MY GANG

I am looking after two girls just now. They are my neighbour's children and I usually have them over the summer while there are no schools and their usual child minder stays in her apartment in Spain. Having four children already an extra two isn't such a big deal for us.

Today after the morning session for four of the children at the leisure centre, we went to Kiltonga Duck Pond. We stopped at our local shop en route and got a bag of stale bread to feed the birds. All the children had a great time as we walked on the path round the ponds. Oh and we found a Geocache on our travels too.

This is my gang!


I had a chuckle while we were out today an elderly couple came up to me and asked "excuse me, I just have to ask you but are all those children yours?" I was too slow I should have said yes but I told her "only four of them". She went on to say she saw them all and thought I had a lovely family, she admired Mag especially.

These cygnets are only 11 weeks old!

DISEASE! (NOT)

The girls have ringworm, one of them is confirmed and one looks suspect. Hollie has had this 'funny' rash on her neck for a while. I didn't think much of it at first because there was an incident where Roy had accidentally scraped her with his fingernails and for a while I thought it was a bruise. Now the rash has grown and taken on the more recognisable appearance. We had the diagnosis confirmed and Toni was given clotrimazole, its an anti fungal medication. Sol's rash looks suspicious but not confirmed yet, they said she was a bit young for treatment so we are holding off until we know for sure about her rash.

PICTURE OF RINGWORM


Ringworm isn't a worm as the name suggests but a fungal infection. Its contagious and originates from infected animals but can be passed human to human. In the girls case this came from another human they were in close contact with. It is important to have good hygiene when you have ringworm, things like use your own towel, bedding etc. The girls often sleep in the same bed so it's no surprise if they are both infected.

Treatment is easy with anti fungal creams, ringworm as a rule doesn't leave scars. Children need / should have a definite diagnosis as treatments may differ.

NOT ME MONDAY

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

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THIS IS NOT MY WEEK

This is definitely not my dining table. This is not paint and it was not put on the table by my children. The paint is not still there despite several days of scrubbing.

Wasn't my child who went to find his chef's costume, couldn't find it then turned up to help make dinner wearing just his underpants, a chef's hat and a mile wide smile. I did not wish I had taken a photograph. ---
It's not me who is loving my iPhone, and it's not me who can't work it without my reading glasses on. I am definitely not getting old. --- It was not my two youngest children who got locked in the bathroom this week. The lock did not fail while they were in cleaning their teeth. It was not the five year old who had to open the window after gentle persuasion. It was definitely not skinny ass me who had to climb through the bathroom window with my 12 year old in tow. It actually wasn't my other half who couldn't get his legs high enough to get in the same window. It wasn't me who had to take the pins out of the hinges of the very solid bathroom door in order to lift it out of the door frame. I did not damage the paintwork in the process. --- We did not have to buy a new lock for the door, and we don't have to repaint the door. --- It wasn't my husband who decided to try out the new lock the following morning whilst I was not in bed sleeping. He was not in his boxer shorts and he absolutely definitely did not forget to put the handle on the other side. He did not get locked in the bathroom himself, no way you cant tell anyone! --- It was not our wedding anniversary on Saturday. My husband definitely did not 'forget' to buy me card, he did not use the excuse that he did not get a chance to go to the shop. I definitely did not point out to him that he is in the local shop every single day, and they do not sell cards - no, none whatsoever. I also do not have a craft room filled with card making materials amongst other things, he could have gone into it at any time and got the kids to make something. My husband did not some 24 hours later go to the shop to buy his Sunday paper, (no he would never forget to buy that) and he did not buy an unfunny card with a monkey on it. When I read the card I did not notice that he had failed to sign the card. He did not tell me he couldn't find a pen, we do not have oodles of 'school' materials in our house, and we don't have a fully stocked office and craft room either - nope not us not a single pen or pencil in our house.

RICE PUDDING - LOW FAT RECIPE

I made rice pudding this week, it was a big hit with everyone.

Ingredients

200g pudding rice

100 g sugar (I used my vanilla caster sugar)

1.5 litre semi skimmed milk

nutmeg

Method

Heat the oven to 150, or 130 for fan assisted

grease the dish

Stir all the ingredients in the bowl together and that's all you have to do.

Pop your dish of rice pudding mix in the oven. I checked mine every 20 mins and gave it a good stir, though you don't have to I think its creamier if you stir it more.

After about an hour and ten minutes you need to keep check on your pudding though it could take up to two hours to be how you like it. Mine took about 1hr 25 mins, its all down to personal taste.

Sprinkle some nutmeg on the top. If you like a crusty top then you could finish it off in the grill or simply not stir for the last 30 mins.

DEVIL RABBIT

Dougal was out all night it seems. I mean OUT loose in the garden with the driveway gates open onto a road and foxes roaming about.

Roy swears both rabbits were in the hutch last night when he fed them so there is only one other explanation ........

Dougal is a devil rabbit he must have opened his hutch, got out, then bolted his hutch again so that Zebedee couldn't escape. After THE GREAT ESCAPE he merrily had a feast on my nasturtium window boxes which were on the ground.

BLUE PENGUINS & RAIN

It didn't rain much on Sunday! Well it did but it did not spoil our day at the zoo. Sunday was Roy's birthday and when he woke he announced he wanted to go to the zoo. For those who know Belfast Zoo you will understand what I am going to say - this is the same zoo that I vowed last year to never visit again! It's built on a hill, the little ones have previously struggled to get up the hill and we have only ever seen half of the exhibits in one day. This day being no different we pushed on up the hill first in the hope that the children would find it easier to see the zoo in reverse. Seb was giving off big time shouting out that he thought we were there to see the animals not go mountain climbing. Once we got to the top, after several pit stops sheltering from the heavy rain showers, the kids were great. We did manage to see all the animals and there were no further issues.

A wooden rhino!


A terantula! (it's a big one)


Mag



Sol



Toni

Seb

Oh and this is a blue penguin! HONEST! We were watching the penguins, Mag got noticeably excited and exclaimed he just saw some blue penguins. DER!!

NOT MY CHILD MONDAY

It wasn't my eldest child who accidentally broke the window in our porch this morning.

IT'S NOT ME MONDAY

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
It's not me that bought myself a new pair of Sketchers shoes whilst out shopping for my husbands birthday present.

It's not me who has hidden said shoes in the corner of the bedroom, it's not me who will put them on one day and pretend I have had them for months and told him about them ages ago.

It's not me who is too lazy to pair up all the socks, and makes the children have competitions to see who pairs up the most.

It's not me who ate all the ripe cherry tomatoes from my next door neighbours tomato plants.

It's not me who ate the largest piece of birthday cake this evening. It wasn't even that nice a cake, football pitch, bright green food colouring YUCK.
It's not me who was stupid enough to hang her washing out side to dry just moments before the rain came on.
It definitely wasn't me who dropped my 6year old's plaster cast of her hand. The same plaster cast she made last week and painted silver and stuck it to a paper plate.

OUR FAMILY HAS EXPANDED

Our family has grown once again. Long story too so I will only tell you the short one.

Roy has been wandering in and out of pet shops lately looking for rabbits! Not looking for lost rabbits but wanting to buy some for the children. With a rabbits comes an array of equipment so it was going to cost.

Just so happened that a very nice lady was on freecycle last night giving away her two rabbits, and their hutch. The lady seems very happy that we have taken the rabbits though I cant help feling she wil miss them a little bit.

Anyway one rabbit exchange later .......

Here is Dougal (previously known as Del Boy)



Here is Zebedee (previously Darcy)

Sol isn't so sure about the rabbits

GROOMSPORT BY NIGHT

You would not believe that so many people can squeeze into a tiny little village. Well they can and here is the proof! Groomsport celebrates the 4th of July in real style. The fireworks were awesome and the music was good, it cant get much better than that.

GROOMSPORT BY DAY

BANANA JAM

You can use up all your mushy old brown bananas by turning them into jam.

1kg bananas (between 7 & 12) I simply pro rata the recipe
100ml Lemon juice
750g sugar (warmed opt)

Place all the ingredients in a good heavy pan.
Bring to the boil which happens very quickly.
Keep stirring periodically

turn the heat down to medium and cook for 2o minutes

then Summer for a further 15 - 20 mins

you know the jam is ready when it turns a nice red colour.

remove any scum

Spoon immediately into clean warm jars and seal. Turn upside down for two minutes then back up and leave to cool.

Store in a dark place for 6 - 12 months. Refrigerate after opening.