Lifestyle - An Easter Bunny Trap

Happy Easter! Hope you're all having a lovely day and haven't eaten too much chocolate. Madam and I did have some choc for breakfast, but mostly we've been good! 

I decided, as madam was so excited about the Easter bunny coming, we should make a big deal about it. After all, she put whisky and biscuits out for Santa... I'd seen a recipe on Pinterest that I thought it might be fun to do. It's called Bunny Bait and is basically melted chocolate with extra bits added in and then set.

For this we used a 100g bar of milk choc and melted it down. I then poured it into one of the little disposable traybake tins I have. We sprinkled chopped up mini eggs and gummy bunnies (no, didn't think that one through, madam was aghast!) as well as a crushed biscuit over the surface. Pressed it down slightly so it would definitely stick and put it in the fridge to cool. 

We took it out and put some in a glass for the bunny and ate the rest as an after dinner treat. It was yum! After madam was in bed and somewhere around supper time I put madam's present next to the glass and took most of the bait to chomp on whilst I read my book.

As I went to bed I laid a trail of mini eggs down the stairs for her to find in the morning. I don't care if it was completely over the top, this morning was so worth it! 

The best part was that she was so excited about the trail and the bait being gone she didn't even notice her present at first. I had to send her back to look for it. And then again to pick up the mini eggs so she could eat them! She was really happy with her gift, which was good.

We then had bacon and pancakes for breakfast and headed to church where madam learned about the Easter story and ate more chocolate. Life is good when you're 5.5! 

So how about you? Did you have fun this Easter? And if you don't celebrate it, then I hope you enjoyed the beautiful Spring day that's out there :-)

Love, Pearl. 

     

biblical unicorns

source: http://www.awomensclub.com/free-online-unicorn-colouring-page.php

 

I was at church this morning. It's the first time we've been since the start of summer as there is no Sunday school in the holidays and we've been otherwise occupied (wedding, hospital) since school has restarted. 

 

It was nice to be back and to chat with our friends there. One of the men that has been helping with the Sunday school has decided to go to theology college and become a fully fledged youth minister so he was telling us about how he made the decision and why. It was nice to be able to hear someone speak so passionately about something that they obviously care deeply about.

 

We sang a few hymns and one in particular resonated with me. After A had told us about how he heard his "calling" we sang a song about responding to the Lords call. Now, I'm not a majorly religious person, but for some reason the chorus made me cry. I am capable of crying over adverts and The Simpsons, so it's not particularly unusual for me. But it made me wonder again about my own faith.

 

I keep wondering what it is that drives me to go to church every week when I don't claim to be a religious person. Part of it is to do with the sense of community and belonging that I get from it. Important for someone who regularly feels lonely. I also know that people notice if I'm not there. I am often stopped in the street and people always ask after madam.

 

When we were in hospital last week I text one of the ladies who works on the family support team to ask her to put madam in the prayers for that week. She not only did that but also arranged for a wee present for madam to be posted through our door that was waiting for us when we got home. Its this level of thoughtfulness and caring that constantly surprises me. And then I think, why should it?

 

This is a church, this is what it is meant to do. Look after the members of its community, visit the sick and the elderly, be a family for those who need one. And I have never felt that so much from a church as I do from this one. I only really went back to church when I was pregnant with madam. I had always gone at Christmas as I love the whole shebang, the carols, the decorations, the sense of hope in the air.

 

But when I was pregnant I began to see myself in a different way. I realised just how incredible humans are (well, all animals really). I had very little input on what was going on inside me, it just went into autopilot and did it itself. I can see why some people may go the other way at this point and see it as proof of there being no God etc.

 

I guess it comes down to how I interpret the religious teachings I received in my youth. I, like madam, went to Sunday school every week until I was about 10. I was told all the bible stories and I paid very little heed to them. And then when we started to study science at school I was even more dubious about what religion had told me. I was as disinterested in church as pretty much every other teenager I know. The few services that I was made to go to seemed to be extremely long and very tedious.

 

What changed was when I became older still and learnt about our ancient storytelling traditions. How all our histories were told as stories. How they must have been made to be interesting so that people would listen and how they had messages and told truths.

 

I don't for a moment believe the world was made in 6 days, I pretty much haven't since I learnt about evolution. But the people who wrote the bible (and especially the very first parts of it) didn't know about it. And how do you explain to the uneducated masses about how it all came together. You make it simple, you make it understandable. You set it out in easy chunks. And no, of course there are no dinosaurs in the bible, no-one had ever heard of them.

 

There are unicorns though. Really. And they are mentioned on about 5 different occasions. For example: Isaiah 34:7 "And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness."

 

Yeah, so the bible is totes accurate and should be taken completely at face value. Give me a break! Its the people who insist upon it that need help! And we don't even have all of it. There are many more parts of it that have been deemed unsuitable by the Vatican. Why? Surely adding in as much as possible would help us to understand our religion more.

 

If you've ever watched the film "Stigmata" you'll have heard of the Gospel of Thomas. This is alleged to be Jesus' own words recorded by Didymos Judas Thomas. They make interesting reading, and if you are interested I've put a link here. The quote that the film made famous is actually from two separate parts of the scroll, so don't expect to find it verbatim!

 

I'm not sure I can explain why the church has come back into my life. It's an appreciation of a higher power (whatever that may be) and my need to feel that someone and something is watching over me. I know how much of a miracle a body can perform, I have held my new born child in my arms. And all I could think was how did I make something so amazing without even thinking about it! I have a feeling, someone else helped.

 

I know that a lot of people reading this might have no faith, so I apologise if this was all irrelevant to you. I know my belief is only mine. And I am just happy to have found it and that it brings me comfort in the dark places. If you want to challenge me or ask me questions you are, as always, welcome to. (but be nice or I won't answer! ;P)  

 

  

Ah, so that's what filibuster means!

Strange morning. I woke up to lots of social media excitement about a Texan senator and the magnificent, marathon filibuster she had pulled off. I have to admit to 1) knowing nothing about it beforehand and 2) not being very sure of what a filibuster meant (I am not very politically aware).

 

So, I read the newspaper article and found myself crying about the achievement and the sheer amount of effort and determination Wendy Davis had put in. I am in awe of anyone who has the guts to stand up and be counted that way. I linked the article to my Facebook page to show my support.

 

But it made me think about my feelings on abortion. Which happen to be a bit complex. I absolutely believe a woman has the right to choose what happens to her body. I don't think, in a civilised society, we can justify a woman not being allowed to make the decision on whether she continues a pregnancy or not. However, I would never have one.

 

This is because I believe life starts at conception and that all life is sacred. Whilst pregnant with madam I was offered the standard testing for Down's Syndrome. It took me mere seconds to refuse it point blank. I know that, even if I had been given a positive result, I would have continued the pregnancy. It didn't even guarantee a 100% definitive answer and carried a risk of miscarriage. No thanks.

Madam's first photo :)

if you look at this one carefully, you'll see she's waving!

I should be grateful to the midwife for not even batting an eyelid at my decision and just moving on to the next thing we had to talk about. 

 

I then tried to explain it to K. Then realised I should have just left him in the dark, it only confused him. Learning disabilities are not something he had any awareness of.

 

I am not sure what I would have done if the 20 week scan had revealed serious, life limiting disability. I guess I would have dealt with it at the time. I read this amazing blog from Down Side Up earlier this month and was so moved by some of the frightening statistics it contained. It did make me wonder what options mother's are actually being given. Talk of eugenics will always be terrifying to me.

Again, I do not think that any woman should have their choice taken away though. I believe unnecessary distress to the mother should be avoided as much as possible during pregnancy! Part of the reason I chose not to know was so that I could enjoy my pregnancy in blissful ignorance.

Sadly, I think abortion has almost become another form of contraception to some areas of society but it still isn't a reason to remove the privilege.

My mother tells me that her nana could remember doctors would perform "little operations" on the Victorian ladies in their care who couldn't cope with yet another mouth to feed. This was highly illegal at the time, and obviously only open to the people who could pay for this treatment. But it probably saved some women their lives, childbirth was incredibly dangerous.

And then there are those ladies who are dying because of their unborn child. The case of Savita Halappanavars who died because of strict Irish anti-abortion laws was terrifyingly needless. There are so many more women like her around the world who live in countries where they don't even have the option that the idea of somewhere like Texas trying to take it away from the women of their state is horrifying.

Now, I know they weren't trying to criminalise it, but they were restricting access to it in a dramatic fashion by making it very difficult for women to access abortion services and limiting the ways in which it could be performed. And this is where Wendy Davis came in. She stood up for all the women of her state. She had massive public support (which was obviously being ignored by the Texas House) including that of Barak Obama. And she did it. She talked for almost 11 hours and ended up earning a 15 minute round of applause that disrupted the House the vote couldn't pass before it's deadline.

She is my new hero. Well done Wendy Davis.  

project de-hoard is nearly complete

It's Easter! Or the first day of British Summer Time, whichever is more important to you...  I am mainly just thrilled we had a bit of sunshine at long last. I've never thought whether I suffer from S.A.D. or not, but I do always feel so much better when the days get brighter.

I have just about finished project tidy the living room. Which I am feeling fairly proud of myself about. There are still some things I need to go through. I have to do some major hoovering and there's a washing up mountain that seems to have emigrated in there. But, none-the-less, I think I might be on top of it!

So, the before photo can be seen in this post which was almost one of the first I wrote.  I can now show you the (almost finished) results.

 

 

 

As I said, not quite finished yet but all the rubbish is pretty much gone. I'm sure I'll keep finding pockets of it for a while to come.

 

 

The laundry mountain that seemed to have built up in there has also been pretty much cleared and I will go through it and pick out all the clothes that madam doesn't fit into any more. They have a new home waiting for them, which is awesome.

 

I have also managed to get my brother (older) to fix my issues with Office so I can now actually write for this camp I'm signed up to! My friend over at Small Print Larger will be thrilled! It is entirely her fault I got myself into this in the first place.

 

I even have virtual cabin mates... I shall fathom out what I do with this information as we go along... I'm really looking forward to getting started and may well have to start as soon as I'm allowed (midnight).

 

I think I've brought you all up-to-date for now. There will be more, there always is!

 

I wanted to leave you with a picture I'd knicked off Facebook, but I shall let you find it for yourselves. It's on my profile and made me laugh very loudly. :) 

spirituality and my ideas of it

Today, for those of you who follow these things, is Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday before Easter, where everyone goes into a chocolate frenzy. And I will be disappointed yet again as my parents have stopped getting me Easter chocolate and buy me smellies and things instead. (Ungrateful, me?)

But in all seriousness, I do go to church regularly and I do, mostly, try and be a good person. This I suppose is partly to do with the fact that I have been going since I was a child and it's a habit. But mostly because it gives me a sense of peace.

I hadn't been for years though until I met the husband. He went every week and I, naturally, went with him. I found the services in Greece (which is where we were at the time) really long and boring, but the community of the congregants was lovely to be part of. It's this sense of community that I had forgotten.

When I was back in the UK and on my own I didn't really go to church much. I have always loved the Christmas services, Midnight Mass in particular, so I went to those. But I was just drifting, like a lot of people.

It was only really when the husband moved to the UK that I started going more regularly. We got married at my local church which I had always hoped to do. And when your local looks like this:

 

And this:

 

 

 

You'd probably want to use it as a venue too! :) And we thought we'd join the Alpha course as it would be a way for the husband to get to know a few people. We met some lovely people and had a nice time learning a bit more about faith.

 

And then we moved to Scarborough, where our local church was pretty much just across the road from us. I didn't really go though as I was usually at work on a Sunday. Then, when I was pregnant something in me changed. The feeling of something growing inside me was humbling.

 

But it also made me think more about where I had come from and the deeper questions in life. I found a great deal of comfort in knowing there was something/one watching over me and this baby I was growing. If you read my blog post on the breakdown of my relationship you'll know that my pregnancy wasn't a completely happy time for me.

 

And shortly after madam entered my life my grandma left it. I was glad that she had lived to be able to boast of a great-grandchild to her friends at the nursing home where she and my grandpa were staying. And that she'd seen some pictures of her. Just sad that she didn't meet her.

 

I found myself in church on the Sunday after she'd passed and when everyone had left to go and get coffee in the parish hall I just sat, holding my precious madam so tight. Thinking about how we'd only had her christened a week ago and now it was just all sadness.

 

But in that sadness and quiet a peacefulness also stirred. I'm not sure if it really has anything to do with God and I'm sure a lot of people won't believe in it. But it works for me. I can find some peace and inner calm whenever I need it just by having some quiet reflection time in church.

 

It's probably just association, but I like it and I'm quite happy to go to church once a week to get it topped up again. And it makes me happy that I get to go and have a sing (which I've always enjoyed) and that the church community is so welcoming.

 

I don't live in Scarborough any more, I'm back in my home town. But that community came with me here. For I've been accepted into my church family just as if I had never been away. And madam is part of it too.  And even when I moved church (that's another story) I still felt like I belonged.

 

And I suppose if I feel like I belong to something it keeps me anchored when I'm feeling like the whole of my life is spinning around me too fast and I don't know where I'm going.

 

I'm not a massively religious person and I think everyone should be allowed to worship or not as they see fit, but I'll leave you with this as it has a soul soothing effect on me.