A Humdrum Mum

http://www.ahaparenting.com/_blog/Parenting_Blog/post/Shift_Your_Mood_with_Gratitude_Practices/ I just read a post about gratitude - this is something I try to regularly think about. Not in the #blessed way, as that annoys me a teensy bit.  It asks for you to think of 10 thungs you're grateful for today:- 1. The pizza I had yummy 2. My lovely colleagues who help me on Thursdays 3. The experience of the extra marking (thanks Teacher!) 4. Watching the Nation's Fav Queen sing with Ben 5. My clean house when I returned home 6. Glynn being home early 7. My lovely 20 min lunch break with The Girls 8. Funny friends on FB 9. My health - not got The Cold yet! 10. Being me (ha ha). 

... said Ben today. Let me explain the context. I was helping Ben with his homework by showing him a few rudimentals of Excel. He then said "I think I might take over Dad's job when I'm older. It's a really cool job" (A year ago, Mr Humdrum and his friend set up an architectural technical firm.) I felt really pleased that he'd said this, and asked Ben to repeat it to his dad when we were in the car a bit later on, going to football. So he did. When pushed for more information, here were the four reasons why Ben wants to follow in his father's footsteps: He doesn't get bossed around by anyone. He can go and have a poo if he's feeling bored with his job. He can have snacks whenever he likes. He can play hide-and-seek with the other two there for fun. And that, ladies and gentleman, is why he thinks it's a really cool job.

One of my aims this week (while I'm Ben-free) is to consolidate my list of recipes. I'm getting fed up with stressing about what to cook. I love cooking, I love shopping for food, these are not my issues. It's when Ben and I get in after activities in the evenings, I don't have time for cooking long and complicated recipes. I'm not averse to cutting corners from time to time (I've started to buy ready made mash from Waitrose -it's only got potatoes, salt and pepper in it!) but obviously I don't want to eat ready meals often. Which brings me to my first recipe I'm going to share with you. I'm naming it Victorious Chicken Burrito, so named after the fabulous Burrito Boys's delish food at the Victorious Festival here in Portsmouth last weekend. I ate there twice on Saturday and it's reignited my love for Mexican food. I also follow a Slowcooker Facebook group and this recipe is adapted slightly from theirs. If there is any sauce left fr...

You don't know how much you appreciate your child's smile until one of his teeth is damaged. Thankfully our NHS repaired it. 

I've seen this many times online, so I'm not taking any credit (Diary of a Frugal Family, one of my favourite blogs, has it  here  for example). I got the idea while reading  A Mother's Ramblings' post  where they got up at 4am and watched the sunrise. The photos were amazing and it's inspired me to put some ideas into a jar. I haven't actually made the jar yet, but I have started a list!

Since receiving his stunt scooter at Christmas, Ben has visited the skate park a few times, mostly at my mum's house in Cornwall, where he has watched shyly until confident he can do the same moves. We have heard from a few people about how good the Southsea Skate Park  was so a few weeks ago, we went with E and the JRs. Then the JR's mum asked if we wanted to go this week as well, for the scooter training. The two boys duly achieved their Level 1 certificates, well done Ben and R! While we were there the first time, we saw a teenager attempt some scary stunt only to fall heavily in a kind of vertical direction. Amazingly he didn't break his neck, or any other part of his body, and walked away. But watching him and the others who all do their stunts properly, it made me realise I might wish to take advantage of the Pay and Go Away system. Is Ben old enough for me to leave him?!

Ben, or Elf as I used to call him, has today gone to his first Cub Camp. He's been away on Beaver and Cub sleepovers, spent weeks away from us with his grandparents and at friends' houses. I remember when he was a toddler and as Grandma and Grandpa drove away from our road, we expected a wave, certainly not tears. He didn't even wave, he just started reading a magazine or something and that was it. Which is good. I am amazed at how many parents say "Oh so and so has never been away from us". I have even thought in the past "Are we bad parents?" No! I work term time and whilst it's lovely to not have to worry about childcare in the holidays, I don't ever get any time on my own. Save for the one week a year when Grandma and Grandpa whisk him away to Devon. Then I get time to spend doing exactly what I want (like  falling off a bench  or deciding to stop blogging and use my Facebook page , hang on haven't I just done that again?). So this year...

One of my oldest (longest) friend's dad died recently and I travelled down to the homeland to pay my respects to him, and to support my friend. Travelling alone was a bit of a luxury, sans enfant et sans Glynn. I never get to spend time with my parents on my own, so we made the most of it. The funeral went as well as could be expected, but the party afterwards was a true celebration of his life. He would have been so proud of his two sons.  The next day, the three of us went to Mount Edgcumbe Park for a long ramble, hoping to find where I lost my dog Kim many, many years ago. In fact my friend and I were discussing it only the day before (he'd been with me). I don't think I did find the actual pathway but we did walk around in an odd figure of 8 shape, finished off by a nice cup of tea in the Orangery. Here Dad and I are racing back from the Folly to up where Mum waited.

I don't actually know, but I'm guessing I could count on more than one but less than two hands. Today I had some time on my hands (hence the counting) as my dear boy had to be collected from school as he wasn't feeling well. After quickly covering my lessons, I took him home and we bundled on the sofa, watching MOTD, Outnumbered, Tom n Jerry and Johnny Test. I read three chapters of The Mystery of the Strange Bundle (Blyton's Five Find-Outers) and I'm reading the last two chapters before bed. I've also done a load of washing and done a bit of surfing, both things I rarely have time for. Searching for a magazine-like website for women, I came across Huff Post's post Top 10 Websites for Women  and discovered  xojane.co.uk  and  blogher.com  from whence popped  this ! Inspired, I start (again) and hope I continue...

Mr Humdrum's "fun" Christmas present this year was a Hamlyn recipe book "200 really easy recipes". It's nearly the end of April and he hasn't been near it. I batch cooked in the Easter holidays and made beef goulash. Defrosted it and ate it yesterday with a jacket potato. Gosh it was yummy. The sauce was thick and tasty. I didn't use my own stock but hey. And I discovered that marjoram was basically oregano. Result! Can thoroughly recommend it.

(I have just changed my font to Helvetica - didn't the creator die recently?) ( Yes  and I know it's a typeface not a font.) This past week or so, I've been doing the 100happydays challenge. You have to Facebook or tweet (or email to be private) a photo of what makes you happy for 100 days in a row. You receive a book of your images at the end as a reward. On day 8 so far, the hardest part for me is not, as the raison d'etre of the challenge suggests, that I'm too busy for this; rather I am prone to forgetting! I have therefore set up a reminder on my phone. I'm worried that food pictures will feature, and I don't want all of my posts to be "Oh so proud of my son" etc.  And it's not like I'm not happy! I am, well I'm content, and that in my (photo) book is better than being happy. I like being content with the happy bits coming often.  Anyway, why not take up the challenge? I just want the book. But how on earth the photo of the ...

This probably exists already as a meme, but let's just assume I made it up. I have managed to get through a whole month without blogging. Things have been annoying this year so far; not THAT bad but downright annoying. And while I can manage one or two annoying things, when EVERYTHING is annoying, well it just gets you down. Let's just think about work though... Just as the Spring weather bursts out, I am starting to feel better. This Thursday I am thankful that I've had a good week at work. Not just a good week, but the best week this year so far. In January I changed my role at work. Feeling like I needed a change, I asked for it. But when it happened, it had attached to it another role that challenged my confidence. Realising I am "externally referenced" (thanks Shorwood and her NLP training!), when I understood this reference was not forthcoming, I knew I had to look inside myself to boost my confidence. I aspire to be more "externally referenced"....