Jubilee BBQ

Normally I like to buy free range meat not value but I am afraid, just this once, I am slipping on my morals. At the weekend we are having Friends and Family over for a Jubilee BBQ (hoping the Weather stays dry or else we will be in a pickle!) and Morrisons currently have this offer on:

12 Burgers, 24 Sausages, 36 White Baps and a bottle of Tomato sauce for £10 which is going to allow me to have lots of fun with people I love without going over my food budget.

Half Way!

Today I am officially in my 20th week of Pregnancy half way through, well actually more than half since I will probably be having a C-Section so Pea will arrive a little earlier.
I had my Anomaly scan and I am Thankful to say that everything is growing and working like it should, the Sonographer was great and clearly explained Peas little heart working and brain measurements.

The pictures we got are a little odd, not your normal ones for sure!

Relaxing with its feet touching its nose!!! And you can see a cute little ear :-)

This ones a bit scary, but you can see its eyes, nose and jaw really clearly

We decided we didn't want to find out Peas sex, most people find this odd but to us it was just really strange to think that it would have its name and identity before it was here! In truth it would be really useful to know if I need to buy all new or get the boys things down from the loft but all of Aidan's early hand me downs were neutral colours anyway so the excitement can build :-)

Gorgeous Weekend

It's been a gorgeous Sunny weekend here so we have taken full advantage of it, lets face it in England we never know when we will get nice weather!

 We started each Morning with Breakfast in the Garden, croissants and Brioche with jam and coffee for Chris, orange juice for Aidan and I.

 

 We went to B&Q not normally cheapest for plants I know but I had seen that they were doing buy one get one free on all their plants. By being a bit cheeky and doing several transactions I managed to get £56 of plants for £28 :-) 

I spent the Afternoon potting them up into pots and little displays like this one, I have got more than this one pot!.

 

Sunday Afternoon we went for a lovely picnic and stroll around the local park, it was so nice to sit shady and cool under the beautiful trees like this one.

  

 Here are my Boys relaxing in the cool with their belly's full of Ice-Cream!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too x x

Naughty Pink Fairy!

We have been having some Gorgeous, Gorgeous Weather here (finally!) I am hoping it continues for a while so I can justify my new slightly naughty purchase.

For the quite reasonable sum of £79 I managed to get the above set  (not my garden in the photo I hasten to add!!)which includes 4 Reclining chairs, a tempered glass table as well as a Parasol, for a further £39 I also managed to get a large oil drum BBQ. Chris has put it all together for me this evening, hopefully at the weekend we can christen them all and with the Bank Holiday weekend coming up we are also hoping to have some Friends and Family round. Other plans for this weekend include planting out my Tomatoes, Beans and Peas that Ive grown from seeds, also purchase and plant some pretty bedding plants. I will take some actual photos of my Garden once it's all done.

What plans do you have?

A lucky Pink Fairy ;-)

Well I haven't logged in for a few days as my Pregnancy has left me wiped out by evening time, felt a little better today and thought I would have a catch up.

I'm delighted to find out I have won a cute Personalised Plaque from Poppy Toms.

Now I just have to decide which of the lovely designs to have!

Thank you so much x x

Awwwwwww good dog!

Pudsey and Ashleigh did Northampton proud and won Britains got Talent!

Heres a link to their winning routine

http://youtu.be/aMQGEWk4ZB0

My hometown

My Hometown is Northampton, I was born and bred here, there are about 190,000 inhabitants.

In Years gone by we used to be a Town famous for shoe making, there were so many Shoe Factorys and the majority of Town people were emplyed in the industry. Nowadays they are few and far between with only a couple remaining one being Church, they make shoes for the James Bond Films and have just fitted for the Great Britain Olympic Team. The only other main factory is called Trickers, and was used as the set of the Film "Kinky Boots".

We have also raised quite a few celebritys now, including

Comedian Alan Carr

We even had - "ALION Carr"

The newest Doctor Who, Matt Smith

Radio 1 DJ - Jo Whiley

And now we have a new Star:

Pudsey the Dancing dog!

Pudsey is into the Final of Britains got Talent (A show to find an Act to perform for the Queen at the Annual Royal Variety Show) he is so cute.

Here is a video of him busting a move!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv_gOBi8Wpk

As much as I moan about it I actually love my Hometown, 

How do you feel about your Hometown? Do you still live there?

Bank Holiday

Surprise Surprise it was a long Bank Holiday Weekend here and it Rained, it always rains on a Holiday its almost Traditional!

Sometimes if we do not go out of the house for a couple of days I can begin to feel the whole Family going just a little stir crazy, Aidan looks for mischief, Chris watches rubbish TV and I scooch round trying to find jobs to do. Despite the downpour we decided to pop on our wellies and Raincoats and go for a walk in the park, it was unsurprisingly empty!

I love how Aidan is reflected in the roof of the tunnel

Splashing in puddles

Feeding the ducks and geese

I hope you all enjoyed your weekends x x

When my Dad was younger his Mum used to make him Corned Beef Hash, mashed potatoes, onions and obviously some corned beef. It was a cheap yet filling meal for the Family.

When I was younger my Mother needed cheap yet filling meals so she made us a Hash using Corned Beef or Bacon. Instead of mashing the potatoes she cubed them, par boiled them and then put them in the oven with some fried onions and the meat, if it was available she would crack an egg in the top.

Whilst my Child is young I need cheap yet filling meals so I make my Family a Hash using whatever meat is leftover or on offer. I cube my potatoes, par boil them and then put them in the oven with some fried onions, the meat, a tin of baked beans and an egg if available.

Notice a pattern?

I love how this meal has evolved through my Family, some things have changed yet it still remains a frugal and wholesome meal.

I wonder if Aidan or Pea will make it and what further adaptations they will make to it to ensure it fits the needs of their Family's?

Rubber Gammon!

I bought a 500g Gammon joint on offer for £4 from Morrison's last week. Meat is so expensive that I wanted to eeeeeek out as many meals as possible from this one joint of meat and here's how I did:

Sunday - Gammon was first boiled with some onions and carrots to make stock, after about 30 mins I took it out and covered it in Onion Chutney and popped it into the oven to finish off roasting. For Tea the 3 of us had Roast Gammon, Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Spuds, Carrots and Broccoli.

Monday -  I used the stock with some Arborio rice I got cheaply from the local church co-operative, cubed some of the remaining meat to add to it with some veg, and the 3 of us had a delicious Risotto.

Tuesday - Some more remaining meat was added to par boiled potatoes, onions, a tin of beans and a fried egg to enable us all to have a Hash meal (See my next post for some thoughts on its evolution in my Family!)

Wednesday - I have blanched some Broccoli and Cauliflower and popped it into a roasting dish, the last of the meat has been chopped added and cheese sauce poured over the top. Later I will throw it in the oven to bake it for another healthy(ish) and tasty meal for 3.

I don't think I have done bad at making it S-T-R-E-T-C-H and each meal has cost between £2 and £3 for the 3 of us.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm this reminds me of someone?

http://www.someecards.com/