LMB had her dancing show on Friday night! This time last year she was in pre-school ballet. When it came to her time to get into the line, one of the other girls had "taken her spot", so, as a wee four year old, she proceeded to stand there, with the other girls continuing to "dance" around, and put her hand up:
"Miss Balletteacher, Miss Balletteacher, so and so has taken my space"
This was followed with her wandering off to the wings to report this atrocity!
Of course to the hilarity of the audience, lots of "aww's" and "cuuuuuute".
Fortunately this year, she proved to be "able to cope" with minor discrepancies from the usual routine, allowing the pre-schoolers to take this all on themselves, and was a lovely Dutch girl bringing a real tear to my eye.
Her final routine was Toni Basil's "Hey Mickey" which coincedentally was the first single (vinyl - yes sir - how old be I?) I ever bought!
Then this morning, the music school did their end of year concert, so LMB shook her eggs to Down in the Jungle.
And the Messers Beehive both played their geeeetars!
Finally I just wanted to put my current WIP up for you to see. I'm so chuffed with how this is progressing, but, in hindsight, I probably should have used a blue fabric for the underskirt. I'm not convinced the pink is the best choice. Anyway, see what you think.
Now with all the classes and clubs done and dusted for the next six weeks, it's time to kick off our shoes and enjoy the summer - and wait for it to start raining!
x
My friend Sonia celebrated her birthday just before the solstice, so we went to celebrate in the Botanical Gardens on the Solstice. What a lovely treat, exploring the garden without the sound of "I'm boooooooored", "when are we going to the park?" "Can I have an ice cream"
Did you know, there are actually plants at the Botanical gardens!!
So if your smalls pull you around these places at a rate of knots, please feel free to indulge in our indulgence !!
Ever had one of those weekends where you wake up on Saturday morning and by the time you've rubbed your eyes, it's Sunday evening?
This weekend has been one of those! I've hit the ground running without my running shoes on too!
First there were ballet show rehearsals which required gelling and pinning back into buns, of non existant hair, then there were Rainbow pwincess parties:
...with enOOOOOOOOURmous pink cakes as big as our faces!
There was a necessary trip to Camera Obscura
in order to entertain Master Beehive the younger and the teenager, whilst Master Beehive the elder was at cricket practice with Mr Beehive and a rather nice victoria sponge cake that I'd whipped up in my sleep (yeah -look at me being Mrs. Smugmummyhomebakingcakemakerallbeforebreakfast! - marks out of 10 for taste - 10, marks out of 10 for appearance....it's amazing what you can hide with icing sugar on the top, but at least it wasn't a stoned dinosaur!)
Then there was "the football" - oh, no, hang on, then there was a group of rather pathetic looking men running around a green piece of grassland flailing their legs around and occasionally managing to kick a ball! I've pretty much escaped the football scene for many, many years now having managed to marry a man who shares my sentiments of "it's only a game". However, this may just have been his secret to a happy marriage, or only comes into light when there is a world cup. NOW he has partners in crime. Two, happy to oblige with the yelling at the screen, the shouting at the ref, the assurances that "they could do better", sons. So the three of them hijacked the box and my sitting room for 90 minutes *sigh*.
Then it was Sunday, which was father's day - Happy Father's day daddies - although it did take a nano second of disgruntled grumpiness on my behalf to think why "he" was getting the lie in AGAIN this morning and why he was ignoring my whimpers for coffee! *oops*!
Then it was a couple of hours to unpick and run up the fleece in a larger size:
God, would you look at the attitude, kind of reminds me a bit of this:
Finally, the smallest rugrat was out on a bikeride with her friend and I was going to work.
Now it's nearly 8pm and as I said, it's nearly Monday morning again! Although there was time for some of this...
This weekend will self destruct in five seconds...
One of those completely manic days today that I would be sure I'd manage better if I had a pair of roller skates attached to my feet.
Today was sports day at school.
LMB has been thrilled about the prospect of this event and woke me up to tell me so at 3.30am! Eventually I gave in and "let her out" to hone her egg and spoon skills at around 7.30 along with that god damned lark !
I've managed to not play the role of sports-day-mom in the last 10 years, but, being back in the UK, can no longer avoid this duty of parenthood.
So, armed with my camera, I set off to cheer on my tribe.
As the parent participation events came close, I realised with urgency how I needed to be at work, all of a sudden! The beds won't change themselves and I need to check levels of wee and take out a catheter or two - has to be done...now! *wink*
So, I rushed off to work for a couple of hours.
Then I rushed back to let out the dog for a wee, pick up the ingredients for the soup, and then rushed back to school to pick up the first two children, comfort Master Beehive the younger as he is sad that his house came last and work out that "the Green Grandparents" isn't actually the name of LMB's house, rather her interpretation of "the Grampians", which is!
Then I rushed up to the next school to pick up the second two children, having texted the teenager to tell her I'd be a bit late as I couldn't get past the cheerleaders at the schoolgate of the first two children. Of course, being a teenager, she didn't pick up the text - well, not the one from me at least !!
Then we rushed home, one child needed her 80's costume finding again for tomorrow, the other decided that this time he wanted to go as a hippy and needed a purple coat and flares - oh and a long black wig - not even wonder-super-catheterchanging-sportseventattending-mom could fix this one in 24 hours, so my granny would have been proud and we "made do and mended" - well, adapted.
Then it was time to go swimming, so off we pootle again, all kids in, all costumes on, all towels, goggles, hats, accounted for. They swim, I watch and sweat - the temperature at the baths isn't kind to spectators. They change, the little miss goes home knickerless as she forgot to put them in her bag *sigh*, I make soup and fresh bread for dinner. The conversation flows, loudly, with much remonstration and wild gesticulation, in English, in German, in Gerglish. They get down and I clear up, wash up, wipe down (with some help), sing songs, feed dogs.
It's now 9.30 and I am going to bed, but not before I've made a big peace banner - shit - better get a shift on, it'll be morning soon!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Mmmm, my kitchen smells lush today!
I was meant to be working down my list of things to do today, which included going to John Lewis fabric department after I'd been to a meeting I'd got scheduled. However, best laid plans and all, and let's be honest, a visit to JL, would have only increased my increasing stash of fabric for which I never have enough time to do all the projects I want to do anyway!
Master Beehive the younger came out of school yesterday looking a whiter shade of pale, which for us in the Beehive before we've seen much sun tends to make him look rather like a translucent zombie with all his veins and black shadows leaping off his face!
So he's now pee'd in his bottle to go to the lab as it looks like he might have a UTI! Hurrah!
We're now making banana muffins and banana, ginger and walnut loaf and some beanburgers for dinner tonight. Sometimes the bananas in my house are eaten as if I've birthed three chimpanzees, other times they are apparently the spawn of the devil - the bananas, not the chimps btw! So, with an excess or rapidly browning bananas and a houseful of hungry boys, teenagers (I always seem to have an extra teen at the moment!) and a small rugrat that just is "hungreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" all the time - Banana muffins will go down better than a browning fruit that I'm desperately trying to sell as apetising!
I think when this time of year comes around I seem to pull out all the books on preserving, pickling and making the most of gluts of fruit and veg, so the house turns into a small cottage industry.
This week I've made my dress and a fleece for LMB, although the sleeves need removing and wider ones need making as for some reason the sleeves came up ridiculously narrow!
I've made some strawberry icecream and four jars of jam, one of which will be for my friend's birthday next week along with a loaf of sour dough bread from the starter that is just started on the windowsill (of course, this is if it all works!) and a raw cheesecake from the gazillion strawberries that LMB and I picked on Saturday after the beach.
So here are some photos and some recipes for you:
Enjoy:Dress!
Hooded fleece for LMB that needs a bit of a re-touch!
Pretty buttons that asked me to buy them the other day along with some fun fabric that I might line some cord trousers with for a baby boy - who's baby boy is another question though.
RECIPES:
Banana, ginger and walnut bread:
8 oz SR flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 eggs (large) 4 oz soft brown sugar dash of milk 4 oz butter and a dash of oil 3 mashed bananas 1 handful of walnut pieces 1 tsp ginger
Cream the sugar and fat Add the eggs Sieve and add the flour, ginger and baking powder add the banana and stir in the walnuts
Greased loaf tin - I line mine, but it's up to you. Oven at 185, pour the batter into the loaf tin and let it bake for around 40 minutes. You know I am the "throw it in and hope" cook, so watch it go brown (if you smell it then you're nearly done) and bring it out and check with a knife or skewer for it to be clean when you draw it out.
Raw Strawberry Cheesecake
Dead easy this one: Base: 1 pack of hobnobs (or digestives - but hob nobs are nicer!) Around 4oz butter
Topping: 1 large tub of marscarpone cheese Around 600g strawberries - leave two or three to decorate the top Icing sugar to taste
Melt your butter in a pan Bash the hob nobs in a bag using a rolling pin so they become weeny crumbs. Once the butter is melted pour the crumbs into the butter and ensure all the crumbs get coated with the butter. Tip this buttered base into a shallow dish and press down hard - you have to do this with your hands really as it just sticks to spoons. Then refridgerate it for around 2 hours.
For the topping: Puree the strawberries in the blender, then I add the icing sugar and whizz up with that in the blender. You can then taste it and add more icing sugar if you want.
Then you're going to pour the puree in with the cheese and stir it up well with a wooden spoon.
Bring your now solid and cooled base out of the fridge and spread the topping on, decorate with your strawberries and put it back in the fridge!
As of today I am no longer a GCSE student - and probably a good job too as I don't seem to be too hot at it!
My final exam was this morning, so off I pootle leaving mother to sort out the smalls and make sure they're all in the correct schools at the correct time.
8.45am: I'm sitting at the college surrounded by youngsters, most of whom I'm around 1 and a half times their age. Uncomfortable? Much! Get's better -wait...
The big boss comes out as there's obviously been some conflab behind closed doors as she is holding..."my file" - Suddenly I'm 16 again, my zits erupt, my heckles rise, hormones use me as a bagatelle game, I clutch my mobile phone to my breast and I feel defensive - "God! wot have I done nah?"
"Are you the very old has-been GCSE Biology student making us all laugh by taking the exam today that 15 year olds do, who looks like this?" she says shoving my file and photo in my face.
I remember I am actually 38 and find my manners and humility - I smile apologetically, although quite why I'm grovelling for being me... "Yes" I twitter with a large grin on my face.
"You are doing Biology 1 yes?"
"Yes" bigger twitter - bigger grin as I'm aware that all eyes - young students and their parents (who're probably also younger than me!) are boring into my back!
"You are here very early"
"Am I?" *nervous giggle*
"Well, your exam is this afternoon"
THUD!
Oh crap!
Hugely large floor needs to open NOW!
Of course I am not remotely familiar with the peach piece of paper she's now flapping in my face stating in its gloating ariel font that the exam was PM not AM, not remotely, no, not at all...what piece of ruddy frickin' paper that's been stuck to the ruddy frickin' fridge for the last ruddy frickin' three months?
I'm so busy juggling the diaries of everyone else in my family, remembering where Mr Beehive is tonight, where I'm meeting mother, where children 1 and 2 are and that child 3 is at his friend's tonight and needs picking up at 6 and the teenager is at her friend's tonight and needs picking up at 7.30...
I remembered which packed lunches for which children; who is vegetarian and who eats meat, snacks for all, bus fares for one, homework accounted for for two and one pile of signed consent forms to go back for another. I remembered the right cereals this morning for the right children, who has milk in their coffee, who has tea, who hates decaf, who wants the real McCoy. I had a bag with the stuff I needed to take back to the store after the exam, both the receipts and I even remembered my pencil case, ruler and calculator.
Problem was...I hadn't bothered to check what time the bloody exam actually was!
They're trying and you have to give them that. The new coalition government is trying to reduce the country's debt and at the same time, reduce the country's waste. Now, whilst I admire their sentiment, I'm still really unsure as to the reality.
On the radio this morning I caught snippets of the proposed "bin tax" that was bounced around. The new government have decided against punishing the offenders of too much waste in favour of rewarding those who recycle and have little weekly waste.
I’m not sure if it’s compulsory or not actually, I only caught bits of it.
However, will it actually work to reduce much more waste?
Apparently a similar scheme works in Windsor and Maidenhead - oh, that must be the council that I used to live in that wouldn't pick up half my recycled stuff when I lived there five years ago. "We will reward you for recycling, but we don't recycle plastic, cardboard or glass" er...okay then!
Obviously times have moved on!
Surely it will attract the converted - "Yes, I recycle anyway, so therefore I now get rewarded for something I already do" - win-win!
Those who don’t recycle- won’t miss what they didn’t have and will continue to "abuse".
It may grab a few “on the cusp” and push them to the otherside, but for how long will this last?
Recycling isn't a current whim hobby, it's a lifestyle change and judging by the degree in rocket science you need in my parents council to sort the recycling into the correct categories, remove the plastic from the boxes, the windows from the envelopes, the garden waste from the household, the newspaper from the computer paper and on top of that remember which week they collect which bin and which season they come once a week and which, once a fortnight, for a reward of a couple of quid a week, for those in the unsure category...you're onto a real money saving winner.... *sigh*!
On the otherhand, I don’t think the opposite would work either - the recyclers would continue to recycle but feel pressured and pissed off that they are scrutinised over what they already do.
Those who might be penalised as they normally throw away the waste weight of a small country each week will likely find somewhere to fly tip it!
Probably it’s the better option of two not so great ones, but I’m not sure where the money saving will come into it?
I think the retailers are a great place to start - What’s wrong with a certain internet book retailer who shall remain nameless, sending out book orders in a padda bag that’s made from recycled paper (not bubblewrap), rather than sending one book in a large box encased inside in plastic. The box is normally big enough to put three books into, 0r maybe I should just use my local library more often and save any packaging whatsoever to put in my bin and reduce the consumerism but...oh those books that need to sit on my shelves and be admired, stroked, read over and over...oh...oooh... er - sorry - carrying on...
I’m also curious to know why my local, rather nice, supermarket (who will also remain nameless) insists on packaging the organic foods in plastic - what is that all about? Why can’t I buy my organic carrots loose rather than in a nifty plastic bag - which, incidentally, my current council won't recycle because "it's the wrong number plastic"!!!
The supermarkets that now charge for using their carriers - yay! That is a step in the right direction. Using my own bags for shopping at the store has reduced my plastic bag hoard substantially, so there's a good start, but it's only a few supermarkets that do that, most still fling a gigantic pile of them at you when you reach the checkout.
Oh and don't get me started on the internet shop where the packers seem to think that you need one bag per carton of milk!! Yes, they do take them back to the store where they're recycled, but I'm happy to sign on the dotted for having two cartons of milk in the same bag if you're worried I might sue you or quite literally cry over spilt milk !
But, back to the common old garden householder - so are they going to electronically tag our bins?
Weigh them as the dustcart comes to pick them up?
What will we find when we come home from work each day and discover, to our horror, that we were 0.888gms over our allowance?
Will our homes be cordoned off with "Waste crime scene" tape?
Will there be a HarryPotter-esque dark mark over the homes of the offenders?
Maybe we will be electronically connected to our bins, so at that moment when our bins are discovered to be enemies of the state, sirens will blare wherever we are at work and Anne Robinson will come out to cast us off into the outer darkness?
I have spent the day in the garden today, not studying when I am meant to be studying. Instead, I discovered that my sewing machine cable would stretch from the outdoor socket to the table! Thus, I ended up accidentally making a top for the Little Miss! Ooops -so my anatomy won't be up to scratch but ye gods I'll be able to do a nice daisy chain stitch for those perinneal repairs ;-))
Anyway, to other things. I needs your help!
I know there are more of you that read this than acknowledge you read it and I am hoping you can spread the word.
An old school friend of mine runs a hospital in Uganda on the edge of the impenetrable rainforest. He has worked incredibly hard, with his partner, building this from a small clinic to a reputable hospital that serves the local community and beyond.
Anyway, I received this letter the other day:
I have to make difficult choices as a doctor in Bwindi. Please allow me to share with you a decision that I have just made.
Alice is 20 years old and lives in a town that is two days walk from Bwindi. She wanted to give birth to her first baby in a health centre rather than at home, so when she went into labour at 32 weeks gestation earlier this week she walked for a day to a small health unit high in the hills, the nearest one to her house. Three days ago she gave birth to a premature baby girl who weighs only 1kg (2.2.lbs) and is tiny. Knowing that the place where she delivered has no power, few drugs and no running water, the nurse there sensibly advised her to make her way to Bwindi. Attached is a picture of Alice and her baby in the neonatal unit.
Alice set off the day after her delivery and started walking towards Bwindi. After several hours she caught a lift on a Tea Wagon, but this truck only took her to the local Tea Factory where she spent the night. Yesterday she caught a ride on a truck carrying sand to Bwindi, and she arrived at the Hospital with her precious baby who was cold but still alive. BwindiCommunityHospital has developed an excellent specialist unit for sick newborn babies. Seven out of every eight newborn babies admitted to our unit survive. This is a fantastic survival rate, and is a brilliant testimony to our nurses who work around the clock caring for these special patients.
It costs us a lot of money to run our neonatal unit. We have had to spend on employing nurses and doctors to give 24 hour care to 156 newborn babies in the last year, and every month our numbers increase and babies come from further afield. The neonates are kept in a room heated by power that we generate from a diesel generator during the day and run off batteries at night. We provide the babies with oxygen, all of them get intravenous antibiotics, and they are fed every two hours through a nasal tube. The unit is light and clean, and the mothers stay in an adjacent room where they are able to watch their babies through a glass panel. All of this money is well-spent, because it is often the difference between life and death.
We are fortunate to be able to subsidise health care for most of the children under five in this area through the Child Health Access Program, or CHAP, supported by the Eurochange Charity. But in spite of their generosity this does not cover all of the costs of looking after all children, and we will fall short this year to the tune of about $50,000. This means tough choices, and one decision that we have made is to limit the subsidised care to the people who live nearest to the Hospital – the 60,000 residents of Kayonza and Mpungu. We can still care for other children from other places, but their parents have to pay the cost. This sounds harsh, but my mother always taught me that “money does not grow on trees” and until we discover a money tree in Bwindi we have to make difficult rationing decisions.
Sadly for Alice , her baby was born outside of our catchment area. This means that, according to the guidance that we have set, we have to charge her what it costs us to look after her baby. This amounts to about $15 a day, or $315 in total. We told this to Alice this morning, and the message that she has received back from her husband at home is that they cannot afford this cost. It is likely to exceed the annual income for their household. He has told the family to leave the Hospital tomorrow morning and make their way back home.
The chance of survival for Alice ’s child, a 1kg premature baby at 32 weeks gestation, is very low if she goes home. The chance of survival in the Hospital is much higher.
The nurses caring for the baby have asked me to break the rules and allow Alice to stay in the Hospital for the care that her baby needs. I think it is the right decision. But it is easy to make “kind” decisions if you don’t have to pay for them. In order to fund this decision we are asking for a donor to cover the cost of paying for this baby and the other newborn babies like her who want to access our care but for whom we have no income source. Adults are paying their share – so far more than 2,500 people have signed up to our eQuality Community Health Scheme. But I have decided to write this message in the hope that someone who has supported this amazing Hospital before will go the extra mile to help us, so that we can change the rules and allow all newborn babies, wherever they were born, to be able to access the care that we provide free of charge. Information about how to help us is on the Hospital website at
I need something that I can organise that reaches a wider audience than my immediate family and friends that would raise some funds for this current need at Bwindi. I need a big name, or a celebrity face ultimately, or the likes of comic relief to take this on, but that's a pipe dream.
I have some limited skills, none of which would raise much, just some shrapnel. I have friends who have talents, but we all live very spread out and whilst we would and could do something, it will be low key and will raise a small amount I expect.
What this hospital needs is more than just small time donors who can send 50 quid here and there when they've saved up their 2p's (not that I'm belittling the real help that those donors provide!) , I think they need some way of setting up a trust that can supply a constant trickle of funds for this specific purpose.
Anyway, back to reality. In the meantime, I am looking for ideas of things that might draw in a wider audience and raise funds. I'm also looking to spread the word of the wonderful work that Bwindi does for the Batwa population in Uganda. If you think you can help either financially (maybe you can put 50p on one side everytime you read this blog? Maybe you can do a sponsored event or knit baby hats even that I can mail out) or with an idea, please let me know.
And the Messers Beehive both played their geeeetars!
