A Tale of Two Rascals

 

Miss Muffet, Mr Darcy and Stinky Teddy

Miss Muffet is incredibly lucky to have a whole bunch of cousins who all adore her and spoil her rotten. One of the major reasons that we wanted to move home to Wellington was so that she could grow up with her extended family around her. She has five cousins on my side, who are all boys; three cousins on her dads side, who are all girls; and three half cousins! They range in age from 10years -18 months and she is quickly establishing friendships with them all. 

Two of Miss Muffet's most favourite people in the world are Amazing Sister's little men- Mr Expression ( aged 4, insanely intelligent and wins the prize for best use of eyebrows and hand movements for expression) and Mr Darcy ( aged 3, tall, dark and handsome, cuddly and funny) Miss Muffet's whole face lights up when she sees " her boys" and they spend all their time racing around, playing trains and giggling uncontrollably. 

On Saturday, Mr Expression and Mr Darcy came to visit us at home and spend some time with Buttons. They were heartbreakingly adorable, cuddling her and marvelling over her tiny hands and cooing at her- Real melt your heart stuff! 

 

Mr Expressions and Buttons 

 Mr Darcy and Buttons sharing a smooch 

Action Dad and I were enjoying a cuppa with Amazing Sister and Awesome Uncle when we realised that A) Miss Muffet and Mr Darcy were no longer in earshot and B) the house was suspiciously quiet. Action Dad went on a hide and seek hunt to try and find them, calling their names and opening doors and cupboards searching for the two missing minors. 

When he came to our bedroom, he immediately noticed that our wardrobe door was closed- unusual and totally suspicious. Upon sliding the door open, he found Miss Muffet and Mr Darcy on the floor with a quarter bottle of sparkling raspberry soda, sharing swigs like naughty 14 year olds with rocket fuel before  a dance! 

Apparently they both had absolute deer in headlights looks on their faces and the fact they were caught red handed and with raspberry stained mouths and that they were dead end in the wardrobe all just added up to a hysterically funny tableau- I wish , wish, wish that Action Dad could have taken a picture! 

Miss Muffet and Mr Darcy are all kinds of naughtiness together and I am looking forward to hearing what antics they get up to when Miss Muffet joins him at Crèche in a few weeks time- I feel very sorry for their poor teachers! 

Blessed

  

Our darling daughter Buttons 

It is amazing how much life can change in the space of a day. This week our family welcomed our darling daughter into the world and our whole world changed again. 

Buttons arrived on Tuesday 24th May after my lovely midwife managed to get us induced early- those of you who have read my earlier posts will know that we were expecting Buttons to be between 10-11pounds and I had been becoming increasingly uncomfortable so was more than happy for an induction to happen! 

 

Action Dad snuggling an hour old Buttons- check out those tired eyes! 

Button's birth was long- she didn't arrive until nearly 13 hours after the induction began and the whole experience was more painful than Miss Muffet's as the epidural didn't work very well. One day I will write my girls' birth stories but at the moment it is a bit too raw! 

I will never forget the moment I looked down and realised my baby was a girl- I had strongly felt she was a girl for most of the pregnancy so to have it confirmed after a hard labour was just the icing on the cake. 

Our other big surprise was that not only was our gorgeous baby a girl... But she was a teeny tiny button of a thing. I knew that the minute I saw her, that she was smaller than Miss Muffet and well smaller than 10-11 pound. After all the worry and stress and extra scans- Buttons came in at 8 pound on the nose. 

She is an exact replica of her big sister, just in miniature and has so far spent the week sleeping on her bean bag. She barely cries and when she does, it is more of a mew.

 

Miss Muffet meeting her teeny tiny sister 

I am filled with happiness and love and am in a kind of sleep deprived crazy state of bliss. I am so thankful she is here and in our arms at last. The weather has been atrocious lately- on the day she was born, Wellington experienced an intense, crazy thunderstorm! So I am more than happy to snuggle on the couch with my two girls and ignore the washing and vacuuming for a wee while. 

 My gorgeous girl with the button nose - just like her mum and sister xxx

Will you be my buddy?

 

As a kid, it was so easy to make friends- you were put in social situations such a coffee groups, kindy, school and even sports groups, of your parents choosing and for the most part happily rubbed shoulders with the kid in the sand pit next to you. "Best" friends were made and broken depending on whether they were going to invite you to their party and if it all went to custard, well, then Mum or your teacher would sort it out. 

I would consider myself quite shy and find it hard to jump into friendships as an adult. I care far too much what other people are thinking of me and because I get  all worked up and nervous, I am prone to saying stupid things and knocking things over. I over think things and have even find myself pre- thinking things to talk about with new people so that I have something to say. It's funny because when I am working with kids I feel totally at ease and have no problems talking away but as soon as adults come along I revert back to a stuttering idiot! 

Just before Miss Muffet was born, Action Dad and I moved away from Wellington - our home town- to Auckland. A place where we really knew no one. It was damn hard moving away from our family support systems and away from our friends, the people who were totally comfortable with and with whom everything was just easy. For months prior to moving, I was anxious about our move and imagined I would be stuck at home with a new baby, talking to the walls. 

But that move was probably the best thing that could have happened for me- it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and learn how to make friends. A skill I had never really needed to learn, having always had childhood friends close by and then making friends with their friends until Wellington's social circles all seemed to overlap. 

I learnt to say "yes" to every invitation I got in those first few months. I signed up to baby classes and made myself talk during discussions and even more importantly over the cup of tea during break time. On the second week of a Baby and You class, another mum asked me to come along to her coffee group and I said Yes, and promptly found myself in a complete strangers house, surrounded by other mums in various states of new baby fog, talking about nothing and everything. At the end of that first coffee date, I invited everyone back to my place for the next week session- so I could be sure I would have people to talk to and something to look forward to.

I looked up acquaintances in Auckland and either invited myself over or asked them to our place. It was almost like a project- finding my place and my people in this new city. I made sure I always had a full calendar and that I was out and about everyday  and seeing real live people. Until.... I found I didn't need to anymore. I turned around and realised how many wonderful friends I had made, from all sorts of backgrounds and careers and stages of life. 

Now Action Dad and I have moved our little family back to Wellington and I am finding I need to employ those "friend finding " skills again. I have reconnected with primary school, high school and Uni friends. I have been set up on blind "friend" dates by caring people who know people with kids who live close by. I have joined up to kids music classes and put our names down on waiting lists for play groups. And I have even been that mum in the playground, chatting away and wondering when I should take it to the next level- inviting them to our place or for coffee without it being awkward and kind of creepy. 

Kiwi Mummy Blog Review- Caffesso

Action Dad and I are committed coffee drinkers. Back in the days before we had kids, we had a regular cafe which we stopped at on the way to work and easily spent between $10- $15 on take away coffee daily.

Our last big "us" purchase before we had Miss Muffet was a Nespresso Citiz + Milk Delonghi and it has become a much loved member of the family. With continuous nights of broken sleep, it's easy delicious coffee has saved our sanity and kept us going on many, many days. Action Dad and I have our go to faves, with him preferring Kazaar, intensity 12 and me liking Rosabaya de Colombia, intensity 6. Each of these retail at $1.13 per pod. 

When Kiwi Mummy Blogs offered to send me some Nespresso compatible pods to review, I eagerly responded and promptly sat by the window waiting for the courier van to turn up.

www.mycoffeecapsules.co.nz

sent Caffesso's Grande Gusto Medley packs for us to test out, savour and review-  a job which we took very seriously!

The Grande Gusto Medley is a sampler pack which contains one of each of the ten different varieties of pod that Caffesso produces. It comes packaged in a small rectangular cardboard container and each pod is easily differentiated by colour. The Grande Gusto Medley retails at $7.50 which means that each pod only costs 75c! We really liked the fact that Caffesso are producing a sampler pack as this enabled us to try out a range of their pods before committing to single variety packs when you have found your ideal coffee. www.mycoffeecapsules.co.nz has a great table which explains which of their blends is most like Nespressos eg Roma compares to Indiano.

Unlike other non-Nespresso branded pods we have tried, we were really pleased that the pods went into the machine easily and didn't "clunk" or feel like you were forcing them in- these pods are truly compatible with Nespresso machines.

The pods make rich, fragrant, fresh coffee which is really enjoyable to drink. My favourite is in the Sidamo blend which has a strong flavour with rich fruit notes. It is definitely comparable with my personal Nespresso fave, Rosabaya de Colombia and is nearly half the price!

I am really pleased to see that Caffesso pods are fully recyclable- a quick rinse of the pod, or even better putting the grinds in the compost bin and then the actual pod can go into the green recycling bin. 

 

Why blogging?

 

I have been slowly telling friends and family that I have been writing a blog- it's a bit of a weird concept. Hey! Come and read all about my funny little life! pry into my thoughts! It's interesting, I promise!! It's kind of like writing a journal and then wanting people to read it. 

Most people have been super enthusiastic ( although they comment in person instead of on the blog! Hint hint Amazing Sister....) Well, at least they have only said nice things to my face, who knows what they really think. I came across a funny situation the other day where my sister in law was having a wee rant about why on earth you would want to read someone else's blog, not knowing I had recently begun mine- cue red faces from both of us! 

I have been reading other people's blogs for a while now- you can see some of my faves in the gadget column to your right if you are on the full web version. I find it really interesting reading into other people's lives and especially people who are in similar situations to me- Kiwi mums, some of who are crafty, some who tell funny stories about their kids, some who review products and some who seem to be able to put into words exactly how I feel. I have found that reading blogs is like when you join a new coffee group- you lurk in the background for a while before making a few comments and hoping that someone will reply!  I find myself reading blogs when I can't sleep, when I am having a coffee or when Miss Muffet is happily playing independently. Most posts are short and you can read them in one sitting- no story lines and characters to remember for this sleep deprived Mumma! 

After reading blogs for about a year, the idea of starting my own emerged. I found that I would think about things- usually at stupid times like 2am, and clearly they were genius so I wanted to share them. Social etiquette deems calling people or texting at that hour kind of rude so writing them down serves to get my thoughts out of my head so they can stop whirling round and round and I can focus on other things- like remembering to buy rubbish bags. 

A bonus is that my blog serves as a way of almost scrapbooking some of my family's moments- I never get around to printing photos and I worry that I will forget the funny things that happen so my blog acts as a kind of time capsule as well.

I read a post by Happy Mum Happy Child the other day, which was coincidentally about starting a blog. She wrote about making sure you write for yourself and having your own voice instead of for an audience, especially when your blog is so new. I find it hard to manage my expectations about who will read what I write- I figure when it comes down to it, you write because you have something to say, and you want someone to hear it . 

Miss Muffet turns Two ( Part Two )

Party Food and Decorations
I wanted to keep the party  really simple- to be honest, I am far too pregnant and too tired to have organised a huge affair and I also want Miss Muffet to enjoy and appreciate the simple things in life before she inevitably has her expectations raised.

We bought a large pack of balloons in a variety of colours and hung half around the living room in clusters. Of course we also had to hang some by the letter box- the Kiwi way of letting the world know that a party is going on! Amazing Sister had held a party previously and bought balloon holders ( long stems for individual balloons to be held by) so we copied and had a balloon for each child- they had a ball whacking each other with them! I also hung some bunting that we already held up and covered the table in a black and white polka dot table cloth. My final great idea was to buy reusable, brightly coloured, child sized, plastic plates and cups from The Warehouse. They looked nice and festive and the kids could differentiate which set belonged to them by the colour. Plus, I can use them in the future!

For savoury food, I prepared the following :

Chips and Classic Kiwi dip
Mini pies and sausage rolls
Pizza
Southland Sushi- also known as South Island Cheese Rolls a lot of people at the party had never had these and they were a huge hit!  Recipe here
 

For dessert, we had the following:
Lolly cake- made using The Little Housewife's amazing recipe
Cupcake liners filled with grapes, mandarin segments and kiwifruit slices
Amazing Sister and Amazing Brother in Law made individual jelly cups filled with layers of different coloured jelly, topped with strawberry mouse and sprinkles- they looked stunning!

This was the perfect amount of food as we hardly had any leftovers afterwards which was fantastic!

The Cake
Finally, I set myself a bit of a challenge to make a Hairy Maclary inspire cake. Every night we read Hairy Maclary to Miss Muffet before she goes to sleep and it is a firm favourite- she adores Scarface Claw and tries the mimic his shriek!

 

I made Hairy Maclary out of gumpaste earlier in the week and roped a gorgeous friend into helping me to make the flowers on one of our craft nights. The cake was a double layer of vanilla sponge cake, filled with cookie dough flavoured filling, wrapped in vanilla butter cream and topped with the gumpaste decorations and a wee bunting that I quickly made the night before. I was really happy with how it turned out and it received a lot of compliments at the party as well.


Miss Muffet enjoyed her party so much that the next morning as she was "helping" to unstack the dishwasher, she took the party plates and cups back to the table and set them up in the hopes of another party!
 

Miss Muffet Turns 2 ( Part One)

 It is hard to believe that my little girl is now 2! She is no longer a baby and has moved firmly into her pre- school years. Having only recently moved cities and with me being heavily pregnant, we decided to keep her birthday relatively low key- I also figure that she is still so little and so happy with such small things that I would keep it simple and as fuss free as possible while still making sure to celebrate!  I am going to split this post up in to a few sections so it doesn't turn into a long novel.

Presents 

I found it really hard to buy for Miss Muffet this time- we now have a playroom and she can have all her toys out instead of rotating through a box, which is what we did in Auckland. She is so happy rediscovering all her toys and has so many awesome toys that she has been handed down from her cousins that I really struggled with what I would buy her. I like to stick to the saying  "something to wear, something to read, something you want and something you need"  as it keeps me from going overboard on just buying her clothes! I am also really try hard not to buy toys that will only be used for a short period of time and prefer to buy more classic toys. 

We ended up buying her gumboots and shoes, ( need)  a dress and pinafore, (wear)  and an awesome train set which we picked up from Kmart ( want)  I want to get her a book about being a big sister and haven't found one I like yet, so will keep an eye out over the next few weeks. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!

The train set was a huge hit and needed to be set up immediately.  Miss Muffet loves visiting her older cousins, and insists on getting out their trains each time so I knew she would be very happy with her own set. I mentioned this to Amazing Sister and was blown away when her boys wrapped up a few trains from their collection to give to Miss Muffet- I understand that a lot of negotiations went into which trains could be gifted! 

 

Miss Muffet also received a drink bottle, play dough set, crayons and felts, tea set, warm jacket and Peppa Pig jewellery set from her array of wonderful cousins, aunties, uncles, Nana, Grandad, Papa and Gran- she is so spoilt, so loved and so lucky! 

Tradition 

Last year I started a wee tradition where in Miss Muffet's birthday card, I write down all the things she is really enjoying and the milestones she is reaching. I hope to keep this up and give them all to her for her 21st birthday. 

 

Party

We invited family only and found that it was more than enough! We had Amazing Sister and her equally amazing husband and two boys, Uncle Bogey with his wife and three boys, my lovely sister in law with her partner and three girls, my Mum ( Nana), Action Dad's father ( Papa) and Action Dad's half brother and his fiancé. You can see how that would be more than enough guests for a party for a two year old! It also reminded me of why we made the move back to Wellington- so Miss Muffet can grow up surrounded by her family.

The party ran from 1pm and was held at home- we are so lucky to have a huge garden which is perfect for chasing each other, playing ball, riding bikes and general fun. We didn't set a finish time and our last guests left at 4.30 pm. We decided not to have party games as we wanted the party to be relaxed and also because we were catering to children ranging from 18 months-8 years. Instead we let them just have fun playing together and once they had eaten til they were stuffed,  gave them each a bubble wand. Seriously, bubbles are the universal crowd pleaser- every single child raced around with their wand, popping them, laughing and burning off energy. The funniest thing was that Amazing Sister was right there in the thick of it- clearly bubbles are her happy place.

 

Confessions of a Former Magazine - a- holic

Last week I was having a yucky day so I decided to buy a lovely trashy magazine on a whim while I was at the petrol station. I surveyed the rack of assorted titles and out of habit discounted the Woman's Weeklys and Woman's Days and all that jazz because I have always considered them to be reading material for my Mum. I grabbed an NW and carried on my way. 

 My addiction to mags started at college where I read Girlfriend, Dolly and CLEO and learnt to do such wondrous things as a zig zag hair part ( bonus points if it had glitter running through it)  and lusted over high heeled jelly sandals and off the shoulder peasant tops. I was a true Girlfriend loyal fan and religiously bought new editions, before swapping with friends who were CLEO and Dolly fans. Articles were read and reread until the mag started to fall apart and then the pictures were used to create collages on my school books- I bet my teachers loved my artistic homages to Hanson and JTT! 

The hairstyle sported by most of the girls in my fourth form year at dances ....

 

 

At Uni, I moved onto NW as it was far more scandalous and trashy so became the perfect foil for my English Lit degree. At about $5, a magazine was the well priced treat and distraction when I was meant to be studying and I soon had a sizeable stack sitting in the corner of my bedroom. When Future -Action -Dad -To-Be heard me complaining about having no money one week, he counted up the number of mags in my stack and then worked out how much money I had spent in the six months I had lived in my flat. The figure was fairly scary and confronting and I had a short reprieve from buying mags .... Before sneaking them back in a month or two later. 

NW and I continued to have a lovely exclusive relationship until the purchase of Action Dad and my first home, when I decided I was grown up and needed to expand my horizons to Your Home and Garden. Flicking through the pages, I had grand ideas about DIY and renovations, despite my lack of skills and desire to spend my hard earned cash on beautiful shoes instead of at Mitre 10 Mega or Bunnings- where we seemed to end up every weekend! 

So anyway, last week after doing some cleaning and running some errands and then doing some more cleaning as Miss Muffet had decided to "explore" the spice rack all over the floor, I remembered my NW sitting on the front seat of my car- where it had been for 3 days, untouched. I brought it in and turned the kettle on, planning on having a quick read and a cuppa.   Miss Muffet had other plans in mind for me, namely playing with Peppa Pig and reading Where is Spot ? over and over again.

Finally on Mothers Day, I made a firm plan to sit down and read my mag. I told Action Dad that this was the plan and I was not to be interrupted for 20mins and he and Miss Muffet went out to play. So I lay on the couch, hot lemon honey and ginger within easy reach and cracked open my now out of date NW. 

And I didn't know most of the people within the pages. And I hadn't heard of the movies. Or bands. And I found myself wondering if the clothes being advertised  would cover even one of my thighs, let alone both- and weren't the models cold??? 

It has been a long and lovely relationship, with memories of reading sneakily in lectures and when lying on beaches but I think the time has come for NW and I to part ways and accept that I am growing older, even if it is not so gracefully at the best of times. I need to move on- it's not them, it's me. 

 

I carried a watermelon

Did you know that the average watermelon weighs about 9kg?  And at this precise moment I feel like my lovely tummy tenant is aiming to break the records and match that weight. 

As of today, I am 36 weeks and four days pregnant. Those four days are very important as they mean I am inching closer to 37 weeks and towards the finishing line. Because I have officially reached the Over It Stage. 

I am now waddling like some kind of grotesque duck and am waking through the night because my hips ache. I am super tired and scratchy and the littlest things are setting me off. I am just so damn tired and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch MKR and eat black liquorice. 

You too could wear a sexy turbi grip ! 

Apparently, Miss Muffet has got the memo that life is about to change and that she will need to share her role as the centre of our lives. While she generally tends toward curiosity and light mischief making, she seems to know that I can't keep up with her and has veered towards actual chaos. In the last week we have had the following situations: trip to A&E after she stuffed flowers up her nostril, attempted escape from the playground at the mall, smearing the contents of a dirty nappy all over herself and the carpet and then just yesterday ANOTHER sudocreme incident. You can bet Action Dad heard all about that last one as he was the one who left it out- remember I said the littlest things are setting me off? Read RAGE! 

All signs and scans are pointing towards baby weighing between 10-11pound. Miss Muffet came in at 10.8 pound so it's not like I should have been surprised, my family just breed big babies. To be completely frank, I am floating between denial that I will need to give birth to a baby the size of a 3 month old and fear. I am scared because I know how hard it will be and I know that the recovery is long and painful. 

My lovely, amazing and wise older sister has been all of the aforementioned things she is known for and has taken Miss Muffet for some afternoons so that I can get a break. Amazing Sister is very good at getting me back on track with knowing that I can get through this labour, that I have done it before and actually when it comes down to it, baby is coming one way or another whether I like it or not. Told you she was wise. Yesterday she ran into Miss Muffet and myself at the mall and upon looking at me, told me to go home and lie down, she would take Miss Muffet home with her. When I picked her up later, I was given a cup of tea and piece of cake and a good Talking to. Amazing Sister knows exactly what to say and how to handle me and put me back together when I am falling apart. Bless her and her wisdom! 

I have been set up with an appointment with the hospital specialist,  a week before baby is due. At my most recent midwifes appointment I was given the advice of accessing my inner drama queen and making sure that the specialist knows that I am so uncomfortable and not sleeping and that my hips are pelvis are so sore, in the hopes that we can stop me from going ten days overdue like I did with Miss Muffet.  

In the meantime I am going to be having acupuncture and will start some stretch and sweeps. I will be crawling on the floor and trying to keep up my daily walks. But I will also be counting every single day and being unapologetically pathetic- sorry friends and family! 

The Saga that is Grocery shopping

Today, I am feeling a wee bit excited. And then when I think about why I am excited, I actually feel a bit pathetic. Because tonight I am going grocery shopping ALL by myself. It's not even fun shopping, like shopping at KMart or buying shoes or anything lovely that my pre child self would have bought without having a second thought. Just your general food shop from our local Countdown. Oh Jenn, how the times have changed.

Up until now, Miss Muffet has accompanied me on our grocery shopping expeditions. As you will soon find out, I basically live in two modes- hyper organised or in total chaos, and one of those modes leads to me sobbing in the corner. So as a result, I am the queen of lists and have broken down my chores and errands and activities so that I have a weekly schedule. But I digress.

 Last week, Miss Muffet and I arrived at Countdown with our list, which had been carefully made so that we were shopping for seven planned dinners plus our weekly baking and we had shopped the cupboards so were not going to be doubling up on anything we already had at home. I had packed a snack box ( grapes and crackers) and had Miss Muffet's water bottle ready to hand out as she inevitably reached the point of no return. We left early in the morning so that she wasn't too tired and the store wasn't too busy. We were ready.

The first Big Huge Mistake occurred as we entered the store. Miss Muffet's eyes lit up as she saw that  a car trolley was free and she broke free from my hand hold and raced over to it, claiming her prize. For those who live the blissful existence of not knowing about the car trolley, they are huge trolleys which have a plastic car built around them for kids to sit in. They have a little screen inside which talks to them and a seat belt and are incredibly hard to turn around corners and do not have enough actual trolley space for a proper weekly shop. And Miss Muffet was NOT going to hop out once she was in. And I was tired and weak and gave in. Big Huge Mistake.

We started our shop with me struggling to push this damn thing around the fruit and vegetable section  and Miss Muffet happily tooting the horn and waving at people who smiled and told me she was "so cute".As we got around to the proper aisles, I looked through the back "windshield" and realised that my dear darling was collecting items from the shelves and storing them in her car. Because the damn car was so huge, you had to drive it along the far side of the aisle so that anyone else had a chance of passing you by. Which meant Miss Muffet was having a lovely time shopping all by herself while I was checking my list and naively enjoying the quiet. My second Big Huge Mistake.

I put all the extra items back and handed out the snack box to try and distract Miss Muffet from further chaos and we carried on our merry way. Until my sweet pea of a daughter realised that she could slip out of the seat belt and jump from the car trolley. So now I had a toddler in the loose. And of course she thought this was hilarious- heavily pregnant mummy waddling after her, trying to get her back in the damn cart. So she was running as fast as her little feet could take her. And lots of lovely members of the public were smiling and laughing at my cute little girl as she giggled and dodged me like a seasoned rugby player. Each time, I caught her and man handled her back into the cart and tried in vain to tighten the seat belt, the game just got to be more and more fun. And I got that little bit more fed up. Fail, Mummy. Fail.

We raced around the remainder of the store and reached the check out. Now the thing I didn't realise about the car trolley, my final Big Huge Mistake, was that you can't actually take them in the car park. You need to swap over to a normal trolley at check out. It makes  sense- there are limited numbers of the car trolleys and I bet they are expensive to replace. But none of that logical, sensible stuff really sinks in when you are nearly 2. So Miss Muffet needed to be wrangled into a normal trolley. Miss Muffet proceeded to make her feelings on the subject very clearly known to the entire store and probably the parking lot as well. We had a lovely check out girl who tried to distract her with Disney cards and I tried to distract with the snack box but my dear girl is extremely determined and at that moment she was displaying her displeasure. Loudly. And trying to escape from the trolley.

When we got home, I realised I had managed to leave out seven items from my list as we had raced around the rest of the shop. And of course they were all essentials likes milk and  rubbish bags. But there was no way I was going back anywhere near the store with Miss Muffet. Probably ever again.

So tonight, when Action Dad finishes work, I am going shopping. All by myself. My list is ready and I am going to drift in peace along the aisles, noticing the lovely new products and comparing prices and probably even reading the magazines at the checkout , even though that's naughty. And I am not taking a damn car trolley.