Stepping and chatting, stepping and chatting!

[CamperWidow]

Thought I'd Shiny a new chat thread for us!

There's and , help yourselves!

I love clean bed sheets.

I am off to bed soon too.

Sleep well everyone.

Well, she did it!!! I lost count of how many times I went in, but it was worth it!!!!! Knackered now though, would it break the rules if I snuggled up with her on the sofa for a kip???

YAY for Muddles sleeping in her big girl cot!

Sorry I didn't come back last night -- MrScout was doing something with the internet and it kept dropping out on me. I gave up and went to bed.

Clean bed sheets are the bees knees.

Hurrah for muddles!

That is brilliant Camper. Well done Muddles! It is worth the effort Camper and you are teaching her an important skill too.

Scout I hope you have a restful day. I know others have it harder but it doesn't negate that things are hard for you sometimes and you should feel allowed to express that. It sounds to me like you just need a breather.

Thanks guys, I just kept repeating that to myself last night. She needs to do this for her, me and everyone. The majority of times I went in it was just cus she'd lost her dummy so I'm hoping soon I won't have to pick her up, just plug her up!!!

Scout Carrots is right. Can you get some me time? Maybe drop Toddler off somewhere and just take 30mins or something?

name inspired by zoo's Cats in the kitchen but also cause I started another food thread.
If anyone is bored, please come along with ideas.

I wish I was just round the corner Scout and I would take TS round to mine for a play and you could slob on the sofa for a morning.

Mind you I have been a totally grumpy cow this morning, mostly prompted by ds waking me up at an ungodly hour when I had read my book to an ungodly hour at the other end of the night.

Dd has gone out. She did this last weekend and seemed to squeeze out of doing some of her weekend jobs which left me with stressful chaos for the week. Today I made her take responsibility and do some of her jobs before she left. This required shouting and screaming to get her to move it and do them

Dh's solution was to put on his running gear and try to go out with the dog. He does this a lot so I put my foot down and asked him (nicely) not to go until I was washed and dressed so he could supervise them doing jobs while I washed and so an adult was here to speak to dd's friend's mum if I was still getting dressed when she came.

He was pretty unimpressed but I don't thin IABU really. He will get a run today and a game of golf tomorrow. I will be stuck managing the dcs and in the mess all weekend. It is not unusual that he gets this time either so he has to pull his weight at other times imo.

Sorry for the rant. It has been a pretty hostile and unpleasant morning.

DD is out now, dh and pup have gone running so it is just ds, Twilight and me now and much, much calmer

And I am finally getting a and my breakfast. It feels like a huge treat, rather than just my breakfast!

Where is your thread Cats?

It's called "Learning to cook". I couldn't think of an appropriate title.
I can do basic's but need to learn a lot more.

Sorry you not had a good morning so far.

I found it, right at the top of the food section Cats.

I have a recipe that you might find good. I don't want to put it there because I am not sure you want recipes there, more ideas of where to go to start.

This was made for me by a friend years and years ago and is a family favourite. We had it last night.

I make it with quorn pieces but it is supposed to be made with pork cut into cubes but I think it would also work with chicken chopped into cubes.

Goulash

Heat some oil in a large saucepan and brown your meat in it gently.
Move the meat into a casserole dish.
Add a little more oil if necessary and warm it gently.
Add 2 onions chopped up into little pieces (diced).
Cook them gently in the oil until they look a bit see through.
Add about four carrots (peel them and cut them into thin circles).
Cook them with the onions for a while (maybe about 5 mins) until they are a little bit soft if you poke a sharp knife into them.
Add 3 full tablespoons of Schwartz paprika (NOT hot paprika or it will blow your head off) and one and a half tablespoons of flour.
Stir that round so that it coats the onions and carrots and cook it gently for a few minutes (maybe 3).
Add a pint of chicken stock but add it really slowly and stir it in as you go along. ie add a small beaker full and stir it in carefully and cook for about half a second, then add another half beaker and stir it in carefully and let it cook for a wee while (a minute) then add the rest.
If you have some left over wine (ha ha! Yeah right!) then add 3 tablespoons of that (great excuse to open a bottle though!) and stir it in and cook it for another minute.
Pour it over the meat in the casserole dish and cook it in the oven on a about 150 or 180 for 2 or 3 hours. Cook it with a lid on and add a little more stock if it looks dry.
Serve it with boiled rice and put a dollop of sour cream or natural yogurt on the top of each serving to make the sauce creamier.

It looks a long recipe but it is really easy and really tasty. Just make sure you use Schwartz paprika as I used Tescos own the last time and we had to bin it as it was so disgusting.

You are not alone on the crappy morning Cats.

Just want to say to everyone, "Sorry" if I don't always reply directly to your posts.
I am not great at social stuff. I don't want to seem ignorant. I think carrots has an idea of my social problems although they are not very obvious.
It must come across sometimes that I seem very self centred but I don't mean to be like that.
I do sympathies(sp?) with what others are going through, just not great at putting it into words.
Hope you all understand.

Cats you have nothing to apologise for.

Come and have a and cuddle up.

My morning has been lazy (still not dressed) DD is well into watching curious George cartoon. DS and DH have gone out.

Thanks for the recipe carrots. I need to buy a casserole dish. I don't have a fully stocked (cooking dishes/pans) kitchen as we used to have a tiny kitchen. Now we have a big kitchen though so I can get all the stuff

I medium pyrex one would do the job Cats. You could easily just cook it in a saucepan on a very low heat on the hob though, with the lid on. Just check it doesn't dry out. It is basically cooked once you finish stirring in the stock and let it simmer for 5 mins. I just cook it a long time on a low heat so that the quorn is soft and tender.

I just realised you were saying you were sorry I hadn't had a good morning, not that you were having a bad morning. Sorry!

The morning has improved now. Dh has been drawing and is now watching tv and relaxing and dh and dd are out.

The place is still a tip but none of it is my mess and I don't want to be seen to sort it for those who made it iykwim. There are things I will sort and things they need to learn to sort out themselves. Mine are older than most on this thread and I think it does make a difference in what my expectations of them are.

What did you have for breakfast carrots?

I am keen to empty and refill the games/jigsaw cupboard.

It is not that long since it was done but they insisted on keeping some jigsaws that they haven't touched since it was last tidied and which are far too young for them.

I think they could be stored in the loft to see if anyone has a craving for them and if not they could be moved along.

I am just chilling for now though. I need them to sort the kitchen table first.

DD is sitting on my lap now so I might have to do short replies. Takes longer to type with a wriggly toddler on lap.

I have been hunting for bargain beads on ebay so I can make more bracelets.

Must be lovely to do something you enjoy. I used to do drawing on a Sunday afternoon but since I've had the DC I struggle to find the time. --should spend less time on MN--

No, really, I am happy you can do something you like