Rosecommon Acres

It is with hesitation that I share this blog with you, as at times it feels voyeuristic reading it, but she writes so I read.

I have it delivered to my e-mail inbox and read the posts the moment that they arrive.

I have even tried to respond to some of her posts through the comments box.

I won't disrespect the author by referring to her with cliches, you will know why if you read her blog.

I regard her with awe and read her words with such mixed emotions each time.

This particular post stuck with me and reminded me of a scary experience that I had with Faith. We were on holiday in beautiful Ayreshire in Scotland in a caravan. Faith was five months old. She was sleeping in amid all the noise of a toddler sister roaring around, our dog barking and the clanking of a cooked breakfast on the go. I went o check on her and my heart stopped. She was a yellow waxy colour, unnaturally still and with her head turned to one side, her neck over-relaxed. I snatched her up and burst into racking tears at the same time. She started and began to cry and we cried together. Dewi was really perplexed and didn't know why we were both crying. I couldn't speak, I was so scared, I thought what every mother fears the most, what Dana has to confront every day now. It was OK for us, but it makes me cry just thinking about it. Watching your baby sleep is one of the joys of motherhood - I keep Idris close and watch him every time, and I'm thankful for my blessings.

I have always prayed for others but this is the first time that I prayed with such intensity for someone that I have never known.

Dana you are in my prayers and thoughts, every day.

Changing The Way We 'Do' Food!

I have always shopped weekly with a meal plan sketched out and a shopping list - and I shop on a fairly contained budget and we eat well! Over the years my cooking has changed and improved (I think) from mainly using processed foods when Dewi and I had our first flat, to mainly cooking from scratch now with fresh and healthy ingredients. The exception to this is when I am ill or life goes crazy and then I buy a few processed things like breaded fish, frozen pizza, pre-made fresh pasta bags etc and make use of them until I feel better again!! I have gradually evolved from eating meat every day to eating it about three days out of the week. This has happened as I have discovered delicious meals to make from lentils, beans, rice and my current favourite ingredient...... pearl barley!!

Shopping weekly has become a tiresome chore so I am attempting to change our main shop to monthly and eventually quarterly, with a weekly shop for fresh veg and fruit as well as dairy products. Pictured here is my first such order - this should be three months worth of supplies of this part of my shopping but as this is my first order I'm sure that I will tweak the quantities and types of foods as we go! This was from the company Suma Wholefoods and consisted of rice, beans, lentils, tinned tomatoes, pearl barley, pumpkin seeds, nuts, porridge oats (10kg of!!), brown rice, whole wheat pasta (fusilli, spaghetti, shells and lasagna sheets), apple juice concentrate (for the girls), ginger cordial (for me!), flour, sugar......erm, oh yes, tomato paste! Dewi's face was a picture when it arrived but he will see the sense of it I'm sure!! I also did a months shop of things like cereal, bread, the meat that we will eat, mayonnaise, and some frozen veg. I still have some work to do to find sources for the part-bake rolls that Dewi loves to take to work with him. I think that will have to wait until we can have a chest freezer though as buying in bulk requires serious storage capacity!!

Before I did any of the shopping I wrote a list of a month's meals by day, then it was easy to write a shopping list for the weekly veg and dairy shop. I simply scanned down the list and jotted the ingredients for that week or ten days. I mainly planned main meals but also thought about what yummy hearty soups I would make for lunch, and what baking we might do for snacks. I dabbled with the idea of making each night of the week a certain 'food' night such as Monday - pasta, Tuesday - sausage, Wednesday - beans etc. It helped me focus and get meals down as there were so many recipes in my head (I surprised myself with how many I knew actually - way too many for a month!!). I think that this will change over time as well as we find out what we like to eat when and what I have time to cook on which day!

Now, this is a work in progress as I have strayed from the list already - chips for tea tonight anyone??!! But I am pleased that I have just jumped in because in the past I have had a tendency to over think and over plan and then never actually get anything done! It was hard to fit in the time to plan and order and organise this but I am convinced that it will be good for us (and me as main chef and shopper!!). I am keeping receipts and lists, and keeping notes on what is working and what isn't - I will update some time with how it's going and any yummy recipes I find!



Bonfire Night Fun!

Dewi dug a fire pit in the veg patch to create a contained fire for us to enjoy - we had such a lovely time sitting around the flames chatting. I taught the girls some campfire songs from my Guiding days and we let rip with a competitive 'jelly on the plate' match! Only once a year will I allow my children to yell at the top of their lungs at 7pm at night...... that's what made it so fun!!

Sparklers....



Ooohs and Aaaahs over fireworks.....

Eve made paper fireworks and put sweets in for everyone - she's so creative and generous!

Idris wrapped up to enjoy the fun..... my friend Harriet is holding him!

Idris was underwhelmed by the whole experience - he slept through the fireworks but was mesmerised by the fire afterwards!

 We toasted marshmallows and made smores with them!

Smores by firelight!



Am I Making Myself Too Busy?

I am writing this with one hand, Idris is feeding and I have a porridge spoon in the other hand....... erm, yes, quite probably I am 'doing too much'. Or more accurately I am trying to, and failing, then feeling bad for not doing those things!!

Two friends, and my husband have suggested that I might be trying to do this in the last week, and I think my mum permanently thinks that I try to take too much on!!

The thing is, that I have so many great ideas..... life just gets in the way of doing them all! So some I am pushing on with, regardless, and some I am shelving!

I have another sore throat and Idris is snuffly and has gone back to feeding very regularly in the night, so I have less sleep which I find hard! He also has thrush (again) which I haven't managed to clear up since I had to have strong antibiotics for a breast abscess when he was 2 weeks old. It is really frustrating me and must be horrible for my sweet boy. I am back to the doctors this afternoon with a stroppy attitude and a leaflet from the BFN which will hopefully get me listened to this time and get it treated effectively!!

We are also in the midst of our 'seasonal shift' which for us, means that the girls shift to spending less time in the garden playing, and more time indoors. It takes them time to adjust and we have bickering and grumps whilst it happens. It is loud and wearing and whilst I know I need to be more pro-active in getting them outdoors and busy, I don't have the energy....... energy which is sapped even more by the very loud and grumpy behaviours..... hmmmmm...... spot the vicious cycle anyone??!! I know it will all pass but I'm not enjoying it!!

I am only writing this because Dewi has taken the girls out for breakfast and peace reigns supreme! Time to sign off and go prioritise my to-do list now!

By Pumpkin Light!

We had great fun going along to our local National Trust property for a pumpkin carving event. We got to choose our pumpkins, then scoop the flesh out before carrying them to the barn to carve! The one above is Eve's face - she wasn't too keen on carving as she had one eye on the craft table next to us with coloured pumpkin seeds to make pictures with and soon disappeared to make some!

Faith LOVED carving her pumpkin - so much so that she carved four faces on hers. I was slightly concerned about letting her loose with the little knife they provided, but she handled it really well and really enjoyed herself!

I couldn't resist having a go and made this little cat on the back of Eve's pumpkin! I was surprised by how easy they were to carve as last year Dewi really struggled to carve our pumpkin, but these were really thin-skinned so much easier!





 Here is Faith scooping out her pumpkin seeds!

Here Eve is checking the fit of her pumpkin lid - the man helping cut a wedge out of the lid to act as a chimney and stop the lid from shrinking too quickly once the candle was lit -  a great tip we didn't know about and had problems with last year!!

Here is my four year old wielding that pumpkin knife! She was very skilled with it!

We ate homemade wholewheat pizza's by pumpkin light that evening - it was such fun and of course we've lit them every evening since!





Paper Mache Was So Not Part of my Game Plan for Today!



And it went a little like this:

Daddy: "Girls, shall we make that castle we planned?"
Girls: "Yeah"
Me (thinks): 'Great - some peace for me to strike a couple of things of my to-do list'

It started so well......... THEN I heard:

Daddy: "Right then so now you need to cover it in paper mache"
Daddy: "Honey, you'll watch the kids won't you? I'm going to finish up in the garage"
Me: "No.....no...... really..... PLEASE don't leave me with paper mache, three children and the dog...... I mean it..... no...... honey?"



Well he left and it was a whole lot less painful than last time we attempted it! Faith could do it independently this time and she stuck at it for the whole time. Of course I got stuck in as you do! And it was a lot of fun and then Daddy came back and got stuck in too..... and then we ran a huge bowl of hot soapy water and strip washed the children and scrubbed the floor and spot cleaned the dog!



THEN I sat down for a well-earned hot cuppa........

Then Idris decided that was the perfect time for a mega nappy episode...... sigh!

Letter Writing

This is my latest ruse in motivating my reluctant writer to write! She has long coveted my note cards and I'm not sure why I didn't think about it before to be honest! Anyhow she thought that going to town to choose note cards and envelopes was lots of fun - writing in them? Not so fun!!!! We battled over it and I kept my patience and refused to let her give up and she wrote a letter. It was messy, begrudgingly written but it was a start and it showed her that she COULD do it!

Meanwhile on the other side of the table, her younger sister who loves to write annoyingly penned a card without one huff or puff and rather nice handwriting for a very little girl! I switch between telling correct spellings of words and saying 'yes that's it' when they spell words for themselves. If they have no idea how to start it and we work it out together then I go for the correct spelling. If they say 'how do you spell house mummy? h - a - s ?' then I smile and say 'yes, well done, go for it'. Spelling can wait, for now I am interested in them building up the confidence to write by themselves and tackle words they don't know. I think that there can be nothing so disheartening as someone constantly saying 'no - that's wrong' or 'not like that, like this'.

In the spirit of not nagging about every little detail I have let go my foible about how Eve holds her pencil. It drives me crackers but beyond the odd gentle reminder about turning her paper to make it easier to write on, I think she has to find her own way with it now. I have decided to let it go because she is so reluctant to write anything I really want to make it as positive and relaxed as possible when she is writing! I made her a prompt sheet that you can see her referring to above to remind her of a few bits of 'letter etiquette' to get her started and a visual reminder of capital letters, gaps between words and punctuation marks!

We spent the following week away in Wales at Dewi's parent's house and there we wrote postcards to family and friends instead. By midweek Eve was much more relaxed and confident about the process with not a huff or a puff in sight! She really creates beautiful expressive sentences and chooses lovely exciting words. Next steps? Continuing to build her confidence and stamina in writing before introducing some other aspects of writing such as a wider breadth of descriptive words.