A Tuesday Round-Up

So...over at Rosalilium, she's running her 'Blog Every Day' challenge again. I had this wonderful idea that perhaps, just perhaps, that would be a way for me to catch up on all the posts I have hanging around in my drafts folder.

So let's just ignore the fact that Tuesday is already 3 days into November (and yep, I'm actually writing this on Friday). And move on.

I used to do a little Monday post of what had happened over the weekend and I do still like the idea of a Monday round-up; a sort of allsorts post with a mixture of stuff. So here goes...


Life Lately
Weekends have been full of carnivals (the big one, Bridgwater is on Saturday) and weekdays seem to fly by so fast. We went to London for a mini 'babymoon' and saw 'Xanadu the Musical' at Southwark Playhouse (definitely recommended, the campest night in a theatre you'll ever have) and visited The Baby Show at Olympia. We ended up coming home with heaps of freebies from the show but more importantly, we bought our pram (an ABC Design Cobra if you're interested). One of the things we did at The Baby Show as well was a practical baby care workshop (which involved this scary looking thing!)

I've also signed up for 3 online Christmas swaps: Char's Blogger Secret Santa Swap (the deadline's passed for this one, sorry); Jenny's The Geeky Knitter Christmas Craft Swap (sign up by Friday 6th November!); and Janet's Thrifty Christmas Gift Swap (sign up by Sunday 8th November).


How's the Bump?
Umm, bigger is probably the word. 29 weeks this week and suddenly I feel very large. I've been doing pregnancy yoga which is great for stretching and having a general chill-out and me and Andrew are doing a hypnobirthing course as well. My plans for birth are basically "whatever", as in I have no firm plans; instead what I'd like is a bit box of mental tips, tricks and techniques so depending on how I feel when I get there, I can call up whatever bit of info I need.

We've also booked our NCT course, booked our tour of the hospital ward, practised putting the pram up and down, practised putting the car seat in the car, put the cot up and partially arranged the nursery. Oh and I'm doing 4 day weeks at work to use up my annual leave before Christmas (which is great!).


Essential Reading
Standard Issue on why Pulp's 'Different Class' album is fabulous.
Rosalilium's 100 ideas for things to do this Christmas.
Sarah's posts with Matilda the dragon and her gorgeous Halloween footprint ghosts.
Sophie's rolo brownies - yum!
And that gorgeous lady, Michelle, did an outfit post (which obviously, Pete and Betty gatecrashed).


Meal-Planning Monday (or Tuesday, or even Friday in this case)
Clare and Dee both take part in 'Meal Planning Monday' inspired by 'At Home with Mrs M'. I used to be very organised and plan all our meals but during the first trimester of pregnancy, that kind of went out the window. I'm back planning meals now though and also thinking of what to store in the freezer for January!

Monday 2nd - Chicken fajitas and sweet potato wedges
Tuesday 3rd - Maddie haddock
Wednesday 4th - Mousakka (using half on Wednesday and half on Thursday)
Thursday 5th - Mousakka (leftover from Wednesday)
Friday 6th - Goulash with dumplings (made in the slow cooker)
Saturday 7th - Fry up for breakfast and takeaway in the evening (at Bridgwater carnival)
Sunday 8th - Bacon and eggs kedgeree-style for breakfast and dinner at The Bay View café in Burnham on Sea (before the fireworks display)


Thanks to... (this is going to go back a while)
Sarah Rooftops for the lovely package of baby bits she sent down (and her truly lovely positive comments).
Jane for mentioning my news back in the summer on her blog (and for keeping up with photo an hour, even when I've been flagging).
Elise, Alex, Gwen and Denise for a lovely breakfast in Edinburgh back in August.
Elise for the fabulous little yellow booties she knitted for Findus.
Danielle for mentioning my Findus news (and some photo an hour posts I think) in her weekly round-up.

Dee for the shout-out in her favourite blogs post (and if you're reading Dee, I hope you're doing okay)

Angela for the cake and excellent natter at Farringtons back in September (and the gorgeous handmade over-the-shoulder dribble bibs).

Michelle for the smiley cheery tweets and the brilliant blog posts she writes.

All of you lovely lot for the comments we received when we finally published our Findus news.