Overnight Oat Breakfast Pots

Posted on September 15, 2015 by nicdempsey

When I first started writing this blog, I wrote quite a bit about my struggle with breakfast. I’m much better at making sure that I eat breakfast and making sure that it’s healthy but I’m always on the lookout for ways to change it up.DSCF4919This isn’t a new idea or even really mine just my version. I mixed 1 and 1/3 of a cup of plain yoghurt with a cup of cinnamon apple sauce. Then I put a 1/4 of a cup of oats in the bottom of 5 jars, and added half a cup of the yoghurt mixture on top.DSCF4920 I used tinned fruit (I always buy mine in fruit juice) and this week used pineapple pieces and apricots. Just drained and divided between the jars. I also added some popped amaranth on top too..DSCF4922This week’s breakfasts done.

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Life Happened – An Abundance of Nephews

Posted on September 14, 2015 by nicdempsey

The most important thing that happened this week is that Joe arrived. IMG_3373-0Ben and Laura do make beautiful babies! Getting to meet him on Wednesday was the highlight of my week, as it also meant that I spend an afternoon with the entire family. Which was nice and given the week I was having at work, very welcome. Oli is over the moon and keeps calling Joe “my baby”. Of course a newborn did not stop Oliver trying to smack my bum or making his scary face.  Even the cat was being photogenic!  The rest of the week was deeply meh. My fitbit died but the customer service was get and a replacement is on it’s way!
  We had a department meeting on Friday afternoon, with ‘fun’ teambuilding.  I had Friday Night Pizza..
  Christelle cam over on Saturday and we had lunch and a walk…  On Sunday I managed to cut myself and didn’t have any plasters, so behold the most OTT bandage in the history of bandaging (but beautifully done by Ma!)
 Not pictured was lots of cooking, housework, Kathy popping around on Sunday night and an epic amount of lying on the sofa reading…

 

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Sunday Music

Posted on September 13, 2015 by nicdempsey

Bank of Skulls – I Know What I Am

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Weekend Tasklist

Posted on September 12, 2015 by nicdempsey

This more or less worked for me last weekend, so I’m going to reinstate it, probably until spring when housework comes more naturally to me! This weekend is pretty quiet, Christelle is coming over today and there’s Grace tonight and Ma is coming for lunch on Sunday! So I can’t spent all weekend reading (although that was pretty much all of Friday night!). So here’s the list, not very different from any other week really…

Kitchen

  • General clean (sort out the recycling and rubbish, mopping the floor and general cleaning)

CookingIMG_3051

  • Food prep for next week.
    • Sort out yoghurt pots
    • Lunches for the week
    • Make bread
    • Make stock
    • Cook chickpeas and black beans

Bathroom

  • General clean (mop floor, change towels, empty bin, clean bath, sink and toilet)

BedroomIMG_2726

  • General clean (sweep floor, change bed, dust, general tidy)

Living RoomIMG_3150

  • General clean (sweep floor, dust, tidy sofa, put things away etc)
  • Clean window surrounds

Hall

  • Hoover

General things

  • Shopping
  • Washing (clothes wash, white wash, towel wash)
  • Ironing
  • Wash make up brushes
  • Water plants
  • Back up laptop
  • Charge kindle, ipad and camera batteries
  • Handwashing
  • Exercise
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Friday Links

Posted on September 11, 2015 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! It’s been a busy work week (do I say that every week?) and I had to take an afternoon to go and see this little boy..IMG_3373-0

Yep, the newest Dempsey made his entrance on Tuesday. He’s gorgeous and cuddly and looks so much like his big brother. Also babies do have a habit of putting a stressful work week in perspective especially as aunts as a general rule don’t suffer from child induced lack of sleep!

Anyway, there will be a lot more gushing about my lovely nephews later, here are this week’s links.

Why you should start work later if you’re under 50. I knew it!

The Walkie Talkie is a sty in London’s eye – and proves we can’t say no to money. London only works with balance and it’s not balanced anymore….

The NFL and concussion. This is the GQ article that inspired the forthcoming Will Smith film. The article was fascinating, I wonder how the Premier League and FIFA would react to something similiar…

David Cameron should suspend NI devolution. Well it’s a thought. It the DUP honestly felt Stormont was done, they wouldn’t have left one minister there with the power of veto over appointments to government. It’s time that the whole lot of them (on both sides) got over themselves and started to actually work it out but it’s more than time that the Unionists grew up.

Let Elizabeth reign and then let’s get rid of the monarchy. Yep. It’s not that I hate her or anyone else in her family, I just don’t think that monarchy is good for the country and although I think that this Queen keeps to the bounds of her role, I don’t think that Charles would and I don’t think that we should pay for them.

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Chocolate Birthday Cake

Posted on September 9, 2015 by nicdempsey

IMG_3367

This is my new holy grail of chocolate birthday cake from Nigella Lawson. What I love best about it, is that it all gets done in the food processor, the frosting too…

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Life Happened: Back to work

Posted on September 7, 2015 by nicdempsey

Last Monday was a bank holiday, the last one until Christmas! Ma had stayed the night before and breakfast was homemade bread and jam.IMG_3362It was rainy and gross but I ventured out and spent the afternoon at Kathy and Adam’s, with the over tired children (and adults).

Tuesday was back to work and it was a pretty quiet week because I was busy at work and trying to get back into a routine.

Weekend highlights were pizza on Friday nightIMG_3365 cleaning the oven (not pictured!) and making Kathy a birthday cakeIMG_3367When I finally shook the headache I’d had for most of Friday and Saturday, (apparently the cure was a Manhattan – which is worrying!) I went to Kathy’s to celebrate her birthday, it was lovely to catch up with people and reminds me that I need to try and get to Grace more often!

I would like to say that Sunday was all about housework but it would be a lie, I did some but I mostly read books!

This week is more of the same, a busy work week, getting back to body balance and waiting for the new baby. It’s official due date is today, Lu must be ready to pop!

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Sunday Music

Posted on September 6, 2015 by nicdempsey

Judah and the Lion – Back’s Against the Wall

It’s a bit Mumford & Sons but I love it…

here now I have been set free/fear has got no grip on me

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Weekend Tasklist

Posted on September 5, 2015 by nicdempsey

07/09/2015 – I’ve been not exactly sick this weekend but was under the weather and not feeling my sparkly best, so I’m ok with what I didn’t do, but I will try to do most of it during the week. It’s worth noting that the things I didn’t get to are the things I don’t like doing (hoovering and cleaning the floors are the one housework chore I would pay someone to do! It’s a loathing I come by honestly – it’s Ma’s most hated job too!) or required too much effort, it’s easy to change the bed but ironing means getting the iron and ironing board set up! 

Because Saturday is slightly jam packed (allotment volunteering, making a birthday cake, helping Kathy set up for her party, going to said party) and because I’m all about trying to be more intentional and organised this month. I’m bringing back the weekend tasklist! I’m going to update it as I go, so if you’re bored and want check what I’ve managed to do, come back on Sunday night and have a look!

Kitchen

  • General clean (sort out the recycling and rubbish, mopping the floor and general cleaning)
  • Clean the oven

CookingIMG_3051

  • Food prep for next week.
    • Bake Kathy’s cake
    • Make muffins
    • Make bread

Bathroom

  • General clean (mop floor, change towels, empty bin, clean bath, sink and toilet)

BedroomIMG_2726

  • General clean (sweep floor, change bed, dust, general tidy)

Living RoomIMG_3150

  • General clean (sweep floor, dust, tidy sofa, put things away etc)

Hall

  • Hoover

General things

  • Shopping
  • Washing (clothes wash, white wash, towel wash)
  • Ironing
  • Wash make up brushes
  • Water plants
  • Back up laptop
  • Charge kindle, ipad and camera batteries
  • Handwashing
  • Exercise

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Friday Links

Posted on September 4, 2015 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! Last week’s impromptu blog holiday means that some of these links are a bit old but never mind!

Affordable sparkling wines that aren’t Prosecco. Ha! the Charles de Fère Brut is currently my favourite fizz and I bought 6 when it was £7 a bottle and 25% off six!

New Zealanders cull the wrong bird. File under not sure whether to laugh or cry but they’ve reduced the population by 5% so I’m going with cry

New London Theatre. Could be interesting.

‘Affordable’ shared ownership flat for £1 million.

Where could you buy a house in England and Wales. It’s not good for me, 77% of the country is out of my price range. I can’t even afford Amble and I’d need another 100k or so to afford anywhere where I currently live..

America should do better with gun control

PMS Survival Kit. Bring it too me now, preferable with a tub of ice cream and a gin and tonic…

Tom Holland on the ruins at Palmyra  ISIS is not medieval, but they are barbaric and blowing up history is actually the least worst thing they are doing.

The hypocrisy of the West about the ‘migrant crisis’. I’m really struggling with this but this is about right..

it is just standard Western hypocrisy laid a little more bare than usual. If you actually want to help Syrian refugee children like the little boy in the viral photo, it’s not enough to care about this single dead child; you have to care about living refugee kids too, and in fact you also have to care about living refugee adults. If the image of the Syrian refugee boy made you feel something, that’s great, but it only matters for making an actual difference in the world if you can apply those feelings to living refugees as well.

 

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