For All The Mothers

HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY.

I hope you all have a wonderful Mothering Sunday and are shown how much you are loved.

End of the Week Thoughts

Hello Darlings,

Here's hoping you are all well and bouncing like Tigger. I am and I smell of strawberries, but more of that later.

I thought I would clear up some confusion that I have obviously sent out there as a few of you seem to think the same. Sorry about that, I guess I am not the writer I thought I was!!!!!!!!!

"E" is my adopted sister and not my best friend, although that's not to say that we really aren't the bestest of friends, as we are. But our relationship has transcended a bond of friendship and we have been adopted into each other families, so we consider ourselves to be sisters.

Nutty is my best friend, she gets me, really really gets me. More so than some of my friends whom I have known for years and years. I simply adore her for just getting me right from the get go. I have never met anyone who is so in tune with me. I would be her sister in a heart beat, if it wasn't for the fact that she is over run with sisters already.
Anyway some one once said to me that friends are the siblings that God forgot to give us and I have 12 brothers and one real sister (a sister I can't stand to be honest as she is a liar and I have caught her out to often for comfort). So I am a little short on the sister front.

I didn't actually cut my thumb, but it was the only photo I could find that didn't involve blood and I know that some people do not get on with the sight of blood. Plus I was trying to convey that I was alright and it was a sort of thumbs up. It is healing unbelievably fast. Francis is convinced it is all the good food and veg I have been cramming down my throat under protest, dang it he maybe right AGAIN.

My weight has gone down Yes!yes!yes! I have gone from 13st to 12st 11lbs, *does little happy dance* am very pleased with that and hope to keep improving it.

And the really big thing this week is that I rejoined my gym. I went in on Tuesday and did all the paper work and photo ID, saw the trainer and sorted a plan out.
As you know at the moment I can only do swimming and pilates. But they do have everything you need there, plus they have changed a few things and you can now use the dance studios for your own practise if they are not in use. Which is a huge wow factor for me, as I love to dance.

Anyway it took me a while to dig out all my swimming gear and I finally went for my first swim today. Was really surprised at how much I remembered and how easy it was in many ways to step back into a pool.
To be an effective and efficient swimmer requires a lot of co-ordination and I am pleased to report that I seem to have lost none of mine. Mind you I did have to fight hard with myself to learn it all in the first place, so I think it might be well in grained in there. A couple of people commented on how good my technique was. But at the moment I can only do two lengths and then I have to stop and catch my breath, but it won't be like that in a month and 3 months from now I want to be able to do a non stop mile, which is 88 lengths of that pool.

Well I think that's me done, got to go and do something now, anything to burn off some more energy, I am so full of it that I am like a little Duracel bunny.

Have a good weekend.
much love
Lia
xx

Roll on Monday I can't wait to get back in there, I only have off-peak membership, I doubt I would do evening and weekends, so just went for off-peak mon to fri, that'll do it for me I think.
Oh yeah and why do I smell of Strawberries? While I was rummaging around in cupboards and dark scary places for my swim gear I found a whole load of shower gels and lotions from when I use to go swimming before and I thought I would use them up. That's why I smell of Strawberries. I know it's all a bit old but it all smells lovely and is still in the use by date. I had hidden them in there away from one very beautiful daughter.

Boys Are Stupid! Throw Rocks At Them!!!!!

Hello Darlings,

Stupid, stupid, stupid boys.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to my wonderful sons not doing there chores and emptying the recycle bin I have cut my finger really badly on a tin lid. I perhaps should have gone to the hospital and had it stitched up, but it was 10:30pm and no-one in their right would go to a London A&E that time of night.

Bloody boys, I would kill them, but then I would have to empty my own bins!!!!! Oh hold on a minute if I did that I wouldn't end up cutting my finger.
It's not as though I haven't chopped into my fingers before, having been a joiner I have pretty much chopped every single one of them at some time or another, but I am seriously annoyed about this as it was so unnecessary.

Right now my finger is still throbbing, which I hate, even though I do know that this is a good sign and I don't feel much up to typing, so here's something sweet to get your head round.
It's a clip from a seriously lovely film that if you get the chance to see, you should.



Am off to plot and plan how to get my own back on my boys, Mwhahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
Oh I know one way, no more cup cakes,
"Oh sorry boys, I can't make cakes, I HAVE A BAD FINGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

much love
Lia
xx




I want to tell you something. At a certain point in your life, probably when too much of it has gone by, you will open your eyes and see yourself for who you are, especially for everything that made you so different from all the awful normals, and you will say to yourself, 'But I am this person.' And in that statement there will be a kind of love.

Wednesday, Daffodils and Mothers.

Hello Darlings,

Am bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, today. Woke up full of bounce and am rearing to go. It's back to normal Wednesday's now that "E" is back in town. We always spend Wednesday together and often Saturday as well. But Wednesday is very much our day and a great way to spend Wednesday in my opinion. You see Wednesday has always been my favourite day of the week. Long before it was given the rather dubious title of "humpday Wednesday" I loved it.

You see to me it means that I am more than halfway to the weekend and as a child the weekend with all the family was magic. Magic because I grew up in a family of characters, all bright and beautiful, with different accents and ideas. Loud noisy and extremely funny people.
Wednesday meant I was so much closer to seeing them all and getting a break from my Mum. As you know I never really got on with her, so this meant that there would be a bit of space between us. Plus I have always seen Wednesday as "MY" day, this is because I was born on Wednesday and I refuse to be full of woe, but that's just the rebel in me who always likes to prove the opposite, don't tell me to do something or for that matter that I can't do something as that will just elicit the opposite response.

I just love, love, love Wednesday. Not sure what we will get up to today, but it's Wednesday and "MY" day so nothing can wreck it, not even those grey skies over London.

Here's a couple of things I have found out in the last day or so.

Spring is about 3weeks behind over here and as a result the daffodils are not growing as fast as normal. So there are fewer of them about to buy. One company normally sells 26million...yes million in the Spring and has only brought in a million so far. Which means there will be a shortage of daffodils this Mothering Sunday. Daffodils are traditionally given to Mothers on Mothering Sunday by their children.

Mothers day is not actually it's correct title, it should be called Mothering Sunday, but the media has changed the name of it over the past decade as it is easier for them to say. Plus in America it is held in May and called Mother's Day, the media has let this creep in over here and no disrespect to America, but could we please stick to the way we have called it for the last God knows how many centuries now. While America has only had theirs for barely a Century.
Seriously it is a difference in our cultures that should be marked and people should learn.

Here's some history for you about Mothering Sunday...............

Flowers on Mothering Sunday.

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent in the UK, though it falls on different days across the world. Although it's often called "Mother's Day" it has no connection with the American festival of that name. Traditionally, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family.

History of Mothering Sunday.

Most Sundays in the year churchgoers would worship at their nearest parish or daughter church. Centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or mother; church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their mother, church, or the main church or Cathedral of the area.

Inevitably the return to the "Mother" church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away returned home. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home for work once they were ten years old.) And most historians think that it was the return to the "Mother" church which led to the tradition of children, particularly those working as domestic servants, or as apprentices, being given the day off to visit their mother and family. As they walked along the country lanes, children would pick wild flowers or violets to take to church or give to their mother as a small gift.

International Mother's Day.

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter).

Mothering Sunday honoured the mothers of England. During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honour the Mother Church - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honouring their mothers as well as the church.

In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year.

In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.

Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

So there you go a little history of how it all came about and why over this side of the pond it should be called Mothering Sunday and on the other side of the pond it is called Mother's Day. It also explains why it is held at different times.

In case you would like to make a cake for your mother I have looked around to find the traditional cake recipe and found a couple of goods ones.

RECIPE 1 this one will give even more history and a great recipe for the cake.

RECIPE 2 if you scroll down a bit on this one you will find two other recipes for a mothering cake.

By the way this cake is more commonly known as a SIMNEL cake and is more of a traditional Easter cake now. So you might know it better as that name.

Also you will find some recipes for a "mothers day cake" which contain chocolate, this is because they are more to do with the American version of mother's day. If you know your history, you'll know that it would not have been possible for a Mothering cake to have had chocolate in it as it did not arrive in this country till some time later and the traditional cakes dates back much further than the arrival of cocoa.

I love the differences in cultures, it makes for some very interesting learning.

Oh and if one more girlfriend phones me up and either asks me what she should buy her Mother or moans to me about having to spend time with her Mother on Mothering Sunday, I will scream so loud down the phone their ears will bleed.

I along with Nutty don't have our Mothers and it is a constant pain to us both and one of the things we both have in common and there is nothings we wouldn't do to spend just 5 minuets with our Mothers. In fact I'd almost go so far as to sell one of the kids to the devil to be with my Mother. So if you have a Mother, stop moaning and bloody well enjoy her while she is still here to enjoy, because trust me and Nutty when we tell you she is IRREPLACEABLE and you will miss her beyond anything.

Much love Lia xx

Encouragement

Hello Darlings,

I love you lot and your wonderful encouragement of the things I do, no matter how mad they might be. I don't think that at any other time of my life I have had so much positive encouragement and support from so many people. You might not realise this but you all give me far more support than my own family and I'm not talking about the ones I live with under this roof, but rather my wider family. In fact some of them I haven't seen for years and have no intention of ever seeing again.
I miss them but I don't miss their criticism and sniping at me.

I don't believe me "Yes men", good grief that's just madness. You can't go through life having people say yes to you all the time, that's how dictators, mad-men and power hungry fools are created. Everybody should and simply must for their own sanity have people around them that say No to them, that tell them when they are in the wrong, about to not something that's nuts and are just being a pain in the rear at times. You only have to look to a lot of celebrities to see what I mean. Some of them really could do with a foot planted very firmly upon their backsides.

But neither should people have others in their lives that are over critical, as it can eat away at a person and my them feel less than they are.
Francis was the very first person to ever say to me that I was not a bad person, but rather a person bad things happened to. That was a bit of a shock to say the least and took some getting my head round. A whole new concept to take on board.

He, having planted a seed in my head then just stood back while I ran around trying to make sense of all the things he was saying at the time to me. It was ok to be strong willed, determined, ambitious, independent, feisty, talkative and lively. There was nothing wrong with any of those things and in fact that was what made me, ME and he loved me. And; after all weren't they all the things I encouraged and celebrated in my own daughter.

He asked me to tell him everything that was wrong with me and there was a massive list, then he asked me to tell him what was good about me and I couldn't do it. The only thing I could think of was that I was a good driver. I've been driving since 17 and I have only ever had two parking tickets and a totally clean licence.. I thought that was good. The only other thing, when pushed I could think of was that I was good to my friends.

Who do you think encouraged me to blog, which ultimately lead me to all of you.
Now I have all of you rooting for me and encouraging me and it has been wonderful for me.
I can't thank you all enough for all the support you send my way daily.

Much love
Lia
xx

Fairy Cake Volunteer Troops.

Hello Darlings,

I hope you all had a good weekend. We were so lazy and did nothing. How terrible is that?
When I say nothing I do mean nothing. We did a little shopping, a little cooking and a lot of time wasting.
I think the most productive thing I did all weekend was to make cakes, box them up and give a box each to the 2 sons and Francis.

Now, I am aware that this sounds very odd, however there is method in my madness. You see I am struggling with this whole weight loss malarkey. For 4 weeks now my weight has not moved, well that's if you don't count the 3lb I put on and then took off again. I have no idea how that happened. To say that I am a little fed up would be like saying that the Amazon River is just a little stream. I won't give up, but I am annoyed. I tried changing my portions, but how do you cut down on the amount of fruit and veg that you MUST eat in order to get your illness under control, so that you can lose the weight and go and exercise, as the doctor says you have to be a certain weight in order to do that.

I feel screwed. Really, really screwed. The good news is that the weather is getting better and on Friday I picked up "E" from the airport. Over 10 days later due to air traffic control in France and it being the first flight they could put her on without it costing us more money. Anyway she is back now, which means we will be spending lots of time together and I will get us out for walks. So that might help the weight nonsense.

Anyway back to those cakes. I make great fairy cakes, or cupcakes as some call them and I actually miss making them right now as it would be too tempting. Or so I thought, that was till Francis remained me of the fact that when I actually make cakes and biscuits I very rarely eat them on the day as I am for some reason put off by them. It's normally the next day or day after that I start to nibble on them. So Francis suggested that I make fewer of them than normal and that the boys would gobble them up. But I never see the point in getting everything out and putting the oven on for 12 cakes. Seems a waste of time and energy to me.

So I made loads of little fairy cakes, I made plain ones, vanilla ones, fruit ones, chocolate ones, lemon ones, and orange ones. I then decorated them with butter icing and swirls of chocolate, sprinkles and all sorts really. Stood back admired my handy work, then immediately panicked
What was I thinking? Is this diet suicide or what? What do you do with 50 fairy cakes??????

I could feel the will power slipping away and called the boys to rescue me. They being the wonderful young men that they are and each of them a self sacrificing cake warrior that they are, immediately threw themselves head first into the battle.
There was cup cake paper flying everywhere, the kitchen was awash with sprinkles, butter cream icing, and the noise of men in the full throws of a battle that they must win at all costs.

One by one my wonderful troops began to fall, shot down by chocolate cream and frosting. Overcome by the sugar feast that was slowly beginning to defeat them, they decide to re-group and pull back. Oh no what was a girl to do?. We decided to form a battle plan. We discussed calling in more troops, but my boys insisted that they could beat the demoed fairy cakes. Once they had fully recovered from the first wave.

In the meantime I decided to sneak up on the cakes and take them all prisoner. Sneaking under enemy lines I quickly overcame them and managed to take them all down and got the boxed into 3 boxes of equal amounts of cake.
They begged and pleaded with me not to put the lids on, they even told me that they didn't contain that many calories, that they could by pass my hips and that they wouldn't make me ill, even though they have ingredients that do make me ill. But I was ruthless and jammed the lids on tightly.

3 boxes, 3 men, genius, so I re-gathered my troops and gave them the responsibility of their prisoners and asked them to remember to treat them humanly. You see now that the boys have control of the cakes it is beyond my control.

So you see there was method in my madness of boxing them up and then giving them away to the boys as a gift. Stops me from eating them.

Much love
Lia
xx