The Yorshireman Keeping Me Sane!

No, not my Dad, although he did help by sitting here in the great house of vomit while I nipped out yesterday and contemplated running away and did a few errands. It was lovely to breath clean air and feel both my arms swing as no one was attached. It was odd though, everywhere I went (supermarket, post office, children's centre) I was asked 'where're the children?'

The man brightening my day first thing as I stand in the kitchen making the breakfast/coffee/packed lunches at silly O'clock is none other than the great James Martin;



Simon bought me some new kitchen knives and guess who was on the box, so there he is lingering just above my head when I am working with food. God he is beautiful, I could look at him for hours and then get him to make me some yummy pudding or other........mmmmmm ........ And I have just realised when looking for the link that you can download Mr Martin wallpaper for your computer, am I that sad? On second thoughts don't answer that. At least I don't get all hot and bothered about skinny scotsmen like someone I can think of!

The girls are much better and have returned to school this morning, Seb is now sweet smelling at both ends (hurrah) but Nathaniel is still unwell, not so much though. I was awoken this morning by a Gruffalo stomping into my bedroom telling me "You taste good on a slice of bread!"

Now I really must go and do something to this monkey, she is a sorry sight with no face;


Daisie xxx

We Have A Bed!!

It arrived on Wednesday afternoon and I made Simon put it together when he came home from work (even though he had been working late) and then couldn't stop giggling when we got in (not what he had in mind me thinks). The excitement and luxury of being in a proper bed after sooo long on the futon in the spare room and to be surrounded by our beautiful new bedroom was just too much! I have slept amazingly well and feel really refreshed :-)

Here is the little beauty;




I do have a pic of Simon and all the children piled into it yesterday morning but there is adult male nipple and I didn't want to embarrass anyone!

And just to show how much I love him and the brilliant things he does for us all I made him pickled onions. Ugh! I would personally rather eat my own vomit (although why my own and not someone elses, which would surely be as vile is beyond me) than consume a pickled onion. The smell alone makes me want to stick my head in the toilet! So I spent ages peeling millions of little onions and boiling vinegar with many spices and chillis within. My house smelt horrible. I then decanted everything (after straining and cooling and such like) into these rather fancy air tight jars I bought especially;



In around eight weeks (or as long as he can bear to keep his hands off them) the smell will be released and I will have the pleasure (not) of listening to him crunch away. I did suggest that I just buy him some from the shops but he says homemamde is soooo much better. This is how much I love this man!

Daisie xxx

And The Cure Is...

...Green Pasta!!

Today was horrible, as I had suspected. Francesca was so brave but the noise was making me feel sick as he grabbed her tooth and twisted and pulled, I can't imagine what it must have sounded like to poor old Francesca!? She was very brave and only whimpered slightly. She collected her tooth in a little bag and some spare dressings (we used them all, thought we may have to go back as it took ages for the bleeding to stop) and a princess sticker. Fine. As soon as we were out of the door she crumpled and said "It really hurts!" We hugged on the pavement for ages with the blood and spit pouring own her chin :-( oh and the snot from crying! We were a charming sight!

She spent the afternoon laying on the sofa feeling sorry for herself. It must be sore as she hasn't even been sucking her thumb for comfort.

We collected Elizabeth from school in the car and came back to watch some telly and veg. Not sure what she would eat (but knowing she would be hungry by now) I asked if there was anything she fancied? The answer was without hesitation; green pasta!*


Green Pasta;

Table spoon olive oil.
A couple of onions, chopped.
A big fat clove of garlic, chopped.
A teaspoon chili flakes (or fresh equivalent).
Two large courgettes (or zucchini if we're being intercontinental).
Pasta of your choice.

Warm oil through in a pan with the garlic and chili, allowing flavour to infuse.

Add chopped onion and sweat (onions, not you!).

Add courgette and heat until cooked and tender.

Now before we had children I used to grate the courgette and let it float artily in the oil and serve with fancy tagliatelle and a big green salad. Since the children (well, Elizabeth really and her dislike of identifiable green veg) I just roughly chop everything and then when cooked I give it a quick blitz with a hand blender so it looks more like a pesto and serve on small pieces of pasta (like penne) that are easy to get on a spoon when you are only small and grate some cheese on the top (Francesca's favourite bit)!

She scoffed the lot and asked for more.

While the children watched some terrible version of postman pat (quite unlike any I remember as a child) I mananged to throw together the bag for the swap;


I don't want to show you anymore than that as am not sure if my partner is reading and don't want to spoil the suprise!

And now all the children are bathed and in bed asleep I am going to tackle my next project while Simon works late;


Update will follow (depending on whether my idea works or not).....

Daisie xxx

* please excuse all the crap on the dining table while my children eat. Normally I clear the table fully beofre we sit down to dine but as the children were tired I just fed them, only being three they fit round one side of the table so I can simply push everything to the other side! Bad, bad mother! x

Padding Out A Chilli

Catchy title or what?!

Not too many amazing crafty things going on here and lots of children or decorating based activities that really are not worth t'internet space. And I realised after my Jamie Oliver/Sainsbury's rant of a while ago I haven't done anything foodie for a while but I made chilli the other night and this is how I did it.

So I can stay within my food budget and still feed all five of us I pad out the mince for chilli with grated carrots. Cunning! It means I can buy a much better quality beef mince (less fat, more flavour) becasue I need less!

Brown your mince in a hot pan as you normally would;


Add the grated carrots (I use about four good sized ones);



When the carrot has cooked down it has much the same texture and aquires the same flavour as the beef so no one would ever know (except am telling you all...). I added some red kidney beans, some haricot beans (although tend to use whatever pulses are in cupboard) some diced green peppers and a carton of passata, oh and a tea spoon of chilli flakes (almost forgot);

After an hour bubbling away and becoming thick and goey I served with rice and thick slices of homemade garlic bread;

And before I go I must just say a quick thank you to Amanda at Kitschy Coo who sent me a pattern for an amazing tunic top of hers when I won her giveaway the other week. Sewing to follow....

And a thank you to Laura Donald who sent me some of her wonderful 'Dot and Pat' notecards when I won her giveaway a while ago (I really am a bad blogger at the moment!).

Hoping for the winning streak to continue (not holding breath though, just incase)!

Daisie xxx

A Productive Day

After Tumble Tots and some lunch, Nathaniel and I managed to sew together three taggy blankets;


These should have been done last night really but I accidently fell asleep when putting Nathaniel to bed, it is becoming a very bad habit of mine at the minute.

Better late than never, I always say!

And I love the randomness of the ribbons on these ones. Eliabeth helped me cut them last night before she went to bed. I am very regimented and methodical when chopping up my ribbon stash and even though I gave her the ruler they are all different lengths! Think it maybe adds to their charm?!



I also knitted half a pair of bootees;

The other half may get knitted this evening but them again, maybe not......

We made a yummy lemon sponge for after tea;

Whilst all that was going on the sweet sticky thick tomato and chilli sauce was simmering away getting more delicious throughout the afternoon ready for the meatballs;

And then to make the day even better, when I collected the girls from school we hot footed it down to the sorting office to fetch this wonderful little boxy parcel;

I shall show you what was in it tomorrow!

Daisie xxx

My Life Is Brilliant

My life is pure (ok, stop choking on your coffee!).

I've had a brilliant day today. We all managed to get up and washed and dressed and out of the house on time for school and I didn't shout once! And what is even more remarkable is that I managed to dry my hair rather than sticking it to the back of my head wet!!

Nathaniel and I stopped by the children's centre to wish everyone a happy new year and to pick up the fliers for boobie club which starts on Wednesday. It has been a long time coming and I am really pleased that we can start supporting women in our community to breast feed their children.

Nathaniel has been lonely today and kept going to the stairs to shout for his sisters or his Daddy.

But the upside of this is that I have my cooking buddie back now that there is nobody doing something more exciting in the other room;

I have vaccummed all of upstairs and sorted through the children's drawers and stored away all clothes that don't fit at the mo but may fit one of them in the future, done two loads of washing and hung them up to dry, prepared tonight's tea and done tomorrow's shepherd's pie and put it in the fridge, made the beds, snuggled my son and played boo for far too long and have baked some 'Mummy has really missed you today girls' cupcakes;

And all the while I have been doing this I have been bopping and singing away to music of my own choosing (hence link in title). A little Blunt, a little Morrissey, a little Madonna and the best bit is that Nathaniel is not old enough to object or pass comment as are the rest of my household, hurrah!!

Nathaniel snoozing now so I am just catching up with other blogs and scoffing a big prawn sandwich, mmm!

Some ironing to do and I want to walk up to school this afternoon so the girls can stomp back in the snow, well, sort of a light crusty dusting to the pavement, but this is exciting stuff when you are only 4 and 7! Poor Simon peeled his eyes open this morning hoping there would be at least four foot of the stuff! Poor disappointed boy :-(

Daisie xxx

Christmas Baking

Well, I was very pleased to see that my give away prize has arrived with Kelcey and that Lili looks so beautiful in my knitted clips! Happy Christmas Kelcey and Co!

The Christmas cake came out really well, slightly sunken in the middle but that suits me and Simon as we scoff the bits when I trim it flat!!




I put the marzipan on and I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep, the coughing girl at my hip or the grumpy boy on the worktop but it looks a little slap dash to me but you can't see this layer when it's iced :-)



Iced it last night and made the Davies Family in fondant icing;

Me and Simon at the back and the children huddled together at the front. I have done this before but there were only four of us then! A variation on a theme but one that comes in handy when lacking in time and inclination!!

I also made four dozen mince pies for Simon to take to work, twelve Christmas buns to try and entice Francesca to eat something!

We are still ill. Me and Elizabeth less so now, just snotty and coughing with a sore throat, no more than a cold really. Francesca's chest is still very bad after a week of killer antibiotics and a regular inhaler. I took her back to see the doctor this morning and she now has a course of steroids to take but may need further treatment if not improved by Monday. Hope she is ok again for Christmas, it's awful when your four year old can't walk up the stairs without having to lay down and turning blue!

She is snuggling and sleeping lots which can only help;

But the 'Snotty Nose Of The Week Award' goes to Master Nathaniel Davies;

It hasn't stopped him smiling though!!

Still haven't managed to finish the hand sewing or the little bit of knitting I have been trying to do all week. Must get cracking as am delivering them this afternoon, argh!!!!

Hope everyone is well?

Daisie xxx

Bread And Cakes And Stuff

Busy day already and it's only lunch time!

Nathaniel and I have made bread rolls to go with our soup (made that at the weekend) for tea;

He loves kneading the dough and tastes it every now and again (what would H&S say!!).

Here they are fresh from the oven;

While we were in the kitchen waiting for the bread to prove we made a cake;

We have also changed the beds (because it's Monday), given the bathroom a once over just in case the Swirly clan need the use of our facilities in the next few days, done some washing, hung some washing up to dry and I have been looking at the folksy flickr group far too often (think I may be becoming obsessed)!

When we've had some lunch we are off to a new movement and music group. Nathaniel is very shy and I think some silliness with other children will do him some good. We'll see.

Daisie xxx

Lots Of Makes

Well Francesca made our tea today. She chopped mushrooms;


She made pizza dough;


Nathaniel did try and help chopping the mushrooms with a large ladle but he didn't manage to do very many;


We made our own pizza sauce with tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil all reduced down so it was rich and sticky. Francesca layered everything up and it looked like this;

It was the yummiest pizza I have ever eaten!!

I started knitting this little fellow last night;

And managed to finish him off this morning. He is knitted all in one piece so it's really quick and easy. I was worried that he'd look a bit naff but I think the simpleness just adds to his charm!? The girls are smitten and there is another one on my needles already! I think I may need a little more practise in doing teddy's faces, he looks a bit befuddled to me.

And I have spent ages playing with my new found knowledge of reusing plastic bags. I don't have many (but don't worry I will be raiding many kitchens in the next few days) so I had to use what was there. Because supermarkets like everyone to know where you shop it's hard to disguise the text. If you look closely you can identify the origin of all these bits of plastic;

I am really rather pleased with them but they are only small, gift bag size. When I have more in my stash all ironed up I'm going to make a big flowered one for my mother-in-law and maybe another chicken one for someone we know?

I need to go finish a ted and need some sleep. Nathaniel still very unwell and sleeping badly and when he is asleep I can't sleep as I'm listening to him breathe, or struggling to do so :-(

Daisie xxx

My Son Won't Eat......

At least that is what I was thinking until I turned my brain on!

He has breakfast, mid morning breast, lunch, mid afternoon breast, after school snack (banana, biscuit, cracker) with his sisters but he never eats tea very well.

After being worried for a while I began to think...... he sits on the kitchen side while I prepare the evening meal. This particular day he had eaten; the best part of a carrot, a nectarine, two strawberries, a left over from lunch bread stick and this piece of broccoli;

Is it really any wonder that the boy has no room left for tea!?

I vow, here and now to be more organised when the girls go back to school (next week, can you believe) and prepare the meals in the morning!

Daisie xxx

Crackers!!

Never again will I think, oh we'll just have crackers for lunch, look at these monsters;


We bought them at Ikea, not realising it would take 5kg of cheese and several hundred grams of marmite to cover them but hey, we like an adventure! I filled one with ham, tangy mature cheddar, red peppers, cucumber and baby vine tomatoes. The other was half marmite and crumbly, salty Cheshire cheese and cheese with celery and tomatoes on the other side. We had fun breaking them into pieces to share;

While Simon has been preparing the room for dry-lining I have been embroidering a bicycle for my Dad's birthday;

It's not what you'd call anatomically correct but you get the gist at first glance. I drew the image free hand in pencil on some heavy cotton fabric (one of the few pieces that is not hiding in a box in the attic until my big cupboard is ready) and went over most of it in chain stitch to give the lines some bulk. I then sewed round the edge of the pic and a piece of paper so it would be easy to mount onto card.

Daisie xxx

I Knit Like I Cook

Just a quick one for now as we're in the middle of a busy Saturday.

I have noticed that I knit just like I cook. I follow a recipe once and then do it my own way the next time I cook it. I followed the pattern I found (must find out where it was so I can credit the person) for the hat (see yesterday's pic) and then I used the basic idea and changed it and tweaked it and played around with different stitches and created this;

If anything I like this one better. Am now trying to work out whether I need to double or triple the pattern to make a hat for me, I have some beautiful textured yarn in a deep purple that I have had for an age just because I like the colour. Will need to do a test piece me thinks as I'll use bigger needles for a chunky look. Think I may have a new hat and scarf for the winter. Yes, I know it's only May!!

Have a good day, may be back later....

Daisie xxx

New Toy

Hello, just a quick one at the mo to show you all and especially Swirly that I have learned to use this mosaic maker, how smart. It won't take photos from my computer though, so more photos going onto flickr when I have time. These are the cards that are on flickr now.

Going to do one with the babies later, ooh, love to play but now the shepherd's pie needs to be made and the baby needs a boobie before we set off to school.

Will be back later as I was given some presents this morning, how lucky am I this week? It's FAB!!

Daisie xxx

Geography Is Not Our Strong Point!!

No amazing makes today, although I've done a quick card shuffle in the nursery 'shop' and emptied the money box. Only two sales this time, obviously not card selling season! :-( I have started knitting Bo's bootees, made an yummy and wholesome minestrone for tea, posted some things on craftjuice and had the most amazing conversation with my middle child on the way to school;

"There's no gravity in Spain is there?" Asked Francesca
"Yes there is, there is gravity all over the planet and that's why we don't fall off."
"No, Mummy, there is no gravity in SPAIN, listen!"
"There is," I repeated.
"No, Mummy listen, there is no gravity in Spain and that's why the rockets can fly and why spacemen can float around and have to wee in bags."
"That's in SPACE, not SPAIN," I tried not to laugh too much as she is a sensitive child.
"What's space then?"
"It's everything outside of our sky," I tried to explain.
"Do you mean the sky that the trees are holding up?"
"Yes, I suppose so,"
"What is Spain then?" Her brain obviously hurting by this time.
"Spain is a place near France."
"Oh, you know lots of things Mummy. Do they really have gravity in Spain cos I don't think they do?"
"Yes they do."
We'd reached school by this point so the conversation ended and I was quite glad truth be told!!

Daisie xxx

Things To Do With An Infant Whilst Cooking......

I think this is number 4 but can't quite be bothered to check!

Trying to cook the evening meal with a grumpy child is hard, try this; introduce him to the glass door of the cooker and stand back and watch as he says 'hello' to himself and proceeds to snog the face off his reflection;




I can't say that it enabled me to cook any quicker but it gave us all a good laugh!!!

Nathaniel likes to kiss things;



And maybe move in for a quick ear nibble;

I think he must have been to the same seduction school as his Daddy, ha ha!!

Daisie xxx

Retail Therapy

Once we were organised yesterday me and the children went to a craft shop nearby where I had some birthday money to spend (from my brother) and it was like being in heaven, a little on the expensive side, but wonderful none the less and it wasn't like spending real money!! I bought, amongst other things, a large paper punch with the image of a dress which I have had my eye on for a while. Later we went out to our cash and carry and I bought some beautiful handmade papers (love fancy papers) and here is what I made whilst slurping wine last night:




While sorting out my dress photo I found a cool one of Nathaniel, we should call this 'Things To Do With An Infant Whilst Cooking' Number 3; give child large comedy vegetables!! Haha!!!




The snow is beginning to fall and the forecast is for much more over night so hopefully we'll wake up to lots of lovely whiteness and we can go for a walk in our wellies and throw snowballs then come home and get warm and eat chocolate easter eggs!

Daisie xxx

Things To Do With An Infant Whilst Cooking

Number 2
Place child safely at the back of the kitchen work surface and give said child a packet of mange touts and anything else he can reach and seems interested in. Proceed to stir fry chicken and vegetables. Remember to never stray far, small people can move very fast!

This was the fun we had last night while Elizabeth did her spellings homework and Francesca was doing something equally important so Nathaniel was either to cry by himself or help me cook. He seemed quite happy and may have learnt some new skills at the same time, he'll make someone a lovely husband one day!!

Not much making and doing going on last night, am really tired at the moment and Nathaniel is having terrible trouble growing his teeth (am sure the girls never had such problems) but have found you can crochet quite well with small children attached! Still a bit slow and not overly fabulous but keep watching...

And finally here is Francesca at breakfast time when she discovered that the seeds she planted on Mother's Day have sprouted:

Daisie xxx