I think Mimi is in Love!

Last week I decided to send off for the Muppet Stickers in association with Cravendale.  They were fab.  So much so that I think Mimi is in love!!!!

Mimi had lots of fun putting Kermit together.  With a little bit of help from Mummy.

But OH NO what's happened?!

If you want to have a go check out the Cravendale competition in association with The Muppets on the Brit Mums Blog.  What's more you can order other characters by checking out the Cravendale website.

Happy Days

Today we had planned to go for a long walk with the scooter however the weather was rather gloomy so instead we decided to make some chocolate biscuits.

I think as usual someone may have eaten slightly more than we cooked!!!  Look at those grubby chops!! We poured the hundreds and thousands on rather than sprinkled them but hey they looked good and tasted even better.  They are really easy to make and unlike a lot of dough recipes these do not contain raw egg so should your little one decide they prefer the dough to the end product its not a major issue.

Ingredients

125g softened butter
165g firmly packed brown sugar
225g plain flour
35g self raising flour
35g cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk
150-200g dark cooking chocolate, melted
hundreds and thousands

Method

1. Turn the oven on to about 180 degrees.
2. Using an electric whisk beat together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy
3. Add your sieved dry ingredients and mix together. Slowly add a tbsp of milk one at a time (I mixed this all together with a wooden spoon)  Bring it together form a fairly stiff dough.  You can use your hands.
4. Tip your dough on to a lightly floured work surface - to prevent it from becoming too floury I mixed a bit of cocoa powder and flour together.
5. Roll out your dough until it is about 5mm thick and then cut out your choice of shape. 
6. Place on a lined baking tray and place in the oven for about 10-12mins.
7. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  Whilst your biscuits are cooking melt your chocolate either over a pan of boiling water or gradually in the microwave being careful not to over-heat it.
8. When your biscuits have cooled enough to handle you need to spread (or dip into) the melted chocolate onto the surface of each biscuit and then sprinkle with your hundreds and thousands.   

These biscuits are really yummy however they are not helping me with my weight loss.  Last year I started a list of a 101 things I would like to try and complete in a 1001 days.  For more on my 101 progress click here.


25    loose some weight. -

I have signed up to weight watchers, however after 1 week of what felt like starving myself I attended my second weigh in to discover I had lost the grand total of half a lb!!!  Half a lb, god I felt demoralised.  I had to put two big black crosses through Saturday and Sunday.  I started again on Monday.  Even though I felt demoralised it has made me tick a couple of other things off my list.

40    Eat 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables everyday for a week.
78    To eat breakfast everyday for a week.  


In my eagerness to shift some of my excess weight I have also been out exercising.  I used to go lots before I had Mimi but you know what its like when you have children.  Anyway I have realised just how unfit I am.  I went spinning last week.  It was awful - I felt like some crazy woman who was totally out of control.  My bike was spinning quicker than my poor little legs could go.  The strobe lights were blinding me and the speaker which felt as though it was only an inch from my ear was deafening me.  What is more I paid £6 for this privilege!!!  I am going to give it another go this week however I remain unconvinced that spinning is for me.  I also went to Step and Load on Monday, which I did enjoy however my muscles ache so much today that I felt as though I was coming down with the flu!


This week I have also ticked off

61   To attend a blogging conference  - Okay so I haven't attended yet but I am going to BritMums Live 2012 and I am really excited.  I feel slightly intimidated by some of the amazing blogs I read and subsequently feel a bit nervous about going.  Is anyone else going? 

What a busy day - Music, Shopping, Baking!

We have had a busy few days.  Music started again today after the Christmas break, it really is hard to think that Christmas was only a matter of weeks ago, it truly feels like months!!! 

We took George Bear with us.  This week we learnt how to play the guitar.

We had an exhausting trip around Sainsbury's.  People were looking at me as if I was some crazed woman.  Mimi was being a horror.  It started when I tried to get her out of the car she told me she wasn't coming and wanted to wait in the car, she refused to sit in the trolley seat so against my better judgement I let her sit in the trolley however she took this to mean that she could stamp on everything that went into the trolley, after a while when my blueberries got stamped on I got really hacked off with this and tried to make her sit in the seat.  This resulted in her screaming the shop down and a complete melt down.  So in a moment of madness I marched her to the large mat just inside the front door of Sainsbury's and made her do her time on the naughty mat.  It did the trick and the remainder of the trip round Sainsbury's went relatively incident free.  I think I am going to have to go shopping without her for a while as I don't know if my nerves can take it.  Just recounting the story now is making me want to have a glass of wine!  You know what its like, you only have 30mins left on the car, you only need a couple of things and you think the shops wont be too busy but they are always filled with old women with walking sticks who seem to follow you round the whole store giving you "The Glare".

Having finally got our shopping we made it home in one piece.  After both of us having a well needed afternoon nap I decided that we would bake some biscuits.  We looked through the books and Mimi chose to make these Chocolate Wheaten Biscuits.

This is what they should have looked like!
Ours didn't look too much like these.

But we had fun making them.
The only problem was Mimi eating more than we cooked.
I caught her licking one of the chocolate drops which she then put on top of the biscuit to be baked!  Yum!

We made Annabel Karmels chicken curry for tea but Mimi wasn't too keen on it.  I think I might have added a bit too much Korma paste for her.  But she did get what she said was the best pudding ever!!!

The "Best Pudding" ever.
Ice Cream, Smarties, Sprinkles and Toffee Sauce.

Somehow before bed she managed to hurt her nose.  I am not quite too sure how she managed it but she poked herself up the nose with an alice band (you know the headbands which are made from plastic).  Bless it must have really hurt.

Work tomorrow, but only four weeks left!!!  It looks like we might get a child free evening on Saturday.  We have been invited to a party and I think that we are going to leave Mimi at my Mums for the night.  

  

 

How important are family tea times?

I have decided that now Mimi is two and half we are all going to sit down to a traditional family meal each evening, no computers or TV.  I finally had enough of cooking two separate meals not to mention juggling it all so that she had her tea then a bath then starting all over again so that we could finally sit down to our dinner about 8ish.  I am convinced that this is the way to go.  I also want her to grow up in an environment where we talk to one another and she learns good table manners.  I am horrified when I watch some of the kids eating at school - sometimes its like watching feeding time at the zoo!  I recently read an article in one of the papers about the importance of children having routine in their little lives with set bed times and family meals.  With me leaving work in a few weeks I think it is a good time to start.  So far so good.  Last night she had spaghetti bolognese and tonight she had baked salmon, new potatoes and salad.

How important do you think it is for children to sit down to a traditional family meal?

The Watt Loss Challenge

I think that we are pretty thrifty in our house when it comes to conserving energy.
To paint the picture our house is right on the coast, the only things other than the English Channel between us and France are a field and a pebble beach.  Built somewhere in the 20's with solid brick walls and Crittall windows, (some of which face due North) our house in the Winter can be rather chilly and expensive to run so we try to conserve as much energy as possible.

Not long ago we undertook some decorating and replaced some of our ceiling lights for spot lights on a track.  The bulbs for these lights are not as energy efficient as the LED equivalent.  Always looking for ways to save energy and pennies my husband decided to replace all of the bulbs in our new lights with the LED ones.  This sounded great - this was until we turned them on.  LED lights do not seem to emit as much light as standard bulbs and after a couple of days it was driving me potty.  A solution had to be sought to prevent poor Michael from being hen pecked and all the bulbs being returned.

Our compromise has been to have half and half.  Whilst this may not have been the most efficient option it is still better than using just the normal energy spot light bulbs and as a combination they produce an adequate supply of light.

Kitchen light with 2 normal spot light bulbs

Kitchen light with the 2 remaining light bulbs which are LED 

We have done the same in the bathroom. 2 normal, 2 LED.

You can buy all of these lights at B&Q or similar shops.

Watt Loss Challenge

WoooHoooo

My new sewing machine has arrived!!!!!  I wonder what will be my first project?!  Having waited so long before finally deciding to take the plunge I took one look at it and put it straight back in the box; it looked far too intimidating with all the different functions and an instruction booklet and inch thick.

Back to normality today after the Christmas break.  Christmas already feels like a distant memory!  Although I shouldn't complain too much as 5 weeks today I leave my job, hopefully I will then find time to play around properly with my new sewing machine.

Mimi has brought home George the Pre-school Bear.  It is all very cute.  He comes with a little diary, and a note.  We have to take him out with us for a few days and then write up his adventures in the diary with some photos.  I wonder what adventures he will get up to with us over the weekend.

2011 saw the start of Mummy & Mimi and lots of other exciting adventures.  2012 has got off to a good start and I am looking forward to what the new year will bring.  There are plenty of changes on the horizon.  I have a few plans up my sleeve and I hope to continue crossing off things on my list of 101 things to do.  I wish everyone else a Happy New Year for 2012.