Teenager

My first baby is 13 today.

I can still remember his birthday very clearly.  I spent most of the day before on my hands and knees cleaning the cupboards of the tiny cottage that we were in the process of moving into.  That night I went home to finish packing the old house and went in to labour about 2am.  4 days later I came out of hospital to the new house where John had made my bed, and arranged an arm chair and coffee table in the tiny lounge in the middle of all the boxes.  I spent 4 months ignoring advice to 'put him down' and cuddled him, fed him, played with him.  Then I went back to work part-time, and then after 18 months there was another baby in that tiny house.

I've always been sorry that I didn't get more time with him before I had to go back to work.  Now I struggle with the thought of going back and Smallest is 3 and a half!   I can honestly say that despite the usual dramas and issues, he is proving to be a thoroughly likeable young man, with a good sense of humour and an inquiring mind.  I am certain that one day he will be a very good catch for some young lady.

His birthday has been better than he was anticipating - long story involving wifi, phone bills, and staying up too late - so he was delighted when we gave him the book he had asked for rather than the promised phone bill, tied with a ribbon.  I managed to fool him for a wee while and then gave him the iPod Touch that he had been asking for for over a year!  He was so surprised and delighted!  "Mum, you rock!".    I do.

I had previously said that 12 would be the last birthday for homemade cakes, but started to feel guilty as they really are so easy.  So I had a think about what might be suitable for a teenage boy.  He had no particular idea so I googled.  I came up with Rainbow cakes but thought they might be a bit too girly and decided to use shades of blue instead.

No 2 boy helped to divvy up the mixture into 4 bowls and then add increasing amounts of blue food colouring.  We did 2 cakes at at time, cooled them, trimmed them flat so as to avoid the old 'Leaning Tower of Pisa' effect and stuck them in the freezer over night.  All good so far...  Today was a whole other story!  It has been very warm so when I was making my buttercream, the butter melted, separated and would not cooperate.  It has been in the freezer since 4pm and is still runny!  This meant I had to race to Woolies and buy some of that revolting tinned frosting (apoplogies to those of you that like it...!).  I slapped it in between the layers and all over the outside, crossing my fingers tightly that it would work and not just be some lame-looking white cake!  Thankfully all turned out well in the end and he was suitable impressed.

After a very laid back day of playing with his new iPod, reading his book and a (very) small amount of housework, we headed out for dinner.  One of the wee ones happened to mention it was Archie's birthday so when the drinks came, his was in one of those fancy flashing cocktail glasses, and at the end they brought sparklers in his dessert!  We were really delighted for him as being the oldest has a lot of downsides with so many younger sibs vying for, what should be, your attention.   And mostly getting it.

Anyway, he had a great day and is off to the football with his Dad WITHOUT brothers tomorrow, I hope he feels special.  I am feeling a whole lot older that I did with my tiny baby 13 years ago.  I hadn't a clue but was deliriously happy.  I still haven't a clue and am now just mostly fairly delirious!

Happy Birthday to my lovely Archie.  xx

Muffins - Fast and Fantastic

The title of my post is actually the name of a book by Susan Reimer, unsurprisingly about making great muffins quickly!

Susan is the wife of one of Husband's colleagues from Edinburgh and we always laughed that this little book had sold more copies than those of all the academics put together (until a little one about Star Wars obviously...!).  I just found mine again in a box in the garage at the weekend and spent Saturday evening half watching a film and half reading the intro and Notes on Muffin Making.  Susan came to the UK from North America and was thrown by the different use of weight and volume, different types of flour and different temperatures so she experimented until she got what she wanted.  These experiments often made their way to New College and Dr Reimer's office was the place to be in the morning.

I never really got on with my oven in the UK, not sure why, and have various scribbles in my copy to adjust times, temps etc.  There are all kinds of notes from Susan herself to adjust this if using that etc, which all helps.  This afternoon we went with the Summer Fruit Muffins and they turned out to be even lighter and fluffier than any I've made recently.  I managed to make enough for everyone for afternoon tea, then enough for packed lunches tomorrow.  I guess I'll be making more in the morning!

Another Scarf...

Just wanted to pop in and show you that I have managed a wee bit of hooky lately.  I'm working away on my latest Granny Square but it is slow progress when you are using 4 ply wool and a 3.5 hook.

Anyway, the lovely teacher who received this scarf, handed me a bag of the most scrumptious wool at the kid's Sports Day and asked if I could make her a Winter scarf, so here it is.  I can't find the label but it was a wool cashmere mix - I think... and is super soft.  Again, the usual, unimaginative UK Tr Crochet stitch, but I think it looked ok and I have just received a message to say she loves it!

Not the best photo but I was taking it as I was running out the door to pick Smallest Boy up from Pre-school.  I was told off by a friend recently for not taking photos of everything I make so made the effort to remember!

Oct Hols and 10 things...

Wow these holidays have flown by.  We have one day left then the weekend and back to school.  No INSET/Pupil Free days this term, just straight back to business - pheew!  I do love my Mondays to myself.

Since we last spoke there has been the usual beach action, a visit to Newcastle Museum, a good spring-clean, we survived the first week without Husband, hanging out with friends and a trip to watch Mary Poppins in Sydney.  If you live locally, own a small girl, love musicals and haven't been you really should try to get hold of some tickets.  It was fabulous.  It was Miss M's rather belated birthday present but well worth the wait.  We watched the film again the next day and she decided that the play was definitely her favourite.

I received an email earlier in the week from Cheryl at NUMBER FIVE to invite me to share in a wee link up to share with you 10 Things You Didn't Want To Know About Me...  Well, in the interests of general nosiness, here goes.

1.  I'm a fast food Nazi.  My children have been successfully brainwashed to dislike the Golden Arches and their unpleasant friends.  I can whip up a healthy pasta dish in 15 mins so why bother wasting money on food that doesn't fill them?

2.  I cried until my 20 week scan when I found out we were having no5!  People started to avoid me when they saw me coming!  I was all set to start applying for my Masters and was devastated.  His was the hardest labour, I had terrible mastitis, until I begged my GP for the drugs I had found online that she had to then order specially, but I am SO glad to have him!

3.  I get extremely cranky if I don't get enough sleep.  Unfortunately Smallest still thinks that it is his responsibility to climb in and "keep [me] comfy" at 2.30am.

4.  I am a Boys Mummy.  Obviously I have a daughter and I am a girl, but I find boys a whole lot easier to understand and deal with.

5.  I am hopelessly untidy and love having 5 slaves to tidy up for me!  Bribery and corruption works every time.

6.  Since having children my brain has turned to mince.

7.  I regularly fall asleep on the sofa and miss the last crucial 5-10mins of tv programs.  Thankfully we now have a T-Box which has a rewind function.

8.  Since I got my lovely DSLR camera nearly a year ago, I have taken to date 7422 photos.

9.  I really don't understand Twitter.

10.  I am very easily distracted and have far too many WIPs, books and projects currently on the go.

There.  Now I am to ask 5 of you to join me, so over to you

Jules at Little Woolie
Emma at Emma Varnam's Blog
Janette at The Green Dragonfly
Louise at Tea at Weasel's
Kylie at Blue Teacups

Bondi

Today was the first day of the holidays and the first day of Husband going away for a week to the Big Smoke.  He is off to Sydney to take part in a series of lectures at New College, and rather than zip back up and down everyday they are putting him up for the week.  We decided that, since he wasn't required until dinnertime, that we would take him down and spend the day together exploring a bit more of Sydney.  New College is part of the University of New South Wales and is very close to Bondi so we thought we would head there for lunch and go from there.  My parents had been to Bondi a number of years ago, before we came here, and reported back that they had been distinctly under-whelmed by the most famous beach in Australia, so I wasn't expecting too much.  My first thought was that it was a bit like Portrush where my Mother grew up in N.Ireland!  It is much more commercial than our beaches in Newcastle and to be honest I'll take Merewether any day, but we did like it and had fun.

We had lunch in a great pizzeria "Papa Giovannis".  The owner was delighted by all the children and wanted to know were they all ours?   Were we Catholic?  If not why did we have so many?   Why didn't we stop after the girl?  Were we having more?  Were we mad? and so on!  John chatted to his son for ages about Italian football and the kids were given samples of all the different gelato that they make!  If you're ever in Bondi, tell them the crazy Irish/Scottish football-mad family with all the kids sent you!  The pizzas were great and the kids meals were fantastic.

We took our coffees and gelati to the beach and the usual running/jumping/racing competitions ensued.

It didn't take long before Smallest got soaked!  Thankfully there were spare hoodies, warm sunshine and kind Big Brothers.

I do love exploring Sydney.  While I like living in a much smaller city I get a real buzz whenever I see all the skyscrapers, I love the busy streets and all the quirky shops and the unique characters in the different suburbs.  If we had had longer I would have loved to have a walk  or visit other less well-known parts like Bronte and Coogee - another time.

Miss Meg and I will be back in Sydney on Saturday for Mary Poppins so maybe we'll try and fit in a bit more exploring without all the boys.

Grandmother's Rings

I just came across Cheryl's Blog which is joining a "See What Jewellery You Are Wearing" Blog Hop here.  Now I'm not so into jewellery and don't wear much but it was the first two entries that attracted me, both to do with Grandmother's rings.  The only jewellery I wear are my wedding and engagement rings, my Grandmother's engagement ring and a silver bangle known as "the-bangle-I-bought-for-myself-on-honeymoon-as-my-new-husband-was-too-tight-to-buy-it-for-me-bangle". He doesn't really like that story and wishes he had bought it as I have worn it nearly every day for 19 years!

My extensive collection of jewellery!

When we got married we were both students and very poor!  My engagement ring came from one of those discount jewellers with big red and yellow stickers everywhere, was second hand and cost 225 pounds (Aussie keyboard - no pound sign!). The hallmark said 1917, if I remember correctly (it is no longer there as the ring was so worn the band snapped and had to be replaced!), and is of the style where the setting is larger than the stone, none the less, I love it and would never swap it as it reminds me of where we have been and of what is truly important in life (ooh, nearly made myself a wee bit teary there!).  

 My engagement ring

When it came to getting a wedding ring, we had no money left but I did have a big, chunky signet ring given to me by my Paternal Grandmother some years previously with my initials on it.  It had belonged to an aunt of hers from a wealthy Edinburgh family who also shared our initials.  Since my parents were at the other end of the country from my chosen university I would sometimes jump on the train to Glasgow and then head to Largs to spend a weekend with my Grandmother.  It was on one of these occasions that I asked her if I could have the ring melted down and made into my wedding ring.  She was delighted and I was relieved as she could be quite forceful in her opinions!  

My wedding ring

When we were little, my brother and I always favoured our maternal Grandmother as she was more your typical, cuddly Granny, but as I got older I learned to respect and love this indomitable lady.  I was very fortunate to spend a week with her a few days before she died in 1996.  During that week she told me that I was to have her engagement ring but, to cut a long story short, my Dad decided it should go to my Mother so that he could see it and be reminded of his Mother.  The day before we left for Australia, 12 years later, I had a substantial amount of money in Tesco vouchers (how I miss them!!)  to spend in Goldsmiths.  Mother was with me to help me choose but I didn't like the watches, I didn't like the rings and I wouldn't have worn anything else.  Mother took me to one side and told me that she had been planning to give me my Grandmother's ring before we left as she thought I needed at least one piece of jewellery that was appropriate for my husband's new position!!  Might also have had something to do with my comments over the years about whether or not she was enjoying MY ring...!  Happily we had seen a really pretty ring with 7 diamonds in the shape of a flower that we thought would remind her of the 7 of us every time she wore it so my vouchers were well spent and everyone was happy.  

Granny's ring

Apparently the ring isn't actually my Grandmother's engagement ring but we don't really know what happened to her original.  We found her original wedding ring, a tiny gold band, but I will always remember the beautiful scalloped ring that she wore.  I now have them both but her fingers must have been tiny as I can't wear either of them any more. 

Granny's original wedding ring.  You can see the initials for Joseph Thom Carrick - Sarah Colvin

The wedding ring I remember her wearing

Her teeny rings compared to my chunky one!

Hopefully one day my own daughter will appreciate these rings and their history, but currently she refuses point blank to wear any of the beautiful silver bangles I have bought for her, prefering to wear bits of wool that she has finger knitted instead!

Ta-dahhh!

At last I have some pics of the first finished Granny Square blanket.

This one was done in a variegated wool which reduces the need for sewing in endless ends - crafty!  I do like the way the colours change as it goes round.

 I'm thinking it should be called the Wimbledon Blanket as the colours are perfect and by the time Wimbledon comes around again, we'll be needing it!

It is a lovely, soft, chunky wool, hooked with a 7mm hook, approx 42 rounds and finished off with 4 rounds of sc.  I actually ran out of wool and had to call around to track down 3 more balls.

Daughter is delighted.