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Wednesday 9 April 2014

Beauty finds and Boobie Bites

Well it has been quite the year so far. I've had not one but two operations and am now feeling a lot better, but am taking it easy and heavily investing in Bio Oil. 

So this is a bit of a bumper blog because I haven't posted for yonks. 

First up I've got a few new beauty products I'm head over heels with.  I don't know about you but I love big hair.  The bigger the better.  It is all about the volume, baby.

Nice hair, shame about the jumped up pigeon


I tried John Frieda's new Volume range a few weeks ago and while the shampoo is lovely I don't know how much it can work – I mean you wash it out of your hair.  But the mousse!  Ahh the mousse is marvellous. 


The entire range

I shove it all through wet hair once I've brushed it.  It gives my hair noticeably more volume, plus holds a hairstyle brilliantly – but this is the best bit – it lasts for 3 days.
Yes my pretties, 3 whole days of volume.  No limp, dirty hair here!  You will have volume till you choose to wash it out. 

Next up is Laura Mercier Crème Brulee honey bath which comes with its own honey twizzle thing.  It is seriously indulgent and a lovely present to receive – mine was from a lovely friend Stella (she is a regular reader of the blog – Hi Stells!) and I absolutely love it.  £32 is a lot to spend on bubble bath but by god it is worth it. I caught Mr Rose trying to use it the other day and quickly directed him to the Radox.  This stuff is definitely too good for men. 



Bathing deliciousness



Finally on the beauty front is a new moisturiser.  I don't know what it is about anaesthetics and pain killers but by god they dried my skin out.  I was slapping on all sorts of face creams from good old Avene to hard core Eczema cream.  Nothing worked. 
Then I gave this a go – Biotherm Aquasource Nuit - Cousin LL gave it to me for Christmas and I'd only used it a few times.  Within seconds my dry skin was restored and so much softer.  The next day it was visibly plumper and I'm in love with it. 
Now it comes with a word of warning, if you have spot prone skin (as I do) it really must be used in moderation.  I use it about once a week to keep the flaky forehead (eurgh) at bay.  But for really dry skins or mature skins I reckon it would be perfect. 



Beauty update ends!


A few weeks ago another member of the clan was born.  Welcome to the world, Baby Byron!   Baby Bryon arrived a few weeks earlier than expected and is the darling first baby of Cousin TL and Mrs Cousin TL. 

I got to meet him last week and I can honestly say he was the tiniest, most precious little thing!  He is doing really well and I'll get to see him again this weekend at my parents' Ruby Wedding (more on that later) and can't wait to give him another cuddle.
 
As he arrived a bit early he is now eating for England and leaving his poor mum a bit exhausted! So I told her about the Boobie Bites I like to make for new mums who are exhausted and drained from constantly having their boobs shoved in a baby's mouth. 

Basically they are a pimped up flap jack, but with tonnes of things to provide slow released energy and protein – and no nasties sugary things that will be used up in a flash.  I like to give them to new mums in a Tupperware box for them to keep next to the bed so at 3.40am when they have a baby clamped to 1 nipple and a snoring husband next to them, they can just reach in for a nutritious snack.  They usually look so touched that they practically sign you up to be God Mother there and then. 

I made a batch on Sunday so I could take some photos (fooled Mr Rose into eating them by calling them Breakfast Bites – which actually they would be great as), but sadly they don't look as tasty as they are.  So here is the recipe without a pic – but do give them a try if you know a new mum who is breast feeding like a crazy person.

Boobie Bites:
5 oz oats
1 oz caster sugar
1 oz flour (you could leave this out if mum doesn't eat wheat- just replace with oats)
2 oz ground almonds
2 eggs
2 mashed bananas
2 tablespoon honey
1 large handful of chopped, dried apricots
1 large handful of raisins
(Or whatever you have around - dark chocolate and chopped nuts would be nice)
Glacier cherries for decorating and making the bites look like nipples  ;-) 

Method:
Shove them all in a bowl and mix.  If mixture looks too wet then add bit more flour.  Scoop into oven proof dish. Decorate with cherry nipples. Bung in the oven - take them out before they get burnt!  Simples. 


Rose x


Saturday 1 February 2014

Party like it's 1983

It is a bit of a family joke that I wasn't especially happy when, aged 3, Annie came along.


Like many family jokes, it is probably 20% legend, 20% truth and 60% amusing anecdote.  My mum ADORES to tell the story how she used to hide Annie's crib behind the sofa as she was scared I'd try and pick her up to torture her.   I love to raise a laugh now and again about how Mum, Dad and I were 'The Original Three' - a trio so content I've been puzzled ever since why they added to the clan.
But it isn't really true.  Other than a few teenage moments, I've always adored my little sisters and would have been fearful lonely growing up without them.


That said - this last week it has been all 1983 - The Original Three are back. 


I've been in the family home for a week as I had an operation last week (yes it was grim, yes I'm making a fuss, please send floral bouquets to the usual address).  I haven't really been able to move that much, so mum swooped down to London to pick me up and I've been here for quite some days.  I am slightly losing track of time - it could be the painkillers but it could also be the gentle whirr of the washing machine which seems to always be running. 

So I 've had a unique opportunity to recreate our glory years, with my parents all to myself - a very rare treat. 


Some things are just the same.  My mum still runs the show.  After the operation the nurses strictly told me no showering or bathing for 2 weeks - till the stitches come out.  I told mum this - she cocked an eyebrow at me and said I'd feel much better for a shower.

So she fashioned a waterproof device out of a Marks and Spencer plastic bag - "a quality plastic darling, none of that CO OP rubbish" and masking tape.  You can imagine how I felt - aged 32, naked as the day that I was born, fairly off my tits on morphine, in a considerable amount of pain.
Vulnerable to say the least.  But in a week when you had to learn to use a bedpan, you just have to crack on and do what the lady holding the masking tape tells you.
Mum did everything she could to make me feel as comfortable as possible, but I got the feeling she was quite enjoying it all.  

"Gosh your nipples really are so different to mine - how extraordinary". 
"Oh yes, look that hole I made wasn't nearly big enough for your thigh to fit through!"
"Do you have a Brazilian or just au naturel?"

MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM! 

Evenings have been spent in an amiable fashion.  Dad gets home from work at 6, and immediately asks when supper is.  So we eat about 6.45pm which on day one shocked me and I rolled my eyes in an urban way as possible - and now I'm so conditioned I cannot imagine how I will go back to the normal 8.30pm supper that Mr Rose and I manage. 

Dinner done by 7pm - who am I kidding - 6.54pm - we have the whole evening ahead of us for trying to find something to watch on TV we all like.  Last night we watched Failure to Launch - a fairly dire film in which the 35 year old son refuses to move out of the family house.  Topical, eh?


At 9.30pm a marvellous thing happens - snack time!  Dad does a round of hot drinks and snacks for us all!  Last night I had Horlicks and salted caramel ice cream!!  Tonight I had coffee and malteasers!!  Dreamy.  I may never leave.


Then at 10pm we have to watch the BBC evening News.  Mum talks through most of the "foreign" news, so if anyone could catch me up with Syria this week I'd be ever so grateful. 

Then comes the climax of the evening.  Drum roll please.  THE WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!


If one of them is out of the room, the other will bellow "WEATHER", and they missing parent will race into the room.  They watch the local weather first.  Then the national weather.  There is always much discussion about the weather. 


I find it all a bit puzzling.  To the best of my knowledge, neither of them are crop farmers.  Neither of them spend much time out of doors.  It is January and all it does is rain.  I've shown them both the weather app on the Ipad and their Iphones.  Odd. 


After the weather dad sternly says that it is getting late and we all trot off to bed. 


Happy times.


Rose xx