Month: March 2018

Hot cross buns.

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Hot cross buns are my favourite Easter treat. For me nothing compares to a simple, freshly baked bun with soft, slightly spiced dough and plump fruits, fresh from the bakers on Good Friday.

I’m not tempted by the supermarkets with their fancy flavours, to me a hot cross bun is the delight of a simple recipe. From childhood to adulthood, I have always queued up on Good Friday morning at the local baker for fresh hot cross buns, packaged in a white paper bag. A hot cross bun is one of life’s simple pleasures.

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March #littleloves

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So a new strategy with #littleloves as I love the concept but have struggled to find the time to write weekly, I’m now going to try and write it monthly so I still get to record what I’ve enjoyed most during the month.

March has been a funny old month, after a grey, cold and wet winter I had hoped that we would see the first signs of spring this month, but March turned out to be the most extreme month of the winter.  We had two big snowfalls in three weeks and arctic weather which left us all so cold and miserable.  I’ve lots of books on my post this month as it really was a month for keeping warm and cosy indoors.

Away from the weather which dominated many conversations, March was a busy month in our household, there was lots of dance this month as Little Miss had exam classes, a ballet exam, show rehearsals and normal classes, our boys had a weekend at Grandad’s and we had a surprise tea out with my parents who were on a day out nearby and made a detour to see us.  I also finally joined the gym after threatening to do it all winter, I’m loving it and am feeling so much better for it.

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As I mentioned earlier, its been a good month for reading, lots of cosy nights in to escape the arctic weather outside.  I’ve completed A Life in the Day by Hunter Davies, I feel Bad about my Neck by Nora Ephron, Some Kind of Wonderful by Giovanna Fletcher, Happy by Fearne Cotton and Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift.  Hunter Davies’ autobiography was my favourite book of the month, but I also want to mention Giovanni Fletcher, it was the first book of hers that I’ve read and I really enjoyed it.  At bedtime, Little Miss and I are reading Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2, it is as brilliant as the first and so inspiring and powerful, such an original and simple idea. I have also been reading the daily essays in Simple Abundance, each day is a piece on how to live an authentic life. I read this book 20 years ago and it had a big impact on me then. However I then lent it to a friend and lost my original, so it’s been a delight to revisit it.

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I finally got to watch The Greatest Showman at the cinema this month, even though it came out in December.  The film didn’t disappoint, I love a film that is visually stunning and packed full of music and the Greatest Showman had it all.  I’ve been playing the soundtrack a lot and This is Me has become a bit of an anthem in our house.  I did a little research on Barnum after and he wasn’t quite as nice as the character in the film but the poetic licence made for a fantastic film.

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I made the children’s costumes for World Book day this month and then it got rearranged due to a couple of snow days (the children have had a few days off this month thanks to snow and broken boilers) When it finally took place, Little Miss was the White Witch from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Little Man The Wimpy Kid.  Little Miss loves to dress up and we spent lots of time, crimping her hair, spraying it blue and then adding glitter spray too, she also had lots of glitter and blue lipstick on her face to complete her look.  Little Man went for the simplest option as he doesn’t quite share his sister’s enthusiasm for dressing up.

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This month, I also got to make snowballs and a snowman on the second snow fall.  We were house bound on the first snow fall because of black ice, it wasn’t much fun and a bit disappointing however on the second occasion, we just had snow and spent a brilliant morning in the garden, happy days.

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This month, it was all about the layers and hats and scarves.  It was so cold.  Next winter, I am going to buy the warmest coat I can find with the biggest pockets and cosiest hood.

This was the month, when I finally replaced all my old make up and have been wearing cruelty free brands after discovering that many companies test on animals as consequence of selling their products in China.  I have replaced my favourite Estee Lauder foundation with the Body Shop version and it is really impressive.  I’ve bought a couple of lipsticks this month and just that little pop of colour has lifted my mood on some mornings.

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As I’m back in the gym I’ve been making some cheesy playlists on my Spotify account, its what helps to keep me happy as I exercise. I just hope that my headphones never fall out for everyone to hear my choices!  Wham have been a guilty pleasure this month.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tk8hw

I also listened by accident to this drama on Madness’ Sugg’s life , I was looking for Women’s Hour on the radio 4 schedule and chanced upon this instead. It’s brilliant and has a strong message about family, as well as some atmospheric acoustic songs.

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So March is over and now its Easter and the holidays.  I have a few ideas for the holidays but until I have a few dates confirmed I can’t make definitive plans, not great for the planner and organiser in me but I’m trying hard to simply go with the flow…

#littleloves is the linkie created by Morgana at coffee work sleep repeat

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Walk and Talk

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It’s funny how traditions and special moments can evolve. What started as a reaction to a bad day at work has become a weekly tradition and a highlight of my working week, Tuesday lunchtimes are walk and talk.

Over a year ago, my colleague and I were both having a v bad day, it was overwhelming and on a whim we decided to walk to a favourite cafe and get a takeaway coffee. When we arrived the smell and look of the daily soup was too good so we swapped for this and since then every Tuesday lunchtime we go and collect homemade soup and bread from our little cafe. It is the best cafe I know, the food is amazing and it’s always full of locals so invariably we stop and chat to a neighbour or friend too. However we never stop for lunch it’s always takeaway as my colleague and I walk and talk. We have resolved so many of our department’s problems on these weekly walks, planned special events and thought of new ideas. Sometimes we’ve been joined by colleagues who are always welcome and they too walk and talk .

Tuesday’s walk and talk is an inspiring and calming hour in our week, it’s the only day I take a lunch break and definitely helps keep balance in my working week. It’s useful as we have never returned with something unresolved and always feel so much better for fresh air and a healthy hearty soup. Tuesday’s walk and talk is a simple pleasure in a busy working life.

The Beast of the East part 2

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So today we have surprisingly woken up to more snow. The children have now seen more snow in this month than in all their years preceding. Today the atmosphere is different, there’s excitement, there is no horrible, dangerous thick black ice. We have the opportunity to go out and play in the snow. No worries about work or fulfilling diary dates, it’s Sunday and it’s a fun day.

#18for2018 : Have a cruelty free make up bag

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At the end of last year, I was really disappointed to learn that many of the make up brands which I loved were selling their products in China.  This meant that whilst the British versions were cruelty free, the companies were testing on animals to follow Chinese regulations and I no longer felt comfortable using their products.

This year I have spent time researching cruelty free make up brands so that I can have a make up bag which contains products I am comfortable wearing.  I prefer a subtle make up look, so I like muted colours and just a little gloss or colour.  I had hoped to go to a large department store and have a look at some of the premium ranges such as Charlotte Tilbury, Kat Von D and Bare Minerals whose products I have been lusting after online, but its been a busy few months so I’ve only been able to shop in smaller, local shops.  My big rediscovery was the Body Shop, now they are no longer owned by L’Oréal and have gone back to their original values it was quite exciting to explore the shop and I did buy a number of products here  (sadly dewberry shower gel, my teenage favourite has been discontinued)  I’m impressed by the quality of the Body Shop foundation and the eye shadow palette of natural shades suits me beautifully.   Another range I found locally was the US brand Pacifica, the lip tint in Guava Berry is perfect for work.

I am not one of those women who has a brimming make up bag, I buy a few quality products and use them to create a natural and simple look.  I am relieved that my make up bag is now cruelty free again and another #18for 2018 is ticked off.  It has been one of the 18 that may seem a little frivolous but was done for the right reasons and has made me happy.

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Numbers 2 & 6 are fully completed, others are works in progress …

 

 

A girlie weekend

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This weekend, Little Miss and I had our first ever girlie weekend as our boys went to visit Grandad. Following his illness at Christmas and the realisation that Grandad is more frail than before, we have talked lots and tried to make our visits a little easier and relaxing for him.  We’ve decided that Mr S will either take just take one child to visit or we will all go up and stay in a hotel.  This weekend the boys went up and Little Miss and I had a special time together at home.

Recently I’ve felt that our time together is changing, we are talking about more grown up things, music, fashion etc..  This weekend was full of  sparkles, a little shopping trip, watching and singing musicals, reading together, a pampering spa, dinner in a lovely Thai restaurant, grown up activities which just felt right.  This is becoming such a lovely age, even if Little Miss is always after my phone to pretend its hers, mobiles and ear piercing are becoming big topics for discussion (our agreement is a mobile when she goes to secondary school and she’s allowed her ears to be pierced this summer)

After Little Miss’ ballet class on Saturday, we drove over to our county town to enjoy a browse around the shops before finally going to see The Greatest Showman.  Its been on our must see list for months and we were so pleased to finally see it, we’ve been playing the soundtrack for weeks.  The atmosphere at the cinema was brilliant, it was sold out and there were a lot of mums and daughters of all ages enjoying an early mothers day treat.  After the film, we chose a Thai restaurant for tea. It is a pleasure to dine out with Little Miss, she loves her food and is so adventurous and interested in food.  We found a gorgeous Thai restaurant and Little Miss was a hit with the staff, they were delighted by her interest in the food and willingness to try new dishes.  The food was so good and she was a very amusing dinner date.

On Sunday, I not only got a lie in as our early riser Little Man was away but also a cup of tea in bed for Mothers day, the perfect way to wake up.  We had a beautifully lazy morning, a relaxing bubble bath, taking time to style hair and experiment with different looks and simply pampering ourselves.  We then took a walk down town for some fresh air and came back and took the time to cook lunch together.  In the afternoon, I was so pleased to show Little Miss Grease for the first time, she had seen the local secondary school’s performance during the week so it felt the right time to introduce her to one of my favourite films, needless to say I sang (cue eye rolling!) and we both danced along to the songs and laughed a lot.  I had also treated us to the new Rebel Girls book as we had loved the original, so in front of the fire, cosy under a blanket we read together.  It really was as perfect as it sounds and it was one of those moments when I couldn’t believe how lucky and privileged  I am to be mum to my gorgeous girl.

Whilst we both missed our boys, it was a treat to have some lovely time together and do all those special little mum daughter things together.  I am so proud of my daughter and I loved our exclusive time together.

Snow Days

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Over the past few days in the media, there have been some stunning photos taken in our county of the quintessential English snowy dream, picturesque villages and moody sea shots.  However, these images don’t convey the reality of living in this idyll in really poor weather.  Here is my guide of life in a rural setting in poor weather.

  1.  The first day of snow is magical.  It is so unexpected as little snow falls at the coast.  It is amazing to watch the flakes fall, the hills and fields surrounding the town become dusted white and the joy and excitement of the children captivates and delights all.  The children run home from school to make snowmen, throw snowballs in a blizzard of snow and simply squeal and dance in delight.  The photos taken from this afternoon will give you the feels for years to come, that look in the childrens’ faces of pure happiness is perfection. We love the snow.
  2. Later in the evening, the reality of the poor weather becomes clear.  We are so rural in a very large county that our roads, many minor or country roads have not been treated in advance.  Colleagues have had accidents on the way home from work in blizzard conditions.  Some have been sat in cars on country roads for 4 hours, others are in rescue centres, others have abandoned their cars and walked, whilst others have been able to turn around and return to work.  Suddenly snow is not quite so magical.
  3. The poor road conditions mean that our town is now completely cut off, the emergency services have closed the routes to  town due to serious accidents and incidents.  There is no chance of gritters tonight, they are focusing on the dual carriage ways which themselves are blocked with accidents, the county is in gridlock.  And then along with the snow, the freezing rain starts to fall making difficult conditions, lethal.  You are thankful to be safe and warm at home.
  4. A new snow day and whilst the scene looks beautiful and picture perfect the conditions are the worst you have ever seen.  The freezing rain and temperatures mean that every surface is now under at least two inches of thick, black ice. There are no vehicles on the roads and the very few people you see trying to gingerly walk along the road all fall.  We live on a steep hill and are now house bound, no fun walks for snow ball fights and sledging, we are stuck in our house.   Snow is beginning to lose its charm.
  5. Time for some community action, messages on social media ensure that the doctor has a volunteer driver in a 4×4 for urgent home visits, neighbours check on each other, those with the appropriate skills and equipment try to help others.  This is the feel good moment, when you are proud of living in a community.
  6. Its time for planning now and careful rationing of food.  You start to make calculations of how much milk and bread you can have per day and how to best use the food you have in the house.  We have been here before, 7 years ago, so we do have a carton of UHT milk in the cupboard and there is enough food in the fridge and cupboards to feed us comfortably for the days to follow.  There’s no panic buying here, simply because nobody can get to the supermarket and we’ll all survive!  In our house, we use the time to enjoy preparing warm, filling meals, a parsnip and apple soup, casserole with homemade dumplings.  At least the snow days have given us the time to employ a little hygge.
  7. At last, we have some gritters on our road, it is now Friday afternoon and the snow started on Tuesday.  Today’s heroes wear high viz vests.
  8. Cabin fever is apparent, Mr S catchphrase ‘Close the door, keep the heat in’ is said on repeat and we have exhausted our family favourite activities, craft, cooking, screen time, movie, table football etc.. The children desperately want to play outside as it looks so gorgeous yet we can’t even go down the steps outside the house because of the ice.  We reluctantly conclude that a snow day is only fun if you get to be in the snow. Our entertainment now is carefully watching the temperature slowly rise in percentage points on our thermometer.
  9. As we go to bed we open the back door and start to hear the crackling of the ice, the dripping of water, what a relief.  It looks like the forecast is correct and we may get grey, mild and wet weather tomorrow and we’ve never been happier for such a dismal forecast.

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A life in the day, snow and an arctic expedition … #littleloves

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This time last week, I was planning a rather uneventful week, looking forward to World Book day and just the normal rhythm of life.  That seems so long ago now, the week proved to be very memorable as we had snow and we never get snow in our little seaside town.  Not only did we have blizzards, thick lying snow, we also get the most vicious freezing rain which meant our whole town became an ice rink leaving many of us house bound and then it was high tides too and a temporary flood barrier had to be installed to protect the town, so quite an eventful week thanks to the Beast from the East and Storm Emma!  As well as all the drama from the weather, I got sick and had to take time off work, again this never happens, a couple of days in bed did the trick and I’m feeling much better now with just an annoying cough.  Despite all the drama of this week I finish this week feeling really positive, sometimes difficult weeks bring out the best in people.

img_5375I managed to read a book this week, illness and the weather were conducive to this success.  It was a fantastic read, the autobiography of the journalist and writer Hunter Davies.  It appeared on my Kindle deal of the day with some rave reviews so I popped it in the basket and what a choice.  Davies’ career started in the 60s and continues today so there is a great mix of social history, culture and ‘celebrity’ in the book. Its so easy and entertaining to read, you just want to keep going on to the next chapter.  His love for his family and devotion to his wife, the novelist Margaret Forster shine through.  It was great to read something different and a non fiction title for a change, variety is the spice of life!

hunterimg_5379Well this week it was simply about watching the weather, the snow, the skies, the sea all were mesmerising.  Until I lived at the seaside I never realised the subtle daily changes in the sea and how it is never the same shade twice.  The surf has been incredible on the sea this week and it has been quite hypnotic looking out to the waves.  My office looks out onto the sea and there are times I just got lost in the view.

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img_5378So the year when I finally aced it for World Book day, we had a snow day at the children’s school!  Fortunately all the WBD events are being rearranged so the children will be able to parade in their costumes.  I have a bit of bug bear about WBD fancy dress, I like to go old school and do the lets raid the fancy dress box, old clothes and mum’s accessories to create a look.  I read an excellent comment that the costume shouldn’t cost more than a book and I’m pleased that we were able to do this, my only expense was £3 for the sequin fabric cut off which I have plans to reuse after WBD.

Little Miss is going as the White witch from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  It took a lot to persuade her to wear a dress, this really is not her look at present! For the costume, we made a wardrobe out from an old shoe box, when you open it up the back is a sparkly blue paper and decorated with Welcome to Narnia.  Little Miss also decided to make some pompom snow balls from some old wool for her snow, if only we had known we would have had the real thing!

 

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The lion, witch and wardrobe, my 80s Madonna gloves and pompom snowballs.

 

Little Man was quite reluctant to embrace some of my ideas, he would have been so cute as Paddington, but liked the idea of the Wimpy Kid, so we made a mask for him.

img_0991img_5384I  can honestly say that I have never worn as many clothes as I did on my walk to and from work on Thursday which was the worst day for us.  It was so cold, it was only my eyes visible hidden under hats, scarves, layers upon layers.  I mistakenly took my glove off to answer my phone and seriously thought i was going to get frost bite, it was so cold.  On the way home, I walked through crazy snow conditions, snow, wild winds etc.. it was scary and took 40 minutes rather than the normal 15.  As I wrote in my last blog post snow days aren’t an option at our school so we all try really hard to get in.  I felt like a proper explorer, ruck sack with supplies, lots of clothes etc..

img_5380When I was poorly in bed I listened to a radio 4 play, An Instinct for Kindness, a true story of a woman’s journey to Dignitas.  It was superb, sad, thought provoking and very dignified.  Its well worth a listen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09snwmr

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Well after this week its hard to predict what next week will bring… Hopefully the ice will thaw, we’ll get out of the house and all routines will be back in place.  I am so over the snow, I like routine, order and predictability!

Thanks to Morgana for hosting #littleloves and i hope all the contributors have had safe, snow weeks.

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Snow Day 2018

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img_1005 So this should have been a little post tonight about World Book day and the fun we had dressing up in our costumes.  However, the children never got the opportunity to dress up today as we had a snow day!  Snow is really rare where we live and the last significant snow was in our first few months as a family in 2010, so a snow day for the children is a rare treat.

Although for my children a snow day is a treat, for me as a teacher in a special needs school its different.  Whilst our day students were not at school today, we are also a residential school so a snow day is not an option for us, we need to open and staff our school.  Our students aren’t just students they are our young people, we care for them, we want them to feel safe and secure and when things are different, we need to be there for them.  Our staff team have been terrific today and we’re prepared for tomorrow.  Things will be a little different as only those staff local will be able to come in, our rural town is currently cut off by road closures.  However we have enough staff by people volunteering to do longer hours, coming in on their days off or staying with friends locally to allow them to be on shift as needed. The conditions are so bad here today that every member of staff will need to walk to school tomorrow, but we will and we know there’ll be a hot drink waiting for us when we arrive.  It’ll be a fun day, these are the days when everyone pulls together and are the ones we always remember.  And, yes we’ll be making snowmen and snow angels and having snowball fights, every child should have the opportunity to experience a snow day at home or at school.