A Humdrum Mum

I am not really getting the hang of this weekly Gallery lark so apologies if I'm making some huge bloggie faux pas. Over at Sticky Fingers , last week's theme was Nature, and today I found the perfect photo opp. Elf and some rhubarb! My Dad has just had open heart surgery and I'm staying with my parents to help them out. Elf has been staying with OH's parents nearby and today he visited with Daddy. A few jobs in Grandad's garden needed doing so we got Elf to work. He has dug potatoes before and puts them in his "gardening truck". Here he is replanting a plant that Nana pulled out by mistake. This boy has green fingers!

Recipe for chicken soup Eat chicken sandwiches and one meal of chicken'n'mash, then shred all the remaining dark meat from the chicken Put carcass, bones, carrot and onion, keeping the skin on to make golden stock, in Mum's slow cooker overnight (if at home, use £5 reduced AWT/Wozza's stockpot, which Mum bought for me and was gutted as they didn't have one left for her) Next day, sieve the carcass and bones and reserve the stock Sweat two small onions, add stock and diced chicken, herbes de Provence and a twist of pepper - boil, simmer and whizz up a bit to make a creamy soup Put in a flask and serve to Dad who is recovering from major heart surgery three days ago. He is feeling sick and after looking at the watery tasteless tomato soup he tried to eat yesterday, I'm not surprised he doesn't fancy eating. I will report back how my soup fares. Chicken soup for the soul, well chicken soup for the heart in this case, and from the heart.

Taking inspiration from Ladybird World Mother 's latest post, here's a conversation that took place last weekend. Elf had tipped out a box of lego all over the dining room rug, right in the walk-through area. When they'd finished building ... My Mum: Do you think we should tidy the lego up now Elf? Elf: Nah, just walk round it, like Mummy does. Oops and there go my efforts to appear like the perfect housekeeper to my Mum!

Elf has a new favourite TV programme. Spongebob Squarepants . Until now, I thought it was some awful cartoon. And I'm wrong. Well it is an awful cartoon but it is harmless and quite funny actually. Elf does laugh when he watches it. And sings the theme tune.  I asked myself the question - how many favourites has he had so far? Baby Einstein - OK this was really my favourite, you know when you needed to take that shower, or that call, you felt safe leaving them in the hands of all those odd creatures in the Baby Neptune one. Well it's educational right? Anything which has pictures of moving toys and background classical music has got to be educational! My only bugbear - it used to say OCEAN and I'd say NO IT'S THE SEA. I used to shout at it. Moving swiftly on.... Bob the Builder - the staple (pun intended) of any tot's telly timetable (Elf's dad has just criticised me as stapling isn't associated with building - whatever) Fireman Sam - or Firemum S...

I have been tagged over at Diary of a Frugal Family  with her new meme. If you had a magic button that would do anything you want when you pushed it, what would you make it do? My immediate thought was "Make me invisible". I tried to think of something more umm clever, but kept coming back to the invisibility thing. A kind of cloak like Harry Potter had would be good, or even, as Mrs Frugal suggested, just a button to push. Yes I'll be  Mrs Pink-Whistle! Does anyone else remember this? A quick google found this book cover. I don't think I would have realised how odd the book title was when I was a nipper!

At nursery drop-off this morning, I was handed part of Elf's transfer to school pack, you know, the bit that the pre-school teacher had completed and also that Elf had drawn in (looking worryingly like a blaze that Fireman Sam ought to be putting out instead of rescuing Norman's head from a saucepan with the "jaws of life"). Reading it, I had a sense of "That's not my child" in the way that the above tractor book is written. Surely, the little angel you've so kindly described here doesn't really exist, and certainly doesn't pretend to be my little Elf? So here is "This is not my child" book, by A Humdrum Mum. That's not my child He's too rude and noisy That's not my child He's uncaring and unkind (to me sometimes) That's not my child He wants to sit in front of the TV not run around in the garden That's not my child He won't help me take in the washing This is my child ...

I have just returned from a week's holiday at Center Parcs, in France (Les Bois Francs). This was our last family holiday before Everything Changes (ie school in September).