10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About me Until Now!

 So I have been tagged by NudiePrincess over at The (Nuddie) Princess Diaries to reveal more of myself by answering 10 questions she has set. I hope she will be happy with my answers!!

1. What is your porn star name? (Name of your first pet & your Mothers maiden name).

Rag & Bones Batty

 My first pet was a gerbil or hamster (can't remember which exactly as it was a LONG time   ago) and he/she was part of a pair which I shared with my younger brother and as I cannot recall which was mine I thought my porn star name could have a longer name!

Yes, Batty really is my Mum's maiden name LOL

2. Your most delectable piece of lingerie?

Well now let me think.........truth be told since having Burton my sexy lingerie doesn't really get much of an airing!! Before I fell pregnant my BF and I lived with his parents so I would order sexy items from La Senza and save them for when we moved into his house (he spent 2 years renovating it) to wow him with. So how ironic that when we moved in I just found out I was pregnant!! So all those sexy under garments got packed way for a later date. Of course the  problem is now my body shape has changed, boobs are bigger and most of it doesn't really fit anymore!! So I do own some nice pieces but not sure if I will ever get the opportunity to wear them and wow my BF!

Mind you he prefers me to wear a thong - eurgh they are so uncomfortable - so to him that is about as delectable as my lingerie would need to be!!

3. Be a famous person for a day - who and why?

Hmmm so many people to choose from......It would be great to be Angelina Jolie for a day when it was a her and Brad only day, so I could do things to him I have only ever dreamed off LOL (one of which is to run my tongue along his fit upper torso and those side bits above his pelvis!!)

4. Your neighbour's dog chews up your prized, and very expensive, Manolos. What do you do?

Well if only I did own some Manolos what a SATC kinda gal I would be ;-)

I would kick its ass with my Birkenstocks!!! Really?

No in reality I would probably cry and scream an obsenity at it!

5. If you could only eat three things for the rest of your life, what would they be?

This is really hard because I LOVE food and have lots of favourites!! Ok I will go with :

Roast beef with all the trimmings (preferably my own or my Mums!)

Pasta dishes

Homemade cake  

6. Caught speeding. How do you get out of it?

Well this has happened to me but I was caught on camera so no amount of eyelash fluttering, smiling sweetly and flashing cleavage saved me that night!!! I got out of it after paying £60 and having points on my license for four or five years!!

Mind you last week when leaving my local Tesco store a very gorgeous policeman stepped out of his vehicle and I thought to myself I would not mind him arresting me/searching me/taking down my details ahem!! ;-)

7. Secret crush as an adult?

OMG I fancy lots of people LOL

I guess my most recent is Robert Patterson as Edward Cullen in the Twilight films - I have always found the lure of a vampire sexy, I mean take Brad Pitt in An Interview With A Vampire!! Brad has been a crush since I have been about 17 so almost an adult!!

8. Which side of the bed do you sleep on?

BF sleeps on my left side ALWAYS so thats the side I sleep on!! it's funny because before I was with him I slept on the other!! My BF is funny because if we ever walk somewhere eg. rare night out I have to walk on his right side ALWAYS!! Strange huh?? I can sleep on any side of the bed really and walk on any side of a person _ I am easy like that!

9. Snog, Marry, Avoid?

Snog - Angelia Jolie just cos of those big lips and just to make my BF jealous ;-)

Marry - Brad Pitt 

Avoid - Chavs!!

10. Rudest word you have in your (child-free) vocabulary?

Probably the F word all though I only use it when I am really pissed off! I do love the word bollocks though it has such a good sound to it!! I don't really swear that much compared to a lot of people I know, its not that I am a prude I think its that people just know I am serious if a word starting with F pops out of my mouth!

So I guess I now need to tag some people to pass this meme on so I choose these lucky ladies:

Sarah over at Mumrara

Emma at MeThe ManAnd Baby

Mummy's Little Monkey

Fruity Oaty Banana Muffins

This is a great recipe for using up left over fruit or dried fruit and over ripe bananas. Plus with the added bonus of being low fat and dairy free, it should please most appetites!

I find I can make about 12 - 14 regular muffins and 4-6 tiny muffins from this recipe

Ingredients

300g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g light brown sugar
50g porridge oats , plus 1 tbsp for topping
2 medium bananas , the riper the better
284ml yoghurt - natural or flavoured up to your taste preferences
5 tbsp light olive oil
2 egg whites
150g blueberries/raspberries/strawberries/raisins or could use a combination or use any other fruit you prefer or even carrots and walnuts! Works with most fruit really!

Method

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4
Tip the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Hold back 1 tbsp of the sugar, then mix the remainder with the flour and 50g oats. Make a well in the centre.
In a separate bowl, mash the bananas until nearly smooth. Stir the yoghurt, oil and egg whites into the mashed banana until evenly combined.
Pour the liquid mixture into the well in the dry ingredients and stir quickly and sparingly with a wooden spoon. The mix will look lumpy and may have the odd fleck of flour still visible, but DO NOT be tempted to over-mix.
Tip in the fruit you have chosen and give it just one more stir.
Divide the mix between the muffin cases - they will be quite full - then sprinkle the tops with the final tbsp of the oats and the rest of the sugar. PLEASE NOTE this part is optional I find it tastes nice either way and I never use all the 1tbsp sugar!

Burton sized muffins

Mummy & Daddy sized muffins

Bake for 18-20 minutes for regular size an 10-12 minutes for teeny muffins until risen and dark golden.
Cool in the tray before lifting out onto a rack to cool completely.

Here are banana, apple and raisin ones (using toffee yoghurt)

Here are banana, raspberry and raisin ones (using raspberry yoghurt)

Nom nom nom great for finger food (Burton loves them) and with a cuppa for grown ups!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cake

This recipe is a bit of a faff to make compared to some sponge cake recipes, but the results of a light and airy chocolatey sponge are well worth the effort.

INGREDIENTS

200g of a good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

170g unsalted butter

300g light brown soft sugar

3 large eggs, separated

370g plain flour

11/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp peanut butter (your choice of smooth or unsmooth)

500ml semi skimmed milk

2 tsp good quality vanilla extract

BUTTERCREAM

125g unsalted butter

4 tbsp good quality cocoa powder (I used Green & Blacks)

150g icing sugar

2 tbsp peanut butter (I used unsmooth here to add texture)

METHOD

Grease and line 2 20cm/8inch cake tins

Pre heat oven to 170C fan/190C/375F/gas mark 5

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt either in microwave at 30sec intervals stirring every tine until melted, or over a pan of barely simmering water. Leave to cool once melted

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and cream until pale and smooth

Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl and beat and then add to the creamed butter and sugar and beat well. The add the cooled chocolate and the peanut butter and beat well.

Combine the remaining sifted dry ingredients into another bowl and combine the milk and vanilla in jug. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well and then do the same with the milk and vanilla. Repeat this until all has been mixed in.

In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form and then carefully fold into the creamed mixture using a metal spoon.

Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and bake in centre of oven until skewer comes out clean (about 30 minutes). You may find you have a bit of cake mixture left if so make into cupcakes and cook for 25 minutes. Let the cake cool down completely once removed from the oven.

To make the buttercream, whisk the butter and icing sugar together until they form a paste and then add all the other ingredients and whisk until combined. Put half the buttercream on one side of the sponge cake and sandwich together with the other one and then add remaining buttercream as a topping. I added peanut m&ms to decorate mine because the person I have made it for likes them! But you could add crushed peanuts instead.

This is how it turned out:

Nom nom nom!!

Recipe is loosely based on one from the book 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas I am linking this up to

Big Bake Off - Toffee & Crunchie Baked Cheesecake

Englishmum has set a bake-off competition which is open to everyone and anyone who can bake! All you need to do is make and bake a cake, tart, pie or bun and take a photo and then email it to her. The best photo wins a hamper filled with Green & Blacks chocolate.


I am also entering this cheesecake (along with my Strawberry & White Chocolate cake) because it is ever so naughty but ever so nice!!

I kind of made this cheesecake recipe up but it works!

For the base (20cm diameter spring form dish)

200g of crushed biscuits eg. shortbread or digestives - I used the new Cadbury's Crunchie biscuits

50g melted butter

mix together and place in dish and allow to cool

For the cake:

600g cream cheese or curd cheese

100g golden caster sugar

3 tbsp plain flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

150ml pot toffee flavoured yoghurt

chocolates of your choice - eg. crunchie (as used by me but it would work with malteasers, dime bar etc...)

225g jar caramel or dulce de leche or the Carnation toffee sauce in a tin

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor, stir in the butter and press the mixture into the base of a 20cm spring-form tin.

Bake for 10 minutes then cool. Turn the oven down to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1.

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar, flour and vanilla.

Add the eggs, yoghurt and chocolate and combine. Pour 1/2 the cheesecake mixture carefully on top of base and then sprinkle your chocolates of choice over mixture and then top with rest of cheesecake mixture.

Bake for 60 minutes, the filling should still have a slight wobble when it is cooked.

Cool and then spread a layer of caramel on top and decorate with the chocolate you used

* Note - best to make this the night before ideally or several hours before you require it to allow it plenty of time to cool down and then set in the fridge before you add the toffee sauce.

** Enjoy!!!! Mmmmm ;-)

The Gallery - Nature

This weeks The Gallery theme is Nature and as an extra incentive Tara over at 

Sticky Fingers has a prize!! Yes a prize! Not any old thing to give away, but a hamper filled with Green & Blacks chocolate nom nom nom!!

I love taking nature photographs there is such an abundance of beautiful things to appreciate with the lens. In fact it was hard choosing which photo/s to use because I have a lot covered by this theme within my collection.

In the end I have decided to go with Sunsets.

Remember the old saying:

Red sky at night, shepherds delight

I always think of this when I am witness to a beautiful setting sun and the sky it leaves behind once it has been absorbed by the horizon.The colours that the sky displays are so beautiful and vivid.

 I wrote a piece of poetry (for the Writing Workshop for Josie at Sleep is for the Weak) back in May where I describe a setting sun:

The glowing sun starts to set

and the twilight sky erupts,

ablaze with vibrant colours

its final incandescence unveiled.

Like a work of art hung in a gallery,

it paints the beauty of mother nature.

The world seems a better place

when the golden sun luminates!

This first photo of the twilight sky could be a painting I think. If it were, I imagine it to have been inspired by an artist with a tormented soul who is expressing so many emotions, as it seems to me to be so fiery and full of anger and  yet also showing love and beauty - just so dramatic. I love it!

This next one is again another example of the many different colours the post sunset sky reveals: purple, salmon pink, pink, lilac, grey just gorgeous! I was driving home one night and just had to pull over and capture it.

However, I do think that to witness a sun setting over the sea is an amazing sight and when you are on holiday or after a day in this country, it makes a perfect day in the sun end on a high aswell. Indeed as the dying rays reflect across the ripples and waves, it is almost giving you two sunsets for the price of one! 

I will stop writing anymore now and let you enjoy the photos I took at Westward Ho! beach here in North Devon, one cold January afternoon just as the golden sun was setting.

Cupboard Love!!

Right time for another Burton moment. :-)


Earlier I popped to the kitchen to fetch his water and when I returned the little monkey was climbing into his toy cupboard!

Here let me show you

Iggle Piggle there you are!

Quick Iggle Piggle before Mummy sees me!

Oh you have caught me!

Yes, can I help you with something?

Easy does it

He thought it was funny as well!

Big Bake Off - White Chocolate & Strawberry Cake

Englishmum has set a bake-off competition which is open to everyone and anyone who can bake! All you need to do is make and bake a cake, tart, pie or bun and take a photo and then email it to her. The best photo wins a hamper filled with Green & Blacks chocolate. 


So as I am always open to an excuse to bake a cake, I decided to take up the challenge and on Saturday I made a Strawberry & White Chocolate Cake. It comprises of a vanilla sponge with white chocolate chunks, sandwiched together with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream and decorated with pink vanilla buttercream, fresh strawberries and white chocolate shavings.

Here it is

If you would like to recreate this yummy cake here is how you can!

Strawberry & White Chocolate Cake

You will need:


For the sponge:


225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk
12 squares of good quality white chocolate


For the filling & topping:


125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g icing sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla ext rat
Red food colouring
Good quality strawberry jam
White chocolate shavings
A handful of fresh strawberries sliced (keep 1 whole)


Method:


Pre-heat oven to 160oC (fan) 180oC/350oF/gas mark 4
Grease and line two 20cm cake tins


Cream the butter and sugar together until pale in colour.
Put all of the dry sifted ingredients in a separate bowl
Add 1 egg at a time with a 1/4 of the dry ingredients and mix for a few minutes after each addition until all mixed.
Finally add the vanilla extract and milk beat again but do not over beat
Divide the mixture between the two tins. Then divide the white chocolate squares between the tins and sink each square just below the cake mixture surface.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 mins or until golden brown and cooked.


For the buttercream, whisk together the sifted icing sugar, milk, vanilla extract and butter until smooth and creamy.


Once cooled down put half the buttercream on the underside of one of the cakes and on the other cake add enough strawberry jam to generously cover the surface.
Sandwich the two cake halves together. Then add a squirt of the red food colouring to the remaining buttercream and once well mixed in add to the top of the cake. Then decorate with the fresh strawberries and white chocolate shavings.


Strawberry & White Chocolate Cake - done!

Recipe loosely based on a recipe taken from the book Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas, but with my own added extras!

Sleepless in Barnstaple

Despite almost falling asleep before he had his bath, and being to put to bed at 7pm because he seemed so tired, tonight Burton just did not want to go to sleep!

Usually when he is put to bed we have the same routine whereby he has to kiss the four cuddly toys hanging off his mobile - sometimes repeating the kissing just to delay going into his cot for a few more seconds! Then I have to reach in to the cot to pick up Penguin (his favourite cuddly friend whose poor beak is always sodden!) and he puts his beak in his mouth with a muffled "aaaaaaah" and hugs him and then he lays down with the other toys that are in the cot. These are Disney's Simba and Roo, Burton Bulldog, Ducky and Little Giraffe.

However, tonight he did not bother with the kissing of the mobile animals, as he went straight to Penguin. I figured this is because he napped at his grandmas earlier and had missed his friend. As soon as I walked out of his room I could hear the squeals of delight at being reunited with his cot friends, and he was babbling away to them for ages. Fifteen minutes later he was sat upright pointing at the three cuddly toys sat up on the shelf opposite his cot, waving and talking to them. Another quarter of an hour passed by and he was crying unable to sleep so I let him come and sit downstairs and play for a bit while ate my tea. I put him back to bed and he was pointing at the toys on the shelf again, but I just passed him Penguin and left him again. Then he started crying and screaming again!

Well, within twenty minutes he was sat upstairs with me on my bed watching the last half an hour of Toy Story 2 pointing and commenting in babble speak at the animated toys appearing on the screen. No signs of any yawns!! Film ended and he starts channel hopping and laughing - I am yawning but he is having a lovely time! Anyway, by 9.30pm I took him back to his cot and oh how he screamed while pointing to the toys on the shelf. So in order to keep him quiet, and hopefully send him off to sleep, I took those two Teddy Bears and Humphrey (the elephant) and placed them in his arms. Straight away he started 'talking' to them and within ten minutes he was fast asleep.

So when I popped back in his room to take out some of the toys this is what I found. Can you spot the baby amongst the menagerie that is the contents of Burton's cot?

Running Scared

So many of you will have noticed on Twitter recently that there has been a lot of tweets regarding running and the #mummyto5k appearing quite often. I believe that Maria over at 
Mummy's Busy Little World started this running malarky although it appears that it coincided with lots of other bloggers like Karin at Cafebebe wanting to get fitter and shed some (baby) weight so now we all have something else to aim for.

I have never been a great runner or indeed enjoyed getting out there and going for a run. Yes I have tried several times to try running as part of a get fit plan (for which there have been several!).I have gone out and bought the relevant running gear and gone out but after one or two attempts I have packed it in. I think the main problem is controlling my breathing while running, I always get that sharp pain in the chest and then it is hard to get back into a stride. Oh and I always get a very red face which must scare anyone who sees me lol!

At school I was ok at running short distances on sports day. However, being the sap nice person I am, after signing up for the 100 or 200m races someone would always ask me to swap for the 1500 so stupidly I would and then they would get the glory while I would come in last - red faced and hardly able to breath! I used to hate the road runs and cross country runs at school and would normally end up chatting to another fellow hater and we would stroll in long after everyone else!! However, on the odd occasion where I would put my mind to it and actually run in the road run I would do ok I think I was 7th once which was pretty good as there would be about 30 of us taking part. Kind of goes to show that if I had spent less time chatting and more time running I may have been a half decent runner back then!

Recently, I have entered the Race For Life twice and never trained because I was convinced that I would just walk fast (this I can do!). However, once there with all those other lovely ladies, you feel the urge to pick up the pace and run and I think I did 5k in 37 minutes the first year and 34 minutes the next.

After completing Race for Life 2008

I had friends enter who had trained for it and I did the same as them! Of course after completing in such a good time I always think I will keep the running up, but, of course, I never have. It makes me wonder that if I actually out some effort in and trained that maybe I could do even better. My problem is I just cannot be arsed so I muddle along hoping for the best at these races!!

So now as I think about the #mummyto5k race I know I need to get out there and train because since I had Burton I have not done any exercise running and need to know how my body will cope with it. So I HAVE to get out there and practise. My mind thinks up excuses as to why I shouldn't enter the Adidas Race:

Who will have Burton?

How will I get to London for 11am from North Devon?

I will have to buy some running attire!

I have to run!!

So I have written this and linked it to Maria's blog because I think that if I make this public I cannot back out, and with the support and shared experiences of all the other wonderful running crazed mummy bloggers and non mummy bloggers I, like them, will succeed and run, run run!! Plus it will be great to meet them and share this fitness regime!

If you want to read more or take part yourself, then please visit the following sites for information, help and support:

http://www.womenschallenge.co.uk/home/

http://mummysbusyworld.blogspot.com/2010/07/mami-runs-part-two.html

http://wwwallbabyadvice.blogspot.com/2010/07/fitness-tuesday.html

PS have registered

PPS now I need to tell Burton's daddy!!

Burton 1st Birthday - Presents & Party

So my baby celebrated his 1st birthday last week. I thought I would share some of the highlights of his day on my blog.

Helping Daddy to put his new garage together

Thanks Daddy

Ooooh check me out! Yeee haaa!

Who is this?

My birthday cakes (thanks Mummy!)

Nom nom nom! (Penguin had too much fun and needed a rest lol!)

Playing pass the parcel (except none of the guests understood the rules lol)

I love balloons!

*yawn* it's tired having a birthday - night

The Gallery - What A Novel Idea!

So it is the highlight of my blogging week The Gallery yay!! This weeks prompt by Tara at Sticky Fingers was inspired - use a photograph to describe a novel or story. I had lots of ideas but unfortunately not enough prompts to photograph them well! I had ideas of grandeur wanted to show off some classic examples of literature like my favourite novel, Pride and Prejudice, but just could not think how to capture it (no Mr Darcy could be found lol!)

So I have decided to model my photographs on two children's stories; ones that I have been reading to Burton since he was about 4 weeks old. I love reading to Burton I think stories are magical and spur the imagination and he enjoys hearing them and helping to turn the pages and point to the pictures.

So here are my photographs.

The first one is this - can you recognise which book I am illustrating here?

Yes, it's 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea' by Judith Kerr. Except my tiger is much smaller than the one used in the story! Whenever I read this to him I substitute Sophie's name for Burton's - I like to think he appreciates that personal touch lol

The second one I have chosen to portray is this - any guesses?

(Special thanks to Simba, my Mum's cat)

This book is 'Slinky Malinky' by Lynley Dodd which both Burton's Daddy and I enjoy reading aloud. It is written in rhyme and I have read it so many times now,that I can recite it! Here is a snippet:

Slinky Malinki 
was blacker than black
A stalking and lurking 
adventurous cat.
He had bright yellow eyes
a warbling wail
and a kink at the end 
of his very long tail


He is 'rapscallion cat' who likes to steal things from his neighbourhood. If you haven't got it in your collection I recommend it as does my audience (taken when he was about 3 months old)

Toying Around

For his birthday, among other things, Burton was given a Fisher Price Little People Racing Ramps Garage (phew! That's a mouthful!). I am sure that as parents, many of you will also have one in your home.

The garage comes with two cars and two people: a mechanic and his recovery vehicle and a car and driver. Now I noticed that the driver of the car was doing something illegal and naughty. Has anyone else noticed this aswell?

This is the person in question:




Now apart from his obvious bad taste in clothes (lol!), he is using his mobile phone whilst driving. Uhmmmmm! What a naughty thing to do, tut tut little person! It is against the law to drive and use a mobile don't you know?!

Well except he isn't driving because he has no hand on the steering wheel! I can't work out what he is holding in his other arm. I guess he could have pulled over and made a call from the side off the road? After all, surely Fisher Price would not be teaching children that using a mobile phone whilst driving is allowed? I suppose it is only a toy but is it teaching youngsters incorrect conduct?

All I do know for sure is that the only real crime being committed here is a crime against fashion! Lol!

Happy 1st Birthday Burton

My dearest darling boy,

I cannot believe that the day has come when you, my gorgeous baby boy, celebrate your 1st birthday. You have made me so happy Burton, and since you came into my life it has made it more worthwhile and given me a purpose. I have enjoyed our first 12 months together and you have made me so proud to call myself your mummy. It has been an honour to watch you grow each day and change from an 8 lb newborn into the 27lb cheeky monkey you are today.

There were times when I was tired and I may have been a bit short with you in those first few weeks, and I am sorry for that. I know that now when you whinge it brings out the stress in my voice when I speak to you. Please forgive me for these moments and the ones to come, and just know that I love you and I will never intentionally want to cause you pain or upset but I know it is going to happen.

You have made me a better person and I feel I have the best job in the world! Thank you for being my funny, cheeky and gorgeous boy.

I will always love you more than words can say and apologise for those moments when I cry, and when I will cry when I feel overwhelmed - all mummies cause embarrassment!

I look forward to the future with you and wonder how much you will have changed again by this time next year.

Here is your last year in photos:

July 2009






August 2009





September 2009





October 2009





November 2009





December 2009





January 2010






February 2010






March 2010






April 2010





May 2010





June 2010





July 2010





Just perfect!

Lots of love
Xxxx