Back to the routine.....

I wish I was a spontaneous person sometimes, just do something different at the drop of a hat...but I am a creature of habit. I like routine, I like to be in control...not in a dominating way but I like to feel as if I can vaguely plan my life. Funny then how I end up with an other half who's life is far from routine and who's career is at present driving my little brain even crazier than ever. Oh well, at least the little cherubs are back at school!

Freya has started at the comp well and has already identified most of the 'scary' teachers. The homework seems to be being drip fed to them at the moment but God help them come the next term as it will probably be very full on by then. She seems to be enjoying herself though and you can sense this feeling she has of 'I'm a grown up now' which I willno doubt beat out of her shortly as she is becomming a little cheeky at times. But then I remember what I was like at that age and rejoice in the fact that she doesn't know what a devious little minx her mother was! Yup, I'll be fine aslong as she doesn't take after me.



The week before going back was a mass of sorting uniform and equipment..the usual beginning of September chaos really that all mothers dread. Luckily, I am a fairly organised woman (diaries in every room, goes back to the control thing) and the only thing I realised I had forgotten was a pair of appropriately coloured rugby socks (she had white but needed black) so in that respect it wasn't too chaotic.

I've got the cooking bug back again. Partly through necessity. Tight budget means more and more homemade meals. Usually when Petes away we only have cooked meals in the evening about three times a weeks as the girls all have hot lunches at school but I'm immersing myself in frugal cook books and ideas. Some are of more nutritional value than others (some of which are downright scary) but as long as it's a balanced diet (and i'm lucky i have kids who love their fruit, veg and sensible cereal) I'm not overly sensitive to the odd fat ladden dish. I suppose my thought is that almost anything home made must be infinitely better for you than any shop bought ready meal or jar of sauce.

So there has been plenty of cooking going on in the house. From homemade smoothies (watching the kids put their fingers in their ears when the smoothie maker goes on is the best bit) to cakes, to meals, soups and desserts....I've even made a few new nibbly things which when left around tends to stop the kids from saying 'can I have some sweets?' Of course, when it comes to cakes there are plenty of 'lick the bowl' moments to be had. I remember as a kid argueing with my sister over who got the bowl first after we'd been baking with my nan.




Although I've always been a keen cook, I've never been someone to get involved in baking or anything to do with pastry....well not home made pastry anyway. But I decided to try to make pasties for the first time EVER! Crazy considering my mum owns a bloody pasty shop but there ya go and I went for a lamb and mint combination rather than the obvious.



I need to work on my crimping skills a little but the results were very delish and got eaten in about an hour. Tonight I'm making some bog standard steak ones instead. Oggy oggy oggy indeed!


So the girls have been back to school just over a week now. Emily is apparently running for school council. I have to help her with some application form which could be interesting work. That girl is most certainly a leader and not a follower as any one of her hen pecked friends will tell you. Natasha has settled back into nursery life and is wishing away the year to get to Primary School and even re 'reads' Emilys school book each night. The applications online open tomorrow so I'll be hopefully getting her into the same school as Emily as I've been so impressed over the past year.



The twirling is coming along nicely. We seem to have a great group of girls there now that have been there since we started and they're even starting to look the part. There's a while to go before we're ready for competitions but if nothing they're enthusiastic. We are doing a sponsored Pom Pom walk along Plymouth Hoe Promenade on Saturday 3rd October between 10 and 11 am so anyone who would like to sponsor us do please get in touch. You'll find our weblog here.



The hardest part for any new troupe is getting started and we've already met and overcome a few obstacles along the way but we're raising funds to enable us to start competing next year. It's so nice to be part of it again although my muscles are feeling the strain...must remember i'm not 18 anymore.



Good news is that the car managed to escape being damaged last week whilst being fixed. I still have running problems but I'm going to leave that for Pete to sort out when he comes back the end of the month. Right, off to make the most of the last couple hours before the end of after school clubs and drama clubs....now what to cook tonight?