Friday Links

Posted on April 25, 2014 by nicdempsey

Hello and welcome to Friday! I’m informed by my Ma that my counting is off and my Grandad has actually been dead or ‘promoted to glory’ as his Salvation Army upbringing would have it, 16 years ago not 12 as I said yesterday. I’m confusing my grandfather with my father who has been dead 12 years. It’s not complicated, I’m just forgetful!

Here are this week’s links…

1) 20 lies parents tell their children

2) The local versus imported food argument

3) Although I don’t agree with all of it, it’s nice to see some evangelicals are starting to re-think how they approach LGBT people.

4) Two things about this story. One – a Moomin Cafe? Two – eating with a stuffed animal at the table takes me back to being a small kid!

5) 200 girls are missing in Nigeria. I knew about this, but I didn’t know that they hadn’t been found yet.

 

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On my mind

Posted on April 24, 2014 by nicdempsey

This week has turned to complete chaos. Ok not complete chaos, just not as organised as it should be. I’m blaming the fact that I can’t walk properly or bend down and keeping up with ‘things that need doing’ is almost impossible when the only reasonably pain free position is on your back lying on a hot water bottle.

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The list of things that need doing include taking down the air bed, currently in the living room (that Ma slept on Sunday night), taking the rubbish out, changing the bed and cleaning the bathroom. All of these things require bending that I just can’t do. It takes about half an hour for me to get dressed at the moment!

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I am really proud that there are three. Count them..three trays of cinnamon rolls in the house that I have not eaten. Yes ok, I did have to put them in the freezer to prevent that but I’m still calling it a triumph of willpower. I mean look at these things, they are really good and I’m not scarfing them down.

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The most popular post on this blog is the one about my Grandad’s bread pudding. It’s had over 2k views and yesterday someone tweeted about it. This seems apt, as tomorrow marks 16 years since he died. I don’t think about him every day but when I do think about him, I’m glad that I knew him and he was a part of my life, I know that lots of people don’t have good relationships with their grandparents but I’m thankful that I did.

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Projects, there are ideas in my head at the moment that need to actually happen. There are some picture frames that need spraying black, knitting that needs to be done, photos to scan and a ton of other creative stuff that I need to start doing and I will as soon as I’ve finished reading the current book…

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Yesterday, I overheard some of the most Waitrose conversations ever. A mother pointing out that buying ready to bake croissants and pain au raisin was actually saving her money because now she didn’t have to take the children to the cafe to buy them on Saturday morning. Which made me think about the things that we buy that seem over the top and/or extravagant but that save us money in the long run or help us feel better about ourselves. I would list my obsession with Dermalogica Microfoiliant and the Friday morning pain au raisin up there but I’m sure you all have some better examples.

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Catching up..

Posted on April 23, 2014 by nicdempsey

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m broken.

There is the mysterious rash that is still on my chest and still mysterious. There is my back that decided that working was not something it wanted to do on Saturday and has been hurting ever since. Seriously, it only hurts a little bit when I’m lying flat on my back with my feet on the sofa, unfortunately there is not a lot you can do lying flat on your back with your feet on the sofa, so movement and pain is what I’ve been doing because there is only so long that this view is interesting for!

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Added to the current mix there is the feeling blah and the ongoing two weeks a month of hormonal migraine fun. I just don’t feel well, however, I don’t really feel that sick either, I’m tired but honestly there’s nothing wrong with me that a three month holiday wouldn’t sort out. So I don’t think I’m actually ill, I just think that I’m 40 and tired and there’s only another 27 year to go until I retire!

So apart from all this sickness that isn’t really sickness, what else is new?

Well godchild no 3 (that’s Luc) broke his wrist on Good Friday, godchild no 1 (Ryan) got engaged, he’s 29 so that’s perfectly allowable but man I feel old now. I made lots of cinnamon rolls  and roasted lamb over the Easter weekend.

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Generally, despite the pain I’m currently in,, the sun is shining and although I have a ton of stuff to do, my life is pretty great.

And that’s about it for today….

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On the menu

Posted on April 22, 2014 by nicdempsey

This week’s menu plan is more of the same, I am still clearing out the freezer and it seems to be taking a while. It’s light on food preparation because

Breakfasts this week will be the same as last week, toast with hard boiled eggs and vegetables.

Lunch will be a combination of leftovers and this chickpea salad

Dinners  are all from the freezer more greek turkey burgers

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fishcakes which I made myself and are tasty but not at all photogenic. Also chicken enchilada soup

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Friday Night Pizza (dough, sauce) is essential to my sense of well being!

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The weekend is absolutely empty of plans of any description either food or social but I would imagine that one day will be a treat breakfast – say hello to the waffle.

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There is chicken in the freezer so I’m thinking that I’ll use that.

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Friday Links

Posted on April 18, 2014 by nicdempsey

It’s Good Friday, which means Easter weekend, yay for a four day weekend! This week’s links…

1) I know it’s a link to the Daily Mail (sorry) but this is Giles Fraser talking about Christianity and politics and being his usual combative and challenging self.

2) Capitalism isn’t working.

3) North Korea finds salon advert in London, ‘disrespectful’.

4) How John Green became AFC Wimbledon’s biggest sponsor. It could only be made more perfect if they had properly explained about the Wombles!

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Grapefruit Ironing Spray…

Posted on April 17, 2014 by nicdempsey

I love summer. I love being able to wear flip flops, I love that getting dressed when it doesn’t involve a hundred and ten layers just pulling on a dress, I love that the evenings are light and I love that the increase in light makes for a cheerful and happy Nic.

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What I don’t love, is the increase in ironing that changing to summer clothes causes because most of my summer dresses (and skirts and tops) are linen or cotton and that stuff needs ironing

Anyone else avoid ironing at all costs? During the winter I iron my pillowcases and my tea towels and the occasional dress or pair of trousers but most of my winter clothes just don’t require ironing to look good so I don’t bother. Sometimes, the pillowcases and tea towels sit in the ironing basket for weeks on end, which makes them difficult to iron because they are too dry, and they need dampening.

I’ve been using Cassie’s from Back to Her Roots lavender linen spray to see if it would help with my rampant sleeplessness issues and it occurred to me that I could use it whilst ironing my pillow cases, to help with the dampening. I did and it made my pillowcases smell great and my ironing easier.

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Lavender is for relaxing though, and when I’m ironing and doing anything other than actually relaxing, I probably don’t need to be relaxed. I also am obsessed with the smell of grapefruit at the moment, so I made up another batch using grapefruit essential oil instead of lavender. Grapefruit oil is supposed to have a number of benefits, including being an antidepressant and antiseptic, it’s also non-toxic, non-irritant, non-sensitizing and is non-phototoxic. However, it can irritate the skin if exposed to strong sunlight after treatment but I live in England and strong sunlight is not something I worry about too much and I’m not applying it directly to my skin. I used slightly more essential oil than Cassie did for the lavender spray. (I used the labels she had in the post because I’m not artistic!)

It almost makes the ironing more enjoyable.

What

  • One 100ml spray bottle
  • 1 oz witch hazel
  • 20 drops grapefruit essential oil
  • 3 oz water
  • funnel

How

Use the funnel to pour the witch hazel and the essential oil into the bottle, put the lid back on the bottle and give them a really good shake to combine the liquids.

Take the lid off and use the funnel to add in the water. Put the lid back on and yes you’ve got it, give it all another really good shake!

There you’re done.

Now go and do some ironing!

 

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Favourite things

Posted on April 16, 2014 by nicdempsey

Rhodia A5 webnotebooks

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I always have a notebook in my handbag, as I’ve got older they’ve become places that I write recipes, lists and other random things I need to remember and less about the inner workings of my tortured soul but I’ve always had a notebook. I also love stationary, there is something magical about world of possibility in a blank notebook.

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Although Moleskine’s are the darling of the notebook world, I am not that keen on them. It’s the paper, I mostly use fountain pens and moleskines are not fountain pen friendly, or at least not to my fountain pens. I hate it when my ink bleeds and this always happens in moleskines. Nothing bleeds through the paper in my Rhodia though and so it is the perfect notebook and I take it everywhere.

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It also comes in black which might not show so much dirt but the orange has grown on me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On the menu

Posted on April 15, 2014 by nicdempsey

This week, I’m continuing to eat from the freezer and trying to empty it.

Breakfast this week, will be sourdough toast with boiled eggs and vegetables.

Lunches will be leftovers and/or lentils and roasted vegetables (in the mix butternut squash, yellow peppers, red onions, baby plum tomatoes and courgettes)

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Snacks will be fruit, yogurt and a carrot cake muffin

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Dinners will only be three days because I’m out on Monday and Friday I’m at Ma’s, so I’ll take pizza dough for Friday night pizza because Ma has never yet turned down FNP! Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I’m going to have lentil bolognese which may or may not be stuffed into mushrooms, greek turkey burgers, and stir fry.

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Saturday will probably whatever is left in the fridge and Sunday will be lamb, this lamb in  fact, I always think I should do something else, there are so many lovely ways to roast lamb but this is so good, I can’t resist.

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 What are you eating this week?

 

 

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What happened last week

Posted on April 14, 2014 by nicdempsey

I spent most of last week, worrying about the mysterious rash and feeling quite tired. I do get brownie points for not taking any time off sick, I really wasn’t that sick I was just really tired, when I’m sick even the tinest bit my body reacts by making me sleepy. Given that generally I haven’t slept for more than 5 hours in a row for the last 9 years, this means I come home from work, have a nap for about an hour and then get up and sort myself out for the next morning, then go back to bed about 9.30pm and sleep until about 2am, spend 2 hours not sleeping and sleep until 5.30 ish. It makes me significantly not fun to be around and I spent most of the week, in bed or at work…

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On Friday night, I met Christelle for drinks and took no photos, it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other and we were far to busy talking…

On Saturday morning, Max and I finally met for coffee and Murphy came too. We went to W7 in Hanwell, which is lovely and has good cake!

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Lovely to catch up with Max, Murphy is going through the nearly 3 year old phase of needing mummy’s attention all the time (I remember it well with Oli) but she was pretty good and when we walked home, fell fast asleep!

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I also made a birthday cake for Adam…

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Which Kathy tells me was a hit! It’s always nice to know.

I did some housework but was so tired by about 7pm, I decided not to go to Grace, it starts at 8pm and by the time we’ve finished up, I’m not home until gone 11pm and I was just to tired for conversation.

On Sunday, I wanted to finish any tidying in the house and prep for next week. I’m going to the theatre on Monday night and it’s Easter next week so we have Friday and the following Monday off! Man, I love bank holidays, but because I have to fit five days work into four it’s makes for a busy week! Other than that, inspired by the weather, I went for a run, this has taught me some important things, 1) I’m out of shape, 2) I need to get another inhaler and 3) I need to run more often…

How was your week? What are your plans for this one?

 

 

 

 

 

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Weekend Task list

Posted on April 12, 2014 by nicdempsey

It’s the Saturday morning housework list.  This weekend I’m also making a friend’s birthday cake. This morning I’m meeting Max for coffee and hoping to get to Grace tonight, we’ll see how it goes.

Kitchen

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

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Cooking

  • Food prep for next week.
  • Make Adam’s birthday cake

Bathroom

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

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Bedroom

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

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Living Room

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

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Hall

  • Hoover

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General things

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

What are you crossing of the list this weekend?

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