Having recently suffered a #notnonstick tragedy of my own it seems I'm not alone. The struggle is real people. The irony. At least they taste good. Birthday cake fail. Potato gratin? Massacre in Park City. Happening right now. Cake 1, Robert 0. #nowmyeggslooksad. Now please go and show these poor folk some instagram love. They have suffered enough. ...
Puddle-jumping Pandemonium
You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star. - Friedrich Nietzsche It's been a funny old week. With my folks having managed to sell their house at lightning speed they unexpectedly, and welcomely, descended upon us to start some proper house hunting. This meant our normal Mummy and Emily day was shaken up a bit. We decided if they were going house hunting in Teignmouth we may as well head off to the beach. And we did. It was beautiful...and breezy, very breezy. So much so I figured it may be best to head inland a little and we went to the ...
Holy Smokes
It has taken me a little while to sit down and document the events of Easter Sunday. I have been in recovery...from the shame. Yep, Little Miss decided to strut, or rather scream, her stuff once more. I have been somewhat remiss in my church attendance of late and so, being Easter Sunday, I decided to accompany my parents and the kids to mass. Not just any mass, Easter Sunday mass, the highlight of the Catholic year. It's kind of a big deal. Now I know that an hour can be a long time to expect the smalls to sit still and behave but my mother assured me that with some ...
Who Needs Tonsils Anyway?
As you may have guessed from the title of this post I might just be a little grumpy today. But, dear reader, it is not without good reason. Yep, you guessed it, I am in pain. *Weeps* Now I know what you are thinking but, no, this is not just any old pain, this is PROPER pain. At the grand old age of thirty-five *coughs* twenty-one I have been struck down not once, but TWICE in the last month with tonsillitis. Tonsillitis, can you believe it? It is something that primary school children are generally affected with no? Not adults, surely? I am sure ...
Country Life and My Netflixy-New Year
So New Years Eve was a blast. Well, as much of a blast as it could be with two small children. Mr B's brother and girlfriend were visiting from Italy and Mr B cooked up a storm. We are really trying to embrace our new surroundings so the menu was very much seafood-focused. We started with seared fresh local scallops, asparagus and bacon. This was followed by local Brixham crab linguine and we finished with a fillet of Dab, recommended by the fishmonger for it's full flavour, which Mr B poached in butter. Yep, you heard me, butter. 500g of it. Eep. So delicious but, unsurprisingly, ...
Killing Me Softly With Football…
" 'Killing me softly with football, Killing me softly, With football....' How did I end up married to a football fan?" Such was the Facebook status of a very lovely family member recently, yes YOU lovely lady who shall remain nameless, when the reality of the remainder of this summer dawned upon her. She is Welsh you see and grew up in a family who prefer their sport with a ball more ovoid in nature, and men with bigger thighs, so her (English) husband's obsession with the great game perhaps has left her somewhat bewildered. To be fair he is also a Cardiff City fan so I am sure ...
Are We Nearly There Yet?
"A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer." - Unknown. Are we nearly there yet? Just five little words. Those five little words that will fill anyone who has traveled with a small child in tow with a sense of dread, plus an added dose of despondency. I used to love flying. Mr B and I pre-kids have enjoyed flights to New York, (Visiting the Big Apple was one of my favourite trips.) to Canada, to Alaska and beyond. I loved everything about it. A cheeky glass of wine in the airport bar. Leisurely browsing through the duty-free fragrances. Eagerly devouring the ...
The Top Ten Parenting Skills That I Never Thought I Would Develop
People say that your life changes forever when you become a parent. It is true. And the parenting skills that you develop are beyond your wildest imaginings quite frankly astonishing. Below is my list of the top ten parenting skills that I never dreamed I would have but that show me, beyond any doubt, that I'm a parent. The ability to eat, and chop food, one-handed. The other will invariably be either holding or restraining the baby or toddler respectively. The ability to not even notice that the CD has been stuck and repeating the same line of a song several hundred times. Mere ...
DIY Dad and the Decorating Disaster
I began the new year setting out some fairly straightforward resolutions and am pleased to say that I have started off fairly well. Mr B and I managed to avoid opening a bottle of wine until the weekend and we completed four sessions of Insanity so, although I have not yet stepped on the scales, I am feeling hopeful that the dreaded flab will be somewhat diminished. Today we managed to pick up some brand new pillows so I plan to pop out and get some protectors tomorrow and we can finally be rid of our stinky old ones. With my birthday not too far away new bedding is now at the top of my ...
Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Drunken Strippers
It was with great excitement last weekend that we all travelled back to my folks in Stratford Upon Avon as it was the last chance to spend some time with my sister, her husband and my two gorgeous nephews before they returned to Canada. We had a great day. The kids played wildly. My Mum made an awesome Xmas dinner, far better than my somewhat pathetic attempt on Xmas day. We drank some fine wine, some fizz, pulled some crackers, and generally had a lovely time. The boy was ecstatic to have his cousins to play with and my smallest nephew simply doted on Little ...