Thursday 30 June 2011

Some tlc for my Hayfever Courtesy of Kleenex

I do not suffer from Hayfever! I stamp my foot in sheer defiance that I will not accept the fact that I have Hayfever, how can I possibly have developed Hayfever at 39! it's just not fair!

That's what I tweeted earlier this week, or words to that affect and the lovely people at Kleenex or @KleenexHayfever if you're on Twitter, heard my cry of disbelief and upset at the very thought of Hayfever and sent me a link to a Hayfever checklist and guess what I checked every box! Itchy eyes, sneezing, blocked nose, itchy ears and headache I have 'em all!

So I responded to @KleenexHayfever to thank them for the checklist and tell them yes indeed, I do have Hayfever and they offered to send me a Hayfever Survival pack! How lovely!




It arrived today, a beautifully packaged present of helpful loveliness! My gorgeous gift box came with a gel eye mask, ideal for cooling tired itchy eyes, lip and nose balm (does exactly what it says on the tin!)a lovely supply of Kleenex tissues, some teabags, a very affective little battery operated fan, a little Frisbee and a lavender oil pulse point to aid relaxation and reduce stress, this is particularly nice and I used it straight away!



So now with all this to hand although finding developing Hayfever at this time in my life extremely annoying and horrible it might make it all a little bit more bearable so thank you Kleenex!

Tuesday 28 June 2011

GLEE!

On Saturday night my eldest daughter and I went to see Glee live at the O2, now I love Glee but I wasn't sure how well it would translate to live concert.




For those that haven't been to the O2, it is an amazing venue, absolutely massive and filled with experiences, bars and restaurants, ok everything apart from the chains that are in there are a bit overpriced but for a venue like that unfortunately you come to expect that from such places but why seriously I know you have a captive audience so to speak( see now I have images of being held prisoner in the O2 being held against my will until I buy all their overpriced merchandise, " you will buy that silly key-ring at a silly price and then throw it in a drawer never to look at again! or you will never leave here! I have explained how my brain works haven't I?)but surely if you charged reasonable prices people would buy more, they'd feel better about what they'd been able to buy and you'd probably make a bigger profit! Or am I just being silly? Oh and don't get me started on the tickets prices!!! Ggrrrr! That's the sound of anger and annoyance by the way not me pretending to be a tiger , that's more of a raaarrrr! Just for clarification, anyway back to Glee!






So like I said I love Glee, I love the cast, I love the songs and I love the story lines but how would the show compare? Well let me tell you it was bloody brilliant! They have amazing voices, amazing stage presence especially Chris Colfer, he is now firmly on my crushes you shouldn't have list! And Mark Salling aka Puck if you ever feel like you'd like an older English lady, I'm right here baby!



They performed well known song after song staying true to the tv series while showcasing their talents, I came home with a bigger love for Glee, a crush on most of the cast and an I'm with Stoopid T-shirt! see even I can't resist merchandise if it was over priced!






All in all my daughter and I had a fabulous time and it was too much money well spent!

Monday 27 June 2011

We're having a heatwave!

Well not so much of a heatwave as one hot day! The hottest day of the year so far to be precise! And what do we Brits do, we complain! "ooh it's too hot" it's one day! There are places all over the world that consistently have high temperatures And I mean really high in Libya they have reached 56 before now , Australia have temps recorded in the 40's, As has Texas yet we here reach 32 and everyone goes on like it's the end of the world all this after complaining just last week that it was too wet, windy and cold!

Me personally I love it , I embrace it, I know it won't last long so I fill the paddling pool for the little one (and me!), I stock up on ice lollies and lovely chilled wine and I enjoy!

I strip off to a bikini( not a pretty sight, I know it's wrong to scare small children and animals ) slather on the sun block and sit in my garden and enjoy!

So tomorrow when it's raining and you're complaining about that, think about how much fun you could have had if you'd stopped complaining and just enjoyed yourself!

Friday 24 June 2011

What a weak week

I have seriously neglected my blog this week something that I had said I wouldn't do anymore, I could blame writers block, lack of inspiration but if I'm honest it's more about allowing my chaotic life to get the better of me and by time there is a bit of peace in the evening I've just been collapsing in a heap on the sofa and watching a little bit of TV something I very rarely get to do!

So I thought today I'd have a little catch up but guess what there is nothing to catch up, my week has really been about kids, house, stress, chaos, doctors, schools, pets and gardening so just an average week really and I am still at loss of what to actually blog about!

God, what if I can never think of anything interesting to write again? What if I can't find inspiration? It just doesn't bare thinking about!

But I am writing this so at least I'm keeping my hand in so to speak even if it is really boring!

So on that note I won't bore you anymore, I will go and try and find a muse or some inspiration or drown my sorrows with a bottle glass of wine!

Tuesday 21 June 2011

My inspiration has run dry

Name that song!

Seriously though my brain today has turned to mush! I can't actually think of anything worthy to write about today so rather than bore you with endless drivel( is that even a word?) I'm going to put it out there to the world or at least the few that read my blog to inspire me , give me something to think about, rant on about or even research and I will do my best to please!

Oi, keep your mind out of the gutter(unless it's funny) and I'll give anything ago!

Monday 20 June 2011

Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician

Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.  ~Mark Twain

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.  ~Chili Davis

Youth is a wonderful thing.  What a crime to waste it on children.  ~George Bernard Shaw


Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.  ~Caryn Leschen

There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.  ~Author Unknown


 I have had a rough few days when it comes to sleep, my 2 year old seems to have decided that sleep is indeed for the weak and her sleep pattern is all over the place the end result being a totally knackered me!


And when I get tired not only does it show in my movements and sluggish reaction times it shows in my face! Seriously I looked in the mirror this morning and thought 'why has my mum dyed her hair bright red, she's far too old for that' then after splashing my face with water and waking up a little more that was replaced with 'Shit, that's me!' Shortly followed by 'Oh My God, how can I possibly show my face in public looking like that? Bring on the blue rinse I'll pretend to be my mum until I've had the plastic surgery!'


"Quick someone get mummy the number for a good Botox place" is what I actually shouted but as is usual in my house anything I say falls on deaf ears!


So I stood there staring at this alien face in the mirror, looking at my dull skin and tired eyes and I wondered where have I gone? inside I feel the same, that's a good thing right? but on the outside some bugger has replaced my face and body with a saggy , melting down from the top, mess! seriously if gravity carries on like this there will be a pile of folded skin collecting round my ankles as I waddle down the street ( walking inhibited my saggy skin you see!)

And if all that wasn't bad enough I'm 40 this year! no longer in my 30's , 40!  deep breath Emma, in, out, in, out!

Ok, panic attack over , Isn't life supposed to begin at forty that's what they say isn't it? Someone please tell me it does and where I get started?


I know right now I'm over reacting a bit, ok, alot! but aging is hard I'm not really about to go for botox or plastic surgery, although if anyone's offering to pay I wouldn't say No, all in the name of a review of course!


On a good day when I've had sleep and I'm wearing make up I still look reasonably good , some would say Hot! ok by some I mean me but there's nothing wrong with a little self praise is there! but on a bad day like today I wouldn't even want to hazard a guess at how old I look and if you see me on one of these days neither should you!


But seriously they say you're as old as you feel, so why can't you look as old as you feel! wouldn't that be cool (accept for days like today) if all chameleon like, your face and body took on how you were feeling, you'd sure as hell make sure that you embraced life and had a positive outlook, wouldn't you?

But in reality we have to accept what we've got or artificially enhance or change it so how are you going to deal with aging? go under the surgeons knife or grow old disgracefully like me?

Saturday 18 June 2011

Wear that frown upside down

Today's post isn't my usual sort of post its something more serious, more personal, I want to talk about mental health with the focus of that being on depression, 1 in 4 people in the UK alone will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, mixed anxiety and depression being the most common and lucky us, women are more likely to suffer but also more likely to seek treatment than men, perhaps this is no surprise then that British men are 3 times more likely to die by suicide than women.

I talk about this today because I have suffered from depression at times in my life and today I'm having a bad day. I'm guessing that most of you at some point have said "I'm feeling a bit depressed" without actually knowing what real depression feels like, that being said we do all have sad days and no one should judge or tell you that you should just get on with it because everyone feels differently and no-one can actually truly feel how you are feeling know matter how empathetic they may be.

My depression started after the death of my daughter , it's what they used to call Reactive depression, Its now been given different classifications and the diagnosis and treatment for depression has changed but I know why mine started it was as reaction to grieve and loss so I'm happy to talk about it as reactive. My depression also shows itself in the form of anxiety I worry about everything but when I'm feeling low these small worries become big and all I think about is worse case scenarios , I've jokingly talked about these before about how my mind works but the reality is I joke as a defence mechanism at times, I smile and laugh as a way of protecting myself mainly from sympathy because for people feeling sorry for me is the worst!

I'm known as the one who is always smiling, always happy, the strong one etc, etc and for the most part I am happy I love my children, I have good friends but even with all this there are just times when I want to run away for a while and be alone but I never act on that , I breathe deeply, meditate on how and why I'm feeling this way and sometimes have a damn good cry, it all helps.

5 years ago I decided to train to become a counsellor, I wanted to facilitate other peoples therapeutic journeys to be able to accompany them on their road to understanding and dealing with what was going on for them in hope of better mental health and on my journey to becoming a counsellor I actually learnt so much about myself , about how I deal with situations and people, I'm not saying that becoming a counsellor is the way for everyone to deal with their depression far from it you need to be in a positive place, not undergoing any stress or difficulty when you begin your training otherwise you would never cope with it as it very in depth in terms of looking at yourself and your experiences but the process helped me understand myself and enabled me to stop and think about what's going on for me and explore why I feel a certain way, so on days like today when I'm feeling low and a little bit lost I can stop breathe and objectively ask myself, "ok what's going on here?" instead of blaming everything else (I used to do that) and try and deal with it and find a way forward.

Really I wrote this post not just as a form of self therapy , though it does help to express how you feel! but to try and break down the taboo that depression still is, as a society in general we in the UK are embarrassed about depression we view it as a sign of weakness, we wonder what people will think of us so we try to pretend its not happening.

So what I'm saying to you is don't feel embarrased or ashamed , talk to someone it doesn't have to be your G.P it can be a good friend you trust, someone at your church anyone you trust to listen. Schools and colleges all have counsellors and more and more work places are realising the importance of mental health and have a counsellor you can contact and anything you say to a counsellor is confidential but if you are feeling really low and its affecting your everyday life I would suggest you see you doctor or find a good therapist one that you feel comfortable withand worse case scenario you are feeling suicidal then ring Samaritans or go in to your local A&E.

Please don't suffer in silence , It really is good to talk.




Samaritans In the UK dial 08457 90 90 90
or email : jo@samaritans.org

you can even write freepost to

Freepost RSRB-KKBY-CYJK
Chris
P.O. Box 90 90
Stirling
FK8 2SA

Sometimes we find it easier to express how we feel in writing and everything you say is in confidence.


And if you'd like to find a counsellor or phsychotherapist a good place to start is

http://www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk/

Here you can learn more about counselling and therapy and find a list of  BACP accredited therapists







Friday 17 June 2011

Its actually working!

Last night my was my weekly weigh in at WeightWatchers, its the end of week 4 and last week as you know I had gained a pound and was a little upset (ok extraordinarily upset) and this week I had been very busy and hadn't really been keeping track of what I had eaten so I was more than a little hesitant in going to the meeting, My mind works like this, I've paid this money to go and have someone tell me what to eat because I haven't got enough will-power/commitment to do it by myself and if I've gained weight again then I'm just wasting my money so I'll just go next week and try extra hard this week, In my mind that all made perfect sense! but then I thought, ok, you're an idiot you're paying this money because you're too weak willed to do it by yourself so don't to it by yourself, go and face the consequences of your actions or lack of them! so I did! and I'm glad I did because wait for it ..............................................................I lost 3.5lbs this week! yay me! that's 8lb in total since I started, ok I might not reach my ideal weight by my big 4 0 like I had hoped but a lot can happen between now and August.

I think even though I hadn't tracked my points the whole process has made me a little more aware of what I'm eating so onwards and upwards or in my case hopefully downwards and lets see what I can achieve this week, I can honestly say that this little accomplishment has made me feel much more positive and motivated and with that in mind I'm off to do Zumba!!


Wish me luck xx

Thursday 16 June 2011

Really, I just said that!

Firstly I would like to start today's session by apologising about the lack of blogging over the last few days, I made a promise nay a pledge to blog every day even if it was just one word and as is my life I have failed you! I will take my punishment like a man! That is if my punishment is being put in the corner or isolated alone in a room, frankly I good do with the break! But if it's say 50 push-ups you'll find me snivelling in the corner, I have no upper body strength!

So I've been away for a few days because my daughter has been suffering from a headache/migraine for 5 weeks and we have been to and from hospitals, doctors and this week has been appointment after appointment which is horrible and we're no closer to finding an answer but the doc's are pretty sure it's nothing sinister so until the CT Scan results are back we're being as positive as possible while trying out 3 million pain meds and preventative mads, she now rattles when she walks! But all this leads me to this..... The lines we utter as parents that out of context sound absolutely bizarre! Or maybe it's just me that has to utter those lines, oh god is it just me? Someone tell me, please?


This is the line that initiated my little thought process

"No, I don't think decapitation is the answer!"

Could be talking about the death penalty in some far off country, next assassination attempt by trained assassin perhaps? No this was my response to my daughter saying "I'm so fed up with this headache, can't we just chop my head off"


"Please stop poking your sister with that horse"

First thought perhaps, how does one poke someone with a horse perhaps visions of someone astride a horse making said horse head butt someone? No just my twisted mind!
This was me having to tell my 17 year old to stop poking my 2 year old with a hobby horse, trying to make her laugh but instead of just making her laugh it was making her screech at decibels only audible to dogs!


"that's a bloody cat not a parrot"

Ok, that's stating the obvious but one of my daughters insists on walking around with the cat sat on her shoulder!


"stop throwing zombie sticks at your sister! Wait, what the? Zumba they're zumba sticks!"

That was in response to "Mum!!!, tell her to stop throwing zombie sticks at me!"

See how I have to live! There are loads more and as I think of them I will add them. Please add some of your own and let me know that I'm not the only Mum that has to utter these strange sentences, I'd like to think that my family is like everyone elses! I know right who am I kidding!

Monday 13 June 2011

Why oh why can't our children just be children!

I wasn't going to comment about this as I thought so many bloggers would have done so and probably done a far better job that I at expressing the rage caused by pole dancing classes for children not just children, small children from the age of 3! but the more I think about it the more angry, annoyed and outraged I get so I need to vent that!

Here in the UK at a dance studio in Northampton, Pole dancing for children as young as 3 are being offered, the instructor defends her decision to teach this class by saying that it keeps them fit and gives them confidence um so does a drama class or gymnastics for that matter! This comes on the back of a week where we heard about a beauty parlour again here in England for under 13's offering fakes tans and makeovers to children as young as 1!

What the F*~k is the world coming to? Seriously this is how much this angers me! Let's start with the Pole dancing, what child would ask to do pole dancing? Seriously I'm asking you? Because this really worries me, children talk about and ask to do things they are exposed to, things that they see and want to emulate. My 2 year old has started asking to do ballet( hard enough to find a local class for her to do that ) we're pretty sure that this is because Peppa Pig went to ballet class, it's what they see! She's talks about going to the gym because I go to the gym! She wants to be a cadet because her dad is a cadet instructor, it's all about what they're exposed to! So what the hell are these kids being exposed to?

Now on to the beauty parlour, most little girls want to try on mummies make-up I'm sure most of you who have daughters have had the scenario where you're getting ready to go out and they're sat with you and ask for lipstick too so you let them have a little dab, you pretend to put eyeshadow on them you let them join in with you, see again back to what they see! You don't take them for a full makeover! They are children!!!! Children are supposed to play,they're supposed to get dirty in the garden making mud pies, digging for worms, not get a facial and a fake tan!

God this makes me angry, but who am I angry at the companies that provide these services? They see a niche in the Market and aim to fill it, the media for giving us sexualised images everywhere we turn, you only have to look at most music videos to see some semi-naked young girls writhing about in such a sexual manner that it would make your mother blush! No it's the parents, I'm afraid on this one it really is, it's the parents that pay for these classes, the parents that pay for theses services and it should be the parents that make the decisions about what their children are going to do or take part in but it seems that there are far too many parents that either have forgotten that they are the parent or are giving in to child and peer pressure we've all had the line "but so and so's mum let's them do it!", my response has always been well good for them but I'm your mum and I don't think it's appropriate! See it's called responsibility!


Then I wonder if these are the same parents that are buying their children bra and knicker sets at 4, future footballers wife t-shirts and of course let's not forget too many boys, too little time! All these clothes actually exist! But again they wouldn't exist unless there was a Market for them and again who has the money, the parents!

God this has me outraged and I'm not usually one to blame the parents, I look at contributing factors but on this there really is no one else to blame, We as parents have choice, we can choose what our young children watch, I still vet programmes for my 14 year old in case I find them inappropriate!,we have choice in what they wear and even if they beg and argue about an item of clothing when they get to a certain age, we are the ones paying for it so have a right to reach a compromise or simply say "no I don't think that's appropriate for someone your age" you can tell I've had to say this line more than once it also goes with the line "your dad would have a heart attack if he saw you in that! You don't want to kill your dad, do you?" see, parent of teenage daughters! But it's my choice, that's the point I'm trying to make there is far too much awful stuff going in this world, far too much that our young children don't need to be exposed to, children should be allowed to be children for as long as possible shouldn't they? And it's our duty as parents to let them be just that, surely?


I'm really interested in your thoughts on this so please tell me what you think and I feel so much better for venting my frustration! so Thank you.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Accidental Parenting 101 plus a lot of hot guys!

 When I initially set out to write this it was simply to share a game/bit of fun that my daughters and I play, something that we find fun and makes us laugh but the more I thought about It the more I realised that this 'game' that we play is actually a way that my daughters and I bond, I'm lucky that I have a good relationship with my daughters anyway but they're teenagers and we all know how volatile a period of our lives can be! So anyway to 'The game' not sure how it started or when it started but I think a comment while watching a movie started it and progressively it has become our lists game it goes something like this, we have 3 lists a Dude list- this is all the men that we think are hot. A chick list ( we're an equal opportunity family and hot is hot after all) same as the first but obviously women and our favourite The crushes you shouldn't have this is a list of all those people that you inexplicably have a crush on they might not be good looking but there's just that certain something about them so I'm going to give you our lists there is a reason to this not just the sharing of our crushes which is always fun but something else occurred to me while we were doing this and drum roll if you please here are our our lists!

Mine goes a little something like this,Oh and I've done this as we do it, we quite often don't know their real names so be warned! and the list are absolutely massive so we've just given a few of our favourites
And in no particular order may I present

Dude List


Ian somerhalder (ridiculously hot)
Eric Dane, Mc Steamy Grey's Anatomy
Justin Timberlake
Paul Rudd
Jonny Depp
Jessie williams again Grey's anatomy ,
Justin Chambers, Karev Grey's anatomy , seriously doing the job of casting for that show must be a bitch!
Justin timberlake
George clooney
Taylor Lautner
Vin Diesel




Chick list

Ellen dengeneers
Pink
Megan fox
Rihanna
Eva Longoria
Eva Mendes
Fergie
Gwen Stefani
Gloria from Modern Family










And our very favourite list of all, My Crushes you shouldn't have!



I know, we just can't explain it!

Nick Frost
Simon Pegg
Paul the alien
Bear in the Big Blue house       
Burt from Raising Hope
Benedict Cumberbatch








And my 14 Year Olds List















And Now my 17 year olds List



 When we did our lists we realised that we shared a number of the same people which leads me in to the realisation that I made as we did this, It just goes to show that beauty, sex appeal call it what you will is not age specific it's about beauty that certain something, attraction and that sentiment  'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' really does seem to ring true!

So who's on your list? We'd love to hear!



Thursday 9 June 2011

Gained a pound shame it wasn't cash

So as you know or don't know depending on whether you read my blog regularly! 10 weeks ago I set myself a challenge which I like to call my 3 F's challenge! Fit, Fabulous and Forty! Not neccessarily in that order! By my birthday in August,it's all about being fitter, thinner and having some seminance of style that doesn't just involve a pair of jeans and Uggs or Birkenstocks ( though I love my Uggs and Birkenstocks with all my heart and always will!)i realised it had become my daily wear so I thought enough is enough it's time for a change! And I have to a big extent done something about the fabulous side of my challenge, I now regularly brush my hair, actually moisturise and wear make-up ok not every day but seriously do you really need to wear make-up everyday? And today I went to the hairdressers and had a complete new look, check out my new profile pic! I love it!

But and it's a big butt! I am having a big issue with the weight loss, I love food! I do, I adore it! I love to cook and you have to try what you make, don't you?

So I joined WeightWatchers and this is the end of week 3 doing it and I have gained a pound, :-( ok a pound might not sound a lot to you but to me it's massive and upsetting and I feel quite sorry for myself :-( so what did I do, I comfort ate! I came in, had a bacon sandwich with cheese and tomatoes, then to add further insult to injury I found the bowl of leftover coffee buttercream that I had iced a cake with 2 days ago and I had a big old spoon full of that, ok 2 spoons or was it 3!*Hangs head in guilt and shame* See it takes a special kind of stupid to eat more food because you're miserable that you gained weight, because that really makes sense!

So now with that realisation I'm going to Zumba my ass off, eat properly this week, try my hardest to avoid wine well maybe not quite as much wine as usual and aim for a much better result next!

Wish me luck x

Wednesday 8 June 2011

A very social experiment!

More and more these days we hear how as a society we're becoming more and more detached from our real world and spending more and more time in online communities, online games, social networking and spending less time in our real communities and with the people around us. Well I was on twitter today( See what I mean! ) and I thought to myself, we follow all theses people and all theses people follow us but how many of them have you actually said "Hello" to? So then I thought to myself, I wonder what will happen if I say "Hello" to everyone I follow and who follows me, so instead of wondering about it, I did it!

I wondered what would happen, Are we friendlier online talking to people we hardly know or even complete strangers? or can we be just as distant and aloof? In a way twitter is possibly one of the worst or possibly best places to try this after all where else do we stalk  follow celebrities and their like, living vicariously through them but I thought what I have got to lose apart from maybe all my followers for filling up their timeline with my little experiment!


Little did I know when I started that it would be such an arduous task and how many times I'd end up in Twitter Jail!

So I follow 1036 people and as I write this I have 362 followers, since I started my little project 2 days ago, yes its taken 2 days to complete, I've lost quite a few and I've gained quite a few followers but it's been fun, interesting and I was actually surprised at how many people did respond back, I had no negative comments and obviously not everyone responded but I had some lovely conversations( you know who you are ) and I enjoyed being social on what is after all a social arena, now as for who responded,  a few celebrities responded more than I actually thought would ,  I don't blame those that didn't respond they probably
think I'm a mad stalker type fan but a few other thoughts crossed my mind are they perhaps too full of their own importance to say Hi to us normal folk? Are they too busy? Are they worried about forming a relationship with a 'mere mortal'? Do they think that if perhaps they respond to one they would have to respond to all or can they simply just not be bothered to reply?! But then again that can be said for everyone, I think I might be a little dubious about a complete stranger saying Hello!


But after all that the results are in! after saying Hello to all those  people, It taking 2 days, ending up in Twitter jail not once, not twice but 8 you heard it 8 times and developing what I think is repetitive strain injury (seriously my wrists and fingers ache)  270 people responded to my friendly 'Hello',  of those 23 of those were well known celebrities, stars, authors , should I name drop? not sure at the moment as I feel if I name one I should name them all and would that bore you? seriously you tell me?  Quite a few were people who tweet on behalf of their companies and it showed their human side not just the promotional side of the company which I thought was lovely! I also had 10 direct messages and started 23 conversations with lovely people with whom I hadn't previously spoken and one invite to come and have a cup of tea!


And like any other good experiment, here is my conclusion.............. It is easier for people to talk online or by text without that face to face contact, people for the most part are friendly and perhaps we should learn to say "Hello" a little more often online and in our communities! what's the worse that can happen? people might think you're insane and walk on by or ignore you online but you might make someone smile , you might brighten someones day, who knows you might even make a new friend!

So Hello World , lets make it a friendlier place! Now its your turn , go on you know you want to!

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Intermission

I'm working on a little social experiment *cue mad scientist laugh* I'll be back with the results soon , I hope, really I do , Its taking a lot longer than expected!

Monday 6 June 2011

Raspberry and Amarreto cheesecake

Now as I've mentioned before,I'm not really a measurer (is that even a word?), I make recipes up as I go along and quite often adapt them to use what I have in the house and this is how my now favourite baked cheesecake recipe came about, I fancied cheesecake but I didn't have enough digestives and I wanted to make it a little bit alcoholic ( who in their right mind wouldn't ) and the only alcohol that I had that I thought would give a nice flavour was Disaronno! This is how I cook! I hope it works for you if not, do what I do......make it up as you go along!


the recipe is of course a bit of a guesstimate for some of the ingredients ( I will buy kitchen scales honest ) and it's for a 10 inch spring form cake tin, so you're all clever people adapt it for your cake tins, families etc and I'm sure it will turn out beautifully, do let me know!




Ingredients

200g crushed Amarreti biscuits
200g crushed digestive biscuits
Around 50g of butter, but use your eye it should be enough to keep all the biscuit crumbs together without making it wet.
250g soft cheese
250g ricotta cheese, remember it's up to you you could just use one kind of soft cheese whatever you have or is easy to get.
2 eggs beaten
200g caster sugar
And Amarreto or your favourite alcohol, to taste
Raspberries for decoration, my favourite, flavour also I had them in the fridge! See what I mean!


Turn the oven on to around 170
Grease your cake tin
In a saucepan melt your butter then add your biscuits crumbs, mix until combined then pour into the cake tin, press down to form the base. put in the oven for about 10 minutes while you prepare the cheesecake mixture.

In a bowl the cheeses, the sugar, the beaten egg and your alcohol of choice( if you want to make a plain one just add a teaspoon of vanilla extract) try not to over beat as you don't want the mixture to become too sloppy.


Take your biscuit base out of the oven and pour your cheesecake mixture in on top, return to the oven for around 50 mins. The top should just be turning a light golden brown ,come away from the edge of the tin and perhaps cracked a little on top.

Pop it in the fridge for a few hours to cool down and set properly then decorate as you wish!

we sometimes add popping candy to the decoration its a nice a surprise in the mouth!

Enjoy x

Friday 3 June 2011

A loss of lbs and pounds

Last night was my weigh in for the end of week 2 at WeightWatchers and I have lost just 1 lb this week I know I should be happy that it's a loss but I was secretly a little dissappointed I guess I was hoping for another 4 lb weight loss but I did realise that I hadn't been quite as meticulous about recording everything that I had ate and I had baked a birthday cake and about a 100 cupcakes and of course I had to taste 1 or 3 to check that were ok, it would have been wrong not to wouldn't it!

Don't get me wrong I am taking WeightWatchers seriously, they're taking 20 quid a month off me after all but you have to live too , don't you? and life is too short to deny yourself everything, my 3F's challenge isn't just about losing weight by time I'm 40 it's more about being fit for the next forty years and looking more like the person I feel on the inside and I realised today while looking for an outfit for a wear to a reception (I will tell you more about this later) that I have a lot of clothes that are perfectly suitable for everyday wear and are far more stylish than my usual Jeans, t-shirts, Birkenstocks combo that I seem to have adopted as comfortable and practical and ok they are but and it's a big butt ( do you like the little play on words?) I have lovely stylish dresses that would be equally comfortable with the right shoes or sandals so why do I consider it wrong to wear anything other than jeans? Seriously I'm asking you?

I hope by time I'm forty I'm closer to finding the answers and losing the lbs quicker than I'm losing the pounds but for now I shall persevere and I'll let you know next week how I'm getting on! Xx

Thursday 2 June 2011

Oops I did it again!

No I'm not channelling Britney and neither is this an ode to said popstar, but given the amount of stress I have of late I may be having a Britney style melt down, shave my head and sit in a corner rocking back and forth! No the oops again is because I missed another day yesterday * hangs head in shame and disgust for my lack of time management * , that's not to say I missed a whole day that would be worrying and concerning, I mean how would that happen unless of course you took travel sickness pills went to a wedding and drank far too much wine and champagne without reading the do not drink alcohol while taking this medication warning on the box, True story! Still have no idea what I did or what happened and quite frankly I don't think I want to know! It was a long time ago and if you were at said wedding or it was your said wedding I am very very sorry but what I said/did/kissed/puked/_________ fill in blank as necessary and I promise it will never happen again!

No I'm talking about blogging, I said I would write something everyday but it's haarrrd! *said in whiny teenage voice* not hard to think of something to say, that I never have a problem with, once again I apologise, it's finding the time with kids, house life etc etc.

I so admire everyone out there who manages their house, kids, work and still find time to blog! How do you do it? Seriously you are amazing and I bow before your superior organisation skills!

But I made a pledge and I will try harder so please all you lovely bloggers out there give me some tips on managing my time and getting it all done!