I woke up feeling like I'd been on the lash til 4am and had about 3 hours sleep (sorry Mum, I do know what that feels like!!) I was ravenously hungry but the thought of food made me a bit queasy, I was light-headed. And grumpy as hell!
Matt had cooking so we needed to gather a bunch of ingredients for that. Don't worry we won't eat it until next week! Sophie had swimming and gardening club, and it turns out her cozzie was still in a carrier bag from last week. And then Matt left his bag of ingredients at home so I had to drive it up to school for him. It was just all hard work.
I am fed up of cooking. We are going to run out of porridge, so the kids had sausage and beans this morning. I guess that's not really cooking, but I am fed up of food preparation. I feel like my entire life is revolving around preparing meals. There's nothing quick and easy. And rather importantly, I've taken control of the kitchen. I don't remember the last time I cooked every night of the week.
I am fed up of a lack of choice. It is so restrictive, so oppressive. My lunch choices were soup or soup. It's food at least, I shouldn't complain. But I want a flipping salad! Or falafel and avocado wrap, or maybe I would want soup but I want to CHOOSE it.
On my way to work I was going to opt for some angry singing along with Alanis Morrisette. Then I happened upon an old Philippa Hanna album Out of the Blue. Man that woman is incredible. The first three tracks of that album - Happy in my Skin, Down by the River and Raggedy Doll blow me away every time. Raggedy Doll is everything I want my children (and everyone else for that matter!) to know about themselves. And it's Sophie's favourite song in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLfqvcxy5Ws. I couldn't find a video of Down by the River but it is a song I've used when giving presentations about the drop-in.
Sometimes we get to a point where we can't carry on, and need someone else to lift us up. And I think that's what we do at the drop-in. Whoever you are, however you got here, we'll feed you and love you. That's it!
All of the lyrics are wonderful, but this is the chorus.
"Down by the river of your broken dreams.
You gave it your best shot but everything seems like it's over;
that's when I will take over.
When all you can do is take one step ahead,
Your heart's in your hands and the voice in your head
Says it's over, that's when I will take over"
I did have a bit of a weepy sing along (I cry on Day 3 every single time we do this!) then pulled myself together because I was already late for a conference call due to the DT delivery! A lovely message from my friend Mina also helped to realign me "Keep going hun you are doing great! Today you might feel a bit blur. Thats your sugar levels dipping. You should feel a bit better tomorrow. " Thank you Mina!
After school this little genius, who has been craving juice all week, decided to DIY some OJ! She blended an orange with water, strained, added a bit of sugar and voila!
Tea was going to be late so I suggested snacks. Matt, bless his soul, opted for plain bread (!) and raw carrot. And was genuinely quite happy with that.
Dinner was Iroog, a frugal Iraqi speciality courtesy of Abdul, which apparently got them through the war. That's my kind of meal!
Mince (for the meat-eaters) - 65p, breadcrumbs - free crusts on bread, oats - 10p, onion - 5p, chopped tomatoes - 25p, grated carrot - 5p, flour - 5p, and some spices from the cupboard/Abdul's last trip home ~ 5p.
We had tea on our knee (huge treat!) while watching a Netflix documentary called Living on a Dollar. It seemed rather apt for us this week. It follows 4 American college kids who go to Guatemala for 2 months and live on a dollar a day. It was really good! While we were watching it Sophie said "Rich people don't watch stuff like this. If they did they would probably be nicer. Well, apart from Donald Trump." Probably true!
I've ended the day better than I started it, but I am definitely getting a cold and I mostly want chocolate and wine!
As always, the reason we're doing this is to raise funds for BCDP, Thanks to all those who have sponsored us so far. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline2016
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