It is Mothers Day this Sunday, and hopefully most Mums will have this day recognised in one way or another. I would also imagine that something a lot of Mums would love to have at least one day out of the year, is 5 minutes peace to do something even if it is having a cup of tea or going to the bathroom ALONE!
Lets be honest, being a parent is hard work. I love my boys and they are amazing, but goodness me they are challenging and it is tiring, and it is always full on when they are home with me. It can be hard to get 5 minutes peace, in-between the talking/shouting/arguing/messing about and fun they have, and yet there are times when you do really need a few minutes to clear your head and try and think what to do next.
It is a bit like poor Mrs Large in the wonderful book Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year! Mrs Large is a Mum who is so desperate to get a precious 5 minutes to herself, that she tries to have her breakfast in a bath away from the carnage in the kitchen where her children are.
However, before long (precisely she is joined by all three of her children, and she ends up getting out of her bath because they have got in!
This is so funny and soon true, because I still get little visitors in the bathroom with me when I am using the toilet or having a bath or cleaning my teeth! I also often hear myself saying please boys, I just want five minutes peace and quiet!
A few years ago I wrote two blog posts entitled You Know You Are A Mummy When….. followed by a cleverly named sequel post called You Know You Are A Mummy When….. #2 . I was reading them the other day and it made me smile, because so many of those are still relevant today. Therefore, I thought I would write a new version based on how times have/have not changed, and inspired by Mrs Large’s plight for some alone time!
You Know You Would Like 5 Minutes Peace When……
*Your alarm clock each morning is one of the following:
Mummy, I have done a poo
Being jumped on by a child (or if you are lucky, two!)
Having the bedroom light turned on
You thought the endless repeats of In The Night Garden, and then Peppa Pig were long behind you until Paw Patrol came along!
You know all the names of the characters in Paw Patrol, and can sing the theme song and know all of the little sayings they have (no job is too big, no pup is too small!)
You go to your planner on Sky when your children are in bed to catch up on your programmes, only to find episodes of Paw Patrol on demand ready to be watched!
You still cannot have a wee in peace
You get asked where you are, and when you tell them you are on the toilet and you will be down in a few minutes (aka I am doing a poo!), they still insist on coming up to find you and telling/showing you sometime of great importance!
You get asked where you are as soon as you leave a room
You find yourself disappearing upstairs to put washing away just to get a few minutes on your own to have a sneaky lie on the bed and check your phone for messages!! (although after a few minutes you always get found out and then they end up jumping on the bed and messing up the neat piles of washing you had made ready to put away!).
You rarely get a bath in peace ( if it is not the boys talking to me/coming in to offer me things I now have a cat who likes to walk round the edge of the bath, and sometimes falls in!)
You get photographed/videoed in the bath!
You get asked why you have boobies/no willy when you are getting dressed!
Obviously now that both my boys are at school, I do get lots of time to myself so I cannot really complain. However, I do know how Mrs Large feels because there are some days that I do feel like escaping upstairs and hiding for a little while, to escape the noise and constant questions! Oh and the mess that follows them everywhere they go! And the Lego that seems to appear in every room of the house that never seems to go away, no matter how much you thought you had picked up every single piece last time you checked and tidied up!
What would you do or where would you go if you could have 5 minutes of peace? (see the bottom of this post for a fab competition based on this!)*
I would like to wish all fellow Mrs Large’s a very happy Mothers Day, and as iced buns were featured in the book, here is a recipe for how to make some if you fancy escaping with your cuppa this Sunday!
Apple & Sultana Iced Cupcake Buns (makes 8)
500g strong white flour
1 x 7g sachet of fast -action yeast
3 tbsp oil
300ml tepid water
1 tsp salt
2tsp caster sugar
1 eating apple, peeled and grated and pat the excess juice from it with kitchen towell
50g sultanas
1 cup icing sugar
drops of water
Instructions
Place all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl, taking care not to put the salt, sugar and yeast in same place
Make a well in the centre
Mix the water and oil together and then pour into the well
Mix well until the ingredients form a dough
Take the mass of dough and place onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 – 10 minutes
Then lightly grease a bowl with oil, place the kneaded dough inside and ensure it has been moved around so it is encased in oil.
Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1 hour to prove and rise
After an hour, punch down the now (hopefully) risen dough and turn out on to a lightly floured surface and kneed in the apple and sultanas quickly as the apple is quite moist
Grease a muffin tray and 2 holes in another (mine was a large muffin hole tray which has 6 holes in each) with a little oil, and divide the fruit dough into 8 balls and place inside each muffin hole.
Cover loosely with cling film and return to a warm place for 30-60 minutes
Pre-heat the oven to 180oC / 160oC (fan) and once the buns have finished prooving, place in the oven for about 20 minutes until brown on top and cooked
Allow to cool completely before carefully removing from the tins and allow to cool completely before adding your icing!
To make the icing:
Mix a little water to the icing sugar – best to add a tbsp of water at a time and mix well. If too runny add some more icing sugar and mix again, you want to make a thick paste
Once done, dip each bun into the icing paste upside down
MIne is more of a drizzle – but I think maybe my buns were not cooled down enough!
Enjoy!
I was sent a copy of the book with a lovely paper pack to allow me to have 5 minutes peace in a bath (fingers crossed!) for the purpose of a review, as part of the Walkers Books Picture Book Party bloggers tour.
*WIN
Walker Books are giving one lucky winner the chance to win a Five Minutes’ Peace pampering kit, including £100 Treatwell vouchers to spend on spa treatments of your choice, plus a signed edition of Five Minutes’ Peace, relaxing tea, bath salts, candles, and chocolates! Five runners up will receive a signed copy of Five Minutes’ Peace.
To enter, just email competitions@walker.co.uk with ‘Pamper’ in the subject line and let them know how YOU would spend five minutes’ peace!
