7 Quick Takes: just random bits and bobs!

1

I often write my Quick Takes to a theme but it says a lot about what this week has been like that I haven't had much space or clarity to put a theme together. I've been on countdown to a school holiday (which starts today...yay!) And ironically finally getting on top of things at seven weeks post-op (back to work, back to baking, back to visiting grandparents every week, back to playing Legos on the floor)....and now it's time for a lull. A MUCH NEEDED lull. You hear me, 4thSister?

2

I can't ignore the fact that Halloween is approaching, especially now that 1stSister will be going to two parties and trick a treating with friends. As usual we will be doing a Saint themed supper the next day - which is usually gorier than the supposedly evil stuff, when you think about some of their deaths - but leave a bit of room for the kids to do and get into the dressing up and the scary. I don't advocate all the aspects of "celebrating" Halloween but agree to a large extent with the sentiments of Dan Lord and this priest, Christians of all denominations can be misplaced in their attitudes against it, I think. For those  wanting to move away from the spookier aspects however, I noticed that the Christian charity World Vision, rather than moaning about Halloween or seeking to abolish it, have launched a fundraising campaign via supermarket sold pumpkins, asking people to carve hearts in their pumpkins and donate. This to me seems to strike just the right balance.

3

I made a shockingly awful soup with the above pumpkin (which I bought to eat after all not to carve) but am hoping to redeem myself with a beetroot and coconut milk soup. I also made pear and hazelnut cake yesterday, ostensibly to use up pears, but it didn't really taste of either major ingredient even though it was nice. (that was the obligatory food bit of this post.)

4

I have been telling people that 4thSister has come through her clingy, obsessive phase but now we have discovered tantrumsville! Bear in mind I had stomach surgery seven weeks ago...wrestling her into a supermarket trolley against her will was not fun. But we needed food staples, so I had to be the boss. And she did complain loudly for the first two minutes of the shop but then found something she liked to look at and forgot to be angry. Meanwhile around forty to fifty people probably looked at us making a huge hullabaloo. (I am so glad I have four kids and can be chilled out about meltdowns with this one as his too shall pass....)

5

Mind you her obsession with Wheels on the Bus hasn't moved on. Fair play she does like watching Peppa Pig on YouTube rather than endless #WOTB on repeat, but today all 6 chairs were pulled into bus formation as we drove some very special passengers around the kitchen to the seaside!

6

Theologically, I had a Quiet Day at a retreat house and learned about St Clare on Saturday, which was just amazing. And then I went on a church hop on Sunday, as potential priests often do, but had arrived not in time for a service, but instead coffee and cake! I did learn about their mission work but my main Sabbath thought was, thank you God for a straightforward gallbladder removal to enable me to participate in his event as fully as possible....mmmm cake! (See how I can make a theology post transform into something tasty? Hermione Granger you have nothing on me!)

7

This probably covers all the aspects of my week apart from music! As I am still not up to evening commitments I am not rehearsing with choir until 2016, which is disappointing but necessary...however wouldn't you just know that 1stSister wants me to accompany her clarinet practice on the piano so I have two tunes to learn to help me feel musically valuable! When at home I listen to BBC Radio 6 as much as possible as it plays lots of my old and new favourites and heard a song I hadn't listened to for ages by Buffalo Tom who I never appreciated in the 80s or 90s but first heard in my twenties. Not cheery but I love it. 

Head over to This Ain't the Lyceum for more Quick Takes and to read Kelly's essential post on essential oils!