A matter of choice

Living in Cyprus I am very pleased to avoid most of the 'Halloween hype' as I'm not really a fan of 'trick or treating' having never done it as a child and more importantly spending years in the UK trying to avoid the older kids who were only interested in collecting money or 'tricking' (ie destroying stuff), that said it may sound hypocritical but I don't dislike Halloween at all,  after all - a reason to party and to dress up, what's not to love!
Last year I went to my first ever Halloween party, at my friend and fellow party/fancy dress fan Sam's. Halloween is Sam's 'thing' and this year she hosted her now annual Halloween party. (Sorry Sam, we'll be back next year,like it or not!) 
Sam had done a fantastic job with the decorations, all home-made (you tend not to see Halloween things in the shops here) and everyone brought a contribution to the food table.  Aaron and I had made a Ghost Cake and I also made Monster Eyeballs and S…

Last year I told you all about my first Halloween party it was held by my friend Sam and it was great fun. Tomorrow we are going to do it all again so in a tradition we seem to have created for ourselves Aaron and I had a cake to make!

Last year we made a 'Pumpkin cake' and so we've been debating what we could do this year. Aaron suggested a skull but I thought we shouldn't peak too early so we went with his second idea a Ghost cake.

It was a joint family effort as Leo 'helped' me bake the cake and then as usual I handed the decorating over to the arty one.


Leo and I made a simple Victoria sponge mixture but as we needed a lot we tripled the standard recipe.

300g castor sugar
300g butter
6 eggs
300g self raising flour

I usually cream the butter and sugar first, adding the egg then the flour gradually but Leo didn't agree with that method and chucked it all in before I could intervene, including the eggs without cracking them! I retrieved the whole eggs and …

This time two years ago we were rapidly disappearing under a pile of boxes, we had booked our one way flights and it seemed that every day brought more 'goodbyes' as we gradually got closer to our leaving date. We had spent many months gradually packing our belongings for shipping to Cyprus and my poor parents lost the use of their conservatory for a very long time (and their garage, spare bedroom and hallway!) It was a huge task debating what to take, what to leave and who to give it too or how to sell it, along with trying to work out what we needed for Leo as he was then only 5 months old.

We said goodbye to our things at the end of October and I remember standing on the driveway, in the cold and that horrible drizzly rain as I watched the van with our beloved boxes drive away.  I stood there for a long time watching the now empty road thinking.... 'Oh my god, that's it - it's all gone now'  I could hardly believe that I would next see it all in Cyprus, aft…

I have always been interested in many things to do with recent history and among other things the second world war,  particularly what was happening 'at home' whether that was in the UK, France or anywhere else in Europe. What has fascinated me and often left me in awe is the sacrifices people made and how everyday life was affected for everybody.

Today Cyprus celebrates another Bank holiday, but it saddens me that so many British expats here do not even realise that it is, and even if they do they possibly have no idea why it is so. I am making this lovely country my home and so I wish to learn all I can about it's history and people and I think it is important to find out these things.

Today, October 28th is Greek Independance Day, or 'Ohi Day' as it is often known.   It commemorates the day in 1940 when the then Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected the ultimatum from Italian dictator Mussolini that the Axis forces should enter and occupy Greece or else …

They say you can tell a lot from looking at someone's face but I've never been very good at reading people myself, Aaron is a good 'reader', especially when it comes to me, I suppose the 16 years we have been together help quite a bit there!

This photo was taken on my wedding day just before I left my parents house, and I wonder what he would have thought had he been there at that point.  This is one of my Mum's favourite photos of me from the day.


The process of getting ready had not gone entirely to plan, the hairdresser was late and I although I'd imagine getting dressed in a leisurely fashion with my bridesmaids helping me and then making my 'entrance' as I came down the stairs, it ended up that I jumped into my dress and ran downstairs hoisting it up and asking someone, anyone to zip me up!

The photos felt rushed and I didn't feel entirely comfortable but I do remember this one being taken. The photographer asked me to look into the garden but…

Once upon a time I listened to music a lot, in the car, at home and even if I had the TV on it would usually be on a music channel during the day. Nowadays due to the protests of a certain little man it's usually restricted to in the car, and even then it has to be 'not big loud Mummy' On the rare occasions I end up indoors on my own, the first thing I do is to turn my ipod on and listen to my favourites.

I miss my music and wish I'd not stopped listening to it so Leo was in the habit of hearing it and might not moan about it so much. Music can do so much for your mood and there are so many songs that really mean something, it drives Aaron mad that I have a story for nearly every song in my collection!

I've been tagged by Real Housewife Lauren to take part in  Mammywoo's Music Therapy which is all about reminding ourselves how much we love our music and sharing the songs which really mean something to us, those whose lyrics could have been written just for us…

When you step off the tourist trail in Cyprus you realise there are many little hidden gems to be found, one of these is in Derynia, the village where we live.  The Derynia Folkloric Museum is a picturesque old house full of traditional Cypriot items including many household and farming tools.

The museum is run by a friendly local called Varnavas, who grew up in the house and decided to open it up to the public and share his collection of now historic items.  He is happy to tell you lots of interesting information and you can tell he genuinely enjoys sharing his family and countries past with the visitors.  From telling you about all the photos of his large extended family lining the walls to opening up all the cupboards and pulling out  delicate hand made linens and traditional clothing to show you nothing is too much trouble.


It is even possible to get married here at the museum, either in the traditional bedroom or in the courtyard.  I've been to the museum twice now, and I…

I was very lucky as a child I got to go on several foreign family holidays over the years. I went to Malta twice as a toddler but the first holiday I have memories from was in the early eighties to Estepona in Spain, although I do wonder how many I'd have if it wasn't for the large amount of photos we have!
I learnt my first foreign word on this holiday which was 'Helados' a very important word for a young child to know as it means 'ice cream'. I remember coming back to the villa one day to find the doorstep so covered in ants it looked completely black!  I remember that my parents forgot to give the villa key back and we realised once back in the UK, I kept that key (Casa 228, yep I can still remember what was written on it!) for years and years as my 'best ever' souvenir.
Most importantly I remember walking through a tunnel (I assume under a road or something) with my Dad after he had had a drink or 3 when he announced he was "a little 'tiddlyp…

The last few weeks I've not been able to cobble together a post to take part in Michelle's Reason's to be Cheerful linky, in fact I may have struggled to fill a 140 character tweet on the subject!  I decided last week that I would take a leaf out of Michelle's book though and find things to be cheerful about even when it appears there are none... but then...

I got a job!    Not only did I get a job, I got a good job!    After Aaron lost his job back in August I started looking for work, the plan had always been for me to do something (had no idea what, I was looking for a flash of inspiration!) but once Leo was in nursery, and we had to wait until we had the cash available to send him - catch 22 I believe!  
As we were both out of work I was now looking for anything at all, but it's very hard. It is the end of the season so many people are now out of work for the winter so the wrong time of year for job hunting. I've not worked here in Cyprus so far and I don't…

One of the things that continue to fascinate me about this blogging lark is the not just the amount of readers I have gathered along the way but also the search terms that lead people to my blog.   This weeks Listography asks for our Top 5 Keyword searches so I couldn't resist going to find out what they were.


1. Barney / Barney & friends (and loads more Barney related phrases)  
This is my highest viewed post by far, and it was a previous Listography entry - Top 5 Annoying Kids programes.  It's had over 10,000 more views than anything else!

2. What makes a house a home
The second highest search at the moment, which would take you to my recent post about Leo's new 'Big boy's bedroom'

3. It's all Greek to me / Rosetta Stone (and many Rosetta Stone related terms)
I've been writing about my progress learning Greek and reviewing the Rosetta Stone software.

4. Meniere's Disease
This pleases me, and I hope this post may have helped someone This was …

What a busy birthday week it's been.... I had a nice birthday 'day' which was mainly filled with cake! It started off with toddler group to which I took fairy cakes, followed by a lovely home-made cake from my Mum and then the arrival of my friend with an armful of doughnuts.

In the evening, my lovely parents babysat and paid for us to go for a meal, we tried a new restaurant which had been recommended to us and had a lovely time. 
Last week I looked back over my childhood birthdays, and on the day itself my Mum wrote about my actual birth day so this week I thought I'd share some memories of a couple in between!
I love any excuse for a celebration and birthdays are a VERY good one so I've had some outstanding (usually) drunken celebrations. From my 18th birthday party where I tried to punch Aaron (and missed!) for getting me a stripper after I had made him promise not to, to a alcohol free weekend on the canal when I was pregnant I have many to choose from. 
One of th…

I'm slowly getting better at doing more craft activities with Leo. I always imagined I'd be doing all kinds of things but in reality it turned out to be harder than it looked! I've never been known for my patience and this is not helpful when it comes to dealing with toddlers at the best of times, let alone when you add paint, glue and instructions into the mix!

I love the ideas over at Emma's Lunch, and the way the crafts are themed to the seasons so I thought I'd try an autumnal themed craft. My inital plan was to take Leo to the park, something we haven't done for a few months due to the heat, to collect some leaves, but I realised the flaw in the plan as soon as I looked out the window... the trees are all green and the few leaves that are around are the wrong type!

Not to be outdone I printed some leaves to colour in,


I gave Leo just 'autumnal colours' red, brown, yellow and orange, along with a green as he was a bit bemused that trees could be any…

Today is my birthday so I thought it would be a good idea to ask my Mum to share her memories of my arrival while I turn the computer off and go and eat a lot of cake :)

Our daughter, Emma Joanne was born on Tuesday 11th October 1977, at 11.10 am. (which was a coincidence) weighing 8 lbs.9 ¾ oz. (3.9 kilos). Being born on a Tuesday was apt, as Tuesday's Child if full of Grace - my Mum's name.
Emma was delivered by Dr. Barnard, nephew of the heart surgeon, Christian Barnard, by Caesarean Section. I had undertaken fertility treatment, so we were extra lucky to have Emma.
As proud parents Nick and I left the hospital on Thursday 20th October, it was like stepping out into a different world, autumn had definitely arrived, golden leaves were everywhere, there had been none when I first arrived. Emma was wrapped in a shawl and I cradled her in my arms. Nick took us home to where her Grandparents (Nick's side)  were waiting for us, it was so good to get home. The next day was the t…