucessfully kept 17 5-10's amused during the service (phew, glad that's over!!)

We got back home and recieved a call inviting us for a BBQ at my parents with all my sisters there! (this does not happen often!) so how could we resist? The cousins were happily running around, or being cuddled, we all ate piles and even got to take a group photo. When we got home at almost 10pm everyone was worn out!

Some photos of the little cousins can be seen at Spacebats

More bombs in London

I'm sure you've all heard about the explosions in London again today. I'm so sad that there are still people out there determined to disrupt others lives to prove their point.

Thankfully it seems like there are few, if any, casualties which is a relief after the harrowing times on July 7th.

Not sure there is much more to say, other than that I am proud that everyone I know seems to be coninuuing with life as usual, and not dwelling on the anxiety that they may be feeling about the attacks.

Finger licking good!

A few days ago I found some ribs lurking in the freezer - and I realised that as I had no idea what to do with them, a little research was called for.

After a bit of searching I found a James Martin BBQ sauce that turned out astoundingly well. I made the sauce, poured it over the ribs and then baked them in the oven - they were perfect! I thought that a good recipe really ought to be shared so here you are...

James Martin's BBQ sauce

What I particularly liked was the lack of outlandish or weird ingredients - it's all storecupboard stuff. Might just try it with chicken as well.....

Recycling grumble

After my post yesterday saying how great it all was - I found today that when I went to drop off my plastic that the container was full.... again!

It seems more people are wanting to recycle, but the people responsible are not keeping up with the quantity people are wanting recycled. I would guess that some will be put off by this - which would be a shame.

I bagged mine up and added it to the pile alongside, I will keep recycling. Espeically now we're a two bin bag a week house (pretty proud of that!)

Avert your eyes!

Avert your eyes!
Originally uploaded by rjjm.

For friends of Charlie & Caroline (Greenaway!) here is a photo of them on their big day - so no more counting the days weeks and hours, they're on a beach somewhere celebrating by themsleves now!

A huge thank you to my parents that had Joy & Elias for us that day, we had a super time as did the kids.

Cute little cherub

Cute little cherub
Originally uploaded by rjjm.

I took this on Saturday, how cute is this little bridesmaid???? More photos of the new Mr & Mrs Greenaway and their special day on Robin's Flickr site (you can get there via his blog)

Revisitng recycling

I think one of my first posts was about recycling and I was challenged all the way back then to take my recyling a little more seriously.

Whereas before I happily recycled cans, newspaper and glass (oh and passed toys and clothes etc on) I decided about a month or so to see how easily a busy family adapted to a couple more recycling changes.

Easily it seems.

I have a makeshfit large holdall which I use for plastic, this I take to be recycled when I do my Tesco shop (thanks for the tip Nicky) and we also put all our peelings etc in the composter in the back garden. (A new one is needed soon though I fear - this one is rather elderly and ready to fall apart)

And has it made a difference to the amount of waste we generate?

Heck yes!

Our waste has halved as a result - I am not kidding. At first I thought it was a fluke - but no, we are down to two bin bags per week for the four of us. I feel pretty smug now, although - I wonder what else we could be recycling too.

I do wish the new bags would arrive for us soon so we could be disposing of our garden waste easily too, having lots of trees and shrubs generates piles of stuff that is a real pain to take to the dump, which surely wastes fuel as well??

Wedding

Well we're on the Eve of our friend's wedding. I've been pulling my hair out for the past month trying to find something suitable to wear, and I think have finally settled on something that will look pretty nice. I've still not decided which ensemble Robin will go with - especially as it's too hot to be too smart!

Now we're down to the last 24 hours we have been putting putting the finishing touches to our schedule, Robin is off at 12 to take PA stuff to the Church, set up and rehearse. He'll be changing there I think. I have the kids to offload and to get ready and be at the Church by about 2:30 (assuming I find the Church okay!) I just hope I can park close as my shoes are gorgeous - but after having been wearing flip flops for weeks they will be a huge shock to my feet!

I'm sure it will be a lovely ceremony, and a special day. It's nice to dress up but right now I wish I could just go in jeans for all the hassle it has been trying to find an outfit! (three guesses where I got the shoes!!!)

And just think, 2 more weddings for us this summer! I am way ahead there as the kids are kitted out head to foot as long as neither has a growth spurt in the next few weeks!( I think I will stick with this outfit though, even if there is crossover with guests - can't face another outfit hunt!)

The Holidays

I am in the process of putting together a list of fun activities to do over the summer holidays with the kids.

Some ideas so far are....

Library visits
Museum visits (at least two good ones in Oxford)
Duck feeding
Picnics in the park
Teaching Joy to ride a bike
Swimming
Play dates
Treasure hunts
Baking
Movies and popcorn
Kite flying
Visits to Shotover
Making with clay, junk, beads etc
Scrap books of our adventures (school work on the sly!)

Got any good suggestions? I'd welcome them for sure (aside from the silly ones - oh and remember this is summer on a shoestring)

Puff parcels

This afternoon, I had a food mental block - could not decide just what to feed my lot tonight for tea. So I took a look at BBC online food

It gave me a pile of ideas of what delights to cook with the odd random ingredients I found in my fridge.

For instance I had a pack of puff pastry - I think it's great stuff, but always find myself unsure about how I'll use it! Today we made parcels for everyone (slightly different variations for adults and kids) with succulent diced turkey, spinach, onions and cheese, oh and sweetcorn as Elias is mad for sweetcorn (??!) Well they have turned out great - in fact they had disappeared from the kids plates in record time. I'm looking forwards to ours later.

It's funny how sometimes when you're stuck in a cooking rut - just taking a look around at a few recipes can spark your imagination again. I now have a mental list of other things I'm going to try or re-visit (home made rice pudding, snickers pie, cheese scones, to name but a few!)

It has also been heartening that with a little imagination and planning, otherwise cheap and fairly ordinary ingredients can turn out so delicious!

Talking of food a little more, my great friend Titi went to Costco today and asked if I'd like anything. I put in my order for a sack (yes, quite literally a sack!) of basmati rice, and box of popcorn. The rice has saved us piles of money in the past couple of years as it's better quality than the value rice you can buy at the supermarket and cheaper. Plus I'm blessed with a family of rice monsters!

I have found Costco invaluable for catering parties and other events, they do catering packs of just about anything plus you can pick up all sorts of other stuff from diamond rings and cameras to canoes! It's worth the drive to Reading every now and then. Even just for the novelty of all that in one place!

Gadgets are meant to make things easier..

You know how you hear of some things and think - hey, that would be great, glad someone thought of that, it would make things so much easier???!!!! Well that is what I thought about DVD recorders. Until we bought two! (yes 2!!)

The first was a Phillips, and we just took it back as either we got a duff one or it just would not record everything we wanted it to. Plus it was so complicated to use! After having got used to our ageing but very easy to use (and now dead) VCR it was such a shock that you needed to use the novel length manual in order to get it to do anything!

The next one, a Liteon, has been better, but I have to say - still not as straightforward as you'd think. Plus we've found that the re-recordable DVD's have a pretty short life, only liking being wiped perhaps twice. Hmmmmm. So not exactly happy with our set up.

Until now!!!!!!

I found on the Argos website, totally by accident a HD recorder and digital tuner in one. I had been looking for digital recievers as ours was throwing a wobbly every minute or two. It's a Sagem box and is small and unimpressive-looking.

However, it is anything but, it has extensive TV listings, is easy to navigate through menus and get this.... a doddle to record with! (at last - hooray!) We have been LOVING it, it has faithfully recorder Doctor Who's, House, and all the other TV shows we have been after, never missing one - plus we can then keep it on there to watch again, wipe it off, or - because we still do have the DVD recorder we can just pop them onto DVD to keep. The best of both worlds!!!! I spent my birthday money on it - and at first I thought it was a pretty dull thing to spend it on - now I am wondering what we did without it!!!

And today in Headington....

After the raw emotions of a terrible day in London yesterday I found myself surprisingly wary whilst out this morning. I was in Headington running a few errands and as I crossed the street I noticed a woman lying in the middle of the pavement.

There was another lady with her, and as I approached I noticed there was blood on her face and down her leg. For just a moment there all the images that have emerged from yesterday raced through my head, and I have to admit feeling a little alarmed. I very quickly realised that this lady had simply fallen and injured herself. We organised for an abulance to be called and I went and borrowed a blanket from one of the neady charity shops.

The reason I mention all this was because of the reaction there was by passers by and shop keepers. As this other lady and I took care of the woman we were inundated with offers of help, use of mobile phones and concerned people wanting to make sure this woman was okay. So many people wanted to help!

I wonder if others had reacted in a more pro-active way because of yesterday. I wonder if in some people's minds their priorities have shifted - even just a little. I was so heartened by the whole situation, as we have been hearing so much in recent times about the self absorbed nature of our society.

I've no idea who the woman was, but if I was her, in a painful and frightening situation like she found herself this morning - I'd have been so thankful to know just how many people cared enough to offer their help.

Today in London

I wonder just how many blogs out there are commenting on the bombings earlier today.

I am sure there will be much heated debate in the days and weeks to come, I'm sure in pubs, homes, workplaces and playground there will be talk of little else. It's touched everyone here in this country on some level, there have been so many calls to family members to just check they're okay and not in London.

Perhaps though we shouldn't just be talking about this though, perhaps we should act, we should be praying for those world leaders who still have difficult choices to make, for the community leaders to soothe angry hearts, for the medical teams caring for the injured.

And also, for the bombers - that God would convict their hearts and deal with them. That they would be stopped in their tracks and prevented from spreading any more pain and suffering.

Me & Maggie

IMG_0227
Originally uploaded by ijstokes.

I just found this on Ian's Flickr account - a picture of me and his gorgeous daughter Maggie - taken while we were on Port Meadow a few weeks back.

She is like our adopted niece, last week she wowed us with her newfound ability to roll - cool!

I wish my outfits were co-ordinated head to toe.....

Can't believe they have me working.. I'm only three!

Can't believe they have me working.. I'm only three!
Originally uploaded by nikkimay28.

I'm re-visitng the washing the car photos as they are too cute - I notice that Elias is sticking his toungue out as he concentrates here (my Dad does this too!)

IMDB

Imdb is a MUST for anyone who is into film/TV. Have you ever watched something and been tortured through the entire movie as you’ve recognised a face but can’t place where you have seen him/her before??? Well Imdb is just a huge data base of film and TV, you can punch in any actor/actresses name and up comes all their details and exactly what they have been in….. SWEET!

Every now and then I re-visit and wonder why I had forgotten about it – it’s invaluable! It’s also great for teenage girls to make sure they have seen every movie (however bad!) which stars their current pin up…. Hmmm. I think I’m getting old making comments like that!

 

New button....

Okay, whilst reading some posts on Spacebats I have been prompted to stick a new button on my blog – please note the Make Poverty History button down on the right there.

Whilst I don’t wear a band I am totally behind this campaign and am watching with great interest as The G8 summit seems to have taken over the news. Look on the site for ways you can show your support.

I think it can only help if people keep talking about it, keep lobbying our politicians, and keep drawing attention to the inequalities in the world around us.

New look!

No, not talking shopping - just decided to have a fiddle around with the template and a few other things - am not a big fan of pink so I'm surprised that I stuck with the last one so long!

Plus being customising things to make them a little more to my liking and perhaps more reflective of my personality (that is... not pink!!!) Be warned - I am not a techie - so it may take me a while to get the hang of fedds etc etc... but I'm willing to learn. Let me know what you think!

The bathroom... update.

I know I was talking a lot about the new bathroom suite going in a couple of weeks ago – I have not forgotten to pop up a picture – it is still a work in progress!

A couple of days ago I gave it two fresh coats of white paint, and this afternoon I’m putting up the mirrors. No we are not self-obsessed – they are three small circular mirrors – as many  of you know mirrors are a good way of trying to fool the eye into thinking the room is bigger – maybe I should just make a whole wall of mirror then! 

We still have no floor covering – something which needs recifying ASAP as Robin hurt his foot yesterday.

I will be posting picture soon.

Nesting

I have come to the conclusion that you don’t need to be pregnant to feel the odd compulsion to ‘nest’, yesterday I moved all the furniture around in our bedroom because I was bored with it the way it was. (having said that bit about pregnancy though – I was much worse whilst pregnant!!!!!)

Occasionally it can put off the need for new furniture for a month or two more – which is good, as things look a bit different and more interesting for a while. (and you notice the broken bits a little less!)

It can be pretty disorientating for poor Robin though – when he comes home and everything has changed places – again!

Joy inspected the new layout this morning and announced that she would be re-organising her room as well – Uh-oh, like mother, like daughter!!

(I’m looking around downstairs right now… getting ideas…….)