Rachel in Wales... in America??!

During the first week of school it would be very sensible to keep routines easy and simple.  To follow Lazy Genius principles, have some easy dinners, not overplan, and try and relax into the new family routine.

Rachel in Wales is not sensible.  Rachel in Wales is reporting from Heathrow airport at 5:30am, while waiting for a flight to New York.

When I initially got the invite to my cousin's wedding I thought of a million reasons it wouldn't work for me to go. It was in New York! It was the weekend after school started.  I have 4 kids.  I'm out of annual leave.  I haven't been away in a long time, and I haven't been to the US since 2019.  I put "decline wedding invite" on my to-do list for weeks.  

And I kept... not declining.  I have only two cousins, and this may be the last time I get invited to a big joyous family gathering. 

Eventually Andy said I should go.  The wedding is on Sunday.  Last night I drove to Heathrow, and stayed overnight at a Premier Inn.  At 4am I got up and took the bus to the airport.  Saturday morning security was a breeze, and now I'm comfortably waiting for my flight.  This evening is a welcome drinks event, Sunday is the wedding, and Monday night I'm flying back.

It all seems rather crazy, but in a former life I absolutely loved travel and adventure.  And while I am probably tired now (I didn't sleep great) I also am experiencing the unbelievable lightness of being at an airport by myself.  No kids laundry, no kids snacks, no toilet hunting.  One carry on, one backpack.  One laptop.

The week leading up to this has been... a lot.  

On Tuesday I had to take the car to the garage because a bunch of warning lights were coming on.  Luckily it was fixed in a day, but that was £250 and a day of car faffd

On Wednesday Lily turned 6! We went to a science museum and then ate cake.

I know I'm biased but she is SO CUTE

On Thursday the kids started school. I did drop off, went to the gym with my gym buddy, met my BFF for a long coffee catch up, then got my nails painted for the wedding

On Friday the twins started 2.5 hour nursery again - I dropped my dad at the airport bus, sorted out all my parcel returns for wedding clothes, packed for the wedding, did some life admin, picked up the twins, picked up the kids from school, and then drove to Heathrow.

I have a million big dreams for this trip (Wedding! Family! Planning! Sorting Photos! Reading!) but really it will probably be far too short and very busy and hopefully also somewhat refreshing because I actually do really like adventure.

And I get to be on a plane for 8 hours by myself.  I am so excited.

Have you flown for a big weekend trip before?  Do you like New York?  I am not really a city person but I am still very excited.

Wacky Weather, Twin Sleep, Solo Parenting, House Goals, and a Weird Social Thing

Wacky Weather

Last monday the high temp was 9c/50f.  We turned on the heat.  On Wednesday, the kids sports day was cancelled due to rain and lightning.  The internet said it was going to get warm but I didn't believe it.  And then... it got warm.  Today it's 90f.

It is commonly known that British people talk about the weather all the time, and it feels like a cliche, but also I think it's a very rational approach to living in a place with truly insane weather.  How can it go from 50f to 90f in 5 days??!  If we all lived inside a monkey enclosure and then we talked about monkeys all the time it wouldn't seem odd... because why would anyone live in a monkey enclosure? And by the same token, why would anyone build a major civilization in this climate? And then why would I decide to move here 16 years ago?  

I am baffled by past humans and past me.

Twin Sleep

Twin sleep has gotten better.  I made some pretty fundamental mistakes last week during my "how to handle sleep transition".  My primary mistake was Googling it.  Never google! The internet was filled with people who said "my twins slept great until beds and now my life is a nightmare and has been for months" and I just gave up and figured it was all over forever.    I did not handle it gracefully or optimistically and basically nosedived into a pit of despair. 

But in my defence, I am a trend person.  I like life to trend upward.  There was an interesting BBC article recently about a person born in 1962 titled "Am I the luckiest Generation in History".  In it the author concludes

"Even though the baby boomers are not the richest of cohorts, some of us have been blessed to have lived and worked in a country that seemed to be on a growth trajectory - things were getting better. It's odd to say, but I'd wager that most of us would rather live in a poor country where things are improving, than a richer one where everything seems to be in decline."

This is a roundabout way of me realizing that I would rather be experiencing a crap time but thinking things are improving, then experiencing an unexpectedly crap time after a while of improvement, even if the current crap time is way less crap than crap times of recent memory.  The short and sharp halt to my sports routine after just restarting exercise was particularly hard for me to take.   

Sleep has improved.  The twins have been napping again.  Bedtimes are getting easier.  I am not in fear of the next bedtime/morning time.

Nora has been waking up once a night, but she goes back to sleep fairly easily.  It's all OK, and trending upwards again. Maybe I'll do exercise again soon.

Solo Parenting

Counterintuitively, many things are currently easier because I am solo parenting right now.  Andy has taken the big kids to Austria to meet a uni friend and play in mountains, and I get 5 days of twin only life.  I have currently finished my first 24 hours of twin life and I think it's going well!

Yesterday after nap we went to a local Model Train show for the last hour, and got on the trains with no queues because it was almost closed

It was very hot.

This morning we went to a park at 8am because it was already 70 degrees and I knew we wouldn't get out later and everyone had been awake since 5:30am.

Then we went for a smoothie and a tea cake at a local cafe

And then it was still only 10:30am so we drove to our local open air museum to sit on the indoor tractor and spent 5 minutes on the outdoor trampoline

No idea why Aubrey likes to lie down

After lunch (cereal and milk and blueberries because I am holiday-at-home mom!) they went down for a nap and I listened to a podcast and tidied up and in 5 minutes it will be time to get up and maybe go to the Cardiff Museum because it is big and old and has no windows so hopefully won't be too hot.

House Goals and Tidying Stuff

Last night I spent 2 hours sorting the house out because it had become chaos and I really enjoyed listening to The Girl Next Door Podcast about routines.  Why do I enjoy tidying my house while listening to someone else talk about tidying their house?  I'm not sure, but it was nice.

Maybe tonight I can get through this pile of art

Or maybe I can even do some planning, because the last thing I wrote down was train times for a work trip I didn't end up taking.  Yes, this was a failed daily plan for Thursday Msy 21st, and nothing has been planned/written since.

Weird Social Things

Okay I'm going to end this very long post with a weird social thing that happened today.  A few weeks ago I was chatting with a mom in the park who I sort of know but haven't hung out with outside seeing in the park and I mentioned my solo parenting week and she said "oh we should hang out!" and I gave a vague "yes" but then she picked a day, and then I saw her last week at the park and she suggested a place and a time.  It was supposed to be today so I texted yesterday to confirm and she said "oh sorry can we do afternoon actually, I'll text you tomorrow to make a plan" and now it's 2:30 and I haven't heard from her.  

It's fine on a personal logistics level because I didn't make a plan around her and decided to plan my day anyways, but I am mildly annoyed because I could have planned to see someone else today instead of being stood up by park mom.  And all the weirder to me because I did not instigate this play date or even really push it forward ever, except to confirm it was happening.  Anyways, people are weird.  Luckily I have full time twins and a full time job so I'm not on the friend hunt now, but I can see how making friends is not as easy as... well... an easy thing.

Weekend Update with RachelinWales

It's been a weekend!

Highlights:

Lilah and I took a bus! We walked/rode to our local library (15 minute walk) then took the bus home after.  We arrived at the bus 20 minutes early (or 10 minutes late, depending on how you quantify arrival times for an every 30 minute bus) so bought a chelsea bun from the bakery and ate it on a bench.  It was very wholesome.

The bus driver gave Lilah a ticket.  He didn't even charge us for the ride because apparently a three year old taking a dolly on the bus for her first bus ride is too cute to charge.  It was all so wholesome.

On Saturday we went out for a long adventure to visit friends who live an hour away.  It was our longest trip out with babies and they did great and enjoyed their big adventure.  The kids enjoyed as well, we went and saw a very angry goose

Also, Lilah and Isaac saw a squished Frog and were fascinated. Lilah said it wasn't a real frog, which I thought was an interesting way of understanding a squished frog.  It was a former frog. Not a Real frog.

Today (Sunday) the kids made robot costumes, which is also ridiculously wholesome:

Besides lots of kid stuff, Andy and I each got an adventure morning.  Andy had Saturday from 8-10am for a bike ride, and I had Sunday from 8:30-10am for my own adventure.  I did Couch to 5K week 3 and then added a bit more jogging just for fun.  

It's hard to be both aware that we are in the super adorable wholesome stage right now AND that things will get both easier and harder.  

When I think of days like today, I think of this quote from Ann Patchett's Tom Lake:

There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well, until one morning you’re picking cherries with your three grown daughters and your husband goes by on the Gator and you are positive that this is all you’ve ever wanted in the world.

Did you have a good weekend?  Did you do anything wholesome?

September Saturday

We are currently having a heat wave in Wales, which is crazy since it rained basically all of July and August (or at least felt like it was raining all of July and August).  It's currently 26c/79f.  This is very hot for Wales, and especially hot for a person in their third trimester twin pregnancy.  I blame the heat for my last of blogging, and also for everything else.  Thankfully it's meant to cool off tomorrow, which I am really looking forward to.

Being late-stage pregnant is an interesting experiment for me in lowered expectations.  I know I recently read and didn't particularly rate How to Keep House While Drowning but I have been recently lowering my standards a lot for the house.  For instance, if I had more energy right now I would be washing and changing my bedsheets.  I would be wiping the very dusty window sills in the kids room and sweeping our kitchen floor.  I would be sorting the baby room out, which the kids have turned into chaos by filling it with every teddy and baby doll in the house.

I did rather foolishly try to get a rug outside to get some sun and try to beat clean.  It turns out rugs are heavy. Now this is my lounge:

However there are many good things about today/life:

• My dad is visiting us this week and it's been fun having him around
• The kids are playing really nicely together. 
• We are going to fill up the paddling pool and have a garden-picnic when Andy gets home from the shop.
• I slept from 8:30pm through to 3:30am yesterday and then intermittently onwards to 6am. 
• Our new dishwasher works and has this super cool feature where the door opens when it's done washing so the dishes can dry
• I started getting B12 shots from the doctor as they caught another form of anemia and I'm hoping this brings my energy levels up a bit
• My maternity cover at work is picking things up so quickly and I really enjoy working with her
• Our food plan is going well, and even though my limited energy and desire to eat better has caused an increase in the cost of groceries we can absorb that cost
• Isaac's first week of school went well
• I own enough fans to make the heat tolerable
• Even though it's hot I can still tumble dry a load of tiny person clothes rather than pegging out 100 things on the line

What is good in your life right now?

5 things on a Friday

 1 - We are off Glamping this weekend!  Very excited.  We are staying in a Yurt on a small farm, booked through AirBnB.  We don't have to bring towels or bedding or camping stoves.  Yay.  I hope the kids enjoy it and get to free range a bit... our last camping adventure was fairly cramped with other campers so we couldn't let the kids explore as much as I wanted.  This place has 3 Yurts and composting toilets.  We are finally at the age where I can bring kid crafts and toys and maybe even get some time to read.  Also, this looks like good Glamping weather:

2 - Our dishwasher broke!  Literally one month after purchase.  The repair/replace people are coming on Tuesday, so I'm extra glad we are away this weekend (although we will have to do dishes while camping).  Thankfully it's under warrenty, and double thankfully Andy took care of all of it (he's in charge of appliances).  But OMG I don't like hand washing dishes and especially when my giant baby-stomach precludes me from standing too close

3 - I've been thinking more about the Job/No Job and I think it's an interesting case of "Here's a vague job description - you tell us what we specifically want".  The company I work for is the largest company I've ever been at, and I think this situation is reminding me that I really love some aspects of working for 100-200 people companies more than 3,000+ people.  I need to start crafting a "dream job" list at some point, the job I currently have is very close but I do think it can be better.  The great thing about moving jobs and getting new jobs is it helps me realize what I like and want.   I really love how Birchwood Pie looks at jobs and want to emulate their strategies.

4 - I just booked a reflexology session! I haven't had one in about a year and I absolutely love my reflexologist but she is a bit pricey.  However I'm hoping she can help with some of the baby-induced circulation issues I'm having (varicose veins, yuck).  I remember last time I saw her was the day I put in notice at my last job and I knew I wouldn't go for a while because I was a bit nervous about money in the new job (it was definitely a lateral move).  I'm less worried about money right now (at least until I start Maternity Leave).  It's nice to realize how much more settled I am now than a year ago. 

5 - Isaac has exactly 5 days of nursery left.  We just got his first bill for school wraparound and it was £220 for a month.  (4 days a week of 9-5 cover, Andy has Fridays off work).  So much better than the £500 we were paying for 3 days a week of nursery!  Or the £900 we pay for 3 days a week for Lilah.  These are the expensive years but I don't regret it... I am much happier being a working mom than a stay at home mom and I am very hopeful that at the end of this expensive time I will be at a far better salary bracket than if I had taken 5 years off to raise kids.  Also, I hopefully won't be insane, which I would be if I took 5 years off to raise kids.

Have you ever had reflexology? Do you want to come holiday in Wales now that you know it's 70 degrees in August?

Weekend Update - that went fast

It was a too fast weekend.

I woke up Friday not feeling well because a certain two year old had decided not to do sleeping at 2 or 3 am and I foolishly put her in bed with us which meant no one slept and I was very grumpy.  I tried to push through at work but was too tired/pregnant/annoyed and eventually took a half day of sick leave so I could take a  nap... which is unfortunate because I have too much work to do and could really have used a work day.

I had friends coming over for afternoon tea at 2:30 which thankfully my mom and Andy prepped most of.  Then at 2:30 I realized I had told them 3:30, so we sat around for half an hour.

On, and on Friday the Drier arrived!

Tea went well, we hand cheese and chutney sandwiches as well as cucumber sandwiches, plus scones & clotted cream & jam, and a Victoria sponge cake.  And a fruit salad.

Friends left around 5 and then more friends came from Bristol for a sleepover and dinner at 7.  I am sort of obsessed with these salmon burgers right now and it made a really easy dinner for everyone:

After dinner the kids all went to bed (In the same room!) and adults had a fire pit.  It was vaguely threatening to rain, which is perfect for a fire pit.  

On Saturday we went to the bike park with all 3 kids.  Lilah is getting more and more rad.  Isaac is on a pedal bike.  Our friend's 4 year old borrowed one of Isaac's bikes and got on super well with the pump track.  

We all did afternoon playing in the house, followed by dinner Pizza.  And our friends helped us hook up the new tumble drier - it's a heat pump drier an doesn't use a vent. 

on Sunday Andy went biking with his dad buddies while our friend (with two almost the same age kids) came for a play date.  Play dates are so much easier with 2 and 4 year olds.  Especially 4 year olds. They played upstairs while we were able to actually hang out and chat.

In the afternoon I had another afternoon tea with some friends from my first baby class before Isaac was born.  One of them is having her second baby in a few weeks and we are all very excited.  She is also the cutest pregnant person.  I had more finger sandwiches and scones and patisserie and this is probably why I am going to get pregnancy diabetes this time but oh man are afternoon teas delicious.

I made Shwarma with Tahini-yogurt sauce for dinner which went down a treat.

We also washed AND DRIED two loads of laundry.  We have washed all the baby clothes and they are now in the baby room washed.  We own a lot of 0-3 size which is great except for the fact these babies are probably going to come out at 5-6 pounds and not 8 pounds like my other two which means we are scavenging for tiny baby size.   A job for this week is to put away the baby clothes and make the baby room look (a bit) more sane.

Food Plan this week:
Monday: Leftover Shwarma
Tuesday: Falafel Wraps
Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs or Leftovers
Thursday: Slow Cooker Chili
Friday: Choritzo Pasta Bake
Saturday: Chicken & Aubergine Parmesan

Weekend plans: house & work updates

We don't have many plans for the weekend so far, which sometimes bodes well and sometimes can be disaster.  

Hopefully we can get all the IKEA built - especially the dresser/changing table for the nursery room.  Once this is built we can start to unpack all of the baby stuff and figure out if we need anything else

(Fun Fact: although I am a firm believer in "babies don't need things" and I knew that twins are allowed to share a cot until they can roll, I only realized recently that babies can't share a bedside cot.  So... we are hopefully borrowing a bedside cot from a friend our ours.  Our room almost certainly doesn't have room for two bedside cots... so that's going to be a squeeze to figure out later)

Then we have our new dining table to assemble, but I am also not super excited for this assembly because once done our house will have two dining tables and 12 chairs until the charity donation people come on Wednesday.  I recently started donating furniture to charity rather than selling it because I decided I don't do enough charity donations and so even if I could make £50 or £100 for selling something maybe donating it can be a replacement for the £50 or £100 I don't give to charity?

On Monday I'm going to London to interview for a new role in my current company, which would be a promotion from where I am (a fairly big one) but is also very daunting because I am so obviously 5 months pregnant (actually I look more pregnant, because twins).  I have been trying to play it cool with this interview but I need to work on a powerpoint and practice what I am going to say and the points I want to address.  So, I need some focus time this weekend to work on that.

I also need to figure out how to address my obvious pregnancy.  

I'm hoping this interview will be a good experience for me because even if I don't get the job it means I'm pushing myself and being told no.  I've always had it as a point of pride that I'm always offered a job once I make it to interview stage - but maybe that's because I'm not pushing myself enough and applying for things that are at my level?  

Isaac has a birthday party this weekend and Andy is running a race on Sunday.

That's about all the weekend plans.  I don't think this is exactly Laura Vanderkam approved (is making a powerpoint a big adventure?) but hopefully I will feel a lot less stressed after job interview and furniture collection next week.

Weekend Updates / Food Plan / Grocery Habits / Freezer Habits

Andy is on a cycling trip this weekend so I am solo parenting.  I have been kind of dreading it because it turns out two year old can be hard work (sometimes... who knew? Why isn't there a book about this or a name for this?).  After Andy left, in a moment of parental inspiration, I got out glue and random scrap pieces of felt and let the kids glue things to other pieces of paper.  This kept them occupied for over an hour.  I will admit I then spent £25 on random craft supplies from Wilko and can't wait for those to show up.

Our friends came in the afternoon for a classic toddler playdate, which involved moving from the padding pool to the house to the paddling pool too many times.  The kids put on a show where they forgot all the words, and then everyone went home before dinner. 

Dinner was ham sandwiches and scrambled eggs and fruit, because I guess that is a balanced meal?

Today we are going to a friend's house for a play date and hopefully Andy will be back soon after that.  I honestly do not know how single parents with young kids, or parents with partners who work abroad or travel lots do it.  (Elisabeth!!)

This morning we are getting a grocery delivery, which I haven't done for months.  It turns out, I like choosing my own fruit and veg.  I also spend £80 whether delivery or online, but the delivery prices seemed to go up faster than the in store prices (at the cheaper store by our house) so we shifted back to shopping in store.  

Also, one of our logistical issues is that our FLOM is on Friday and we generally need food on the Saturday so one of us goes to the shop on a Saturday since next day delivery wasn't a thing last time I checked.  

Side note - one of the signs the pandemic must be over - full availability of grocery delivery slots:

On another side note, we since the recent fridge/freezer reshuffle (photos to follow!) I decided we need to eat more of our freezer food and we need to finish up more of our grains we don't often eat.  Yesterday I made hummus with the remainder of the fava beans.  I still need to use the buckwheat and the giant cous cous.

We also need to eat some of the leftovers in the freezer, which I have recently started dating better (after I pulled out a bag of frozen Thanksgiving Turkey in June).

Food plan for this week:

• Sunday: Chicken sliders and Fries (with chicken from the freezer)
• Monday: Fish Curry (with freezer fish)
• Tuesday: Tacos (with leftover freezer meat)
• Wednesday: Jacket potato & Beans
• Thursday: Pasta Bake (with Frozen meat of some sort)
• Friday: Noodles and Tofu (must find recipe!)
• Saturday: Pizza

Do you get groceries delivered or do you go to the store?  What's your favourite Buckwheat or Giant Cous Cous recipe?

Camping Recap

This weekend we ticked off a family bucket list item - camping!

We booked a campsite about 90 minutes away, near the coast, for Friday and Saturday night.  We took Friday off work to pack and so we could arrive in good time, and made it to the campsite by 2:30pm.

There was a slight detour when we realized we had forgotten to pack Lilah's clothing bag and had to stop at Tesco to buy her some clothes for the weekend.  £25 later we had a 3 pack of shorts, a 3 pack of shirts, and a new swimsuit.  

The kids were very excited to set up tents.  They were very excited to eat dinner.  They were very excited by camping stoves and very excited by our friend's camper van.  

We don't own a family camping tent so we set up our 2.5 man tent and our 1.5 man tent. We made one small mistake by bringing a single airbed and a camping pad - I had assumed kids would be asleep by the time I went to bed and I could shuffle them both onto the camping pad.  Because they were both awake I ended up sleeping on the ground (ouch!) between the two beds (in the 2.5 man tent) which was not ideal for both sleep quantity and quality.  

Saturday morning I was very grumpy (I am not good on little sleep) so Andy took kids to the park and I slept until nearly 11 (on the air bed, which was pretty comfortable)

Saturday afternoon we went to an amazing Welsh beach.  Did you know Wales has amazing beaches?  Some Welsh beaches rival what I saw in Thailand and are better than beaches I grew up with in California... depending on weather of course.

Saturday night was BBQ, which the kids loved.  Then we tried having them sleep in separate tents, so Lilah joined Andy and Isaac was in my tent.  Lilah fell asleep almost immediately and Isaac slept when I got to bed - he told me I could sleep on the air bed because the air bed is big and I am also big.  Thanks buddy!

Everyone slept until 7am - YAY - and woke up very happy.  Kids played in the tent for a bit

Then ate some snack before heading off home

Although it was a great camping trip it definitely made me miss camping in the USA.  Camping in the UK is mostly private - farmers set up campsites on field.  This means there are often LOTS of other people around.   Here's a map of the site we stayed in (the dots are all different types of pitches)a:

There wasn't much separating us from our neighbors.  I always felt like national parks in the USA had secluded camping, where even on a campsite you still had some space that was yours.  Including a picnic table and a BBQ, usually.   Sometimes we have found great campsites here, and sometimes we have slept next to A**h***s who listen to Oasis until 3am.  this was fine before we had kids, this is less fine now.

Overall camping trip 1 was a success, with definite room for improvement.  The kids loved it, and everyone is very tired, but it was a great weekend.

When I got home I took all the photos and ordered a cheap and easy photo album for the kids - it took me all of 20 minutes to upload and I let Snapfish do the layout.  Hopefully that will arrive this week and the kids will enjoy it.

Have you ever been camping with kids?  What is your favourite campsite?

Kitchen Project: Before and Middle

Kitchen project is continuing.  This weekend, I emptied the entirety of the cupboards which are (hopefully!) coming out on Monday:

I also emptied our makeshift larder/pantry (the cupboard in our dining room):

Then it was time to figure out how to get it all back into the cabinets, ideally in a way that was usable and sort-of made sense

I did throw away some apple cider vinegar that expired in 2019 (although does vinegar expire?) and some sesame oil which expired in 2017.  I would love to be a person who cooks delicious asian food.  I love asian food! But, I do not cook asian food.  And asian food needs its own ingredients, like sesame oil.  And right now we don't have room to have more ingredients - we don't really have room for the ingredients we do use.  So I tried to be more ruthless about what stays in our house and what gets thrown away or donated to friends.

We do keep a back-stock of Bob's Redmill Cornmeal, because you can't get it in the UK, and because it is delicious.  We also have one of the largest collections (unconfirmed/probably not true) of Trader Joe's spices in the UK for the same reason. 

I did get everything back in, although the seasonings/condiments/breadcrumbs/salt(?? misc??) shelf is hard to view and will just need to be checked before we buy more ketchup or mustard.  I found we had two unopened ketchups. 

The next project is going to be sorting these open kitchen shelves, once we eat down our apocalypse store of pasta.  There is too much kitchen real estate being given to baked beans at the moment:

I am a bit nervous about losing this counter space - it is the largest counter space in our kitchen.  However, we will make due and hopefully the addition of a dishwasher means we won't be using counter space for drying dishes anymore, which should definitely be a net gain.

You know what takes up more room than I want?  Bins/Trash Cans.  Why so much trash can needed?  Also, this counter is a total bodge-job from the previous owners - It's higher than a normal counter, so there are two small pieces of counter holding it up.  It used to have a boiler underneath before we re-did our heating system.  The panel on the side against the wall used to enclose the boiler pipes, but is now empty.  We could get 2 more inches of space if we took that out, but the border between "inches of space" and "trashing the kitchen" is very fine.

In case you're wondering, this is our whole kitchen, from January.  We have packed about as much storage as possible in here, but will probably try to build an extension someday.  

One of the things that makes the kitchen awkward is that there are 3 doors and 1 window in the small space.  But, within the confines of what we have, we've definitely made it work well since we bought the house 6 years ago.

Have you ever done a major kitchen remodel?  What about a minor one?  What's the biggest improvement you've made to your kitchen since you bought your house?

Bank Holiday Saturday & House Projects & Meal Planning

 I feel like I'm on holiday a lot lately - but 3 bank holiday Mondays in one month can do that for a person.  Thanks King Charles!  This Monday is a bank holiday (not memorial day.  Late May Bank Holiday maybe? Spring Bank Holiday?  

The sun is out and today we spent half the day at the beach and half the day at a friends farm, culminating with a BBQ in a firepit.  Everyone is tired.  Kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Sand everywhere.  The beach was suprisingly quiet even though it's half term (school holiday) and a long week end AND the sun was out.  

Downside, Lilah got carsick on the way.  We were using the rear seats of the 7 seater.  She kept saying "I'm tired" and I think she meant "I don't feel well" because suddenly - much sick.  In good news, we had a whole bag of clean laundry in the car and she had a blanket on which caught most of the mess.  She perked up when we put her back in the middle seat and we may not use rear seats again for a while.

In other random news, I finally got a kindle!  Very excited.  I think I can put Libby books on it - I know you can only do it for US based accounts but my Libby account is based in my US library so I'm hoping it will work.  I need to spend 10 minutes setting it up.  Then I can get all the books! Not just the audiobooks! Yay!

As an update for 'Make our house more suited to our needs' project, we donated a loveseat to charity and now have a much more functional small room for kids to play in.  We also have finally decided what climbing frame to get for the garden and are going with this one:

Instead of a ballpit at the bottom we will probably make a sand pit.  We need to figure out how to keep the cats away.

We had our FLOM on Friday and planned meals for next week:

Sunday: Salmon & Potatoes
Monday: Mac & cheese with ??? can someone suggest a main to go with mac and cheese?
Tuesday: Egg sandwiches & home fries
Wednesday: Jacket Potato & Beans
Thursday: Chicken Gyros
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Out to dinner with Andy (hopefully! Everyone ended up ill last time we had a dinner planned)

What are you doing for Memorial Day/Bank Holiday?  Any recommendations for good kindle reads...? I've been thinking I want to get into a good sci-fi/fantasy book.

Galavanting through Wales - Weekend Adventures Again

We had visitors last weekend, which meant I spend the weekend galavanting through Wales. I used to spend a lot of time galavanting.  Now I spend slightly less time doing so.  It made me remember that there is a world more than 15-25 minutes from my house, and that world can be very fun.

Friends arrived Friday night after a terribly long train journey.  Their journey of 2 hours became 6.  I felt particularly bad as my 2 hour London train had become a 4 hour London train the previous day.  "What is the chance the same train will be super delayed two days in a row?" I thought. The answer - high.

They arrived in good form for all their travel.  I couldn't believe I hadn't seen these friends since I left Portland in 2016.  It felt like no time had passed at all.  People are great.

On Saturday we visit Big Pit, which is a former Coal Mine and now amazing museum.  Everyone should visit Big Pit.  Guides are former miners.  I have traveled a lot and never experienced anything like it.

Saturday evening was takeaway curry.  I was full for 3 days.

On Sunday friends were traveling in Inverness (Scotland!) for more great adventures.  Isaac and I took them to Cardiff Castle for sightseeing.  I only took a picture of the keep, but we walked all the way to the top.  It was a gorgeous day.  Everyone should visit Wales in May (when the sun is out)

Finally it was time to take friends to the train station. They are onwards on their big adventure, and I am reminded to have more medium adventures.

Also, can you tell who doesn't watch TV at home?  Isaac was very excited to watch this TV (its a rolling series of ads)

This weekend is another adventure weekend.  Beach on Saturday, friends on Sunday, and an American BBQ on Monday.  Happy Memorial day everyone!

Have you had big adventures recently?  Little adventures?  What is the difference to you?

A belated weekend post!

This weekend I drove 6 hours to see my friend in Cumbria and her 12 week old baby.  It was awesome to see her and I am only sad that she lives so far away.  I left Saturday morning at 7:30 and then came back Monday - 12 hours of driving for 36 hours with friend.  It was well worth it.

I had loaded up the podcast with back episodes of Organize 365 and Best of Both Worlds, as well as Oh William by Elizabeth Strout on Audiobook which showed up on Libby.  Two hours into Oh William I decided it was a hard pass as I really can't listen to stories which include traumatic childhoods.  I know it was shortlisted for the Booker prize and The Modern Mrs. Darcy loved it but I couldn't take it.

I enjoyed a good few hours listening to Organize 365, I'm not sure whether I had heard some of the episodes before.  I started thinking about house projects and organization and realized some small but significant changes I could make to my space now.  I have a plan to fit a dishwasher in the kitchen!  First I need to find a handy-person to do some cabinet removal, reorganize our pantry goods, and then there will be Dishwasher!  I am very excited.

I also realized that it is time to say goodbye to our much loved loveseat.  

It was one of the first pieces we bought for our house and was recently in the kids room for stories.  We've since set up Lilah's "big girl bed" and now there is no room.  So I called the furniture charity shop and it's being collected on Friday.  It's so comfortable and has served us well and I hope it will go to another home that can enjoy it just as much as we have.

While visiting my friend I read all of Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan.  This was such a fun read and felt like a "holiday read".  I also brought A World Without Email by Cal Newport but it is somewhat slow going.  Definitely giving me lots of think about.  

For the drive back Maybe in Another Life became available on audiobook and I've started that now, it's definitely got the same great pacing as most TJR books.

I loved my 36 hour holiday and it felt like a total recharge.  Also, my friend has the cutest 12 week old.  I didn't know 12 week olds could be so good.  He just sleeps and plays and chats and I cannot wait to see him again soon.  I am not a huge fan of babies but I was a huge fan of this one. 

Have you ever been on a 36 hour holiday?  How is your reading in May going?  Do you like 12 week olds?

Bank Holiday Weekend

Now *that* was a bank holiday weekend!

On Friday I went out to dinner with my mom friends, to a tapas restaurant.  We vastly over ordered.  I am super basic and I love Patatas Bravas.  Spice and potato is my friend.  

On Saturday we had a family play date with friends we have been trying to see for ages.  Our kids are roughly the same ages and they played together so well.  Family play dates are the best.  In the afternoon we ate scones (savory and sweet!) and watched the coronation.  So many lovely hates! 

On Sunday Andy went biking in the morning and Isaac and Lilah played so well at home.  Is 3 and 5 going to be a magic age of playing?  I got house stuff done while watching kids, which is a total anomaly for me.  I also made a massive task list of to-dos for the afternoon.  In the afternoon Lilah took a nap and Isaac went to Grandma's house and we finally got house chores done.  

So many house chores.  We now have three bags ready to go to the charity shop, and a sofa, a Roomba, and a Kallax listed on gumtree.  If they don't sell in a week the sofa can get picked up by the furniture charity shop.  

We also assembled Lilah's toddler bed in an attempt to transition from her crib.  She was so happy but has so far not slept in it and instead slept in her crib.  I hate sleep transitions.  It is not my strong suit.  I love the idea of kids sharing rooms but on Saturday (and Sunday) she ended up back in her crib.  Isaac stayed in a crib until nearly 3, so maybe I just have crib-loving kids.  

On Monday we took the kids to Soft Play, which they loved.  Isaac has been to soft play when he was little but because of Covid it was all closed or super when Lilah was 0-1 and she hasn't been much.  They both loved it and ran for 90 minutes straight.  

Our friends visited from Bristol and we all came back for lunch, which I managed to smash out that morning.  I made a quiche!  Quiche is such an easy make-ahead lunch food for short notice lunches. We also had the Oh She  Glows Chickpea salad, which is also a super winner and I need to make more often.  In the afternoon we all took naps (ie, even our friends) and then did some playing in the house before having home made pizza.  

This week is a short week due to the bank holiday.  I still need to list my road bike on Gumtree and actually take the charity stuff to the charity shop, but I feel our house is progressing towards order again.  Which is good.

Also, this morning I was listening to Cal Newport's Deep Questions and was SO EXCITED to hear Sarah Hart Unger as a guest!  It's a long episode but great so far, and exactly what I needed to listen to on a time when my planning has gone a bit off kilter.  

How was your weekend? What is your favourite quick and easy lunch share?  Do you prefer savory scones (like cheese?) or sweet scones (like berry?)

Weekend plans, weather, food and some rambling.

This morning, amongst the cold air and threatening rain, I told Andy that this would be some ideal February weather.  I didn't move to Wales for the sun, but it feels like it has been raining or freezing or freezing rain since November.  Even the joke "how about this global warming" is not really a joke - I'm just cold.

Normally we try and only heat the house from October to March, but I'm still putting the heating on in the morning as the house is 59 degrees and I have decided we can heat it to 63.

This weekend we were excited to attend a friends camping birthday party.  It is a bit early season, but as long as it wasn't too cold or wet we were going to give camping a go.  We haven't been camping since the kids were born - we bought a big (for us) tent when I was pregnant with Isaac and intended to do a lot of camping in summer of 2020... but obviously that didn't happen.

Last weekend we (Andy) got the camping kit out, checked it all worked, and started packing and planning

The weather forecast was mixed, but we were still keen on Friday and aiming for a midday Saturday departure.

Unfortunately, Saturday started to look a lot worse, and on Saturday morning the forecast called for heavy rain.  I was still keen, but Andy was the voice of reason and said we probably shouldn't.  When it started raining later that evening, while we were eating dinner in our warm house, I was very thankful I wasn't trying to stay dry and warm outside.  

Of course, this left us with an empty weekend, so this morning we enjoyed the wholesome activity of feeding ducks at the local pond

I am going to a camping festival next weekend (Alone! WOW!) and I am so hoping that the weather changes before then.  This is tiring for April and will be exceptionally tiring in May:

Besides complaints about the weather we have a generally low key week planned with a generally low key meal plan:

Sunday: roast potatoes and ??? meat that I need to buy still

Monday: Slow cooker beef curry (Andy)

Tuesday: Pasta and roast Mediterranean veg (Rachel)

Wednesday: Jacket Potatoes and Beans (Rachel)

Thursday: Cheese sandwiches and soup (Andy)

Friday: Pizza (Andy)

Neither Andy or I feel particularly energetic for cooking at the moment, and I think it shows in our meal plan.  I'm half tempted to order some ready meals from Cook one of these days just to give us a break from food prep.  

I am also having a major Indian food craving but I am not good at cooking Indian.  My favourite is Masala Dosa, which I looked up how to cook and which I have zero ingredients for.  The kids wouldn't eat indian takeaway, but I am half tempted to just buy takeaway for Andy and me and feed the kids leftover spaghetti and meatballs.  It would save the effort of buying a meat for dinner.

Did your weekend plans go as planned?  Is there a food you love but don't/can't cook?

Weekend Warrior Again

On Saturday I told Andy I didn't want to do park run if it was raining.  The weather forecast was rain, starting at 9, but when we woke up it was SNOW.  As Andy pointed out, snow is not rain, so off to Parkrun we went.

This run went much better than last, and I was 2.5 minutes faster, which puts me in the realm of generally slow and not horrifically almost walking slow.  The main improvement this week was the addition of music - I have trouble getting music to go in my non data connected world.  So I bought and downloaded Hamilton, which I listed to on the run.  

There was also a photographer there, and I am a total ham, so I got this AMAZING photo:

That's 25 minutes into my 5k and I still had probably 2k to go.  

On Sunday we went to Mountain View Bike Park with the kids, and I managed to do some riding as well

(I did some bigger jumps too but also enjoyed chasing kids around the pump track)

We bought Lilah a new balance bike, which now means that we own 3 balance bikes.  Isaac is so ready for a pedal bike but wont try it, and Lilah is so desperate for a pedal bike but isn't ready.  

She is a great MTB poser and I can't wait till she's a mountain biking superstar so I can use this as a "way back when" photo:

And, even more excitingly, I hung up my bathroom art and Andy put up my office mirror!  This has been on the to-do list for AGES:

That's all from my busy weekend.  This week's meal plan is pretty simple:

Monday: Beans and rice and chicken

Tuesday: I'm in Edinburgh

Wednesday: I'm in Edinburgh

Thursday: Spagetti and Meatballs

Friday: Pizza

I mean, maybe I'll eat a vegetable this week?  But don't count on it.

What was your weekend highlight?  Have you ever been to a jump park or a pump track?

Sunday Fun Day (and Meal Planning)

This weekend started abruptly, without my usual "plan on Friday".   Andy and I did have a longer F.L.O.M at a pub Friday evening (thanks grandma babysitting!).  

On Saturday morning we took the kids to the Bike Park for toddler takeover.  I'm fairly sure Lilah would chose to ride a bike until she fell asleep and fell off (or fell off then fell asleep).  She was borderline delirious when we finally got her home, where we had a lunch of cheese quesadilla and Spaghetti Hoops.

Andy and I got out for a walk/hike in the afternoon.  It was going to be an overnight but got scaled back to a local walk and a trip to a pub I've always wanted to visit.  We made it home by 6 and sorted kid bedtime.  Grandma was a bit tired by this point so we sent her home early.

Today (Sunday) I made it out on my mountain bike.  Unfortunately I don't really have a group to go with so it was just me.  Before I had kids I used to ride with Andy, but after kids Andy rides with his group and I haven't found new biking friends.  Or rather, I haven't found local biking friends.  I keep thinking there must be other local female mountain bikers... maybe someday I'll try and start a club.  In the interim, I enjoyed 2 hours out solo and even managed this classic photo from the "Instagram Spot"

This afternoon we have a play date with friends we haven't seen in ages.  It was arranged via a single text from me "hey, are you up for a playdate on Sunday or next week?" and now I have a playdate.  I sometimes feel like I need to plan something better than a house hang out when I invite people to things.. but house hang outs are great. And free.  And, she said "yes come to my house" which means we won't even be at our house.  All wins.

This week's food plan is a good one:

Monday:  Pasta and Roast Veg (must not eat too much before Yoga!)

Tuesday: Chicken Shwarma and Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Veggie Spagbol

Thursday: Turkey Burkers & Sweet Potato Fries

Friday: Grandma cooks dinner

What's on your meal plan this week?  Do you like "hanging out" or prefer structured events and invites?

Sunday Thoughts, Plans, & Meal Plans

This was a busy week.  I had two days in London, which was excellent for meeting colleagues and getting to know people better, but was exhausting in its own way.  

Lilah was off nursery all week with Hand Foot and Mouth, a disease I had never heard of in the states but which seems to be the chicken-pox of the UK. Except, unlike chicken pox, there isn't a vaccine I can buy for it.  So she stayed home, spotty and dopey, and we split childcare between Andy, me, and my mom.  Luckily she took 3 hour naps every day which helped for getting work done.

I got back from London at 9pm on Thursday and had arranged a 6:30 am breakfast with a friend on Friday.  This was rather optimistic scheduling on my part.  When I got back home Isaac seemed tired and dopey so both kids and I stayed home, which of course meant all the work trip debrief/unpacking/house sorting was put off until later.

In other optimistic scheduling, we had planned dinner with friends on Friday since we have mom-childcare.  I had offered Friday or Saturday options but our friends picked Friday so off we went.

Quick question, readers... does anyone like doing things on Friday?  Why?  

It was nice to see friends, nice to have dinner, but it did mean we were exhausted on Saturday.  Saturday was a hard day.  I took a nap while Lilah napped.  I complained bitterly about staying up on Friday.  I let time drip through the day and willed it forward to bedtime.

We did get a FLOM in the evening, which was good because next week is another complicated one with Andy away for 2 days, my Uncle visiting from the states, and kids hopefully in nursery but that's always questionable.

I was in bed by 9pm on Saturday and asleep by 9:30, and I already feel soo much better for it.

Maybe I'm just not currently at a place where doing things in the evening is feasible?  Everything just seems so possible with sleep.

Meal Plan next week:

Sunday: Beef Wellington, Potatoes, Broccoli, Carrots

Monday: Ham and Pea soup

Tuesday: Slow cooker pumpkin chili 

Wednesday: Roast veg and haloumi wraps with hummus

Thursday: Vegetarian Curry (ordered)

Tuesday is Pancake Day in the UK!  While the UK has lots of rubbish things like Hand Foot and Mouth, they make up for it with entire days of pancake eating.  Since the kids are off nursery on a Tuesday I think we will do Pancake lunch - British people usually make Crepes but I may do chocolate chip pancakes.  

What is your favourite pancake?  Have you ever hear of Hand Foot and Mouth before?

Sunday Thoughts & Family Photos

I don't know what this is a picture of but I love it.  I know every parent thinks their kid is brilliant but seriously, look at this drawing!  Look at the emotion!

Last night I forgo-ed (forgot? didn't go to?) the pub in favor of an early night in bed and some reading.  I definitely didn't read much in November so it was good to kickstart my December reading.  I also feel much better this morning having gone to bed at 9:30 than staying up until midnight.  

Also, I'm not sure if it's a sign of age, but I just don't sleep well after a pint or two.  And my back hurts and these kids are too noisy.  

It is a sign of age.

Today we are going to a local open air museum to try and get a family photo.  I should have washed my hair, but I guess I can stick with a classic braid.  I used to read the amazing Putting Me Together blog which had great ideas for coordinating, but today my goal is to get something better than this:

If we can't get a good photo today we can just use Isaac's family portrait:

Andy is making a Pie for dinner and then we need to confirm our food plan for the week.  As it stands:

Monday: Roast Veg and Fish Fingers

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: Jacket Potatoes

Thursday:  Spinach Mac & Cheese (because I messed up a spinach at Thanksgiving so I'm going to try and salvage it into Mac & Cheese)

Friday: Fish

Happy Sunday? Have you taken a family photo recently?  What's on your meal plan this week?

Sunday Good Thoughts

1) I went mountain biking this weekend! That was good.

2) We took the kids swimming this morning, which was on my November goals list.  The kids had a great time.

3) Our Play Street event lasted an hour before the torrential rain ended it.  We learned a lot about how to organize it better next time and met some new neighbors.

4) Andy has decided to take on laundry as part of household operations redistribution project.  I am a bit scared for my clothes (I have a system of gentle washes and cold washes and there are certain things which bleed or might bleed) but also if something gets ruined then it will perhaps reinforce that laundry is not actually easy.  Also, I am hoping that after doing laundry in the winter for a few weeks he will decide that we need a tumble drier.  A four person household in a rainy country is not ideal for indoor clothes drying.

5) I got a good nights sleep last night and did not get woken up at all overnight.  It was needed. Now I just need 7 or 8 more.

6) My people are generally healthy.  Possibly not healthy enough for nursery, but not needing any specialist care or anything.  That is very lucky.

7) We did a quick and healthy grocery shop this week and bought all the vegetables for £22.  Since heating/electricity is now £5-£6 a day I am ready to start doing some frugal shopping.  Also, my favorite veg is in season - I love pumpkins and potatoes and cauliflower and parsnips.  I even bought a cabbage because it was £0.45 and why not? Time to make sauerkraut...??

8) I got a free 3 month trial of AppleTV?  The last time I had apple TV was before the littlest was born and we watched Ted Lasso and The Morning Show.  Any recommendations for things to watch in the next 3 months?  Rainy season is TV season...