Unfortunately we didn’t get to ‘later on’.  Wall:E is a platform game, for those not in the know, it’s the kind of game where you move through the game via levels a bit like Sonic or Alex the Kid (showing my age).  Once upon a fifteen years ago I was OK at these type of games, not now, I suffered from extreme lack of patience and as would become obvious, problem-solving skills.  I gave up during the first level, yes, the FIRST level when I couldn’t figure out how to get up on a ramp…

Alex took over, which gave me a chance to see the game ‘from a distance’.   It’s a decent game, challenging and fun with a good background story (it’s whetted my appetite for the movie).  The graphics are amazing, unlike the cockroach which is just plain irritating.

Thanks to Hill and Knowlton for sending me a copy to test out.  I’d recommend this game for 7-10 year olds.  In fact we are going to give our copy to a friend’s son who is seven, he’ll definitely give it a more rigorous testing than us!

Rosie & Jim

Well it wasn’t the Ragdoll we were on but Zazou.

We went on a cruise and dine through Edinburgh on Friday night. Erin was thrilled with being on a narrowboat even though she doesn’t know Rosie & Jim, she just stared at me blankly when I sang the theme intro to her (kids these days…!). I had portobello mushrooms with salsa verde, steak, and lemon cheesecake, which was really nice, but not quite as good as seeing Erin enjoying her first sailing experience.

Apparently there are quite a few of these cruise and dine narrowboats in Edinburgh, but I think they should have a Rosie & Jim themed one for the kids, with colouring and a special Rosie & Jim puupet show…now that’s a cruise I’d like to go on!

You will need (for two caterpillars):

One egg carton

4 Straws

Green Paint and Brush

One Marker pen

Scissors

1.  Cut the egg carton until you’re left with two pieces, each with 3 ‘cups’, see picture(!)

2. Paint green and leave to dry.

3. Make two small holes, cut bendy part of straw and feed through. If you keep the hole small enough the straws should fit snugly. Finally, draw on some eyes and a nose.

Disclaimer: These caterpillars may not be anatomically correct, cuteness was the main aim!

1. Please check out this post ‘SexEd from Early Years’ at British Parent Bloggers and get involved in the discussion.

2. I have a cool new three piece suite, I’m pretty excited as a) it’s the first ‘new’ suite I’ve ever had b) It’s a funky teal and grey and brown colour c) The chair is a swivelling, rocking, recliner d) Erin hasn’t spilled anything on it yet and it’s been…like…24 hours already…

3. I have a new job working as a food and beverage associate at a fancy restaurant located in a country club, and to be honest I’m really excited to be back working even though it’s just ten hours a week waitressing, it’ll be nice just to have a change of pace a couple of days a week.  Oh yeah, and I’m looking forward to picking up some recipe ideas and tips.

4. The Uni degree is motoring on, my second essay has been sent in and I’m at the mercy of the tutor now.  Wish me luck.

5. Does anyone know how to upload photos on the most up to date wordpress? I keep getting HTTP error messages.

6. Littlemummy.com turned two last month and I have renewed the domain for like ten years or something so I have the best of intentions to keep up the postings.

7. I’m looking for some fresh reading material, leave your URL in the comments and I’ll add to my newsreader. ta.

Lettuce

I used wooden trough and sowed a ‘mixed bowl’ variety.  I’ve managed about three salads but think I’ll hold off growing again until I get a greenhouse as I found the leaves easily drown especially during a downpour - and this is scotland after all.

Chives

This has grown well on a window sill and I have used in salads and in dips.

Parsley

I started this indoors and then moved outside, it grows like crazy but not when potted with basil - no love there…  I have used this in various recipes and for garnish.

Stawberries

We are currently growing these in a large terracotta pot but next year I plan to try and start from seed and move into hanging baskets.

Rosemary

I cheated and bought an established plant but I plan on planting more along with thyme directly into the garden.

Basil

This has been the most successful, it thrives indoors and I’ve managed to pick enough leaves to make two batches of pesto (I’ve included the recipe below).

Pesto Recipe

I’m not sure how pesto is ’supposed’ to be made but this makes a fresh and lemony pesto that’s nice with pasta, chicken, mozzarella or focaccia.

Ingredients;

Basil (two handfuls)

Garlic infused olive oil (one slug)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (two slugs)

Parmesan (small handful)

Toasted Pine Nuts (small handfull)

Juice of half a lemon

Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste (needs a generous amount)

Simply whiz up the ingredients in a food processor and serve

Back at home things are revving up with my OU course, the second lot of assignments are due on tuesday and I’m not exactly on schedule… on the upside I have been winning at poker, which is nice.

That’s all for now, but hopefully the posting schedule will be back to at least a couple times a week.

The study calendar provides a week by week guide as to where you should be on the course and what you need to achieve to stay on target. I started at Week 1 and tentatively turned to the corresponding materials, in hindsight I needn’t have worried, the way the course is laid out is excellent - way beyond my expectations. Each stage leads onto the next, nurturing you from ‘headless chicken student’ into ‘I’m in control student’, and that’s after only 5 weeks!

The materials are varied as mentioned above and of excellent quality, each study period can involve a multi-medial approach which I find keeps the course fresh and interesting. My course is split into four sections divided as such by the Tutor Marked Assignment (TMA) due at the end of each “block”. The TMA is sent and returned with tutor notes to help you improve, I’ve just received my first back and was pleased to see a score of 80%, there’s a long way to go but at least it’s a start.

I’d highly recommend anyone who has ever considered doing something similar to look into it. I’ve found it easy to manage around other commitments and it’s worth mentioning again that this course hasn’t cost me anything as it was fully funded, the next will probably cost me a couple of hundred pounds but I definitely think it’s worth it.

I have to say this book really set the standard, we spent a really pleasant half an hour reading and re-reading the story (which I won’t spoil for you…), although I can tell you it threw up discussions about the weather, animals and the noises they make. It’s a lift the flap book which adds to the enjoyment, for Erin not me (there so rough with them…!). I’d highly recommend this book for a toddler aged child, it’s definitely up there as one of the best books we have.

1. Simply sliced and eaten with quality butter, I like Lurpack.

2. Toasted with a little quality cheese.

3. Blended and used as breadcrumbs to top pies/pasta bakes.

4. Chopped chunky and dipped in olive oil and balsamic (I like raspberry vinegar too.)

5. Sliced and used for an open sandwhich.

6. Cubed, doused in olive oil and baked. Use these croutons in a nice salad, I like chicken and bacon salad or a simple green salad with parmesan and pine nuts.

7. Cubed and doused in olive oil with a slug of balsamic, bake, then plop into a nice bowl of tomato soup.

Like most people (I think?) I used to muddle along and as long as my bank balance was ‘in the black’ I thought I was doing just fine, until of course the car broke down and we hadn’t accounted for the unseen cost of repair, which is where it all starts to get complicated and stressful if you don’t have savings. The ACF budgeting system takes into account these seemingly ‘unseen’ costs and factors them into a budgeting system that is easy to use and provides piece of mind that when something unexpected happens the funds are there to take care of it. Sound good?

I manage my budgeting system in a (very) simple spreadsheet (no formula required! Unless you want to). Along the top I have all the categories in which we spend money, ie insurance, clothing, car, mortgage, food etc.. I take the projected annual cost of each category and divide by 52. The amount left is the amount I must put into that category or ‘account’ each week, we are paid weekly, you may choose to do this part monthly. The projection is easy to figure out if it’s a monthly direct debit I times by 12 then divide by 52. If it’s something more difficult like the car (which includes repair!) I allow for the most expensive car repair we’ve had (£650) and then divide by 52 and hey presto. For household maintenance I allow around 1% annually for the value of our home which is a generally accepted amount ie if my home’s market value is £100,000 then I allow £1000 per year, which sounds about right.

So as we are paid weekly (and this is much easier if you have internet banking), I breakdown the pay into these categories, leftover money is put into a seperate ‘frivolous spending’ account. All bills and spending which is accountable comes out of the first account, I manually minus the money out of the categories each morning. This sounds like a complicated process, but in reality it takes me around five minutes or less each morning.

I’ve been testing this budgeting system for nearly six months and I can honestly say I’ve never worried less about money. I’ve nearly always kept savings for unseen disasters, however, it’s all too easy to spend those savings, not when you’re using this budgeting system, it’s easier to realise that eventually these ‘unseen’ events will happen and that you’re actually just saving up for when they do. Instead of the event being a financial disaster it becomes just another bill, one that you’ve already budgeted for! Now that the routine is in place it’s so simple to manage that I can’t ever see me not doing it now.

How do you manage the household finances?