Monday Menu 14 June

Another week of recipes.  Of course I link my Mondays Menu up to I'm an Organising Junkie.  Go and take a peek at others menus.

Monday  Chicken and Vegetable Noodle Soup

Tuesday  Spaghetti and Meatballs.  scroll down a little for a look

Wednesday Chicken  Fajitas   a new recipe for me

Thursday  Crockpot meal.  Steak n Kidney again as I have lots in the freezer. 

Fridays  Hamburgers  - chickpea and brown rice

Saturday  Pumpkin spinach and feta pies with salad.  They can be cooked on the barbeque

101 Entertainment Ideas for Children in Hospital

I have been encouraged by friends to keep track of my ideas for entertaining my child, Hayden, when in he is in hospital for his prolonged stays.  So finally I have taken the plunge and thought that I would post a little introduction to it all here.

I know that Hayden is a little unique in comparison to the rest of the world.  Well more unique than most that is.  He is 7 years old, congnatively a 2 well maybe a 3 year old, and more physically able than Neurologists originally predicted after his signifant medical event in 2006.  In fact he is as strong as any 7 year old.  Along with the many medical things going on in his life he has acquired ADHD at the extreme end and uses medication to manage this and save our sanity. 

Behaviourly this is where life gets tricky.  When Hayden is hospitalised it is usually because has a gastro bug or a serve cold with both causing vomiting.  The behaviour drug adds nausia and that means when in hospital no behaviour drugs.  It is terrible.  Nothing worse than a hyperactive ADHD child who is feeling grumpy, hooked up to IV machine for more than 24 hours.  Then to make it worse the Doctors dont like to keep him hospital too long in case he catches something more to prolong his stay.  Often he is kept in to ensure that his electrolyte levels are normal then he is sure bouncing seeing like there is nothing wrong.

So if this sound like something that could be useful to you, you might want to drop back and see what it is that I have found works for me.  I have had years of practise to refine my ideas and would love to add to my ideas too.

Image of Starhip Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.

This image is courtesy of wikimedia here are the credits.

Wordless Wednesday 9 June

Wordless Wednesday with McKenzie taking another moment for herself.  The best thing we ever purchased.  A beanbag.

I am back in the groove

I have been busy making excuses about not exercising.  The best, and real, one is that I need to push Hayden in the Buggy (when DH is away for work) and he is getting too heavy for me.  Each time I went out I would end up with a sore lower back and that was that for the next three weeks til I tried again.  Of course there are all the others.....DH is away and I am too tired, there is not enough time to fit it in, I dont want to go etc etc.

Anyway according to my goals for this year that I wrote about in this post i thought that today would be the day to get back into action.  I am now suffering for my efforts and that is not because I had to push the buggy but because my body is complaining of shock.  Yup....I am stiff.

Hopefully I have recovered enough for my next pilates, tomorrow and walk/ run on Saturday.

I will stay on top this time....yeah I know it is winter here and it will be a challenge but I am taking control of things.  I am aiming to complete a 10km walk  or maybe a 5km run.  I will see how I go.

This is the internal battle the exercising is part of. 

The credits for this page can be found here at The Digi Chic

Monday Menu 7 June

Here is my menu for the week. Not sure how much I can like as these all come from my books.

Monday  meatloaf, backed potato and salad

Tuesday  Curried lentil and pumpkin soup

Wednesday Ham cheese and corn pasta pie with salad

Thursday  steak and kidney stew (my version)

Friday  Takeaways for brithday celebration

Saturday  pumpkin, spinach and feta pies with salad

Sunday  curried chickpea and potato patties with salad.

Sorry abou the lack of links.  I f you want to know more let me know and I will tell you the source of the recipes.

What is it about little girls and their need for space?  In fact that question could be asked of older girls too.  This was McKenzies solution to needing a little time for herself on a fine winters weekend.  I hope it is always like this.

The credits can be found here.

Wordless Wednesday 2 June

Wordless Wednesday is here again.

This time it is a very fun and candid shot.

No words required.

Homework

Homework is an inevitable part of a child's school life.  Whether it is listening to the readers that are sent home, supporting the learning of spelling and basic facts...and all  the rest.   It is all there waiting to be done.  Lets not forget the extra curricular activities that require a little practice too.

So it is lucky that children are flexible because today DS2 has to do his violin practice in the car and on the footpath while we waited for DD Speech and Drama to finish.

You just have to love how much you can do in the car and then .....well you can see it still can be fun.

DS2 kept looking down the street to check if anyone was coming.  Maybe this was because it is after a couple of months of learning, he has finally how to bow on the violin....the 'e' string.  Yes he can make one note.  He is not allowed to let the bow touch any other string.  Now it is a pity that he played with the tuning knobs as the 'e' sting is out of tune and his bowing is in need of some practice.  I think that some ear plugs are needed in my house now.

Monday Menu 31 May

I am getting tired and my menus are holding my sanity in place.  Fingers crossed that this weeks does the same.

Monday  Steak, potatos and vege

Tuesday  Chicken wraps (my version)

Wednesday  Salmon patties with salad rice.

Thursday  Crockpot pot roast.

Friday  Frozen meal (last weeks crock pot)

Saturday  curried lentil and pumpkin soup with homemade bread.

Sunday  Leftovers

Open Home

I have been trying to see our house privately for a little while now.  It is somewhat of a burden because the house needs to be as spotless as I can make it each weekend.  That is cleaner than I might have done had it not been an open home.  It takes heaps of effort now that winter is nearly here.  The leaves and things come inside on feet and with the wind when the door opens.  The lawns now need mowing weekly and the leaf blower needs to be used weekly too.  Of course now we have the fire on the dusting is more intense and the vacuum cleaning is needing attention daily (well it needed that anyway but did not always get it).

I am still cooking outside althought in the dark it is getting quite hard.  I might just have to take up this challenge and use my crockpot everyday. 

The only part of the house that needs more attention than the rest is my computer space.  My gosh it gets out of control so easily and I have trouble prioritising it to remain contained as an organised space.

As for help.  Usually DH is away when the weekends are around.  So I have had time to train my little helpers.  They don't do too bad a job either.  I can say their bedrooms definitely look much tidier in general and they the under beds are looking much improved too.  Oh how I wish my lovely amah, Rose, (from Brunei) was here to help me.

Any way back to the mess.  It is all filing stuff.  You know, the mail that somes in, the acounts that need paying, childrens newsletters etc etc.

Here it is

The credits for this page can be found here at Nuts4Digi

Notice the alarm clock on the corner of the table.  This is because this space is a nook in the master bedroom.  I need this alarm to get up at 0130hrs each night.  It has to be placed far away from my bed so I have to get up to turn it off.  8 meters to be exact.