1 Women, 1 Kitchen, 1 Big Mess!

Well I was making cupcakes for a party, the mixture in the bowl went crazy, as you can see from the stat of my KitchenAid ... flour, icing sugar, you name it went everywhere!  I had the wash all my tiles down afterwards, it was like a bunch of kids had been cooking in my kitchen.  It was good fun though =P

New KITCHENAID Pasta Attachment!!!

We as you know my dog died on Valentine's Day, my husband bought me a Chamilia bead for my bracelet, the limited edition one of a heart.  He said it was from Chelsea (my dog) as she gave up her heart for me on Valentines day, it was so touching and I will treasure it.

Really unexpectedly, he had also bought me the KitchenAid pasta attachment (costing £78, I know caz I've been eyeing it up for ages).  Well I was so broken hearted over Chelsea that I've not had the passion to cook this last week and I was so looking forward to getting one, any other time I would have been jumping up and down, but I just smiled, thanked him and put it in the cupboard.  I think he understood, anyway I tried it out for the first time today.

Well it was amazing!!!  I cannot believe has fast and easy it is to make pasta.  Needless to say I will be making lots of fresh pasta from now on and it is really good for losing weight as pasta fills your belly and is not full of fat.  About 80g worth of flour makes a lot of pasta that would fill you up and there is not many calories in 80g of flour.

My dog Chelsea has gone to heaven

Chelsea was a dog like no other, a legend in her own right.  She has given so much to me and my family over the past 16 and a half years and she will never be forgotten.

She died on Valentine's Day in my arms as we wept and sang her songs.  My husband keep telling her Mummy and Daddy's here and we told her not to be scared.  She took her finial breath and fell asleep for ever.

My heart is breaking and I just feel like the air has been knocked out of me, I have never cried so much in my entire life, but even though it hurts so bad, it was so worth it to have all the happy memories and love that she gave us.

Cooking on Crutches with a Puppy Chewing your Toes

Imagine, when you use your legs...you can't use your arms and when you use your arms you can't use you legs.  That's what it is like trying to cook while you are on crutches.  It's a pain in the ass!

I'm hobbling around a bit more now though, so at least I can do a little cleaning and the bungalow has been spotless since my little breakdown =)

Now me and my husband had this bright idea to get our daughter a puppy for Christmas to keep her company, trying to walk around is hard enough as it is, without a 5 inch high puppy with teeth like needles clinging on to your sock on your good foot with every step you take.  If I need to carry her, I have to put her in my top as I don't have any hands free...what a commotion!!!

I take my hat off to people who live permanently in a chair or on crutches etc.

The KitchenAid Candy Apple Crazy Arrival

I had been tracking my parcel with DHL and it got into Manchester, UK at 5am.  I only live 10 miles outside of Manchester, so I was certain it would come today.  I sat all day on the sofa looking out of the window for the delivery man and I had a hospital appointment at 3pm to have my stitches taken out.

It didn't come =/ So I left for the hospital.

The stitches really hurt when they took them out, which surprised me, but they had been in 3 weeks and 1 day, so I think they had started to irritate. It was 4:30pm be time we drove back from the hospital, it was dark and I was losing hope of getting my mixer today.  As we got to Lowton, my home village, my husband says "KT, there is a DHL van behind us".  At first I thought he was teasing me, but no!  We drove home and so did the DHL van behind us, along with my mixer!  I was so happy I could have kissed the delivery man!

I was dancing on my crutches (well poorly attempting to), Ste had to unpack it for me and take it through to the kitchen.  Where he proceed to install a power point where I wanted it to go.  The first thing that hits you when you see it is the colour, it's so glittery and shiny.
























So, I had two positive things happen today, my stitches out and my KitchenAid delivered.  Now the thing is both of these things represent a path in my story.  My stitches are part of my disability / career halt and the KitchenAid is part of my housewife trial.  Funny that at this point things have come together.

Well here she is, what shall I call her?  Something to do with red, candy apple, KitchenAid, 90...I don't know.  I'm thinking of calling her Stitches, for obvious reasons, well it happened on the same day and my stitches are pretty red and memorable.  Or do you think that is too gory?  I supose if you didn't know about my stitches the name wouldn't seem so bad, as normally stitches is associated with making or fixing something.  Well with the help of my KitchenAid I will be making food and fixing me in the process =)

So the next step is what do I make?  It had to be something quick as my foot was hurting and swelling. Roll on the dinner rolls!

Post Operation Blues...What a Mess!

I have been lying here now for three weeks on the sofa with my leg up in the air with this stupid Aircast boot. Dreaming about my housewife delima and getting a KitchenAid mixer to cook up a whole verity of home baking produce.  Leaving my husband (who works 9-1 on the road, then 2-5 works from home) and teenage daughter to run the home.

Well I don't want to sound ungrateful, even though it will come across that way anyway.  But!  I took a walk around the bungalow today on my crutches and I could have cried =/.  I am a house proud lady, so even seeing one thing dirty upsets me.

In a 5 minute walk this is what I found:

Curry in my brand new Tupperware containers that I have not yet even used!

My Brabantia filthy.

You can't really see this well on the photograph, but yes that is dried dog wee =/ (we have an 8 week old puppy who is learning).

My store cupboard.

Jazz's school room.

My daughter's bedside table.

I really need to get back on my feet and put this home back in order, either that or get the cleaner back in here.  I'm getting really frustrated now, I feel like I have been given this chance to try out my housewifing and yet here I am stuck on the sofa =/.

Filling the Kitchen with Housewife Essentials

So if I'm going to give this housewife thing a try, I may as well do it properly.  Not sure what a housewife requires cleaning, sewing and baking stuff I am presuming.  I have a sewing machine, even got it out and repaired the sofa covers that was splitting.  I have plenty of cleaning stuff and an excellent hoover, although I could do with a carpet cleaner as well.

Items bought so far:

• Full new pan set
• Storage containers for ingredients
• Silicone / metal / pyrex baking dishes
• Bowls and pie dishes
• A little ceramic pie blackbird
• Ceramic pie beads
• KitchenAid Artisan Mixer
• Flour cups
• Measuring spoons

Not sure what else I will need, but it's certainly a good start!

The KitchenAid Artisan Mixer

I found this wonderful appliance!  I have become obsessed with getting one.  Well what a nightmare!

I knew I wanted a red KitchenAid, they did 3 shades: empire red, persimmon and candy apple red.  I was settled on the empire red one after looking on the Internet and was almost ready to order one online.  Then I thought, I'll just pop over to the Trafford Centre and have a look at them in John Lewis.

Well as soon as I saw them, the Candy Apple mixer stood out a mile.  It was glorious, a really shiny metallic red, now the hunt was on to find one as John Lewis had none left and wouldn't sell the display one.

I tried everywhere, the KitchenAid warehouse had none left and was waiting for new stock from Belgium.  It was going to take until mid-February...I could wait that long!

After a long Internet hunt I have finally ordered one and it should be here next week.  Now at last I can start planning my housewife trial run, all the wonderful baking I can do with that machine.  I even went to Asda today and got loads of bread flour and yeast.

The Housewife Trial Run

So while I was waiting for my operation my days consisted of getting up at 9am, schooling Jazz for the morning, making lunch, welcoming my husband home from his mornings work visits.  In the afternoon Jazz's tutor comes and I get my housework done and make brews for my husband while he works in the study.

Life is pretty simple, with a lot of medical appointments in-between.

The I have my operation and now everything is on pause and Jazz and Ste (my husband) are having to look after me.  It's horrid!  I'm not obsessive or anything, but they don't do things the way I do them.  After I lay the cleaner off, I got myself a nice little routine going, well now that has all gone to pot!

So while I can't walk and do housewifie things, I planning, what to buy and what I actually have to do to be a 'real' housewife.

Housewife, failure or luxury?

Why do I find it such a difficult choice? Part of me feels like 'oh if your a housewife you are uneducated and can't get a job'. It is so ridiculous! Yes it is possible to be a housewife by choice, educated or not!

Why the heck them women burned their bras I don't know. The thought of become a housewife sounds more like a luxury to me. There is so much to do, things that need doing and things that you want to do by choice.

You can do your tasks when you want, at your own pace. No deadlines or stress and lots of fun things to do along the way. I'm sure my husband and daughter would rather have all the home comforts and a happy wife / mum, rather than the stressed out tired wife / mum I had become.

So why the thought of being asked at the next party 'what do you do for a living?' fills me with dread of saying 'I'm a housewife'. Why does it make me feel any less of myself?

Yes a housewife is hard work, but it is hard work done by choice. I love my family more than money, is that such a failure?

The story so far...

Let's keep it short and sweet, last year I was a full-time web developer with a 1st class BSc degree. Then I needed a foot operation and my daughter needs hip operations. So here I am with a taste of life without work.

I did originally do this post without my operation images, but after seeing other peoples blogs, I decided to put them on. I hope they are not too gory, but it's how the story starts.

So far I have been on the sick for 2 months and currently can't walk with my foot in a cast boot. My operation involved breaking my ankle, ball of foot, big toe and some tendon work.

My daughter Jazz, can't walk well and lives on meds such as morphine to control her pain and is home schooled by 4 tutors a week and myself.

Is it viable? Well yes it is, yes so we will be down in money each month, but after laying off the cleaner, the French tutor and paying my sister carer money to help with Jazz we can easily manage...I think!

Question is will I return to work or will I become an official housewife?