March 25th 2015 - Easter crafts

March 25th 2015 - Easter crafts

Today was our last day at family learning and as its Easter week we made little baskets and added shredded paper and chocolate eggs.  This was my basket:

This also gave me a very short notice idea for St john Ambulance tonight as its Easter crafts with them as well. So I set about finding a basket template and printed on paper as printer doesn't like cardboard and then drew each one and double sided taped them all together.  The kids can decorate them with Easter bits and stickers and we will put a small egg and bag of haribo sweets inside.

Last week they were asked to all decorate an egg and bring in for the competition of decorated eggs, there is 2 prizes for under 10s and 2 for over 10s.  They also have Easter cards they can make, pictures of eggs and bunnies and chicks etc to colour in if they finish.  All in all I think will be a good but messy evening for them.

Here are my 3 sons decorated eggs:

Blake (5) wanted to make a nest with chicks in which he did via a brown paper cake case, shredded paper and craft chicks, he then added a part open plastic egg to it.  I Said to him that we needed to put the nest into a tree so cut some branches from our hedge for him.  The only problem the heat in the house dried out the leaves so I have had to tape new leaves on to it today.  The main "tree" was placed in a plastic cup but kept falling over so I filled the cup with stones and expanding foam and then Blake stood it inside a plant pot and added more stones.

Kenzie (9) wanted to make alien eggs on another planet.  I helped him with his planet as it is made of expanding foam inside a box, which he then coloured blue with sharpie pens to make his planet.  I also super glued the material to his alien bodies as kids gllue didnt stick.  He decorated his aliens as he wanted them.

Jay (12) wanted to make a star wars egg, so I found some pics online for ideas and he decided on Yoda.  I helped him bu super glueing the material to his body as kids glue didnt hold.  He then drew the markings on his face etc and coloured it all in, he added the light sabre and even gave him a lego star wars vehicle to sit in.

I think all 3 are great and i'm hoping that 1 of the other adult members will judge who wins as I don't want to choose - this is a big problem with my kids being members, if I pick them for things looks like favourites even if this isn't the case.  The younger 2 will be taking theirs into school tomorrow for the same things - decorated egg competitions.


UPDATE:

3 of the adult members judged the eggs last night - lil man won the under 10s with his tree and nest, middle son came 2nd in under 10s and eldest son won the over 10s.  All were really pleased about this and they did work hard on them.  Sadly there wasn't that many members turn up to the meeting "because it was crafts night" was what we were told.  This does mean that I wont be doing the craft badge with them anytime soon.

March 24th 2015 - Bedlam cube

March 24th 2015 - Bedlam cube

I had to got to town today to see if I could get my middle son some jumpers as he only has 1 that fits and my friend is on the hunt for some travel games to take on holiday but hasn't been able to find any so I said would have a look whilst in town.

Well it wasn't a particularly good trip, none of the charity shops had any jumpers in my sons age nor did any have mini travel games, well thats not quite true I had a game called the Bedlam cube.  Now my friends children are younger than mine so sadly I didn't think it would be of use to her but ok for mine.  It says it has 19,186 ways to make it - I took it out of its case and after 10minutes couldn't get it back as a cube. lol!  So I passed it to hubby and he spent a further 10minutes trying to do it and neither of us have managed to re-build the cube to put it away.  I think it may make the kids very annoyed as they will want to do it but may not be able to.

I have looked online and most of the solutions to the bedlam cube are via youtube, nothing you can print off and stick in the box!

However, all was not lost for my friend as I nipped into home bargains as they had games at 49p last week - they had none but they did have travel snakes & ladders for £1.49 and a 4-in-1 kids card game for 99p, plus I got a noughts  crosses for £1.00 from £1 shop.  So I have 3 games to post to her this afternoon ready for going away at weekend.

March 23rd 2015 - Try something new for tea

March 23rd 2015 - Try something new for tea

As part of the family meal planner I made back in January (that has been altered/updated twice since as found other meals we had forgot about) there is a "try something new for tea".  For this I decided we would try a recipe I had pinned on pinterest for Honey & BBQ shredded chicken.

It sounds really nice and hopefully the kids will like it.  The only thing we have not included is the Italian dressing it says as when I looked at it in shop it looked really horrible and the ingredients had things in I don't eat, so fingers crossed it works and is liked.  It smells nice so far.

The recipe says to use 3 pieces of chicken breast but mine are just big enough for a mouse so i've added about 8 bits to the slow cooker.

I will update later with pics and the verdict of tea.

UPDATE

Well it was cooked alot earlier than the time stated so we had tea at 4pm instead of 5:30pm.  There was mixed reviews on it.  I personally thought it was really nice and so did 2 of the boys, they just couldn't eat all I gave them and there was loads of chicken left so we don't need as many pieces of chicken as I thought we would.  Hubby liked it loose on plate but not in the bread roll as it altered the taste and lil man said he didn't like taste BUT he has come home from  school not well and complaining of ear ache and is off to docs soon.

We will try it again another day but I think would work nicely as an extra for a bbq!  Overall I would say thumbs up for it.

The shredded chicken in the honey & bbq sauce

March 22nd 2015 - Steroids

March 22nd 2015 - Steroids

Today is day 4 of being ill, last night I thought I was going to end up in an ambulance as every time I laid down it felt like my throat was closing over and I couldn't breathe, I would take my inhalers, cough more as they hit my throat and then couldn't breathe due to coughing, a viscious circle!  So I ended up propped up by the v-pillow and 2 normal ones.

Hubby rang the out of hours docs this morning for me (as can hardly talk today) and a doctor rang us because of my asthma and said they would ring me back with an appointment time.   No sooner had we hung up from him it rang again with an app for 20mins later.

Off to the out of hours we headed, got there 5mins early but didn't get seen til 15mins after appointment time as running late.  I explained to the sister how things started wednesday night and I was hot/cold and nose running/blocked etc and how i've got worse.  I've been taking beechams, paracetamol and honey & cinnamon.  She said have been doing the right thing.  She checked my pulse, bp, temperature, checked my chest and looked in my ears and my throat.  She said my chest sounds clear but my throat is really red and will be being made worse by inhalers so I need use a spacer for few days.

She did issue me with Prednisolone steroids for the next 5days, 8 a day.  And said it should help ease my chest and throat and to keep up with the beechams, paracetamol and honey & cinnamon drinks, she also said ice cream will soothe my throat as well.  Not been like this since Sept/Oct last year, so fingers crossed it eases soon.

March 21st 2015 - Carlisle Cathedral and bell tower tour

March 21st 2015 - Carlisle Cathedral and bell  tower tour

A few days ago I received an email from a competition I had entered saying I had won a pair of tickets to go on a tour of the Cathedral bell tower, I was really pleased and hoped it would be during the week so hubby could come as well.  Then I got another email from the gentleman who would be doing the tour stating it was today - 1pm or 2pm.  This was too short notice to get someone to look after the boys so hubby said he would stay with them and I could go on my own.   So I emailed asking to go on 1pm tour due to train times.

The train to Carlisle was mad - a very loud hen party that started drinking on the train, a stag do that were equally loud, a group of teenage girls with 3" thick make up and heels of the same height they could only just walk in and loads of football fans heading to the match.  The train filled up and there was about 15-20 people standing in the aisle it was that busy and the noise was going right through my head.  I don't know how anyone could hear their own conversations.  I was so glad to get off the train!!!

I was in Carlisle over an hour earlier but the next train wouldn't have got me there on time.  So I went and grabbed some lunch from Tesco, and once I had eaten it (whilst walking through the town) I made my way to the Cathedral.  I paid the lady so that I could take photos and went on my way around it as I had 45minutes until the start of the tour.  I took loads of pics of the inside downstairs, here are some of them:

I headed back to the main entrance to wait for the people doing the tour of the bell tower, at the time I was the only person there.  They said we had to wait a few minutes.  The only other person to turn up was the local news reporter/photographer!  So I have ended up with lots of pics being taken on the tour and am going to be in the paper.

The 3 people doing the tour were all from the Cathedral Bell Ringers, they explained things as went including a big plaque on the wall after one of the old clergy who left money to the Cathedral but on the condition that the bells are rung on his birthday!

After posing for a few pics for the paper we went through the little door at the back of the Cathedral and down a little corridor to the spiral stair case - some were steep, others not so, some were big others small, there was over 120 in total to get the bell room.  I took a picture of them as I was coming down after the tour:

 

The spiral stairs are broken up by a long narrow corridor that runs about half way up the Cathedral, the next pic shows the same corridor over the other side of the Cathedral.  Again there were more posed pics for the paper including some of me taking photos.  I remember doing this type of thing with my friends at school - didn't realise it was something that professionals did as well.

 

This picture was what I took when the photographer took s pic of me taking a pic:

I actually like the pic alot as it doesn't have the whole of the window or the wall in it.  I took a few others from up on this corridor as well. 

From the corridor we went up even more spiral stairs and went round the edge of the whole tower, some lovely views.  We then went into the ringing room, where all the bell cords hang.  They explained what they were and they worked, and showed me how they do it (they were using the bell sensors via the computer so as not to actually ring the bells.  The photographer asked for a pic of me posing pulling the bell.  I so wish I hadn't been ill as i'm sure I am going to look like death warmed up the pics, oh well not much I can do now. lol!

We then continued the tour and went up to the bells, where they talked to me about them all, and the real old one in the corner called Maria that has been there since the 1400s.  I have to say that the bells are much bigger than I thought they would be I did think they would be big but not as big as they are.  They had 1 of the team ring one of the bells so I could see how it all works from upstairs - although it didn't "ring" as it had its safety buffer thing in (they did tell me the name but I can't remember).

 

I had a really nice time and it was very interesting, and not something that many members of the public actually get to see.  Thanks to Cumbria Live for hosting the competition and picking me as 1 of the winners.

March 20th 2015 - Special day

March 20th 2015 - Special day

Today is a special day and one that will not be repeated for 100,000 years.  Many people of various religious beliefs think that the happenings of today could indicate the start of the end of the world because of how rare the 2 events of today are.

Firstly today is Ostara, also known as the spring equinox and means that there is as much daylight as there is darkness as both are equal, some people believe that the spring equinox is actually tomorrow not today, but I have always believed it to be 20th March and that's what google says.  So happy thoughts for Ostara if you celebrate.

Secondly today is a Solar Eclipse through out the UK and parts of the world.  It was seen by many but many others, myself included saw nothing due to cloud coverage and rain.  This was a great shame as I had hoped to get at least 1 nice picture but this is the best I could get:

Although it went dark it was more grey and linked to the cloud and rain rather the eclipse and some of the street lights did come on.  They had said that Cumbria was meant to be one of the best places to see it but it wasn't.

March 19th 2015 - Full of cold

March 19th 2015 - Full of cold

I feel so ill, well not ill exactly but i'm fullof cold and have a stuffy and runny nose at the same time!!!   I was fine when I went to SJA last night, however, we had to move to big cold room so we could play games - the kids were all ok as moving about but as I was stood still I think I got a chill.  But 1 of the Adult members has also ended up with a cold  and he wasn't in the cold room so thinks 1 of the kids brought it in.

I spent most of last night going from hot to cold and back again, but more so on the cold front, to the extent I had thick fluffy pjs on,  blanket and the duvet!  My nose was going from running to blocked and back again most of the night which wasn't fun either.  I've taken beechams all-in-1 tablets and they don't seem to be helping so I searched pinterest for ways to get rid of a cold and found this home remedy of honey & cinnamon either as a mix on own or mixed with tea - well I don't drink tea so put it in a coffee and it had a spicy christmas coffee flavour, wasn't too bad really.

The website it's from says 4 times a day for best results.  I don't normally drink this much coffee in a day so hopefully it wont send me hyper, but will get rid of this cold.  I can't say whether ot not it is going to work as only had 1 lot so we will see.

UPDATE

since having the first cup my nose has stopped running and I have only sneezed once.  So I have now made a 2nd cup in with coffee and hope that this does actually work like it seems to have done so far.