Possibly the best...

gadget ever invented!

I saw this on TV the other week, a Stephen Fry programme - top 100 gadgets type of thing.

Now it looks nice, but it is just so much more than that...

I know I'm not alone in thinking this is a thing to marvel as everyone in the family so far has loved it

Now you get the idea!

Now all that takes just a couple of seconds, literally!...

but wait there is more...

Not only does it peel and core the apple in split seconds but it also 

slices the apple into a neat little concertina!!

Apple consumption is up in our house by a silly amount - we used to eat 6-12 apples a week and are now averaging 6 a day...more if the teens bring friends home and EVERYONE wants to play with it.

I can't recommend you getting one enough...honestly this may just be the buy for 2012 (and that's a pretty big statement considering we're only in the second week of the year!)

To all of you who already own one...shame on you for not sharing the secret earlier! :)

Now I know this will also have practical use in our house as well...the boredom of peeling buckets of apples for chutneys and freezing will disappear and add to that I will most probably have willing helpers who want to actually help mama in the kitchen.

win -win

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Feeling Broody...

Oh I almost wish my mum was computer literate just so she could read that title!

I have a wicked side to me for sure...

As much I would love to add to our family I am happy to now wait for grand-children...(well just about happy to!)

So this year, 2012 will see me fulfill a long held wantie.

Yep wanties is a real word no matter what the spell checker keeps telling me!

At the end of the month I have one of these bad boys coming home to us (eeek how excited am I?!)

Ours is coming to us at least 2nd hand and in blue and will be home to our new gals.

I can safely state that I have been wanting one of these for at least the past 8years, I had always hoped that we would get the smaller eglu but have managed to get our hands on a larger cube which means more room for a couple more gals!!

Not sure what breed of hens we'll be getting, a friend of Bob's has a farm with 4,ooo and we will be taking pot luck with a few of them

For now the aim is to keep them as laying hens, family pets who will keep the slugs and lesser wanted bugs under control!

(but who knows if the welfare reform bill goes through and our income is drastically reduced it may well mean we may have to consider raising them for dinner as well? )

I'm hopeful that by my birthday (early February) we will have the hens fully settled in

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Thoughts on Christmas...

More like ramblings in all honesty!

This post from Mama UK blog and these words are singing in my ears...

Something you want,

Something you need,

Something to wear,

And something to read.

These are the 'rules' I will try to be working with this year...really 'trying' to anyway!

Sadly we've become far too consumerist at Christmas, viewing it as a day to get everything you want, we've forgotten to be thankful for what we have, who we have and what the Christmas season is really all about.

Not sure how much I can play with the 'rules' I mean Fonzy needs some trousers and I'd like to make him a pair, so should I make 2 pairs to cover both or just the 1?

And what does a little man want?  

He got his balance bike that he'd been wanting for quite some time for his birthday, we have a house of toys (despite a huge de-clutter recently) which comes from having a family of 6children and 19years of 'stuff'!

I've had a few thoughts so far, I'll start with a couple of ideas for the little ones...
RV
needs a new pencil case for school 
would like to read the Shoot and Chelsea annuals
Fonzy
needs trousers 
make him PJ trousers

would like the Octonauts books

...the younger ones I can see myself implementing this with but the older ones?? 
Nope I just can't see it working with them - but we'll see.

***

When I was younger I never really had a lot of toys at Christmas, looking back now I can see some of the reasons, but as always it's complicated.

My dad worked on building sites and in the bad weather when the temperatures were low or it was too wet he just couldn't work, this inevitably meant that winters were meagre affairs, food on the table and roof over our heads taking up what money there was.  A mild winter meant a good Christmas but they didn't happen often.  

His dad died just before Christmas when I was about 6 and that affected the whole Christmas happiness for years...granddad was a lovely man and he was the anchor that kept my dad the man he was and when he went my dad was a changed man.

So I have memories of just not having the best Christmas and when I had children I fell into the more is really better trap at Christmas.  That said it wasn't till I was older that I felt a bit cheated, at the time it was the normal to me...


I guess I can work with the 'rules' this year see how we get on and maybe set a new family tradition?


Sorry for the ramble...I just wanted to clear my head out of why I want to change what we have and what we do.
I love our children throughout the whole year not just on one day, and I'd hope that they know they are loved - they shouldn't need us to buy them 'stuff' to show them that.

A bad case of the wanties...

OK I know it's not a real word but I happen to have a terrible case of the wants

ceramic fruit baskets!

I need one of these, well I'd like two but would happily settle for one.

Hey ho something else to add to the {want} list

***

photo source