Category Archives: Personal

Continuity…

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When Adam was born and my step dad and mom were here he remarked how interesting he found it that all the old songs come back up as soon as there is a baby in the house.  Twinkle Twinkle.  This Old Man. And so on.

I was thinking about that again the other day.  How I do things with Adam that I have done with other babies in the past.

Some of them must be unique to my family, like showing Adam which Sesame Street character is on his nappy.  We used to do that with my niece.  And now I show him and sing him the song of that character.  So C is for Cookie or Rubber Ducky.  Or I just tell him how Elmo is my favourite!

Others I know are universal.  For instance, when he grabs my face or hits my arm I say ‘gently!’  Like he really has any idea yet what that means.

And then he does something that I have no idea where he learned it, but is also universal.  Like when he started blowing raspberries.  And just yesterday? He started clucking his tongue.  I didn’t teach him either of those things and neither did Simon.  He just figured them out on his own.

Or there is such as thing as genetic memory…

I Usually Just Ignore SPAM To This Site

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Askimet catches it, I give it a glance on the off chance something that isn’t SPAM is caught in the filter, delete and move on.

But this one? Made me laugh out loud:

“I do think this is a most incredible website for proclaiming great wonders of Our God!”

It was  a comment to one of my newsletters to Adam.

Does that make Adam their God?

Macaroni And Cheese

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I have been asked for this recipe so often that I figured I just put it here, add a new category and give it its own tag!

Macaroni And Cheese

Serves 2 As A Main Dish With A Salad (see note below about making larger quantities)

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F

300 grams uncooked macaroni, we like fusili but use whatever
300 grams shredded cheese, I use half medium and half strong cheddar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
2.5 cups milk

Cook the macaroni to al dente.

Once cooked drain and put into a casserole dish with enough room to add cheese sauce to it.

Melt the butter or margarine in the same sauce pan you cooked the macaroni in.  Once melted slowly whisk in the flour until you have a thick smooth paste.  Remove from heat and add enough of the milk to keep the paste consistency.  Keep adding the milk until the butter and flour are well incorporated into the milk and then add the rest of the milk.

Return to the heat and bring to just nearly boiling.  Add the cheese and whisk some more.

Pour over macaroni and mix well.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

To increase servings:  Figure on 150 grams of pasta per person.  The quantity of uncooked pasta always equals the quantity of cheese.  So for 4 people, increase cheese and pasta to 600 grams.  I also tend to add a bit more milk although I don’t add any more butter or flour.

I have no idea where I got this recipe so I cannot give credit.  Knowing me it is a mishmash of several recipes I looked at when I decided I wanted mac and cheese and found I could not get Kraft Dinner in the UK!! At least, not in Belfast!

Oh For F’s Sake…

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So, being responsible parents, when Adam was born Simon and I put certain financial strategies into place. One was to set up an ISA.  No problem, only an ISA can only accept a deposit of £250 or more at one time in the UK (no idea if this is true of the US).  My mom gives money for birthdays and Chanukkah that are to be put away for the child for their education.  Now we used his ‘welcome to the earth present’ to set up the ISA but needed a place to put these smaller amounts so they would gather a bit of interest and eventually be £250 to be added to the ISA.

So I looked on our bank’s website and decided on their eSaver account.  Its a total online account and you get a little extra interest because you never need to go into the bank.  Great, perfect for technophiles like Simon and I!

I started the process to set up this account just after we got back from the US, as my mom had given me the first of Adam’s gifts for Channukah.  So 1st week of January.  Please note that it is now 23rd February. And the account has finally been opened today.

First when I tried to apply online, my address was listed as wrong, but the form wouldn’t let me change it.  So I ring (phone call number 1) to get them to fix it.  They go through the security questions, I get one of them wrong, but they can’t tell me which one.   The guy on the phone actually said to me ‘I can put you through to the branch if there is someone there who can vouch for you?’  Is he serious? The only time I talk to a teller is when I have change to turn into bills.  They wouldn’t know me if I dropped dead in their lobby.  So into the branch I go.

The nice woman at the branch looks at the account and says everything is fine.  When I tell her I got a security question wrong but the phone guy couldn’t tell me which one, she actually rolled her eyes.  She made a note in the account that I came in with ID and sent me on my way.

Try again online.  Still has the wrong address in the form.  Phone call 2.  This time the woman tells me that it is my address that I got wrong.  What?!?  So trip 2 to the branch.

This time a different woman looks again and says ‘oh.  Your address and your husband’s address are listed differently.  You do live together?’ Um, yeah, for over 6 years now.  I do not live down the road from him, imagine that? So she changes it in her computer and sends me on my merry way.

Please note that at this point it has taken 2 trips to the branch and 2 phone calls to set up an account that is suppose to give you a little extra interest because you never have to deal with a human.

So I sit down to do it again online.  AHA! My address is right.  Wait, what’s this? Data error, please ring.  Oh FFS!  So I ring for the 3rd time.  Go through the security questions.  ‘Mrs Fraser, we have your husband’s birthday listed as 1979.’  Okay, I know I robbed the cradle a bit, but by 10 years?  That’s right, back into the branch with Simon and his birth certificate to prove that I only robbed the cradle by 5 years.  We’ve had this joint Current Account for 6 years and this has just come up? So much for banking security.

Bank contact count:  Calls 3. Trips to branch 3.

Finally manage to finish the entire form online and wait for my paperwork.  Paperwork arrives.  Uh oh.  Need proof of address.  Utility bill, nope all in Simon’s name.  Driver’s License? Nope don’t have one.  Anything on the list? Nope.  See note at bottom of page ‘if you have nothing on this list please ring.’  So I ring.  ‘You have nothing on the list?’ No.  Sorry, can’t open account.

So I place the paperwork on the shredding pile and say to Simon ‘guess we can’t open this.’  We are both a bit bewildered at this since we already have an account with them, which, when we opened it, we had to prove our address.  But that doesn’t count.

And then, the miracle occurred.  We received our Tax Credit Letter, with both of our names on it! Hurrah! An official letter from HM Revenue and Customs and its on The List!  I would like it noted here that at no time did HMR&C ever ask for proof of address, so how the bank can use that letter as proof of address is beyond me.

Anyway, I head into the bank last week with my passport and the letter.  And get told Simon and I have to come in together. :sigh:

So this past Saturday Simon and I finally had the time and nothing more urgent to do on a Saturday and we got the proof into the bank.

And yesterday I get an email ‘Congratulations, your eSaver is set up!  Please access it online the same way you do your Current Account!’

But its not there when I log on. :sigh:

I decide to give them 24 hours because sometimes these things happen.

Eh Violá!  This morning, it was there.  Only, there appeared to be no way to transfer from the Current Account to the eSaver…so I rang the bank.  Apparently a special form had to be filled out to allow us to transfer our own money from our Current Account to the eSaver.  It would be done tomorrow.

And then I was at Tesco when my mobile phone rang.  It was the bank.  So sorry for the confusion, your account has been open for so long that some how this debit feature was never set up.  Um, okay, but we pay standing orders from it all the time.  Yes ma’am but this part was not set up.  Now it is.

I get home. Eh Violá!  I transferred some money from our Current Account to the new eSaver.

So let’s recap.  To set up a savings account that was created specifically so that you get some extra interest for never bothering the bank:

Bank Visits: 5

Phone calls: 6 from me 1 to me

And almost 8 weeks to complete.  And probably 2 – 3 hours of my time.

That extra interest had better add up.

My Day At The Spa…

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For Christmas, Simon’s parents gave me a voucher for treatments at the Aura Day Spa.  A few Saturdays ago was my appointment to use said vouchers.

The one other time I had been to a spa in Belfast, for a manicure and pedicure, I had been highly disappointed.  Not by the way my nails were done, but by the chilly surroundings.  That spa is called Zen and I guess they were trying to be Zen with lots of stone work and bare walls.  Too bad it came across as prisonesque instead.

So I was pleasantly surprised to walk into Aura and find myself immediately surrounded by nice smells, quiet music and friendly staff.  I didn’t have long to wait before I was greeted by my first therapist, Lyndsay.  She took me upstairs into the changing room and gave me a very fluffy dressing gown and slippers.  I asked her what I should leave on and she said my bra and panties, so I did!

I then went in and sat in the lounge area, which had very comfy sofas, free juice and water.  Apparently the juice type changes as there was a sign that said ‘Today’s Juice Is Orange’  with the orange written in chalk.

After a few minutes Lyndsay came back and brought me into the treatment room for my Renew Rose Radiance Facial.  She helped me out of my robe and held it so she couldn’t see me as I slipped onto the table and pulled the heated blanket over myself.  She then dimmed the lights and said ‘This bell will start and end the treatment.’  A little chime sounded.

Oh.My.God.  The next hour was the most relaxing of my life.  Lyndsay did several different treatments on my face, neck, shoulders and arms.  There was some exfoliating and some moisturizing and a lovely facial mask.  The hour just flew by and before I knew it she was ringing the chimes again.

Lyndsay then helped me back into my robe and suggested I might like to change into my regular clothes for my pedicure, so I wouldn’t mess them up getting dressed.  I helped myself to a glass of OJ and headed to change.

I then went back into the lounge and finished my juice.  After a bit of a wait Sinead came and got me to do my Deluxe Pedicure.  She and I had a good chin wag while she scrubbed my feet and massaged them before slathering them with cream, wrapping them in plastic and putting them in heated booties.  After that she painted them red and sent me on my way.

It was a fantastic day.  I was so relaxed and refreshed and ready to go back to being Adam’s Mummy.  Simon suggested I might like to do that more often and I would love to.

Anyone want to give me another voucher?

The MRI Results…

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Just got back.

It is a vascular anomaly or type of  hemangioma and may have a vascular inclusion, but that is not clear.  Totally benign.  *Not* caused by my dropping him at 3 weeks.  Perhaps triggered by that.

Apparently the dermatology department have seen these a lot and have found that Beta Blockers, through studies through out the UK, work to reduce them, so that is one option.  Our consultant, is going to consultant with them and see if they agree that that will work for Adam.

So option one is do nothing, it will probably go away.

Option two is Beta Blockers.

Option three is surgery, but our consultant is really not keen on that, because if there is a vascular inclusion could mean major, dangerous bleeding.  Advantage of surgical removal is then they can send it to Pathology and really find out what it is.

Option four is to assume it is systemic and treat it as such, which means systemic drugs like steroids.

Next steps: Our consultant is going to review the MRI and ultrasound with Dermatology and with Radiology and see if they agree with his feeling that Beta Blockers are the way to go.  We should hear from either him or dermatology in 3 – 4 weeks.

It is not harming him in any way.  It does not bother him in any way.  He sleeps on it, he rolls over it, etc.  Our consultant pushed and prodded and poked at it and Adam just lay there smiling at him!

So in another few weeks we should have a treatment plan.

So how does Mummy feel?

Relieved.

I guess I hadn’t let myself think about it much, but I was worried that it was taking blood or something from some other part of his body and doing damage we couldn’t see.  I also had some residual guilt from ‘causing it’ by dropping him.  So I didn’t cause it, even if the fall might have triggered it.

And since he rolls over it, sleeps on it and seems to not know its there?  Adam doesn’t care what we do!

My Ongoing, Never Ending, List As To Why I Am…

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the meanest mummy ever!!

I make him wear a shirt.

I won’t let him eat paper.

I won’t let him pull the cord of the light on his tall cupboard so that the light falls on his head (light cord is now out of reach).

I make him get out of the tub, even if he’s still playing, when the water gets cold enough that he is starting to shiver.

I take toys away when they make him mad and frustrated unto tantrum.

I’m sure this list will grow….

He Did It!!!

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Today at 8 months and 2 days Adam rolled from his back to his front!

The first time he did it, Simon and I both missed it! I was in the other room and Simon was playing with him on the floor, only Simon got distracted by someone lowering sheet or blanket from the balcony above, looked down, and Adam was on his tummy!

He’s now done it several times.

Next up: crawling!