Busy day

I want to get my kitchen painted this weekend. Well painted, papered, I don’t really care which right now. We, finally after 5 and a half months, got plans passed for the building of a fair sized extension to our house and that will include a whole new kitchen. So for now I just want my kitchen fresh and tidy again (which it isn’t very tidy just now). I started emptying my cupboards this morning for a good clean and so far I have managed to do three hours lessons for the kids, been to the butcher shop, chemist, blogged a little and been on freecycle too … not much cleaning going on.


Organize Your Kitchen

The kitchen is often the centre of a family home, with people gathering there to do many activities in addition to cooking and eating. The more organized your kitchen is, the more inviting it will be. I love having my kitchen organised, if things are not in tubs with snap tight lids then I think the cupboards look messy and things get spilled easy. I don’t want to have to go wiping everything down all the time.

Its always a good idea to take a quick inventory when you are sorting things out, its perfect way to check what you might need for Christmas which is almost upon us. Are there items that you have unnecessary duplicates of that you don't really need? If so, get rid of them, do you really need 6 boxes of lasagne? Pass them on to your friends or neighbours, checking the dates as you go of course. Passing extra food on not only makes you feel good but clutters up their cupboards instead - this in turn makes your kitchen look good.

There are a few simple changes that you can make to your kitchen to help with storage. Many items once opened have a habit of spilling out and not stacking neatly. in the cupboards. This is where the snap shut containers come in – tee hee. Pots and pans are a pain, I find they start off neatly stacked but through time you gather more and it seems that no body in the house knows how to stack them apart from you. You could hang your pots with butcher hooks from a rail, this makes them more accessible. There are many nice designs you can buy that will fit with most any décor.

The way your kitchen is laid out will have an impact in how you organize your tools and cooking supplies. An island offers a wonderful workspace that also provides a good deal of storage - my new kitchen is going to have an island. Storing your bakewear near the oven is a logical thing to do. Sometimes the oven itself will have a storage drawer in the base where you can keep baking sheets and less bulky items. Your other baking supplies like spatulas, wooden spoons, and ladles, can be stored in drawers near the oven too.

It is also a good idea to store your dishes, glassware and cutlery near the dishwasher or sink. This reduces the amount of time it takes to put things away after washing. There are many cupboard and drawer organizers that can help maximize your space for storing your dishes as well, many are able to be bought from pound shops and the like.

There are many organization and storage units that can help increase your storage space. Even an extra set of shelves on top of the cabinet can increase your space. Open canisters also make a great place to store larger utensils that don't always fit well in the drawers.

Every kitchen is laid out a bit differently, so it may take some experimenting to see what sort of system works best for you. But once you establish a system, you might be surprised at how much more organized your kitchen is and how much time you'll save in preparing meals for your family.

I always find when my kitchen is tidy and organised I am more inspired to go in there and cook or bake!

Under the table!

Yesterday, the 11th November 2008 was a 'funny' day.

I had to do a few errands early on in the day, off to the chemist, newsagent for birthday cards and wrapping paper, and the like. I called in at the Co-Op for the usual food supplies with Seb our 5yo, he was looking at everything as usual. I left him playing at one of the promotional baskets, he was happy and occupied and I continued to stroll along that aisle. I heard him crying and turned to see him talking to a lady. She asked him what the matter was, Seb replied "I have lost my mummy", Well dear what does she look like?", much to my amazement he said "You will recognise her because she has hair extensions".

The woman came up to me and said "ARE you his mummy?" while she scrutinised my hair.

Later in the day we went off to a friend's house for a birthday party. Her son just turned 12, we did the usual birthday greetings, presents, food etc.

Afterwards Seb was rather quiet, this is where I found him...

Oh and he was eating Sol's piece of birthday cake.

FAWLTY TOWERS REVISITED

Do you remember Fawlty Towers? Well we were watching a re run of them on Sky TV the last couple weeks, the children were literally rolling on the floor with laughter. Who would have known that 'old fashioned' comedy would have amused them so much?
Since then they have been role playing Fawlty towers with some very amusing resuts. The characters of their game are Manuel, Basil, Polly, and Swivel (they mean Cybil). Its like watching a comedy show based on a comedy!

Little Britain

Do you watch Little Britain, or Little Britain USA?

Well anyone who does will realise how close to the mark the sketches are.

I have to say I watch this programme and cringe at all the politically incorrect material in it.

I find Mr Doggy particularly funny.

This sketch is not for the faint hearted (or young).

Remembering

 

Our daughter went to heaven officially on the 8th November 2001 though she was gone from the 6th. We will never forget.

 

 

I wrote these poems when I was still very much grieving (you never really stop). I am sure in literacy terms they are not very good but it was how we were feeling at the time.

 

 

 

KNOWING

(too beautiful for earth)

Your time here is finished,

I certainly know this is true.

I saw you in my dreams,

I knew it was you.

That night you stood before me,

Your silky long dark hair

as beautiful as can be.

I took you in my arms and held you,

for eternity and a day.

You said you would be

my very own guardian angel

watching all the time over me.

So now on earth your job is done,

I have to let you move on.

I saw your cheeky eyes in my thoughts,

your hair, your skin as pure as dawn.

Goodbye, my dear goodbye,

and God rest your soul.

I feel you moving further away from me,

my sad dreams have come to a close.

My life now is about KNOWING...

Knowing you,

because I do,

and knowing that you are at peace.

 

 

 

Already In Heaven

I didn't hold you in my arms,

I didn't have your warmth to my breast,

Despite all the things I missed,

I loved you like no other.

I knew you not in life my sweet.

I didn't hug you or touch your tiny feet,

If I could only stroke your skin

not just feel the warmth from within.

Before I knew it you were gone,

a short whisper of a lifetime.

you were the one I loved

the one I will never forget.

In my thoughts I hugged you

like there was no tomorrow

I wonder if you could see me or feel me,

or were you already in heaven my love?

I was with you for every living minute,

from you conception to your death.

This is the only comfort I have,

knowing - that you weren't alone.

 

 

 

 

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Fireworks and Halloween Ramblings

The ramblings of a mad woman here -

Halloween is over now thank goodness. We don't really celebrate Halloween as such in our house, not really and not for any particular reason. On Halloween night I arranged a little 'supper' for the kids, I made them sandwiches and cocktail sausages and they lounged around and watched Hook. They all enjoyed it and not one of us set our noses out of the front door.

Saying that we don't celebrate Halloween, became a contradiction when we got some fireworks. Roy bought them from when he was working down in Newry this week, he seemed to get a good deal on the ones he bought. It is quite sad that no body checked to see if he had a licence for the fireworks, in fact the man in the shop said he didn't need one! The law in Northern Ireland states that for private garden fireworks you must purchase a licence for £30, though I am not sure how many people actually adhere to that law. We had our neighbours in and after the display we shared a take away curry.

Oh and we had a visitor last week - a mouse! We had heard it rattling around the house the last few nights, I am sure it was wearing boots sometimes.

One morning I spotted something moving in the bathroom cupboard, thinking I was imagining things I investigated. I found a mouse alright, and it was eating a slice of toast - yes a slice of toast in the shampoo box. I was wondering how the tiny mouse managed to get the toast there, but then again with four children in the house I am sure it had a helping hand. Then Roy flicked the light on in the middle of the night and announced the mouse was at the bedroom door ..... THIS WAS WAR - no way was a little mouse going to give me another rude awakening.

We set traps and the same night we caught it - the mouse was toast! We have had traps down the rest of the week but nothing else has been caught.

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE AND A SMALL SUCCESS

BRRRR it is cold out there today. I even saw a few flakes of snow coming down along with plenty of hail and rain. On the hills over the other side of Belfast Lough there is a dusting of the old white stuff. Its an Arctic wind apparently, but I dont really care where the wind comes from all I know is that it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

I was talking with a friend today and I realised I had forgotten to post some news I had. We have had a small development or should I say success for us as a family, a step which should pave the way for other families in our shoes too. I finally managed to get Sol's patches paid for by the NHS. After being allergic to the ones the hospital provided I was left to source different ones and pay for them myself. It is not the money that got me, but the difficulty in obtaining these patches which are latex and rubber free. Each three months it was the same trouble - pharmacist saying supplier doesn't do them, me saying they do, me speaking to supplier, persuading someone to order them in from manufacturer ...blah blah, and it was the same every single time. The patches cost £12 per box for me, apparently they would cost the hospital £7.50, my daughter was turned down this inexpensive yet very effective method of treatment based on cost. I complained every time I went to the hospital, and the answer I had got last time was "try source them cheaper on the Internet". The hospital would not even supply these patches for Summer - even passing the cost onto ourselves would have been preferable to the trouble each time I wanted to order.

So in the end I spoke to the manufacturer and they went into a little rant as to why other children get free patches why not us - he named hospitals that supplied the patches for free and one of those was also in the Belfast area. So I went back and informed the neurosurgeon's secretary and the orthoptics department that I was going to our local parliament member about our child with low vision being denied treatment. Before I knew it these guys were ringing me back saying this and that - talking of making preliminary enquiries of costing. Then came the call that Sol has been given authorisation to get her patches on the NHS but still not other children (it is a start). then the manufacturer called me congratulating me for 'paving the way for other families'. The manufacturer had received a fax through from the hospital that very day pricing up the patches for Summer.I paid for this three months supply, but after those patches run out hopefully things will be set in place for Sol to get hers at the hospital at no additional cost to ourselves.