Prayers needed

Just a quick blog post to ask those of you who believe to pray for baby Samuel. He is just 4 weeks old and is very ill. Today he is undergoing emergency heart surgery.

Be strong little Samuel. May the angels watch over you and keep you safe xxx

Edited at 5.50pm: The operation went well and baby Samuel is in a stable condition and starving hungry! Thanks for all the prayers… keep them going because they are working!

Testing

Testing putting borders around photos… thanks Mel xxx

Sad times

We are currently struggling to come to terms with the fact that Robyns Granny is dying.

Granny Mary is Robyns biological fathers mum. She is the matriarch of their whole extended family. She holds things together and people go to her for help when they are stuck knowing that Mary will do whatever she can to help and make things better. When Robyn goes away to “stay with her dad” the reality is that she stays with Granny. Granny does all the looking after while her Dad doesnt do a fat lot. He takes her to the park, to McDonalds but doesnt do any of the night times or the day to day care.

Robyn is the apple of Marys eye. She has 4 sons. None of them are married or even in a stable relationship. Robyn is the only girl in the family and she is the grandchild Mary thought she would never have. Robyn & Granny Mary are like two peas in a pod, best friends.

In the 6 years I have known Mary she has done so much for me. She was there when sometimes it felt as though nobody else was. I feel as though I’m about to lose a huge part of my life.

I have just had to email over a letter for someone to read to Mary telling her all the things I should have said a long time ago. She is a wonderful woman and will be sadly missed by so many. With the email I sent the following pictures. I hope she can find some comfort in them.

Katie - July ‘09

Robyn at Morecambe – June ‘09

Robyn at Butlins – May ‘09

Robyn & Katie sharing a moment – May ‘09

Twitter

So a couple of weeks ago I joined Twitter. Its taken me a while but I’m finally getting the hang of it. I’m now following The Frugal Cook, MoneySavingExpert and some friends. Yet another thing to obsess about online!

Follow me on Twitter!

Ten on Tuesday…

Ten on Tuesday this week is “10 simple things that make you happy”… a good one for me today since I seem to be feeling a bit glum.

1. Hearing my girls singing.
2. Snuggling up to my wonderful husband.
3. Drinking a nice hot brew in the warm when its cold and raining outside.
4. Being together with my family. My family (both immediate & extended) means the world to me.
5. Seeing Katie playing nicely and being happy! (Its getting more and more common now I’m happy to say!).
6. Being loved.
7. Watching Anthony and the girls playing together. Sometimes I wish I could freeze a moment in time.
8. Seeing all the hills and beautiful countryside that surrounds us here where we live in the Pennines.
9. Climbing into bed after a busy day.
10. Eating good, home-made cakes!

Ham & Cheese Muffins

Another apology for neglecting my blog… once Robyn is back at school I will make more time for it! That’s a promise!

I just made these muffins from Tana Ramsay’s “Family Kitchen” book… I didn’t have any ham so I just missed it out and made plain cheese ones. I also missed out the parmesan cheese for the tops since we have run out.

They are delicious!

Ham and Cheese Muffins

300g/10½oz Self Raising Flour

½ Tsp Mustard Powder

½ Tsp Paprika

75g/3oz Butter

6 slices honey roast ham chopped into 1-cm pieces

185g/6 ½oz mature cheddar cheese, grated.

1 egg beaten

250 ml/ 9fl oz milk

6 tbsp finely grated parmesan (to sprinkle on top)

Makes: 12 muffins

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

• Preheat oven to 190 C/ 375 F/ GM5

• Lightly grease a 12 hole muffin tin (alternatively use muffin cases in the holes)

• Sieve the flour, mustard powder and paprika into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until this resembles breadcrumbs. Add the ham and cheese, then stir in the egg and milk.

• Spoon equal amounts of the mix into the 12 muffin cases and sprinkle a little parmesan on top of each.

• Bake for 20 minutes

• Remove to a wire cooling rack

More About Me…

I saw this on a forum I lurk on and thought it might be interesting to add to my blog…

Five places I have lived

• Yorkshire
• Northampton
• Surrey
• Lincoln
• Lichfield

Five of my favourite past-times

• Surfing the net
• Going to church
• Reading
• Playing on the Wii
• Playing with my daughters

Five of my favourite foods

• Curry
• Cheese
• Cakes
• Chinese
• Toast

Five things to do before I die

• Go back to Taize. It’s such a wonderful place.
• Learn how to sew
• Own a house
• See my children grow up happy
• Write my memoirs

Five people (or groups of people) who have helped make me the “Mel” I am today

• Anthony
• Mum & Dad
• Robyn & Katie
• Lorna
• The Church

Famous Last Words…

“Yeah… I’ll head up the church Ebay account!”

The last week or so has seen me stressing infront of my laptop trying to set up a charity ebay account. What a nightmare!

Why do these things look as though they will be simple to do when in reality it means you need to stock up on paracetamol and give up your sanity. A government health warning should be issued!

After many hours of input I have finally got an account set up on Ebay that is linked to the church. We have a seperate paypal account and are registered with “MissionFish” (although our charity doesn’t come up when you search… yet another email has gone in to iron that problem out!).

I have one item on there for sale at the moment as a “test” auction. We are meant to get a little charity ribbon symbol beside our listing but thats not there. I think this will be sorted out alongside my other query.

Hopefully all the stress will be worth it. I have a few boxes of stuff upstairs ready to list (all donated to be sold for church funds). Lets hope we can raise lots of money for church!

Now… where did I put that parcel tape?!