If ever a wiz of a wiz there was.....

My friends, it has finally happened, I can't believe it.  Last night, against all the odds let me tell you, I won a game of scrabble. 

Yes, I know, it was a complete surprise to me too.  Things started off well, I opened with 'lately' and 'sagely', netting me pretty good scores, but then Mark laid down 'partings', using all of his seven letters and getting a 50 point bonus into the bargain.  I have to say I exercised some restraint in not reaching across the table and throttling him with my bare hands.  My prospects in finishing the game in a not filthy mood were starting to look a little bleak.  However - I rallied, and after what felt like many hours later, hunched tensely over a scrabble board - I sulkily slapped down 'wiz', using the last of my letters.  I strongly suspected it was not a valid word.  Even I believed 'wiz' should have an extra 'h' and 'z' in it.  But - lo!  It is a variation of 'whizz'!!!!  Me and the Oxford Dic are now friends again, and with the extra tiles Mark had left taken off of his score and added on to mine - I secured victory by a mere 5 points.  Oh there were scenes of jubilation, a national holiday was declared, and I had a splitting headache.  The tension is just too much for me.

And there is still the worrying issue of my recent spell of bad loser behaviour.  I literally got sent away to 'calm down' the other night after a shameful tantrum over Cluedo. And that was in front of Oliver!  I am such a bad parent sometimes.  I am deeply ashamed of that little episode.

That said, this is the sort of shit I have to put up with:

I shall overcome.  My victory platform:

Saturday Kitchen

Our new 'timetable' kicked off on Monday - and it's working a treat.  Historically, I have worked along the lines of fitting home edding around our needs of the day (generally trips out/shopping and crappy chores etc) but the new improved me has encouraged Oliver into the drafting of a new schedule where he feels Master of his own destiny, and he is up and buzzing. 

In addition, instead of rocking up to the table with NFI of what we are about to embark upon, I am getting out books, pens and 'stuff' and looking on the net the night before to 'prepare'.  Not quite like a proper teacher - but a step in the right direction.  It is making the whole process a lot smoother.  And because we only have two things loaded up each day - it is bitesize and do-able and he gets it.  AND after an hour of working together amicably, he likes a 'break' to play Lego and I get to trundle off with my crochet and watch an uninterrupted episode of The West Wing.  We return later to do more,  not irritated and stressed at each other and with a small glow of achievement under our belts.

Happy days.


The new improved me seems to have more time, and at the weekend I had a go at Hugh F-W's pasties from this book, which I had for Crimbo:

I have never attempted rough puff pastry before, and I can now marvel at it's simplicity.  Hugh's filling was swede and potato, but since we have a glut of squashes, Mark bought this baby up from the depths of the garden to use:

It is a Queensland Blue, and it is beautifully mushy and sweet.  I didn't have carrots (also in the recipe), so I subsituted celery (edging it's way up my list of fave versatile veg).  The result was 4 professional-looking pasties which tasted like someone who knew what they were doing had made them.  Boy did I feel smug.  Even Oliver thought they were lovely.  I didn't bother to correct his assumption that the filling was carrot and potato.  I suspect the mere mention of celery and squash would have coloured his judgement.

Last night Oliver and I were watching the Sport Relief British Bake Off - a hitherto unwatched programme - and I was inspired to reach for my Mary Berry baking bible.  She surely must be at least 150 years old.  Oliver found her name hilarious and spent much of the programme collapsing into hysterical giggles.  I found it funny that he found it funny, so much merriment all round.  If you have never seen this programme, (you probably have - it's just me who lives in la la land), it's pretty cool for explaining the theory of the way ingredients behave if you do this that and the other to them.  Tres informative.  My Mary B book was a present from my brother last birthday, who presented it to me with a demand I cook the traybake on page 186 for his birthday 5 days later.  I did it.  Think I am so keen to court his admiration and approval that I end up hating myself.  Oh families. 

frippery, my arse

Okie dokie.  Have recovered from the fug of gloom which seems to go hand in hand with the end of Christmas and I am feeling pretty positive. 

All the Christmas decs are down, packed away and up in the loft once more.  That helps.  Incidentally, there were heated discussions over the storage of these, in so far as that I insisted on buying a couple (more) plastic boxes and purpose-made bags for the tree and wrapping paper.  The result is that getting it all away was easier, neater and will not be dust-damaged next December.  The other result was that I received the standard lecture on frivolous money wasting fripperies which led on to further, not complimentary opinions on my other non-frugal qualities.  Ya di ya.  This from someone who puts on the central heating rather than put on a jumper.  And I am a hypocrite.  Apparently. 

I am of the opinion that some frippery, providing you are not taking food from the table nor the shirt from your child's back, is quite justified if it makes life a little sweeter.  And I am sick to death of struggling with odd sized cardboard boxes and reams of sellotape.  Every year for about the last ten years I have sworn I will get plastic boxes for the decs.  This was my year.  ha ha.

What else....hmmm.  Well, Oliver sat down and pasted together a timetable of which subjects he wants to tackle on a daily basis, and I am very confident it will be successful.  We are trialling it from Monday, I reckon a month should give us an idea if it will work for us.  Bear in mind each 'subject' will take 15-45 mins TOPS depending on interest levels, this is not beyond him, and personally I believe it will be better to  do both daily things in the morning, and chill out together in the afternoon.  I really want him to understand the concept of work=reward, so if he wants an afternoon/day off, then he has to look at his timetable and adjust accordingly - and in advance of 'time off'.  I will not allow us to drift on this. 

Let's have a crochet update.  I started a ripple blanket (sorry again Kim) at the end of November, and think I have reached the halfway point.  I am really enjoying this, and love the rich colours.  This yarn (Rico baby classic) was purchased to do my 'big blanket' (granny squares), but since that particular WIP stalled suddenly, I am using it to ripple.  I have read on many blogs about yarn being 'lovely to work with' and been very sniffy about this theory, but I have to say that working with a soft yarn is smoother on the senses.  If you know what I mean. 

My granny stripe which I started in France for Oliver is hanging around the halfway mark too, but temporarily sheved in favour of rippling. 

In the last few days, I have been poking around in this book which I had for Christmas:

I have done a couple of these squares, which I very much like, and then decided I would knock out a few in different colours of the 'middles' of these.  Will post about how that turns out another time.

My Christmas journal is done all bar the shouting.  The A5 folder is not big enough, so it is currently housed in two folders - a very unsatisfactory solution.  I am looking for an A5 lever arch file - seemingly very tricky. Pleased with how that turned out.

Onwards and upwards my friends.

Not my favourite time of the year

Bloody hell, it's chucking it down and blowing a hoolie (hooly, hooley) out there today.  I hate hate hate the end of Christmas as much as I love love love the start of it.  Except I have to face the terror of the future on top of hating the end of Christmas, so it is worser.

No big, unattainable list of do-gooding resolutions this year.  I will engage and invest more in the development of my child, and in my relationship with my husband.  That's it.  And eat better, drink less alcohol and spend less money.  ya di ya.

Incidentally, have chosen my star spangled banner theme to reflect my current squeeze:
The West Wing.  Yeah, yeah, schmaltzy and Goddamn it - sooooooo American, but I lurve it.  God Bless America. 

A quiet, quiet start to the new year - we popped to Teignmouth for a scoot, and then went to my mum and dads in the evening(I really don't know where to put the apostrophe there - I am having a bit of an apostrophe confindence crisis right now, so I'm leaving it out altogether, so there), and my brother (who shares the house) had a new XBox Kinect and the Just Dance 3 game.  It is shit hot.  I was sweating after a couple of routines and it was such a laugh and an enjoyable way to work up a sweat - I am considering it as The Way to a fitter me.  And I beat my brother with a 5-star 10k+  dance (Rihanna Only Girl In The World, no less - get me) which upset him tremendously and has made me feel like a bit of a funky happening babe.  HA!  Still I am secretly sure I more resembled a hippo thundering its way through a pre-mating ritual than a lithe and youthful street dancer.  We were home by 9pm and saw in the new year by watching Big Ben chime midnight on TV and standing outside to take this memorable family snap:

Arms length photography my speciality, obviously. 

Talking of BB chiming, it was accompanied by lots Very Large Fireworks which went on for a Very Long Time.  I'm all for a celebration at appropriate times, but - yeah, there are children starving in the world - and no, I am not a frugal person nor do I work tirelessly for charity and I am as much a hypocrite with the allocation of my cash as the next person but - a lot of dosh was sent in the sky to explode there.  Depressing. 

Cracked open the Scrabble last night to play with Mark.  Now, thing is - Mark is a very clever bloke - but I would have to say I know many more words than him and my spelling (on the whole - give me a break) is pretty sharp.  I have never been able to beat him at Scrabble.  His theory is that it's a male-female thing and to do with spatial awaremess.  Since I don't go for the sexist thing, I am not offended by this thory at all, but am confounded by my constant inability to WIN, so tend to half believe it.  So - last night I tried to look at squeezing in letters to make max points rather than waste my time trying to make words like 'inconsequential' from 7 letters and fitting it onto the board somewhere.  I was winning - right up to the point I tried to put down 'Jain' using the letter 'n' on the end to start the word 'Ni'.  Yeah.  I was challenged.  Not on Jain, because I know what that means (I am terribly clever you know) but on 'Ni', because I didn't have a sodding clue if - a) it was a word at all, b) what the hell it meant, and c) because I must have looked unconvincing and shifty.  I got challenged by a snigger and a splutter and, after some indignant page-turning through the Oxford concise, even I was forced to concede that 'Ni', being the chemical symbol for Nickel and 'only spelt with an initial capital letter' probably wasn't really allowed.  So, I lapsed into a bit of a sulk, which I think it is fair to say, cost me the game.  I lost by 33 points.  I might even start reading the dictionary today for fun.  Victory will be mine.

Today I am going to write out a list of 'subjects' that I would like to cover with Oliver in a 'working week' and I am going to let him allocate them to the days and times he thinks he would like to do them.  The theory being he will flourish being in charge of his own destiny.  Or something like that. 

Keeeeeep dancing.

O Frabjous Days

I have loved this Christmas.  I recall Mark and I were not getting along that well last Christmas, and so this year, with much more effort being put in on both sides towards each others' well-being throughout the year, this festive period has felt bathed in warmth and kindness and it has made everything so much nicer.  The massive amount of pressies, alcohol and food has also helped towards the general feeling of goodwill in the Newson household ha ha.

I always get a hankering for attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, although I have never done so.  I am very torn between being at home and enjoying the excited anticipation which seems to naturally 'hang around'  on Christmas Eve (and have a wine or two truth be told) and making the effort to drive out into the cold night to find a) a decent church where I will merge into the crowd and be unnoticed as I cry my way through Christmas carols and b) a parking space in a not lonely and dark place where I will fear for my life upon my return in the wee hours, as I will surely be alone in my sudden urge to raise my voice to the heavens.

I didn't go this year.  Again.  I will though, one year.

I got a load of lovely stuff from Oliver - and unexpectedly, as he was not buying me anything else - a Kindle from Mark!  This was a real surprise, as we both seem a bit uncertain about the idea of a reading device vs books, but I have to say - I had a little secret squeal when I opened it.  It is soooo very cool.  It does not have, as Mark pointed out, the character of books, but boy it wins hands down on the portability front, and the ability to download free samples of books is so choice.  I know within a few paragraphs normally, if  I am going to be able to enjoy the author's style or not. so I will be able to dip into a massive variety of titles and styles.  And I can get the Internet on it.  Tedious, but hey, exciting nonetheless.  And the screen savers are so beautiful, in restful greyscale.

I bought Mark a second hand pouffe in the end.  Yes, I know.  We won't speak of it.

Oliver's favourite present has been his Nintendo 3DS.  Yep, very electronic and plastic, but he's happy, and a child of the noughties, what more can I say.  I was, however, slightly surprised at the level of interest and attention he paid to everything he opened - pleasing. 

Yeah yeah I know the TV is on - a bit much on Christmas morning, but you try opening pressies when there is just three of you in the room and all attention is pretty much focused on the child - it's a fair bit of pressure to handle so the TV on as background mutter (think it was top 50 Christmas songs) helps things along nicely.

After unexpectedly receiving money from both sets of parents, this morning I got up at Stupid O'Clock For Christmas and went into town, with the intention of buying my annual quota of 'decent' clothes in the sales.  I got there before any bloody shop was open, so sat on the wall in Cathedral Close with a latte, admiring the peace and the magnificent west front.  The weather is in stark contrast to this time last year - there was ice and snow everywhere then, today I sat on a wall for 20 mins in a jumper, no gloves, no coat. 

Then I hit Next.  And Primark.  Opposite ends of the scale, but hey - some things are good to get in Next for quality and longevity ie: boots and jeans, and some things are good to get in Primark for a two quid price tag, slobbing about in and not expecting it to last past 5 washes ie: PJ's and t shirts.  I came home after 3 very long hours, to find Mark had blown his share on the Internet.  Bloody hell.  He got up hours after me, and didn't have to leave the living room.  So unfair.

Yum.

I leave you with two of my favourite festive pictures of my all time favourite boy.

where there's music and laughter, happ-i-ness is rife - why?

...because I like life.

Tra la la. This was in one of the songs from my all time favourite musical Christmas film - Scrooge., which Oliver and I watched yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I know there are loads of versions of A Christmas Carol, but this is my personal favourite. It's all snowy, and Christmassy, and Dickensian, and full of heart-lifting songs - especially at the end when he repents and throws money and joy all around the place. And I cry at the end every year. Ahh, such happ-i-ness.

Talking of heart-lifting, I have a CD of Christmas Carols in the car this year sung by a proper choir and all, and it is so lovely to have it up loud and drive about to the melodic strains of Nowell Nowell.... I feel very uplifted and joyful and feel bathed in smiley-ness. Hosannah in excelsis indeed.

Have spent the last 5 days in the depths of the countryside (well, on the outskirts of the big smoke anyway ha ha) baby/house sitting my mother-in-law whilst Kim et famille decamped to the other side of the family in Essex. It was a nice break - a change really can be as good as a rest, and Kim has a really big kitchen and cooker, so it was very stress-free from my point of view to cook meals and 'be' in the heart of the home. This is why I want our kitchen/dining room knocked through. However, her cutlery drawer is annoyingly located at the opposite end to the kitchen sink and cooker, and this caused many an expletive and a stamp across the room, so Kim - move your spoons. Ha ha, she'll have something to say about that for sure....

Some pics of life there, hope Kim won't mind me sharing a pic of her lovely tree.....

And if I had a flag I'd hang me flag out.....

God bless us, every one.

Baby it's cold outside....

A little bit of a catch up post today.  On Tuesday, despite the inclement weather, we headed off to Babbacombe for our annual fill of fake snow and Santa.  We (well, I) thought that we would squeeze in a visit to Bygones too, as it is just around the corner from the model village car park, and I read a good review of it on Julis's blog earlier in the year. 

Bygones was lovely. I really enjoyed it - Oliver was a bit scared of the lifesize models and sound effects and clung onto my coat for the first twenty minutes, but things looked up when we reached the cafe and got to make Christmas cards and crackers for free.  Tres exciting, as you can see.

The model village was a little disappointing for me this year.  Possibly because it was bloody freezing cold, and damp, and grey, and deserted.  Possibly because I take the same photos year after year, but also possibly because I am acutely aware that my time visiting these cutesy places and seeing santa is inextricably linked to Oliver growing older, and I just want to weep with misery at the inevitable loss of childhood times.  Blimey, that's cheered me up none.  Pulling myself swiftly together, and trying to live in the now, it was a great day we had together, and that is precious enough to make me feel joy.

Then we had the annual Home Ed party, a calmer affair than in previoius years, and better for it was the general concensus of opinion. 

And yesterday saw the opening of the RAMM - it has been closed for years - around four, I think, but Oliver and I spent many hours in the museum when he was a toddler and it is great to know it is there again.  I thought it was great - a couple of  things they have done are too bloody stupid for words (like pop a cafe directly underneath a galleried landing where young ruffians and local yobbos can spit in your coffee or drop various bits onto unsuspecting punters down below), and move the iconic Gerald the Giraffe to some crappy pass-through room HE SHOULD BE WHERE HE WAS BEFORE YOU BUREAUCRATIC DIMWITS - POKING HIS HEAD UP THROUGH THE GALLERIED LANDING!!!!!!!!

One of Oliver's friends has given him a Christmas present, which consists of little things of his own which he has gathered together in a box, and giftwrapped.  I think this is both charming, and a brilliant approach to gift-giving.  Upcycling is the way to go.  Oliver has done the same to return the gift, so I hope it will be well received.

And so we roll along into the week before Christmas, and boy - am I glad we have been out and about, and done the trips we wanted to before the kids broke up from school, as I imagine it will be chaos going anywhere next week. 

Laters dudes.