This is what life looks like....in Leighland...

Saturday 27 April 2013

What I've learned so far....

Well, we're over a quarter of the way into 2013 and I thought now might be a good time to reflect on what I've learned on my journey into frugality and organisation....

Er....not a lot to be honest!!

I'm still paying off a debt on my Mum's credit card - we usually take part in a Christmas savings club though His Lordships work, but they decided not to offer it last year.  We decided to just save the money ourselves, but as we had easy access, we dipped into it a little too often so there wasn't much left by the time we needed it for Christmas shopping!




We're still in a better financial position now compared to January and it kinda goes hand in hand with the weight part of my New Year resolutions...4 weeks ago, I dared to get on the scales and was devastated to find that I weighed more than ever!  In sheer desperation  I decided the only thing to do was start a meal replacement diet.  4 weeks on, I've spent a total of £130 on 6 weeks worth of porridge and shakes - thats £21pw and our weekly shopping bill is down from £50 - £60pw to around £20 - £25pw and better yet, I've lost a total of 20lbs!!!

As for making 1 dream a reality - I've decided on the dream, but its an expensive one so goodness only knows when I'm going to be able to start trying to make it happen!  One of my hobbies is making natural body lotions and potions and I would love nothing more than to start selling my concoctions on Etsy, but it all takes money!!  I would need to get certified and insured and although it's ok to prepare skincare products in the same kitchen that you prepare food in - it's not ok to use the same tools so I'd need to buy all new pots, pans, utensils etc then I'd need to buy ingredients and finally I'd need packaging.  I reckon at least £1,500 - £2,00 which I just don't have!

I have recently been referred to the Chronic Pain Clinic and one of the pain management techniques they use is teaching you you to pace yourself.  To do this, you need to make a plan.  you need to list the jobs that need doing then you break them into manageable segments allowing significant breaks through out.  In case you hadn't noticed, that's the organisational part of my New Year Resolutions taken care off....haha, ok so it would be a little more accurate to say that I have started to organise my day and hopefully it will make my life easier!!!!

Did you make New Year resolutions?  Have you stuck to them?

Monday 22 April 2013

To tan or not to tan....

My parents would take my brother and I to Majorca almost every summer when growing up.  I had a healthy olive skin tone, I used to go really dark and never got sunburned.  My healthy glow would last for months on end before fading....

...Fast forward nearly 20 years...

His Lordship and I would save for the best part of 2 years to pay for glorious holidays a little further afield and our last proper holiday was to Egypt a little over 5 years ago, before the 'Lil Monster came along.

British summer time in not quite in the same league as foreign holidays and I tend to burn at the first hint of summer these days, so I'm a little anxious at the fact that we're heading back to Egypt in a little over a month.  We booked the holiday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, so I really don't want to be looking like a lobster on the beach and in photos, so I was contemplating using a sunbed for a few weeks in the run up to going away.   

I'm still over my ideal weight and all ladies know that a tan make you appear slightly slimmer and can help disguise cellulite.  I'm sure many people reading this would tell me to go for a spray tan, but I've heard that using a sunbed before a holiday can help to prevent sunburn...given the choice of a patchy spray tan that looks even patchier when wearing off, or a healthy looking all over glow from a sunbed - I'd choose sunbeds every time...

Like many ladies, I used sunbeds most days when I was younger, before we really understood the dangers of such frequent use.  I'm lucky enough to have only 2 wrinkles and usually pass for a good few years younger than I really am and as I'm only thinking about having a handful of sessions, I'm not too worried about the aging effects, but how much damage can a handful of sessions actually cause?  Can they really help to protect against sunburn or is that an urban myth??  How do you tan safely??








Tuesday 16 April 2013

Giant cupcakes? Mmmm, yes please!!

So today is school allocation day...eeeeeeeekkkk!!!!!

I'm desperately trying to take my mind off the agonising wait for the email that will tell my if my 'Lil Monster has gotten into the good school or the bad school and I remembered that I was going to post the recipe for the giant cupcake I made for easter!!

My baking history is not the best, I love making cakes and I love decorating them, but I'm really a bit rubbish at it as you can see below!


The first cake was originally a 2 tier Monster High inspired 3rd birthday cake.  It was my first ever attempt at both a 2 tier and at covering cakes with fondant icing!  As you can just about make out from the picture the icing is rather lumpy and bumpy, especially around the edges and the other pic is of cakes I made for Mothers Day last year - also pretty shoddy!!

So I figured a giant cupcake was biting off more than I could chew...literally, but hey...what the heck?  Who would have thought it would turn out as well as it did?!  I know the piping is less than perfect, but for a first attempt.....

And not only did it look great, it tasted great too!! The recipe I followed was for a red velvet cake, but as my mum doesn't eat cocoa, so after a little switcheroo, I made a pink velvet cake instead...YUM!!

So here it is

For the cake                                                     For the butter cream
125g butter                                                       150g unsalted butter
325g castor sugar                                              450g icing sugar2
2 eggs
1-2tsp vanilla extract
red food colouring paste
25g cocoa
325g fine cake flour
1tsp bicarb soda
284mls buttermilk*
1tbsp  vinegar
Raspberry jam 

*I didn't actually have buttermilk, so I used the same volume of full fat milk, squeezed 1/4 fresh lemon into it and let it sit for 10 mins

preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.  Prepare both cake pans, you can do this with a light covering of spray oil or flour.

Soften the butter (I usually stick mine in the microwave  on a low to medium setting and check it every 20-30s) then cream with the sugar.  There is a lot more sugar in this recipe compared to butter, so you really need to work it.  I mix by hand - its a great way to tone up your arms!!  Once you've got it nice and fluffy, beat in the eggs a little at a time.

If you want a cocoa bases red velvet cake, take the cocoa, vanilla and food colouring and mix in a separate bowl.  If you want to make a cocoa free pink velvet cake, switch out the cocoa for 25g of flour.  Once your mix is smooth, blend it into the butter and sugar mixture until it is fully incorporated.

Sift the flour, salt and bicarb together then alternate between adding small amounts of the flour mix and small amounts of buttermilk into the mixture and stir well. Then add the vinegar.

Separate the mixture between the pans, allowing plenty of room for rising and bake for 40-50 mins.  You will know they are ready when you can insert a skewer or long sharp knife into the middle of the cake and it comes out clean.

Once the cakes have fully cooled, beat the butter in a bowl and slowly add in the icing sugar.  Turn the cakes out and level off, then stick together with the jam.  To pipe the roses, put either a D2 nozzle or large star nozzle into the piping bag and add the icing,  Twist the empty end of the bag to remove air and with a firm, but not hard pressure, start piping in circles to get the rose effect and copy all the way round the cake until the top half is covered et voila!!!!

And there you have it!  Now you too can make a special occasion giant cupcake!!



Saturday 6 April 2013

4 year old with Shingles! :-(


Aw,   my poor 'Lil Monster took ill last year in the second week of  the Easter holidays.  She was absolutely covered, from head to foot and miserable as hell : - (
Fast forward a year - here we are at the heading into the second week of the Easter holidays 2013 and guess what...? Shingles!!!


When the chicken pox struck, we found an anti itch cream called Eurax and a 2.5ml dose of Piriton for kids an absolute godsend!  Seriously, they say the average kid gets about 150-200 spots.  My eldest neice got 5 spots. Her younger brother and sister - the twins - aka the Horrors, had about 10 each...I gave up counting after finding 125 just on 1 side of my 'lil Monster's face!!

Wow, I can't believe she still had a didi just after turning 3!!  I guess the Didi Fairy is a story for another time!!


Unbelievable!
I didn't even think a 4 year old could get shingles!

I noticed a small cluster of bumps just below her left armpit on Thursday morning.  She's had mild eczema since birth and this often presents as a dry, lumpy and bumpy rash so at first I thought she was having a worse break out than normal.  I took a few photos yesterday as it looked a little worse and there were a few more bumps.  By this morning, they had all blistered.

Fortunately, she's not in any pain at the moment, shingles is caused by the same virus as chicken pox  - although the chicken pox heals and goes away, the virus remains, laying dormant in the nervous system for the rest of your life.  Most people have no further problems once the chicken pox has gone, but some will have a flare up of shingles.  Its pretty uncommon in kids, especially such a young 'un but the good news is that at this age, its usually pretty mild which in turn means less chance of complications - all of the literature and people I have spoken to today recommend seeking medical attention.

As you can see, she hasn't really got that many spots so I'm hoping it's going to be super mild and that slight discomfort or itching is the worst it's going to get.  My biggest worry at the moment is that like most kids when they're ill, she wants Mummy rather than Daddy.  Poorly kids always seem to be at their worst at the end of the day as they're getting irritable and over tired, but of course it's the weekend now and I'm going to be at work til at least midnight for the next 2 nights.  I don't know if I'm more worried for my bubs who will have to deal with Daddy instead of Mummy, or for His Lordship who has to deal with a poorly lil bubs who just wants her Mummy!

I've got Eurax cream, Piriton for kids and of course Calpol - so we're armed and dangerous to any virus that wishes to cross us so wish us luck!

Moral dilemma- Most of us know that the older you are when you have these illnesses, the worse it is and the higher the chance of complications - so is it kind or cruel to intentionally expose your child to the virus??  Some parents keep their infected offspring in isolation while others hold Pox Parties and invite every kid they know....I'd really love to hear you're chicken pox and shingles stories and you're opinions on the question posed...



Thursday 4 April 2013

Who else would make an awesome beach dress when its still snowing outside...??!

Yep, that's right...I would!!  And probably anyone else that's going on their jollies soon no doubt!!

Wow, long time no post!  Well I've been busy, busy, busy, but not really doing much if you know what I mean?!  So what have I been up to....?  Well, we've just about finished the spare room.  I know, I know, no one else in the world takes as long to decorate as we do!  We find it really hard to fit all of the work in around His Lordships shifts and mine (if I was daft enough to leave him unsupervised, he would get it wrong and just have to do it all again) but it's getting there!  The painting is finished and both wardrobes are up, I just need to buy bottom sheets for the bed and then dress the room then it's done.

We've also had Easter.  I spring clean my house in the lead up to Easter Sunday every year as the whole family come for Easter tea.  Fortunately, His Lordship was off work for most of the bank holiday weekend so he was able to help as I still can't manage to do much :-(  I did however manage this for my first ever attempt at a pink velvet giant cupcake...

The recipe for which will be posted soon...


So back to beach dresses...Yep, its only a matter of weeks til we jet off to Egypt for 2 lovely weeks of R&R!  This will be our first proper holiday in over 5 years and the 'Lil Monsters first ever proper holiday so we're all really excited!!
Thanks to being obscenely broke (and still paying the holiday off on Mummy's credit card....EEEK!!) I can't really afford to buy much by way of clothes, but of course need pretty much everything for all 3 of us!  This week, I've been concentrating on beach wear and came across this awesome tutorial from Brit + co on Pintrest for a handmade beach dress.  Though I fully intend to make myself one, it will be black so probably won't photograph well for this post, so I decided to alter the instructions slightly and make the 'Lil Monsters first!


What you'll need:
Fabric
Sewing machine or needle & thread

First of all, I bought some really cool fabric from a shop on eBay.  It was £3.99 per meter and 112cms wide


I wrapped it around the little 'un to find the width that I wanted, then lay it flat on the dining table and cut.  As she's only recently turned 4, cutting it in half length-ways gave the perfect length!

This is quite a fine, soft, stretchy fabric so in order to cut straight, I laid the fabric out on the dining table and used the groove where the 2 ends join in the middle (its an extending table) and just supported the fabric with a very light tension.

I then cut an inch wide strip from one of the off cuts, then cut it in half to make the straps.


Next, you simply turn on of the corners in to make a triangle, and stitch along about 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch in and then trim the excess material


I fed a pipe cleaner through the tube and secured it to the end of the first strap, which I had already put a couple of stitches in.  I then pulled the pipe cleaner and strap back through the tube, stitched the strap together at both ends then tucked the ends inside the tube like so



Repeat with the corner on the opposite side, et viola!  Its ready to wear!!  Simply put the right strap over your right shoulder with the rest of the dress in front of you, wrap it all the way around you then slip the left strap over your left shoulder and there you have it, a beautify wrap over beach dress!!  (Its only just occurred to me that I should have taken pics of how to put it on as that probably sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is!!  I'll prob update the post in the next few days with pics but in the meant time Britt + Co were clever enough to include photographic instructions lol!!)


As you can see, my 'Lil Monster loves her new beach dress!  And I have enough fabric left over to make a hair band or head scarf to go with this dress and maybe even some other style of dress!

Hmmm...I wonder what else I can make to take away with us...?!  Leave your comments or suggestions below!! xxx