Not Now Later

Disorganised mum

It's no real secret that I'm not the most organised of people. I get by; my son gets to school every day, the house is relatively clean (just rather untidy,) the kids have proper meals, the bills get paid and we're all generally pretty happy.  

And I do have a diary. I'm not sure how anybody with kids gets by without a diary or calender at the very least. My brain retains just a fraction of the information that it did prior to giving birth and as the children get older there seem to be more and more crucial dates that if not noted down almost immediately would instantly be forgotten. So I'm not completely useless and we usually manage to turn up to dental appointments/ birthday parties/ school stuff at the correct (ish) time. 

When it comes to the day to day matter of running a household though, I tend to do things on the fly or at the last minute. Meals often get planned and shopped for on the day they get eaten, clothes get ironed just before we get dressed, bags get packed on the way out of the door. Days out are often spontaneous and holidays are booked a few weeks in advance. Fortunately, I'm not in a position where things have to be planned with military precision as I thrive on a certain level of flexibility, or rather chaos. But let's face it, I could do with pulling my socks up a bit. It's not all relaxed spontaneity, it's a good part sheer laziness on my part. 

So tonight I tried something different. I've laid out clothes, shined shoes, packed the school bag, loaded the buggy for tomorrow, written a short-term to do list, meal planned for the next few days, actually consulted the diary to see what the week ahead holds in store and all those other things that loads of mums manage to do every night of the week. I haven't gone as far as to set the table for breakfast in the morning, but who knows what lies ahead. I might even make myself a cleaning schedule. 

So what about you? What are your household organisation top tips? Do you change your bed linen on a set day of the week? Is anybody else as lazy as me?

Knebworth House Park and Gardens

A little while ago Being A Mummy wrote a great post listing some Easter Holidays ideas for those around London one of which was  Knebworth House.  It's just up the road from us and yet I hadn't visited since my own childhood and didn't even know of the existence of the Dinosaur Trail she mentions. So this morning we threw together an impromptu picnic and drove over there. 

We didn't bother visiting the house as it was a beautiful day and I guessed the kids would rather be outside than traipsing around a stately home. So we just paid for admission to the gardens and park which includes the Dinosaur Trail, Fort Knebworth (the adventure playground) Astroglide and Shutes and the Miniature Railway. 

They loved it. It was great to spend the whole day outdoors in the sun. The Dinosaur Trail was a big hit, featuring about fifty odd life size dinosaurs loitering around looking shifty. Ok, so maybe they weren't quite so convincing as the animatronic T-rex at the Natural History Museum, but what they lacked in quality they made up for in quantity. I don't profess to be any sort of dinosaur expert, but there were lots that I hadn't come across before, including one gigantic pre-historic crocodile thing that I'm sure they just made up to make it all a bit more scary. 

 

 

The Astroglide slide was the biggest thrill of the day for the kids (alongside the ice creams of course.) While I was reminded, yet again, that I am becoming an old woman by particularly enjoying walking around the walled kitchen garden.  

Kiddicore- Part One

The kids share an ipod, which sounds a bit extravagant, but I sensed my own ipod was beginning to feel violated by the likes of Sleeping Bunnies (the ragga mix) and Axel F's Crazy Frog (yes, people still listen to that.) So, something had to give and I splurged and got them a Nano on which to store the countless albums they have accumulated in their short lives.

We like our music in this house. I'm a guitarry, indie, lo-fi, alt country, punk, bit of hardcore, twee-pop, ska, reggae, a pinch of garage rock sorta girl and husband is an aging b-boy with an immense record collection covering far too many genres to attempt to list. 

One way or another the kids were going to be exposed to a lot of different types of music. But no, neither of the children have particularly sophisticated musical tastes. Tilly likes nothing better than The Wiggles' Hot Potato while Louis thinks Is This The Way To Amarillo is the epitome of cool.

So anyway, in amongst all the crap on the nano is some great music which doesn't immediately make my ears want to spout blood and I thought I'd list a few of our favourites.  

 

The Colours Are Brighter is a great charity compilation put together a few years ago by Belle and Sebastian and featuring artists like The Divine Comedy, The Flaming Lips and The Kooks. My favourite track is Four Tet's 'Go Go Ninja Dinosaur' but Louis and Tilly both love Franz Ferdinand's 'Jackie Jackson' - a cautionary tale about a greedy little boy who exploded after eating over two hundred cakes. 

 

See You On The Moon also has some good tracks. Best title of a song goes to Alan Sparhawk's 'Be Nice To People With Lice' but  Apostle of Hustle's '24 Robbers wins hands down as far as Tilly is concerned for general catchy, shoutiness.

 

Finally for now is For The Kids Too which is the second in the series of three compilations aiming to appeal to grown ups as well as nippers. This album's best tune goes to They Might Be Giants' 'John Lee Supertaster' a song about a kid with the superpower of supertaste and when he tastes a pear 'it's like a hundred pears!' There are also tracks by Jason Mraz, Nada Surf, Robyn Hitchcock and lots of others who I hadn't heard of before, but sound pretty good.

Not sure if any of these albums are available to buy on cd anymore, but they are on itunes or perhaps have a dig around on Spotify. 

More in Kiddicore- Part Two

The novice gardeners get dirty

Up until last year I had little to no interest in gardening. I considered it an activity better saved for my twilight years or at least my fifties.  Last Summer, however we finally had our garden revamped. We got some people in who gutted the lot and provided us instead with a rather lovely raised bedding area, some trellised bits, some nice stonework paving and a patio (I'm not entirely sure what a patio is, but I think we've got one.) 

Ok, so there's no fancy water feature, decking or boxed hedging and there is no escaping the fact that it is on the small side, but it's manageable. There are tons of pots, there is a cute playhouse for the children and of course, there is the fantastic kiddie-sized green house. And it looks infinitely better than the pitiful scrap of wasteland that came before.

So this year I've already got my hands dirty and done a bit of digging and planting. Today, yet again, I dragged the kids into the garden, thrusted trowels and seed trays into their hands and enthused about the joys of growing our own food. We planted peppers and lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes, french onions and peas and a variety of kitchen herbs. If they all grow I could have them both manning a fruit and veg stall come August.

 

At the beginning of the week I'd discovered Nuture Store's Sunflower Club  and it looked exactly like the kind of gardening Louis and Tilly would enjoy. We signed up and today, as well as all those vegetables, we planted the Sunflower seeds. We've also started a garden diary to record what we're growing and its progress. 

 

Let's hope some of this stuff actually grows, otherwise there could be tears. And I'm not sure it would be the kids crying.
 

The Bean Diary

Today was the last day of term and all the reception children came bounding out of class clutching plastic cups from which grew beanstalks of varying heights. This half-term's theme had been growth and one of the projects was for each child to germinate a bean and investigate and observe its growth. Today they were to take home their beanstalks.

After presenting me with a term's worth of junk modeling, a P.E kit bag, bulging school bag and an Easter basket, Louis handed me the cup. I peered inside to see a clump of soggy cotton wool and a moldy looking bean.

'Oh well, not to worry sweetie' I said as another parent marveled at their child's towering plant. Louis burrowed in my handbag for a snack and I balanced the cup on top of the heavily loaded buggy.

Later, back at home I discovered The Bean Diary in his school bag. On the front page was his name underneath which he had drawn a rather optimistic picture of a healthy, tall beanstalk with lush green leaves. The diary made dismal reading. He wrote,

Week One: A bin (accompanied by enthusiastic colourful sketch of bean in cup )

Week Two: No, my bin has not grown (accompanied by pencil drawing of bean in cup)

Week Three: Nothin (no picture)

Week Four: My bin is ded (accompanied by an angry black scribble representation of bean)

Tonight there were a few tears before bedtime as he considered his bean's failure to sprout. I reassured him that within the next few weeks seedlings would be appearing in the trays in the greenhouse and we could observe those instead. 

In the meantime I might just hurl his bean out of the kitchen window, but keep an axe close at hand, just in case.

Out of hibernation

I guess it's officially Spring. The clocks go forward on Sunday. I'm toying with the idea of switching footwear from my boots back to my old faithful Converse. We've been to the park four times in the last week. And finally, Cbeebies have got around to replacing the completely dismal Winter song with the distinctly more catchy and familiar Spring song. 

So, my dad has built the kids a greenhouse. Apparently his grandfather did the same for him when he was a child and he has such fond memories of it that he wanted to do the same for his grandchildren. Only difference being that his grandfather had plenty of time on his hands and wasn't a 60-something hipster art student. While dad found the time to build this fantastic greenhouse, I'm not sure he's going to be able to put in the hours guiding the kids in growing stuff in there. He can more often be found in some art space in Hackney than he can pottering in a garden shed. So that leaves me to get my hands dirty and get planting with them 

 

I ordered a copy of  Grow It, Eat It  which looks like a pretty good introduction for us all. Nice clear pictures and step by step instructions, plus recipes to encourage the kids to eat their fruit and veg. This weekend we'll take a trip to the local garden centre with a shopping list to get us started and send off for a Cbeebies free seed pack 

Watch this greenhouse. 

 

East vs West

I've spent the past couple of days in London. Yesterday involved a brief (kiddie free) jaunt to University College Hospital for a blood test, followed by a wander around some of my old shopping haunts. Then today I took the kids (Louis is officially no longer contagious) to Whitechapel to see my dad's MA show at London Met followed by lunch in Spitalfields with Ed, who managed to nip out of the office for an hour. 

Yesterday was pleasant. I sat on the train for half an hour of blissful peace with just my ipod and book for company. I breezed through the Underground unencumbered by a buggy or a dawdling four year old. I reveled in the liberating experience of entering a public toilet cubicle, solo. I drank a coffee at a leisurely pace in a cafe which probably didn't have baby changing facilities or highchairs. Finally, I ambled purposelessly around shops, just browsing.  It was refreshing and something I intend to do every once in a while now I have regular hospital appointments in central London.

Today was fun. After scraping breakfast off the floor, I bundled up the kids and dashed out of the door to the station, loaded down with buggy, snacks, nappies and all that other, day out sort of paraphernalia. 

Both of them love trains. Louis enjoys the mechanics, the noise and the motion. Tilly enjoys intimidating strangers with her stare, clambering over the seats and pointing at things out of the window. They were delighted to see my dad and even feigned a (very) slight interest in his work.  Louis documented the trip taking photos of other passengers, pigeons and his shoes. They ran around and collected figs and sticks in the courtyard at the Arts Bar and Cafe at Tonybee Studios. Tilly squealed with happiness when Ed came and found us waiting for him in the gardens near his office. We ate a lovely lunch in the very kiddy friendly Giraffe. And Louis reported that daddy's office was messy and his chair was broken after nipping into Ed's work for a wee (probably the highlight of the day for Louis.) 

Ok, so we struggled on escalators. Tilly attempted to deface artworks with her sticky fingers. There was orange juice spillage, the threat of an accident when Louis decided he urgently needed the toilet and there were complaints when little legs got a bit weary.  And of course, there were overtired tears by five o'clock, but not mine, honest! 

Back to school (for two days)

After a lovely Summer, Louis reluctantly went back to nursery last Thursday. It took some coaxing, but after a few tears he accepted that the holidays were over and it was back to the grind.

On Friday afternoon I took him to the doctors and happened to mention that he had a nasty patch of what looked like eczema on the side of his torso. The doctor examined him and announced that it wasn't eczema at all, but shingles. Shocked to see shingles in a four year old she asked another GP for his opinion. Yes, it's shingles and no he shouldn't have been at nursery and yes he will have to stay at home until it clears up. He has no other symptoms other than the rash and thankfully even the rash isn't causing any discomfort, but because it can cause chicken pox in others he obviously needs to avoid passing it on. So, after almost seven weeks of school holidays he is now delighted to discover that he is quarantine for another week. Luckily he has heaps birthday pressies (a mountain of Lego and Playmobil) to play with while he is under house arrest. 

The new wedding?

In this momversation episode  Girls' Gone Child, Rebbeca Woolf describes the child's birthday party as 'the new wedding.' I didn't have a traditional wedding. Like Rebecca I got married in Las Vegas, but unlike Rebecca I think there is (or rather was) a frustrated bride to be in there somewhere. I went totally overboard on my son's fourth birthday party. 

He had a seaside themed party and I've mentioned the preparations on here a few times before. There was the postcard invitation. There was the Punch and Judy booth that my dad and I made.

There were bucket and spades for party bags filled with seaside themed sweets ,sunglasses, paper pinwheels and stickers. There was the (more or less inedible) sandcastle birthday cake and the horsey hoppers for donkey rides. I drew the line at filling the church hall with sand and creating a beach, but I was tempted. There were 35 hyper kids running around to the sound of a carefully compiled seaside playlist. I got a theme and I got totally carried away. 

So, yes maybe Louis' birthday party almost turned into a wedding scale production, but it was huge fun to plan and gave me an excuse to make stuff and be creative and honestly, there wasn't a seating plan! 

Cupcakes and cookie cutters

With Louis' fourth birthday fast approaching I've been honing my cupcake technique. I say honing, when in fact I have very little experience with cupcakes beyond eating them. Anyway, yesterday I dug out my apron and dusted down the Kitchenaid. Et voila!

Ok, not quite Hummingbird Bakery standard, but the kids couldn't quite believe their luck and demolished in no time them with the help of their friends.  Boozlebox kindly directed me towards these shark cakes so I'm going to have to do a bit more practising.

Louis is having a traditional British seaside themed party (yeah, yeah he'd probably  rather have a Power Rangers/ Ben 10/ superhero party, but I reckon I can get away with doing it my way this year)  and I was at a bit of a loss when it came to ideas for a birthday cake until I saw this. Perhaps ridiculously ambitious for somebody like me, but I'm going to give it a go. Plus, I got some fancy cookie cutters  so I can try out making these.