Thursday 23 July 2015

7. Produce a Human Being......well Kinda!

Hello Everyone,

Lucky all round not 1 but 2 blogs in one night! Maybe I feel inspired, maybe I've been told to blog, maybe it is just time to share? 

So where have I been? What has been happening? Well I just did a update http://disneygirlgrowsup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/update.html, but  I now feel it is time to explain where I have been and basically why so quite!

After we got married, we decided it was time to make our family bigger, we have been very happy for the past 5 years being the 2 of us, but we have always talked about children and well after the wedding it seemed right.

As much as everyone told us we should enjoy the first year being married, get to know each other, it's been 5 years, nothing at this point is shocking to us! If anything we were planning on testing the "In sickness and in health"! 

My personal history meant that I had been on the contraception pill since I was 15 years old, so I had been on it solidly for 10 years, never missing one and doing everything in my power to not get pregnant! So this was a big challenge and extremely scary.....because we don't even have a pet. I have proven in the past to my family I can keep a animal alive, but could we do it together? But what I will say and be honest about, we did a lot of running before we were walking. We spent a lot of time talking about the baby, how we're going to raise it, names, future holidays but there was a small problem no baby!

I stupidly thought getting pregnant couldn't be that hard, because lets face it on TV, you see people getting pregnant all the time and think well it can't be that hard!! How hard can it be really????

REALLY HARD!!!

My first point of call was the download an app Pink Pad on my phone, which said when I was due on and when I was ovulating. When I first downloaded it I got very excited, within the week I would be ovulating, and we were dreaming how wonderful to announce to everyone after Christmas we were pregnant! HA! Did you know that the pill messes up your ovulation? Basically instead of having a real period, you have a fake one that is not the full length of time you have and you generally have it when your not due to ovulate. It takes nearly 3 months for this to balance out and your periods to become normal! And on top of that you might be in bloom for the week but really it's a 2 day window! 

Well by month 5 I was becoming angry, frustrated, annoyed and well to be honest again (there will be a lot of honesty in the next coming blogs) it becomes a system. Messages of today is the peak, we must conceive today, if not its another month! All around I was being told was so and so is pregnant, celebrities left, right and centre were pregnant AND I WAS NOT!

Month 6 came floating round and I was pretty unpleasant to be around, it's all I could think about...then the demon, mean thoughts what if there is a problem?! I even told my husband I hope if there is it's with him! Yeah that much of a bitch! Mother's Day was coming up and well to be honest I wasn't feeling it, all those mother's rubbing in how wonderful and fertile they were! On top of feeling like a bitch, I was not actually sleeping, in fact I had not slept properly for almost 2 weeks, I was so tired I sat in bed thinking about how tired I was. During my mum's Mother's Day meal, my brother blurted out was I pregnant? Typical bloke not drinking means your up the duff, but I was driving on the motorway after and was being sensible, but I did leave most of my meal and left thinking....was I? I was in fact due on my period on the Monday and after being bullied by my best friend I went out to get a test. Once did my most pathetic wee I could on the stick, I rang her shouting just one bloody line...I'm not pregnant, while she was trying to console me, that maybe too early, maybe try again tomorrow, something amazing happened I started to sob! A SECOND LINE!!!!!!!!

We both sat on the phone crying our eyes out, I was pregnant, she was pregnant it was all amazing. I went out afterwards to buy a Clear Blue test to be sure my 99p test wasn't lying and there it was 2 tests saying I was. Off the Doctors I went that afternoon, given my 11 no go foods paper work and with an appointment for my Midwife to visit.

So where have I been since March, well having a pretty strong and intense relationship with the toilet or Sick bucket!

If I wasn't being sick, I was feeling sick for 2 months solid! But more to come on that, with the trip to America!

But I can safely say at 23 weeks a baby is on it's way for November! 



I have gone through many ups and downs with this pregnancy and hey that's a blog on it's own! But I will say this at 23 weeks, I still expect something to go wrong, I'm still in stock I have not miscarried, but this Disney Girl is Growing Up quickly as my parents would say!

See you soon to talk more about pregnancy!

Bye x x x






Update

Hello Everyone, 

Well I truly am a bad blogger, I just don't know where the time has gone since my last blog post on the 6th March! But I do promise I am working on it! There are some big updates needed, I have been working on a new logo as wearing a wedding dress is now the last thing on my mind and possible never fit in it again for a little while! 

So what blogs do I have in process, well as I wanted to focus on my 30 things list, I thought I would do a small recap where I am and then will blog to how they came around. 

I will admit looking at it now, I am having a hmmmm this is an ambitious list hahaha!

So lets see what I can cross off the list and then you'll have to wait for the next upcoming blogs. 

It's been suggested I try vlogging, so who knows what the future has in store.

  1. Finish Decorating the House
  2. Buy a New Car
  3. Bake more and share the recipes
  4. Develop my Career (or decide what I want to do!)
  5. Make more items with my Sewing Machine
  6. Be more Creative
  7. Produce a Human Being
  8. Challenge myself to something I wouldn't normally do
  9. Visit America Again
  10. Visit a Zoo in a different Country
  11. Visit the International Holocaust Museum
  12. Visit Auschwitz  
  13. Visit Amsterdam
  14. Visit Paris Again
  15. Visit a place I wouldn't think of going to
  16. Visit a Unique Museum
  17. Go back to Hampton Court Palace
  18. Ride a Horse
  19. See Phantom of the Opera
  20. See Les Miserable
  21. Watch all the Hunger Games Films in 1 sitting
  22. Have a Party
  23. Have a Family Party
  24. Do something amazing for my Husbands 30th Birthday
  25. Try a Curry
  26. Read at least 20 new books (book series only count as 1)
  27. Go to a Comedy Club
  28. See a Music Concert in a Major Venue.
  29. Experience something unique
  30. Enjoy a Pamper Day
See you all soon!

Monday 16 March 2015

Millionaire's Salted Caramel Shortbread

Hello Everyone,

I hit over 2,000 viewers arghhhhh! So in response to that here is my recipe of Millionaire's Salted Caramel Shortbread, that always goes down a treat when I make it!




Ingredients:-

Shortbread

250g Butter
50g  Caster Sugar
250g Plain Flour
125g Cornflour

Caramel

175g Butter
175g Caster Sugar
4tbsp Golden Syrup
400g Condensed Milk

Topping

350g Dark Chocolate
Decoration


Line a tray and pre-heat your oven to 170c



Cream together the butter and sugar.


 Stir in the Plain flour and Cornflour, until it forms a pasty dough.


The best way to form the dough is to get your hands stuck in, the heat helps to make the butter soft so it forms, but remove rings and wash your hands before!



Once it is formed press it into the tin, using your hands to smush it to the edges, prick the pasty with a fork all over and bake for 20 minutes until it is golden above and smells good. Remove it and allow it too cool.



In a heavy base pan, put in, the Butter, Sugar, Salt, Syrup and Condensed Milk



Heat it gently but keep stirring! Don't worry eventually it will change colour!


Once it is all melted, bring it to the boil but watch out it is a molten mass that will spit at you and hurt! As you can see it attempted to fire at me too!




Leave it for 30 minutes to cool!


Melt the Dark Chocolate over a pan of hot water, keep stirring, so the chocolate doesn't burn and makes it nice and shinny!


Then decorate and refrigerate.

And most important ENJOY!

This version is really easy to do and is fail safe!

Tuesday 10 March 2015

Oatmeal and Raisins Cookies

Hello Everyone,

So the other day for the Husbands Grandma's 99th Birthday Party, I made a small variety of goodies to enjoy and I thought I would share my favorite 2 recipes that are quick, simple and always go down a treat.

Theses cookies are amazing, as they only take around 5-10 minutes to make than less then 10 minutes to bake! Plus they make your home smell amazing!


Disney Film Watched:- Pocahontas. 

Ingredients

150 g Caster Sugar
55 g Brown Sugar
113 g Butter
1 tsp Almond Essence
96 g Flour
126 g Rolled Oats
64 g Raisins
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to around 190c, and line the trays (For the ones above I made 4 loads worth, but depends on the size. depths and quantity you want)

Method
  • Mix both the Sugars and Butter until it has combined nice and fluffy.





  • You then want to add the Almond Essence, Egg, Flour, Bicarbonate of Soda and Cinnamon.
  • Once this has combined you want to add the Oats first, giving that a good mix then adding the Raisins
  • Once all done simply spoon onto the tray (again all depends on how many you want to what size, for the about picture I used a tea spoon.)
  • Bake for 7-12 minutes, until lovely and golden.
  • Remove from the tray still on the lining to clear up that tray for the next load
  • While they are still gooey you want to transfer them onto a wire rack (if you own one, my wooden chopping board does fine)
  • And then enjoy hot or cold.

Wednesday 18 February 2015

30 Things Before 30!

Hey Everyone,

So turns out I didn't do that bad for things I wanted to achieve in 2014, which is good for me HA! I do not do New Years resolutions but thinking of something different for this year! So here it goes.......

A lot of my friends have been looking at all the things they wanted to do before they were 30 and doing 30 things before they are 30, well I thought 1 year isn't long enough! In 4 years time I will be 30 and I thought instead of a new year resolution  why not focus on my things and try to feel inspired by it! Since the wedding I have been a bit unsure and suffering from a lack of inspiration on what to talk about, so lets give this a go. Here is my list:-


  1. Finish Decorating the House
  2. Buy a New Car
  3. Bake more and share the recipes
  4. Develop my Career (or decide what I want to do!)
  5. Make more items with my Sewing Machine
  6. Be more Creative
  7. Produce a Human Being
  8. Challenge myself to something I wouldn't normally do
  9. Visit America Again
  10. Visit a Zoo in a different Country
  11. Visit the International Holocaust Museum
  12. Visit Auschwitz  
  13. Visit Amsterdam
  14. Visit Paris Again
  15. Visit a place I wouldn't think of going to
  16. Visit a Unique Museum
  17. Go back to Hampton Court Palace
  18. Ride a Horse
  19. See Phantom of the Opera
  20. See Le Miserable
  21. Watch all the Hunger Games Films in 1 sitting
  22. Have a Party
  23. Have a Family Party
  24. Do something amazing for my Husbands 30th Birthday
  25. Try a Curry
  26. Read at least 20 new books (book series only count as 
  27. Go to a Comedy Club
  28. See a Music Concert in a Major Venue
  29. Experience something unique
  30. Enjoy a Pamper Day
So I have 4 years to crack on with this....

Becky

New Year, what did I achieve in 2014

Well it's here 2015!

So I thought before I talk about what my plans are for the new year I would discuss what I planned for last year and if I achieved any goals, as I am crap at achieving goals!


1. Decorate my Dining Room. I know this might sound simple but it also involves restoring antique furniture, making curtains etc. I'm currently on the search for Wallpaper, which we can't decide on yet!




Goal Achieved here! We have been in a working dining room for months, it is now full of stuff from upstairs!



2. Plan my Bridal Shower which is at the end of March, I currently have no ideas of what it entails and what people are expecting, which means perfect blog material.

Achieved too. Had a perfect time and I did indeed blog!



3. Actually plan the rest of the wedding, so much to do, so little motivation right now to do it! I'm sure things are not going to get any easier and I need to crack the whip so to speak! 

I am now a married lady!

4. Make my hen party outfit, which is also at the end of March.

Achieved I looked very fetching and awful at the same time!



5. Think and make some Christmas crafts for my first Christmas in my house and hopefully with a Dining Room that is functional!

I did not do any crafts, which makes me sad :-( I made wedding albums on line for gifts!

6. I do not really want to talk about weight but I kinda need to loose half a stone for my wedding dress, damm these chocolate biscuits taste so good, and people brought loads at Christmas.

I have lost 1/2 stone since the wedding, which is good as Honeymoon is in 5 weeks to America!

7. Review my blog on what I have learnt about getting married.

I learnt nothing, other than how to not herd cats!

8. Try to play less of The Sims 3, (I know I'll either have people booing or cheering about this) but I maybe should stop playing this and actually plan a bit of the wedding or do something constructive in my house.

Haven't played on it for 4 months and have no intention of getting into the latest one as it looks awful!

9. Try to get out a bit more, last year was spent making invites, saving money, looking at house, this year I'd actually like to spend time with my friends, do things with Mike that do not involve housework, but actually go see things/people.

Slowly getting a social life back, but trying save money and have a life don't go hand in hand.

10. And I guess Finally actually GET MARRIED!

DONE!

Looking back didn't do too bad I guess. 

Becky

We Got Married Part Two

Hello My Lovlies

I'm so sorry for taking so long to blog, but you know how life and Christmas gets in the way of anything you enjoy and computers breaking!!!!

So we have now nearly been married for 6 months, and I have so many high moments from the day but like everything there are a few low moments, that I sooooo badly want to not think about but it because something that eclipse's the day, is hard. I know I should only think of the positive and forget the bad stuff but I think sometimes it's a human trait to hold onto these things, maybe when you read my lows you will maybe understand or think LET IT GO!

And I will let you all know now that the Disney song "Let It Go" became a theme for our wedding!

So what I will do first is break down where and what we had on the wedding day, talk about the highs, the lows, then I will treat you all with a few pictures.


Hair Vanity Fayre Stoke-on-Trent

I had my hairdresser trail for my Bridal Shower, so I had an idea if I liked it or not and got the opinions of the people who are close to me. For the hairdressers my mum and I were there at what felt like the crack of dawn, 7:30 am to begin the hair challenge, by the time the bridesmaid appeared my mum had her hair in curlers and I had so much back combing going on I looked like Amy Winehouse. With the arrival of the bridesmaids and my dad came breakfast, yes I had another healthy McDonald's breakfast, this morning was sponsored by pancakes.  I found the whole hairdressers bit the most relaxing moment of the morning, I had to be dragged out by my dad as all of a sudden it went from 8:00 to 9:30 and I needed to get moving!


Beauty 
I go to a wonderful small saloon near where I live and without Kim I don't know what I would have done! On the run up she just let me go a lie down on her heated bed.  So peaceful. But for my make-up I wore a combination of Bare Minerals and Urban Decay. I am ashamed to say I spent over £150 on beauty items. The think what I will say and everyone will, is look after your skin in the months of the run up. Buy a good cleanser and moisturizer! Look after your skin, cut the caffeine and alcohol down! Most important stay out of the sun, it will age you and make your skin dry, if you feel the need of a tan, use fake. You want to be blemish, scaly skin free on the day!

Dress Fairytale by Sherry http://www.fairytalesbysherry.com/

Buying/choosing my dress was a nightmare for me! I tired so many dresses on, I wanted to be open minded but I will admit the variety of shops I went in, I had some interesting service. In a really expensive shop, she did a bad job selling her gowns, the sales rep was doing a better job, but when I found a dress I liked (other than it being £5,000) it was called Chelsea, she seemed really confused on why I did not want to wear a dress at our wedding with the same name as the Hubby's crazy ex-girlfriend (who is the face of a British sexual toy shop). Renaming the dress would not have changed the fact I thought it was a bad omen! But she did not understand and became very pushy! One shop the owner was determined to getting my curvy size 12 body and hips into a size 10 Fishtail dress. I did eventually fall in love with 2 dresses, 1 from Shakespeare in Love, Stratford-upon-Avon, the owner called the dresses she and her, she was so passionate and it was very different for me. But the one for me was Fairytale by Sherry, Newcastle-under-Lme, I just did not want to take it off, it made my mum cry every time she saw it.

I will admit by 11am on the wedding day I was still not dressed and might have had a small melt down!

Bridesmaid Dresses Coast

I did buy 2 dresses a while ago, but during that time one bridesmaid had a baby the other a stomach operation, when I rang the shop the woman was beyond unhelpful, she wouldn't do a fitting until the week before the wedding and other brides were more important than me! Thank You! So 5 days before the wedding we were in Liverpool buying dresses, the help I go in Coast was amazing!

Suits Richard Pauls http://www.richardpaulhire.co.uk/

We got them from Richard Pauls, Stratford-upon-Avon. These guys were so good, they did the suit fittings for when ever the Grooms/Bridal party could make it, unlike some places that wanted everyone together at one time, which feels unbelievably impossible. We did have some real problems with our best man and they did all the chasing up for us, which was so helpful! They completely understood the wedding was 70miles away from where we were living, highly recommend. 

Church Trentham Parish Church

We got married at 12pm at Trentham Parish Church, on the run up to the wedding we had 3 different vicars but number 3 was the best. Reverend Sarah Morris was amazing, she was kind enough to hear all about the stress we had on the run-up, the frustration I felt with the original vicar and my Mother in Law. When I arrived at the church I was oblivious to what was happening, Mike was a sobbing wreck because of the cars. My page boy was crying his eyes out, as it was all too much for him his mum looked different and he didn't even recognize me. We had 3 hymns, 3 readings, in which my bridesmaid made all of us cry. Mike was a crying wreck, my dad was so nervous he was holding my hand so tight, it was sweaty/uncomfortable and there I was as emotional as a stone and all I could think was WTF is going on with these 2! Out side the church, so much confetti was used that 4 months later I was still finding it all over the house.

Cars Now and Forever Cars http://www.nowandforever.uk.com/

The cars are the biggest regret we have, for what we got out of them, we could have booked a taxi or a car. We booked with the old owner, the new owners are completely unprofessional and I would never EVER recommend them! EVER! NEVER EVER! We paid for a Beauford and Daimler, when contacting them a few months before the wedding the information on pick ups was wrong, even when we corrected it, on the day of the wedding the drivers had been given the wrong information! Great start for things to get worse. Mikes car got stuck in traffic and the driver had no idea where he was going, mike was directing him from the back. When he showed up at the church the 2nd car was already there, luckily with the Bridesmaids in and Mike just lost it! HE arrived late, was rushed inside and in a complete state. After the service we were taken on the motorway on the worst junction on the M6 and I would like top applaud the drivers for not only telling us on arrival they have to rush off but for being in every single photo of us with the cars. My favorite is the series of us walking up stairs and them rushing to put the roof on, which they removed for 10 minutes! When we complained we were informed everything was our fault! They were not responsible for anything! Well that was worth £800.00!




I had a lot of ups and downs with Crewe Hall, the week before the wedding the 5th wedding coordinator left without informing us, they were very good to us, plenty of extras, free upgrades for us and our guests, but then again during the whole time I only make 1 serious complaint. It was a wonderful venue, they have amazing staff, good food and a lovely hotel! Our Champagne Reception started at 2:30, we sat down for food at 4pm, then before we knew it the evening party had started. From what we hear, everyone had a good time. The venue was dressed by Elegant Affair and our cake was made by a family friend.

Flowers The Topiary Tree http://thetopiarytreeflorist.co.uk/

We're made by a family friend and complete genius called Rose and her team. I'm not an expert with flowers, she is, so I told her the color theme and let her do what she does best. And she did an amazing job! 

DJ 
Can't fault him, he did his job well no complaints.

Photographer  Front Row Films http://frontrowfilmshq.co.uk/

The best man with a lens. James Reader, I treasure our photos, they are beyond beautiful, some in the moment, so artsy, some candid. He does amazing work, don't you all agree?




Highs

  1. Marrying Mike! I loved our service, it felt so personal
  2. Having a good time with my family and friends
  3. At the church seeing my page boy giggle when playing with his mum flowers and seeing my cousins son in his suit.
  4. Feeling extremely beautiful
  5. That it all came together and looked great!






Lows
  1. The Cars!
  2. Having an emotional break down in Liverpool city centre 5 days before the wedding
  3. My Mother in Law ignoring me all day and insulting the wedding ever since.
  4. Some people getting a bit drunk and causing a few problems
  5. Coming home and the roof leaking all over the kitchen and computer!