Owner: Fluttering Butterflies URL:http://michelle-says.blogspot.com Join Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:10:30 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Ramblings, mostly of books and the adventures of raising a toddler, from a twenty-something American living in England! Site statistics:Click here
On moving to England 2007-05-24 08:46:00 My friend Shadowfalcon is moving to Australia for a year. It's a huge change. And I felt somewhat bad that I may have contributed in the decision making process in that she's seen how happy I've become after moving to England
almost 7 years ago. Though I am happy now, that wasn't always the case.I moved to England a few weeks after my 18th birthday. I wasn't able to work, I knew nobody apart from N's family (his mother and older sister) and N's friends. In the beginning, N and I lived in a cosy flat nearish to the High Street. Though I would have been able to easily walk to the shops, I never did. In fact, I hardly left the flat. With N at work, most days I had to force myself to change out of my pyjamas. I didn't eat properly, I couldn't bring myself to do the dishes or make the bed. I was slowly sinking into depression, even with my wedding day just a few short months away. I ended up putting on 10-15 pounds in less than 4 months. My wedding dress had to be taken out to the
Chicken Jambalaya 2007-05-23 06:32:00 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (9oz/250g in total) cut into bite size pieces4 oz (110g) chorizo sausage, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) pieces1-2 tablespoons olive oil1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 inch (1 cm) slices2 cloves garlic, crushed2 sticks celery, trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch (1 cm) pieces on the diagonal1 green chili, deseeded and finely chopped1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into 1/2 inch (1 cm) slices6 fl oz (175 ml) white basmati riceabout 1 pint (570 ml) hot chicken stock1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce3 medium tomatoes, dropped into boiling water for 1 minute, then peeled and chopped1 bay leafsalt and freshly milled black pepperFirst, heat the frying pan over a high heat and brown the pieces of chorizo sausage, without adding any fat, then remove from the pan to a plate and set aside. Then add a tablespoon of of the oil and, when it's hot, brown the chicken and transfer that to the plate with the chorizo. Next, fry the onions for 2-3 minutes to brown them a litt Read more:Chicken
Gina's Questions 2007-05-22 05:45:00 Awhile back, I saw over at Just Another Day, Gina was offering to do a mini-interview and in a lapse of judgement, I put my name down for it. Apparently, I'm meant to offer to ask other people questions, but I'm shy. Please don't. Here are Gina's questions, I had fun with them :) What is the best concert you have ever attended?I wish I had been to more concerts to have a selection to choose from, but sadly, I have been to a total of two concerts in my entire life. I'll tell you about both :) The second was a few years ago, when Shadowfalcon and I still worked together. She invited me (and our husbands) out to this cosy little bar in London, where Rosie Thomas was playing. I hadn't heard of her music beforehand, but I really liked it. She has an .. interesting alter-ego that comes out in between sets. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but honestly her music is beautiful and I've got all her CDs now :) And my first concert. It'd have to be my favourite. When I was sti
Fun at Thorpe Park... 2007-05-25 05:44:00 N took me to Thorpe
Park yesterday. I'd wanted to go to a theme park for ages and I'm so glad we went yesterday... it was warm, but not too warm. It was busy, but not busy enough that the queues to all the good rides were ridiculously long. We went with a friend that N works with and his wife and their daughter (who was born 2 and a half weeks before Elliot). N and his friend aren't a fan of the roller coaster, whereas me and his wife were perfect roller coaster buddies! :) Elliot and N had lots of time to spend together going on the rides and playing in the park while I went on this and this. I had such a fabulous time and was on such a high... doesn't it look like Elliot had a fantastic time too?
A Little Sad 2006-03-02 10:02:00 I have this friend, who I met a few months ago in an antenatal class. Turns out she had her baby just a few days after I did, and anyway, we meet up occasionally and talk on the phone. But she said something to me yesterday that I found incredibly sad.. we were talking about my son, who's begun to laugh a lot, and she said she thinks the reason her daughter doesn't laugh is because she (my friend) doesn't have anything to laugh about.
Uneventful 2006-03-02 09:55:00 Today (and yesterday, and pretty much this whole week) have been really uneventful. Amused myself today by doing load after load of laundry and gazing out the window pretending it was nice and warm, like it was actually spring. But still freezing cold outside, and inside really. I've been looking at potential houses, which has been fun.. I hate moving and hate trawling through property lists, but once we've moved in, I love rearranging furniture and putting pictures up .. and just all that make things home-y. I can't bear houses that don't look lived in, I need a bit of clutter and mess around me, it's comforting :)
One of the hardest posts I've written. 2007-06-01 05:49:00 All children need acceptance, love, encouragement, discipline, consistency and positive attention from their parents. Children who are denied these things often grow up thinking they are deficient in some way and that they somehow deserved to be treated badly. Sadly, when they become parents themselves they may emotionally deprive their own children because they don't have a positive model of parenting to draw on.I took the above from the NSPCC website in their section dealing with emotional abuse. That last sentence, by the way, is my absolute worst fear. But the abuse I suffered as a child is not something I normally talk about, and for good reason: few believe me when I tell them. Isn't that awful? This cruel thing has happened to me, and it feels like something shameful and that I'm to blame for them and if I ever get up the courage to tell someone about these things, I come across disbelief.My father was very inconsistent in his parenting skills. He was both my most loving pare Read more:posts
, written
Heritage 2007-05-31 09:46:00 Did I ever tell you that I am part Tlingit? When I was younger, and my mom was still around, it was a heritage I was proud of, and I celebrated the fact, it made me feel special. I wrote many a term paper on my Tlingit backround, I went through a reading phase which solely consisted of Native American stories and creation stories likes this one. My mom used to take my brother and I to powwows in the area, to potlatches and a Native American arts and craft workshop. I went to a Native-American camp for a week every summer (and have some of the best memories). I made my own dreamcatcher and started a beaded belt using a loom. My mom made me hand-beaded earrings. When my mom moved out, I felt a bit lost. Not only because I had lost a mother, but because I felt like I'd lost my connection to my heritage. To part of my history. In highschool I made a half-hearted attempt to re-emerse myself by joining the Native American Student Union. We made elephant ears once or twice as a fundraising a Read more:Heritage
Another list 2007-05-30 08:42:00 I've been working on a really difficult post over the last few days, and I just can't get it right. So instead, I give you another list. Lists are something that N makes fun of me about all the time. I love making lists and I have at least four different notebooks filled with them... here's my most recent list of library books:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey which I'd always meant to read and am loving now that I am reading it. I didn't realise how much I missed home but while reading this, my heart jumped at every reference to the Pacific Northwest that I recognised. I do miss Oregon. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak which I picked up this morning - I was shocked to see it there on the shelf, I was expecting it to not be available for a few months! I can't wait to read it and might bump another title off the list to read this sooner!The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster - I remember SOMEONE I used to know raved about Paul Auster, I just can't remember who. At
The travelling bug.. 2007-06-04 06:52:00 It feels like everyone I know is going on holiday or doing something exciting (like getting married, having babies, or emigrating to foreign lands) and I want to too! Because of our lovely big house, the expenses of spoiling our son with toys and clothes to his heart's desire, and the fact that no one wants to hire me, we will not be going on holiday this year. But I do have a small challenge for you. Let's say there is 10,000 US dollars handy available in your holiday savings(Monopoly money perhaps?) what would you do with it? Plan me a holiday! Use expedia or whaever travel website you use, but be sure to use it all! Will it be a bunch of weekend getaways? Lots of time in one location? A trip around the world? Plane tickets and hotel bills only, spending money is a different issue...
#5 on my list - Buy and maintain a houseplant 2007-06-08 06:28:00 ...which means I'm halfway there! Sorry for the lack of posts, everyone in this house has been ill. N even stayed home from work yesterday, and he never does that. Bring on the weekend!
I've been waiting a long time for this... 2007-06-05 10:37:00 ...After saying it a million times a day for the past 18 months, Elliot can now say 'ay ub oo' (baby translator: 'I love you') and it melts my heart everytime he says it! And in other Elliot news, he's not been feeling great the past few days. Over the weekend he had a raging fever. It lasted three days and then disappeared (after almost a whole bottle of Calpol down his throat!) but he's still feeling under the weather. He doesn't seem to have any cold symptoms apart from a runny nose, but he's very clingy, wakes up in the night crying and then sleeps more than normal during the day. He's also incredibly tantrum-y. I find myself losing patience with him and then feeling incredibly guilty, because, of course, he's not well. It looks like a combination of teething (which he's never had a problem with before, even though he has 4 molars)(molars are what the back teeth are called, right?) and the terrible-twos. Whatever it is, it better go away quickly. (I'm also poorly
Another little gem from N... 2007-06-14 14:50:00 N: When I'm not here and Elliot's asleep, do you dance around like that crazy teacher in Billy Madison and put glue on your face?Me: (blank stare)Me: It really makes you happy to think that I do, doesn't it?N: Yes. Read more:little
Jennifer Government by Max Barry 2007-06-11 15:43:00 I finished Jennifer Government
last weekend. I wanted a title on my list that was sort of light-hearted and fun. My husband had read this book previously and he'd said it was funny and even though I know his reading style and mine are very different, I gave this book a chance. I do like the premise of it... it's set in a near-future where America has taken over half the world and consumerism and marketing campaigns have gone wild. People take on their employer's company name as their surname and nearly everyone is employed and tax has been abolished which means public institutions like schools and the police have become corporate and reliant on funding either from a big business or on an individual basis. It all begins rather grimly with a Nike marketing campaign for a new brand of trainers which sets off a complicated and sad group of events which really illustrate how little value is placed on human lives, on relationships and how greedy and self-obsessed this future has become. T Read more:Barry
Where I try to write too much to make up for my recent absence, bulletstyle: 2007-06-24 14:38:00 First off, thanks for the massive response to my previous Wordless Wednesday post. In answer to the few questions I had regarding the photo - no, I'm actually a terrible gardener, so much so that my mother-in-law comes around sometimes to mow the lawn for me; I have no idea what type of roses they are - they could well be Don Juan climbing roses but they all sort of look the same to me; they were here when we moved in, I didn't plant them or anything; and last, I don't have the slightest idea if they smelt nice (they died a few weeks ago I've just been lazy about posting the photo) because I hardly ever go out into my back garden. I agree though, they do look pretty and they cheered me up as I stood at the kitchen sink doing dishes day after day...I am not pregnant. This is the real reason I haven't been posting of late. For the last three weeks, I could have sworn to you that I was pregnant and expecting a little girl. This is actually the second month in a row I thought I w Read more:absence
1001 Books to Read Before You Die 2007-06-28 07:46:00 By the way, THIS is the list I've been working my way through. I've currently read 69/1001 of the books (and own maybe 30 of the others) and if my (calculator's) calculations are correct, that's only 7% completed and rather a grim statistic. I don't really think I'll have missed out on much if I never read any of the other books on this list, but it bugs me that there are literally hundreds of books there that I've always meant to read. So, I will. In time. And I may even write about them on this blog. How many have you read?! Read more:Books
Elliot's Big Toddle 2007-07-03 06:19:00 At Elliot
's toddler group this morning, he participated in Barnardo's Big Toddle - a charity event raising money for vulnerable children in the UK. And you know me, people, anything for charity. But oh how I did regret joining in... It was meant to be a nice quick 'toddle' in a nearby park. Like an ass, I just ASSumed that the walk would be paved in some way, not just trodding all over marshy grass. But seriously - half a mile with Elliot was absolutely painful. 10 feet into the walk, he started a tantrum as I tried to lift him over a massive puddle, and instead fell into it. He grabbed a stinging nettle, tried to run into the river, stopped three times to sit and pick flowers, veered off into some trees and got scared by a man walking his dog. I had to carry him the last bit as he starting crying because, yes, we were the last ones out there. I just had to keep repeating to myself, 'it's for charity, it's for charity' as his muddy shoes smeared all over my favourite pair of je
...And counting 2007-07-02 05:29:00 Welcome to July! It is exactly 3 weeks until my birthday. And even though both my husband and mother-in-law thought that it'll be my 26th birthday this year, I'll really only be 25. Birthdays are strange for me. I don't ever really get excited by them for two reasons really:1) birthdays weren't well celebrated in my family growing up. We'd usually get presents either well before or well after the actual day, no cards and maybe a 'oh right, happy birthday' on the day. A bit of a letdown. and 2) very few people remember my birthday. I blame it on the fact that it's right in the middle of summer. Friends are usually busy or away during summer. N always makes a big deal about my birthdays usually, which is nice and I love him for it, but it seems to be an uphill struggle for him as I can never decide on what I'd like for my birthday or what I'd like to do. Is that just me? Are you supposed to do something extra-nice for your 25th?
Look what an angel sent me 2007-07-08 13:23:00 We didn't have our (precious) internet connection there for a few days, otherwise I would have shared this with y'all sooner. Look what N got me for Independence day! Isn't he sweet? A big box of American sweets was exactly what I needed just now... the 4th of July is never what it should be over here in England (and why would it be?) but in this house we always try and do something to mark the day. Once we had proper fireworks, once (or twice?) we had sparklers, usually we just eat American food or watch a typically American film. This year, we had (yummy) burgers and apple pie. Plus my sweets :) Hope everyone else had a great time... Read more:angel
Reading roundup *edited* 2007-07-07 15:49:00 I haven't been writing too much lately about the books I've been reading. I have become bored of writing reviews and such - partly because of a lack of response, partly because I've become too lazy to continue doing so. Here's what I've finished lately (and yes, all but one of them are on the 1001 books list):Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - which I adored. Seriously, with just the two books of Atwood's I've read, she's catapulted to the top of my favourite authors list. I'm looking forward to some of her other books, but unfortunately, they look just a bit too thick for me at the moment. Currently I have the attention span of a fly. Will write a proper review of this over at the Dystopian Challenge website eventually.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark - I hated every minute of this book, yet something unnamed and unknown kept me from putting this book down forever. I hated the characters, the plot, the writing style, everything.Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo C Read more:Reading
Mmmmm, Lamb 2007-07-05 07:46:00 I've always been a bit squeamish about animals rights (having given up McDonalds and KFC, not because of health reasons, but because of reports of animal cruelty) but thanks to Gordon Ramsay's F Word in which he raised lambs in his back garden only to slaughter them on television, I am now seriously considering becoming a vegetarian. Apparently, quite a few people are. It really does make a difference to me when I see exactly how these things are done. Thoughts? Opinions?
Brighton! 2007-07-12 05:25:00 I love the seaside. It was windy, but Brighton
was beautiful yesterday. It was wonderful to do something different and fun, and I was in some good company! Elliot seemed to enjoy himself as well and he brought home three of his favourite rocks :)
.. 2007-07-15 15:31:00 Too ill to post anything. More later. If I make it.
Woohoo! 2007-07-13 16:24:00 You're Watership Down!by Richard AdamsThough many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you'reactually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink theirassumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where theybuild their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'dbe recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.Take the Book Quizat the Blue Pyramid.
And now we have the whining 2007-07-22 14:34:00 Wow, have I had the worst cold ever. I know nobody ACTUALLY cares about the details, but I'll tell you them anyway. It's nice to vent sometimes. Last Friday (sorry, make that the Friday before last), I was so tired I ended up passing out during Elliot's naptime and when I woke up, I woke up with the worst body aches, fever, headache and chills. This lasted for two days. Then my fever broke, and the sore throat showed its head. That was a nice period. There was the one night where I didn't fall asleep until 3am because my nose was so blocked up I could only breathe out of my mouth, which was aggravating my throat. Once my sore throat became semi-bearable, I ended up with an earache. Fun times. I've been to the doctors, all I've heard is 'let the viral infection RUN ITS COURSE' Great. I wasn't particularly looking for an antibiotic handout, but I would have liked something. A token something. Currently, of course, my nose is still blocked, I still have a cough, and
Reading Rainbow 2007-07-25 07:34:00 (did anyone else remember that show? Oh, I loved it)In case anyone was wondering, here's what I've been reading lately... (and no, I can't be bothered with links to amazon or whatever)The Outsider by Albert Camus - I really enjoyed this one. I immediately tried to swap for another Camus book and ended up with The Rebel or possibly The Plague, but written in French. (which isn't very helpful to me!)Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - I loved this book entirely. It was one of those books where I just wanted to read it aloud to anyone who would listen and just bathe in the wonderful language. I have a very pronounced inner-voice, and after I read this, I developed a southern accent in my head for several days!Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I won't spoil it for anyone, but like I said earlier, I had to carry around a box of tissues. It was fantastic. When I went into London the other day I saw no less than 8 people sitting on benches or on the tube reading thi Read more:Reading
, Rainbow
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