My Frustration!

I have no idea what to call this post, I just know I have to get it off my chest!! I think I'm turning into a grumpy old woman!

You will probably think I'm mad, but our bins were not collected on Wednesday as they would normally. This causes me much frustration as the council decided that we would have to choose between having either a large blue bin (recycling) and a small black bin (general waste) or vice versa. We opted for the large recycling bin as those collections are every two week and general waste are weekly.

Anyway, I digress! I checked the website - no sign of the bin men having a Christmas break. We have had no leaflet advising us of no collection so I decide to fill out the missed collection form on the website and tweet my frustration!

Turns out that there are NO collections this week!! The week where the average household will generate at least twice a much rubbish as in a normal week!

So these workers, who went on strike earlier this month, have a holiday when the rest of us mere mortals would love to be off (well I'm a SAHM but hubby is working)

The reason, cited by Poole Borough Council - I quote "it's unfair on the residents whose collection date falls on a bank holiday"! What?????

Bournemouth and Dorset have laid on extra collections to catch up yet ours are off. I just hope they clear all the mess next week, but apparently they will only collected two extra bags?

I caught my cat happily shredding a rubbish bag to get at its contents yesterday by some hapless fool whose bin was too full so they left the bag beside it! We have foxes and badgers too so I am sure they'll have a go as well.

As for the dirty nappies - I'm quite tempted to go and leave them outside the Civic offices to see how they like it!

Am I being unreasonable to expect my refuse to be collected? We pay enough council tax for the priviledge!

I'd love to know if we are the only ones in this situation or if you have similar frustrations.

The Liebster Blogging Award

I was recently nominated for a Liebster Award by the lovely @amummytoo who can be found here:  http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2rdZO2/www.amummytoo.co.uk/2011/12/my-award-winning-blog/

I haven't been blogging long and this award has been introduced to get new bloggers out there, so must say a big thank you. and well done to the other nominees

So…I’ve thanked and linked back to the blogger who nominated me (that’s Rules 1 and 2). And I’ve added the award badge to my sidebar (that’s Rule 3). Now for the fun bit. I have to nominate five new bloggers to receive the award…

1.  @budgetingmum - I only found her recently and discovered that she lives not far from me.  She has a great blog full of tips on how to save money, reviews and crafting.  Oh and she is lovely to talk to on twitter too.  You can find her here:  http://budgetingmum.co.uk/

2.  @cooda - Again, another local who is super lovely.  She is a single mum of two gorgeous girls who speaks honestly about the highs and lows.  You can find her here:  https://coodababy.wordpress.com/

3.  @jessiemiller1 - There seems to be a theme here as she is also from Dorset, but that is where the similarity ends.  Yes, she is a mum and business woman but she also tells her tales in the most magnificent fashion.  If you only read one blog this year then it just has to be her tale of visiting Longleat and I defy you not to laugh, cringe or just blush.  You can find her here:  http://mummymiller.blogspot.com/

4.  @tiredmummyoftwo - A super lovely lady who I met when she was promoting her massive Christmas competition on twitter, giving away too many prizes to mention.  We are now embarking on a mission to get slim together using @thinkingslimmer.  You can find her here:  http://tiredmummyoftwo@weebly.com

5. @Him_Me_Three another lovely last I have recently been introduced too recently. She blogs about her gorgeous family and slightly irritating hubby (her words not mine). Please find her here: http://himmethree.blogspot.com

Please go and say Hi to them all!! They love twitter as much as I do!!

Our Christmas

We had a lovely time for Eliza's first Christmas!

The kids got us up at a reasonable 6am to open their stockings from Father Christmas and it was lovely having them all piled on our bed, excitedly tearing off the paper. The older boys got through their fairly quickly but it was great to see 3 year old Isaac taking it all in. Everything stopped when he unwrapped his hand knitted Mr Bloom and the veggies!! (who needs expensive toys?)

Once the stockings were emptied off we went downstairs to the welcoming smell of fresh Brioche bread, made very well by my battered old Breadmaker!

I won't bore you with the details of the day, but it wasn't perfect (toddler tantrums when it all got too much and teenage sulks when they realised that they didn't have as many presents as the little ones), but it was a lovely family day!

The kids loved all their presents and the family present of an iPad (or big phone as my toddler has christened it) was a genius idea. Just got to get them to share it!

Hope you all had fun and now looking forward to NYE and the normal hilarity of playing Kinect whilst drinking merry water!

Merry Christmas Everyone

The presents are wrapped, the kids are supercharged with excitement and only a few hours to go until the big day.

Hope you all have a fantastic day and that Santa brings you all the gifts you've asked for!!

X X X

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

I love to bake!

I am not very good at the design side, but apparently my cakes are very tasty - so much so hubby's workmates are frequently putting in orders!

In the run up to Christmas I thought I would have a go at some Christmas themed cakes with the kids, with the intention of entering @englishmum #BigChristmasBakeOff.

So here is my latest offering:

4oz Butter, softened
4oz Caster Sugar
2 Eggs, Lightly Beaten
4oz Self Raising Flour
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

Preheat Oven to 190C and line a cupcake tin with cases (this makes twelve larger cakes)

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs and vanilla essence.  Sift the flour and fold into the mixture.

Spoon mixture into the paper cases and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins.  Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

Once cool you can pipe on the buttercream icing and decorate:

8oz Butter
1Tbsp Cream or Milk
12oz Icing Sugar

Place the butter and cream in a bowl and beat together.  Gradually add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.

My result:

Thinking Slimmer - Week 1

For those of you that read my last post, you will know that I started my Thinking Slimmer journey last week.
Downloading Trevor (the voice) onto my Ipod was easy and I began to listen to his hypnotic tones last Sunday.  If nothing else it is very relaxing, even though I was hoping he might sound like David Tennant!
I was so skeptical of this but within a couple of days I realised that I had cut out my obligatory bag of crisps with my lunch, and was reaching for fruit or nuts instead of a biscuit if I was hungry.  By Thursday I was so curious and just had to weigh myself and discovered I had lost 2.5lbs.  Hooray!!
Then it all went wrong!
Toddler boy developed a heavy cold and an ear infection so I was up on and off all Wednesday  night with him.  Thursday his sister went down with it and I was up with her from 2am.  I don't know about you, but if I'm tired only something with an instant sugary hit will do!
Friday night disappeared in a blur - Baby Bear wouldn't settle so I ended up falling into a fitful sleep on the sofa so I forgot all about poor Trevor.  Its been the same since, Baby Bear has Laryngitis so has lost her voice so I don't want to go to bed with Trevor playing incase I can't hear her.
I weighed myself this morning and am back where I started, even though my jeans feel looser.
Here are my measurements for this week:
Weight:  10stone 6lb = no change
Left Arm:  30cm - no change
Right arm:  34cm - no change
Bust:  90cm:  -2cm
Waist:  88cm - no change
Tummy:  99cm:  -2cm
Hips:  98cm -2cm
Left Leg:  50cm - no change
Right Leg:  50cm - no change
So where has this drop come from?  I actually went grown up swimming this week and manage 46 lengths of the pool, plus I have been avoiding bread where possible.
I'm still skeptical, but am going to keep going despite my failure this week.......I'll keep you posted!

The Gallery - My Awesome Photo

The lovely Tara Cain (Sticky Fingers) has launched the Gallery where bloggers can showcase their work.

This week, she is giving the winning photo a giant canvas up to the value of £100!

I love taking pictures and you can find me on Instagram too, but I rarely take photo's with a camera as its too big to lumber around, but I did find this beautiful picture taken on a day out to Burton Bradstock in Dorset!

Baileys Cheesecake

My entry for the Bosch Dishwasher link up on Scottish Mums Blog

Ingredients:

250g Digestive biscuits crushed

600g Cream cheese
  

40ml Baileys

100g Icing Sugar

300ml Double cream (whipped)

100g Cadbury flakes

Cocoa powder to dust.

Preparation method:

1. Melt the butter in a pan and mix in the crushed biscuits until all the butter is absorbed.

2. Remove from the heat and press into the bottom of a lined 18cm/7in springform tin. Place in the fridge and allow to set.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Lightly whip the cream cheese then beat in the Baileys and icing sugar. Whip the cream and crumble the flakes into it and fold into the mixture. When smooth spoon onto the biscuit base.

4. Refrigerate and allow to set for a further two hours once set remove and decorate with cocoa powder dusted over the top.

Baby Sing Christmas Album Review

When @rockbabyworld asked for volunteers with babies to review their christmas album, I jumped at the chance.  I am a lover of Christmas carols and songs in general and even when they were on repeat time and time again when I worked in a shop I loved it.

This is what Rock And Roll Babyworld say:
"Baby Sing Christmas is a fantastic new Christmas Album, perfect to create that special atmosphere for baby's first Christmas.  Born from a love of real music with the aim to create an album that is not overproduced with synthetic sounds but with real vocals and instruments enabling baby and the whole family to enjoy at this traditional time of year."

So, what did I find?

It has the CUTEST baby ever on the album cover (always a good thing) and lots of well known Christmas favourites:
Let It Snow / It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year / Away In A Manger / Santa Claus Is Coming To Town / All I Want For Christmas Is You / Silent Night / Here Comes Santa Claus / O Christmas Tree / Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer / Jingle Bells / Frosty The Snowman and We Wish You A Merry Christmas (plus some surprise bonus tracks too).

If I am honest, I wasn't sure at first when I put it on.  Each song is beautifully arranged with just a guitar playing and a woman singing, but as I was listening to it in the car and my husband was song hopping (very annoying), I didn't hear it at its best.

When I put it on a home it felt much softer and I began to appreciate its simplicity!  Eliza (10 months) immediately started dancing, swaying and waving her arms to Let It Snow.  Isaac (her 3 year old brother) took great delight in singing along to Jingle Bells and We Wish you a Merry Christmas, and we are busy learning the words to some of the other songs too.

In a nutshell, the album feels like a mum singing to a baby, which they love.  In my case this is much better as I could not hold a tune to save my life!

It's a perfect introduction to Christmas and is great for playing in the background when you are opening those all important presents or eating your christmas meal.  The album isnt going to get you up dancing around the room, but all quietly singing along to the words without even realising!

Available to buy from http://www.musicforbaby.co.uk/
You can follow them on twitter @rockbabyworld