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Hello chums,

Its been a long time….2 weeks to be exact and I have missed you all. I have missed the writing process. Several reasons are behind this but technical problems are my biggest headache so far. I used to be quite tech savvy until my boyfriend started helping out, then he moved in with me  – then I married him. We merged and he sort of became the tech guy and now 10 years later I haven’t had to deal with any tech stuff. So when something goes wrong I wait for him to sort it out. The other day I was quite perturbed at how I have ended like this argh.

Anyhow I digress. Its been a very busy holiday so far. We got back from London last night absolutely knackered. We did a lot of the touristy stuff with the kids but I didnt get to enjoy much of it. I was behind the scenes running wriggling childrens to the toilets and cleaning up messes, feeding, etc etc. I did feel fabulous doing it though – in fact I have decided that whenever we go anywhere from now on I will be wearing my very most glamourous dresses. And here is Why?

So imagine you are standing at a bus stop in Knightsbridge waitng for bus number 52 to take you to the Science Museum and your 2 yr old says she needs to do a wee ( she is 4 weeks into potty training and refuses absolutely refuses to wear nappies anymore because she is a ‘big strong girl now‘ & even if you take advantage of your larger physical size and forcibly put them on her she still takes them off as soon as you get them on ). You quickly look around for a discreet spot nearby, finding none you decide to get the other 4 siblings to provide cover and go for it. But little miss like to squat just like so and takes her sweet time but before you know it there is little trail of wee slowly gently flowing towards the road across the pavement. It starts off a narrow stream quickly becoming a wider one then a large trickling faster flowing river. Its a dry sunny day so the wet path is very clearly visible. While all your attention is caught in trying make sure shoes and pants dont get piddled on your oldest yelps on top of his voice “Oh no!” – a quick glance in the direction of his eyes reveals the other 2 year old , having been inspired by her twin sister, happily squatting and just beginning her own stream. Her cute little bum, in perfect squat, is facing out…….. towards the road where from across the street is a little cafe with outdoor tables packed with bemused looking diners. “Look mummy I am doing a wee wee too ”  she looks up at you eyes shining with pride. You take a deep breath , ignore the other busstoppers (who graciously are giving you more and more space as they edge very slowly away) and say ” Well done darling. You didnt wet yourself!.”. You help her pull up her underpants in time to see your middle one doing the dance. Ok three time the charm and by now really nothing can ruffle you. You finish off and stand up, shoulders back chest out. There is a breeze that makes your maxi dress billow in the wind, the thigh high split revealing a leg. You turn to get back to the bus stop shelter and catch a glimpse of your reflection – a beautifully made Anna maxi dress in a fabulous print. You know you look good and you feel good. Bus comes and by some  miracle you all manage to get in with the double buggy folded up.

When this happened – being in a fab dress helped me. I lost count of how many times I had to take to the shrubs or behind a pillar for a little one to wee. I will remember this trip as one where I learnt the power of fabulous (well fitting) frock. It enhanced my confidence in myself and frankly speaking it made not care what others thought of me in those moments. I felt great and that was enough. Does a fab dress do that for you too?

Camping

Today I am just recovering lounging in my yoga pants and my SImplicity 1317 sweater. I am also planning last minute details for our camping trip this weekend to South Wales. Its our first camping trip – we are a large family so holidays don’t come cheap. Thats why we have decided to do the camping thing. We bought a huge tent during Amazon Prime Day.Its this one 

I am quite excited despite the fact that we dont have sleeping bags or a camping stove. Still, one must start somewhere. The plan is to  do Wales first for training so to speak, then start doing European camping trips. Any camping advice for the absolute novice?

Quitting sugar

In other news after much ruminating I have decided to quit sugar. Its day 7 now and I think I am past the worst of the withdrawal symptoms. I am still craving my usual sweet treats though. My sweet tooth had gotten out of control – I was having many sugar highs and lows in a day resulting in me eating sweets as early as 10am in the morning. In the absence of sweets I would go for the condensed milk which I could easily do a can a day. I have been having a lot of headaches, weakness and aching in my limbs. My energy levels feel  lower at the moment but I am hoping with time this will improve. I have tried to lower my sugar  intake before but my will power was weaker than my intentions. Its been a lot easier to just quite sugar – kin of like how fasting is easier than dieting. So it means I am not eating fruit either. I will reintroduce fruit after I have gone 1 full month of no sugar. Already my taste buds have adjusted – the other day we had grilled vegetables for dinner. Among the vegetables were red onions and orange peppers. I had never realised how sweet red onions were nor how incredibly sweet orange peppers were. I also had a carrot stick and thought how sweet it was so I checked how much sugar carrots have – its about 4.2g per 100g. I noticed the sugar because I have been sticking to things less than 1g sugar per 100g. For breakfast I have either oats porridge or bacon and eggs. These seem to fill me up more than cereals did. The hardest part has been not partaking in desserts that I have made. I love baking and make at least 3 baked desserts a week. ……3 more weeks to go. So far I am finding that its the hidden sugars that really annoy me e.g. on the way to London we stopped by a services and ordered some subs which came with a choice of drinks. I automatically ordered Tropicana orange juice instead of Tango fizzy pop for my twins. But when I checked the sugar content per 100g the Tropicana had double the sugar content of the Tango. I had read that fruit juices can have more sugar that pop but I had never really believed it, now I do. Are you also thinking of your taming your sweet tooth or have you tamed yours too? How did you manage? Is there a middle ground?

Enough of my ramblings. Its been good to write down my thoughts and I thank you for reading or browsing.

Peace and love,

Hila

XoX