My Cadbury Chocolate Victory Pool Party - Summer 2013 Heat Wave

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  

Social Fabric® Community.  

This Cadbury Chocolate ASDA shop 

has been compensated as part of a 

social shopper insights study 

for Collective Bias 

and their client.

We've been having a heat wave. I had to look it up to check if it is heatwave or heat wave, but never mind all that, it is HOT HOT HOT.

heat wave

noun

1.

an air mass of high temperature covering an extended area and moving relatively slowly.

2.

a period of abnormally hot and usually humid weather.

A time to have 

your body in a pool 

and 

your chocolate in the fridge. 

Eating refrigerated chocolate, in a pool, in the sun, is my idea of heaven.

But then, so is, dunking a biscuit, in a cappuccino! Which is what I did whilst I awaited the long arrival of my guests!  Aaron had a couple too as we were waiting for them to arrive to have lunch.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the beginning of this story.

Once upon a time...

... a hard working lass, who'd worked her butt off for 23 years, and never had a gap year, and even worked through maternity leave (from "home") was made redundant.  Summer 2012.  July to be precise.  Violins please!

In the October, at the last minute, just before the deadline, I decided to do my ET1.  The form that is the beginning of the Employment Tribunal process.  The redundancy consultation had not been done correctly.

It was with a heavy heart as I did it purely for myself, when I knew I had wanted/planned to do it for "everyone".  Anyway if you believe in God, and the power of prayer, and the old saying "what is for you won't pass you" you'll know that things have a habit of working out.

My hearing was a LONG time coming, (like 7 months) but when it did, I met a Solicitor, in the waiting room.  We'd never have spoken but I am a gobby cow chatterbox and to cut a long story short, he came into the Tribunal with me, making himself a "friend of the court" (neither of us could remember the Latin word for that), and (a) got the Judge to agree to postpone my hearing or rather "stay" it to use the official term (b) agreed to represent me (c) agreed to represent everyone.  I couldn't give him my file notes quick enough and off he went on the train. Until we'd meet again.

And that, we recently did!

Thanks to my file, which I'd prepared when I thought I was representing myself, we did not even need to meet in person, prior to my reconvened hearing.  We only needed a couple of emails and a couple of brief phone calls.  Based on everything I'd provided he knew what to do! He added his welcome expertise and job done!

Due to my status in the proceedings, I was allowed to represent everyone despite none of them bringing a claim. To cut a long story short, we won! What is ironic is a lot of them don't even know yet.  So it is a quiet victory for now, but a victory it is nonetheless.

And then my Solicitor took me for a beer two beers, each! Pints! Cold beer on a hot day = delish!  Even before the hearing we had coffee/tea in Cafe Rouge!

I should have got the bar maid to take a photo of us, with our victory smiles but that is his arm LOL.  Wearing a suit on a hot day must be hell!

Anyway, after the beers he had to head off in a rush to get his train "ooop norf" and I was left to get on the sweltering London Underground, which after having spent 5 days in a paddling pool, was not a fun proposition even with victory in hand.

I went home and got Aaron and headed off to meet my friend Siobhan and kids in the park, still wondering how I would celebrate.

It was an easy decision to make.  Hubby had bought a "paddling pool" for Saturday 13th July as that HAD been the hottest day of the year, and I had Siobhan Fiona and the kids coming.  After that, Aaron and I had a total of 5 days in the pool - I simply loved it - quality time with Aaron and the perfect outdoor way to refreshingly cool off.  I also loved spending time with my nieces and nephews last Summer - long time readers will remember all of our many adventures.  So Friday I got on the phone to their Mum, and gave her the choice of Saturday or Sunday to bring them over, for a pool party!  She chose Sunday, which I was thrilled by, as according to bbc.co.uk, the temperatures would be higher, for perfect pool weather.

In 12 years of living here I have NEVER EVER spent this much time in the garden.  But then before I had Aaron I always worked long hours and my home was merely a place to rest my weary head.

So, pool party booked, on Saturday we headed off to do my Asda shop for this post.  We also needed some kiddy stuff that was pool friendly.  Nibbly food and lots of ice poles. 

You can see my Asda shop in my G+ album here.  I didn't get everything, as Aaron was asleep in the car, so I only got what I could afford on my card, and then hubby went to get the nuggets, chips, pizza, ketchup etc etc etc...

* Roll forward to Sunday *

The pic above is me having a coffee and biscuit while we waited, as they were VERY late.  They arrived just after 4 p.m. but that was perfect as the temperature was at its peak from 4 till 7 p.m. that day, and the sun only comes round our side of the garden from 3 p.m. onwards, so I did not mind that they were late, and it gave me time to chill after doing loads of housework, which is not easy in the heat we've been having.

Aaron and I had already eaten the Praline Fingers on Saturday :-) errrr in the car #gluttony! ;-)

Yes that is a pound sign you just about see there!!!

Come Sunday, the pool was ready for 1 p.m. as I thought that's when they'd arrive. When I was having my (above photographed) cappuccino he asked me to put his "costume" on - mine was already on. We went outside to check if it was full and to bring in the hose, and we ended up hopping right in!  It was hard to resist to be honest.

And finally they arrived.  When they arrived we were actually IN the water, which made them all laugh. The older children were OVER THE MOON to see that it wasn't your ordinary ankle dipper paddling pool :-) On Monday I actually discovered that I can fill it even more, so the below is not even it at its maximum capacity! Oh shucks I will have to have them round again ;-)

Nobody is mentioning food yet, but I get them a platter of stuff to keep their energy up while I put lunch in the oven - they haven't had lunch yet either.

After many days of it only being Aaron and I in the pool, seeing him have fun with his cousins was so very heart warming to say the least.

There were  lots of tears all round at home time.

After all the excitement they calm down and chill.  Maybe it's the chocolate effect!

I am in the kitchen getting the below ready and notice behind me, out of the side of my eye, that one by one by one, they have come in and plonked themselves in front of the telly.

Only the adults remain outside.  By this time hubby has joined us too.

So it is a kiddy sitting room lunch while the adults (minus me) chill outside.

Would you believe that in addition to the above they had two large pizzas between the four of them. I didn't manage to get photos of that as I was running around like a blue arse fly, so was glad that I got that pool time with Aaron before they arrived, and as you can see below, I DO get to go in the pool later again. I am not one of those adults who just watches the kids have fun! Far too hot for that, and anyway I am like Peter Pan and have not yet grown up despite having turned 40 ;-)

When they all went in one by one, luckily they had the good sense to leave their wet muddly sandals at the door - kids CAN be sensible some times :-)

  
They do however drop their towels wherever they happen to land:

I was so happy when they didn't stay inside in front of the telly.

Once lunch was done they were all excited to get back outside and back in the pool, and given that the sitting room was quite cool (not in the sun at this point) I was surprised they wanted to go back out, but dead happy about it, as Winter is the time to be inside!

Finally once everyone had a full tummy and were well hydrated with drinks and ice poles, Mummy could get in the pool - yay! With my favourite little people! 

Despite the heat, chocolate is perfect as it gives you a portable boost, that is just perfect as long as it is chilled and eaten quick - yummy:

Surrounding myself in people - my favourite little people in this instance - is my way to celebrate in style.  The water and the sun were welcome guests.  The previous weekend the pool seemed too large, but you know what, when you fill it full of people, it's just right.  Just like my victory; the more the better!

Like the song goes, "one is the loneliest number that you'll ever meet"...

Chocolate in the sun is perfect if it has come from the fridge.  Guests mean it doesn't have time to melt - ha ha!  I was a little too stingy with that platter of chocolate above, but it means I have loads left in the fridge so have been having a nibble every day for days now #ooops!

So thank you Cadbury, thank you Asda, and thank you Collective Bias for helping me to celebrate!!!

By the way pool lovers, ahoy, it does get deeper still as I discovered on Monday:

The Date Night Didn't Quite Go to Plan after our eventful fruitful Search for Saturday Night Chocolate #CBias

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

Aaron is going to be 3 years old on Saturday and we haven't had a date night since he was born.  So this Saturday I was determined to get a movie, some chocolate (dairy milk preferably - hate dark) and get Aaron to bed at a reasonable time for once (believing it to be possible having got him down early Friday night for the first time in months). 

I know my readers will fall into two camps.  Those who say 

"WHAT? We have a date night once a week/month! Just do it!"

or 

Those who say 

"WHAT? Our children are 3, 5, 7 and 9 and we've NEVER had one! Lucky you!"

Either way, we NEED ONE!

So on Saturday, after Aaron and I had a superb day in the park, we went shopping on the way home.

As you can see, I popped the folded up buggy into the trolley. Not something I have ever done before, but I had to have it with me at the park in case he slept on the way home or got tired and I wasn't going to be able to push a buggy and trolley, so on the spot, decided to be creative. Yes I got some odd looks but what the hell :-)
   
Tesco is near the park, so it should not have been that big a deal, but I did not bargain on them not stocking Aaron's milk: Cow and Gate Infasoy.  We've always bought it in Tesco and Boots for 3 years, but apparently this branch was not big enough to stock it.  What didn't help, is for the first time since he was born, I'd let it run out, so getting it another day was not an option.

Luckily, before we decided which shop to try next, we had fun in Tesco, choosing chocolate:

As you can see we had a lot to choose from - Aaron's wondering why Mummy's trying to get just the right photo :-)  The Cadbury's Bite Size range is quite prominent and there are quite a few withing that range itself to be spoilt for choice.  They really are bite size too and as such quite moreish!

I don't allow Aaron to eat a lot of chocolate, but I don't 100% ban it either, so it was mainly for Mummy and Daddy but just for fun I asked him which one he would pick.  I wasn't surprised with his choice of Twirl given that he's had quite a few ice cream cones lately and the Twirl so closely resembles a FLAKE; well it does to me anyway.

Taking a bite in the only way he can considering we are yet to pay! LOL!

Next is the one I chose for me and Daddy to have with the movie.  Best of both worlds, in combining popcorn and chocolate.  It doesn't disappoint:

This next one was meant to make three so that technically we'd have one each, but this turned out to be the one that got away, which you can find out more about in our Google Plus album that tells the full story of this blog post.

Putting back the Crunchie enabled me to get this Disney Car to make Aaron's Saturday night complete:

So I bought two movies in Morrisons, the supermarket we went to next, in order to get Aaron's milk which Tesco (that branch of it) didn't stock.
It was a 20 minute walk to Morrisons, but I wasn't going to bus it as I only had enough on my Oyster card for the one journey home and wasn't expecting to have to go to two supermarkets.

As it turned out the walk was pleasurable - it was a lovely evening as my Google+ album shows and we enjoyed the walk.  Aaron stayed in the buggy so I was able to walk at a very brisk pace.  Means I got some exercise in too = result!

So here below are the two bargain movies I got *coughs* along with a load of other snips/offers I simply could not resist. The buggy was laden down.

So armed with 2 movies, 2 packets of Cadbury's Dairy Milk bite size chocolate, and a new car for Aaron, that was the ingredients for a perfect family night in. Or, so I thought...

Turns out I should have listened to my inner whisperer. Something told me I recognised the cover of Date Night, but because it was the same name as I was hoping to have that night, I could not resist it.  The hubby burst my bubble when I was happily unpacking the shopping, to tell me we already own it.  When asked if I've watched it, he says "no!" When asked why he would watch such a movie alone, he reminds me that we haven't really watched movies together since Aaron came along, and that the Bridesmaids that I had recently watched AND enjoyed, it had taken him MONTHS to get me to watch.  Oooooops.

So I give myself an internal high five that I got TWO film options and take the below photo.

I'm not really a huge fan of the bath, bottle bed model, but decided to follow it Saturday night as it had worked a treat on Friday.

So I got Aaron into the bath at a reasonable time despite the evening trips to TWO supermarkets, then gave him dinner, and a bottle and bed was therefore a breeze.  He was asleep by 21:20 for the second night in a row - it's been way later lately.

So I get myself into the sitting room, all expectant for the date night / movie night.  I dig into the popcorn chocolate knowing it is right up the hubby's street, and he says he is too full from dinner.

THEN he decides that what is on the telly is good. A movie called The Ghost Writer.  I patiently sit there playing with my computer (which is not working) for hours, waiting for it to finish and when it does, the next movie on is The Others, so my DVD is being neglected.

In the end, having eaten half the chocolate (only one bag - the popcorn) by myself, I go to bed with a heavy heart, knowing that me, my DVD and my chocolate stash, will attack him at a later date :-)

Hopefully a Date Night - either movie or otherwise will be coming to a cinema sitting room near me soon.

Click here see the full Cadbury range.

Oh it has to be said though, that MY favourite Cadbury product at the moment is Marvellous Creations (jelly popping candy shells covered in delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk) ... Have you tried it? I have a bar next to me right now.  In fact it has provided me my sugar boost all the way through this blog post.




13/06/2013
Even though the popcorn one was my favourite, it is a couple of days later and I am still munching just finished the Twirls. They really really ARE bite sized, look!

I was really sensible and did not eat all of the popcorn chocolate by myself.  I gave the hubby half of the bag to finish last night (it was actually a third ;-) ), but he loved it as much as I do/did.

Liska xx

Tonight Healing Can be Found in Chocolate

At the heart of all of our blog posts, and this blog hop, is a real family, a Multiple Mummy, a Multiple Daddy, a Chilled Out Boy, a Little Madam and of course BB.  Multiple Mummy is a very busy wonderful mother of 3.

She recently had a set back which prompted this healing circle of bloggers.

The family have been deeply touched by seeing Kerry's blogging family coming together and they have found ways of staying in touch via Twitter and through comments.  Multiple Daddy was so touched by our Multiple Photos that he compiled a video of photos, with one of his all time favourites as a soundtrack: Elvis, and it has made the whole blogging community cry in awe of the beautiful family that they are, so deserving of all of our support.

I didn't know what was right for 10 p.m. tonight; I even suggested that we honour a respectful silence to allow us to do those prayers, thoughts, meditations we'd all committed too, but Mr @MultipleMummy (Multiple Daddy himself) has said we should:

"tweet or eat chocolate" If you want to tweet him to talk about Kerry and chocolate he can be found at @tractorboy1978

That's one order that is easy to carry out, or in my case, after a mad dash to the shop to buy some chocolate.

My wish all week has been to have Kerry home in time for Christmas, so of course the second I walked into the shop this box (on the left below) winked at me.  I thought right, I am holding onto those till Multiple Mummy can personally eat them.

On the left for @multiplemummy and on the right, for @newmumonline AKA me! for tonight at 10 p.m.!

I picked them up and thought eeeek I haven't followed the instruction to the letter.  He didn't say buy chocolate and stash it away for my wife.  He said EAT CHOCOLATE, so I looked around again, (but of course kept them in my basket for her) and as I can drink tea for England I quite fancied something dunkable so got the Kit Kat photographed above.

So Multiple Mummy tonight I will be drinking tea, eating kit kat, and thinking of you.

You, my dear dear blogging and real life friend.  I miss you, and want to see you again in the near future.

Get on your feet girl, there's a long queue and we all want an audience with you.

Much love,
Liska xx

P.S. Enjoy the snooze while you can, those kids will probably still be at home in their 20s ;-)

And just in case you don't "get" the chocolate connection, her love of chocolate is hinted at in this post here.

Please join the blog hop if you are yet to.  Link is here