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Bank Holiday Weekend – Sunday

August 30, 2015 by Bel 1 Comment

Again I’m updating from the Travelodge on our Bank Holiday weekend away! It’s been another lovely day, this time shared with Chris!

The girls and I got up and got ready this morning and went out to meet Chris. By 11am we were all together and after a quick visit to the Platform 9 and 3/4 shop (which is also online), we set off for Leicester Square. We had Five Guys for lunch, then wandered to Forbidden Planet. We were in Forbidden Planet for ages and even when we left, we wandered into two or three other other geeky shops while making our way towards slowly Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Megan bought a Minecraft book and Lily got a little obsessed with Harley Quinn. I can see this is going to be a craze setting in!

Not far from Ripleys, we still had time to kill and so we went in the M&M shop. I’ve been before but the girls and Chris hadn’t (well not the London one, we went to one in Florida). It actually took us quite a while to walk around all three/four floors and the girls had their picture taken with all the M&M characters. Afterwards we headed to Ripley’s though and while we weren’t really sure what to expect, it was pretty good and took us just over an hour to look around. Afterwards we just sat outside for a while, our feet were hurting and we were trying to decide what to do. However we then went for another wander and ended up at Nandos for dinner. Again, Chris and the girls hadn’t been to a Nandos and I realised it was before Megan was born since I’d last been. We all enjoyed our food though and the service was great.

Finally we headed back to the Travelodge (another long trip on the tube and this time incredibly busy!) and chilled out. That’s where we are now – watching X-Factor! Chris is going for a shower, the girls aregoing to go on their iPads and we’re all just relaxing.

Five Guys Burger, Fries and DrinkForbidden Planet
M&M Store, London
M&Ms - Abbey Road
Periodic Table of M&Ms
Outside RipleysInside Ripley's
Ripley's Believe It or Not
Ripley's - Alice in WonderlandShopping Haul - Minecraft and Harley Quinn Comic
Watching X Factor

Filed Under: where we went Tagged With: bank holiday, bank holiday weekend, burger, comics, Five Guys, Forbidden Planet, Harley Quinn, Hotel Chocolat, Leicester Square, london, M&M Store, minecraft, Picadilly Square, Platform 9 3/4, Ripley's Believe it or not, trains, X Factor

31/52

August 2, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

wpid-20150804035815.jpg

This was actually taken a little later the following week as I realised I didn’t have a picture of Lily from last week. The girls are enjoying Summer holidays. Minecraft every day at the moment!

Filed Under: 52 project Tagged With: 31/52, blog project, computers, gaming, Lily, Megan, minecraft, photos, summer holidays

Recipe – Megan’s Minecraft Brownie Blocks

July 21, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last week, Megan decided that she wanted to make brownies and since we were heading out to the supermarket anyway, I agreed to let her get the ingredients for her brownies. When we got back she set to making the brownies and did a pretty good job of managing by herself for the most part. After they were cooked and cooled she turned her brownies into Minecraft dirt blocks and though they didn’t turn out quite how she wanted them, I was still really proud of her!

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
75g dark muscovado sugar
125g dark chocolate
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp chocolate or vanilla extract
100g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

This makes approximately 9 large squares in a 20cm shallow square cake tin.

1) Pre-heat oven to 180/Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease baking tin and line with baking paper.

2) Place the butter, both sugars, dark chocolate (broken up) and golden syrup into a pan and heat through gently until all melted and combined. Leave to cool.

3) Beat together the eggs and flavouring and then add to the chocolate mixture once cooled.

4) Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, before folding carefully into the chocolate mixture.

5) Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin. Place in the oven and cook for approximately 25 minutes. The cake will begin to pull away from the sides of the tin and the top will be crisp, but the inside of the cake should still be quite stodgy and soft to the touch.

6) Leave the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin and then cut into squares and serve.

Megan obviously cut out cake into bite size pieces as she wanted them to represent Minecraft blocks. After she’d cut them  up she mixed some icing sugar with green food colouring to make and icing and dribbled it over the top of some.

Once she was done, she placed the blocks in a certain patter and then made the same look on her Minecraft game to represent her brownie blocks. I think she did a fab job, especially as she’s not much of a baker!

wpid-20150720080108.jpg

Filed Under: recipe Tagged With: baking, brown sugar, brownies, caster sugar, chocolate, cooking, eggs, gaming, geeky food, Megan, minecraft, plain flour

Week 28 – Monday Round-up

July 13, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

For the most part, this week has been great. It’s been busy in parts but not to the point of feeling like you don’t have a moment to breathe! Monday started off with Chris heading out to work, taking Lily to school and then Megan and I attending an Open Morning at one of the schools she is considering for next year. It was between 10am and 12.15 but it was nearer to half past by the time we left. Megan ate her lunch in the car, we called in briefly at mum’s and then I dropped her back at school before heading home. The girls were going with their dad after school so I knew I didn’t have to turn out and get them again, meaning I got on with some work when I got home. That said I started to feel a bit rough and curled up on the sofa to watch TV and chill. When Chris got home we had takeaway and didn’t do an awful lot else!

On Tuesday I took both the kids to school (and Lily’s tardis that we made over the weekend!) and then came home again. It ended up as a busy morning, picking up parcels, doing some shopping, calling to see Chris’ Gran and getting my sewing machine serviced. We managed to grab lunch and a few hours to ourselves before heading out to get the girls from school and going out for dinner. After that we dropped Lily off with her Grandma and headed back to school as Megan was in her school play. Chris and I watched and thoroughly enjoyed it, before picking Megan up, collecting Lily and then heading home and putting the girls to bed. By that point I was exhausted and yet again, didn’t get an awful lot done that evening! I took a bath and read some of my latest book.

Wednesday was Sports Day and so I headed out to school with the girls. Lily went first in the morning, participating in 4 races, though as every KS1 group took part, it took all morning. The weather was dull and it even rained a few times, but it turned out okay, despite being cold. Lily and I then had lunch together (along with my mum) and eventually Megan joined us too. In the afternoon it was Megan’s turn and there was a Kingball Tournament for all the KS2 kids. This took all afternoon too and though my mum bailed on us, Grandma turned up to support and keep me company as well. We managed to leave school about 10 minutes early but it did make a difference when we came home and collapsed! We had takeaway for dinner and then Nat came around in the evening.

On Thursday I decided to really try hard with my diet. On Wednesday I’d had a nasty shock when getting on the scales and it was just the kick I needed to make me try again. After taking the girls to school and then popping to mum’s to drop off their stuff (they were staying the night), I came home and emerged myself in wrapping parcels and going to the post office, all just to keep busy. I was good for lunch and good for dinner and I felt so much better for it. I also remembered how much I love jacket potatoes! In the evening Amy and I collaborated to book our Inside Out cinema tickets for when she comes down to visit in a few weeks time. We booked with Vue which means we get Disney Store vouchers each and since we’re buying Tsum Tsums on a monthly basis at the moment, it all comes in handy!

The girls had stayed at mum’s on Thursday night as it was school disco and her having them saved me a lot of hassle, however I still needed to get up on Friday morning and head to school as Lily was in shine assembly. This was the last one of the year and I was so proud of her for being in twice (she was originally in it at the beginning of the year). No surprise but I cried when she was up at the front – I’m such an emotional mess when it comes to the kids! Afterwards I came home and set myself to sewing. I challenged myself to three dresses over three days and I’m happy to say I managed it! I made a dress for Amy’s daughter Liv on Friday, which took majority of the afternoon and a little into the evening. Once that was finished I started on Lily’s, cutting out the pieces that evening. I obviously picked the girls up from school at the right time, had dinner etc. but the majority of the day was spent sewing!

On Saturday I got up and began to sew again. I started on Lily’s dress and worked on till after lunch. At that point the girls and I headed into town as we needed a few bits of food and also some material/elastic/zips from Boyes. When we came back I continued to sew but I did take a break here and there – especially when Megan wanted to make brownies. However I got Lily’s dress finished by the evening and even started to cut out Megan’s pattern pieces. Megan made her brownies into Minecraft Blocks as she’s a nerd like that, but they tasted amazing and looked pretty cool too.

Finally on Sunday I got up and had to take Chris to work, so the girls had to come too. We packed our swimming stuff as I promised we’d go swimming over the weekend and so once Chris was dropped off, we went to the leisure centre. We spent an hour or so there, had showers and got changed. We then had to pop into Tesco again on the way home, where the girls decided they wanted to make their own version of Subway subs. We then came home, made lunch and did some bits around the house, before I settled down to sew. I sewed all afternoon and into the evening, stopping to make food for the kids, help with homework etc. and of course feed myself and Chris. However by about 10pm Megan’s dress was finished too and I was really pleased with them all!

dresses

So that was pretty much my week, I don’t think I missed anything! It’s been a good week but I have to admit things are always so busy at the end of term – I look forward to the holidays. As of today, the girls have a week and a half left of school and I have at least 5 things penciled into my diary that I still need to do with regards to school. That said, it’s nothing too hectic so it should be a good coming week! Hope you’re all having good weeks too, I’m off to sew again!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: assembly, baking, brownies, Christ Hospital, cinema, dieting, Disney, doctor who, dresses, handmade, Inside Out, inside out dresses, minecraft, open morning, school, school play, secondary school, sewing, sewing machine, sports day, swimming, tardis, tsum tsums

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a forty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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