A NEW DO!

I just got my hair done .......... wanna see?

If You Don't Ask, You Don't Get

Last night was Seb's last night at Boy's Brigade, this is his first year otherwise known as the Anchor Boys. It was his award night where all the proud mums and dads get to go see their little boys getting their awards.

Well as usual I went to watch Seb, Roy stayed at home with the other children. The boys came in looking as proud as anything and sat at the front. There are three main trophies given out to the Anchor Boys, and unfortunately Seb did not get one. He sat ever so patiently while the three boys who were getting those trophies received them. Thinking hard about this Seb stood up, marched to the front where the two leaders were doing the prize presentation and asked when he was getting his trophy. Everyone was laughing, not in a bad way just that he was so cute. Me, I had my face buried in my hands in embarrassment.

The minister who was sat immediately behind me bent over and whispered into my ear "If you don't ask, you don't get", that just summed it all up.

The next stage of the presentation was the badges so the leaders explained that they had a very special boy who was their youngest member and gave Seb his first year badge. He was happy then and he sat proudly showing his arm band off for the rest of the presentation.

This morning on leaving Sol off to playgroup I met the minister's daughter in law, she was laughing about the trophy incident. She informed me that the leaders had said that Seb deserved a trophy for what had happened.

One Door closes ...

One door closes and another opens ...

This is not the case for Seb, my poor little boy who has a sore head now thanks to a well known supermarket's front doors. The supermarket is on Main Street, Bangor, otherwise known as ASDA!

I will start by saying I have no issues with ASDA and I am very happy with the way in which this was taken care of.

We went into the town yesterday morning, mainly with a bank errand - needed money, had to pay money in to the bank accounts. The funny thing is you cant live without money in the bank to buy food and pay the mortgage! Anyway I also needed to get some of Roy's natural alternative cholesterol tablets, those are the ones with plant esterols in instead prescribed statins which give him some undesirable symptoms along with helping his cholesterol levels.

Anyway enough of the rambling, we needed to get a birthday present for on of the neighbours children so decided to pop into ASDA to see if they had anything nice. As we were about to walk in the door we were approached by a charity box shaker man and I felt obligated to stop and go rummaging in my pockets for change. As I did Seb skipped on towards the doors, they are the automatic doors that open and close when they 'know' you are there. A lady went on ahead of Seb and triggered the doors, he stopped as he went through and turned to see if I was behind him - as he did the doors closed on his head. Once they hit him they bounced back open but the damage was already done. Within seconds a nasty looking red bump appeared and Seb was very upset. I marched straight over to the customer services desk to complain. They brought the store manager down who took all our details and arranged to look at the security camera footage. Don't get me wrong here, this was not about getting somebody into trouble, Seb will live but the worry would be that it could happen again with more serious injury to another child. They took photographs of Seb's head and then took us up to view the footage from the camera. Initially the camera guy said Seb walked into the doors, but on watching the footage you can see this was not the case. Turns out when he stopped in the middle the sensor did not detect he was there, it skimmed just over the top of his head so the doors automatically started closing. The footage showed him turning around and the door closing against his head, them him bouncing back in fright as the doors opened again.

The manager is reporting this to their head office and they have also called the door service engineers out to look at how this could happen. I suspect I will hear from them soon of their findings. Meanwhile Seb has an egg on his head.

Funny thing kids do & say

Sol is a hoot! She says and does the funniest things every day.

Last week I sent her to wash her hands s she had been playing in the garden. She went down the hall and came back again quite quickly. I asked her if she had washer her hands and how she she did it so fast. Her reply - "I did wash them mummy, I used my tongue!"

Her other latest thing, and she says this almost every day "mommy your boobs are like two big Easter eggs", LOL!

I Hate Insurance Companies (Well just this one)

Insurance - you need it, you can live without it but that's not a good idea.

So the people who work in these non-UK call centres, what makes them think we were born yesterday.

Last week some guy rang and started going on about insurance, so I said "Stop, I am busy and cant do this right now call back". Okay that is simple to most people, it does not mean I am giving the insurance company permission to torture me and take me for an idiot.

So they rang back this morning as instructed and got to speak to Roy. Roy gave them all our details in order for them to give us a quote and they said they would ring us back. Okay so far - except our phone has rang every 20 seconds all day - literally! It would go in little spurts, ten minutes of these calls and hang ups then nothing for an hour. Each time you picked up no one was there.

This evening, again the phone rang. I picked it up no one there, hung up and it rang again. Finally there was this 'guy', saying I am ringing to tell you that someone will ring you in two minutes with a quotation.

WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU RING SOMEONE TO SAY WE ARE GOING TO RING YOU IN TWO MINUTES? Alarm bells are ringing! It this person royalty they need a call announcing their call.

So I said "why cant you just give me the price", the 'guy' said "oh that's why we will be ringing you", he was dead serious as well. I commented to him that it was a funny way of doing business, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Sure enough the phone rang two minutes later, another 'guy', he called himself Robert, but I will say he didn't sound like a Robert. He had a whole spiel to give me - I said "just give me the price please, I don't want all the spiel", he said "oh no I must, and I need more details". I was really miffed at this stage and tried my best to give him more details again and then he started his spiel once more.

"Please just tell me how much you are quoting me for my house insurance", "Oh madam you must give me your sort code and account number, what bank do you deal with Halifax, Natwest ...?"

Why on earth would I give some 'guy' my bank details just because he called me on the phone. I am so cross with him by this stage, but determined not to lose this battle I continued talking with him.

"I just want the price or a written quotation please", "Well madam just for you today I can tell you that you will have xxxx cover, and it will only cost you £24.55 for ten months then two months free"
"Ahhhh at last a price thank you for that, would you like to post the quotation to me so I can read it through" He then informed me that he had already given me the details, I gasped "You spoke far too fast and I didn't write it all down, I need a proper written quotation so I can compare your policy to my old one"

"No Madam I cant give you the quotation in the post until you give me your bank details, remember we are giving you two free months of insurance", I was raging at him"If I called your house would you give your bank details to me then just because I asked? I just want a written quotation"

"No"

So I continued to talk to him, "Could I have your head office telephone number please so I can call them and make sure you are who you say you are?", Robert was very put out by this and explained to me that I was not allowed to do that. "Well Robert, I can assure you I wont be dealing with you. I have dealt with many insurance companies like More than, TSB and none of them have ever acted in this way. Usually its one phone call and a written quotation THEN I give them my bank details not 3 calls and a refusal to let me see the quotation". Robert was still begging for my details when I put the phone down.

The company he was claiming to be with Royal & Sun Alliance! I tried to ring their customer services line to complain (supposing it is them that called), but they are closed now till Monday. If this is a call from their company I will be taking this further as this is no way to treat a prospective customer.

CHICKEN & HAM PIE

We made HAM & CHICKEN PIE yesterday. There is no exact recipe but this is how I make it.

Ingredients on no particular order
I used 3 chicken breast fillets
1 tin of ham
mushrooms
butter
stock made with Oxo stock concentrate (any will do)
flour
pepper
nutmeg
pouring cream single or double
Pastry - you can either use shortcrust or puff - I did shortcrust on the bottom and puff on the top which is my favourite pie combo.

First of all I cooked the chicken breasts in the grill (just cooked and no more) leave them to cool while you prepare the rest

roll out the shortcrust pastry base and put it on a greased pie dish. At this stage I popped it in the hot oven for a few minutes to give it a head start with the cooking.

I chopped up the ham and chicken and put them in a sandwich bag along with 2 or 3 spoonfulls of flower, plenty of pepper and some nut meg. I gave them a good shake until the ham and chicken were really well coated.

I chopped the mushrooms up small (simply because my kids say they dont like mushrooms - what the eye cant see and all that)

Put the ham chicken mix in the pie dish and sprinkle the mushrooms over.

Melt a good knob of butter and pour it over the chicken and mushrooms on the pie dish.

Then pour on a little cup of stock - you need to just use your judgement here you don't want your dish to over flow nor do you want your pie to dry out either.

Finally I put the pastry lid on the pie. Before you put the pie in the oven make a couple of slits in the top. Glaze what ever way you wish.

When the pie is cooked use a little funnel or jug, using the slits in the pie pour in some cream. Go slowly and carefully tilt the pie in different directions to make sure the cream has spread.

Leave the pie to sit for a few minutes while you dish up your veg and potatoes .... when you cut the pie it will be lovely!

I promise you that if you try my recipe you will never use another recipe for chicken pie again.

RECIPE - CRISPY AROMATIC DUCK

Get yourself a duck. Preferably from the supermarket!

Get a very sharp knife and cut the duck down the middle an flatten it.
Rub salt onto the surfaces of the duck.

Get one of those baking bags and put the duck in it.

Make a marinade
5 star anise broken up
1 tablespoon of peppercorns
1/2 tea spoon of cloves
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
3-4 slices of ginger (I used lazy ginger out of a jar)
a good few glugs of red wine, sherry, or black currant juice.

Pour the marinade into the bag with the duck, shake and seal.
Leave at least 6 hours, better still overnight.

In the morning you wish to eat the duck steam it for 3 hours, you will need to check periodically as mine was ready sooner. It is not pretty at this stage but please don't be put off with how it looks.

leave the duck to cool on a dish (away from the cats)

When its really cool divide the duck up into small pieces and fry in an inch of very hot oil. this is where the duck gets crispy.


Serve with Chinese pancakes or wraps and salad.



I also found a recipe of Chinese pancakes on Video Jug - looks easy enough though I haven't tried them yet. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-chinese-pancakes

Green Fingers

We have been getting things ready for the summer in the garden. The children especially have been enjoying the whole thing. Between us we have planted peas, tomatoes, lots of herbs, peppers, lettuces, cucumbers, and plenty of flowering plants also. I am not sure that we will be successful in our quest to grow veggies but at least its great fun for the children.

This weeks efforts ...

PHOTOS - TRIP TO THE ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND

Just photos of our day out to the Adventure Playground at Stormont.

Fifth Disease (Slapped Cheek Syndrome)

Our children have all been suffering with the symptoms of Fifth Disease the last few weeks, the common name is Slapped Cheek Syndrome (or Slap Cheek) because it looks like slapped cheeks funnily enough!

Sol has had another flair up, the rash comes and goes ...

It is hard to tell on the photos, the rash in real life is darker than it appears here.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a little party with a few friends yesterday (Saturday night) and a good time was had by all. I managed to get through the evening without a singe drop of alcohol too - its good as I didn't have a sore head this morning with a hangover. However the night did not end when the party finished at 1am .... at 2.30 am we had an intruder ...
I was laying awake and I was aware of some noises from up the side of the house, I could here a grating sound and people walking up the driveway. I woke Roy up and he went to investigate - he could hear voices too we were worried. He went into Mag's room to switch on the security lights (there is a panel there) and we saw four people outside. I think they were from up the road, one of the houses has had parties the last few nights and they have been pretty noisy.
This morning we found one of our gates had been knocked on the ground and a bottle of buckfast, there was also something on the ground not sure if it was spilled drinks or urine.
We are going to go speak to the family involved.

After a long night the children were awake at daybreak, they were waiting for the Easter Bunny. My neighbour and I snuck out and hid eggs around the two gardens while the children were getting dressed.

Here are the photos ....
READY STEADY


GO..

.

Sol had to get changed half way through the egg hunt in case you noticed and wondered what was going on.

ALL DONE!

Not a good start

Okay I am sat down again! I just cooked the beef for tonight's dinner and the smell is making me so queasy. There is nothing wrong with it but since a pregnancy I had 8 years ago where red meat made me really sick I have struggled with the smell of red meat.

I was trying to make Beef in Peri Peri Sauce to go in the slow cooker .... I am not sure what it is going to be now.

TO DO 9th April

My TO DO list for today

We are home based today, just as well its so cold and wet today.

1. Go get some money from the village
2. Fold that mountainous pile of clean washing which is gathering, I am usually so good with dealing with it all
3. Make dinner
4. Colouring eggs with the children (I boiled them last night Hollie and Ellis ate two of them but I still have a 13!)
5. Blog the coloured egg photos
6. Blog Summer's latest funny quote
7. Blog this TO DO list
8. Catch up on my graphics orders
9. Pay for my Ebay purchase from late last night

Mag in Uniform

Do you think Mag is handsome? Well I do, this is him in his Boys Brigade uniform yesterday (Sunday 5th April). He was marching in the Battalion Parade through Belfast - we are proud of him.

While we were in Belfast watching him we checked out the town centre, have not been there for ages either so it was a welcome visit.

We could not go to Belfast without visiting the Dome at Victoria square. Last time we went up into the dome it was dark and the city was all lit up so today was the first time in daylight.


Outside Victoria square we saw a strange man climbing through a tennis racquet with no strings. He also juggled fire batons, I could not help laugh when he was loading them up with fuel whilst he had a cigarette in his mouth - DER!

I don't mind sharing ...

I don't mind sharing with anyone. I don't mind sharing graphics I have made, in fact if you ask me to make a graphic, I will. What I don't like are people taking my graphics, then having the cheek to hotlink them. My hosting site I pay for with my own hard earned cash - so if you are gonna use my graphics at least take them away to your own site and not use my bandwidth.

Thankyou!

decorating and gardening

I only wish I had taken some photos the last couple of weeks. Well I did take 'a' photo but I cant share it, its far too personal ... one of me wearing some new underwear that I had got. On that note I shall move swiftly on to the more publishable topics.

The decorating in the hallway continues, we cant go any faster because we are only doing painting at weekends. Well Roy is painting and I am keeping the children occupied mostly. I am hoping we will be done this weekend.

Gardening, we have done lots of gardening. Mostly we have planted things in containers for now, some to be planted out when they are bigger and some to keep in the containers. We would still worry a little about frosts so I think its best for now. We have tended to our trees, cleared the debris from under them and added a little peat. We have a fair amount of trees, some in the garden and a few young trees in pots waiting to be planted.

Summer has been one for funny quotes this week. You will laugh at this one, I was slicing up a pepperoni sausage, Sol our three year old is scooping the pepperoni slices as fast as I was cutting them. "Hold on Sol, we need them for our pizzas", "No mummy, I need them for my mouth!" what can I say.