all caught on CCTV!

I have mentioned before my love for the incredibly useful tool that is Ziplist. It lets you clip recipes from online (always retaining the source link), it lets you easily build shopping lists from your recipes or manually. It has an iPhone app.

I was pretty stoked, then, to discover that they have just introduced Menu Planning to the tools. My menu planning has gone awry of late, mainly because of Rich working away. Dinner when he is away is whatever I can lay my hands on that is easy. It usually means I end up grazing all evening which is no good at all.

I will totes be using Ziplist to get back on track. I just need to add some more recipes to it first – any recommendations for ‘normal’ food recipe sites (ie family cooking that uses simple and fairly healthy ingredients) or recipes themselves would be greatly appreciated.

1. I am waiting to hear back from the university about my course – the last condition on my offer was the CRB check which I received back 2 weeks ago. The copy sent to the university should be with them and I am impatient to know DETAILS! Start date, reading list, supplies needed, advance work etc.;
2. Rich has gone away with work again although thankfully this time only for a couple of nights. I am using this time to myself to think about my blogging, my writing, my journaling and I feel energised and inspired.
3. I am constantly in awe of the amazing person that Rich and I have created. [Sunday], she was patient and fun despite being disrupted from her schedule for our benefit;
4. I am excited to start my course but today I had the startling and terrifying realisation that I would not only need to survive the practicalities of attending the placements and lectures but I would actually need to PASS the thing! Crumbs!;
5. I am up way too late. Again;
6. I feel like I have a busy week ahead and so I’m determined to put my home management notebook to work to stay focused and be productive without the stress;
7. I am determined to lose some weight AND (equally important) get fitter;
8. I am happy;
9. I want to work on my ability to follow through;
10. I want to cherish my time with Evelina before I start the course and not let item 6 encroach on my time with her more than necessary.

It clarified for me that I want to create a document – whether that be online or on paper someday – that can tell Evelina about her mama and about how amazing it is for us to have her around. I want to record old memories before they fade. I want to capture life as it is right now, including the day-to-day as while this might be mundane right now, it is something that might be able to build a fuller picture for the person reading in the future.

One of the writing prompt exercises in the class asked why do I tell stories. I wrote:

I journal because I want to share my thoughts and experiences with friends, family and anyone who would like to hear. I would like to remember how life is at any given time or how I am feeling.

I want a record for my daughter and family to read in years to come. I want to capture my happiness, my trials, my likes and dislikes. I want to record the ever-changing stages of development in my daughter’s life before I forget. The daily minutiae that fades – I want that to be remembered.

I would love to have this kind of record of my life. My mother did not keep a journal and I would love to know how she felt when she had my brother and me. What her everyday life was like. All the things that have faded in her memory.

I write because I want to work through my feelings, thoughts and I want to explore them.

Having felt all energised about digging into the stories of my life, as opposed to the blog posts of my life, I hit a brick wall this morning. Where would I record these? Having just going through the process of reducing my blogging commitments, I didn’t want to start yet another blog. But using an online source which I can access from around the house and elsewhere definitely suits me. I had just got happy with my Five Horizons – am I doubting the purpose and point of blogging about simplifying my life or writing brief book reviews? I had already had a boost of confidence in my little corner of the internet with my blog poll which helped me decide the fate of my mama blog. Did I really want to mess with this blog again so soon?

And yet, I feel like I have been wanting a change not particularly in the subject matter of my blogging but in the manner in which I blog. My favourite blog posts that I read around the internet tell a story. This is something I have drifted away from – my posts are snapshots but in themselves they don’t tell a lot about what I am doing or what I am thinking.

This rather circular blog post is not really going anywhere since I have not really decided how I am going to get these stories down. I think that some might appear here. Ones that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with all and sundry might be printed and put in a journal – a scrapbook of sorts with words and pictures but with minimal embellishments. I don’t have the time, budget or willpower to avoid the amazing stamps and embellishments that are available so I need to steer well clear!

;

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

*contains spoilers*

I am still enjoying this series of supernatural happenings set in Victorian England (and in this case, Italy too). There is plenty of pretty dresses, passionate characters and humour so make the read enjoyable and swift. I am not sure I was quite as taken with this third instalment – it fell a little flat for me but that could have simply been my frame of mind rather than anything to do with the book itself. By separating the lovers/spouses Lord and Lady Maccon, I assume there was supposed to be some tension but I can’t say I was worried at any time that these two would stay apart. Still, it was diverting and amusing which is really all you want from this kind of book. I am still hoping that this series gets made into some kind of film or series as the visuals provided by Carriger of this steampunk Victorian society would look fantastic on the screen.

View all my reviews

Last Tuesday, we had a visitor from a woodpecker. According to our bird book, this one is a young male Great Spotted Woodpecker – he has a lovely red patch on his head.

A few days later, he came back for some more peanuts.

a closer look:

We haven’t seen him since but I found it all very exciting. Perhaps I have been spending too much time with Evelina who still exclaims ‘birdie!’ every time she looks out of the window, whether there is a bird there or not.

1. One book that changed your life?

This is really hard. I think there have been several books which have had a profound effect on me. I know this will probably sound very generic but I must say that Harper Lee‘s To Kill a Mockingbird informed a lot of my reading as a teenager and the theme of injustice resonated with me, as someone who cannot stand it when things are unfair and unjust. I wrote my A Level extended essay on the theme of racism and injustice in the American South, including novels by Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.

2. One book you have read more than once?

This selection is much less high-brow but excellent entertainment: Olivia Goldsmith‘s First Wives Club. I really enjoyed the film which was based on this book but the book is darker and edgier. It is very satisfying and also touches on the idea of justice and getting even.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?

We have War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy sitting on our book shelf. It is something I want to read but I just don’t have the time at the moment. Being on a desert island, I would have PLENTY of time to read this tome.

4. One book that made you laugh?

I am trying to think of books that have made me laugh because I know I have read plenty – I can vividly remember laughing silently on the train with tears streaming down my face trying to keep my mirth to myself but I can’t rememeber what I was reading. The last book I read to make me laugh out loud was Blameless by Gail Carriger.

5. One book that made you cry?

Again, there are plenty of books that have made me cry. One of the recent books I read that left me in tears was Louis Sachar’s There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom. It was so moving, so well-written and so pertinent to my decision to become a teacher.

I won’t tag anyone in particular but why not answer these questions yourself? If you do, let me know in the comments.

On Monday, Rich and I went to watch The Avengers (or is it Avengers Assemble? I am confused by the changing title) in Solihull. The cinema was packed since it was a rainy bank holiday. People were taking their five-year-olds to see this – I don’t get that. Despite the constant rustling of sweeties and the incessant stream of people going to the loo (and not just the kids), we really, really enjoyed it. Some parts were proper Laugh Out Loud funny. Thigh-slapping funny. Plus, I cried, because I am way too invested in these make-believe characters.

There were some parts of the script that screamed Joss Whedon and it was really great seeing those words come out of the mouths of these established characters. I must admit that I am not a proper comic fan – I have only watched the movies (Iron Man 1 & 2, Captain America, Thor) and I have’t (yet) read the comics although I know it’s just a matter of time before I start. It’s knowing where to start with such a massive universe; I haven’t a clue. I want to watch all these films again now. And I think I hear that there will be an Avengers 2 (AWESOMENESS!).

Anyway, we had a blast. Evelina spent a happy couple of hours with her nanny and grandad. And I got to wear my new red shoes!

I decided to go for a childminder because I felt this would fit in best with the other care that we already have in place – ie Evelina’s grandma. I used the Warwickshire Family Information Service site to search for childminders nearby and from there, I contact a few to find out what who had the right availability and who sounded to fit our requirements.

We met with a lady last Saturday and I felt so good about it I was ready to sign on the line right there but we took a week to ruminate. I had concerns about nap-time because Evelina is an excellent sleeper so long as she has the right setting. Sharing a room at nap-time with other babies might be interesting! But by then, she will need less sleep and learning to adapt isn’t such a bad thing for her.

I am still waiting for the university to confirm my place now that my CRB check has come through but unless I have any more major wobbles, I think we have found our minder! The most important thing was that Evelina seemed completely at ease with her and I really liked her sixteen-year-old daughter too which is a good sign!

Here is a handy checklist in case you are meeting with a potential childminder – I asked all my friends for things to ask about and these are all their suggestions:

• Messy play provision
• References from other parents
• Does she attend toddler groups?
• Sample menus
• Discipline
• When will she take holidays?
• Sleeping arrangements for nap-time
• Ofsted rating / CRB check
• What other children does she look after?
• Does she have pets?
• What is your gut feeling?
• How does your child respond to the environment and the carer?
• Daily routine
• Accident book / First Aid / Insurance etc
• How is child’s progress reported back to you?