Great Grandparents

Posted on by Libby Price

I am very fortunate that I still have a Grandmother around – my Mum’s Mum – and also an ‘honorary’ one!  

The honorary Grandma is actually my best friend’s Grandma – but she’s been in my life for almost 30 years – and she thinks of me as one of her own grandchildren.  One of my favourite memories of her and Grandad (who sadly passed away last year) was the ‘post A levels’ holiday my BFF and I went on with them to a camp site on the west coast of France.  

Back when we were 18 and carefree!
Back when we were 18 and carefree!

We had our own mobile home – but spent lots of time with G&G as they are just such fun.  Grandad would go and fetch the croissants for us every morning – but rather than leave them on the step whilst we did the teenage thing of sleeping in, he would construct a tower from tables and chairs and balance them on the top so we could see them when we opened the caravan curtains!!  

Honorary Grandparents
Honorary Grandparents

And then there was the infamous night of the ‘bad moule’ – where I was throwing up what looked like concrete and Grandma was convinced this was to do with dodgy shellfish (not the 2 litres of French white wine my 18 year old self had drunk!!)

Grandma helping me home on 'bad moule' night
Grandma helping me home on ‘bad moule’ night

When we got back to the UK – and got our results – Grandma took great pleasure in shouting out of her door that her Grandaughters had got 8 A levels between them!!   One of my kids’ highlights of this summer was actually going up and down on Grandma’s stairlift!!

Stairlift

Both honorary Grandma and my Nan are the same age (and spookily went to the same school in Birmingham as girls, although didn’t know each other) – which means they were both about the same age as my eldest daughter at the outbreak of World War 2. When the children have done projects about World War 2 and evacuees they were able to talk to my Nan all about it – as she was evacuated from inner city Birmingham to Burton upon Trent.  She talks of going into school in her best coat, with a tag around her neck and her gas mask and being sent off to a school in Burton where local families could come and pick who they wanted.  I don’t think it was a particularly enjoyable experience for Nan – and she came back to Brum as soon as she could as she missed her family so much.  How amazing that someone can talk about what happened to her when it’s a topic you read about in the history books or see in films – and how lucky my kids are to be able to talk to these ladies with such interesting history.  

Nan and Grandad (who sadly died in his early 50s – and yet seemed like such an ‘old man’ to me back then) met, married and went on to have my Mum and 4 other children – so even more kids than me!  But no washing machine / dishwasher / fridge / car – it was a much more physically demanding role than for me now. Seeing Nan in her warden controlled flat now, eating her M&S meals as it saves cooking for just her – I can’t imagine her running a house with all of those kids in those conditions – she must have been such a strong woman (even at just over five foot tall).

When I was expecting baby number 4 my consultant wanted to induce me (apparently it’s risky with number 4 or more to go overdue – and I’d had to be induced with 2 of the other 3 anyway, with the other one being a week late when he came of his own accord, so induction was likely to be on the cards at some point).  It was November 2011 – so the fact I have massive number OCD meant I wanted 11th November (what a cool date of birth would that have been?) – but he was already fully booked for c-sections.  So instead we went for November 9th – my Nan’s 83rd birthday – what an exciting present for her – her 9th great grandchild (to add to the 12 grandchildren). As she pointed out – at least we’d remember it when she’s gone (always glass half full, that’s Nan!!)

83 years difference - to the day!
83 years difference – to the day!

My parents do a lot for Nan as geographically they are the closest of her children – and when they’re away I take on the mantle of ‘milk deliverer and bill payer’.  Nan always says ‘you don’t need to come, you’ve got so much to do with the kids and business’ – but I know how much it means to her – and I know how much it would mean to some of my friends who no longer have their Nans to go and visit. So a (china) mug of tea and an egg custard at Nan’s little flat it is! 

4 generations
4 generations (one with really bad fluid retention in her legs having just given birth……..)

Mama, I’m a big ‘blogger’ now!

Posted on by Libby Price

This afternoon I had to buy an emergency pair of shoes (Superdry blue flip flops, very comfortable and quite substantial for a basic flip flop) due to the other new pair of shoes I was wearing (Next gorgeous sparkly pumps) for the first time were rubbing at the back on both feet.

This afternoon I also had to photograph the shoes whilst sitting on a shopping centre toilet as I knew I wanted to blog about this. 

Shoes

I think I now qualify as a proper blogger……….

Crazy golf fun times **

Posted on by Libby Price

We have had a fabulous summer – a few weeks at home catching up with friends and family – and then a fortnight of ‘just’ the 6 of us in Portugal.  Now there are just a few days left before the end of the summer holidays – and the start of new school terms, and new schools for 3 of the 4 kids – which will no doubt garner a load more blog posts!

One thing we ‘have’ to do every time we are at this particular resort in Portugal is play crazy golf. I loathe this ridiculous game with a passion. I find it neither ‘crazy’ nor ‘golf’ and you can guarantee it will descend into at least one of the family members having a huge strop.  This time I nominated myself scorer to reduce the risk of it being me stropping off.

We all played beautifully until we got to hole 4 – then the 11 year old stropped off…….

It wasn’t much later when the 2 year old had a melt down – and this resulted in my favourite photo of the entire holiday – and therefore this had to be my entry for this week’s ‘The Gallery’ post.

Georgia - crazy golf strop

Definitely one to keep for her 18th birthday!! 

** This should most definitely be read in an ‘ironic’ font.

Sticky Fingers Photo Gallery

Books – books and more books

Posted on by Libby Price

I love reading.  I always have, from Enid Blyton’s Five and Seven (Famous and Secret respectively), through Sweet Valley High and Judy Blume (I could probably still find the rude bits in ‘Forever’) to the deeply condescending entitled ‘chick lit’ genre of more recent years – interspersed with a ‘critically acclaimed’ to justify the grammar school education!

A fortnight’s holiday used to mean a suitcase full of paperbacks – but 4 kids and a Kindle has reduced the excess baggage charges (book-wise anyway – although the space this year was replaced with gin – see comment re holidaying with 4 children…..)

I swore for a long time that I wouldn’t succumb to the new fangled Kindle – in the manner of my 85 year old Grandmother – but once I’d tried it, I confess to being a convert.  It does hurt marginally more when you drop it on your face when you fall asleep reading – but that is probably one of the few cons (the other being when you aren’t allowed to read it on take off and landing on flights – but could read a normal book!!)

I do feel slightly guilty for not using my local library so much nowadays – although my children more than make up for that!  My Dad was never allowed to borrow books from the library as a child in the 40s / 50s as my Nan reckoned the books there had germs – but I have let my kids run the risk!

I have never joined a ‘book club’ but quite often my Facebook feed will end up in a pseudo-bookclub chat – as I have a lot of friends who like to read (this definitely says something about my circle of friends – in a good way!) And one of these friends suggested I should blog about books – so here we are (this is the second time I’ve taken up one of her content suggestions for this blog – the other was periods – this should be less messy!)

So – henceforth – I plan to do a short(ish – longer than Twitter – shorter than a magazine) book review when I finish a book – and I would really welcome your comments both on the books I review – and suggestions for what I might like based on my reading history – I am always looking for recommendations (I often rely on Viv Groskop in her monthly review column for Red Magazine – but there’s always scope for more!)

We’ve been on holiday for the last fortnight – so this is peak reading weeks for me – so I thought I’d kick off with a brief review of what I’ve read – and this should also give you an insight into what I like (and don’t!)

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Secret HistoryI struggled through The Goldfinch – another of Ms Tartt’s tomes (I read it on Kindle and nearly passed out when I saw the size of the hardback that someone else was reading!) – last year, enjoying the different style of writing – but struggling with the content and waffly-ness of it at times – and at the start of The Secret History was concerned it was going to be the same.  From the outset you know that a certain event is going to happen – and I found the build up to that a bit drawn out – but once that was done, I enjoyed it much more (guess I’m just impatient?!)  I have to say I didn’t particularly like any of the characters in the story (American University students) which always makes a book more of a struggle if you couldn’t really care about any of them – however, I enjoyed the Latin / Greek references (back to that grammar school education again!) – but it definitely wasn’t an easy read.  At least I can tick a ‘critically acclaimed’ off the list – and I wasn’t beaten by it!

Little Lies by Liane Moriaty (seemingly called Big Little Lies in the USA!)
Little lies
This was a Red Magazine recommendation – and I have really enjoyed some of her other works (What Alice Forgot, The Husband’s Secret) so I downloaded it immediately.  This was a great break from The Secret History – and I devoured it in a day (and night – holiday insomnia has it’s perks!)  She writes well, from the aspects of lots of different characters, and her topics (family life, suburban Sydney – where I lived for a while) are really relevant to me.  Although I’d like to think the PTA events at the schools my kids go to aren’t quite so scary!!  Interestingly, like The Secret History – you know that a certain event is going to happen in this book too – but I didn’t feel I needed to get to that point to enjoy the book. 

The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriaty
Hypnotists Love StoryI downloaded this after checking the authors history and what I had and hadn’t already read. It was lovely – another easy read – but not too cheesy.  Again – set in Sydney – which brings back fond memories.  I would have poo pooed the ‘hypnotist’ element of it historically – but with recent experiences I was not so cynical – which probably meant I enjoyed it more!

New Beginnings by Fern Britton
New BeginningsI have to confess to loving Fern a little bit.  Who cares that she lost weight with a gastric band and advertised Ryvita at the same time – I always think she would be a fabulous mate who you could have a real laugh (*drink*) with (and Phil could cook dinner for us all!) – and her stint on Strictly Come Dancing a couple of years ago made me love her even more (I hold her sparkly dress on the Strictly tour totally responsible for the one I had made for my 40th party!!)  I’ve read lots of Fern’s books – mostly set in Cornwall – and they’ve been a good easy read (particularly as I’m normally reading at home whilst trying to get small kids to sleep – so can’t concentrate on anything too mentally taxing in between demands for milk / water / nappies changed / extra blankets / aircon on / the toilet etc etc) This one isn’t set in Cornwall – and I think is her debut novel – it’s set in the world of TV – so I guess sticking to what she knew.  It’s about a 40 something mother – so lots to empathise with.  As with a lot of Fern’s books, it left me wanting to know what happened to all of the characters next – which I think is the sign of a good read!

Tickled Pink by Christina Jones

Tickled Pink
This was an Amazon Prime Kindle library suggestion (I only recently found out that our Prime membership entitled us to b borrow Kindle library books for free – and no risk of germs from this library either!!) and my Kindle knows me well it would appear!  Initially I was a bit confused by all of the different characters (although admittedly this may have been compounded by the Portuguese Vinho Verde I was knocking back!) – but I soon settled into it.  It’s a total rollercoaster and therefore not predictable – which I enjoyed.  You really get for the sleepy English village in which it’s set – I’d quite like to visit it now!

So there you have it – my Summer 2014 reading list! It’s 6 weeks before I go away again – so I doubt there’ll be another book review until then – but I look forward to everyone else’s suggestions and comments.  In the style of Strictly ‘Keep Reading!’

 

At home with The Prices (sort of!)

Posted on by Libby Price

When I started blogging I was ** quite excited ** that I would be able to link up with The Gallery on Sticky FIngers – but then Tara and her family were on holiday so it was ‘on a break’ – but hoorah, they’re back – and this is my first ever gallery entry!!

So – At Home with The Prices – sort of – as we’re actually on holiday in Portugal.  It also isn’t all of The Prices – as the husband is behind the camera – but it’s pretty rare for me to be in a photo with all 4 kids.  Thankfully child number 3 is protecting my topless modesty.  It is not the best photo in terms of composition, none of us look stunning – but it totally sums up family fun in the pool on holiday!

P1010565

Right – back in the pool I go (after I’ve poured a glass of wine as it’s past 11am) – got to love family holidays!!

Sticky Fingers Photo Gallery

A Daisy shaped hole (for 6 sleeps)

Posted on by Libby Price

This week the eldest has gone on International Guide Camp.  There are 800 Guides there from all over the world – their field has girls from Denmark, Hong Kong and Australia  and the location of this exotic camp – is 2 miles up the road!!  This is actually a great plan (mostly for the husband – who would be even more stressed if she was in another country) for her first trip away – and the fact that she’s with her lovely Guide pack friends – and that the leaders are 2 Mums from the village that I know and trust – means all in all, it’s fine.  Honestly….

 Price Family November 2013-6127

But….

It just feels weird with one of us missing and there ‘only’ being 5 of us.

Price Family November 2013-6090

Admittedly the bickering is loads less (she and her brother know exactly which buttons to press to wind each other up) but she’s my right hand woman.  She is BRILLIANT with her little sisters, and helps me so much with them.  I also keep seeing things (loom band models on Facebook, news stories about One Direction) that I want to share with her – and I can’t.  I can’t even text her or email her as it was a strict NO PHONES rule.  She’s now 11 and spending time with her is (mostly!) a joy.  Going shopping with just her is now a fun trip (throw in the other 3 and it all gets a bit stressful still!) and I really enjoy her company.

Yes – we still have our moments:

Getting her to wash her hair and music practice being the key areas for ‘discussion’.  Recently I was helping her with her aural for her Grade 2 piano exam.  One section involves identifying whether a piece of music is in 2 or 3 time – so basically a march or a waltz.  She watches Strictly – surely she should be able to hear this?  But seemingly not.  It all got a bit heated and I ranted ‘SURELY YOU CAN HEAR IT’S A F*CKING MARCH’ – which pretty much sums up why despite having my Grade 8 I have never been a piano teacher………

But most of the time I am super proud of my kind, caring, beautiful, clever, thoughtful, talented (she did pass the piano exam!) and loving first born.

Thankfully the no phones means she can’t read this and be mortified!!

Every night at bedtime the 4 year old asks ‘How many sleeps until we can get Daisy back?’ – and I think we all feel the same.  Roll on Saturday morning when we can pick her up (and no doubt by Saturday lunchtime I’ll have moaned at her at least once – so will need to re read this post!!)

On the Tolkien Trail……….

Posted on by Libby Price

As the front of my blog says, I am a Brummie Mummy and my husband is a proud Brummie too!   In fact when we had to complete the forms to get married in St Lucia we had to fill in the place of birth of our parents:

Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham.

Our 3 daughters all have Birmingham on their birth certificates – but our son has Redditch.  We’re hoping this doesn’t cause him a complex in later life!

A decade ago we moved to a village just outside the sprawl of England’s second city (in fact, my parents used to come on Sunday school outings here when they were kids as it was the ‘countryside’)  – but we’re still within striking distance (and sometimes hearing distance depending on the direction of the wind) of the motorway network and thus the infamous spaghetti junction and can be in ‘town’ within half an hour.

This gives us a wealth of places to visit within an hour of leaving the house – but often you don’t take advantage of what’s right on the doorstep.

Last week we went to Sarehole Mill – and all 4 kids enjoyed it (this is a feat in itself!).  The older ones enjoyed learning about Tolkien who lived nearby as a child and there was plenty to keep the little 2 entertained (fishing game, brass rubbings) And, the favourite thing for them all, was watching the water mill in action.  The mill is operational on Wednesdays and Sundays through the summer – and it definitely adds to the experience. It’s free for the kids to get in, and was £3 for me.  There were also craft activities for a small charge on Wednesday – and so the kids all made farm animals!! We had lunch across the road at ‘The Hungry Hobbit’ (a friendly greasy spoon, with great bacon sandwiches and scrambled egg or beans on toast) – although we could have had cake at the mill itself.

Sarehole Mill 1 Sarehole Mill 2

There are other Tolkien sites to visit in and around the city on the Tolkien Trail – so they’re also on the hit list for the holidays.  Given the big 2 have read the books and seen the films, it helps bring it all even more to life. Now – if we could just plan a trip to New Zealand to see where the films were made……………

Sweets for my sweets, sugar for my honey – and cake for my friends and family!

Posted on by Libby Price

My Dad used to work for a silver company (Birmingham is renowned for silversmithery – I may have just made up that word?!?)  They used to sell to jewellers, department stores – and even Tiffany (the luxury jeweller rather than batwing wearing 80s postrel). At Christmas time they would send their customers presents – and one year despatched Fortnum and Mason stilton cheeses to people.  In the New Year a customer in Japan wrote back thanking them for the ‘cake’ that they’d sent!!  They must have thought it went very mouldy in transit – poor cheese!!

Now one of my friends sends cakes by post – and they always arrive in tip top condition and beautifully packaged – and could never ever be mistaken for stinky cheese!!!  Bee set up  the Very Smart Cookie Company sending mail order cakes around the UK.  Given I am not renowned for my baking (or actually any cooking type activities) this has been a godsend – so far I have:

  • Ordered cakes for us at home – just to try out the service (don’t tell my personal trainer!). The kids have loved them – so much so that we had melt down from the 2 and 4 year olds in our local cafe yesterday as the carrot cake wasn’t like Bee’s!
  • Had the sticky toffee pudding as dessert when we’ve had guests (everyone liked the ‘lightness’ of it)
  • Requested a box to the holiday cottage we were staying in last October half term in Devon.  A warmed piece of salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bar with ice cream made up for the torrential rain outside!
  • Sent boxes ahead to my sister’s house when we were invading for the weekend as my food contribution (it was a chocolate selection box – and everything went down a treat!)
  • Took the chocolate chip orange drizzle cake with me for a dress fitting for my 40th birthday (thank goodness for the corset they also made!)
  • Purchased a box for the aforementioned sister when she was stuck at home with a broken ankle (apparently it was worth getting off the sofa and hopping to the door for the postman for – high praise indeed!)
  • Procured special mother’s and father’s day boxes (unsurprisingly for my Mum and Dad) which were selection boxes with added extras (daffs / chocolates / sparkles / hand written cards) – they went down very well, and 2 of everything meant the parentals didn’t have to fight over them!!
  • Posted to a friend who was in the midst of a family crisis when I felt pretty helpless and wanted them to know I was thinking of them (this was specifically nut free – and I know gluten free and dairy free options are also available – so don’t be afraid to ask!)
  • Dispatched one to a (mad!) friend who was running the London marathon – I’d envisaged it for carb loading pre race – but she saved it as a celebration and ate some of it in the car on the way home!
  • And perhaps my very favourite (see my very first post To Blog or Not To Blog) ‘The Boozy Box’ – Gin and Tonic Drizzle, Rum and Banana Cake, Black Forest Tiffin and Di Sorono and Almond Frangipane Tart.  It was as amazing as it sounds (although I subbed the Rum and Banana Cake for more G&T drizzle – as everyone knows banana is the devil’s food!!)

Salted caramel chocolate cookie barVictoria spongeVSCC

 

I’m pretty sure there will be plenty more cake sending opportunities very soon!  Most people love cake (I certainly do – which is fairly evident – in the paraphrased words of Shakira ‘these padded hips don’t lie!!’) – so go and have a sneaky peak at the Facebook page – you won’t be disappointed!!  Unless you live outside the UK –  then you will be – sorry…….

 

(Now, in an attempt to sound like a ‘proper’ Blogger, I have not been paid (in cash or cake!) for this review – I just want to spread the love!) 

 

Not representing my country at sport!

Posted on by Libby Price

As a family (well, 2/3rds of it anyway) we had a brilliant time at London 2012 seeing athletics and horse action in the same day (can you tell I’m not an equestrian expert?!)

London 2012And this interest has been maintained by watching the current Commonwealth Games on TV (not sure why we didn’t apply for tickets this time – regretting that now!).  The kids have really enjoyed watching it and cheering on the home nations.

Today we were watching the lawn bowls – which whilst it’s a Commonwealth sport is not, to date, an Olympic sport.

Way back in 1999 I was on secondment in Sydney, Australia with the accountancy firm I then worked for.  One of my fellow secondees, Nick from Nottingham, was a lawn bowls player and had, in fact, represented England at it.  We were working with a (very attractive) local colleague called Xena (she wasn’t the actual warrior princess – but was not dissimilar in stature) and she rowed for Australia. When she told us this, I commented that I was the only one on the team who hadn’t represented their country at a national sport – to which Xena asked Nick what sport he’d represented England at.  He was embarrassed to admit that it wasn’t a very sexy sport and it was lawn bowls (and was mortified I’d made him tell her!!)

Having thought about it – I might not have represented my country at sport – but during that 3 month secondment, I did drink Aussie beer and wine for England!!!