Goddess of Domesticity

Whew! What a busy busy weekend!

Friday night after work, I went to my spinning class with Lynn and then jumped straight in the car to head over to Lowestoft to stay with Tracy and the boys. Had a lovely evening - nice steak and potato wedge type things, followed by buttery popcorn.... yummmm. I made the mistake of sharing a bed with Tracy AND Henry (my little Nephew, before anyone thinks I am into threesomes...heh). Sorry Tracy, but the snoring was almost instantaneous the minute you got into bed (I know, we can blame the vino), Henry chattered incessantly for about half an hour, and then at about 2am he peed on me! :- This meant that I had to console him for quite some time, before giving up my dry patch of the bed and going to sleep in *his* little bed... only to be rudely awoken by Oscar calling "Mummy" at 6am... oh joy! ;-)

Saturday morning was an even bigger shock for me though. For the first time, I was left in charge of *both* boys for a few hours. All my 'babied up' friends will not be impressed, I know... but man, it was no mean feat for a complete beginner like me! Heh... walked them to Asda in the morning (in the hope of wearing them out), via a cute little play park that I used to play in myself when I was a kid (cue minor tantrums when I tried to coerce them to leave! Mental note: do not take children to places that they will enjoy, unless you are willing to stay there for several hours....). Henry and I had decided to buy "Nanny Maureen" (my Mum) a birthday cake and decorate it ourselves. I made my second mistake in Asda - I bought them both Lollipops. Oscar managed to produce SO much frothy, sticky, strawberry scented drool, that I thought I may need to attach a drip to him to replace lost fluids. Where does it all come from? How did it manage to coat his entire trolley, and everything in it? On return home, this prompted the first of three costume changes I had to do with him...

We played in the garden for a bit (errr... well, I applied sun cream on them, and then they literally rolled in the mud - cue second costume change). I anxiously awaited the "tetchy" mood that would precede Oscar's midday sleep, according to Tracy's instructions. It didn't come... so I got fed up waiting and asked him if he wanted his bed. At which point, he went indoors, took off his shoes and waited to be carried up to bed... easy! Phew! During his (short) sleep Henry and I managed to coat the top of a cake (and ourselves) with more icing and pink sparkly things than ever thought possible... it took Oscar half an hour to brew up the most disgusting nappy ever seen in England. Cue bath, and third costume change. :-) Anyway... just as I seemed to be getting into the swing of things (in true Nigella stylee, I even made little cheese sandwiches, whilst grappling with a giggling two year old, desperate to insert a toy truck up my bottom... what a Domestic Goddess). Then it was all over... Sam came to collect them, and their little whirlwind moved out of the front door... leaving a spattering of cheesy sandwiches and mud in their wake. I sank to my knees - fearing I had gone deaf.

Later in the afternoon though we were reunited. Tracy, the boys, Megan and I took Mum and Dad to a nice pizza restaurant in Beccles - in celebration of my Mum's birthday. Delicious, if not chaotic meal. Seriously - I am considering making some sort of device for strapping Oscar into chairs, to prevent him from running around restaurants and punching other diners. Cornwall in two weeks is going to be so much fun! ;-) We had a lovely meal, and I made my way home mid-evening. Mark and his Dad were waiting for me when I got home - we walked into the village, and had a pint in the pub.

Sunday morning, I got up early whilst those two buggers slept... Mark had invited his entire family for a BBQ, and seemed to forget that food rarely magically appears in cupboards for such things. Had a bit of a fright in Tescos though - some extremely drunk Eastern European looking guy seemed to be a little too desperate for the toilet... and decided to relieve himself in the middle of the canned food aisle. Lovely. Arrived home to find Mark and his Dad still in bed, so I banged lots of things on the counters to wake them up. Heh. I made trifle (see - I told you I was a Domestic Goddess), salads and "Seedy???!!" potatoes, and Mark's brother and Sister and their respective families turned up at midday. We had a really pleasant afternoon actually! Mark did all the cooking on the BBQ (as if I would be able to stop him), the kids seemed highly amused with a couple of water pistols and a hose, and we walked down the the "Histon Feast Parade" in the afternoon. As a Lowestoftian I am not as impressed by this "parade" as I maybe should be - our carnivals used to go on for hours and consisted of at least two hundred floats and several marching bands. This one is a little less 'spectacular' (around ten floats) - although brilliantly done all the same. It raises loads of money for all sorts of clubs and events around the village.

In the evening, John stuck around and we walked to the pub to watch the Euro 2008 final... and yes, you are right Marta - I did jump on your bandwagon last minute and support Spain (Campeones Campeones oe oe oe!!!!). Although given the choice, anyone opposing Germany is going to get my cheer everytime... God - I sound like my grandparents! ;-)

Anway...
HUGE happy birthday to my wonderful Mum
Speak soon
Hayls
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