The button jar

When I was little, my Mum had a jar of buttons in her sewing box, I loved it.  I'd spend hours looking through the buttons, taking them in and out of the jar, sorting through them.  Even now thirty or so years later, I can still remember some of the buttons that were in the jar, there were little ones cut from an old cardigan of mine, blue with little white flowers on them. There was a little green button with an indentation in it that fitted my index finger perfectly.  There were some large important looking silver buttons with shanks, from my Grandpa's old bus driver uniform.

My button jar

Until recently, I didn't have a button jar.  I had lots of buttons, some of them in little plastic bags, that came as spares for new clothes, some that I had left over from something I'd made, some that I'd saved in case I ever needed them, and others that just appeared from somewhere, but no button jar.  I decided that it was about time that I set up my own button jar, to keep my buttons together in.

A good distraction

I had some sewing that I needed to get done this weekend, which isn't always easy with some over eager 'helpers' around.  As I was getting my sewing things out, I thought that it might be time to introduce my small people to the button jar.  I opened the jar, and gave it to Anja, along with a tray to put the buttons on.  She spent a good half an hour emptying the buttons out, looking at them, putting them back into the jar and generally enjoying herself.

Fun for all ages

After a while she got a bit bored, and started to try and throw the buttons onto the floor, and even eat them.  I stepped in at that point and found her something else to do.  Lena came in for a look at the buttons though, and was just as interested as her sister had been. She went and fetched a spoon to help her put them back into the jar as she was playing.

So there you have it, hours of entertainment with nothing more sophisticated than a jar of old buttons.  Do you have a button jar or tin? Did you play with your mothers button jar when you were small?

Gingerbread muffins.

I can't claim credit for this recipe for gingerbread muffins, I got it from at on-line forum about five years ago, and as I was worried that I might loose it, I thought I'd better make a note of it here. I can however take credit for introducing it to you, try making these gingerbread muffins, yummy.

Gingerbread muffins recipe

Ingredients

250g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
100g brown sugar
150 milk
1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar
6 tbs oil
4 tbs treacle
4 tbs golden syrup

Method

Prehead over to 200 degrees centigrade (gas mark 6)
In one bowl mix flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.
Whisk egg with brown sugar, add milk, balsamic vinegar, oil, treacle and golden syrup.
Mix wet and dry ingredients together, don't worry if it's a bit lumpy at this stage.
Fill muffin cases, bake for 20 mins, until springing back when touched.

These gingerbread muffins are particularly yummy when warm and cut in half with a bit of butter on them. Try making them, you won't regret it.

Women Troubles

I suppose that sounds like an odd title for a blog by me, 'women troubles' woman's troubles would make more sense, but no, 'women troubles.'  It's not me that's having the women troubles though, I should perhaps point out, but rather my five year old.  They start young these days.

I first discovered these women troubles he's having a few days ago, when he informed me that he didn't want to get married.  Our conversation went a bit like this:

M: When I'm big like Daddy, will we need to get a new car?
Me: Yes, probably
M: How many babies will there be?
Me: I don't know, how many do you want to have?
M: This many (holding up zero fingers) I don't want to get married to a lady when I grow up.
Me: You don't have to.
M: But what if I fall... fall???
Me: In love? You might want to get married then.
M: I won't. What if a Lady want's to marry me?
Me: You don't have to marry anyone if you don't want to, even if they want to marry you.
He paused for a minute or two and then......
M: Susan (name changed) keeps picking me to be her partner at school, I don't want to be her partner. I only want to pick my friends.....the boys.

So there we have it, all of those questions about getting married, and all because some poor girl at school wants to be his partner.  I can't help but feel a bit sorry for 'Susan' who's advances are clearly being rejected, and I'm sure all she wants to do is make friends.  It all kind of reminds me of this song from when I was little:

Blogging about blogging

It might seem a bit of an odd thing to write about, but a blog about blogging seemed to be a good choice for this week. I was thinking earlier about how long I've had this blog, (I actually had to check) but it's been just over six years now.  You may notice though, that I went through quite a quiet patch, a fair few posts in the beginning soon tailed off to next to nothing, before really picking it up again last year.

Why I blog

I suppose that the real point of this blog about blogging, would be to ask why I blog in the first place.  Partly it's down to the fact that I just really really like to write.  I kept a diary for many years when I was younger, and I've always had writing of some description or another on the go, one day I WILL write that book..... It's also because I like to write down things about the kids.  I have their profile books at playcentre and a lot gets recorded in there, but there's so much and they change so fast, that this is a good way to get it down.  Mostly though, it's just because I like writing.

Who reads it?

I suppose that when you write a blog you expect people to be reading, but it's not always obvious who they are.  I'm guessing that a few of my friends might have a browse, I hope that whoever you are, you enjoy.  Feel free to leave comments on any of my blogs, it's always very exciting when someone does.

I may be a bit quiet on here this month, with my business blog for nappyneedz, I'm doing a 31 day blog challenge with a new post every day, so I'm a bit busy with that.  But you can always check it out here if you miss me.