Oh it's a jolly holiday....

....well it will be when we eventually get there. I love holidays, what's not to love, change of scenery, a break from the usual routine, time spent with the family. But boy do I loathe all the prep it takes to get things ready.
We only holiday in the UK which in my book means clothes-wise packing for EVERY weather eventuality whereas my huband will only pack a shirt for each of the days we're away and a few pairs of jeans. How come he can travel so light? Is it a "man" thing? Each holiday I promise to pack light and yet still end up bringing home unworn clothes.

The clothes starting to multiply!





The washing basket is nearly empty, the bottom of the ironing basket tantalisingly close and over the next couple of days I shall food shop and box it all up ready to put in the car. All that will be left then is for the kids to decide what of their hoard of toys they wish to bring with them.
I fear the car will be groaning under the weight of all the stuff we cart about. Still this is the joys of not technically have a weight restriction although I am sure Hubby will be asking me at some point if I "really need" all this stuff. Perhaps it's a "girl" thing or is it more experience of young children who not only manage to get themselves filthy but me as well. Nothing worse that wearing a lovely white top only to find your nearest and dearest pups have managed to smear Weetabix in the most obvious place on your body.

Weather forecast for the first few days of rain but still being an optomist (or maybe just pig headed - Hubby would argue the latter) I have packed my new maxi dress. No credit for this creation is due to me. Quite frankly working full time over the last 4 weeks has left me with no time to even think about attempting to make this dress but thankfully my wonderful mum stepped into the breach and made it for me.

Fingers crossed the weather is nice enough for me to actually wear it!

Am looking forward to a much needed break, hopefully will re-discover my mojo which has done a disappearing act of late. Pics of jolly holiday (can't help but hear in my head Dick Van Dyke saying that a la Mary Poppins) when we return.

Where did the time go?

I must apologise for my lack of blogging this week. I am into the 3rd week of the summer holidays and with 3-4 kids are various times of the day (I work full time generally through the holidays, term times I have more time to myself) I am struggling to stay on top of things. Then I've pretty much spent many a night this week glued to the news channels and internet following the trouble up and down the country, especially Birmingham as that's the city I live closest to. I shan't use this blog as a platform for my thoughts as to how or why these terrible events occurred but despite all the naval gazing and analysing that's going on only those who committed these acts know their reasons for doing so and I hope to goodness they reaslise the impact of their actions on the community around them.

Anyway there are a few random pics of things I managed to take a quick photo of, they're in no particular order and certainly don't have any links to one another other than it's what I've made this week!

This plus.....

.....this equals....

....heaven in a wrap.

I have no idea what an authentic fajhita contains (to my shame) but chicken, onion, peppers, grated cheese and salsa hits the spot every time. I confess the salsa was shop bought but in future I will batch cook my own. Honest ;)

I love my home made tortilla wraps. Far more filling than shop bought albeit significantly smaller. But I know what went into them and aside from the rolling out and dry frying they really don't take much time at all. The cost of this feast? Probably just under a £1 per person. I am terrible at pricing things......it's not that I don't aim to be frugal (I do) but I haven't got the time or inclination to price it all down to the last pence. Kudos to those that do though.

Rolled out hot cross bun dough. Buttered and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. I was a wee bit heavy handed with the cinnamon but it's in a large container (bulk bought from Costco) and it pours out a little too easily!

Rolled, cut and left to rise.

Cinnamon buns. Delish. Some might say cinnamon is more of an Autumnal taste but quite frankly I could eat it all year round. Add to that the weather this week has felt like Autumn is just around the corner so how many more excuses do I need. Actually the truth is a little more boring. I make home made bread using the sachets of yeast. However after some experiementing with quantities I worked out I didn't need a full sachet of yeast so I save the excess and when I have enough I use them to make buns. Slightly MSE, not enough to clear the mortgage but as Tesco say "Every Little Helps".

Picked from the tubs in the garden. Despite me being terribly neglectful and not watering every day these lovely carrots have not failed to thrive. Who needs to pay organic prices when I can grow my own for far cheaper. Delicious sweet orange loveliness, I've never seen the kids more keen to eat vegetables as when we pick them straight from the garden.

Welcome to Magic Bean, my 11th follower :) I would love to reply to your comment on the Killer Cat post but for some reason Blogger doesn't actually want me to comment on my own blog unless I wish to be known as Anonymous! If anyone can explain why I am all ears.

Killer Queen

Do you have pets? Prior to the arrival of the pups we'd dabbled in goldfish and had an elderly cat but after the pups we just never seemed to have the time or the inclination. Then last year my mum ended up adopting a stray cat. Pup1 was so enthralled with Daisy cat that he would have a mini meltdown about having leave granny and grandads house. So this led me and hubby to stop and think. What if WE had a cat ourselves? Wouldn't hurt the pups to experience pet ownership but given my job and house size a dog just wasn't practical. But a cat.......well they own you rather than the other way round. Something requiring minimal input from humans aside from the daily feeding sounded ideal.
How wrong was I?
Cat requires endless supply of food, seemingly at between 5 and 6am. Who needs an alarm when you have a furry bottom being thrust on your face as she lies ontop of you.
We adopted her from the Cat's Protection League and as she was young we thought she'd cope with the pups a great deal easier than a more mature cat. I thought the novelty of a cat would wear off with the pups after about 6 weeks.
How wrong was I?
Mia (as we renamed her - Pup1 is a fan of the Channel 5 show Mio Miaow and he thought the first word is Mia) is a firm favourite with the pups. At every opportunity they will stroke, chase <sigh> and pick her up. She puts up with a lot from the pups and has a lovely nature not to mention to be cute as a button to boot.

Who could fail to be enthralled by such an adorable face.

I could after this mornings present brought to me in the bedroom with a flurry of fur and excitable squeaking translated as "look mummy what I have brought you".

A pigeon wing. How charming. Just what I needed to complete my interior decorating.

The remainder of the poor, unfortunate bird was under the favourite "kill" bush in the garden, minus it's head.

Still I guess I should celebrate. It's been nearly two weeks since the last annihilation of a feathered friend by killer cat. She might look cute and cuddly but oh boy she's a ruthless assassin.

Pigeon pie anyone?

Sleep.

Or lack of it. Here at Chez Bitsy the pups have been not the most slumberful of creatures. Which has meant life the last couple of days have felt more like surviving than living. I am a person who really needs 10 hours sleep, on a good day I generally get 8. Last couple of days it's been more like 6-7 which on paper doesn't sound a great loss but for me to function it's a big deal! If pups aren't enough to contend with then the killer cat has been doing her early morning prowl, chirruping away begging to be fed and let out.

So combine this with working full time and having 3-4 kids every day of the week boy oh boy I was ready to put my head down and sleep for England yesterday afternoon. My lack of energy was having a knock on effect on everything, housework was behind, eating mindfully went out of the window and everything was a huge effort.

So last night I made the effort to go to bed on time. For me this has to be no later than 10.30pm. We managed a whole night uninterupted until 6.30am. Do I feel like a new woman today or what :) OK I am still a little bit tired, one night isn't a complete catch up but the difference to my well being is amazing. So this morning I even felt like shaving, plucking and moisturising. Still having a bad hair day but hey 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

So it's time for me to break the bad habit of late bedtimes, treat my body better and go to bed on time. This way I'll feel better for it and more productive. Which is good because this just got delivered for Pup2.

<said in the style of Rolf Harris> can you guess what it is yet? The joys of internet shopping (with cashback of course) the only downside is the need to put everything together!