Seasider in the City…food, drink, toys, laughter & golf!
Reasons to be Cheerful – Week 42 #R2BC
67 months ago
It’s week 42 and you know what is getting closer! The other way that I can tell this is because today I had to de-ice my car, which is very disappointing, even more depressing is that I’ve had to cave in this evening and turn the heating on 
Anyway, onto the good stuff. I have just the one reason this week, but it’s a big fat hairy one – next week I am on holiday!
I’m not going anywhere, and there will be a few mornings when I have a bit of work to do, but I don’t care. I am having a week off worrying about it. I won’t be answering any calls in the bath from people that need help cashing up, or taking any early morning calls from people who have forgotten their passwords, and if the office internet happens to go off again I don’t think I’ll even give it a thought. That is a promise!
J is going to Nanny’s house for the weekend so me and Daddy can go and play some golf together and then we will be spending some time getting our flat ready to rent out again – which will be really frustrating and costly but it needs doing. We will try and get out on a few family outings and may even go swimming too.
I can’t wait!
I’m sure I can think of more but I don’t need to, the thought of this time off has been keeping me going for weeks!
Make sure you check out Mich’s post and then link up – I get a mention, can you guess which is me?
Should children be allowed to use technology?
77 months ago
After the iPad 2 was released, an old argument reared its head – should children be allowed to use technology? We all know that we live in a modern world; we simply cannot survive without technology. But when should we start teaching our children how to use the things that we rely on every day? As a mother the issue is one which I feel is incredibly important and there is no real guidance on this issue. We have all seen articles condemning the use of computers from a young age, but similarly we have also seen the stories which glorify the same products. There are obviously issues which need to be addressed when we allow our children to use our phones or laptops, but if we banned them from these modern day essentials would we be hindering their progression into the 21st century?
As ever with these debates, people feel very strongly about issues which involve children. Like every other mother I have read hundreds of parenting manuals and agonised over issues which affect my child, but this one issue seems to have been left out of the manuals and the decision has been deferred to us as parents.
A recent article from the Telegraph noted that a recent study by Wei Qin Kai Yuan from Xidian University, China, found brain structure abnormalities in adolescents with internet addiction disorder. Although this is just one study, the findings are worrying, especially for the people who are responsible for turning their children into happy adults.
While another article featured on the BBC website included comments from the National Literacy Trust. They believe that Children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills. Other articles along the same vein say that the wealth of knowledge available to children on the internet helps them learn in a productive way.
Whichever camp you are in you will probably acknowledge that as parents we should limit our children’s use of technology. As our parents would say, everything is good as long as it is in moderation.
This post is brought to you by Tesco Direct
A shark named Feargal
17 months ago
in Family
My boy…an advertisers dream.
Ever since J’s first trial morning at school he has been wittering on about Huggle Buddies and how much he needs one. My first reaction? A what? Never heard of them. Clearly I don’t watch enough kids TV as he reeled off how these huggable play friends transform into a super soft pillow! Wow, that is definitely something we need – more stuff to fit in his bed!
I have managed to avoid getting him one for 3 months. That’s 3 months of pestering, badgering and non-stop harping on about the bloody things! This was heightened after we went into Norwich and saw some non-official ones for sale – in particular a dolphin one, which he immediately pounced upon and called a shark.
All this time we have been trying to persuade him to try and ride his bike. We have 2 year old neighbours that are riding really well and he just can’t be bothered to even try, and I find it so infuriating! On one of these occasions I hit upon a plan and resorted to a spot of bribery. If he rode his bike all the way to the park he could have his ‘shark’.
Amazing!
OK so he didn’t quite make it all the way to the park but I think I can almost say he can ride a bike (with stabilisers)
On the way to the golf club, I took him by surprise and stopped off in the city, as soon as he saw the car park he guessed what we were doing and started to get excited. He kept babbling all the way to the shop, when his laughter turned to hysterical sobbing when he saw it was shut. For good. The staff were all inside packing up the boxes, and a girl came out when she saw his face pressed up against the window. She explained they were relocating sometime soon. I explained the only reason we had come in, and pleaded with her to just sell us the shark cushion, please?
No
I promised that when we got home we would see if we could find one on Mummy’s computer and then the postman would bring it. Thank you eBay!
It arrived a few days later, and they have been inseparable. I almost want to let him take it to school and let the teacher deal with it as she was the one that got us into this, I won’t, obviously!
We have tried to reason with him that it’s not a shark – his answer?
It can’t be a whale because it’s not got a hole to squirt out water. It can’t be a dolphin because it hasn’t got a smiley face – see? It’s got a cross face so it must be a shark – and it’s got a fin!
He decides he’s going to call it Sharkey, we suggest Feargal might be a nice name. Feargal Sharkey is reborn, and lives happily ever after in a very crowded bed!
After all, a good shark these days is hard to find!
Halloween Pumpkin & Garlic Soup
27 months ago
in Recipes
I declare it officially Soup Season! From now until about February I will mostly be eating soup for lunch – tinned, in a cup, or from a big batch of homemade. I love it! I have to admit not being the most adventurous – when cooking I stick mostly to butternut squash, vegetable or lettuce (it is nice honest). I’m hoping that as I read many blogs and recipe sites now I will find some new tasty recipes.
Like this one I discovered on The Garlic Farm
If you have read any of my food posts before, you’ll know what a stickler I am for following recipes to the letter! This was no exception. OK I lie, but most of the things I changed in this one were honest mistakes and the soup was lovely so I don’t think they can have mattered too much!
You will need:
Flesh of a medium pumpkin (how do you know what size is medium?) 1 sweet potato – peeled & chopped One large onion, diced (I sliced mine)4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled (I misread and thought it said chopped too)
One small red chilli, finely chopped (I didn’t use this)
Thumb of ginger, grated (I have small thumbs – probably didn’t use enough)
One pint of chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons Creme fraiche
Handful of chopped parsely or sage to serve (dried seemed to work ok)
Olive oil (we only had sunflower)
Salt and pepper
Soften the onion in oil, I chucked the garlic in here too, add the sweet potato and the stock, cook for 10 mins. Add the pumpkin, ginger, chilli (if you remember) and simmer for 20 minutes (lid on). Stir in herbs, blitz with a blender then stir in creme fraiche before serving.
Due to the rather large size of my pumpkin – though I swear it looked medium next to it’s mates – I had to add a bit more stock. It also meant that it serves far more than the 4 people that it should. I will be eating it every day in the office and keeping everyone away with my garlic breath!
Loads more fantastic garlic recipes and more can be found in the Garlic Farm Cookbook, available for £9.95
CLOSED – Giveaway – Mantis Instant Shine Car Cleaner
38I don’t ‘do’ cleaning cars, never have, never will. When JML kindly offered to send me some of their new no water required car cleaning spray I did however accept – SeasiderDad is constantly complaining that he doesn’t get anything to review, this should shut him up!
They sent us a bottle of their Mantis Instant Shine spray and 2 cleaning cloths, one to wipe & one to buff. There is no need for any soap, water or buckets, all you do is spray onto the dirt, leave for a few seconds to allow the special formula to penetrate the grime and then wipe off with the Mantis Applicator Towel. Once the surface has dried you can then use the Mantis Buffing Towel to wipe to a deep shine.
Being as I don’t clean my car, it is pretty dirty, so Daddy & J set to work with the spray. I’m not entirely sure how much Daddy did – I think he used taking photos as an excuse not to get dirty! The results however, were impressive!
JML have offered 2 lucky readers a bottle of spray and a set of cloths each. All you need to do is like the Mantis Facebook page and then leave a comment telling me who you would love to come and clean your car. It can be anyone! I think I’d choose (don’t laugh) Richard Gere when he was in An Officer and a Gentleman. If you’d like an extra entry into the giveaway then click the tweet button in the box below.
If you are not successful you can buy Mantis Instant Shine for £9.99 from JML or Asda.
