Weeks 3 (oops) and 4

Ok, so I opened blogger to add this week's weigh in and realised that it hadn't saved last week's post. Dammit! So it's going to have to be a double whammy. I'm back at work almost full time so I've been taking lunches and healthy snacks. It also means that I've not been in the house lurking around the fridge, which is also a good thing.

Last week I went for two nights out, including meals and so I thought I'd gain. I'm not exactly bothered if I do gain as I know losing weight is a gradual process and I don't want to get into the mindset of punishing myself for going out and enjoying myself. But, fortunately, all those healthy lunches and dinners paid off as I lost another 1.5 lbs taking me to 16st 7.5lbs and a total of 6lbs lost. Yay! (The Monkey wanted to get in on the photo action).

So that leads us to this week. We treated ourselves to a chippy tea one night and a bottle of wine on another but I stuck to my lovely low-syn breakfasts, lunches and (most) dinners. I was looking forward to weigh-in as I only had 1lb to go to get my half stone award. And I did it. I lost 2.5lbs! So now I've lost a total of 8.5lbs in four weeks. That brings my weight to 16st 5lbs. I'm really chuffed and the best part is I get a certificate and a shiny sticker for my book (spot the teacher...).  We're going to Spain in the middle of March and I'd love to be in the 15's by then...

Week 2 (and a half)

It's taken a while for me to post this as I've been back at work. What a shock to the system! I've also had to move my SW group from Friday morning to Tuesday night so it's been a week and a half since my last weigh-in. It's been a week of treats this week, what with having a family breakfast at Home Sweet Home and a champagne afternoon tea at Cloud23 for my Mum's birthday. I'm happy with my 1lb loss taking me to 16st 9lbs (that's 4.5lbs so far). I know this next week will be difficult as I have two belated Christmas parties to go to. I'm not going to beat myself up if I gain though. I'll just get back on it and carry on!

Not the most flattering of pictures!

After the First Week

Well. It's been a week since I started at Slimming World. It's been, on the whole, a very good week. I've cooked loads of scrummy meals (not much of a change there then) but I've really watched my snacking and the amount of wine I've drank (ahem). I have to say that I'm really impressed by the variety and amount of foods to eat. I really don't feel like I'm on a "diet" and I know that really sounds like a cliché but it's true!  I'm happy to say that I lost 3 1/2 lbs this week, taking me to 16st 10lbs.  I don't really want to set myself a target weight but I'm aiming to lose 2 1/2 lbs by next Friday. Here's the latest pic:

Positive Steps

I've started writing this post a dozen times.  I couldn't decide what to write or how to go about explaining my reasons for my decision so in the end I decided not to explain anything at all.  Today I went to a Slimming World meeting and I've decided to document my efforts on here as another motivational tool.  So here I am just before weigh-in:

It's the start of my lifestyle change and I weigh 16st 13.5lbs (but not for much longer).

Feeling More Like Me Again - Partners Salon, Manchester

I'm sure that new mums the world over will appreciate that those first few weeks (months?) can be difficult.  It's all about the baby and you have days where even getting out of your pyjamas is a chore.  Even with the most supportive of spouses I found myself feeling a little lost, especially having the Monkey to look after too.  Help was at hand though.  I was lucky enough to be invited to a bloggers event at Partners Hair Salon in House of Fraser, Manchester, with my sister over at OhSoGawjess. 

The salon, located on the 2nd floor, is part of a three-salon chain, the other two being in Knutsford and Poynton.  To get to the salon we had to walk down a really glam, sparkly corridor and I already started to feel more like Becky then Mummy!  After having our coats taken we were led to the backwash and the treatment was explained to us.  I was lucky enough to have Ray, the owner, taking care of my hair and, as he started washing it, he gave me advice about the type of shampoo and conditioner to use.  I have quite a lot of hair but it's very fine and straight.  Ray recommended using a salon-specific shampoo (i.e. not a shop-bought one) as it would clean my hair properly and not leave residue.  He also told be to use a leave-in conditioner just on the ends of my hair rather than an all-over one so that my hair wasn't weighed down.  Well thanks Ray, I took your advice and my hair is much easier to manage now.

After washing, my hair was treated to a Schwarzkopf Professional BC Micro Infusion Treatment.  According to the literature

 "this salon-exclusive treatment reconstructs deeply damaged and eroded hair immediately by filling the gaps in the cell-membrane complex with highest concentration of 10,000 ppm (parts per million) keratin elixir."

It's part of the BC Fibre Force range and it was left on my hair for 5 minutes before rinsing off.

Ray asked what sort of look I was going for.  To be honest anything that differed from the "aaargh, I have 5 minutes to leave the house with two kids" look would have been great but as it was the Tiny Dancer's christening in a few days time I asked for something that I could possibly, kind of, try to attempt at home that looked a little glam.  Yes I know, I stretched his talents to the limit but he definitely stood up to the plate and took on the challenge with gusto.

As Ray started rough-drying my hair to get most of the moisture out he explained that you should always dry your hair from the top down to let the cuticle lie flat, thus making your hair super shiny.  Yes, I've tried it myself.  Yes it works.  Thanks again Ray!

I could already see the difference that the treatment had on my hair.  It was much more manageable and dried really nicely.  Ray then added a spray called Blow and Go to help hold the style.  He separated the hair into rough sections, drying each one and then curling and pinning them.  The curls were all different sizes.  When he was finished he hairsprayed me and undid the pins, combing them out with his fingers.

OMG

I looked like the Little Mermaid!  I felt wonderful and I've never seen my hair look so shiny.  Both me and my sister were gutted that we weren't then going out afterwards to show off our new dos!  I'll definitely be returning to Partners, even if its just for a wash and blow dry.  At only £20 it's a more than affordable treat and anything that makes me feel more glam than grunge is totally worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

(By the way, Ray, I did try to copy this at home before the Christening but I think I needed more time/sleep and less children!)

Cakey Bakey

Having recently had an addition to the family I'm always conscious about the amount of time I spend with Monkey Joe.  I don't want him to feel left out and he's developing at such a rapid rate I don't want to miss out on anything either.  I know he's only one and a half but I thought it was high time that we did some baking.  We've made salt dough before and he made a glorious mess but I decided to bite the bullet and be brave.  So, without further ado, here's Monkey Joe's guide to baking buns!

First of all you need a bowl and a spoon (and an apron, that's important!)

Measure out 100g of butter or marg.  Put it into the bowl and mix well until soft.

Measure out 100g of sugar, add to the butter and cream together until light and fluffy.  Add one beaten egg and two capfuls of vanilla extract.  Mix together well.

Next, measure out 100g of self-raising flour and sift into the mixing bowl.

 

Obviously putting the sieve on your face helps...

Once you have mixed the flour into the butter-egg-sugar mixture you should put paper cases into a bun tray.

 

OI MONKEY!  WE NEED THAT MIXTURE!

 

 

Put dessertspoonfuls of the mixture into the paper cases.  It should make 12 but for some reason ours made 9... 

 



 

Place in the oven at 190C for about 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.  NOW you can  lick the bowl Monkey!

 

 

Take the cakes out of the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

When they're cool you can decorate them.  We used plain white icing and coloured sprinkles.

And TAH-DAH!  The finished article!  They tasted good and Monkey Joe hardly made any mess.  I'll try other things with him now, maybe gingerbread tree decorations.  He did spend the whole day running around shouting "CAKE!"  at everything though but has now learned how to say "delicious"...

The Things Kids Say...

Just a quickie, something that amused my tired little Mummy brain. Monkey Joe was building a climbing frame with the sofa cusions. He decides that adding Alice's bouncy chair to the top would be a great idea.  This is the conversation that followed:

Me: "That won't work you know"
Monkey: "Will work" (with his hands on his hips)
Me: "It won't work, I'm telling you"
Monkey: "Will work!"

Monkey proceeds to look at his creation from different angles. Hands go back on hips.

Monkey: "Weeeeeeell, MIGHT work".

Honestly I nearly fell off the sofa laughing. He was like a proper little builder.  He's such a vocal child that you forget that the cheeky little fella is only 18 months old! I mean, come on! How can you have a conversation like that with someone so tiny? He's a cracker!

My First Giveaway!

Hello all you lovely people.  To celebrate my return to blogging I am having my very first giveaway!  It's for a very exclusive prize.  As it is now getting all wintery, frosty and festive I have a pair of lovely, hand-crocheted snowflake earrings to give to one lucky person. 

These deliciously dainty creations are made from mercerised cotton with a lovely silver sparkle running through them and are the perfect accessory for the festive season.

If you want to win this lovely little prize all you have to do is enter using the widget below.  Please do make sure that you use an email address that you check regularly and that it's OK for me to have your address so that I can post this festive little package to you.  Once a winner is picked then they will have 48 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Life in the Public Eye

I'm fortunate enough to be married to the most wonderful guy.  He's a brilliant husband and father and he's one of those lucky people who have found their perfect career.  He's a publican, licensee, landlord, whatever you want to call it.  I've never really seen anyone as suited to their job as he is. I'm in complete awe of the amount of stuff running through his head.  (Saying that, at this moment in time he's sat playing FIFA on his Xbox).

We live above the pub and this has massive benefits for us as a family.  We don't need to pay rent and utilities as these are covered by the business.  We have a lovely beer garden which, thanks to the talents of one of our staff members, was an absolute riot of colour in the summer and, most importantly, because we live where we (ahem, he) works we get to spend much more time together as a family.  The daily commute isn't too bad either.

Recently though I've been feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.  Maybe it's something to do with having a new baby in the flat but I'm really starting to feel that we live our lives too much in the public eye. Nothing seems completely private to me at the moment.  Yes we have a beautiful beer garden but we have to share it with the customers.  We don't have an outside space to call our own and I miss that.  There are two homely log fires downstairs that are lovely to sit by, especially with a snuggly baby, a ball of yarn and a crochet hook but again, they are downstairs in the "public" area.  Not so good when you don't want to make polite chit chat (and EVERYONE comments on my "granny" crafts!)

One of the main issues I think for me involves our front door.  The entrance to our flat is through the back of the bar and there is a door that leads either to the cellar or to our "front door".  When we first moved in there wasn't a door there but I insisted on having one fitted for privacy's sake.  The issue I have now is that the staff don't bother to knock on the door they just open it and shout up.  Not ideal when you have two kids under two and they nap a lot.  It's also not great for me to be honest.  Yes we have told them again and again to ring us but it doesn't always happen.  I even put a sign on the door but again, I don't think they actually look at it.  I think I'm going to paint it to look like a proper front door with a letter box and everything.  Maybe that will work?

The other thing that makes life in the pub difficult are the weekends.  Specifically the nights.  We have a DJ playing and he's very good, don't get me wrong, but the music is very loud and unfortunately our bedroom is right above his speakers!  I kind of solved that problem though.  We bought a baby monitor with a vibrate setting and I got myself some earplugs.  Bingo! A good night's sleep!  Then Alice arrived.  She will eventually share a room with her brother but, until then, she's in with us and so the ear plugs have been retired to the bedside cabinet.  It's all well and good having a baby that sleeps through the night but I don't!  

Yes, it is difficult living and working in a pub.  The hours are long, drunk people are a nightmare and there's always the possibility of trouble but, as the Husband said recently, the gift of being able to see his babies whenever he wants makes up for the hardship.  I also like the way my son (and I'm sure my daughter) is growing up to be a friendly, sociable and confident little person, learning different things off different people.  So for every down side there is an up side.  Speaking of up sides, does anyone fancy a drink...?

Cheeky Tuesday Tipple

As I'm bottle-feeding the Tiny Dancer I'm now free to once again have a little tipple. My favourite at the moment is an icy glass of joy called an Amaretto Sour. The sweet almond and tart lemon flavours make this a killer cocktail and all of the ingredients can be found in the supermarket - no specialist shops for me!

Here's the way I make it...

Into a jug put:
50ml (or a good splosh) of amaretto liqueur
A dash of sugar syrup ( you can get this from the supermarket)
The juice of a lemon (I use lemon juice from a bottle)
A few drops of Angostura bitters (optional)

Mix well together and pour into a glass full of ice. Loads of ice. Did I mention the ice?

You then really need to add a cherry or two for pure cocktail geekiness.

I think it's delicious and I know it's only Tuesday but what the hell!  The Husband can't complain anyway.  He's sat here drinking a piña colada!

Time flies when you have a child...or two!

I've not blogged for over a year!  To be honest, it seems like my last post was only five minutes ago but, here we are!  A lot of things have happened in my life to take away my time and I have to say some of them weren't even my fault!  I'm guilty of being one of those people that like to have a hundred projects on the go at the same time.  My Mum says it's because I'm a Gemini but I'm not convinced.

I play cornet in a brass band.  The Dobcross Brass Monkeys to be precise.  I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I love it and have done ever since my school days.  We're an adult training band so we have players of all abilities and, fortunately, our gig schedule has increased over the last year.  (We rehearse every Monday and Thursday, drop me a line if you fancy playing...)

I'm the one in the black and white skirt.


Looking after a rapidly growing Monkey Joe is another reason my blog got left by the wayside.  He's an awesome little bundle of fun and its been amazing watching his personality develop.  Myself and the bearded Husband always said we wanted more than one child so we decided to try for another, knowing how long it took us to get out Monkey.  Which brings me on to the third reason why I've not blogged...  our Tiny Dancer!

Yes, it took us ages to conceive Monkey Joe but not so long for us to get the Tiny Dancer.  Three months in fact!  We found out just before last Christmas that we were going to do the whole pregnancy thing again.  It's a good job I didn't retire my maternity clothes!

When I look back I realise that I didn't have the easiest pregnancy (more about that in another post) and I also went back to my old school to do some supply work.  One pupil stated "OMG Miss, have you not had that baby yet?!?"  It took a while to make him understand that yes, I was pregnant the last time he saw me and yes, I am pregnant again but I now have a baby too!

Needless to say what with being pregnant, looking after a newly toddling Monkey and working too I had barely enough time to brush my hair let alone craft or blog.  We're now 9 weeks after the birth of the baby and we kept the gender a surprise but were delighted with the arrival of our Alice May aka Tiny Dancer (that's what she felt like in my belly anyway).  I feel like we're getting into a proper routine again now.  Alice is sleeping through the night and Monkey Joe goes to a child-minder for three days a week so that he can get a bit of socialising done.   I guess this means that, when I've finished the usual housekeeping jobs, I've had more time to finish projects and the blogging itch can finally be scratched again. 

I'll leave you all for now but before I go here's a picture of the best things I ever made (with a little help of course)...

Lest We Forget

At this time of year we start to see poppies for sale.  The Royal British Legion sell these to raise money to provide welfare, comradeship, representation and Remembrance for the Armed Forces Community.  This Poppy Appeal culminates in the Remembrance Day services that I'm sure you're all aware of.

Every year I go to the Cenotaph to pay my respects and I wear my poppy with pride but this year I wanted to donate a little time, as well as my cash, so I decided to knit myself a poppy.  I've not had a lot of experience in writing patterns for others to follow (my rushed scratchings are usually something even I struggle to read) but I've had a go at putting together a pattern for you to knit your own Remembrance Day poppy.  Here goes...

I used acrylic Double Knit yarn in red and black and 4mm needles.  Tension isn't important here.


Petals (make 2)
Using red, Cast On 7 stitches, leaving a tail for sewing later.
ROW 1: Knit
ROW 2: KFB, K5, KFB (9 sts)
ROW 3: KFB, K7, KFB (11 sts)
ROW 4: KFB, K9, KFB (13 sts)
ROWS 5-8: Knit
ROW 9: SSK twice, K5, K2tog twice (9 sts)
ROW 10-12: Knit
ROW 13: SSK twice, K1, K2tog twice (5 sts)
ROW 14-19: Knit
ROW 20: KFB twice, K1, KFB twice (9 sts)
ROW 21-23: Knit
ROW 24: KFB twice, K5, KFB twice (13 sts)
ROW 25-28: Knit
ROW 29: K1, SSK, K7, K2tog, K1 (11 sts)
ROW 30: K1, SSK, K5, K2tog, K1 (9 sts)
ROW 31: K1, SSK, K3, K2tog, K1 (7 sts)
ROW 32: Knit
Cast off

This should make a "bow-tie" shape like so:

 

Once you've made another set of two petals you need to place one over the other and stitch them together like this:

 

Now things are starting to look a little more poppy-like!  The only thing missing now is the centre, which is really easy to make.

 

Using black, Cast on 20 stitches.  Then cast them off again!  You're left with a small, slug-looking piece of knitting that you need to coil up, sew into shape and then stitch it into the middle of your petals:

 

 

 To my finished poppy I also added a leaf that I crocheted from a book called "201 Crochet motifs, blocks and ideas" by Melody Griffiths.  It's actually an oak leaf but it looks ok!  I think stuck a brooch fastening on the back with some hot glue but I was very tempted to add it to a hair slide instead...

 

 

 

Bearing in mind that the Royal British Legion sell poppies to raise money I would suggest making a donation yourselves if you are knitting/making a poppy as we don't want them to lose out.  It's a noble cause and I, for one, will be making sure that The Monkey understands all about it.  I can never get through a Remembrance Day service without shedding a tear for all thise who have sacrificed for us.  There's a line that they use in the service that sums it all up:

 

"For our tomorrows they gave their todays"

 

 

I hope we never forget.

 

 

Happy knitting Dear Readers!

 

 

 

 

Devil on my Shoulder?

I know that I should really start retiring my maternity clothes now.  The little Monkey is nearly six months old but they're REALLY comfy.  Especially the tops.  So I suppose it's my own fault that I still look pregnant.  I'm a big girl, I'm under no illusions about that!  I used to get asked at least once a year by a student when I was due.  It's honestly never bothered me.

The other day I went to Tesco to do the weekly shop (other brands of supermarket are available).  I was Monkey-less and I got chatting to a woman in the queue for the checkout.

"Ooooh" she says.  "When are you due?  You mustn't have long to go now!"

To be fair, I know most women would be horrified by a comment like that and start up the internal "do I look fat in this" monologue.  Not me.  I think I may be a little strange.

With the corners of my lips curling up into a small smile I replied...

"Oh no love, I'm not pregnant.  I'm just fat."

The little devil on my shoulder started rolling around with hilarity at the look on her face.  It's hard to describe, although mortification comes close.  She really thought she'd upset me and I had to hold in my chuckles at the way she tried to back-track.  I'm not completely mean and I did try to reassure her that although I wasn't expecting, I'd recently had a baby so her mistake was completely understandable and that I honestly wasn't offended.  Bless her, she was still spluttering as she paid for her shopping and walked away.

The checkout lady started scanning my shopping and, as she picked up the chocolate cheesecake I'd got for me and The Husband, she glanced up at me.

"I'm looking forward to that", I said, patting my stomach.  "I'm eating for one".

 

The Monkey and his Monkeys

Yummy Berry Cordial

So, Dear Readers, for my first How-To I'm going to share my recipe for Yummy Berry Cordial.
The first thing you need to get is a glass bottle or two. You can use old wine bottles (it has to be ones with corks) but I like to use the pop top ones. You can get them really cheaply from IKEA. You then need to serilise them by filling them right to the top with boiling water and leave it for about 15 minutes.

Now, you need to decide which berries you'd like to use in your cordial. I've made a pure raspberry one before, and a cranberry one, but this time I made a mixed berry one so you need to grab yourself a couple of bags of frozen berries from the supermarket. I used three bags for mine and they're 500g each.

You'll now need some herbs and spices to flavour your cordial with. I wrapped up a thumb-sized piece of ginger, a bay leaf, a couple of cloves, a star anise, three allspice berries and three black peppercorns into a piece of muslin (the Monkey is now less one muslin square) and put it in a pan along with the berries and a cinnamon stick. I added two litres of cold water and turned the heat on.

As the water starts to warm you need to add sugar to the pan. Use around 800g but you can add more or less to taste so start off with less and then you can add more. When the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture up to the boil and then cover and simmer for around an hour until the mixture in the pan has gone syrupy (like cordial, duh). Don't forget to keep checking and stirring your cordial mixture. I did once and it took me days of soaking to get it off the bottom of the pan!

When your mixture is all syrupy and the berries have gone all smooshy then you can add some lemon juice to lift the flavour of the berries. A couple of tablespoons should be enough but again, add it to your taste.

If you want to give your cordial as a gift or if you want it to last longer than a week in the fridge then you can add some citric acid to it as a preservative. You can buy it from chemist and you'll need to dissolve 20g in the cordial at this stage and then check the taste again. If the cordial is a bit too thin and runny then you can always reduce it a bit more on the hob.

Leave your cordial to cool slightly and then filter it through a seive (I put the rest of the Monkey's muslin square in the seive too) and then pour it into your sterilised bottles. You can then add labels and a pretty bow perhaps.

It's great to give these away as presents but, to be fair, the cordial tastes so good that you'll want to be really selfish! I like to drink mine mixed with soda water and ice but it's also a really good alternative to mulled wine if you serve it hot. If your tastes run to the perverse you could even try a little of the cordial syrup poured over vanilla ice cream. Mmm...







Moving House

I know I've not posted for a while but, like I mentioned in my last post, I've been moving house.  Apart from uncovering the extent of my yarn addiction (and realising how much other crafting stuff I actually own) It's made me realise just how emotional leaving a home can be.

The Boyfriend and I first moved into that house when I came back from living in Spain in 2009.  I'd spent two years abroad and, although I loved it, I was looking forward to coming back home.  I was really nervous actually as I'd never cohabited with a partner before but I needn't have been as we found living together incredibly easy (thank goodness!).  I was also fortunate enough to gain an amazing step-daughter. Then started a whirlwind year of parties, nights in and good times.  The Boyfriend and I could throw a good party...

 



2010 was the year that things started to get special.  The Boyfriend became The Fiance and we started planning The Wedding.  The house was turned into a veritable sweat shop of craftiness as we made bunting, invitations, table runners, bouquets and button holes (more on those in a later post ;-p).  Our lovely little house had really become our home and was now dubbed Casa del Clap.  We also had another cracking party for my birthday where everyone had to wear a hat:

Last year was the year of the wedding.  The night before the wedding The Fiance stayed away with his friends and my girlies and I had a sleep over at the Casa.  I left my little house that morning and came back a married woman.  A little home all filled up with love.  Here's me and my Dad on my wedding day:

And now we get to this past 12 months.  We bought a dog, Morris, Lord of Disruption and Chief Yarn Tangler and we also found out we were expecting a Tiny Clap.  Lo and behold, the little Monkey arrived, and the Casa was filled to bursting with happiness and joy.  My little family are ace!

So, as The Husband and I picked up the last remaining yarn balls, dusted the last room and closed the last blind I shed a little tear.  There have been so many happy memories in our little Casa and I'll be sad to leave.  I know we're moving on to better things but it's still hard to leave a place where you've been so happy.  But then again they do say "home is were the heart is" so I know that wherever my little family is will be our home and I know that our new Casa will gain even more happy memories than the first official Casa del Clap.

 

Firstly, an admission...

I have a problem.  It's taken me a while to admit it but it's true.  At first I tried to keep it a secret but, having just moved house, it's true extent has come to light.  It's becoming a huge issue and I don't think even The Husband had any idea of the depths of my addiction. I'm going to say it out loud...

My name is Becky and I'm addicted to ...

Yarn.

That's right.  Yarn.

Honestly I didn't have any idea of how much of the stuff I actually owned until I had to pack it all.  Earthy, autumnal yarns of ochre, rust and olive.  Speckled arans ripe for cabled sweaters.  Bright, jewel-like double knits for fun cardigans and toys.  Snuggly, warm chunky yarns to make scarves, hats and bags and dainty 4-plys and laceweight yarns for socks, shawls and little gloves.

I had enough UFOs (unfinished objects) and WIPs (works in progress) on my needles and hooks to last for the next ten years, but then in May something happened to fuel my addiction even more.  I had a baby boy.  What a grand excuse to go yarn shopping.  The Husband couldn't even say no!

"Ooh, look at that cotton yarn!  It'd make a lovely cardigan for the little Monkey"
"What a lovely shade of blue!  I've got a baby pattern just right for that"

Et cetera, et cetera...

And so, with yarn pouring out from every cupboard, under the bed, and even in the kitchen, I have been forbidden to buy any new yarn until at least next summer and any patterns I have must be adapted to use yarn from THE STASH. (The Husband was very clever when he tackled this issue, complimenting me on my "amazing technical ability to adapt patterns").  I shall try my best of course but, hang on, I've just been comissioned to knit matching Christmas Sweaters for the Monkey and his cousin.  I'm going to need to pop to the knitting shop for that.  It's OK though, it's for the baby...