Oh dear

I dropped my phone at work yesterday and the screen smashed. Oooops. I've dropped it so many times before and nothing. Part of the reason why I hadn't bought a case. Oh hindsight, you do love to taunt us eh? My screen looks like a spiders web....

I have found the most AWESOME cupcake cases!

We found them in a shop in Narberth, and they are actually the new love of my life. Sorry Edd.

Just because.....

Na na na na na na na na.....

Batman!

Batman!


Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na......

Batman!

Batman!

My gluten free pasta sauce...

Ingredients:
150g gluten free pasta
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
50g chorizo sausage, sliced and then halved
2 cloves galic, chopped
4 rashers bacon, chopped
50ml single cream
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp tomato puree
1 large sweet potato, cut in to cubes

1. Add the pasta to a pan of boiling salted water (this stops the pasta from becoming all gloopy and stuck together as gluten free pasta tends to do).

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil up in a large frying pan, but not too hot so the onions only soften and not burn. Fry the onions until soft and smelling lovely (I love the smell of frying onions!) Add the garlic and fry for a few minutes more. Then add the sweet potato and fry for another 5 minutes, making sure not to burn the cubes. They need turning a bit as they are fond of burning. I learnt this the hard way...

3. Add the chorizo and the bacon to the pan with the mushrooms. Fry until the bacon is cooked and the chorizo looks cooked on the side and looks a little sweaty. Sounds weird, but you'll see it happening!

4. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stir well to combine with the other ingredients. Then add the tomato puree and the cayenne pepper and stir once again. Once that's all stirred in nicely, leave to bubble for a few minutes then add the cream.

5. Drain the pasta, then add it to the sauce. Mix well, then serve straight away.

I made this up one lunch time, and Edd loved it

Quick post

I'm stupidly busy at work at the moment, thus really tired when I get home and have no time or energy for blogging. However, I am posting this quickly to sat woohoo! We had the cafcass report and they are recommending no direct contact between Emilia and her mum, which is good. So we just have to wait to see what the judge says at the hearing next Thursday. Anywho, just wanted to share my joy! Now, my bed is calling me....

WARNING:Post contains mild irritation and a bit of a rant

Now, before I start, I'm not claiming that I'm an ideal person, a perfect person, or that we're living in what would be the ideal place. But I'd just like to make it clear, that we're trying our hardest.

A story in the news yesterday really wound me up. David Cameron, our wonderful "elected" Prime Minister had said that "runaway fathers" (his new catchphrase) should be looked upon by society in the same manner as drink drivers. Basically, with disgust. Now, partly, I agree with this. Having come from a background where my biological father was a "runaway father", who failed dismally at paying maintenance for his 3 children. I'm not one to get involved in politics, but this story got to me. Yes, it's wrong that one parent has to foot the bill of bringing up a child while the other parent pays nothing. What is more wrong however, is the way this statement was made.

It's not just single mothers out there. What about the single fathers? Society conveniently forgets that sometimes the father is actually left looking after the child. It's like society can't handle the idea of the maternal role not being fulfilled, which is reflected in maintainance cases that go to court. If a father doesn't pay maintainance, it's very difficult for them to seek access to their child, on account of the financial difficulty they are putting the mother through. Howeverm it's not the same for the reverse. Apparently, it's "a mother's right" to see her child, regardless of whether they pay money towards said child's upkeep or the emotional trauma this places the child under.

And now, the government want to charge people for using the service they provide to ensure that child maintainance is paid. Surely this reeks of hipocrysy? The governemnt want absent fathers to pay child maintainance, but they want the mothers to pay a service fee for receiving said maintainance... Oh no wait, it's just another example of how the government is trying to get more money. I'm sure someone will be getting a big bonus for coming up with that idea, all paid for by the tax payer of course...

But anyway, aside from the politics aspect of this, the reason this story affected me so much is to do with Emilia's mum. There is still the issue of contact, and we have a court hearing coming up soon. I can see it from both sides really. The welfare lady (I don't really know what to call her) is going to suggest one final meeting between Emilia and her mum so that Emilia can say goodbye. I agree with this, as if she is denied the chance to say goodbye, it will have repercussions later on in her life. However, I don't think prolonged contact would be a good idea. Her mum's solicitor is saying that she is asking to see Emilia, well at the end of th day that's tough. She gave up that right when she abused and neglected her own innocent daughter. Just because she is now dying doesn't meant that right is now reinstated. Furthermore, the way that she is dying means that she's is going to deteriorate further and further, and how is it in Emilia's best interests to see that? I also feel that if her mum is so concerned about her, why isn't she paying maintainance towards her upkeep? How can she deman to see a child she refuses to pay for? What do they think children live on, air?

Which brings me to my final point (I did warn that this would be a rant...). As the child welfare lady has now seen that Emilia is settled, and knows that she calls me Mummy and it was a voluntary thing that she started after she saw her mum last time, in her report to the judge, she is going to mention this fact. I know full well that the other side is going to kick up a fuss about this, but at the end of the day they can't do anything about it. They have no say over who Edd dates, they have no say about where Emilia lives (as long as it's not outside the UK), and as they've broken the court order preventing contact by sending a t-shirt with a picture of Emilia's emaciated dying mum on it (honestly, WTF?!), they pretty much can't say anything. I am the one who pays for Eilia's food, her clothes, her toys. I'm the one who takes her to school, who cooks her dinners, who reads with her, encourages her to write and plays with her. They gave all of that up when they neglected her. So they can say naff all about our little jigsaw family, about Emilia's welfare, when they aren't even prepared to pay to ensure that she has food to eat. They never bothered before though, so why would they now?

Nothing is going to break this little family up.

Just a pondering...

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I think I'm doing well at being mum to Emilia, I mean, it seems I'm doing well, and I've been wondering....

Could I handle another one of my own?

What happens when you overthink

I'm sitting here with a cuppa, thinking about what to write. I want to give an update on things that have been happening, but I fear it may turn in to a dreary rant in the state of mind that I'm currently in. (I blame the rain, I was perfectly happy this morning when the sun was out) So I think I'm going to leave the update for later until I can cearly figure out what I want to say without sounding too depressing, because let's face it, nobody wants to read depressing blogs.

So, instead, here is Emilia's sports day at school! Alas I was not there, I was at work, but Edd took lots of pictures for me, and now I'm sharing them with you! You lucky people...

The joys of shopping with a 5 year old

You get awesome photos like this.... ^

But it's not so fun when you're trying on the bras and she decides to run in and out, thus displaying your chesticles to the shop, and all of your work colleagues. Luckily, they're used to seeing boobs.

I also saw this....

My broodiness has reached new heights. Bad times people, bad times.

Apparently there's a drought in the UK

Someone tell that to the weather in Swansea, we've had heavy rain all day. By heavy, I mean the kind of rain you'd see in a thunderstorm. Luckily, I was in work.

Also, in said rain, there was a man sleeping in the door way of the market. He had a bottle of Strongbow as a pillow. I didn't take a picture as I thought that would be rude.

Feeling pretty chuffed with life

Alas, I have no photos to share today, how terrible of me! I just want to share how happy I am with how my life is going, my jigsaw family, and the fact I found out my bra size is 32E today. Hello big boobs that have sprung up from somewhere! So, I just wanted to share that with everyone. I'm now off to watch a horror film and eat cake!

Three little piggies.....

I meant to post this blog a couple of days ago, but have just been so exhausted from work, this is the first time I've been able to. I'm falling asleep as I type this though.

Emilia had the story sack home from school on Monday. If a child gets picked to have the story sack, it's the reception version of taking the class pet home for a night. She was over the moon. I think that might have been more to do with the play-dough inside the back, but anyway. This story sack was about the three little pigs. There was a story book, three pig finger puppets, a big bad wolf, a pairs game, a number game, the aforementioned play-dough with some activity cards. It was all very exciting. We read the story together and acted it out using the puppets. We played the number games and the pairs game, and then got on to the play-dough. Emilia loved the play-dough, my time was spent making sure she or one of the cats didn't eat the stuff.

This being a step mum malarky has some perks.

A pretty epic day of getting stuff done

Today, we have been on fire. The computer desk has finally been moved out of our room and there is space at last! It's still a bombsite, but it's progress! I blitzed the kitchen, it was sparkly and clean before dinner. It's a different story now, but that's because Edd hasn't washed up. I also made my gluten free pizzas and they actually turned out nice!

We also had Emilia's friend Summer over after school for a couple of hours. I made them cakes. They were rather yummy too. I was going to make cakes anyway, but this just gave me more of a reason!

I also hoovered the whole house, got some groceries and sorted out my recipe collection. All in all, a pretty eventful day off work. Now, to bed as I have to be at work at 7am tomorrow, which means catching the bus at 6.30, Grim. Nobody should be doing anything as strenuous as catching a bus at that time of morning.

There's no higher ground to stand than bottom of the pile

Money worries. They come to all of us sooner or later. In my case, they have never really left. I guess I can count myself lucky in that I have a job. Edd gets down because he's unemployed and there are just no jobs out there at the moment. And the ones he does apply for, he either never hears back or has an interview, gets told there are about 100 people applying for 1 position, and never hears back from the interview. He wants to be working. I want him to be working, it would do his self confidence the world of good. But in the meantime, I don't mind being the breadwinner. If only the money was a bit better. But we're coping. Just. Money is tight this month, what with having to pay the excess on the car insurance after my bump, and buying food as Edd's parents aren't here to do it. I never relied on them for food, his mum had always cooked dinner when I got home from work, and every time I offered to buy food they wouldn't let me. Still, we have enough food to keep us going for a while, and more money coming in at the end of the week, it's just going to be a week of no spending until Friday. I don't need much anyway. I have everything I need lying next to me (it's Edd, not Batman).

Gluten free living

It can be a little stressful. You can't just go to the shop and buy a cake. Well, you can, but it'll cost you three times as much. I took the decision to live mostly gluten free for Edd. I still have bread and breadcrumbed stuff, normal burgers and normal sausages (sometimes), but mostly, everything I cook is gluten free. I don't believe it's fair that he has to eat it all by himself, and also this means that I'm not cooking 2 different meals each night. This has meant that I have sacrificed Domino's and Pizza Hut, but isn't that what love is about? A bit of give and take? It just means that I get to bake more cupcakes, and I really do love baking!

So, in my gluten free endeavours, I am going to make mini pizzas. The pizza bases Edd gets on prescription are alright, but they're small and go quickly. The boy loves pizza. So, I found a recipe for mini pizzas, and the plan is to make a whole batch of them, then freeze them (precooked obviously), so we can use them whenever. It'll be gluten free bread after that, but I'm taking it one step at a time. Besides, my gluten free chicken and mushroom pie didn't turn out too bad....

An update through the medium of photos

Here are some things I have been doing in the past week...

Making jam with strawberries we picked at the Pick Your Own at Nichalston Farm in the Gower. I must say, it is very good jam. I've done myself proud!

Dressing up as pumpkins... Because we can

Spending time with friends... Emilia and Danny, they're only 5 yet they're already getting married when they are adults apparently

Having a teddy bears picnic!

Doing giant steps on stepping stones

Exploring new places

Creating works of art (Einstein was messy too, you know)

So so sleepy

I didn't sleep well last night. Emilia woke up early for once. She has had a friend round to visit today, along with his mum and 2 year old sister. I made mashed potato mountains for lunch for everyone. I then made spaghetti bolegnese for tea. Did the washing up. Made some more jam as the strawberries need using up before they go mouldy (I'm totally getting better at it). Did 3 loads of laundry. Repotted the marrows. Sorted out the recycling only to realise the collection is a day later because of the bank holiday. I can't even begin to tell you how many plates I've washed up today. And then struggled to convince Emilia that even though it's still light it is actually bed time. Two and a half hours that "game" went on for. I was going to blog about my jam making and my night out bowling dressed as a pumpkin, but I think I'm just going to sleep instead.