Author: Scottish Mum

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A visit to John O’Groats should be OFF the Bucket List. It’s not worth the effort.

Hyped up over the inflated egotistical corporate self promotional drivel, my family and I were taken in, and began a journey related to the appreciation of the Northern Territories of Scotland.  At the very top of Scotland, we began with a journey to see the topmost camping sites in Scotland, and visit John O Groats (or Jon o Groats depending on where you come from).

John O Groats is the place that end to enders from Lands End start and finish. The distance from Lands End to John O Groats is approximately 874 miles and is technically the furthest distance points for our little UK island

Dunnet Head is the actual furthest point, but John O Groats is the place that has turned commercial.

Pretty leaflets and alluring descriptions pulled us to striking an item from our family bucket list.  Come to think of it, we may have to rethink the drivel in our bucket if this is what we are reduced to.

Should’ve stayed at home……or should we?

“Are we nearly there yet  mum?” every five minutes in a three hour hour journey with 100 miles of driving, drives us a little into brain mush.  “I need a pee” seemed to resonate with any one of the three of them needing to stop off at the entry of every little village we passed along the way.

“Muuummm” a voice calls in panic from the loo.  Racing into the gents and expecting goodness knows what, a little boy pipes up that there’s no loo roll.  Running off for some leaves at the side of the road isn’t the most enjoyable way to spend five minutes on a car stop.

Visiting any toilet as a female is an effort of epic proportions as there is always the problem of what to do if there isn’t any toilet roll !!!   When the boys were smaller, pants were known to be disposed of in a toilet bin when loo roll was in short supply.

“There’s nothing to see,” eldest says in disgust as we roll up to the car park with the aura of excitement waning.  We see the signs for John O’Groats.  Expecting gorgeous views and unspoiled beachy areas, we parked up in silence as the exact nature of the place became clear and the heavens decided to rain on our parade in buckets and spaces, with cats and dogs to spare.

Disappointment abounded.  I know the season hasn’t officially started yet, but come on, there were dozens of cars there in the short half hour that we stayed for, so they should have been a bit more prepared for people this close to opening season than they were.

Grudging the 60p it cost for three boys to take a leak, I pushed them through a tatty turnstyle with skewed sign on it. With the amount of 20 pees they must take, surely they could afford a decent sign and a clean of the toilet floors now and again.

Promising littlest who is museum daft a browse of the “last house in scotland,” I finally admitted defeat in the tattyness and sheer pointlessness of the visit.  The “last house” was shrouded in scaffolding, as was the tearoom thing, the hotel, and it seemed like almost everything else there.

Harbour John O'Groats

 

Most of the shop units were empty and looked deserted.  The deco pieces looked skanky and dirty.

From its workshop, Caithness Candles looked like it does a roaring trade in what looked like penis shaped candles.  As a chandler myself, I gave their showroom a miss.

The caravan site looked nothing like website pics and I was pleased that we left the van behind to come up for a look.  Staying there would have been soul destroying.

Caravan Site John O'Groats - View 1
Caravan Site John O'Groats - The Lone Van

 

The only two places worth a small visit seemed to be the gift shop and the ice-cream shop but be prepared for extortionate prices for an ice-cream cone.

Craft Shop

 

“Horrible,” eldest summed up and he was quite right.  The harbour is skanky and miserable.

It’s a pointless visit if you want to see nice scenery and I’d advise going to either Dunnet Head or Duncansby Head.  We didn’t have time for Duncansby Head, but I’ll tell you about Dunnet Head in another post as it would spoil it to have it added here.

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A cake worth the calories……..the sweetie cake

It’s mums birthday today.  If you didn’t know, you do now.

I tend not to make too big a fuss when it’s my birthday and I actually never tell anyone in real life as I don’t want them to feel as if they “have” to buy me something, which they don’t.   I’ll have popped out this morning to buy myself a top and some cards for the kids to give me later, and then I’ll let them have the surprise.

A sweets cake is something that my boys have often longed to get, but I haven’t got round to making.

I spotted one on a Tweeters timeline last week and that gave me the idea to make one for my own birthday instead of getting the usual hurriedly bought birthday cake for mum that tends to be too sweet, too sickly and nobody can eat it.  I can’t remember who it was who had made something similar (but did look better than mine) and if you know, let me know so I can link up to her.

I know you really only want to know how to make a sweetie cake, don’t you?  I made a rather large cake, but you could make a smaller one.  I use a basic sponge mix, but we can add some variations if we want to.  Sorry, I work in ounces, but it’s easily changed to grammes by working at approx 28g per ounce.

Ingredients

  • 12 oz castor sugar
  • 12 oz butter
  • 2 oz chopped hazelnuts / almonds
  • 6 medium eggs
  • golden syrup or honey
  • food colouring
  • filling
  • icing
  • 12 oz self-raising flour
  • 1 x large bag of jelly babies & jelly beans (substitute for any sweets you like)

Method

I use a mixer, so it does take the hard work out of mixing for a cake, but it also produces a much lighter sponge than I have ever achieved by hand.

Cream the eggs and sugar together.  I microwave the butter to make it really soft so that it creams quickly and fully.

Break the eggs into a bowl.  I rarely do anything with them, but I know some people like to whisk eggs before they add them to a mix.  I don’t.  I just break, check there are no rotten ones, then simply add them in.  Once the mix with eggs added has mixed until it is a smooth paste, I then add my flour and three tablespoons of golden syrup.

Mix for a good three minutes in the mixer to make a uber smooth mix.  After that, I hand stirred in the hazelnuts and a couple of drops of food colouring.  I used red to give a nice pink sponge.

Pour into greased baking tray and bake at 140 degrees.  It takes about an hour to cook in my oven, and you will probably know your own oven well enough to be able to judge the heat to use.

When cooked, turn out on to wire rack to cool and allow you to shape it.  I cut the sponge to get two halves, then I slice the top off the uneven part and take the outside edge off the sponge, to leave the soft inner sponge.  I used to think that cakes which turned out of the oven like this were disasters.  I now know better and that some artwork with a knife can rescue some very unattractive looking sponges.

Adding a filling to the bottom part is simple, and for the benefit of the kids, I used a mix of chocolate and toffee icing with Nutella (their favourite).

I turn the topped sponge upside down to place on top of the filled bottom section and then cut around the crusts to make sure it looks even.

The next step is the easiest.  I cheated and bought pre-made icing which was ready to roll.   Spreading a little icing sugar on my counter, I rolled it out until it was large enough to cover the whole cake.   With a pastry brush, I painted a very thin layer of golden syrup on one side of the icing to help it to stick to the cake.  The syrup does make picking up the icing and putting it over the cake tricky, but if you roll the icing out to bigger than you need, it is doable.

I lifted the cake up and trimmed off the excess icing, wrapped a ribbon around the bottom of the cake and placed the sweeties on the top, aided by a drop of gelatine to make them stick.  Hey presto, the “sweety cake” my youngest asked for.

sweetiecake6

 

 

 

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What to do about head lice and nits.

You know the feeling when your child comes home from school, or club, with a nits and lice letter.

Your heart sinks as you know that you need to give their heads a good going over to make sure they don’t have headlice. At the same time, you smugly know that someone, somewhere in their life has a good head of lice and you instantly start to scratch at your own scalp, even though you know there’s nothing there.

Okay, it’s not a very nice subject to talk about, but I see parents looking horrified and holding their hands up in shock and disbelief if a child’s classmate ends up with any sort of head lice. I’m not sure what kind of prejudice that holds, but head lice like any head, so don’t feel awful because your child has ended up with lice or nits, as they have simply been a nice new head for them to live on.

A head louse is usually a small greyish insect that clings to hair and lives on blood from their host. The biting of the scalp and moving through the head tends to make the scalp itchy. An itchy scalp might be what makes you notice that there is something wrong.

I remember sitting in front of a girl at school and seeing her hair move on its own, which freaked me out as a ten year old, so I think it’s important for us to let our kids know that head lice are common, and it doesn’t mean the other kids is dirty.

Head lice can lay eggs that settle very close to the scalp and are difficult to remove. They can hatch about a week later and the leave a gluey shell (nit) that site along the hair.

Last year, Boots gave us one of their Electronic Head Lice combs for use in children of 3 years plus. We’ve not had the chance to try it out, but with a friends two children getting head lice, we actually had a chance to see if it worked. It did, – pretty well, although she did still use the shampoo, just to make sure.

More about head lice

Schools are common places to pick up head lice, as are buses, shops and anywhere that there are crowds and children might touch heads. Lice can’t jump or fly, so when kids huddle up close, lice can walk along the hair and transfer to a friend’s head. Lice will live on clean or dirty hair, so it doesn’t mean children are dirty.

How do we know a child has head lice?

The itching from bites is a tell-tale sign, but by the time that happens, the lice might have been there for quite a while.

It’s worth checking children’s heads frequently. I used to look regularly when my kids came over for a cuddle when they were smaller. The lice will hide away, but the little eggs might be noticeable if there are any.

I suspect my child has head lice so what do I do?

I remember when I had head lice as a child and my mother had me sit with my head over newspaper to catch any lice and nits as they fell off my head while she combed my hair. I was thankful that she took the time and made the effort to find them, and shampoo my hair as some friends who were infected had their hair cut off to get rid of them.

  • Brush hair to take out tangles.
  • Use lice comb to find and shake out any lice and nits onto the sheets of paper.
  • Start at the top of the scalp and work out and down from roots to tip of the hair.
  • Check the comb for nits and lice at every pass and clean them off.

Getting rid of head lice – What next?

Check everyone in the family to make sure they haven’t already got head lice and nits.  Let the school and clubs your child attends know, so that other children can be checked. If you don’t, your child could easily be infected again.

Shampoos and lotions

Chemical shampooing is recommended if there are live lice. There are prescription and chemist strengths. Make sure you use enough shampoo as a child with thick hair will need more. The instructions on the bottles are very good, with step by step methods.

If you only use chemical treatments, you will have to let the hair dry naturally and repeat the process at weekly intervals for a while to make sure that no lice survive.

Wet combing

Using conditioner on wet hair allows the nits to slide off the hair more easily. Using a fine toothed comb for about 30 minutes every few days for a few weeks will remove lice and eggs until they are all gone.

Electronic lice comb

The electric lice comb says it destroys lice without chemicals.

The principle is that it uses a small electrical charge to kill all head lice that come into contact with the comb teeth. It has to be used on dry hair and gives out a buzzy noise that lets you know the unit is working.

The comb gives a moment of silence when it has found a louse and destroyed it, which is slightly disconcerting, but also reassuring to know one has gone.

Results

From talking to parents and people who have suffered head lice, they prefer a mixed approach to getting rid of any infestations.

The electronic lice comb was indeed helpful, but to get kids back to school quickly, using it in combination with a chemical shampoo would be how I would move forward if my kids get lice.

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The Cheats Strawberry & Raspberry Pavlova (made in Aberdeen by kids)

Made in Aberdeen by the Scottish Mum kids.

Want a speedy dessert that will make kids fall over themselves with delight at having made?  One they can share with family and friends, or just to eat themselves?

There is nothing difficult about creating such a spectacular tower of indulgency for a sweet dessert to die for, nor does it take any time at all to put together.  Using bits and bobs left lying around the house, it uses up all the fruit and sweetie leftovers.

Ingredients my boys used:

  • mini marshmallows
  • sugar strands
  • a pre-made meringue pavlova case
  • carton of custard (or you could make it yourself)
  • spray Tip Top cream (thoroughly ashamed, but hey, it was speedy)
  • strawberries and raspberries

Pinching a marshmallow is good fun too.

With some custard added to the bottom of the pavlova, spraying on the Tip Top was the next step.

Adding the fruit and veg is the most difficult bit for fingers.

Then simply finish the decoration and eat immediately.  This is not a dessert that can languish in the fridge. If you use fresh cream, you would get away with putting it in the fridge for later.

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Celebrities joined forces with Young Epilepsy to launch My Purple Pledge

Did you know that 112,000 young people in the UK are living with epilepsy?  Young epilepsy released a flagship campaign called “My Purple Pledge” this month, to help make a difference.  “My Purple Pledge” day was 26 March 2012,  and it was to build up for the international day to mark epilepsy awareness and National Epilepsy Awareness Week in May 2012.

Young epilepsy would like all of us to do something purple to help raise awareness of the condition.

Your something purple pledge could be:

  • Painting your toenails purple
  • Wearing a purple shirt or blouse.
  • Selling purple cakes.
  • Making purple toffee.

Anything purple can be count, no matter how small.

My Purple Pledge aims to raise money for the UK’s only dedicated charity for young people with epilepsy and other neurological conditions.

Lisa Farmer, Director of Fundraising at Young Epilepsy, commented: “My Purple Pledge is a fun way of generating awareness about a very serious condition.  All monies raised through the campaign will be used to provide life-changing support through our special school, college, medical centre and residential homes.  Ultimately, it will help young people with epilepsy across the country to fulfill their potential.”

Epilepsy is a serious debilitating disorder of the body’s nervous system causing symptoms such as paralysis, muscle weakness and seizures.  It affects around one child in every primary school and five in every secondary school.   Around 6,000 young people will experience communication, learning or behaviour problems. In some cases they will also have a significantly higher mortality rate.

The Children’s ISA is the main My Purple Pledge sponsor for 2012, with the first commercial partner being EasyLink UK, which provides epilepsy seizure monitors.

Please visit www.mypurplepledge.com for more information or follow My Purple Pledge on Twitter @purplepledge.  We may have missed the Purple Pledge official day for this year, but there will still be plenty of opportunities to get involved in fundraising for young people who need help.

Some Facts:

Around one in ten (6,000) experience severe communication, learning or behaviour problems due to their epilepsy.

  •  On average there is a child with epilepsy in every primary school and five in every secondary school.
  • There are around 600,000 people in the UK diagnosed with epilepsy.      That’s about one in every 131 people.   There are around 50 million people with epilepsy in the world. Around 75 people are diagnosed with epilepsy every day.

About epilepsy:

  • Epilepsy is a neurological condition – which means it affects the brain.
  • Epilepsy is described as the tendency to have seizures. Epilepsy is only diagnosed after the person has had more than one seizure.
  • Seizures are sometimes called ‘fits’ or ‘attacks’. Seizures happen when there is a sudden interruption in the way the brain normally works.
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Easter holiday plan of action…..

 

Watching my kids frustrated at not being able to have the ultimate freedom offered to children around their own ages is difficult.  Although they are coming up to the age when they should have more freedom out and about, their life circumstances has meant that they are not ready for the full-blown parent free experience that comes with leaving the house at 9 am and not coming home until 6 pm for supper.

That might have been my life as a youngster, but it isn’t going to be the tweenage life of my boys.

Middler finds all crowds challenging when he isn’t on medication that helps to keep his anxieties in check, but is he really all that different from a 2 or a 3-year-old child who just needs a little more TLC instead of the constant battle he faces from outsiders who think he is simply a spoiled and self obsessed lad who should be disciplined more.

In all fairness, I have given up with the mindset that he is ready to be introduced to age appropriate activities, no matter who says he should do more, and I have regressed into a more child like state of parenting for him which sees me pander to his inner baby.

Yeah, yeah, I hear the strict brigade chanting ferociously into the wind that I will regret babying a 10 year old, but hey, he has special needs so they can mind their own business these days, and scornful frowns might just see me turn to laugh at their ridiculosity (I know it’s highly unlikely to be a word, but it does sound good?).

Are the holidays going to be fun? Time will tell.

The first week we have a bit of space to ourselves as a family as middler goes to respite for a few nights, and then I am taking them away for a week in the caravan for the first outing of the year.  I am looking forward to it, but also dreading at the same time.  He is so much more work when we are away as we can’t lock all doors and windows and walk around with keys around our necks.

That got me to thinking about what I am going to do with them all, considering two of them are going to be highly rested is an understatement.  Littlest will begin to turn night into day as he strives to be awake at times midder is sleeping, and eldest will be annoyed at having to help keep his younger brother on the straight and narrow.

Plan of action – activities for kids this Easter

Give the bikes a little TLC, and pencil in a few days during Easter for bike runs.  The kids can do with the fresh air, and my rear end could do with the exercise.

Easter egg planning.  My boys may be older, but I don’t think kids are ever too old to roll boiled eggs with painted faces down a nice steep hill.  In emergencies, the longish driveway at the front of the house would serve, but the dog may spend a week on emergency potty runs after scoffing all the smushed up eggy bits as she uses her expertly trained nose to seek out any food in a crisis.

Fake a drawing competition on my blog, with a prize that any child of mine would be delighted to have, and of course, one of their entries will win *cough*.  Hmm, I might actually make a real competition on the blog for kids, I like that idea and have some PR things lying around that would make perfect gifts.  My boys would love to pick the winner.

DO NOT DO SHOPPING – Online is my very bestest friend in school holidays.

And of course, I would never pretend my kids are all 2 years younger than they are to get access to the local playframes.

They’re just tall, honestly !

How does everyone else cope with the Easter holidays?

I know our situation is slightly more different to most as I have special needs to consider, but hey, he’s not that much different to keeping an inattentive toddler amused 24/7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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COMPETITION : A bloggy chance to win £100 from Appliances Online closes 6th April

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UPDATE:  The winner was @jaxbees with the caramel shortcake that my youngest chose as the winner.

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Coming home from school today, we decided to stop off past the local shop and buy a few treaty things for the boys.  Instead of buying sweeties, we bought some meringue nests, chocolate and fudge icing in a tub, and some mini chocolate Easter eggs.

To say that the boys enjoyed their messy making of things was an understatement and Appliances Online liked the idea so much, that they have offered a £100 prize for a blogger who enters the linkie on this blog and includes a recipe or a foodie picture of their own.   The rules are simple and are at the end of this post.

Back to the meringue nests:  the pictures tell the whole story on their own, with lots of mess to clean up afterwards.

Competition rules: A simple food picture or a recipe post will do the job.

  • Post a picture of a meal, or a recipe of your own and link it up to this blog below.
  • Pop the words and link in this sentence into your post.  “My entry for the Bosch Dishwasherlink up”
  • The competition will close on the 6th April 2012.
  • Leave a wee comment please to say how to contact, ie your email address in the comment or your Twitter id.

Good luck everyone, and if you struggle with the in-link, please just send me a message or a tweet.


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Guest Post – How much money can I save by switching energy provider?

This is a featured guest post.  Who couldn’t use a little extra advice these days about their energy costs. 

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With energy prices still rising from the big six suppliers, it’s hard to know exactly how much you should be spending on your energy bill – and, more importantly, how to lower that. There are so many things that you can do around the home such as turning games consoles off to trim the spending, and through changing provider you can save as much as £420 on your tariff!

The trick to this is that through the right research you can compare electricity prices and hit the perfect sweet spot for your family. We can save on anything from energy bills to travel insurance when it comes to comparison, so have a look here and see how managing your bills better can lead to a reduction in expenses.

How to manage your consumption

Global warming is a hotly debated topic as the UK – well, the world – look at ways of moving to renewable energy. And, while it may not be the right time for your family to move to renewable services there are ways that you can help the environment and your bills at the same time. Have a look at these top four ideas:

  • Insulation – Make sure that money isn’t literally going out of the windows and doors by ensuring that any cracks and leaks are stopped. Just by doing this, you can save as much as 30% on your energy costs.
  • Cold water washing and air-dry – Calculators on energy usage have suggested that just by using cold water instead of hot to wash all of your clothes, you can save more than £100 a year. What’s more is that once this is done, try to save extra by leaving your washing to dry naturally – good for the clothes longevity and good for your pocket.
  • Light fittings – If lights are left on for a full year, they cost more than £100 to run. So, with that in mind, if you turn off the lights every time you leave a room and switch to energy saving products then you will be ready to save money on your lighting.
  • Unplug – An absolutely crucial one, especially in a full property. Do you leave the television on standby when you leave a room? Is that Xbox running all the time? Anything from this to mobile phone chargers being left in can cost you money, and studies have found that as much as 10% of electricity is used by appliances on standby.

Reducing your bill

Because there is no one company that can possibly claim to offer the cheapest electricity and gas services, finding out how to switch can be extremely cost-effective. Once you’ve understood how to use as little energy as possible, you can look at the other options for who should be your energy provider. To do this, all you need to do is follow a three step guide.

  1. Compare the market – Figure out what you’ve been paying in recent months, use a comparison website and see how your tariff compares to others on the market. Calculate how this works in your budget, and then;
  2. Choose the new provider – There are plenty of options in the market for you to choose from, and there are many variables to look at. Different areas can have different prices and you need to look at things like tariffs, discounts, incentives, extra charges, payment options and testimonials to ensure you’re getting the right deal.
  3. Switch – Contact the chosen supplier and you will be sent a contract to sign. If this goes to plan, then you will be able to switch in about six weeks. Be aware that 28 days notice is needed for the old supplier and any outstanding bills should be paid so the direct debit can be stopped. Then, the new supplier with come, the meter will be updated and you’re good to go.