Whenever Ma and I go to Watford to look after the boys, I try and find a cooking project with Oli. This is because I like cooking and hope that he’ll enjoy it too but it’s also so he appreciates how much effort his parents go to to feed him!
When he was younger, I did try to get him involved when we cooked but he had a limited attention span so we only did easy things..
Nowadays though, Oli is interested in how things work and can be a bit more hands on, so it becomes an educational experience too. I try to make things that Oli can eat straight away and last time we made bread for our Sunday morning bacon sandwiches!
I used the basic easy white bread recipe and away we went. We talked about yeast and how it works, what yeast needs to produce air, different types of flour and so on. Although I think Oli’s favourite bit was punching down the dough, but I find that children retain knowledge in interesting ways and it comes out where you least expect it.
The bread rose a little bit quicker that I was expecting, and I didn’t get a picture of the finished product or the bacon sandwiches but on Sunday we all, even Joe, got to eat bread that Oli made!
It was something more for me than just basic unhappiness because I was struggling to feel God’s presence in my life. My belief in God is one of the most basic building blocks of who I am, the sense that I’m living, as best I’m able, the life that God wants for me, isn’t even a question, it’s just who I am. Even when it’s difficult, when I was unemployed, when Stef died and when I was depressed, I knew that, hard as it was, I was meant to be doing what I was doing and that I didn’t understand it but it would come right. That God was with me. I was possibly the most optimistic depressed person in the world. I knew that I would get through it if I just kept on and I did.
I wasn’t lacking faith, so much as relationship and the things I normally do when I’m in a bad spot where not working. Last year, I spent six weeks more or less trapped in the flat. On the one hand it was nice to have the rest despite the foot pain and not being able to shower but on the other it was clear that without my mother, I’d have been absolutely buggered and pretty isolated. I came into 2016, knowing that something needed to change but not being at all sure what needed changing or how to change it.
Lidl, Tesco and Sainsburys the total spend was £14.15.
Joe is walking now and he talks a bit! He says ‘hiya’ (when he sees you or is playing peekaboo) and ttttt (ta) when he wants you to give him something. He’s also picked up his brother’s trick of looking at you and saying ‘num num num’ when you have food he’d like to taste!
I even got some love from the cat after the boys were in bed! Which is a first!
I got home on Sunday and just noodled about.
Wednesday night I sauted leftover potatoes with courgette and mushrooms. Those leftovers were lunch on Thursday!
Tom came to dinner on Thursday, so I made meatballs which we ate with pasta, garlic bread and salad. I didn’t take a photo of it but I’ve made it before with rice so just replace the rice in this picture with pasta and Ma with Tom!
I was due for the volunteer morning at the allotment on Saturday morning and then dinner at Christelle and Mike’s. However, on Friday night I could not stop coughing. For about 5 hours. It was horrible and pretty much torpedoed the weekend, I spent all of Saturday feeling that someone was standing on my chest and decided that a quiet weekend was in order. It was the sensible thing but I don’t feel much better and I didn’t see anyone this weekend! I have a week to get through and hopefully, my appointment with the nurse will give me some answers and a possible solution because this is really not fun and I don’t like it.
Nic Dempsey 