216-221 raw is the way??? Hmm

Having had such an awesome time away with Antony and Kirsty and eating such lovely 'raw' food I thought I might give it a go. I have been trying to lose weight forever - I have succeeded since Sadie was born, up to a point. I seem to be stuck, I have been running as often as I can and I cut out carbs in my eve meal over a year ago.  Pug has been suffering hellish headaches for ages and is working so hard at uni, this coupled with the recent stress we have all been under I figure both Pug and I could do with a wee boost.

It has been a long hard week, I was bloody starving for the first few days. Pug is still miserable. I discovered that A. I need to be super organised and B. I must never miss a meal. Today I made

Raw brownies - awesome so yummy!!! and nae cooking.

One of the things I've been missing is crackers. (I solved the latte issue by using Coconut milk). So I made these

Happy crackers = Happy Clare

The other big news is that I went to see Pugs play in his first Scottish gig - I hear him play on a daily basis.....sometimes too often! Punk Pug is not my fave one or so I thought. When we first met Pugs played acoustic guitar, he was really into flamenco and Django Reinhardt, a far cry from Black Flag!
Anyhoo, I LOVED it, he was awesome - I was buzzing and I loved the music, must have seeped in subliminally over the last few months.

No bad for an old bloke!

My dad is making slow progress - I can see tiny tiny steps, although it is a case of one day at a time. I had lunch with him last week and I looked over at him adn almost burst into tears - where has my dad gone? I know he is in there but its a long way in and I am exhausted waiting for him, so god knows how my mum is coping.


The kids and I have had a fun week, we swam, walked, ran, made stuff, put up our new world map on the wall and on sat we went to a family fun day to raise money for Sands, run by pals of ours. It was such a lovely day and felt great to be surrounded by so many Sands parents all with babies and kids all in a good place.

My sewing has taken a back seat and I'm missing it, so tonight I cut out a skirt and a dress......so excited to make up and add to my now rapidly growing wardrobe.

Archie said something awesome tonight and I've bloody forgotten what it was, DUH! I must write things asap or my old tired brain forgets - Hmm the whole purpose of this blog.

208-215 loch rannoch no more

scones, fires, walks, slugs, birds nests, BBQ, homemade gravadalx, cookies, swimming (Granda's 1st time since stroke), play park, woodpecker, bread, aga, movies, red squirrels, muddy puddles, tunnocks tea cakes on hikes, laughing, messy kids, wine, crochet,toasting marshmallows, midges, feeding birds,smiling wee ones, bedtime stories, playing in the loch, throwing stones................some highlights of our stay! happy days xxx

206-7 glorious

Happy days, no matter the weather or the midges - kids are playing hard and sleeping hard...
Plenty chocolate consumed, crocheting done and lots of outdoor fun.
Gonna try running the morn.....wish me luck it aint easy running on forest tracks.

203-5 - what a week - call Nurse nancy

Finally, Finally the kids slept in their own beds from regular bedtime last night, since last sat we have been sharing with either one of them - then to finish it wed night we ended up all in bed watching 'underground Ernie' (my current earworm). We've got Susan Lambert to thank for that new current viewing obsession.

Yesterday we blew this Popsicle joint and spent the morning at Muddy Boots, weather not raining, not shining either. Kids were happy and Momo and Muma got coffee and scones. I think it may have been too much for Mini Haha - she took a huff

Then crashed oot on the sofa

Today we had a lovely morning at the park with Jinty and Daniel - it was freezing, but we were out in the air, what a joy to be pushing the pram and blethering instead of stuck on the sofa.

The boyos played at farmers loading the bucket while Jinty got the teas in - everyone happy!

Off on our holidays the morn, a week sans Daddy....be nice to be away but we'll miss him!

201-2 Geordie Munro......ya dancer

Dad was back at Starks Park the night! Happy days, apparently he really enjoyed himself. I've no spoken to my mum properly, but I assuming she also had a nice few hours to herself.

Dad also went for a haircut today - alone. He instigated it and mum left him there. He then walked home alone and let himself into the house (closely followed Taggart stylee by mum and her pal).

TWO huge moments, so pleased that things are finally on the up.

I had my haircut a few days ago, a fringe and a bob. I thought it was quite stylish and although enroute to my desired style not a bad look. Until my darling husband said it was cute and it reminded him of the woman from babe Pig in the city! See above........hmmm think I might rethink how stylish it is.

Kids have been poorly, high temps sore throats generally unhappy household. Not much sleep going on at the right times, for the last 2 nights I've fallen asleep with Archie until 10ish, then been awake until 12-1am, then back up with them at 5.30am. To combat the hellish illness I've been soothing sewing, tonight I finished the wee bloomers and made another sorbetto (addiction), this time took pleat out the front and added a lace panel at the top. White black spotty cotton white lace, black bias tape - not tried it on yet as I fell out with machine at last minute so unhemmed she'll stay until I get another ridiculous frenzied sewing notion. Nice to have quiet time, just me and radio 4 accompanied by the whir of the machine..... until 4 hours from now I am woken by someone shouting Mama - Thank goodness for my darlings xxx

196-200 happy developments

Lots of good things happening this week (must keep reminding myself of that, cause lots of other not so good stuff happening too!).

Good stuff.
1. Mum went  out to the shops the other day alone and left my dad in the house......they both survived. A huge step for both of them, things are looking up.

2. Mum and dad went out for dinner last night with friends, my dad pointed to what he wanted on the menu. We can only assume he is reading well, as he chose 2 things we know he really likes and would have been a normal choice for him. Another big step, both on the communication front and on the life returning to some kind of normality.

3. Monica, the kids, Ants Kirsty and their kids and mum and dad and I are all going away for a wee break. The place looks awesome, and isn't far away so mum and dad can come up for 2 nights...anymore is too much right now. I am so looking forward to all of us being together. I also have plans to crochet and make more of a dent in the granny sq blanket, eat (always a popular activity in our family - already bought a side of salmon to do a gravlax, inspired by our current love of all things scandi/nordic), run run run to compensate for the eat eat eating I will be doing. Best of all we are going to play play play, I bought a raincoat  today - not something I ever thought I would do, I am clearly becoming middle aged and sensible...this rain coupled with our extensive park/walking with pram routine kinda demands one.

The kids and I have had load of fun this week, we are getting into a nice rhythm of being free and easy. We are much more confident going out and about the 3 of us together sans car or other responsible adult ( Archie and I are finding our way in terms of managing behaviour in shops phew! finally).


Bad stuff
The crappy news is I have been rejected for a jobshare position at work. I have no idea why (well not true, I know fine well I don't fit the image of my work and as my track record re time off is piss poor the boss would drop kick my ass out the front door if he got  a chance) - I should say official idea. Just a letter saying rejected. I can still go down to 3 days a week, however I won't get my 5 days back in 2 years time.....need to weigh up the pros and cons. Not sure how easy work will be knowing I'm persona non grata - social leper etc. The current ethos in the school is not really my cuppa so no love lost. So long as the kids are happy in my class, I have no major behaviour management issues and my exam classes are performing well, I'm cool with it. I will enjoy seeing the kids again and missing my girlie knitting club chats. Can't begin to think to far ahead right now, so will accept what universe has thrown at us once again and move graciously forward.

On the creative front - been sewing away. sorbetto tops are becoming a favourite. Just got a new lisette pattern which will be being made this week. I also made some bloomers, a wee trial idea for a craft fair, cute. I made them in Chinese satin with mint green bows.

I also wanted to say a quick thanks so everyone who is reading and not commenting - I know who you are! My stats tell me ha ha. I had an awesome chat with an old pal last night who mentioned she'd be keeping up to date with our news. So thanks so all lurkers for taking the time to catch up on our lovely dads progress......we appreciate the love!

193-195 happy holidays

double trouble on the double space hopper today at the park. I heard from various sources that today was to be the one 'good' day this week. So 1st thing this am the kids were kicked out into the garden, I made them eat breakfast out there at 8.30am......normally I keep them in a while longer, but today I wanted them to make the most of the lack of rain. It was so close and muggy today, yet no real sun. On the plus side - dull as hell, I managed to get washing done and dried.
My lovely cousin Rosalin came for a visit at lunchtime - Archie went a but hyper due to attention (hmm like he doesn't get it from me!). Was lovely to see her playing with the wee ones.

My two are feeling loved up with mummy right now, they both keep playing at being baby cats and come meowing round my legs all day wanting mummy cat cuddles - too cute.

Lovely aft spent in the park with Barclay's bairnyard, great fun, good chat and lovely ladies xxx

Dad news = Archie tried to go out the back on sunday and dad said 'raining'. I asked him if he wanted some of his juice he said 'no, dinnae want it'. Some days I still feel in shock - and get  a fright when I see him. Poor guy, xxx