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| My niece's 14th birthday cake |
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| A Portal Cake |
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| coffee and hazelnut cake |
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| Son's Yoda Cake |
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| Friend's daughter's cake |
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| Cupcakes for the teachers |
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| Daughter's Rapunzel Tower cake |
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| other daughter's Princess and Pirate cake |
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Cakes
I love making cakes, I'm still learning lots but I don't care if they are not perfect, I put my heart and soul into them and really enjoy having something to work on. So here I'm going to post some pictures of cakes I've made in the past year.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Always at the Airport, Never on the Plane
I took my eldest son to the airport yesterday, he's going to visit his dad in the South Of france for a while. Things around here were getting him down and he needed a little break. I guess he also wanted to see his dad too!
So we set off to the bus stop to take us to the train station. While waiting for the bus Graham comes running out of the house with the plane and train tickets. mmmm yes, I think we might be needing those!
At the station we have 10 minutes until the train leaves but Craige decides he wants a drink and some chocolate first. Ok, we have time....but not time to walk around the shop 3 times because he can't decide what he wants.
Finally jumping on the train with seconds to spare but chocolate purchased we can continue with Craige's rendition of Chinese History. He'd already talked non-stop on the 25 minute bus journey about it. Ok, I'll admit to finding it quite interesting ;-)
Then he shuts up and gets out his book and we have peace....ahhh! The journey to Liverpool is 1 1/2 hours and it went pretty quick. I was mostly looking out of the window in wonder at all the frozen ponds and rivers, ohhh it looked cold out there!
From the station it was straight on the bus to the airport. From what I saw on the bus journey I was thinking that Liverpool looked just like every other city I'd ever visited, not sure why I was expecting different really, but I've never been there before. On this bus Craige decides that it was probably not a good idea to pack his spray can of deodorant and wants to get it out of his case. We wait until we get to the airport, 40 minutes until gates close, and grab a baguette and a drink while we remove the offending aerosole from his suitcase. Then he checks in and is on his way through passengers only gate within 15 minutes. I watch him as long as he's in view like it would be the last time I ever saw him again, just in case.
Then it was back on the bus to the station. Waiting on the platform I can't believe that the train I'm supposed to be on is not showing on the screen. It was freezing and the screen was telling me I had an hour wait. So I decided to go back inside the actual station so I didn't freeze to the platform. At the top of the stairs I saw the train I wanted pulling in on a different platform...eeek! One mad dash and I made just before the door closed. It took me 5 minutes to get my breath back, but then I settled in for the journey home, looking to the skies for a glimpse of a plane, any plane, so I could wave goodbye to my son one more time.
So we set off to the bus stop to take us to the train station. While waiting for the bus Graham comes running out of the house with the plane and train tickets. mmmm yes, I think we might be needing those!
At the station we have 10 minutes until the train leaves but Craige decides he wants a drink and some chocolate first. Ok, we have time....but not time to walk around the shop 3 times because he can't decide what he wants.
Finally jumping on the train with seconds to spare but chocolate purchased we can continue with Craige's rendition of Chinese History. He'd already talked non-stop on the 25 minute bus journey about it. Ok, I'll admit to finding it quite interesting ;-)
Then he shuts up and gets out his book and we have peace....ahhh! The journey to Liverpool is 1 1/2 hours and it went pretty quick. I was mostly looking out of the window in wonder at all the frozen ponds and rivers, ohhh it looked cold out there!
From the station it was straight on the bus to the airport. From what I saw on the bus journey I was thinking that Liverpool looked just like every other city I'd ever visited, not sure why I was expecting different really, but I've never been there before. On this bus Craige decides that it was probably not a good idea to pack his spray can of deodorant and wants to get it out of his case. We wait until we get to the airport, 40 minutes until gates close, and grab a baguette and a drink while we remove the offending aerosole from his suitcase. Then he checks in and is on his way through passengers only gate within 15 minutes. I watch him as long as he's in view like it would be the last time I ever saw him again, just in case.
Then it was back on the bus to the station. Waiting on the platform I can't believe that the train I'm supposed to be on is not showing on the screen. It was freezing and the screen was telling me I had an hour wait. So I decided to go back inside the actual station so I didn't freeze to the platform. At the top of the stairs I saw the train I wanted pulling in on a different platform...eeek! One mad dash and I made just before the door closed. It took me 5 minutes to get my breath back, but then I settled in for the journey home, looking to the skies for a glimpse of a plane, any plane, so I could wave goodbye to my son one more time.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Tick tick tick -BOOM!
Living with someone with Bi-Polar is extremely difficult. Every day is like walking on eggshells. From the moment she walks in the door your senses go on full alert, not sure what to expect but expecting the worst. nine times out of ten her first words are words of complaint. I don't think I've ever known someone complain so much. Dinner time is the worst. I have seven to cook for and a tiny kitchen, put anyone else in there and tell them to cook for seven and I'm sure they wouldn't cope. Not only that but I usually have to cook two or three different meals. It's all in the timing, most of the time I get it right, but sometimes I still screw up. So, when I've been through this trial the last thing I want is complaints and insults about my food. It's cold, it's not cooked properly, it's got no taste, it looks disgusting etc etc. No-one else complains.
The mood swings are hard to deal with. Sometimes she's hyper happy, loud, bossy, and really full of herself. She's difficult to deal with like this, you just have to go along with it. Then she's miserable, her life is a disaster, she can't take anymore, and she sobs and sobs.
You can sometimes see her inner struggle as she tries to maintain some sort of equilibrium, especially around the little ones. She'll be kind and play with them, but then, when she's had enough, she wants them to go away. Not easy for a six, four and seventeen month old to understand. She can't stand the noise, she can't stand them in her personal space. Sometimes she will struggle inwardly and remain calm while asking for them to go away, but it they don't she will explode. The struggle is something new, in fact I see her struggle in other areas too (with me in particular) You may think it strange but I take the struggle as a good thing, because it shows that she's really trying to control herself. Before she struggled she just let rip.
I spend most my days biting my tongue, not reacting to her. I tread the eggshells, I go out of my way and my own comfort zone to keep her in a stable mood. The same goes for her older brother and my partner. But sometimes we reach our limits and can't take anymore. That's when the bomb goes off, particularly if it's me that's snapped. We have the most awful rows, no-one ever wins, we both feel awful afterwards, we both blame each other and we don't always apologise afterwards.
But, we both know that we love each other, and I guess deep down, we are not that different.
The mood swings are hard to deal with. Sometimes she's hyper happy, loud, bossy, and really full of herself. She's difficult to deal with like this, you just have to go along with it. Then she's miserable, her life is a disaster, she can't take anymore, and she sobs and sobs.
You can sometimes see her inner struggle as she tries to maintain some sort of equilibrium, especially around the little ones. She'll be kind and play with them, but then, when she's had enough, she wants them to go away. Not easy for a six, four and seventeen month old to understand. She can't stand the noise, she can't stand them in her personal space. Sometimes she will struggle inwardly and remain calm while asking for them to go away, but it they don't she will explode. The struggle is something new, in fact I see her struggle in other areas too (with me in particular) You may think it strange but I take the struggle as a good thing, because it shows that she's really trying to control herself. Before she struggled she just let rip.
I spend most my days biting my tongue, not reacting to her. I tread the eggshells, I go out of my way and my own comfort zone to keep her in a stable mood. The same goes for her older brother and my partner. But sometimes we reach our limits and can't take anymore. That's when the bomb goes off, particularly if it's me that's snapped. We have the most awful rows, no-one ever wins, we both feel awful afterwards, we both blame each other and we don't always apologise afterwards.
But, we both know that we love each other, and I guess deep down, we are not that different.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Night out!
When I worked at the uni I made two lovely friends and we have stayed in touch ever since, even though I left the job 11 years ago. We always meet up at Christmas, birthdays and often try a summer date too (seeing as we were all born in winter!)
Last night it was a birthday celebration in a local(ish) pub. Now, it's been a long time since I got drunk and I wasn't really planning on getting drunk last night. It's not fun feeling drunk or hungover when you've got 3 little ones who often need mummy during the night. But we were having such a good night with lots of laughs and had moved onto these funny little drinks called bombs, which as the name suggests were potent. We were drinking Glitter Bombs a mixture of goldschlager and redbull, you get a shot glass floating in a glass and drink them both together. I don't even like red bull!!
Around 9pm my friend looked at her watch and told us the time saying 'oh, we are now about to enter the Twilight Zone' followed by a little Twilight Zone music. (Of course if you are younger than 35 you probably think this has something to do with Vampires and Werewolves, but actually it doesn't) We established that this actually meant that the next time one of us looked at the time it would seem like only 5 minutes had past but it would be ten to 11. 5 minutes later I was at the bar with my friend and I looked at the clock....10.50pm yep, the Twilight Zone had got us again.
When I got home I was feeling quite alien, but very happy. I did what you should never ever do when drunk and updated my facebook status, I wrote 'drinkiong gold asnsdv qwerll pisaghedf musyt gop to bed so weird twoligfhtv zxonmer'
translated into English, 'drinking gold and feeling well pissed must go to bed so weird twilight zone ' punctuation goes out the window when drunk!
The kids were fantastic throughout the night. Joseph woke twice but went straight back to sleep. Lucy got me up at 5.30am and I had an headache, but nothing a couple of paracetomal couldn't clear :-)
Last night it was a birthday celebration in a local(ish) pub. Now, it's been a long time since I got drunk and I wasn't really planning on getting drunk last night. It's not fun feeling drunk or hungover when you've got 3 little ones who often need mummy during the night. But we were having such a good night with lots of laughs and had moved onto these funny little drinks called bombs, which as the name suggests were potent. We were drinking Glitter Bombs a mixture of goldschlager and redbull, you get a shot glass floating in a glass and drink them both together. I don't even like red bull!!
Around 9pm my friend looked at her watch and told us the time saying 'oh, we are now about to enter the Twilight Zone' followed by a little Twilight Zone music. (Of course if you are younger than 35 you probably think this has something to do with Vampires and Werewolves, but actually it doesn't) We established that this actually meant that the next time one of us looked at the time it would seem like only 5 minutes had past but it would be ten to 11. 5 minutes later I was at the bar with my friend and I looked at the clock....10.50pm yep, the Twilight Zone had got us again.
When I got home I was feeling quite alien, but very happy. I did what you should never ever do when drunk and updated my facebook status, I wrote 'drinkiong gold asnsdv qwerll pisaghedf musyt gop to bed so weird twoligfhtv zxonmer'
translated into English, 'drinking gold and feeling well pissed must go to bed so weird twilight zone ' punctuation goes out the window when drunk!
The kids were fantastic throughout the night. Joseph woke twice but went straight back to sleep. Lucy got me up at 5.30am and I had an headache, but nothing a couple of paracetomal couldn't clear :-)
Friday, 3 February 2012
The Story of a Council House repair
I've lived in my council house for more than 22 years now and I have many stories to tell. My partner gets annoyed with me when I don't report minor repairs or take ages to report them, but I'm honestly sick of the whole process and will deliberately delay it as long as possible.
Here is my latest story and it begins 5 years ago when we had our radiators installed. They put one in our loo and I informed them that the wall wasn't very strong as Craige had put a hole in it and I'd filled it with PolyFilla. I said there was no way it would hold a radiator, but what did I know? The radiator was fitted on the faulty wall. Cut to 4 years later when the radiator first fell off the wall, I'm really surprised it lasted so long but knew it was inevitable. They sent out a man who said "that radiator should not have been put there, the wall isn't strong enough" No, really! So unable to re fix the radiator he left saying he'd send out a plasterer. The plasterer arrived and said, I can't remove the radiator to fix the wall I'm not qualified, I'll call the gas people to remove it. I gave up when no-one turned up and propped the radiator up (still partially attached) and waited until it was really necessary to have it fixed.
So a few weeks ago the radiator started leaking. *sigh* I called the repair service. The man came. "I can't see where the leak is coming from" he said. That's because it was coming from a pipe that was covered with trunking which he made no attempt to remove. "You need to get the radiator fixed back on the wall then it will stop leaking. I haven't got the right tools, I'll get someone else to do it"
Two weeks later I get a letter saying they had been trying to contact me but had no luck by telephone. Very strange, I'd had no calls on home phone or mobile and no messages. So I call the number they gave me in the letter repeatedly over the next three days and it's constantly engaged.
Then a guy turns up at the door. "I've come to fix your radiator" whoopee I cried and did a little dance (not really, I'm joking!)
Taking a look, notice I say look, he didn't actually touch the radiator, he said "I can't fix that, I don't have the right tools" oh really! "You'll need that wall plastered properly before I can do anything, I'll get a plasterer to come out" deja vu. He turned to leave....oh no you don't, I blocked his way out of the loo, "would it not be a good idea to remove the radiator so that when the plasterer comes he can actually get to the wall to plaster it?" mmmm, yes, ok. And radiator was removed. He left me with the knowledge that they only had one plasterer and he only worked on Thursdays. As it was Thursday it was going to be at least a week before he could come. Oh Joy!
This morning I wake up to a flood in the loo. So I call the repairs team and they will be sending someone out today!
Here is my latest story and it begins 5 years ago when we had our radiators installed. They put one in our loo and I informed them that the wall wasn't very strong as Craige had put a hole in it and I'd filled it with PolyFilla. I said there was no way it would hold a radiator, but what did I know? The radiator was fitted on the faulty wall. Cut to 4 years later when the radiator first fell off the wall, I'm really surprised it lasted so long but knew it was inevitable. They sent out a man who said "that radiator should not have been put there, the wall isn't strong enough" No, really! So unable to re fix the radiator he left saying he'd send out a plasterer. The plasterer arrived and said, I can't remove the radiator to fix the wall I'm not qualified, I'll call the gas people to remove it. I gave up when no-one turned up and propped the radiator up (still partially attached) and waited until it was really necessary to have it fixed.
So a few weeks ago the radiator started leaking. *sigh* I called the repair service. The man came. "I can't see where the leak is coming from" he said. That's because it was coming from a pipe that was covered with trunking which he made no attempt to remove. "You need to get the radiator fixed back on the wall then it will stop leaking. I haven't got the right tools, I'll get someone else to do it"
Two weeks later I get a letter saying they had been trying to contact me but had no luck by telephone. Very strange, I'd had no calls on home phone or mobile and no messages. So I call the number they gave me in the letter repeatedly over the next three days and it's constantly engaged.
Then a guy turns up at the door. "I've come to fix your radiator" whoopee I cried and did a little dance (not really, I'm joking!)
Taking a look, notice I say look, he didn't actually touch the radiator, he said "I can't fix that, I don't have the right tools" oh really! "You'll need that wall plastered properly before I can do anything, I'll get a plasterer to come out" deja vu. He turned to leave....oh no you don't, I blocked his way out of the loo, "would it not be a good idea to remove the radiator so that when the plasterer comes he can actually get to the wall to plaster it?" mmmm, yes, ok. And radiator was removed. He left me with the knowledge that they only had one plasterer and he only worked on Thursdays. As it was Thursday it was going to be at least a week before he could come. Oh Joy!
This morning I wake up to a flood in the loo. So I call the repairs team and they will be sending someone out today!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Respect my Authoritah!!!
In church today I had to restrain myself from a fit of the giggles. Our minister is Nigerian and has a thick accent. Today he was talking about figures of authority, so obviously he kept saying the word authority, only he was saying authoritah just like Cartman in South Park!!
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Ever had one of 'those' days?
my entire life is one of those days. Well it feels like it and I'm sick of it. I'm fed up of the moaning, complaining, arguing, the way everything is always my fault, I have to do everything for everyone and still it's not enough. It's my fault if anything goes wrong, it's my fault if appointments aren't made, or kept, it's my fault the kids are playing up, it's my fault the baby is crying, it's my fault when something breaks. It's my fault I'm fucking breathing!
OH how I wish I could get away, just me and the little ones. I would take them far away from here so we could get on with on lives and live the way I want us to. I wouldn't have to put up with the complaining or the lying. I wouldn't have to feel like I was trapped in a never ending spiral. Nothing ever gets better here, no matter how hard I try. I try to be understanding, I try to keep the peace, I put up with all sorts of shit, I keep my tongue well and firmly bitten almost all of the time. There are four adults in this house and three of them are driving this one fucking crazy.
I dont' want to tread on egg shells anymore. I don't want to live a lie. I want to be free. And if I can't be free then I'd rather be dead.
Sod the lot of them!
Rant over!
OH how I wish I could get away, just me and the little ones. I would take them far away from here so we could get on with on lives and live the way I want us to. I wouldn't have to put up with the complaining or the lying. I wouldn't have to feel like I was trapped in a never ending spiral. Nothing ever gets better here, no matter how hard I try. I try to be understanding, I try to keep the peace, I put up with all sorts of shit, I keep my tongue well and firmly bitten almost all of the time. There are four adults in this house and three of them are driving this one fucking crazy.
I dont' want to tread on egg shells anymore. I don't want to live a lie. I want to be free. And if I can't be free then I'd rather be dead.
Sod the lot of them!
Rant over!
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