A matter of choice

Today is my Mum's birthday so I'm dedicating this one to her and looking back at her surprise 60th birthday party!

I love arranging parties and when my Mum's 60th was approaching there was no way I was going to let it pass by quietly.  I knew that if asked Mum would not want big party and that going the whole hog with a party in a hall and lots of people would not be appreciated, so instead I arranged a small surprise party at our house. 
Mum was under the impression that the four of us (Mum & Dad, Aaron and I) were going our for a meal and we came up with a much discussed plan to make sure she believed this until the last moment.We told her in advance that we would pick them up so Dad could have a drink but was wondering how we could then explain driving back to our house!
In the end Aaron went to collect them on his own and told them I was not ready so they had to go back to pick me up, to add some realism to that Dad was a little 'annoyed'  as he hates peop…

Bananas and recipes including them are a recently new discovery to me, I grew up detesting them but actually  'taught' myself to like them!  When I started going to Slimming World I decided it would be easier for me if I liked them as they were a very handy and reasonably filling snack and so I kept eating the occasional one and eventually they grew on me - to the point where I'd have one every morning without fail and I'd be most upset if we run out!

After I'd hit my Slimming World target I continued to eat my new favourite fruit but realised I'd probably be able to improve it by putting it in a cake.   I've tried several different recipes now but this one for some reason is the best by far...


110g butter
110g sugar (can add some dark, but I didn't have any)
2 eggs
3 or 4 bananas (I used 4 and left one for the end so it was less mashed up)
225g SR Flour
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp cinanmon
140g raisins  (I used less than this as Leo ate loads while w…

Although I enjoy cooking I find I'm still not very organised about it, I buy the same things over and over again and rarely plan more than 24 hours in advance. I always have a vague idea in my head that I will make a plan and decide on a weeks' meals in advance therefore saving me the time of staring blankly into cupboards each day hoping for inspiration but I never seem to get round to it.

Over the years I hate to think of how much food I must have thrown away, before the arrival of Leo it would often be a last minute decision to go to the pub from work and not eating a proper dinner or the bright idea of some healthy eating which wore off as the fresh veg brought enthusiastically wore off as it went bad.
These days with money being tight I'm always racking my brains as to how I can save money, and make good meals inexpensively so I was excited to receive a copy of The Thrifty Cookbook. 
Apparently over 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year in the UK - a th…

Last month I introduced you to 'Travel Ted' - a mad endearing hobby of my Mums where she took her little bear all over the world and created a collection of photos of him on his travels.  I'm not sure she trusts me to explain the story without taking the mickey so I'll hand you over to my Mum so she can explain in her own words.....


Ted was lounging in an all items 50 pence basket in the corner of a shop when I first noticed him. Whether it was his wink or a cheeky grin, I decided he was due a more exciting life! So the story of Ted began.
I bought him a Passport on a trip to Brighton, where I could not resist popping into a Teddy Bear shop as I passed. Inside the Passport was a stamped mark - ‘Ironbridge’ so I decided that would become his place of birth and added underneath it -18th June 1996, he now had a Birth date.
I had the idea of taking photos of him with a different back ground each time we went on holiday, this turned out to be quite a challenge. On ho…

Yesterday, for the first time in the two years I have known my friend Sam we finally escaped the kids for the whole day and had a day out without the little darlings!

We went to Nicosia to the Baby, Toddler and Christening exhibition held at the Cyprus State Pavilion.  I was really looking forward to it, and after attending several events in Cyprus which didn't live up to my expectations was intrigued to see how successful it would be.

Before I get moaned at, I realise Cyprus is not England, and that it is a small country but often I get frustrated with how easily things could be improved - events are not always well publicised and I feel the internet  / social media is rarely used to its full potential,  not that I claim to be an expert by any means but if I can see ways to improve things then they must be there!

I was excited to see in the run up to the exhibition that the organisers were using their facebook page along with various groups to promote it.  I was therefore hopefu…

For this weeks Flashback Friday I'm taking you back to 2008....
Gravesham Pool league presentation night - our team 'Spots and Stripes B' had won the cup and come top of Division three.  Of course, when I say 'our' team I don't mean I actually ever played with them, if I had they would not have been winning anything!  I was there though every Wednesday supporting them and watching the match. 
(By supporting them I mean often sitting at the bar talking to my friend Larisa or watching the match trying to remember which colour they were, but I was certainly there every Wednesday anyway!) 
I'd been to several presentation nights, this one being my favourite. Starting of reasonably quiet in The Bat and Ball pub in Gravesend, and then heading 'home' to the pool club where there was much rejoicing!  It was a rare event for Aaron and I to both be drinking as we lived too far from town to get a cab home, every now and again it was managed though and this was…

Leo's never been one for getting dirty, once I would have thought that a good thing (and it has some advantages!) but on the whole it's something I've been trying to change.  Last year I made some cornflour goo and that didn't go down very well!  and he would moan about getting paint on himself.

We have done hand print paintings before but usually only getting a few prints out of him before he realised he was covered in paint, his favourite part was washing his hands at the sink!

This week however I was very surprised...


After some hand prints and painting I tried to show him how blue and yellow mixed together would make green, he was not at all interested until he realised that he could paint his hands with both colours and see those turn green!      All of a sudden it just got interesting!


Linking up with The Gallery  - this week's prompt is Colour

Back in June last year Jenny and I ran 'Going Potty' - a Potty training blog carnival something I hoped would assist me in what I thought was imminent potty training. In August I blogged about when I should start as Leo was not at all enthused about the idea.  There were some great comments about how I should wait until he was ready, and when he was it would all click into place.

Hmmm, really?

Out of his friends (all of which are 6 months older) he is the last to still be in nappies, I've tried to use this to our advantage as he loves his friends and will often get dressed/go to bed/ etc if he thinks the others (especially his 5 yr old friend Jack) are doing the same. It seems this tactic works in every way except when it comes to potty training.

Google 'potty training signs' and you are presented with many lists of what to look for...

Able to follow simple instructions, - yep, when he feels like it that is!
Dislikes the feeling of a dirty nappy - doesn't seem…