Impromptu Day Trip!

25 Aug 2016 50 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Family, Sonu Singh, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Buffet, Children, Family, London, O2, Overeating, Pets, Sonu Singh

As you may have seen, I have been busy on my exercise bike, this evening, pedalling away furiously, even in all this heat, as I may have overindulged a little today!

It all started quite normally.

A leisurely wake up, appreciating the last few days of the school holidays, and a late breakfast. Followed by reading of posts, and reading on my Kindle, lounging on the sofa, as you do.

Then Hubby Dearest came and asked what we wanted to do today.

While we were sorting the children’s rooms out, we hadn’t had a chance to take them anywhere fun, and the holidays are coming to a close soon enough, so we thought we could pop out for the afternoon.

The kids wanted a trip to the swimming pool, or the paddling pool out, Lil man wanted to go to the Cricket nets (a real fun family day!) but Hubby Dearest suggested visiting a Dog Home!

No, don’t get all excited, we haven’t come home with a Punjabi mutt to match Sonu Singh!

Hubby Dearest would love a dog dearly, but right now it doesn’t feel right. It would be unfair on a new pet to be settling in, and we are all back at school/work, but the children do love animals too, and they are always asking why the local pet shops don’t have cats and dogs.

We could have been sensible and found a place to visit that was in Kent, but we decided to go to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, in London!

So after lunch, we got into the car and off we went!

It was 2pm so we had two hours to at least get there, and we aren’t far from London…but there is always traffic! And don’t forget the heat! The AC decided to choose today to play up, and even with windows down, we were hot and bothered!

Lil Man was quite excited to pass The Oval Cricket ground on the way too!

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At 3.30pm we pulled into a parking space conveniently close by, and paid for an hour’s parking (£2.50! Exhorbitant!) And our little adventure began…We had around an hour to go and visit both the Cats and Dogs.

Image from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home Website

I was not allowed to take photos inside, but oh, the little faces on the animals there! I think, if we were a little softer, and had we been there a tad longer, we would have been registering ourselves as a rehoming family… and would have ended up with at least 2 dogs and 3 more cats!

The kids where in their element!

They were flabberghasted at the fact that these animals needed homes. I think it was a good life lesson, taking them there, to see that you can’t make certain decisions light heartedly. So many of these animals were left there by people who couldn’t cope… And how stressful for the pet, who is used to their home, and then ends up in a pen, with all these strangers, however nice, looking after them.

We managed to drag ourselves away from there, just about and set off home, at around 4.30pm. And the wonderful bit of technology we call the Sat Nav decided to take us on a scenic route, all the way through the Centre of London!

Past the Houses of Parliament, the Shard and some intriguing ‘men’ climbing up a wall holding instruments!

It was 6.30pm and we had only got as far as Greenwich, near the O2, due to crazy traffic, so Hubby Dearest made a good call to stop there for dinner.

So glad to be out of the sweatbox, I mean car!

We went to Jimmy World Grill and Bar. It’s a huge World Buffet restaurant with Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mexican and American cuisine… hence the manic cycling when we got back!

That’s how much I ate… oops!

And after eating we needed to get back to our real furbaby Sonu Singh, who had been waiting at home patiently…

But I had to take this photo of the masks on display in the restaurant!

I love a good mask!

The sky was starting to get a little duller, and as we walked to the car, Lil Princess spotted the Canary Wharf skyline.. “Look, Daddy! There’s your old work!” Hubby Dearest looked over wistfully… I think even though working from home is a wonderful thing, he is missing life in London too!

(Oh, and £6 parking for 2 hours!What is it with London and crazy parking fees?!)

Canary Wharf

And now we are home, the children are asleep, possibly dreaming of new pets, and they have already mentioned going to the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home branch they ahve in Brands Hatch, closer to us, tomorrow!

But I would hate for our lil furbaby to think we are forgetting him…

Sonu Singh, we love you lots and lots, and you’ll always be our favourite kitty!

Making up for being naughty!

25 Aug 2016 58 Comments

by Ritu in Health Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, exercise bike, multitasking, sweating

Been a bit of a mad day today! And currently I am posting from. My exercise bike!

Yes.

I am a woman.

I can multitask!

I shall post again later but suffice to say I have a lot of excess calories to burn today!!!

At least another 15 minutes to go!!!

You’re lucky you can’t see me right now, with sweat dripping…

I am not talking about lady like glowing, or a little perspiring nutfull on sweating buckets!

That’s gotta be good, hasn’t it?

Health Tip #1

25 Aug 2016 18 Comments

by Ritu in Health Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, eating fruit, health tips

Something I learned from Pops which makes sense!

Fruit Advice

Haiku Hub Floating Challenge #1 – Heritage

24 Aug 2016 39 Comments

by Ritu in Challenges, Photography, Poems Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Floating Challenge, Haiku Hub, TJ

Now, some of you may have heard, TJ over at La Vie Et Trop Courte Por Boire Du Mauvais Vin, created a Haiku Hub, where he has invited all manner of Haiku writers to join, and a couple of weeks ago, he put it out there to us ‘Hubbers’ to think of some challenges to throw out to all Haiku enthusiasts!

You know me, always up for a challenge, and I volunteered some ideas, and in turn, TJ volunteered me to be the first host!

So, here I am hosting my first ever challenge post!

I went walking in a nearby country park with the family a couple of weeks back and took plenty of photos. One of them cried out to me to be used!

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The prompt photo is as above, and a word prompt to use is

Heritage

Use either, or both together, to create your haiku. Think outside the box if you want, substitute the word Heritage for something similar…

My take:

Roots

Fallen and exposed
Unearthed, shifted here and there
Though my roots, still strong

Ritu 2016

Whatever you want to do! Just link back to this post within the week, and I will compile a post with all the entries on Wednesday 31st August. Please check and makes sure it has pinged back to the post, or leave a link in the comments.

Then all you need to do is look out for the next challenge which TJ will repost on his blog, as and when it is live next month!

Tween-age Angst!

23 Aug 2016 59 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Angst, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children, Frustration, Testing Boundaries, Tween-agers

It feels like only a short few months ago, I was using you, my Peeps as a sounding board, for my frustrations with Lil Princess, with her terrible behaviour, awful sleep patterns, and eating issues.

I would hate myself for thinking it, but I felt like, for the first time in my life as a mother, I had a favourite. I would much rather spend time with Lil Man, and leave Lil Princess to stew. I was a BAD MUM!

But over the last few weeks, there has been a true shift in dynamics.

Lil Man is 11, and has definitely hit that Tween-age time.

He has started to push his boundaries BIG TIME!

I knew it was going to happen. He is due to start Secondary School in less than 2 weeks! Eeeek!

It started with him requesting a mobile phone. He actually does have a handset, an old one of ours, without a SIM card, to use as a mini-tablet on WiFi. But he wanted a SIM as some of his friends had phones, and they were using WhatsApp, to keep in touch with each other.

We will get him a SIM for the phone. Actually, I already have one, but not giving it to him just yet. I know I would feel happier if he had a phone, so I know he got to school ok, of that he got home safely. And if need be, he could call or message to say whether any after school activities had been cancelled. But he needs to earn it.

But over the holidays, he has become so cocky, so full of attitude, and downright mean to his sister, I wonder what happened to that darling boy of mine? Someone has transplanted his personality into Lil Princess, and hers into him!

Ok, so he is still eating perfectly well, and she is still terrible, and he sleeps fine, whereas she can still visit us at around 3am, but it’s the behaviour!

Lil Princess can still be annoying, and downright naughty ( caught her calling her brother a ‘f***ing brother!’ the other day! Where did she learn that!?!) but she has calmed down so much, and seems to have transferred that angst to her Tween-age brother!

I find myself constantly telling him that various things will be taken away from him, or that he can’t go here or there, as he winds me up so much!

The lip on him! I can’t believe that he mutters under his breath at me! And he’s not good at hiding it too, so I know exactly what he said… he’s getting frustrated too, so his limited vocabulary of swear words is getting a good airing!

And to be honest, it hurts even more since we have broken our backs the last 2 weeks to give them their own spaces, their own bedrooms. It feels like we are not appreciated at all, and everything that we do is taken for granted.

I know it is all part of growing up.

At various ages and stages, there are new boundaries that children will try to push. But Jeez, is it frustrating!!!!! And to think… we’ll have to go through it all again soon with Lil Princess!