A Modern Mother

Will you sit by me?

I did my time yesterday. Lunch duty. I was in the hall with about 150 kids and trays and trays of fish and chips.

After pouring 100 glasses of water (half-full, so the little ones don't spill) I looked out upon the sea of children. The floor was slightly damp from the rain and the greasy smell of chips permeated the air. Groups of friends were talking. The buzz loud, but comforting. I saw my youngest (nearly 5!) with rosy cheeks, laughing with her "boy" friend. She was surrounded by a table of other 4 and 5 year-olds. She looked happy.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

FYI -- we were given this DVD to review.

I've put my (nearly) eight-year-old to work. Here's her first review: the DVD Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

It was great! It was about a boy called "Flint." He changed water to food with a machine he invented. It wasn't a very good idea because there was a spaghetti and meatball tornado. Then giant food rolled to all the people all over the world while Flint was trying to turn the machine down.

At the start it rained hamburgers. The next day it rained orange juice, bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. Then it rained ice cream for Calum's birthday (the police man's son).

Fourteen great book club suggestions from Twitter Mums

It's book club tonight! We just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and this evening we get to sip on a glass of chardonnay, munch on nibbles and rattle on. Hopefully about the book! (FYI: loved GLAPPPS, a bit predictable at times, but a very comforting read. I felt really happy after and wanted to move to Guernsey and join their society!)

Part of the fun of book club is coming up with suggestions for the next read. Being the social media whizz that I am (ahem), I put out a note on twitter (sorry, I can't bring myself to use the term "tweet") and within a FEW MINUTES I got some really good suggestions. Have a look, it's a varied list with some fab reads.

1.  A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It is story of a young alcoholic and drug user and how he deals with it in a 12-step programme. (thanks Double Trouble).

More healthy meals the kids love...

Hubby gave me Jamie's America for Christmas, and I have spent a few evenings browsing his recipes on my quest to find more meals the whole family will enjoy...

To my delight I stumbled upon Southern Red Bean and Pork. This is real comfort food.  It's lovely and chunky and full of hidden veggies. You could even make it in a slow cooker. You'll need to buy the book for the official recipe, but here's my take on it:

British Mummy Bloggers post for Haiti

Horrified by these photos? Want to do something?

British Mummy Bloggers (thanks Englishmum, Liz and Eva and many others) are uniting to help spread awareness of those in need in Haiti and how people can help.

If you are a blogger, please join our campaign and post as soon as you can. Then get the word out on Facebook and Twitter, using #haiti #bloggersforhaiti.

No donation is too small. Every little bit helps.

There are several place to donate, including Bloggers for Haiti Just Giving Page, Save The Children, DEC Haiti Earthquake appeal and UNICEF.

If you post, please link below.

Photo credit: elycefeliz

I should have been a food blogger

I got it all wrong; instead of whinging blogging about kids all day, I should be a FOOD BLOGGER. Then I could try out cool new accessories and cook and eat -- all in the name of my readers! If I had known about blogging 20 years ago when I was foot loose and fancy free and not forced to produce meals of fish fingers and baked beans, I KNOW I would have been a food blogger. At least I would have aspired to be one.

 

Meet my new friends ... Bronwyn of Feast with Bron, Anne from Anne's Kitchen, the lovely Carla who Can Be Bribed With Food, Jennifer of Chocolate Ecstasy, Robin who blogs at Source Cook Eat, and Mimi  from MeeMalee's Kitchen.  We spent the day at Miele's Experience Centre in Abingdonmaking some very delicious coffee in high end machines and trying out some of Miele's cool appliances. We melted chocolate in the steam ovens and then dipped in crispy amaretti biscuits. We made an asparagus and sunblush tomato quiche and creamy mushroom penne. Did I mention there were no kids anywhere in site?

Do you keep score?

You know what I mean. It's one the unwritten rules of parenting: a play at ours in exchange for a play at yours. Free childcare with a trusted friend, preferably when you really need it.

Of course I am exaggerating a bit here. Mothers don't really keep a scorecard with ticks on it. No, it's much more subtle and complicated than that. It's all in our heads. Or not, as in my case. I suffer from a severe case of mummy rot and have lost ten percent of my brain cells with the birth of each child (I have three children). I can't keep track of it all.

These favours are especially important to career mums and mums that work at home. I can remember one (working) mum frantically asking children over after school on a day that she was home, to rack up her points. She was completely upfront about it (I love this mum).

Kids grow up. Even Miley.

Disclosure - I received free tickets to this event.

I could hear the sobs from where I was sitting (in the loos at the O2). It was an hour into a Miley Cyrus concert and I needed a "nature break"; my cohort NixdMinx and I had treated ourselves to some much needed glasses of wine. If you are not familiar with Cyrus, she is better known by her Disney manufactured alter ego, Hannah Montana: a squeaky clean teen girl who is secretly a pop star in the hit television series and movie. She is so popular that her 10-date "Wonder World" concerts in the UK sold-out in ten minutes.

The sobs sounded like they were coming from a little girl about my daughter's age, perhaps six or seven. Her mother was trying to console her.

How are you coping with the snow?

It sure is pretty ... but it can be a pain in the bum. The girls have been out of school for THREE WEEKS. There is only so much sledging one can do. I've done the shopping for our elderly neighbours. The ones across the road wanted six cartons of long-life skim milk and Bird's custard mix.  The widow (of the apple man -- did you ever read that post?) needed two avocados and organic whole wheat bread. Funny what you learn about people by their shopping list. Speaking of funny, I couldn't help but giggle at an AA truck that got stuck in the snow on our road. Luckily our Abel & Cole driver didn't get stuck -- and delivered some fresh veg today. School says it will be open on Monday. I'll believe it when I see it.

How are you coping?

The Best of British Mumosphere -- The First Blogging Carnival of 2010

I love blogging carnivals. Besides being loads of fun, they are a chance to visit old friends and meet new ones. What I didn't know is that they are also an endurance test -- to see if you can read 50 blog posts in 24 hours (part of the fun is that everyone sends in their entries at the 11th hour). I survived! And here's a snapshot of the best of British mumosphere...

Liz from Living with Kids is going on a diet: New Year, new diet (and no more leftovers).

Rosie Scribble writes about Blogging, taboo topics and the issue of self-disclosure.

Tim (Bringing Up Charlie) give us his ten best of 2009.

Jen at Alpha Mummy lets us in on a secret -- she doesn't like some of her friends' kids.

I’m having fun, are you having fun?

Close your eyes and think back ... before kids, before marriage, before now...  What did you used to do for fun? No peaking! When I close my eyes I see myself poolside, a trashy summer read in one hand and a icy fruity drink in another. In those days there may have been children nearby – telling their parents they needed the loo or if they could have chips with lunch. But these children didn’t belong to me.

My whole idea of fun changed, pretty much overnight, when my first daughter was born nearly eight years ago. It quickly became apparent that having fun equated with having enough sleep. If I didn’t have enough sleep, I was no fun. When faced with the decision of watching a mediocre television drama or sleep, sleep would win every time.