Living off the Grid

How many times have you looked around your house and looked at all of the electrical items that we constantly use? Not many times I bet, I know that we don’t. So when Flogas asked me what I would miss if I was to live off the grid it really did get me thinking about the things that we all take for granted. We all automatically turn on the hot taps and expect hot water, we all flick a switch for light and always go to the fridge for cold milk.

Courtesy of Pixabay

The foodie that I am, I would definitely miss my kitchen amenities. I would miss being able to go in the kitchen and put the kettle on for a drink or putting the oven on to bake and cook our meals. Having the electricity to keep food in the fridge and being able to freeze food to keep for longer. When you take a moment to think about how much we rely on having these creature comforts you realise how they are taken for granted.

Red Cabbage and Radish Slaw

Summer time barbecue and a good coleslaw go hand in hand. Homemade coleslaw is so quick and easy to make and can be made according to taste.

When I make a coleslaw I try to add some extra vegetables to the mix. This not only makes the slaw even better for you but adds so much more flavour.

Today's recipe is for a favourite combination of mine and has a fantastic colour too! This dish is perfect for a summers meal al fresco.

This is what I did...

Celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday with Aldi

This weekend people all over the country will be celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday. What better way to celebrate than with a traditional street party! But this year why not make the street party even more exciting by having a barbecue street party!

Aldi have so many products that are ideal for a celebration that would be fit for her Majesty!

Today I am going to showcase my favourite products that I have found in Aldi which all have a true street party feel to them.

These Heartsease Farm drinks are deliciously sweet drinks made with spring water. They are perfect for children, as a refreshing drink or to use as a mixer with spirits. In other shops these drinks are priced at £2.29 so when I saw them in Aldi for just £1.59 I could not resist! They come in three truly British flavours, Raspberry Lemonade, Elderflower Presse and Traditional Lemonade.

Grove Manor British rose wine was a true bargain at just £2.59. This is a slightly sparkling fruity wine which has a sweetness from strawberries and cherries. Served chilled it is perfect as a summer wine.

Fun in the Garden - Blogger Competition!

For us, as a family, garden time is important. The garden is a huge focal point of our lives. When we were looking at buying our house a garden was high up on our must have list. The garden was what sold this house to us. As soon as we saw the garden we knew that it was ideal for us.

When the hubby and I were growing up we both had fond memories of fun play time in the garden and we always knew that we wanted our children to create the same happy memories. As the children have grown, over the years we have so many pictures of happy times and memories of them in the garden.

In the day and age of technology that we live in it is even more vital that we get our children away from the screens and out into the fresh air and enjoying outdoor play.

Our dream has always been to create a garden that the whole family can enjoy. We have a veggie patch where we grow our own fruit and vegetables as well as having chickens for eggs. We believe that the children have gained a better understanding to where vegetables come from. They watch as the seeds germinate, to being planted outside, to seeing the produce grow to helping to harvest. Then of course the fun part, eating what they have seen grow. We love getting the children as involved as possible.

My top tips for getting children into gardening are:

• Get them their own seeds to plant and care for
• Have sunflower growing competitions
• Give the older children their own area of responsibility in the garden or a set job like watering the greenhouse
• Take the children shopping and let the see the plants and allow them to select what to grow
• Let them get their hands in and muddy, kids love getting their hands in the mud!
• Get the children to paint and decorate their plant pots
• Hunt for garden mini beasts

Helping in the garden is not only great family bonding time but it also has great developmental advantages. It assists with physical development and their understanding of the world around them including life cycles and where their food comes from!

 

Growing fruit and vegetables is fun but all children dream of having their own play area.

In our family play area of the garden we have a trampoline, swings, balls, sit on cars and rocking horses. This year we have made a new addition to their play area. We have added a playhouse for the twins. This has become a favourite area of play and an amazing piece of play equipment. To personalise the house for the twins we have painted the house in fun, bright colours. We are still yet to paint inside the house, that is next on our to do list. The hubby has done an amazing job at creating the area for the twins. He cleverly reused some old pallets to become the base for the house. Then by adding some extra planks of wood he has made an adjoining decking area for them to relax on. When we moved some old edging we realised that it would go around the sides of the decking perfectly to create a mini fence around. As you can see with their own little path leading to their house they have the perfect play area that they can call their own.

If you are thinking of adding any piece of play equipment this year to your garden to keep the children occupied during the summer and school holidays we would thoroughly recommend investing in a playhouse. This has been one of the best toy buys that we have made!

If you are a blogger Waltons are giving you the chance to win your very own playhouse, like the one pictured below! Waltons provide high quality playhouses, climbing frames, sheds, log cabins, green houses, summer houses and more. To be in with the chance of winning one of these fantastic playhouses all you have to do is write a blog post similar to what I have written telling Walton about how you like to keep your children entertained in the garden during the summer months. The best post, judged by Waltons, will win their very own playhouse! There will also be a runner up who will win a £50 voucher to spend at Waltons. Check out the Waltons blog for further information.

Photograph courtesy of  Waltons

Disclosure: This post is in collaboration with Waltons. All views and opinions are my own and 100% honest. I am in no way involved with the running or judging of the competition.

Busy Day, Bad Night

As predicted, yesterday was such a busy day.
Despite all the rushing around it was a great day!
After swimming, I took charge of the twins so that hubby could watch the football match that he had been wanting to watch for weeks. After lunch I made some more of my lemon and courgette cupcakes which have become quite a favourite. Especially with Isabella. She can say cake! Whenever she knows there is a cake around all you can hear from her is
"cake, cake!"
Whilst I was in the kitchen the match finished a draw and we were ready to head over to the field day. As I started to walk round with Joseph the heavens opened. So we had to make a quick dash home. This was not a good start to our outdoor plans! Joseph was so disappointed. We decided that we would still go to the BBQ that was planned as there would be some undercover area to shelter from the rain if need be.
On our way there the sun started to shine and the rain appeared to be going away.
It had been a long time since I had seen my old work colleagues. When I say a long time, it is probably only a few months, but it felt like a long time. As we got closer I got more and more nervous. I know that this is ridiculous, these are some of my closest friends, in fact they are my closest friends! When I was at work we all got on really well and when I was working full time, I spent the majority of my time with these people. I was nervous that I had changed too much, or that I would not know what to talk about. Come on, I'm a stay at home mum, when people ask me what I've been doing it is all children and home related. But as soon as I saw them all my worries vanished. It was as if I'd seen them last week. Of course I could still talk, the children had not taken over my brain completely! It was lovely to see everybody and I sincerely hope that we all get together again soon.
What also added to my worry was how the twins would react to new people. I really should not have worried about that either. Taylor was straight off to grab a ball to play with. Isabella was a little bit more reserved. For maybe 5 minutes she stood with me holding my hand. But then she too was off to play ball with Taylor. There was not one tear! I was so proud of all three of them. Joseph went straight off to play football and the twins relished the freedom. They loved being outdoors and being able to run around and have mummy and daddy chasing them left, right and centre! We must have looked quite comical. I'd start a conversation, then mid chat I'd dash one way to get one twins and hubby would dash in the other direction for the other. It was fun. I feel so blessed with our children. However it was nearing the twins tea time so we needed to be off. As I was saying my goodbyes I was hoping that it would not be the last time that everybody gets together as I had thought it would be. I guess it won't be if we all make an effort every now and then, and I hope that we all do.
We managed to get the twins home without falling asleep, which was a major concern for us. If they fall asleep at that time of the day you can guarantee that we will have a bad night. I sat in the back with them and had a fruit pouch on hand to give them to keep them going. Hubby decided to go home via the most bumpiest, uneven road there is. So you can imagine how hard it was it squeeze some fruit onto a spoon and feed the twins whilst trying to keep steady and stop bouncing around! We all giggled on the ride home, which also helped to keep them awake.
We were even home before the end of the field day and managed to call in for the last half an hour. Everything that we had planned may not have occurred in the original order thanks to the rain, but we did them. The rain did not beat us!
After the twins were in bed Joseph went out for a birthday tea party, my mum and dad arrived with an Indian take away. So we settled in with some great food, a drink, a movie and brilliant company for the evening.
After such a busy day I was looking forward to sleep. However our little angels had other ideas. Every time I started to fall asleep one of the twins would stir, cry out or loose their dummy. I was up and down until gone 1am. Then Taylor was in bed with us from about 4am, I think! Therefore I did not get the sleep that was needed last night. But I did not get up with Taylor until nearly 7am which is a lie in.
So here I am on a sunny Sunday morning writing whilst Taylor has his milk and watches Mickey Mouse, its a good start to the day.
I may not have my career as I did have but I couldn't be happier with my new career as mummy and housewife.