Want

Posted on July 29, 2014 by nicdempsey

On Sunday I was in need of a nap and I didn’t want to lie on the sofa or go to bed. What I wanted was one of the oversized cushions that we used to have in the living room, that I think Mum and Dad (probably Dad said “let’s buy those” and Ma ended up paying) I think from Habitat it is late ’70’s heyday.  They were brilliant for lolloping on the floor and I miss them.

This showed up on my Facebook feed last night. It’s like the universe is sending me a message and it’s my birthday next week…just saying..

 

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The weekend

Posted on July 28, 2014 by nicdempsey

Things I did this weekend…

…read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a 22 month old

…caught up and drank wine with the 22 month old’s mum

…boggled at how big 22 month old was and enjoyed watching him explore my flat and chat (he’s very chatty!)

…had my hair cut and coloured. (I like to go into my birthday without the grey hair visible!)

…had a lovely lunch with my mother and ate a really good steak!

…read two books

…cleaned 2 kitchens and two bathrooms (only one of each were mine)

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…did the food shopping (again this week, I will be mostly eating hummus and toast)

…worked out what I was doing about a new wardrobe, which is the last major piece of furniture I need for the bedroom. It’s only taken 5 years…

…finished Saturday’s paper (on Sunday but reading the whole thing is one weekend is a triumph, I tell you, a triumph)

…did 4 loads of  laundry

…ironed 10 items of clothing

…changed the bed

…handwashing

…went to bed at 10pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights (this is what happens when you get to 40, people)

…was out of bed and doing things before 8am on Saturday and Sunday (see above)

…was out of the house before 9:30am on Saturday and Sunday (it’s like I don’t know who I am anymore)

…spoke to the eldest godson and have booked 26 August 2015 in my diary to attend his wedding (that makes me feel much older than 40)

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…got and removed a splinter from my thumb

…made sourdough

…ruined my nail varnish and had to replace it.

Things I didn’t do this weekend…

…buy cherries

…hoover

…buy cheese from The Cheddar Deli..it was a close thing though..

…pick up my dry cleaning

…take a shirt that makes me look like a sofa back to the shop..

…dust

What did you get up to this weekend?

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Friday Links

Posted on July 25, 2014 by nicdempsey

This week went by ridiculously quickly, well that’s not quite right Monday and Tuesday dragged and then on Wednesday my brain got full up and the rest of the week flew by. Links this week are minimal, the world is full of chaos and I just can’t any more so I retreated into fiction re-read The Spanish Bride and am about to re-read John Kincaid’s memoirs. It’s been that kind of a week!

1) Israelis gather on hillsides to watch the Gaza bombing. I keep thinking about John Woodward Philip – “Don’t cheer boys, the poor devils are dying”

2) This about hunger and food bank usage in the US is worth a read.

3) Bourbon Slush Punch…I really, really want a garden so I can have a garden party and serve this!

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On being busy

Posted on July 24, 2014 by nicdempsey

I haven’t been really busy at work for a while. Yes, I have things to do but I’ve been getting it all done and not working late. I’ve felt quite bad about it really because everyone else has been rushed off their feet in that no-one else can help way and although I’ve assisted where I can, I haven’t been working in the same way.

It’s been nice, getting things done on time, having the space to get the small stuff done, sorting out email and tackling all the stuff that isn’t as I’d like it to be. I spent a glorious afternoon last week, re-arranging our departments joint email and deleting old emails. It’s been lovely being able to be responsive to other people and having the time to take some other things. It’s felt like a holiday.

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Yesterday, I had a meeting with my boss and I realised what else that ‘time off’ has been good for because all of a sudden I can see what else I want to do. How I want the team I work in to function, how I want to promote the work we do, how we need to strengthen existing relationships, build new ones, change some existing ones so they are more healthy, and expand our reach with the organisation. Behind all of this, we are currently re-working our processes and the structure behind that and bringing a new person into the team.

We have a deadline of the beginning of December to have it bedded in and start promoting it (and it needs to be done by then because I’m off from the 19 Dec to the 3 Jan and no-one is keeping me from that holiday!). We also need to keep all of our current work going during in all this. And all of a sudden, I’m busy and work is taking up more brain space than it’s done in a couple of months.

A part of me is excited about this, I like doing this kind of work I’m good at it and my brain needs it because I recognise that as enjoyable as the last couple of months have been, I’m atrophying just a little. On the other hand, I’m worried because I’m really good at ideas but not so great at transition or stamina and a lot of this work involves me having to demonstrate both skills and take other people with me, who don’t necessarily share the same vision of the team that I have.

So I’m going to be busy at work until Christmas! Gulp…

 

 

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Food this week (the hot weather edition)

Posted on July 22, 2014 by nicdempsey

Apparently, it’s going to be hot all this week. Yes, I know it’s not as hot as other places, but it is six C hotter than normal for this time of year and it’s London, this city is really not designed for hot weather.

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I especially don’t cope well with the hot weather, I’m not sleeping well (no one is sleeping well), I have huge bags under my eyes and along with everyone else would like to live in a fridge! My only goal this week is to do minimal cooking. I baked a loaf of sourdough on the weekend, boiled some eggs and the fridge is full of salad vegetables.

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So breakfasts will be toast with a hard boiled egg and some ham and veg. Lunch will be cous cous salad or sprouted lentil salad.

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Dinners will probably be oatcakes, hummus and some kind of protein. I may make a frittata or grill some halloumi but don’t count on it.

 

 

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For snacks there will be cherries and smoothie ice lollies.

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Monday

Posted on July 21, 2014 by nicdempsey

How did it get to be Monday already?

The only plans I have for the week are to get through it and not melt. It’s hot around here at the moment and yes, there are other places in the world where it’s hotter and people survive but we are English and don’t cope well with extreme weather.

Oli takes selfies now and that face (unhappy with the blue tongue) sums up how I feel about Monday!

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Friday Links

Posted on July 18, 2014 by nicdempsey

It’s Friday but honestly, today I can’t say it feels happy. The situation in the Ukraine is about to go bang due to a plane being shot down and 298 dead people. Israel has just upped the ante with a ground invasion of Gaza and so far the death count is Israel 200 – Hamas 1. It feels like the world is going to hell in a handcart.

This week’s links

1) Stupid, stupid, stupid. What not to do with contact lenses, more horrifying are the horror story comments.

2) An Israeli explaining why Israel bombing the Palestinians won’t work. Also the best explanation of what is actually happening over there.

Even after operations such as Defensive Shield, Summer Rains, Cast Lead, Pillar of Defense, and the Second Lebanon War, I still cannot get used to the unshakable consensus that takes hold of the Israeli public. I would still like to believe that this whole thing is a misunderstanding, and that if my own people would only give some more thought to the reality in the occupied territories, they would change their minds overnight. I want to believe that they don’t fully grasp the nature of the occupation, which is why they are so enraged by whatever the Palestinians do. This mindset leads to yet another violent Israeli response, which only paves the way for the next escalation. I do not know if this line of thinking is more naïve or more patronizing on my part, but what other explanations are there?

3) The perfect old-fashioned, or my version, or the ‘improved’ version I think I prefer them with rye but I’m all about experimentation!

4) Does reading make you short sighted? I have no-one to blame but my book worm habits!

5) Mark Steele on the Israeli bombing. Which points out the ridiculousness of the Israeli campaign.

6) Israel has lost it’s ability to think strategically.

 

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Good things

Posted on July 17, 2014 by nicdempsey

This week has not been epic. I’ve been struggling to hang onto my usually sunny mood, yesterday to remind myself that life was not terrible I made a list of good things. Here it is

1) Books, a world with books is a great place to be.

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2) Which leads on to the amazingness of living in this time, in this place. Where working class girls are taught to read and write. Where it’s expected that we can and education is right not a privilege. My Granddad left school at 14 like most of the boys in his class, I’m not that far away from literacy being unusual among my class and sex and there are places in the world where that’s still the case.

3) Watching Oli win his races at the school sports days thanks to the wonders of video, he was so pleased with himself!

4) Sarah calling on Monday, just to say hi. Sarah has the best timing in the world – thanks, lovely!

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5) Godchildren 2 to 5 calling to sing La Marseillaise on Bastille Day

6) Cherries

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7) Gin….(and whiskey and champagne and the ability to make cocktails!)

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8) Sunshine. Yes is it really hot at the moment and my breathing is a bit screwy but London in the sunshine is lovely.

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9) Also London. I really love my city…

10) My family are pretty fantastic too.

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This is just 10 easy things, there are lots of others and it’s impossible to be uncheered when I actually think about what is good in my life instead of what is bad!

What are the good things that cheer you up when life is less than fantastic?

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I give in

Posted on July 16, 2014 by nicdempsey

Sometimes I don’t think there has been a day in the past 10 years when I’ve woken up feeling refreshed by a good nights sleep. Most days, I stagger out of bed wishing I could go back to it. If asked how I am the first thing that springs to mind is ‘tired’.

I’ve written about my before and the things I do that help and they do help, but they don’t cure and recently my sleep woe has been compounded by my next door neighbours baby. That baby cries and cries and cries. Yeah I know it’s what babies do, but I don’t have a baby but because the baby and I share a bedroom wall, I’m as awake as it’s parents are when that baby is crying. On Friday, that was from about 9.30pm to 4am, I didn’t sleep well at all and feel like I’ve been playing catch up ever since..

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This week, I just gave up and have been going to bed really early. I’m normally in bed at 10pm on school nights anyway but on Monday night, I was so tired, I just did what needed to be done at home, dinner, lunch making, washing up, removing makeup and brushing teeth and went to bed. At 8.45pm. I read for half an hour and then went to sleep.

I did the same yesterday. I don’t know that it’s helping me feel less tired but I’m finding getting up a bit easier. Does that count?

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Cherry Pie

Posted on July 15, 2014 by nicdempsey

I love cherries. I love everything vaguely cherry flavoured. Cherry flavoured slush puppies, cherry brandy ice lollies, cherry jam, cherry coke (and Dr Pepper), cocktail cherries, even the bright red full of bad chemicals maraschino cocktail cherries which I can eat straight from the jar.

So right now, in the middle of cherry season, I am in heaven. I’ve been buying about 2 kilos of cherries a week!

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Mostly eating them just as they come and they really don’t last all that long. I’ve made a batch of cocktail cherries and a batch of cherry brandy and I decided this week would be the week of the cherry pie.

I had pastry in the freezer, (this one, although I use the ‘bung it all in food processor’ method to make it) which I use for mince pies at Christmas and should give you an idea of how long it’s been in the freezer and I had this recipe for the filling, I used less sugar than suggested (1/2 a cup) and the result was very tasty but not too pretty.

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It tasted great though!

 

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