Singing in the Rain

Went to see Singing in the Rain on the weekend at the Palace Theatre in London and felt it worthy of a posting - not least as we actually had "A Weekend away from the CHILDREN!"

The show itself was very entertaining and the biggest pull was definitely the real "rain" scene.

Those sitting on the front seats were treated to regular showers of rain when the "Singing in the Rain" took place near them and resulted in anticipated howls of "mock shock" which then reverberated around the theatre and added real excitement to the set.

The singing was not the strongest feature of the production I felt but I loved the set dance pieces and the way in which the nearest and dearest's favourite film has been reproduced for a theatre audience.  

Well worth a watch if you are a Gene Kelly fan and especially so in the front seats!

Here is the show trailer which is pretty much spot on given what we saw.

Spider Fright

Yes all - this friendly little chap tried to take refuge in my cleavage last Thursday night and due to a weekend away, I have only now felt up to re-living the moment when I discovered "it" trying to ease itself into my warm pillows.

At first I thought it was a rogue hair that had floated away from my scalp in the way that hairs sometimes do, and bother you with that little "tickle" but after a few little "tickles" and a curious feeling of something not quite right, I looked down to see this ridiculously large house-spider literally on my chest.

Now I am not that bothered by spiders normally but I must admit on this occasion to uttering an expletive rhyming with duck and then dancing like a fool in the living room (thankfully I was on my own) in order to jiggle the offending arachnid off.  It took ages as the front claw (as pictured above) was tenderly embedded in my duck down gillet.

I can confirm that I DID NOT KILL IT and it now lives outside in the outside utility area.   

The nearest and dearest would probably have fainted if the incident had happened to him and he is now in the process of planning to block up the hole where we think the rest of them remain........

One last coincidence is that this article was quite popular on the net the day before my experience took place. Males be warned.....

Sex "in" the Spider

Icy Tool

Again, a very quick post as my hands are going blue due to there being no heating in this study.  

On the theme of "freezing", I just had to share a recent picture I took when taking #1 & #2 up the Table Mountain a few days ago.   We started out with seeing how far we would walk up the mountain but both were in fine form when it quickly became apparent that I could bribe them to the top with the promise of "playing on the computer and the DS after lunch".  

#1 pointed out that after all the exercise, it was only fair to then sit in front of a screen and play Worms or Star Wars, whilst #2 was more interested in the promise of a hot chocolate and one of those Chocolate Fudge cakes at the top. (see recent post for pic).

Anyhow, whilst on our way up, I noticed a wide variety of ice formations but the one pictured really does win hands down (please excuse dirty pun).

The Apricot and Almond Loaf

A very quick posting of the above delight which did not last 5 mins.....must taste good then.  Also from The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake book.

My biggest tip would be to make sure that you use generous chunks of chopped marzipan in the mix along with  tidy chompings of moist (I just love this word and had to get it in - PWAR) apricot.

Baking Day

As it has been cold enough for a glass eye today, I took the sensible option of spending the afternoon in the kitchen and trying out some new recipes from the latest Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets.

After a quick jaunt into town to christen my snow boots, collect some necessary ingredients and accompany #2 who was armed with two sandcastle buckets for "collecting things" - we managed to get back in amongst the squally snow showers with the items to create some Chocolate Fudge Cakes and an Apricot and Marzipan Fruit cake.

The Chocolate Fudge Cakes were easy peasy to make and all I really had to do was bung it all into the food processor.  They went down a treat for "pudding" after dinner and here is what they look like.

Very much like a brownie to be honest but with a little more sponge like texture towards the bottom of the slice.  A good recipe for children to do as the measuring out of all the ingredients beforehand is key to the speed and ease of getting this one into the oven!

Letters in bath update.......

A brief post and with good reason.

Last night whilst helping #1 & #2 wash away the days dust and grime, the letters were again being put to good use.  On this occasion however, they were creating proper words as part of #1 testing what #2 had learnt from their Read Write Inc sessions in school.

After hoisting #2 out of the bath and helping pat away the "cold drips", she suddenly starting to repeat the letter "o" over and over again.   I thought perhaps she meant "oh"  meaning that it indeed was cold but when I glanced over to #1, my mental fog consisting largely of post school and early evening tea madness became quickly focused upon the cause of sudden merriment.

#1 had taken the liberty of selecting the foam letter "o" and had (like a true male) placed it with perfection over the spectacle of his young manhood and was showing it off it with some considerable pride.

I suddenly wanted to scream out "Oh" following quickly by "No!" but instead turned #2 away and asked him to remove the letter whilst trying hard not to combust with refrained laughter.   I felt that laughing out loud at the letter "o" might bruise his pride and give him an early complex and I did not feel ready to enter into a conversation about how the male appendage is generally something to be laughed at.

Finally, I did not want to linger over the event in case the letter "o" during the next Read Write Inc session, is something I am suddenly called into school to explain.


Note to self - I must go out and purchase new bath toys.......

Application Forms

Just how many types of application forms can there be?   I am fast feeling like a conveyor belt when it comes to filling out application forms for jobs, to the point where I think I need to set up a spreadsheet just to manage the diary of each one and its eventual outcome.  

Typically in these austere times, I either receive either No response at all or the more usual "We have received a high number of applications and on this occasion you were unsuccessful in making the short-list" which basically means, "Your application form did not stand out and the hours you spent trying to re-word  how good you are at communicating was frankly not good enough."  

Not communicate effectively?  

• You should see how I can communicate with #3 during nappy change time.
• You should see how I react and manage the anger issues of #2. (Actually, lets not focus on that...)
• You should see my negotiating skills with #1 over reading. (Four pages = DS use)

Clearly I am going to have to change my strategy when it comes to these forms and think more positively about "already doing the job" when for the 100th time I type in my work experience to date.   

I keep meaning to read "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne but every time I try, the bathroom door is usually flung open and I am called upon to deal with some small crisis.  

There are loads of websites out there which provide advice on how to complete an application form effectively, for example How to complete an Application form but when I try to access them, for some reason I keep getting Facebook......