TheBoyAndMe | TheBoyandMe

365 #07

February 15, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 5 Comments

Welcome to 365 Photo A Day Project linky. This linky covers round-up posts for the week or one of your favourite photos of the week. I've written a post providing tips for completing the project, always ask one of the regulars for help if you're stuck.

Half a term in to 2014 and we're heading towards Easter. Better light, better weather, better opportunities for photographs. Personally my photographs this week are mostly pants and very boring; it is so hard to stay motivated!

The 365 linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts via comments. I can't emphasise this enough, it's the whole point of the linky!

Join in by entering the URL of your favourite photograph of the week (either a 52 or a 365 photo) and show some comment love to everyone else in the community. We've got a Facebook group, and now I've created a collaborative Pinterest board (if you'd like to collaborate, let me know and I'll add you).

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

Days 40 – 46 of Project 365

February 15, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 50 Comments

Days 40-46 of Project 365

40. The Boy (Playing on the beach at sunset, plopping pebbles and making sand angels. I love my son.)

41. New Glasses? (The Boy's teacher had expressed concerns about his eyesight so he had drops in to dilate his pupils for an in-depth test. Nothing the matter with them, thank goodness, which is lucky considering how dreadful his paternal family's eyesight is.)

42. Scoot (A scoot along the promenade at dusk to make sure we just managed a small amount of fresh air! We're so fed up of this rain!)

43. Two-can (We've received a Toucanbox to review – good to see how they've progressed since we first reviewed them – and The Boy was getting to grips with all the activities and where to start! It's a great after-school play activity for us.)

44. Cheese (Thought it was a bit different from the standard sleeping Boy shot!)

45. Jump (There are oodles of puddles on the pavement outside of school, it comes from the council being so God-damned awful at repairing the highways and walkways. It does make for fun and games on the way home though!)

46. Destined Besties? (These two here. Born 11 hours and 55 minutes apart. In the same hospital. One room apart. Shared a pre-delivery room. Shared a post-delivery ward. Live one street away. Best friends in school. The absolute best friends. And his mum and I only discovered their connection a month ago.)

—

When Only The Beach Will Do

February 14, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 15 Comments

Crashing waves.

Frothing, foamy, Neptune's white horses.

Gusting winds.

Sand blowing diagonally through the air.

Squeals of laughter from a gleeful and playful family enjoying the abandoned swathes of golden sands.

When Only The Beach Will Do

All that squelchy sand is a blank canvas for running, jumping and falling over in.

When Only The Beach Will Do

And do you know where he went after he's verified how saturated and sand encrusted his gloves were?

Yep, right to 'give mummy a cuddle'.

—

Linking up to Country Kids, Outdoor Play Party and Flashback Friday

Get Fit With Netflix

February 14, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 2 Comments

Mr. TBaM and I like going to the cinema but it seems to happen less and less these days. Time was that we'd go a few times a month, but not we seem to manage around three times a year. It's a great shame as we love watching films, but since having The Boy, there's a greater need to budget and we have to plan babysitting around my mum's availability. About six months ago we took out Sky Movies, but have been seriously unimpressed with the range and quality of the films included.

We've recently been invited to become members of the Netflix Stream Team, and can't believe that we hadn't subscribed before! I've seen people discussing about Netflix on social media for a year or two but had never realised completely what was involved; in my head it was like the old LoveFilm service which required physical DVDs to be sent out and returned. I knew that I'd never return them on time or end up losing them!

However Netflix is a subscription service which allows users to stream films (and t.v. serials) directly onto an Internet accesible device, like an iPad, mobile phone, or a gaming console like a Wii.

And it only costs £5.99 a month!

We've been subscribed for a month now and can't remember the last time we watched 'live' television. Admittedly there's a whole load of programmes that we still Sky+ and watch later, but more and more we're finding that we're browsing Netflix and discovering comedies, dramas and action films which we missed in the cinema. The other aspect of Netflix that we love is the range of television serials available; I am personally over the moon to have discovered Gossip Girl (to sate my embarrassing Chuck Bass crush), and we're working our way through all of the David Tennant Dr. Who episodes.

Obviously it would be incredibly easy to lounge on the sofa and not actually move all evening, but that's hardly productive to a healthy lifestyle. However with 2014 well under way I've discovered that my non-New Year resolution to shape up and dust off the work-out kit has not really kicked off. Well Netflix has come up with the perfect solution.

They've teamed up with fitness expert Niki Wibrow to help busy Brits find a way to work in some work outs during their daily routine, and what better way to do this than to burn the calories while you are watching a show on Netflix.

Niki has put together three exercises for each area that you can do at home, on the go, at the gym or at anytime to help keep trim throughout the year. The exercises can be combined in any order, at different levels of intensity or to fit a short workout during an episode of Weeds or a full 55 minute episode of Orange is the New Black (which I've heard is amazing and I need to try!).

Personally the programme that I think would be perfect to get up and moving to is one that I've mourned the loss of since it finished in 2003!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer!

I'm sure I'm not the only woman of a certain age that was positive that they could kick the derriere of many a vampire? (Please tell me I'm not?!) What better easy-watching programme to become motivated to exercise to than one featuring serious physical prowess?

Niki Wibrow has developed three bespoke exercises concentrating on five different areas. Each can be performed in different combinations, at different speeds and at different numbers of repetitions to suit your fitness plan

For someone who absolutely detests the gym, this is a perfect solution!

—

I have received a year's subscription of Netflix and an iPad in order to review the service, my thoughts and opinions are honest and unbiased.

Pit & Peak Of The Week #1

February 13, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 5 Comments

When I was browsing through links in a Facebook group last week I came across a post by a blogger called Lets Talk Mommy, who identified one high and low of her previous week. This idea really appealed to me as it is so easy to let the week go by without acknowledging one really good thing that happened, no matter how small. Likewise, it's also important to identify a little struggle or moment which could have gone better. As Meera Syal said, "Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee!"

Pit:

Without a shadow of a doubt, the pit this week has got to be the news about my teeth I received on Monday. I've got dreadful teeth; anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. I suffer from panic and anxiety attacks from it and have no confidence in my regular dentist. 16 months ago I had a broken, upper molar removed. The extraction took 90 minutes of pulling to complete, and it transpired she left a root in. It took a year to have an appointment back in the hospital to discuss the corrective extraction, and I had to wait two months for the appointment to have that done. At the same time as we discussed how it would be corrected, I was referred to a different department for corrective root canal surgery on another tooth.

I went for the appointment on Monday, thinking it would be done then but it turned out to be another consultation where they basically presented me with the revelation that there is virtually no point in having the corrective surgery as there is no opposing tooth (it was the one extracted), the tooth itself is too fragile to be successful, and that having had root canal surgery fail twice this probably wouldn't work. Plus it would probably be six months until I'm seen for the appointment, then two-three months of treatments to do it, and then a crown later on.

So I basically need to have this one out as well. On top of the wisdom tooth I'm having out in April.

I feel horrendous about it. I feel like a pikey who hasn't cared for their teeth. I'm devastated that I need to lose yet another tooth, but I cannot bear another nine months of this constant discomfort in my mouth, let alone the abscess which is damaging my jaw bone.

Definitely a big pit this week.

Peak:

With the weather as it is in Great Britain this week, it's incredibly difficult to identify a peak when the whole family are stuck indoors looking longingly outside. On the weekend I could stand it no more and in a break in the rain we togged up and went to Barry Island.

The wind was insane, but not quite gail force so we proceeded with caution. The tide was incredibly low, and the beach has a wide expanse of sand with no-one else on it, to run around madly on.

Which is precisely what we did.

For twenty minutes we ran around playing tag, chasing each other, making sand angels and then walking backwards (to avoid the hail which descended quickly) along the beach to the slope leading back up to the promenade. Definitely the best moment of the week!

Barry Island

Pit & Peak Of The Week

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

February 11, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 15 Comments

I tasted a delicious pudding on the weekend which I was desperate to recreate. However this is a slight cheat as it's not really a cheesecake in the traditional sense.

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

Makes: 8 inch cake serving 8-10 (depends how big a slice you want!)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: caramel – 2o minutes
Setting time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

For the biscuit base:
- 300g bourbon biscuits
- 70g butter
For the caramel:
- 200g condensed milk
- 100g light brown sugar
- 100g butter
For the filling:
- vanilla instant-whip dessert (i.e. Angel Delight)
- chocolate instant-whip dessert (i.e. Angel Delight)
- 2 tablespoons of cream cheese
- 4-5 Oreo cookies

Break up the bourbon biscuits into fine crumbs (I blitzed them in a food processor).
Melt the 70g butter in a saucepan and add the bourbon crumbs.
Transfer mixture into a 8inch flan tin (for ease I used one with a removable base and inserted a cake liner too) and press down firmly all over to compress the mixture.
Place in the fridge to cool and set for twenty minutes.
Melt 100g butter in a pan and add 100g light brown sugar to dissolve. Pour in the condensed milk and raise the temperature very gently until it starts to simmer. Keep the temperature low and stir continuously for around twenty minutes until brown.
Once thickened, pour over the set base and transfer to the fridge to set for twenty minutes.
Mix the two packets of instant-whip desserts separately, use two-thirds of the milk that it suggests on the packet (this will help with the firmness of the filling). Add one tablespoon of cream cheese to each mixture.
Spoon the two different mixtures over the base alternating into a pattern, then stir them through loosely to create a marbled effect. Place in the fridge to set for twenty minutes.
Sprinkle the crushed Oreo cookies over the top of the dessert and serve immediately.

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

—

Linking to Recipe Of The Week, Share Your Stuff Tuesdays and Tasty Tuesdays

Making Life Easier (Sponsored Post)

February 10, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 2 Comments

Tomorrow morning is going to be chaotic. I just know it already.

Let me explain our weekday mornings in detail so you fully understand the problem.

We have two, possibly three, type of weekday mornings. We have Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings which consist of my lovely husband doing the waking shift with The Boy; getting him up and giving him his cereal. Then at 7.30 they come and wake me up (thanks for the lie-in by the way) and I take over organising The Boy while Mr. TBaM showers and gets dressed for work. Then I shower and get dressed. Mr. TBaM leaves for work at 8.30 a.m. and I get The Boy dressed and take him to school. Luckily we only live two minutes walk from school so I can leave the house at 8.50 a.m.

That seems fairly straightforward, although it can be complicated by me having to wash my hair (every other day).

However, on Wednesday and Thursday morning life becomes that little bit more stressful! These are workdays for me and Wednesday is even worse because I have to leave the house by 8.10 a.m. Luckily my mum comes over and sorts The Boy out from 8.15 a.m. so we just have to concentrate on ourselves.

We're not good in the mornings.

At all.

What we could do with is some form of device to to help us:

an automatic 'me-waker-upper' to keep prodding me every three minutes over the course of fifteen minutes to wake me up, because otherwise I'll just fall asleep again;
an automatic 'packed-lunch-maker', so I don't have to deal with making meat sandwiches);
a 'mother-pleaser', so I don't have to feel riddled with guilt about something I might or might not be doing wrong.

Maybe a clone of me would be more helpful? Someone to do the menial tasks while I can do the more important bits? All of these things could be programmed, timed and controlled through an app on my mobile phone (which is never far from me). One swipe of the screen and his lunch is made, complete with jigsaw sandwiches and fruit kebabs. A press of my thumb and my hair is washed, dried and my make-up is applied.

Life would be so much simpler if there really was an app to make school mornings easier!

There seems to be an app for everything else!

Did you know that there is now an app which connects to your heating remotely? Like controlling the heating in the house while I'm still at school, so that when The Boy comes home from school the living room is toasty warm for him to snuggle up on the sofa and watch CBeebies. It would be so convenient on the weekend when we're out to be able to tell the heating to turn on an hour before we were due to arrive home.

As busy as a bee and operating at the centre of the home, the Hive system works to make life easier in today's busy world controlled by technology and the constraints of the working parent. Through a wireless thermostat, receiver and hub the heating and hot water in your home can be easily programmed using an app on smartphones.

What would you invent an app for to help daily life?

This is a sponsored post.

365 #06

February 8, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 4 Comments

I know.

The weather's horrible.

It's February.

And you're bored.

Bored of taking the same old photos inside the house or struggling to get outside in the few minutes each day when the rain takes a breather.

But keep going, because in about a month or so, when the weather starts to improve then you'll see real rewards in this project. Remember it's about capturing the little moments which are otherwise forgotten.

The 365 linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts via comments. I can't emphasise this enough, it's the whole point of the linky!

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

Days 33 – 39 of Project 365

February 8, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 47 Comments

Days 33-39 of Project 365

33. Timing (You'd think I've called this photo 'Timing' because of the good capture? Nope, it's ironic. I was aiming to get both of them splashing at the same time, but do you know how hard it is to get two children to play ball with a muddy puddle?)

34. Sprinkles (I had a go at making marshmallow from scratch last weekend, and set it up to photograph on Monday. Easy, yes? Not when I'd used pectin instead of gelatin so it was vegetarian but it's not such a good setting agent. When I was trying to coat it in the mixture it started glooping, acting quickly I put it in the fridge, went and set up the shoot and rushed the marshmallow through. Then I had to invoke the emergency spoons to contain it!)

35. Baby-face (A tired Boy after school today, he reminded me just how little he still is.)

36. Quiet Moment (The Boy absolutely loves his Tidy Books book box – competition live over here – and it was so lovely to see him sit down next to the box of his own accord, pick up a book and start to explore it himself. I've looked forward to this moment since having a child. That's after he'd built a tree up the wall out of train track. As you do.)

37. Focus (Bath time is becoming a real battle with The Boy. Not just bath time, but bedtime in general. We've moved getting ready for bed forward by 15 minutes from 7pm as there was just too much stroppiness. He looks really calm here, but dear God when he has to get out? Hell on Earth! He holds on to the bath taps, won't let go and you wouldn't believe how strong he is! Mr. TBaM has to call me to help him, otherwise The Boy is going to hurt himself.)

38. Ahoy there Cap'n (My obsession with ride-ons continues!)

39. Fresh (Today has not been a good day generally. It started well but then I became all depressed and could have locked myself away forever never to be found by anyone. Eventually I 'faked it until I could make it' and we managed to get to Barry Island for a huge blow through. I felt so much better afterwards, which just goes to prove the findings of the UNICEF survey which highlighted children in the UK as the most depressed in the western world in conjunction with the fact that we're the third worst in the world at getting children out doors. We all felt a damn sight better for the 'fresh air' i.e. 50mph+ gales.)

—

Clothes In The Wash, Me In The Bath!

February 8, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 20 Comments

This has always been our motto with The Boy.

From a young age we've encouraged him to explore the natural world and allowed him to get as mucky as he wants to outside. Clothes after all are to keep us warm and protect our bodies, if they get dirty then they go in the washing machine. If The Boy gets dirty then he goes in the bath.

As far as I am concerned, there really is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. And there really is no excuse for preventing children to have fun in the natural environment. Least of all getting clothes dirty.

Which is why when the sun broke through the clouds last Sunday we met up with my brother and his family at the local nature reserve. Apart from a three minute downpour when we were feeding the swans, the sunlight was revitalising and much needed.

Especially for showing the way when climbing trees.

Clothes In The Wash, Me In The Bath