Shopping, books and brain shaped jelly

I've been thoroughly enjoying the unexpectedly warm, sunny days but the fallen leaves and the nip in the air this morning reminded me that we are now very definitely into October.

I went shopping with my daughter Ivy yesterday. I do enjoy buying new things but there is a very insistent voice in my head that holds tightly to the purse strings and convinces me that I don't really need the majority of the items that catch my eye. Luckily for my retail therapy (less luckily for my bank balance) Ivy's voice is louder and with her encouragement I came home with far more bags than I expected! I went a little bit mad in the underwear department and now own as many pretty, cleavage enhancing bras as I do shapeless sports ones designed to hold everything as flat and motionless as possible. My girlie side has been indulged.

With it being October, the influence of Hallowe'en is evident in the shops (alongside the expanding Christmas ranges). In Primark, I continued an annual tradition of buying Hallowe'en socks and found a must-have glow in the dark T shirt depicting the iconic Mickey Mouse silhouette constructed from three spider's webs. The Hallowe'en range in Asda was fun too. I loaded my basket with skull tableware, candles and the best thing EVER - a brain jelly mould. If my girlie nature was indulged by lingerie, my gothic side was leaping for joy with these few acquisitions.

The start of a new month also brought to mind my resolution to make 12 small changes for the better throughout the year. It has been far more effective than the traditional New Year's Resolution  approach that rarely lasts beyond January. Here we are rapidly approaching Christmas and I am still going strong.

My September change was simply to Read More Books which tied in beautifully with my mum discovering a new charity shop with extensive stocks of paperbacks and hardbacks for sale at 4 for £1. She freely admits that it has become something of an obsession to pop in, choose four books and add them to the pile that grows far quicker than she can ever hope to read them. Dad is a little despairing by the disparity between bookshelf space and books but mum keeps him sweet by going to the charity shop and searching out the books about trains or World War II for him. He can't complain then, can he she says, knowingly!

Every time my mum finishes a book, she passes it on to me, usually with the glowing review that it was  the best story she's ever read. She was taking a long time to read a particularly thick novel by Jilly Cooper. Rather than keep me waiting, she went to the charity shop and bought an identical copy for me (along with three more titles to qualify for the 4 for a £1 deal). You can almost hear my dad sighing with resigned defeat. As well as the books she has finished reading, she also brings me books I might like. I really am spoilt for choice and enjoying stories that I would never have picked for myself.

Once I finish a book, I give it back to mum to return to the charity shop... and while she's there it would be wrong not to look through and see if there are four more she could buy for a pound  (cue dad's exasperated eye rolling).

I love my never ending supply of 'lucky dip' reading material courtesy of mum's obsession but I do have to balance it against my own backlog of books that I want to make time for. It is not unusual any more for me to be part way through three books at any one time (four or five if you include non fiction). Right now I am reading: Overheard in a Dream by Torey Hayden (one mum thought I would like), the brilliant Game of Thrones series by George RR Martin (my choice on the Kindle) and The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh (recommended by my daughter Taylor).

I can think of nothing nicer as the October evenings close in than to snuggle up (halloween socks keeping my feet warm) with a good book (and possibly a brain shaped jelly!)

More ParkRunning

This morning I completed my second Parkrun.

It was one of those mornings when both little ones were still fast asleep so there was the promise of a luxurious (and rare) lie in. I cannot believe that the idea of getting up and running 5K was an alluring enough prospect for me to forgo said lie in - but such is the grip that the running bug has on me, it was.

The weather was a beautiful. The sort of weather that completely restores your faith in the possibility of spring. It was a bit fraught getting the little ones ready and out of the door but they had the promise of playing in one of the well equipped playgrounds that form part of Telford Town Park where we were headed.

My husband has an injury from falling off his bike (an absolutely stupid accident that would have been comedic had it not hurt him) so he was opting out of the run. My daughter's boyfriend was busy piling tons of rubble from a demolished wall into a skip. That left just me and my daughter to join the other participants - each driven to run for their own personal reasons and coming together to take part in this wonderfully friendly and relaxed event.

We ran.

I'm not going to say it was easy - it never is - but it was less of a struggle than the previous time when I was still recovering from a nasty cough and finding breathing a lot more difficult that it should have been. I was much more aware of the surroundings this time now that all my attention wasn't focused on gasping at  much needed oxygen. It really is a lovely place to run, especially in the sunshine. I enjoyed the moment so much more. A quick glance at my watch showed me that we were making good time (for us!) which was very motivating. A final push at the end gave me a finish I was proud of in contrast to staggering over the line last time.

As you cross the line, you are handed a token which you have scanned with your own personal barcode a little further on. By some magic, this enables the Parkrun people to put your results up on the website. I was absolutely delighted to have knocked a whole 2 minutes off my time.

To put our achievement into perspective, I should probably share a slightly embarrassing story. My daughter and I were intrigued by a Walker who had joined the Parkrun. I'm not talking about a casual stroller, this was a man in sporty shorts with the strange hip rolling action of speed walkers. He was ahead of us at the start but  it didn't seem too onerous a task to catch up and overtake him - after all, he was walking and we were running. This did not happen. For a while he was a steady distance ahead, tantalisingly close, but the distance started to open up. We were giving it all we had and he was charging away from us. Eventually, he disappeared from view. I'd like to think that this could be attributed to his athletic prowess and fantastic technique but I have to hold our plodding pace at least partly responsible!

My husband and two rosy cheeked children were there to greet and congratulate us at the finish. I loved that my little ones had got to play in the fresh air while we were running. There were no complaints from them when they were offered some additional playtime while my daughter and I went off to do a bit of shopping (seems a shame to be so close to a shopping centre and not take advantage!)

We bought ourselves a pair of running trousers each - slinky tight fitting ones instead of our tired old joggers. We are hoping that by dressing the part, we'll knock even more minutes off our Personal Bests!

Morrisons Bakery

The supermarket that I do the bulk of my weekly shopping in is Morrisons. In part, this is because it is very conveniently located but I do like the whole shopping experience - range, price, layout, special offers etc (although more special offers on the vegetarian foods would be appreciated as would keeping the fish fingers from creeping into the meat free freezer display!) I particularly like the bakery department, being a big lover of the carbo-licious bakery products.

I was delighted to be offered a selection of new bakery products to review. I collected my samples in store and was not disappointed. 

The Sourdough Boule (400g £1) was still warm and smelled amazing - a smell that is right up there with frying onions and new books. The floured surface marked with a cross gave it a rustic appeal and the dense textured dough made it a perfect warming comfort food, ideal as the seasons change and the weather turns colder. I served it in thick slices, generously buttered, with a bowl of chile. Delicious. This will definitely be on my shopping list for our annual bonfire party.

The Chocolate Twists (£1) looked lovely but I know I am not keen on confectioners custard or the type of chocolate used in pastries so I handed responsibility of taste testing over to 18 year old, ever hungry, George. He made short work of both pastries in the pack and his verdict was simply : "Gorgeous".

The final product to sample was the Tiger Paw (75p per pack or 2 for £1).

Tiger Bread is described as 'white bread with a savoury glaze'. Whenever we have tiger bread there is much debate as to what the 'savoury' glaze actually is. I just googled it and the answer is 'rice paste' (whatever that may mean). I always think it has a slight fishy flavour (not great for a vegetarian) but I do love the appearance. This particular tiger bread was shaped into bread rolls in a paw configuration which I thought was clever and cute.

The rolls were crusty with a light airy texture inside. My dad would have loved them but my personal preference is for a softer, doughier type of bread. 

I think it is fair to say that the Morrisons bakery range has something for everyone and I am definitely enjoying finding out which my favourites are.

The Importance of Staying Calm

I took advantage of the fact that the Teacher Strikes today had left my 14 year old daughter's school closed - she is going to Spain shortly and desperately in need of some new clothes, so we went shopping. I also had £40 of birthday money to spend on my little boy (my parents aways give money instead of presents).

It was going so well. We had found summer tops and shorts ideal for Spain, some gorgeous outfits for a little boy who had just turned one and a whole assortment of cars, boats and musical instruments to keep him happy. The only thing we were really struggling with was a swimming costume. My daughter is tall and statuesque and would look amazing in any of the skimpy bikinis that were on offer but she is also only fourteen, yet to feel entirely comfortable in her developing body and sensible enough to know that she would be self conscious and awkward having too much flesh exposed.

We decided to drive to an out of town retail park with a big Tesco and a Sports Shop in the hope that there would be better range of costumes to suit our needs.

As luck would have it, we found exactly what we were looking for and a few more things to add to the basket...  but when I came to pay, I realised that the credit card slot in my purse was unusually empty. I searched all the other slots on the off chance that in  a careless moment I had ignored my own OCD when it comes to wallet ordering but I knew it would be fruitless.

It is a horrible feeling of rising panic. I tried to remember where I had used it last and if there was any possibility that I might have left it in the machine there (it wouldn't be the first time!). I imagined some unscrupulous individual spending thousands of pounds of my credit as I stood there wondering.

My first priority was to find another means to pay for my shopping.  I had a debit card and a couple of other credit cards, none of which I knew the PIN number for. Thankfully, my daughter had a twenty pound note in her purse which when put together with my cash and a Club Card voucher covered the amount we owed.

With the first crisis of How to Pay for my Shopping out of the way, my concerns returned to the Where Did I Use my Credit Card Last conundrum. Eventually we traced it back to the Early Learning Centre. Our departure from there was somewhat hasty and stressful with my three year old daughter digging her heels in and refusing to come out of the Little Tikes Coupe car that she decided she rather liked.

I had picked up the ELC catalogue when I was there so it was an easy enough task to find the contact number for the branch and give them a ring on my mobile which confirmed that I had indeed left my credit card in their machine. With my fears of being the victim of a massive credit card fraud allayed, it was a simple case of driving back into town, revisiting the shop and being reunited with my plastic companion. Slotting that card back into its allotted position in my purse restored normality.

We did a little bit more shopping before we all decided we had just about had enough and wanted to go home.

I don't  know what had possessed me to park my car in the bay next to the trolley park. It meant I couldn't open the doors wide enough to be useful on the driver's side so there was a bit of acrobatic climbing through required. Whether it was that or trying to juggle babies, shopping and buggies I don't know but I threw my keys onto the driver's seat and loaded everything into the back of my Galaxy whilst my daughter strapped the baby into his seat. She finished before I did so she shut the back door and waited for me to finish and climb through into my seat from the passenger side before she could climb through, strap the three year old in and finally get herself seated. I slammed the boot down. There was a whirring and clunking of central locking activating.

I have a fear of locking my babies in the car. I actually have little rituals that I follow when I am on my own with them to prevent it happening. Now here I was with a worried looking teenage daughter questioning why the doors were locked, two little children locked inside as yet oblivious to the situation and car keys sprawled in an untidy heap in plain view on my driver's seat.

I could have panicked. I didn't.

My three year old is extremely bright and capable and thankfully not buckled in!

I asked her to do a little job for me and instructed her to pull on the shiny handle which I though would release the locking mechanism. She didn't really understand what she was supposed to be pulling so tried a few different things. Me shouting my instructions through the window of the car attracted attention. A very well meaning passerby came to offer assistance. Unfortunately, the worried face of a stranger shouting further instructions to an already slightly bemused little girl did nothing to help. It was lovely of her to care enough to try and help but I was really pleased when she apologised profusely because she had to go back to work. To my relief, my daughter eventually pulled the right handle... but the relief was short lived. It had not unlocked the car.

I will be forever grateful that my little girl likes to climb and clamber. I directed her into the front seat to get the keys. I have a million keys on my key ring but the car keys are distinctive. She got the right key in her hand and from that point it was simply a case of getting her to push the remote locking button but by now, she was starting to lose interest in this game.

I don't really know how I was still managing to stay calm but I was. A combination of gentle encouragement, making her laugh and promising that if she pressed the button I would open her packet of sweets for her restored her interest long enough for her to squeeze the car key against another on the ring. By some miracle, the whirring and clunking I longed to hear sounded. The car was open. For the second time in less than an hour, normality was restored.

I have a superstitious belief that these thing come in threes. A lost credit card, children locked in a car.... what, I wonder, is next?