Run, Forrest, Run....

So I ran, and unsurprisingly it was amazing! I can't imagine anything more satisfying than a run along Cowes seafront on a crisp, sunny morning. It really is blissful.

But I must confess I'm not a glamorous runner. If you've ever seen the Friends episode where Phoebe runs, that is me. But like Phoebe, I really don't care! I do it because it gets the endorphins going, is a great stress reliever and I don't have to have a 2 year old in tow!

Well so far, so good. I'm very much enjoying 2012 so far. Report on my aims for the year:

1. I have successfully amended my 30 things blog here http://lucysthirtythings.blogspot.com/2012/01/okay-so-this-might-be-bit-of-cop-out.html so that it is all still achievable (although not easy) before the big 3-0 ;-)

2. Home cooked meals are going well so far- home made shepherd's pie, creamy mushroom spaghetti and butternut squash soup were all the menu last week. I am hugely enjoying my copy of Hugh F-W's 'Veg Everyday' book, and hope to try at least one of his recipes from their this week. I also plan to experiment with some home made curries, as that is one thing I've not ha great success cooking so far. I will report back on my successes soon.

3. Run- my least successful resolution so far! Partly due to the gales we has here this week, but I just have not yet come up with a plan to fit some runs in. Having said that a work colleague was telling me about this http://www.parkrun.com/home which looks great! I'm hoping to rope a couple of friends in and try this out before January is out.

4. Declutter- this is going well. We have tidied away Christmas for this year, which is always a good feeling. I've also got rid of lots of Henry's too-small clothes, and sorted the kitchen table. I class this as success!

Some new year photo spam- this is my beautiful Henry Robert, aged 25 months.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2012......I have a feeling it's going to be a great one!

I am a bad, bad blogger and haven't been on here for months. Full-time work, a two year old and a shift working husband have all conspired to keep me away but I will try harder.

It's that time of year where many of us start to think about resolutions to make us happier, better, slimmer people, so I thought I'd reflect on a few of mine on here......

1. Resurrect my 'Thirty things to do before I'm 30' list....I now only have 15 months...how on earth did that happen? http://lucysthirtythings.blogspot.com/ I wonder how many I can cram under my belt this year?

2. Make more home-cooked meals for Henry, Tom and myself. Actually I mostly only eat home-made, but often the boys have already eaten a tea of 'yellow food' and that makes me sad. I need to plan better so that there are things ready for them to eat before I get home from work.

3. Run......I love to run, it makes me happy, it makes me slimmer but I have found it really hard to fit it into my life at the moment. I need to think really hard about where I can fit it in, and obviously this will get easier as the days get longer.

4. Cut down on clutter. I'm not quite sure on my plan of action for this, but I will blog more about it later as I muse over how to achieve this in 2012.

So there we go, food for thought. I'll no doubt add to these, but they are my starter for ten.

A change in tone....

I think it's only right that I temporarily abandon the random subjects covered thus far in this blog and instead focus on the news story of the moment- riots.

Like most of Britain I am mainly watching in disbelief- veering between barely contained fury and desperate sadness. It absolutely makes my blood boil that there are so many people who have so little respect for their community, their neighbourhoods and their peers that they can do so much wanton damage, destroying livelihoods and decimating anything and anyone in their way. It makes me very, very sad that there are so many people who think they have a right to steal (or loot) in this disgusting way, and it makes me even sadder that these young people do not seem to have anyone who to stop them going out into the riot areas.

Am I the only person who is disturbingly reminded of those violent console games by these images of theft and fire on the TV news? I can't help but think that these excessively dark games have normalised this abhorrent kind of behaviour for many young people. I don't in any way think that this excuses the behaviour, but I think society needs to take a long hard look at what has influenced so many of our younger generations.

These are dark and scary times- I've never seen anything like this in this country in my lifetime. I sincerely hope that this is a short-lived nightmarish chapter, and that constructive lessons can be learnt, but I fear in the short term we have more to come, and I greatly fear that may mean unrest closer to home.

Chilli jam......

Well this morning I picked up a huge bag of red chillies for £1 from a fruit and veg stall, so prepare yourselves for at least a week's worth of ways to use them up. First on my list was Chilli Jam, which is actually what I bought them for. I decided to go with Good Food's recipe, as their recipes are usually pretty reliable so at the moment I have this bubbling away on the stove http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8257/sweet-chilli-jam.

It is looking and smelling great, and I cannot wait to try it. Fortunately we also have a smll mountain of cheese in our fridge from a buy one, get two free offer last week, so I think cheese and chilli jam sandwiches will be on the lunch menu for a while.

Summertime and the living is easy....

Isn't it amazing what a mood enhancer the lovely weather can be? I have just got back from a really lovely few days on the mostly sunny Isle of Wight. Lots of time was spent strolling along the seafront, catching up with very dear friends and generally chilling out. As I sat on Cowes green eating my almond Magnum it struck me how lovely the south of England is in the summer- with the Extreme cats sailing by making it all feel slightly glamorous (until the mad scramble for a tissue as Henry's mini-milk melted all down him).

I was also lucky enough to be treated to a delicious dinner of pumpkin and goat's cheese tarts with home grown salad at my in-laws last night. The tart in question was courtesy of Mr Tesco, but it is something that I will definitely be making in the future- simple and delicious, my kind of food. I might also try a variation of it with courgettes since I am still working my way through our glut. I love this time of year with all the delicious home-grown gems it offers, although I am much more the cooker than the grower when it comes to veggies.