Finding joy in the everyday

Had a wonderful cooking weekend with my 17 year old son.  He decided that we should cook, so we make Dark CHOCOLATE Brownies, CHOCOLATE Mousse and Dark CHOCOLATE Cheesecake.  This is Caius making a silly face with the finished cheesecake (covered in whipped cream).   He is very good at cooking (makes a great chicken and mushroom pasta) and loves to try new recipes and we often cook together which I just love doing.   The cheesecake tasted delicious - half went to his girlfriends and I have the other half + mousse and brownies (I need to go on a diet . . . soon). This is my son with our 2 dobermans - they wouldn't sit nicely for the photo, as a result you can't see their faces.  Caius loves animals and so good with them. Charlie is his cat (even though I look after her 99% of the time) and when she strayed into our yard 3 years ago on hot summers day it was Caius who said we had to keep her.  He even rung the RSPCA to see if anyone had reported he...

I am half asleep and in need of a hot cup of Jasmine tea - but I wanted to write this blog tonight before I settle into my comfy chair with the tea, mint chocolate and a DVD (The Proposal). My husband has gone to bed and the children are out with girlfriends. Tristan started his new job today - thought it was great - covered in ink as he learnt to fill cartridges (the sort that go into printers and photo copies).   Caius has finished his first week at school - he is feeling very happy - therefore I am feeling very happy.   Steven spent a week with his parents - his mother has gone home from the hospice - she looks very sad and frail but so glad to see her son.  She only has weeks to live.  At least she is going home to heaven which is such a comfort. Me - had a good week at work - being researching the statistical limitations of suicide statistics (under counting) in case you were wondering.   The dogs have been wonderful while Steven was away...

Today my 17 year old son went to the coast for a week (a two hour trip from our home).  This is the first time he has been away from home for more than a few days.   He is going with a group of 4 young men with one of the dad's driving then there and back.  Of course like most mothers the first thing I did was worry and had a long chat with my son about all the dangers at the beach: rips, rough sea, jumping off cliffs (not sure if he was even thinking of this one), drink alcohol (they didn't have any with them, only 2 large bottles of red cordial and 40 packets of instant noodles!!) etc...  He assured me that he would take care and not do anything stupid - of course that didn't stop me thinking of all the other things he could do. He phoned just a while ago to say they had arrived safely and had gone for a walk to the beach and now settling in.  I asked for a message each night so I knew he was ok! and perhaps a few photos so I knew he was in one piece!...

The other day I was reading the new " Get up and Go" document (link below) (guidelines for parents and carers) and how to bring up your children eg nutrition, exercise, play, sleep etc... (I think the aim is to reduce obesity). The first thing I thought was - how did my parents manage to bring up 4 children without such a guide and amazingly they knew what a nutritious meal looked like and how important getting outside and playing was - eg using ones imagination. It got me wondering if modern parents need this sort of guideline??? The answer is probably yes based on the statistics below on the use of the TV - however would those parents who use the TV as a baby sitter reading this guide any way?? And those doing the right thing don't need it at all. What was scary was the research the government undertook: children as young as 4 months were watching 44 mins of TV a day ( I wonder if they understood what they were watching), children under 4 were watching at least 4 ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Caius and Wendy and Danny ( + Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jonas Salk who developed the vaccine against Polio !) Below are some cute photos of Caius as a little boy. He was (and still is) a very caring lovable boy with a cheeky grin who knows how to convince his mother to do things for him!! We had pizzas and cheesecake for dinner which was very nice.