Silent Sunday

What I learnt on holiday

:: it takes approximately 4 whole days for the average 5 year old boy to stop running manically from swimming pool, to swimming pool, to sea, to swimming pool when on holiday

:: French women really know how to rock a bikini

:: curves rock bikinis far better than skinny

:: everyone looks better with their clothes on


:: reading a novel about feminism isn't the best choice of reading material for a country with a heavily male dominated society

:: reading a novel about feminism when everyone is in bikinis makes you look at other women's bodies in  a whole new light

:: to the average 5 year old boy, once you've seen one lion fish, you've seen them all

:: Nemo looks rather different in real life

:: people without children can be a royal pain in the arse on planes

:: having a 1 year old sat on your knee on a plane when then person in front decides to recline their chair is the fastest route to claustrophobia I know

:: An England bikini is not a good look, no matter how good your figure is

:: never take anything white on holiday. factor 50 waterproof sun cream stains are a bugger to get out.

:: I have a child with skin that turns a beautiful golden brown even when smothered in factor 50. weird.

:: I on the other hand still don't tan. Just freckle.

:: when your husband inadvertently takes the camera for a swim, the memory card and all the photos remain intact but the camera dies a salty death. huh.

Hopes and fears

We're off on holiday tomorrow, which if you follow me on twitter, I'm sure you're sick of hearing by now!

We're all ridiculously excited. It's our first ever holiday as a family of four and our first proper holiday abroad since becoming parents (I'm not counting the horrific week in a filthy farmhouse in rural France during the coldest Easter ever with strict instructions from the landlord to not go mad with the central heating :-s ).

I want it to be the holiday we've been dreaming of over the past couple of months.

I want to create some fantastic memories for all of us.

I want to have some lovely, quality family time and hear my children laugh longer and harder than they've ever laughed.

But I fear there will be tears. Of course there will be. I'm an optimist, but when necessary I can also be a realist. There's bound to be tears - there always is! But I do hope we can at least minimise the tears.

I've been squirreling away little toys for weeks now, colouring books, sticker books, new books to read and the husband has uploaded every pixar film he could get his hands on onto his new toy. Hopefully we'll have enough tricks up our sleeves to avert most tantrums.

Days will probably be filled with paddling in the sea, swimming in the pool and eating ice-cream. As long as I can keep slathering on the factor 50, we should be fine.

I'm under no illusion that this will be a relaxing holiday. But if nothing else, the husband and I will have an hour or two sat on the balcony together once the children are safely asleep. And there will be no cooking or cleaning to do for a whole fortnight. I might even treat myself to a massage and an hour in the gym each day. If I manage that and keep the tears and tantrums to a minimum, I think that counts as a success.

See you all in 2 weeks!

Jammin

I've had a busy morning saving my courgettes marrows from the slugs. But we're a bit weary of courgette pasta chez egg at the moment and we're off on holiday for 2 weeks soon...so what to do with all the giant courgettes? Jam, that's what:

Marrow & ginger jam
You'll need:
1kg courgettes or marrows (depending on how long you've neglected your allotment for *ahem*)
1kg jam sugar
1 lemon
Fresh ginger - at least a thumb sized piece but more if you love ginger
Clean jam jars

:: chop up the courgettes/marrows into small chunks and pop in your jam making pan over a medium heat

:: grate the ginger and add to pan

:: grate the zest of the lemon into the pan then juice the lemon and add the juice to the pan

:: add the spent lemon skin to the pan for good luck!

:: heat the courgette mix until lovely and soft, remove the lemon skins and dissolve in the jam sugar

:: bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes

:: if you want a smoother jam, run the jam mix through a liquidiser at this stage before returning to pan and bringing back to the boil

:: test the jam for readiness by dropping a teaspoon of jam onto a cold saucer (that's been chilled in the fridge). You know its ready if the surface of the jam wrinkles when you push the edge with your finger.

:: if it's not ready, just bring it back to the boil and simmer for another 10 minutes

:: Pour the jam into warm, clean jam jars (I sterilise my jars by running them through the dishwasher then popping them in a 150 degree C oven for at least 15 minutes), place wax discs on the top of the jam, then add lids once the jam has cooled.

 Serve on fresh crusty bread, warm scones or scotch pancakes! Yummy!

Silent Sunday

How to survive chicken pox

 

Keep cake supplies topped up

Administer cuddles liberally

Don't skimp on the calamine cream

The good old fashioned remedies are the best - oats in the bath (or Aveeno colloidal bath powder) and a spoonful of bicarb for good measure (in the bath, not in the patient)

Order in some extra patience (and gin)

Remember that this too shall pass...

Give up on sleep for at least a couple of nights and treat yourself to some seriously nice coffee beans for freshly ground coffee instead

Remember baths can be a great distraction technique as well as cooling them down and relieving the itch (more oats please) - we're on our 2nd bath of the day and it's only 10am.

Repeat: this too shall pass...

Administer more cake. Repeat as required.

Raging

Today I am mostly unamused.

My baby has chicken pox. His beautiful skin is slowly but surely being covered with angry, red spots. And we go on holiday in 10 days.

(ok, I am also counting my blessings that he'll bounce back pretty quickly thanks to the powers of calpol plus regular breastfeeds aka liquid anaesthetic)

But back to being unamused...

Someone who I thought respected me, called into question my integrity today. Totally uncalled for. My integrity is intact thank you.

Someone else who mildly irritates me anyway made it quite clear today that he sees me as little more than a spell-checker. (insert very rude, very loud swear words in the style of very loud, very sweary people here)

Someone also questioned why I wouldn't just leave my poor, feverish, spotty baby with our nanny. Then I could go into the office instead of struggling to work from home. Errrr...let me think... baby... feverish... wants boob... feeling quite poorly and rubbish by 1 year old standards...

Well, shoot me but I do actually want to be here to cuddle my spotty baby, to soothe him and administer calpol and other lurid pink pain-reliving syrups. It's all part of being a mother.

As I said. Not amused.

I agree, I may be feeling the strain of chicken pox a tad. I may also be a little sensitive and highly strung from worrying that we will be pox free in time to head off on our first 'proper' holiday (sun, sea, sand, HEAT) since our honeymoon.

But still. I'm not amused.

Monday, you have mostly sucked. Tuesday, consider yourself warned.