99 Problems (with food!) but sugar ain't one...

Just watching the Sugar programme on television with the oldest. I was astonished that the family didn’t know a wholegrain strawberry yoghurt had lots of sugar in it. They assumed because it was wholegrain it was healthy. I was amazed that they didn't think to look at the label and voiced my opinions loudly. Then they had Nutrigrain bars for breakfast, Really? Sam told me if I didn’t calm down we’d have to switch it off. So we watched it and I ranted on Facebook to Richard from school who thought a sugar tax was a great idea.

This was followed by a programme that told us that Vanilla Extract actually contained other things than just vanilla pods, well that’s a no brainer surely? What on earth do people thing they’re eating?!

 I have to say that advertising doesn't help - the Nutella ad' conveniently forgets to mention the sugar in that concoction and isn't their strapline ''wake up to Nutella'' well you can sod off Ferrero - oooh, what else do they make? - I think NOT. People seem very detached from their food. 

''Which? chief policy adviser Sue Davies said: "We think it is misleading to tell people about the hazelnuts, skimmed milk and cocoa, but not mention that it's over half sugar."

"You would have to eat a whole jar of Nutella just to get the claimed 'equivalent of a glass of skimmed milk'. That would also mean consuming over 100g of sugar, even for the smallest jar of Nutella." The consumer group said Nutella was 55 per cent sugar and 31 per cent fat.

An Advertising Standards Authority spokeswoman said the watchdog had launched an investigation following the batch of complaints.

"The nature of the complaints is that hazelnuts and milk aren't the main ingredients.' she said.'' From the  Daily Mail (yes, I know!)

I’m not a skinny min in any way shape or form. My weight has always been a yo-yo but over the last few years it is going down with the big yo-yos getting less and less. I do know WHAT I am eating though. I’ve always cooked from scratch. My Mum was a fairly simple 1970s cook; Bolognese, shepherd’s pie, roast on most Sundays but only pudding when we had visitors and the only bought food was a pasty from Grooms the bakers on a Saturday for a treat. That was made at the bakers not shipped in and cooked. We didn’t have biscuits or yoghurts or squash. If we went to Grandmas we had homemade cakes and they ate jugged hare and pheasant and things Granddad had shot.

Dad had the local newsagents and the shelves behind the counter were lined with those big glass sweet jars. All our friends thought we could help ourselves to sweets and crips but we were only allowed a quarter pound of sweets on a Saturday night for a treat.

Photo from The Guardian

When my Mum met her second husband he loved to cook and introduced us to Indian and Chinese food – there were no takeaways in our part of North Norfolk at the time except for the two fish and chip shops on the quay. Then my Step-dad set up a wholesale greengrocers and we regularly ate what he called ‘Queer gear'; veg we could hardly pronounce the name of let alone had ever seen before. He would buy anything unusual and see what he could make with it. When I got to about 18 I went off the texture of meat and gradually over the next couple of years stopped eating it completely and by the time I was married had stopped eating fish too.

I nannied for two families who were dentists and they reinforced what my own childhood had, no squash, no fruit juices, water to drink, no sweets or puddings. Lady Colwyn introduced me to the Cranks cook book and wholefoods. I didn’t know that flour came in any colour other than white!   Cranks Creamy Leek Croustade is still one of my favourite all time recipes. I also nannied for David Bruce who had the Firkin pubs and he taught me all about red wine, but that's another story!

So by the time my own kids came along we were well into wholefood vegetarian cooking and just like my Mum, cooking from scratch. My twin babies had whatever we ate liquidised. I remember the Health Visitor told me I must not give them curries as it would upset their tummies. They weren't madras style and when I asked her what Indian babies ate she didn’t know what to say. So I continued to give them our food and stuck with sweets and treats only on a Saturday too.

When I had my third baby Judy came to look after the twins now aged 2 ½ and she took them to the park where they ran up to another child who was carrying some sweets and indignantly said ‘You can’t have sweets, it’s not Saturday!’

First time out with Daddy on his own - Castle Coombe circuit and ice-creams! 

We moved to the States a few months later and the Mums there were shocked that my kids were veggie; they thought that was very wrong whilst they fed their kids out of jars, gave them burgers and pizza and coke. Wheras my English friends and I had met at the park, garden centre or for a walk at Westonbirt the US Mums met in Chuck e Cheeses Pizza 'restaurant' 

We kept up with being veggie. Once I bought the kids Lucky Charms cereal and they wanted to know why it had coloured things in it. The first time we ordered a pizza to be delivered they were astonished. We also met a family there who gave their son ketchup sandwiches everyday and microwave chips. Literally EVERY day because ‘that’s all he’ll eat’. Children will seriously eat what you put in front of them if they haven’t had loads of snacks, don’t think anything else is an option and you present it beautifully and sit down and eat with them. Just call me Supernanny.

We came back from the states  with another baby who had somehow absorbed some US-meat-DNA because as soon as he could walk he wandered over to our friend’s BBQ. Rich looked at me and asked if Charlie could have a chicken leg. I have to say with the older three I’d waited until they understood what meat was before they tried it but Charlie was the youngest and I let a lot of things go with the youngest. So I said yes and the story is still told of how Charlie stood at the BBQ saying 'Chicken leg, chicken leg' over and over. He loved meat, and still does.

Until my kids went to school they thought pudding was a glass layered with natural yoghurt, cereal and fruit with a drizzle of honey on top. Sam recently said that when he had packed lunches at school he thought we were poor because he didn’t have crisps and Petits Filous (how much sugar is in those? And people use them as baby food!!)

I don’t mind cooking meat, I try and source it locally and used to say it was a happy chicken or pig until Sam told me it wasn’t happy, it was dead. The household is pretty much veggie except at Christmas and Charlie has the odd bacon butty. I started to eat fish again a couple of years ago just to try and get some more protein into my diet. I eat it maybe once every six weeks because if I think about it too much I just don’t like the thought of it. It just gives me another option if we’re out.

Christmas Day turkey, chorizo and stuffing pie.

Recently we’ve been going back to brown rice and pasta as we had gone a bit white in this house. But when I went to buy pasta there were only two wholewheat types and years ago there used to be lots.

The kids have all worked in pub kitchens and have cooked at home so they are all pretty good cooks – Ella is the best baker, Joe eats meat and can do anything from extravagant sea bass to a cheap cut of beef depending on where he is in his Student Loan cycle, Sam is the veggie curry king and Charlie can knock up a great omelette or mushrooms on toast and is really interested in flavours (I didn’t like his cinnamon phase I have to say!) They have over the years said that friends don’t know how to cook; someone asked Joe if it was ok to eat a banana with brown skin and Sam knows someone who has never made an omelette.

Schools are trying and there are various Healthy School agendas - Bath and North East Somerset have a lovely video about children growing and eating their own produce.

Ella's homemade salads and pizza

Which brings me back to the sugar programme. If parents don’t know what they are actually feeding their kids and children don’t learn how to cook from scratch and people think it is ok to drink sugary drinks everyday and let children have a big choice over what they eat then I’m really not sure where we’re going. We generally need to bring people back down to earth and connected with their food. I’ll be out shooting hares like my Granddad before you know it!

If you’ve got little ones, cook with them, eat a rainbow of foods, make food look beautiful, don’t snack on crap, drink water and sit down and eat with them. Use that time to chat about their day. We used to play ‘What was your best thing today?’ and go round the table asking each other which was always a starting point for a conversation. Make meal times a social time; take the emphasis off the food and make it about the people you're with.

If you make a big deal out of food or use it as a reward it becomes entangled with emotion (that's probably a whole BLOG on it's own!) and that doesn’t lead to a good relationship with it. Make it about the people and the food is just fuel for life.

Since Keep It Simple...

Thought I'd update you on what has happened since the Keep it Simple pdf . I launched it as the final piece of a project I'd been working on and had to create a platform to 'launch' it from hence this blog. The pdf itself seemed to go down quite well, I had a wonderful response from friends and family and they were very kind and shared it all around. One of my favourite comments was from Pam

 ''What a beautiful and useful book!! I am going to give a copy to all my friends with children and then give it to all those without children and all the teenagers I know and then go and do some of the things myself- seriously- what a fantastic resource for everybody and so well put together :)''

But I also had some great feedback from colleagues and 'likers' on faceyb too. People I didn't even know were very supportive and kind. Several people said it made them laugh, which I really liked! 

Then Liz Knowles at Muddy Faces said she'd put it in her Free Resources spot on her website, Michael Follett shared it on facebook and so did Kierna at Learning for Life. I knew I loved the pdf and I really tried to stay true to what I liked when I was writing it and putting it together. For me it was quite scary putting it out there to be kind of judged by my peers especially as there's such a lot of outside information on offer already and the ideas in the book weren't exactly new. But people  liked the writing style and the strong visual image.

So since then I've been working on a similar style photography project, I was walking along the beach between Christmas and New Year and saw loads of shells and began playing with them which gave me a few ideas. So I've generally started exploring with light, shadows and perspective....

Back garden sunset

Lincoln Cathedral

A few other opportunities have arisen too

• I have been invited to go and run training with some outdoor providers 
• I am working with two other 30 Day Challengers using the leaf photos for some hammock designs
• I have been asked to take photos throughout the year for an Early Years publication
• I have been asked to take photos in our local community for a calendar

I met up with the other 30 Day Challengers in Bristol last night and came away feeling very inspired and creative again which was marvellous. I think everyone needs to do something they love even if you can't do it all of the time. On the back of that, and with them all giving me the 'You can do it' talk and virtual shove, I am going to run a couple of outdoor workshops locally which I'm hoping will be light hearted but informative. I'll pop them on here and faceyb so subscribe to the blog or like Niki Willows - Outside if you want to be kept informed.

So fingers in a few pies which is a nice place to be. And if you like stats the blog has had over 3,000 views, the pdf has been downloaded almost 2,000 times and shared around a fair bit by email too. I didn't look to see how many likers I had on faceyb when this began but it's just topped 600. Earlier I googled Rounded & Grounded and it came up in the top four google searches which is pretty cool although I have no idea how google search actually works. I am constantly surprised that anyone is happy to read what I write so if you've got this far, thank you very much :)

Safety Surfacing

A bit of risk – risk being what we’re all supposed to be doing with children, right back from Lord Young’s Common Sense, Common Safety report in 2010 and the Play England documents that came out to support the Playbuilder scheme Managing Risk in Play Provision   'Children need and want to take risks when they play. Play provision aims to respond to these needs and wishes by offering children stimulating, challenging environments for exploring and developing their abilities''  to the current guidance on play from the HSE Promoting a Balanced Approach to Play  ''When planning and providing play opportunities, the goal is not to eliminate risk, but to weigh up the risks and benefits'' 

So why are schools and nurseries still putting in safety surfacing and trim trails and trying to eliminate all risk and FUN? Hopefully you've read the marvellous piece by  Michael Follett on trim trails and why he thinks they are installed, if not, go and read it.

 That ‘safety surfacing’ in my mind is the worst thing that anyone can put down, I hate it with a vengeance, although I do equally hate that green ‘carpet’ that they put down too. I like an outside space to be pretty much green and brown;

Snowdrop Cottage Nursery

I think that we have enough plastic tat inside without letting it ruin an outside space too. So let’s look at some of the options

 Green Carpet

I spent a few years working in a pre-school specifically for SEN children some of whom were autistic, deaf/blind, complex medical needs, walking, non-walking, on wheels – a whole range of children. Someone (before I’d got there) had decided it would be a great idea to put down that green carpet which was done at great expense. It’s kind of astro turfy and has a layer of sand underneath and is supposed to stop any mud getting on children and be a good surface for crawlers. At one point we had to call the army out – they are local and had offered to help – to literally scrape the moss off the surfacing. It took 5 of them about 3 days to clear quite a small garden.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. It gets covered in moss, it holds water, and it becomes very, very slippery. It is rubbish for crawling on, as it holds water like a sponge, unless you are in full waterproofs in which case you may as well be on mud or grass anyway! The only place I have seen it used well is on small high use mounds in a baby garden which also had mud and grass.

West Knoyle Children's Centre

‘Safety’ surfacing

Why anyone thinks that children want bright primary colours blasted in their face all day everyday is beyond me. I went to a nursery recently which is all cream with squishy snuggling up sofas, twigs hung from the ceiling to hang art work from and they were just getting some mirrors and plants delivered. It felt like a home – and this was a big nursery which was part of a chain. I was well impressed. Have a google of Reggio if you want to find out more about the environment children are in – and remember some of those children are in a nursery all day, every day for several YEARS. Think about that for a minute.

But back to surfacing – it’s bouncy, it’s bright and it’s slippery as hell in the ice and wet. Aside from the horrendous colours why would anyone want to walk, run and jump on a surface that gave you wobbly feedback? It’s not hard and flat. If you’re autistic – you know the ones that walk up on their tip toes, is this because the ground feels too weird or because they like the sensation of tip toe walking? Who knows – or have cerebral palsy how odd must that bouncy surface feel. If you need bounce on the ground put in a trampoline. If you need surfacing, put in paving slabs for bike riding and chalking on, mud for digging, grass for lying on and the BIGGEST sandpit you can afford. Put in texture and shape and up and down levels. If you’ve got space, put in a hill! 

Springboard Garden

That horrible ‘safety’ surfacing was invented to go under fixed kit like slides to prevent serious head injuries. It was never meant to replace playgrounds. It will not prevent children breaking their arm or leg and some people say it makes a worse break. If you fall on paving slabs you get a clean sharp break but if you hit the ground and bounce… well it’s horrible to even think about.

So that’s my ranting on surfacing. If you’re a school and have some funds to spend or want to change your outdoor space do look at the OPAL project as a whole school transformation. It has a huge impact on local community, school play ethos, gives the children a real sense of being involved and has a very positive impact on learning too. Happier, healthier people learn better, no surprises there.

Acorns Pre-school, Christian Malford

Christmas Day Ramblings

A year ago I wouldn't have been expecting to be blogging on Christmas morning as I didn't even have a blog. But here I sit on December 25th at 9.05 on my tod. Even the cat has gone out for a wee. The kids (22,22,19 & 18) were all out last night so I don't expect they will be up very early today. They love going out on Christmas Eve because EVERYONE is home.

 I remember doing the same where we grew up we'd always go out on Christmas Eve and some people would pop into Midnight Mass on the way home too! The other time we all headed home was Carnival week which is in August. It's a fabulous week run by a voluntary committee who put on a ridiculous amount of activities and entertainment from kids kite making workshops and creature hunts on the beach to cocktail evenings and live bands, all squished in one week. It's brilliant and when my kids were small we'd always go 'home' and rent a cottage for a couple of weeks. Some of the locals also take the week off too either because they're helping or there's so much on it's like being on holiday at home. So I'm sure the kids had a great night, there's a half eaten Subway on the kitchen worktop so someone was obviously hungry on the way home. The table is set, most of the food is ready to go, the sofa is swivelled round so they can get to the tree and unwrap pressies, I just need them to wake up!

I've tried to be frugal this Christmas as I'm sure like everyone else too, I'm skint! Not as skint as someone who is homeless or people in war torn countries, I do appreciate that but doing the single Mum thing it is a bit of a stretch sometimes. My Dad said he'd sent a cheque for the kids for £100 and I said 'Great, that'll pay for their lunch!'' But I have split it and given it to them really. There still does seem to be quite a pile under the tree though and the last couple of years the kids have bought me gifts too. We never did the 'pretend' gifts from the kids when they were little or make them 'buy' for each other. If I'd given each child a fiver to buy for all their siblings it would have cost me an extra £60. I like handmade things and when they were little a handmade card was the best thing ever. I knocked up a home made wreath for the front door the other day which is now sagging into more of an oval than a round but hey ho!

I received a parcel in the post earlier in the week (if you followed the Vanessa Vodka Saga below you'll know hers arrived safe and sound too) from my friend Esther. I'd ordered some handmade Christmas decorations from her sister for the kids. I opened the parcel and there were the beautiful hand stitched decs; fat robins, Christmas stocking and reindeer. But there were two other packages too. One tiny one which I opened and it made me cry! It was a pices of pale green worn sea glass with silver wire curled around it and made into a pendant. Weirdly on the windowsill next to me I had a silver chain in a little bag that I didn't know what to do with so the two fitted perfectly. Thank you Esther. The other package had a label on which said 'This has been bought to you by the ancient system of bartering' I had seen Esther's crochet work on facebook - although I have known Esther for many years we live far apart - and she had made some beautiful stripy hats. I had asked her for one and said I didn't want mate's rates, I wanted to pay proper full on price. My sister had seen this comment and had bartered something she had made, I'm guessing a print, so the hat had been made by Esther and 'paid for' by my sister. Honestly I felt such a sense of love and joy at that moment. Proper Chrsirmas spirit in the air.

Later on in the week my mate Sue popped round with her daughter and grandchildren. I met Sue at a Christmas Eve drinks party when my twins were a few weeks old, her girls were 11 and 13 and scooped up the babies and that was that. They used to come down after school and play with them. As they got older they babysat, as they got even older my kids became their bridesmaids and ushers at their wedding and now that 11 and 13 year old and their older sister have seven children of their own so it's like we're going full circle. At the risk of sounding like a disney movie I suppose that is the circle of life. Anyway we had a fabulous morning with Sue and three of the grandchildren; oldest playing a console game with my oldest and the youngest two covering baubles and cardboard bunting in glitter. It was so lovely to have some little children in the house, felt full on festive!

Yesterday my mate Jude popped round for a mince pie and a coffee. She has bought me a present and we don't do presents but we do take the micky out of each other relentlessly so I'm expecting a laugh when I open it.

Later on I have the ex in-laws coming. Mrs Ex In-law loves Christmas and since the ex and I split up we haven't seen them much so I thought I'd get them over. She always makes me a Christmas cake and pudding and the kids love Grandad's sense of humour. I did get a text from the ex a while ago saying 'Do you know my Mum is coming to yours at Christmas?' Well yeees, cos I invited her! We've also got my Mum and her partner too. This year my Mum has started losing her memory which was a shock at first because she's only 70 and a bright, organised spark. Always does the cross words, wins the pub quiz, house is neat and immaculatly organised. But now she can't remember people's names including the Grandkids and many other things but the plus point is she's quite happy. Her old self would have got quite cross about not remembering but this 'new' Mum is really happy and seems very content. So today could be interesting!

Someone asked about Mr S - well we don't live together, he'll be waking up in Bristol waiting for his 3 kids to get up and then he has his parents and nieces and nephews over for lunch. We'll get together on Boxing Day when my kids will see their Dad. It's always a juggle for families at this time of year and compromise is just part of that. The older I get the more I realise it is about the people not the things in life in general. It's about being thankful for what you have got, not what you haven't.

I've seen a few ranting blogs about commercialism and expectations at this time so I've set up a faceyb group called . Handmade Christmas - Keep it Simple  I have been photographing things I've made for a Christmas pdf for next year - or it might even be an e-book if I can get my act together! - so started the group to swap ideas and perhaps barter a bit as Kate and Esther did above. If you want to join in go and have a look.

Well the cat is back in and laying on top of the radiator and the kids are still in bed! Have a fabulous day xx

The Vanessa Vodka Saga

Well I decided to run a little festive GIVEAWAY on facyb cos I'm nice like that. No, really I am! I set up three of my gorgeous vodka flavours on the windowsill with the light behind them to get the whole amazing colour thing going on.   Then posted the pics on facebook and asked people to guess the flavours. I had some great guesses from sage and onion to rhubard, ginger and honey to apple. But no one guessed all three correctly so I went with the funniest answer which was Vanessa White with ''essence of love, a sample (yuck) and Dentist's Mouthwash'' 

The correct answers were Elderberry, Cinnamon and Cranberry - that's the fabulous pink one.

  

The giveaway was a bottle of one of my home made vodka liqueurs and I chose Elderberry & Blackberry which I call Hedgerow Vodka. I wrapped it in bubble wrap, encased that in clingfilm, another roll of bubble wrap and cardboard and finally brown paper and loads of selloptape. I went off to the Post Office to post it and two other parcels today. There was no queue, I was pleasantly surprised at that and quite pleased because I was nipping out in my tiny lunch break. I popped all three parcels on the counter and said 'Second class please.' She looked at me with raised eyebrows and said 'Oh, they're not Christmas presents then?' What? She seemed to be insinuating that I had the gall to try and sneak some parcels in the post less than a week before the big day and expect them to be delivered right on time. What I wanted to say was 'No, of course they're not you silly woman.' But I just politely said 'No.' She came back with 'Right well what is in them then?'

Now I am old, I know I am, but post (I feel) is quite a personal thing and back in the day it was nobody else's business what I received OR posted. So I find this question a little rude. I told her there were shoes in one, craft stuff in another and then I kind of got an inkling the VODKA was going to be a problem. I said (quite honestly cos that's how I roll) a small bottle of home made vodka. She asked me what alcohol percentage it was? Really? I have no bloody idea love. I'm one of those drinkers who just drinks it. I don't drink and drive so I have no real reason to look at the percentage - obviously my Health Advisor mate will be leaping up and down and shouting at me for not knowing how many units I'm drinking, yeah, yeah, yeah Jude - The only time I do look at the percentage is when I go to the pub and have a few ales and I like to start on a weaker one and work my way up, that's Mr S's theory and I like it.

Anyway, she almost sucked her lip over her teeth and then said actually it didn't matter WHAT percentage it was (why ask then?!) it still needed to be packaged correctly. I said it was wrapped in two rolls of bubble wrap with kind of shrink wrapped clingfilm in between, then cardboard and then brown paper. She said 'but no polythene?' I said no but half a roll of cling film which was looped over the ends every which way you could wrap it and then sellotape. She said 'Well that's not exactly waterproof is it?' I beg to differ. She said that it needed to be in a polythene bag. I repeated that it is in two layers of bubble wrap the first one is encased in cling film which is about as watertight as you can get. She said it wasn't. I bit my tongue and she produced a LEAFLET. She smoothed it out on the counter and read it to me, she then took a pen and asterisked the bits I obviously couldn't comprehend and passed it to me with said bottle of vodka. 

I could not speak, the man on the next  counter looked at me as if he'd been there too. At this point I considered saying 'Oh my goodness, do you know what I've just remembered I put a Poundland bag round it which should hold it all together really well' But I'm not a liar and I'm guessing she wouldn't have believed me anyway. She went on to tell me that Royal Mail scan each and every parcel and if it is not packaged properly they will destroy it. Destroy it. Yes, DESTROY it, and they won't even tell you, you'll have no idea. I expect I would have had some idea when Ms White said 'Oi, my vodka's not arrived.'

So I left. I realised on the way to the car I should have asked her for a carrier bag and a roll of tape and done it there and then but that's bloody hindsight kicking in again. I considered driving to the next Post Office up the road but didn't have time. So I came home and was still fuming so I phoned Royal Mail Customer Service instead. Amazingly they answered really quickly and I asked them to define what POLYTHENE meant in their leaflet as it does not say bag anywhere. The lady understood my frustration (she'd been well trained!) and said it meant a plastic bag. So there we are, a plastic bag wrapped round a bottle of vodka will hold all the broken glass and liquid without it leaking. Isn't that amazing because when I've ever put broken glass in a plastic bag it has usually ripped it, I must be doing it wrong.

The leaflet was fascinating, do you know that you can not post human ashes, safety matches or filth (?!) but guns for sporting use and live creatures, insects and invertebrates are fine.

So Ms White, your vodka is going back to the PO, I shall wrap it in tons of carrier bags and it will take you a week to unwrap. I shall tell the other post office that it is home made elderberry cordial and not vodka. Enjoy!

A day later..... Re-packaged in a bin liner, shoved in a box with those things that look like Wotsits all around it and armed with my correct postage leaflet I headed to my usual post office. I said 'Second class please?' She said '£2.60 please' and that was it. Posted

Don't be expecting glitter and sparkle just yet!

Hello there, are you feeling festive? This is not going to be one of those blog posts about having made the perfect Christmas Cake Nigella style (go easy on the snow scene love) or all my handmade cards and the turkey I've lovingly raised then slaughtered and had hanging in the garage for two weeks. It's not too festive in my house yet, although the daughter is home from Uni' and she made some mince pies last night. Jamie O's mince pies to be precise. I forgot my daughter was an expensive baker and as I went out the door I shouted 'If we need anything from the shops text me!' I meant eggs, butter, salad, bread, you know, that kind of thing. I get a list of...

• Creme fraiche
• Flaked hazelnuts (I don't think they exist outside of London)
• Filo pastry
• Normal pastry (Need more information girl)
• Dried cranberries.

So at about ten o'clock last night she produced these beautiful filo shapes piled with mincemeat (we already had that) and dusted with icing sugar, served with a dollop of creme fraiche on the side. Quite delicious but probably not what you need just before bedtime

We do have the tree, we've had it about a week - I took eldest to the garden centre - yes I'm sure there's a man down the road who is much cheaper but the garden centre was open until 8 and also has an ice-rink and reindeer so we went for the'experience'. Of course I'd forgotten to mention this to Sam who was confused as to why I insisted on looking at all the sparkly baubles when we were supposed to be getting The Tree. He was slightly sidetracked by an animated polar bear display and he WAS wearing his Christmas jumper so I took a photo.

He also liked the actual real reindeer but after that made me focus solely on trees. I was all for buying the traditional CHEAP and PROPER old style tree but the kids have grown up with the whole no-drop spruce thing going on from when there was money in this house so yes, you guessed it we've got one of those. Anyway it's been in the pond for a week so it won't be thirsty when it comes in.

The Shed

I sent youngest up into the loft last night to get the tree stand out and he came back with nothing. In some scenarios the boy is a genius but show him a fridge full  of food and he won't see the milk right under his nose. He can always spot pizza though. So I wasn't surprised that he couldn't find the stand. But it turned out he was right and it wasn't there - so this morning I ventured into the 'once was a playhouse is now a shed' and there it was buried under essential - I'll need it one day - bits and pieces. 

Newer and oldish - spot the twisted screws, hefty tree that year!

As I carried it in I noticed the old tree stand from a couple of years ago by the back door - I must get up to the tip one day!

So now it's ready to go up this evening, how exciting! I love doing the tree, I get the Christmas tunes on and pick up all those decs that I've bought over the years or that the kids have made and they all make me smile. We've got the classic pine cones rolled in glitter; Playgroup circa 1998 to White Paper Angel Doilys (Frogwell School) circa 2000 moving right up to glitzy silvered and antiqued baubles and little beaded things from that shop that used to sell all the cushions and candles and went bust. The Pier! (Knew I'd remember it eventually) The thing I love about our decs is they don't match and there are LOADS of them. I don't do much to the rest of the house but the tree is HEAVING! 

When the kids were little I started buying them a dec each every year. The theory was that when they left home they would have a 'starter kit' to take away with them. But I have grown to love these baubles and I'm sorry kids, but I'm keeping them.

BUT by far the funniest festive thing this week was receiving a parcel yesterday. It was addressed to me and I didn't remember ordering anything. I opened it to see this message...

Now I went to Ynot festival in August purely to see The Temperence Movement and if you haven't seen them and like bluesy rock check out  Only Friend then go and buy a ticket, although they are selling even faster than the hottest hot cakes so be quick. 

The festival was ok but the security staff were miserable buggers and I told them so in my online feedback which I also put my name on. I mean if you asked to look in my bag and then just held it and squeezed it a lot and I said 'You've just crushed my crisps' You'd expect a flicker of amusement wouldn't you? Nope, dead pan miserable bugger face. That wasn't the only incident, they were like it all weekend. So, amongst other things all very constructive, I said I wouldn't be back. 

 I think they must have thought they'd try and cheer me up and send me a Ynot hoody for Christmas. How very hilarious of them. I love the #yolo and #The Pogues - I wonder which Fairy Tale in New York insult they think fits me best? Whatever, I am not wearing said hoody.

Welsh Walk

We had a fabulous weekend (after I'd got the Keep it Simple pdf loaded up - in the same titled blog post below if that's what you're looking for)  We set off early on Saturday morning across the Severn Bridge - which I absolutely love, so glad Mr S was driving because I get quite mesmerized by it (and that wind turbine at Reading)  there was a great sunrise behind us which tinged the Welsh sky pink

The Severn Bridge

We headed to the Brecon Beacons and were aiming for a little car park by a reservoir so that we could walk towards Pen Y Fan which is the highest point in the south of Britain. We parked up to find other people already there. Now, Mr S is not a fan of crowded walks which is why we'd set off early (we went to Scotland earlier in the year and were sometimes walking by 7.30 am, I kid you not!) But by the time we'd kitted up they were long gone. It was beautifully bright and sunny and although it was cold I knew I'd be taking my fleece off somewhere up the first hill.

Off we went - he'd warned me there were some boggy bits and just for the record let it be known that I really detest bogs. There were a lot in Scotland - I have no idea  how you can have a bog UP a hill, surely it should all be at the bottom! - but the worst one was in North Wales a few years ago near Harlech; I was cold and we were a bit lost (doesn't happen now with GPS maps and stuff) and we had to walk across this HUGE bog and it just sapped all the energy out of your legs. Every bloody step was an effort. I just focused on a dry stone wall in the distance and promised myself a bit of chocolate when I got there. When I did get there I realised that I'd stupidly bought some Greene and Blacks ultra loads of percent cocoa stuff which did not melt in my mouth like a piece of Dairy Milk would have done. Anyway, I do not like bogs so was pleased to find this walk pretty unboggy.

Up the first hill, quick stop to take off my fleece! - and a bit of a steep last piece where I saw these wonderful rectangular rocks

The views from the top were great but it wasn't the clearest of days and I'm still using my little camera as the SLR is broken so no stunning long distance view pics. It was blowing a gale at the top, well not an actual gale but it was very windy. If you'd put anything on the ground it would have blown away fast. So we donned more layers and gloves and hats. There are no photos of me in THE HAT. I love my hat, it's the best £4.99 I've ever spent. Green and fleece and snugly. But everyone is used to me and big curly hair - sometimes people say 'You know her, the one with the hair' -  so if I tuck my hair in a hat people don't think it looks like me. My best friend actually laughs and Mr S wouldn't take a pic and he said 'I don't want any evidence of you in THAT' Well regardless, I LOVE my hat.

We headed along the top towards Pen Y Fan and it got winder and windier and then  there was a ridgy bit - not ridgy like climbers would call a ridge, but ridgy for me. And goodness me on that bit it was an icy blast. My fingers were going numb and my head felt like I'd eaten several tubs of ice cream it really hurt. Another stop to change gloves for my padded ski type really cold weather ones and add my proper winter coat with hood, over my lovely hat. Mr S did the zip up and sorted my hood out as I couldn't do much with the big fat gloves on.

That hood made such a difference. By the time we got to Pen Y Fan I was warm, the wind had died down and there were LOADS of people everywhere. I hadn't been up there for about 10 years and I was married then and about four stone heavier and I remember letting the dog pretty much pull me up to the top! I took a photo of the poppies from Remembrance Day at the top as I knew a fellow facebooker had taken her children up to lay some there.

We headed back down the wonderful stone path which takes me ages because my knees are just rubbish so I usually say to Mr S 'See you at the bottom' He was heading up the next hill anyway and I was going to take the low road. As I slowly made my way down some lads RAN down the hill next to me, I stopped in absolute awe and watched them. I was tempted to shout 'I hope you appreciate those knees!' as mine were just singing to me but decided that would definitely make me a mad old woman so stopped myself.

I have to say the lower path was just lovely, no people on it, just me. So beautiful to be walking along there on my tod. Unsurprisingly Mr S was waiting for me at the other end, he'd been up and over the top quicker than I'd done the low path but I reckon that was because I kept stopping to take photos. We walked back towards the reservoir and the car with a noisy bunch of 20 somethings behind us discussing how they were going to share their remaining two slices of pizza. They were so noisy we left the main path and headed towards the reservoir buildings spotting this fabulous green reindeer on the way - he's just hiding there until Christmas Eve!

So, a great walk and then back to Bristol and the pub for a couple of well deserved beers and something to eat.