No kids, lots of romance, and a surprise

We have had a lovely weekend without any kids. My sis J took them for 2 whole nights (poor girl, did she know what she was doing?) I was determined to relax, despite the fact that I have so much that needs to be done in the garden. I drove them to J's house on Friday. Barney was very excited about his first official sleepover, and barely looked back to say good bye to me. When I got home on Friday night Dan had a big bubble bath waiting for me! He's so romantic, lol, not at all like me. While I was in the bath he cooked a gorgeous 3 course meal. He had changed the kitchen around so that there was a table for two all laid out in the middle of it, complete with candles and music. He cooked me a steak. Apart from the steak pie I had with my Caroline the other days its probably the first meat I've eaten in months.

After we had eaten he said he had something to tell me, and I immediately got nervous, thinking he was going to come out with some life changing decision he'd made - a new job, moving countries, that sort of thing. Instead he produced a ring. A beautiful diamond ring. When we first got engaged, 14 years ago, we had no money. We were very happy to be together and didn't care about expensive rings. But over the years I've hinted occasionally that I would like a nice ring. Dan has been on the look out for the perfect ring for months. He knows exactly what I like, something simple, nothing too big (I have very skinny fingers and big rings look daft on me). He had scowered the shops for months looking for my ring. He gave it to me, on one knee (!!!!!) and asked me to spend another 13 years married to me. Isn't he a love? Needless to say I was a blubbering mess.

Dan had to work on Saturday and I made sure that I kept to my promise of doing nothing. I lounged around, spent time on the computer, watched videos and ate junk food. It was heavenly. I haven't done that since I was a teenager. Then when Dan got home from work he cooked me another meal (he likes to cook - for relaxation - I'm not a slave driver!) This time it was curry, rive, poppadoms, the whole caboodle. (My guts are going to pay for all this meat, I just know it). We lit a fire and watched TV, without the constant interruption of kids requiring things.

I feel very relaxed now. Ready to take on the world with the new week. In minute we are going out for lunch, then for a walk, before we collect our darling children. Here's a big thank you to little sis J and her 3 gorgeous daughters, for entertaining, feeding, and caring for our brood for the weekend. We shall soon return the favour. We promise. There, you have it in writing!

Here's a pic of the ring, taken on the web cam, hence the bad quality and focus.

Un-cooking

I thought I'd post a few photos of some of the raw vegan foods I have made this week. For anyone who may be interested, and for my own records.

These are the foods I made yesterday.

Onion bread / crackers or pizza base.
Dried stuffed mushrooms.
Dates and almond balls.
Various sprouts.
Bread.
Oat granola.
Pizza sauce.
Tomato sauce.







This is the onion bread, that is more like a cracker, but can also be used as a pizza base. It's made from onions, sunflower seeds, tahini, linseeds... all un-cooked to crispness in a dehydrator for about 24 hours. This is actually really nice.

Here we have stuffed mushrooms. I stuffed them with a paste made from green olives, pine nuts, tahini, chives and garlic. Dehydrated them for about 18 hours. They are very crisp and could be eaten much sooner than that. But they will keep a long time now.
Underneath in the photos is the almond and date balls. Which are delicious and take no time at all to make.
Then you can see some aduki sprouts, mung bean sprouts, and broccoli sprouts.







And here is my oat granola, made with oats, honey, raisins and goji berries. Everyone liked this one. My last one (sprouted buckwheat granola) wasn't sweet enough for the kids, although Dan loved it. But this one is just gorgeous.
I also made some blueberry cereal bars which I forgot to photograph.
Then there is marinara, pizza sauce, made from fresh tomato, sundried tomato, garlic, lemon juice and onion. It's very tasty.
And lastly real raw tomato sauce, which is much healthier and tastier than the Heinz stuff. Its made from fresh tomato, sundried tomato, agave nectar, and other things which I can't remember off hand.

On a slighly less healthy note, Dan and Barney made these chocolate covered marshmallows last night while I was at belly dancing.

Right, well, my sis J is taking the kids for the weekend so we will officially be a child free home! Woo hoo. Dan is going to cook me a nice meal tonight (none of this raw malarky - proper food, like steak or curry!) Roll on the weekend.




My MRI appointment is set for the 12th April. I went to the docs this morning about the pain in my head and she thinks its inflammation, so has given me some pills for it.

Oh yes, I must just say - we are holding our end of year Belly Dancing performance evening at the Radison Hotel on June 30th. The tickets are selling fast, and I know some people showed an interest in coming. Tickets are £20 for an adult, £5 for a child. If anyone else wants to come to it please let me know as I will need to pay for your ticket asap. I think my sisters are coming. Dan, Annabelle and Jimmie are coming to support us. Mum and I will be in a couple of dances, one involving fans and twirls, and one with sagats (cymbals!), plus another simpler one. I may even go completely crazy and enter the Golden Camel Award competition! Not sure about that yet. If you want to come, let me know asap. It's a whole evening of entertainment, with a real male Egyptian belly dancer, and lots of food. Please, don't feel obliged! The more people that come the more nervous I will be!

Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes

Written by Annabelle, age 10

At homeschool today I learnt about Emmeline Pankhurst She is the lady who got the right for women to vote. In 1912 some women where called suffragettes they are lady's who want the right to vote. There leader was called Emmelinne Pankhurst she said that suffragettes have to act violently to make people listen to them. Emmeline Pankhurst became the most famous suffragette of all. She married a man called Richard she had tree girls Christabal, Sylvia and Adela. she also had I son (I don't know his name). When emmeline was thirty she went to see some people who worked in an unhealthy place they where match makers. They didn't get paid enough so Emmeline helped them to get more. Emmelines husband richerd died. Emmeline and her oldest girl Christabel wanted to fight for votes and they did. Emmeline and Christabel got arrested and they would not eat. They got weak. So the goverment made a new law called The cat and mouse act where they let them out until they where better. so then they got freed. But then eight months later she came back! world war two came along and the women stayed at home and did the mens jobs until they came back from the war. They did such a good job that they got the right to vote.

The Secret Garden

This term Annabelle has been reading The Secret Garden. I remember that my Grandma bought me this book as a child, and it captivated me. So Annabelle was keen to read it too. Today she finished it. I thought I'd put this piece of work about the characters onto the blog, as I haven't posted much about home school work lately.

We also started a study today about Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes. I remember learning about that at school, when I was a child. With it being voting week this week, it seemed quite in keeping. We plan to develop this into a study about women's rights, across the globe. Annabelle is currently preparing a blog post about Emmeline Pankhurst which will be on here later.

Here is today's little bit of character study from the Secret Garden.

Click on the image for a larger version if you wish to read it.

The Mourne Mountains, and waffle

Well, life has been hectic as always and I've hardly gotten round to posting anything on the blog. Dan has a week off of work, so this week we plan to chill a bit and spend some family time together. I'm not holding my breath. I'm so used to our busy life getting the better of our free time. And after 13 years of marriage I've yet to see Dan relax.


Today Dan went for a hike up Slieve Donard, in the Mourne Mountains. He has taken to doing that lately on his days off. He also had to take some photos up there for his coursework. I think its 'natural forms' that they are doing this time... rocks, stones, flowers, that sort of thing.









Here are some photos of the views that Dan saw today. Northern Ireland is such a beautiful country. It's the best kept secret of the UK.
I found this other photo of Annabelle and Barney, when Dan madly decided to take them for a drive up the Mournes in the snow, a few weeks ago! (Notice Barney doesn't even have a coat on!)


Last weekend I took Annabelle to the wedding show in the Kings Hall, Belfast, with my sister H (who is getting married) and my sister J. Last time we went I thought Annabelle would love the catwalk shows, so this time I made a point of taking her with me. Needless to say, she took her camera with her, and took millions of photos. Here are two of the best...












The pulsing in my ears is still very bad. One day, about 3 weeks ago, the pulsing suddenly doubled in volume, which it has done many times before, but this time it hasn't ebbed at all. As well as that I've developed a pain in the back of my neck, going up into my head. It's been there every day for 2 weeks and is driving me insane. Its on the right side of my spine, going into my skull. Seen as it's my right ear that is affected by the pulsing, I can't help wondering if the two are connected. Theres still no word from my MRI scan yet. I booked an appointment with the doctor but she's not free till Friday, so I'll have to wait.

I finally managed to sort out the money for Tinkhani, that people donated. I sent it to a church in County Cork. They have a preist working in T's prison. They are putting the money into his account and he will in turn pass it on to T. I know this will make a HUGE difference to his life. He will be able to buy food, and hopefully put on some weight, as well as sanitary items, clothes, blankets and maybe even a little luxury. Not to mention stamps and paper! I would to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to the people who donated money for Tinkhani. I was very touched with the generosity that wsa show, and so was he. You know wh oyou are.

To move, or not to move

I've been meaning to write this blog post for days, but I keep getting distracted with various things. Dan and I have been talking a bit lately about the possibility of moving house. Downsizing. When we bought this place three years ago we had to increase our mortgage a bit. But we needed the extra space. With that bit extra we got an extra bedroom for Luke, an office, a classroom, a utility room and a garage. Lots of space. But now the value of the houses has risen substantially in our area. Now we could literally buy our old house back with the profit from this one and live mortgage free. So, in my head I am wondering would it be worth downsizing to be mortgage free? What is the point of having a big house if one cant afford to do anything? If we downsized we could put aside the monthly amount that we currently pay each month on our mortgage, and do something with it. We could travel, do nice things at the weekends, buy a conservatory or do a loft conversion, or deck the garden, or replace the kitchen, because we could afford to.
So what do you think? Would squashing our family into a smaller house and making the kids share bedrooms be worth it? Or do you think I would go stir crazy?

Barnisms cont - The Uvula

9.30am this morning, Barney bounds into my bedroom and climbs into the bed beside me. He opens his mouth wide and says

"Mummy, can you see my Uvula?"

Ha ha. What a sentence for a three year old, eh? Then he made me open my mouth and explained where my uvula is and that the two holes either side it is where my food goes down to my tummy. Is this boy going to be a doctor or what?

Whats that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?

Barney - in costume. He looks just like his father sometimes.

The pounding in my ears is terrible today. Since dinner time last night it just got really loud. Hasn't been like that for some time. It's always there, but I have no idea why it is sometimes worse. Today I can hear it all the time, whereas usually day time sounds would drown it out. I wish those MRI results would come back soon.

Last night Barney threw a glass & metal snow globe at Jimmie and hit him above his nose, between his eyes. He split his skin right open. It was nasty. Poor Jimmie was in agony, and his nose immediately swelled up, with this big open gash on it. It was so deep that it didn't even bleed for quite a few minutes. I thought we might have to take him to get stitches but it started to slowly bleed and the gash seems to have turned into a scab now. Barney just didn't realise the seriousness of what he had done. He doesn't quite understand that you can't just throw stuff at people. We sent him to his room and had a good talk with him. He apologised to Jimmie by giving him some of his precious Halloween sweets. That was a big thing for Barney. He doesn't like to give sweets away. We all felt so sorry for Jimmie, poor lad.

Annabelle told me yesterday that she only has one jumper that fits her, and it was dirty. I looked through her wardrobe and she was right enough. So we headed into town to buy some jumpers. I got her 4 jumpers, and a pair of black jeans for Jimmi. There were lots of other clothes that she liked (she's getting to that age where fashion matters) and so I told her that we could go back into the town today with some of her Christmas money.

Not much else happening here at the moment.

Sam doing MIKA - GRACE KELLY

Here we have our lad performing. Isn't he lovable? He's put this on youtube. I think he's hoping for a talent spotter. LOL.

Should I go on Wife Swap?

Ha ha ha. Yes its true. The wife swap team have contacted me for a second time asking whether I would like to go on their show! The email is below. Its absolutely hilarious. If I had never watched the show I'd think it was a something entirely different from this letter. LOL.

Wife Swap emailed me many months ago asking me to go on their show. They were looking for a home educating family, had read my blog and liked that I also grew vegetables etc. I politely declined. The kids were not too keen to have a new Mum for two weeks, Dan wasn't keen on getting a new wife, and I was not keen on having our home life mocked, inspected and ridiculed on Channel 4.

This time they have found me on a raw food forum. I don't think they even realise that I also home educate, or that they have contacted me before. I guess they really are struggling to find different families for the show. But if they think I'd be mad enough to go on it, well they will be sorely disappointed. As Deb said in her email to me, I "don't know whether I should be flattered or offended by their attentions".

It's actually such a shame that Channel 4 have made this show into such a laughable mockery of peoples family lives. The same program, portrayed differently, could be very educational, mature, enjoyable and show different lifestyles and cultures in a positive light. Someone should start a better version of it. The idea behind it is good, but the editing process tends to show everyone very unfavourably. It would make for a good blog post though, wouldn't it? I wonder if I could charge them for our appearance on the show? Would 20K be too much to ask? LOL. That's at least what it would take for me to go through with it.

Anyway, the email is below... (If any other raw eaters would like to go on the show feel free to contact Lucia with the details below)



Hi there,

I got your contact details from Rawveg.com- hope you don’t mind me emailing you. I wonder if you could help?

I work for RDF Television and we are currently making an observational documentary series for Channel 4 that looks at family life in the UK and celebrates different lifestyles in modern Britain. The documentary, Wife Swap, is primarily about people learning from the way others lead their lives.

As part of this out-reach we are looking to speak to families (preferably with younger children) who are passionate about the way they lead their lives and who could provide an educational and inspirational insight into their life. We are very keen to take Wife Swap back its documentary roots and make it a programme that another family and of course the viewers, would find informative and valuable.

The programme also provides a great platform to show the reality and the rewards of caring for the environment and having a healthy attitude to living and eating.

I was wondering whether you could recommend any families that you may know or whether you may be interested yourselves in finding out more about the show? I can be contacted on lucia.bartolo@rdfmedia.com or 0207 0134593.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like some more information.

I hope to speak to you again soon- any advice or contacts you can offer me would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks and best wishes,

Lucia Bartolo


Lucia Bartolo Researcher
RDF MEDIA GROUP PLC The Gloucester Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8RF
tel. 0207 013 4593

A day to see the owls

Yesterday we went to The World Of Owls in Randalstown. I'd never even heard of it before. Despite the bitter weather we had a good time. The owls were adorable. It was amazing to see them so close up. Jimmie and Annabelle read all the descriptions on the cages of each owl and Barney ran between them deciding on his favourites. Some of our friends joined us. I think I may have to organise a home education group trip there when the weather is a bit warmer.

The pair of owls in the 2nd photo were my favourite. Mr and Mrs Owl. They sat together looking lovingly into each others eyes. Barney liked the owl with the big orange eyes in photo number 3, which made strange noises if you got too close. I had to take that photo of Dan with Heather. Sitting at the picnic table, freezing, eating all my healthy raw foods, under a big tartan granny blanket. They looked like a pair of old pensioneers on a day out from the retirement home. Cute.


My diet is going to plan so far. I've lost just over half a stone in the 3 weeks or so that I've been at it. In general I feel more energized, less sleepy (not today!) and less bloated. We've been eating mostly raw foods and I've been making a lot of dehydrated food too. I've also started sprouting again. The sprouts always liven up salads and sandwiches.




















1) sprouting alfalfa, 2) sprouting sunflower seeds (my favourite) 3) sprouted chick peas (I will make dehydrated falafels with these) 4) sprouting mustard. 5) My new tall, family size fridge! At last, after 13 years of waiting - a fridge I can fit stuff into! Wahey.

Latest Barnisms

Barney comes out with so much every day. I can't remember all the little gems to blog. I have a terrible memory. Here are a few gems from the last few days...

Barney- "Mummy, I'm in love with you"
Me - "Aww, I'm in love with you too baby"
B - "What would I do without you Mummy?"
M - "You'd be lonely without me wouldn't you. What would I do without you?"
B - "Hmmm. Play the guitar?"

Dan had flowers delivered for our anniversary. I phoned him to say thanks, and Barney wanted to talk to him too....

Barney - "Daddy why did you buy Mummy flowers?"
Daddy - "Because I love her from the bottom of my heart"
Barney - "But Daddy! You don't have a heart!"

MRI scan

Yes, today was our 13th wedding anniversary. We agreed not to get each other anything, seen as we bought the dehydrator and the dishwasher as a gift to ourselves. I kept my end of the bargain. Not even a card was bought by me. But not Dan. No. This afternoon a taxi pulled into our driveway. I thought he had got the wrong house. But he knocked on the door and delivered me a huge bouquet of flowers. So Dan didn't keep to his side of the bargain. But they were lovely flowers.

This evening I had my MRI scan. Mum came to babysit the kids so that Dan could come with me. I wanted him in with me because I know I can be a little claustrophobic at times. Although, I've never been in a situation where I've been confined, so its hard to be sure if I am claustrophobic or not. So he came with me. I wasn't at all nervous. When I went to the reception the nurse said that Dan would have to wait in the waiting area. I asked if he could come and she said 'no'. Then I said that I was a little claustrophobic and would feel happier if he was there. So she agreed, but he would have to fill out forms and take any metals items off of him etc. She seemed a little annoyed at the extra paper work. I felt a bit of a con for asking for him to be there as I'm not really that claustrophobic.

I had to remove all my jewelry, my glasses, my metal under-wired bra! (I never even thought about it!) and answer lots of questions concerning metal and operations. Then she took us into this room. At this point I had no glasses on so I couldn't really see a thing. She said "pop up onto that bed there". Steve sat at the side of the room. I had said to Steve before hand "I will be OK as long as a) they don't strap my head in, b) I have at least an arms length of room or c) they only put my head into the machine and not my whole body. If they did 2 of the 3, but not all 3, I would be fine. So I lay on the bed. The nurse said "I'm just putting this aerial on your head". No problem. But this aerial was not an aerial, it was a metal head cage, like something off of Silence of the Lambs! It was strapped across my head and locked into position. My eyes peered out from the gaps. "I'm OK" I thought "I can cope with that". The nurse had already put some headphones on me with my favourite CD playing. Over the sound of music I just about heard her say "if you're claustrophobic you may want to close your eyes". This was the only information I was offered. I wasn't told what would happen, or anything more than this. No my mind, I should have been shown the machine, told how far I would go in and talked through the process.

I felt her put something in my hand. "This is the alarm. You can press this if you are in any distress". OK, lying very calmly in my head cage. Then I closed my eyes and felt the bed moving. I was fine. Eyes closed. Listening to my music. Been there for about 12 seconds, give or take. So I thought, "Hmm, I wonder what's happening. I'll take a look around". I opened my eyes. BIG MISTAKE. To my horror my entire body was caged in what I could only describe as a sterile white plastic coffin! The top of the tube/machine was only inches from my nose. My heart almost exploded with terror. At this point I realise I really am claustrophobic and all sense or reason disappeared. I tried to move my arms but couldn't stretch them. A, B and C had all happened to me and I lost the ability to stay calm. It was very unlike 'me'. I pressed the panic button. The nurse thought I'd pressed it my mistake. They I started shouting "get me out of here, please let me out" and as the panic raced through my body I was about to start kicking and breaking their equipment when I felt the bed moving out. Oh thank god. I was out. They took the brace off my head, I sat up and have never felt so utterly horrendous in my entire life! And my sensible head was telling me how daft I was being, but my body was having a panic attack.

I sat bolt upright. My mouth had gone completely dry, just instantly dry, it was so weird. My lips were tingling and my heart was pounding through my chest wall. I could hear the nurse saying "you opened your eyes didn't you". She started telling me that I had to go back in because the scan was important. She said that if I did it again once the machine was switched on (I hadn't yet got to that stage) that she would lose all the magnetic power and they wouldn't be able to do the scan. I really wanted to get the scan done so I lay back down quickly because if I'd had time to think about it I'd have run out of the building. She said Dan could stand at the machine and hold my feet to comfort me. They strapped my head in again, put the music on, and I shut my eyes as tight as I could. I clenched my fists round that alarm and tried to breath slowly. I really needed a paper bag. I felt the machine moving again and my heart was just pounding so hard. I couldn't breath normally. My lips were shaking. I've seen peoples lips and hands shake from fear but never experienced it. But now my lips were shaking uncontrollably, as were my hands. My eye lids were shaking up and down whilst my eyeballs were shaking from left to right! Honestly. It was so hard to keep them closed as they were flickering everywhere. And the whole time I was trying to tell myself how silly I was being.

I lay there, paralysed for about 20 minutes. I daren't move a muscle for fear that I would panic again. I could feel Dan rubbing my legs and feet, and tapping in time to the music on me. I tried to concentrate on the words to the songs. I took the Serene and Pearl CD 'Peace All Over Me' because the words are inspiring and create great images in my mind. I tried so hard to listen to the words and block out what was happening. But the machine was so noisy that I could barely hear the music. I did not open my eyes once. If I had opened them, I would have lost it completely. I just lay there, trying to breath. The noises were very loud. Metal clanking noises, bashing and crashing, and robotic noises too. After what seemed like an eternity I felt the bed moving. I didn't open my eyes till I felt the head cage go, just in case I'd got it wrong, and the bed wasn't moving at all, LOL.

The nurse said nothing but "you're free to go now". Whilst I tried to compose myself after the most horrific half an hour of my life. It took me about 2 hours to calm down. Even typing this I'm getting palpitations. Dan had to stop at a cafe on the way home and buy me a cup of tea and a lemon meringue pie.

I have learnt from this that I am extremely claustrophobic. I am sure measures should be taken for people like that having MRI scans. If I'd have been given a blindfold, or something over my eyes I would have been fine. Also, if I'd have been talked through the process I may have been more prepared. Surely this must happen a lot? Judging my the nurses complacent reaction, it probably does. Apparently I should have been sedated before hand. But who wants to feel groggy for two days just to go through a scan? Since coming home I just feel so silly about the whole thing. I mean, my common sense tells me I was in no danger whatsoever, but my phobia took over and I had no control over myself. It's scary. Now I just have to wait on the results.