End of May

How can it possibly be already???? Still, we've had a pretty busy week...

Monday - bank holiday. Travelled to the wilds of Stokesby to see my Mum and Chris. Marvelled at the 14 wild ducks which come to their garden on a daily basis (although I think Mum's more than fed up with their poo!) and had lunch at the Bridge in Acle. Lovely meal and a really good day. Z very well behaved.

Tuesday - Z a bit of a pain today, but we managed to get out to Morrisons - my first supermarket shop alone with Z. Not too bad, but still a bit of a nightmare trying to do a big shop with the babe. Used one of the parent and child parking spaces though which was fun and they did have lovely big trolleys with a shelf on them for the car seat. Only problem is, once Z is up on the shelf, I can't see the end of the trolley so have absolutely no idea how long it is and whether I'm about to run over someone's toes or not! Also, those special trolleys were only chained up in the store itself - they don't stack into each other like regular trolleys and seemed to need extra long chains. Was a bit concerned that I'd have to get Z out of the trolley into the car, then leave him there while I went back to the shop with the trolley. Fortunately the trolley parking bay near the car was basically empty so I managed to get it secured in there!

Wednesday - off to Norwich to see my sister and visit the Norwich office of work. Saw one of my colleagues, a chap whom I have worked with for basically the entire time I've been at the firm (save for the first year), and who taught me well in the ways of tax! It was good to see him and catch up with his exploits when he went to Ethiopia in February (stone catapulted at his head by a small child, wrote off his car on the M25 driving home from the airport...). I think they pretty much know now that I'm not going back at the end of my maternity leave, although I haven't officially told HR yet.

Had a good afternoon with my sister surfing the net for a suitable present for my dad's 60th this year. He's suggested a hot air balloon ride, which wouldn't be out of the question, but we had a look for other similar stuff as well. Need to speak to his wife about it to check we're on the right track!!!

Thursday - Z 12 weeks old today! Unfortunately this also meant the second set of jabs. We decided to give him Calpol before the event to try and ward off the worst this time - it seemed to work as the nurse even managed to get a smile out of him between the two injections. He still had a reaction in one leg though, but I managed to get him off to sleep without more Calpol and all was fine when he woke up and we had a good night of sleep too. Watched Mulan in the afternoon to amuse myself - the bit at the end where everyone bows to her still makes me cry...

Went into town with him in the morning as well - had a lovely iced caramellatte from Nero (although not as nice without the cream and caramel sauce - was trying to be good). Bought Z a new grobag - these are great! He's big enough for them now, which is a good job because the nights have got a bit cooler again and if we try and put him under sheets and blankets he's kicked them off after a couple of minutes!

Friday (today!) - looking forward to a trip to Somersham to see my family tomorrow. Went out for a walk this morning to find the school where Merbabies is run as I'm hoping we can get in to their summer term of classes. Then have managed to make a cake this afternoon - well it's still in the oven, but all prepared and washed up with my able assistant gamely sniffing all the ingredients to check they weren't off! well, the strong smelling ones anyway. Here's what I made - Mary Berry's Banana and Honey Teabread :

Ingredients :
225g self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
100g margarine
225g bananas
100g caster sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 extra large eggs
6 tablespoons thick honey

For the topping - 2 tablespoons thick honey and nibbled sugar or crushed sugar cubes for sprinkling

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Lightly grease and base line a 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper

2. Measure the flour and nutmeg into a large bowl and rub in the margarine using fingertips until the mix resembles breadcrumbs

3. Peel and mash the bananas and stir into the flour with the sugar, lemon rind, eggs and honey. Beat well until evenly mixed, then turn into the prepared tin and level the surface

4. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover the teabread loosely with foil during the end of the cooking time if it is browning too much. Allow to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely

5. For the topping, gently warm the honey in a small pan, then brush over the top of the teabread and sprinkle over the sugar.

In oven at the moment...I will report back!

I'm also trying to join up with two more werewolf games. There's a partners game running mid-June which we're both hoping to sign up for, and a Hot Fuzz themed game starting at the end of the June. The "wolves" are Frank Butterman, Simon Skinner and Philip Shooter (the vicar). Then there are players who play for and win with evil without being wolves themselves - Tom Weaver is the sorcerer and Roy and Mary Porter are traitors. On the Good team are Nicholas Angel, Danny Butterman, Tim Messenger, Martin Blower, Eve Draper, George Merchant and yes, even the Living Statue!!! Plus of course other citizens of Sandford and the Police department. Should be good.