Week 21: Friendship

This week has been a bit of a "blah" week. Even though I have been very busy, it feels like I didn't achieve much at all or maybe I just didn't stop long enough to appreciate whatever I did accomplish. The week started well enough but somewhere down the line I ran out of puff.

I think the best example of how it all went down is in the meals I've served up. I normally take great pride in cooking healthy meals for my little family on a daily basis. So, on Monday we had a lovely homemade pasta salad full of fresh, colourful, tasty ingredients. By Saturday I was plating up Ikea hotdogs, with a portion of broccoli on the side just to assuage my guilt. That pretty much says it all.

But, the good thing about blogging more regularly is that it forces me to take long hard look at my life. All the time. And by taking another look at my "blah" week, I realised I'm actually a very lucky girl. I have friends. Many lovely friends. And I'm so grateful for it.

I live in a pretty cool neighbourhood. What I've found here is a real sense of community and I love it. I've bonded with my really lovely neighbours (we're currently planning a street party - watch this space) and we often have fun stuff happening right on our doorsteps. Last Sunday there was a mini springtime festival in the local park where we made the most of the gorgeous weather in the company of our friendly neighbours.

Chilling in style

As we have no family living nearby, I'm reliant on my friends to help me in times of need, especially with hubby away for work so often. And yet another friend came through for me this week when I really wanted to attend my monthly WI meeting but had no one to look after our daughter. I'm always a bit shy about asking for babysitting but this month's meeting was about furniture upcycling and I really wanted to be there.

I made a batch of shortbreads so my friend had something to munch on while babysitting for me. I use Mary Berry's recipe for shortbread, it's simple but efficient. I like that.

These came in handy too when I welcomed another friend into our home on Friday. My friend Lotte is a fellow blogger with a daughter the same age as mine. Part of her house is currently without a roof, you can read all about her woes on her awesome blog. Despite a migraine plaguing me that day, it was great having her around, I just loved the company. And it's always fun to watch our daughters interact nicely together, or thoroughly ignoring one another as the case may be.

So there you go, I have friends and they definitely make my life a lot brighter, even on a "blah" week. And that's why it makes me extra happy to see my daughter building friendships of her own. Currently, she and her childminder's daughters are fast becoming BFFs and I can't hold back an "Aaaaah" every time we arrive there and they toddle off together hand in hand. Cute or what?

On another note, I did manage to make more than just a batch of shortbreads this week. I've blinged up another pair of trainers for my daughter. The lucky girl now has her own personalised high tops. It's taken me a stupid amount of time to figure out how to best transfer the N onto the canvas (freehand calligraphy isn't one of my strong points). Eventually I settled for cutting the outline with a scalpel and then following the cut with a pencil. Worked a treat!

N for Nimue 

I've also made some pink grapefruit marmalade last night. Earlier in the week, I'd bought some pink grapefruits from our local greengrocer and they're the most delicious, sweet, juicy grapefruits I've ever eaten. They inspired me to try my hand at marmalade and it payed off. Just one of these beauties produced 4.5 pots of marmalade. At 40p for the grapefruit, I'd say that's a pretty good return on investment! And it is delicious too. So delicious in fact that I keep trying to find excuses to eat some.

So, with this lovely marmalade to fuel me, let's hope next week will be a whole lot less "blah" and a whole lot more "wow".

Week 19: sunshine and tears

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm now approaching this blog in a different way. From now on I'll be blogging an update on a (hopefully!) weekly basis, interspersed with the occasional, more detailed post. If you see anything that piques your curiosity in a weekly update and you want me to elaborate, please leave me a comment or drop me a line.

This week started with a fab bank holiday weekend. The sun was shining and with the return of Make Sundays Special, Bristol was at its best. The streets were packed with people and it all had a vibrant festival-like atmosphere. There was even a massive water slide down one of the city's main arteries. Amazing! We had a fab family day out taking it all in.

Our daughter got to explore the great outdoors some more, has carried on caring for her naming tree and was introduced to the art of barbecuing.

Weeks ago, I thought I'd make some coloured rice for Nimue to play with but there's no way I'm going to let her play with it indoors (I'm not a huge fan of the vacuum cleaner at the best of times!) so with the arrival of the sunny weather, she finally had a chance to play with it. It's really simple to make and, unlike the gravel on our patio, I don't mind if she ends up eating some.

I've also started blinging up some trainers for the little miss this week but I've run out of crystals mid-project so all I can show you for now is the start. I should be able to show you the finished article later this month.

Mid-week the weather soured and we received the devastating news that a friend, who played a role in getting hubby and I together, has ended her long battle with cancer. It was a sad day with lots of tears but also many hugs and stolen kisses with my daughter. Life is oh so short and far from fair, it's important to hug the people we hold dear and tell them how much we love them as often as possible. In an attempt at dispelling some of the sadness of the day, I decided to introduce our toddler to baking. We made a chocolate and marmalade cake and an awful lot of mess! But I dare say this little one has already inherited her parents' love of baking.

It's not just baking our daughter is interested in though. Lately, she has been desperate to contribute in the kitchen. Sadly we don't have much space on the counter tops for her to sit on and it makes me really nervous when she is up there. So, my husband, who loves a bit of woodwork, has made her a little helper pod. It was finished last night and Nimue has christened it with enthusiasm today. Hubby has done us proud, it's a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and with some tender loving care, it will make a fab heirloom. The only downside is that with a toddler involved in the food prep and the washing up, we're going to have a whole lot more kitchen cleaning to do!

Tomorrow we're hosting a tea party for Contact the Elderly so there's some frantic baking going on here this weekend, you'll hear all about it in next week's update. Until then, take care x