It's carnival time!

Head on over to Laura Driver's Are we nearly there yet mummy? for the fortnightly British Mummy Bloggers Carnival. As always, there are some great posts to read (reminder to self... bookmark on netbook, so can read between games of Doctor and Schools) and you might even find some new blogs to add to your blogroll.

Flexible childcare?

I’m sure there are people out there who manage to stick to a 35-hour (or 25-hour or 10-hour or whatever) week, every week of the year, except the five weeks when they go on holiday. Well, yes, there are. They’re called employees. Even then, there are plenty of employees who don’t manage that, anyway.

Running your own business, though, generally means you have to deal with fluctuations. Seasonal fluctuations. Tri-annual fluctuations. Fluctuations from one client and different fluctuations from another. It is very difficult to balance this out so that you can provide a consistent workload that keeps you happy, your children happy and the house clean.

Since R was born, we have been fortunate (in some ways) to have one average year and one not very good year. In terms of our finances this is a bit of an issue. In terms of quality time that R has had with both of us in her first two and a half years, this has been pretty darned good. This year is looking like it’s going to be a very, very, very busy year. The kind of year where we might not be able to do all the work ourselves and will be using freelancers to help out.

But we come up against a problem that faces many self-employed parents. We will need extra childcare. On an ad hoc basis. So that, when we have a calm couple of days we can shower R with attention and take her swimming and to the zoo and fun things like that. And not have to pay someone for not looking after her.

We are fortunate that, this year, the nursery school where she goes is pretty quiet (2006 was a low birth-rate year, apparently), so there are certain sessions when we can phone the day before, or even that morning and say ‘Do you have the ratios for R to come?’

But, if it weren’t for my mum, I honestly do not know what we would do. She already looks after R three mornings a week, though that will be less when R starts at playgroup in May. But she is happy to keep for an extra couple of hours, at short notice. She’s happy to have her for the weekend, at short notice. She’ll even come and look after her here for a bit, if necessary and give her her bath and put her to bed.

This week, for example, she has swapped her days round, because it’s half-term and we have plans on Thursday and Friday. In the summer holidays, she will be called on a lot. And, in March, when we are going to have to work double the hours we currently do, she will probably have to an extra couple of hours most of her days and at least one weekend, possibly two. Thank you Mama!

So… Do you need flexible childcare and, if so, where do you get it? Do you use grandparents or other informal childcare? What do you do in the holidays? Do you take the whole time off? Do you cut back your hours?

Apples, oats and greedy dogs

After making Nixdminx’s Grandma’s Cheese Flapjacks a couple of days ago and not eating a single digestive biscuit since then, not to mention having considerably more energy, I thought I would have a go at adapting them to make a sweet version, to satisfy any sweet cravings.

This is what I came up with (my quantities are fairly haphazard as I tend to just throw ingredients in, without measuring):

2 cups of porridge oats
1 grated apple
1 grated (or mashed, if it’s quite ripe) banana
1 cup of dried fruit (I used sultanas, cranberries and goji berries)
Sprinkle of cinammon
1 tablespoon of melted butter
2 eggs

Mix everything together and push into a greased swiss roll tin, spreading as evenly as you can. Bake at 175 C for 25 minutes.

Cut into squares/rectangles/whatever as soon as it’s out of the oven, then leave to cool for half an hour before removing from the tin with a flat spatula or similar.

They were delicious. They were really sweet, without having any added sugar or syrup or anything. They were a bit cake-like, so I might change the quantities a bit next time to make them crunchier. I might also see if they work without the butter – to make them even better for keeping slim!

I loved them. C loved them. R didn’t have a chance to try them, because apparently the dog also loved them and finished the lot when someone (not entirely sure whether it was me or C, so I will assume it was him!) left the kitchen door open and someone (me, unfortunately) didn’t put them away in a tin as soon as they were cooled.

I will be making them again tomorrow.

Thank you Nixdminx for the inspiration – and for the lovely cheesy flapjacks, which are helping considerably in keeping me good.

The best-laid plans

After a shouting match yesterday morning at getting-dressed-and-out-the-door time, I decided to try a different approach today. I decided that we would make sure R was dressed at least an hour before she had to leave the house.

This was achieved by refusing to play doctors, shops or anything with her until she was dressed. I told she could play on her own in her pyjamas, but that I wouldn't join in, unless she was dressed. She played by herself for about 5 minutes and then came over to me, asking 'Do you want to play Doctors?'. When I said 'No, not until you're dressed,' she said, 'OK.' and got dressed. Wow! I was so pleased and proud of both of us. No shouting, no tears, no door slamming. Hoorah.

Half an hour later, she had an accident and her trousers, tights and knickers had to come off. Would she put a fresh lot on? Nope. She spent the next 15 minutes playing on her own with nothing on her lower half, refusing every time I suggested she get dressed. Grr!

But... I still managed to avoid shouting. She stopped playing and went and sat at the table to finish her breakfast (about 10 minutes before we had to leave). So, I brought the clothes through and said 'Why don't we see if I can manage to put your clothes on you, while you eat your breakfast. Do you think I can manage it?' She was game for the challenge and we did manage it without either of us getting cross.

But can I manage it all the time? Do I have enough imagination to come up with a new game or challenge every time she starts being contrary? We shall see.

Oh, yes, and I was so excited that I was jumping about saying 'Don't you have an ingenious mum? Isn't Mummy ingenius?' and she turned to me, put her head to one side and said 'Yes, Mummy. You are a genius.' Now, if only everyone else would concur!

Falling off the wagon

For a couple of months now, I have been on a low-GI diet. I took a break over Christmas, so as not to be awkward for my in-laws (and enjoy roast potatoes on Christmas Day!) and, while I haven’t been hugely strict since then, I have mostly stuck to it. It’s gone pretty well. No drastic weight-loss, but fairly consistent and steady weight-loss or maintenance. More importantly, I was enjoying it and the vast majority of the food has been really, really nice. (A lot of the recipes in the book above are gorgeous, even if they have been taken from an old book and re-packaged as low-GI!) Unlike many diets I have tried, where you do it for a month and, as soon as you stop, you go straight out and buy a dozen cream cakes, this was one where you want to stick to it. You can eat as much as you like, just keep off certain foods. In fact, even some bad foods can be made into low or medium GI by accompanying them with a big bowl of salad or fruit. Perfect.

But… I have fallen off the wagon and gone back to my old, bad, high-GI ways. Since we have been trying to save money and therefore keeping to a daily grocery budget, it’s become more difficult to maintain. Why? Because potatoes are really cheap. So C said that we really need to add potatoes into the repertoire as it was difficult coming up with cheap meals without having potatoes sometimes. Fair enough.

I could have just gone with some occasional potatoes, but kept it up in other ways. I could have made sure we always had salad when we had potatoes. I could have said OK, but I’ll not have any potatoes when you do. I could have planned out menus, like I did at the start and make sure they use cheaper seasonal vegetables, and no potatoes. But instead, I’ve fallen completely off the wagon. I’ve been eating toast and peanut butter, drinking squash, eating chips, eating lots and lots of digestive biscuits, instead of the low-GI Nairn’s fruity oat biscuits (which are gorgeous, though not cheap), having cheese sandwiches for lunch...

I can feel my stomach being stretched again, I can feel all the good being undone. The descent into unhealthiness has almost certainly contributed to me feeling really really rotten today. I have a sore throat and a horrible cold, I am exhausted and I ache. My creativity, which was bursting out of its box at the weekend, has been put away again and buried at a bottom of a pile in the basement.

But, despite knowing all this, what do I want now? A bowl of ice cream.