Quick..what can I do to these pork chops for dinner???

@misterphipps English mustard and brown sugar. Grill. Great on Pork Chops!

@flossiebella best chops recipe ever – grill then spoon of apple sauce & grated strong cheddar on each & grill until cheese bubbles. Heaven!

@MissKatiana2 or if it nor been said, mix some paxo & put that on top & grilll!!

@pennynash or maybe grill them and then put apple sauce on top and then melt cheese on top of that

@p1tsy Olive oil, salt & pepper, under hot grill both sides till cooked thru? Serve with apple sauce if u have mash & veg & some gravy

@OMGLOLOMG dip in egg cover in breadcrumbs and put in oven…yummy

@BubblyNatz you chop n onion into rings, sprinkle oxo on top of chops then onion, then whole toms(tinned) top with stuffing and bake!

@Davidintruder grill them with sliced apples desert apples will do few peas and boiled spuds on the side and a drop of gravy simples x

@fi69 drizzle with oil and sage if you have it. Grill. Fry some apple slices in butter. ta-da!

@GeoffDicks grill or bake then with some sliced apple underneath…. dab of honey on top?

@Tinybikerchick I’m having cheesy mash n gravy with my pork chops grilled

What is API and What you can do about it?

What is API?

I’m not going to tell you what API stands for because you really don’t need to know.  What you do need to know is that you only get 150 an hour and if you use them all up, you end up in #twitterjail and you won’t be able to tweet until the hour is up.

This is not a problem if you are using the web (twitter.com) as it does not have limits.  But if you’re using 3^rd party clients like Tweetdeck you may find that you run out of API.   Every time Tweetdeck contacts Twitter to send or receive your tweets it uses up your API.

What can you do about it?

Firstly go into settings in Tweetdeck.  It’s the spanner in the top right corner.

1.)    In the general tab make sure you tick ‘Open Profiles in a Web Page’ (saves on API calls)

2.)    Change your Twitter API settings, by clicking and drag the slide rule.  I tend to run mine at about 50%.  I dramatically reduce how often I get DMs (10 mins) cause I don’t tend to DM very often.

3.) You may also want to check your settings on Twitter.com to see if anything is connected to your account as it will drain API as well.

I hope this helped a bit.  As you all know I tweet like a trooper and have only ever been in #twitterjail once!

If you are feeling a bit more adventurous here are more advance ideas for tweaking your settings.

How To Configure TweetDeck To Save API Drain And Engage With Your Followers – Twittercism

Good luck

Fancy Dress Faux Pas!

Last week I made a little faux pas during #fancydressfriday. As usual, late Thursday night I was busy throwing together a last minute outfit for the competition.  I posted the picture Friday morning and left it up to my followers to have a guess.  I had loads of guesses from Figs to Oreo cookies.  @toddylass quickly came up with the correct answer, which was the lost TV Remote.

I didn’t think another thing about it until about an hour before the competition when @helen_b pointed out that on her iphone I looked like a Giant Vagina (she used much more colourful language)!  OMG she was so right and she wasn’t the only one who thought this!  My unpolluted mind hadn’t clocked it.

What do you see?

This week I’m going to be much more careful and may have my outfit vetted first.

Fancy Dress Friday Wall of Fame

I’ve tried to compile a list of previous winners for Fancy Dress Friday.  Unfortunately, I can only go back as far as I’ve been playing.  If I’ve missed anyone or got the wrong day do let me know.

13th Nov 09 @duncanowen

6th Nov 09 @jeremyangel

30th Oct 09 @mediocre_mum

23rd Oct 09 @lkue

16th Oct 09 @iaingilmour

9th Oct 09 @Kanga_Rue

2nd Oct 09 @mediocre_mum

25th Sept 09 @chickenruby

18th Sept 09 @dannynic

11th Sept 09 @tattooed_mummy

4th Sept 09 @mediocre_mum

28th Aug 09 @fdress

B.R.A.T.

A while back, I asked on Twitter what was good for children with dicky tummies and diarrhea and @mamablahblah came back with this great acronym. Thought I’d share it with you!

Bananas

Rice

Apple Sauce

Toast

When you’re little one is sick it may be difficult to get them to eat, but these foods are bland and may help bung them up a bit.

Laughed so hard I nearly wet myself….no seriously!

Prior to having my daughter I used to be a bit of a camel when it came to the loo.  Now, I can’t even make it through washing the dishes!

Coughing and sneezing terrifies me and laughing, Oh my god!  I narrowly escaped a very embarrassing moment a few months back when walking home from the pub with my husband.  A giggling fit ensued, I can’t remember over what, but I quickly tied my jacket around my waist, sat down on the pavement (very busy road), used all my powers of concentration and what’s left of my pelvic floor muscles to stop myself, which made us laugh even harder!  I don’t know how, but I managed to make it home.

This isn’t a conversation that I’ve had with many mums. However, over a few beers around the campfire last summer, my sister, cousin and best friend started sharing their stories; one never goes on the kids’ trampoline without a panty liner and the other wears them to her son’s soccer games as she’s too scared to cheer him on without one, which resulted in even more laughter!

I know all about exercises and gizmos that help but I don’t think I’ll be going down that route.  As my daughter continues to develop into quite the character I find myself laughing more now than I ever have and I guess it’s a risk I’ll have to take.

I wonder if they do Huggies in an Adult Size 12.

What to do with a Toddler when it rains?

Surprise, surprise it’s been raining here again for the last couple of days.  I had no idea that on average it rains 160 days a year in the UK.  I don’t know about you, but I find these days to be very challenging.  There are a lot of great ideas for indoor play online; play dough, cooking, crafts, imaginative play and if all else fails CBeebies.  

 

However, as my daughter is pacing up and down like a caged animal I find myself desperately needing to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. Yes, I could bundle her up in her all and one, wellies and brave the rain but I really don’t fancy it sometimes. 

 

There are a lot of much needed indoor soft play centres but I can’t face them on a rainy day, especially school holidays. There’s always the danger that I’ll have an altercation with a parent whose rambunctious child flattens my daughter in an area that they shouldn’t be in, in the first place.  So, I’ve been racking my brain for some ideas that won’t break the bank.  

 

This is not an attempt at ‘look at me aren’t I a wonderful mum’ but I’m genuinely desperate for low cost ideas and this is just to get the ball rolling.  Here are a few ideas that I’ve come up with, it’s definitely not exhaustive and please do add to the list.  I would be most grateful.

 

Toys Store

A few weeks ago we went to Hamley’s in London.  It was brilliant. You could easily waste an hour or two and there’s no danger of buying anything, as it’s all outrageously overpriced.  Yes, the trip into London will cost you, but you could also visit a store local to you; Toys R Us, The Early Learning Centre and a favourite of ours is Wilko’s.

 

Garden Centre

We ventured to a garden centre today.  Result!  Madame loved running up and down the aisles of plants, but it also had animals, an aquatic centre and an adventure playground display.  They don’t need to know that I have no intention of buying a Wendy house for £5000.

 

Local Farm Shop/Butchers

We tend to buy our meat from our local butcher (Hedges, in St Albans).  Not only great prices but we can also have a look around the farm (cows, sheep, lambs, etc).  I’m not looking forward to the day she makes the connection between the lambs and the ones in the refrigerated display!

 

RSPCA

I haven’t been yet, but thinking of venturing down tomorrow. They have cats, dogs, and fowl.  I’m terrified of dogs but hopefully I can coax a friend (@elladickson) to come along so she can go into the dog kennels. 

 

Don’t worry about bringing home a stray, as they don’t allow families with children under 5 to adopt.  Shucks!

 

Camping/Outdoor Outlets

This is another one that I haven’t tried yet.  But, I think a shop full of tents set up would be a huge hit, slight danger of losing her but you don’t have to travel to Scotland and freeze your butt off on a mountain side!

 

I can’t wait to hear your ideas.  Don’t understimate yourself, I’m sure your ideas are brilliant! 

Cheers,

 

Mediocre_mum

My First Post

This is my first post. For more info about me you can check out my ‘About’ page. 

 

There are a couple of reasons that I’ve decided to start blogging. The first is professional, I’m an ICT Consultant and Trainer and with the introduction of Web 2.0 (Social Networking, Wikis and Podcasting) into the UK curriculum, I need to get on top of this, and the best way to do this is for me ‘have a go’.  

 

Embarrassingly, up to about two weeks ago, I’d never heard of it. Since I had my daughter, about 18 months ago, I’ve been in a bit of an ICT rut.  Only just, following the masses, I decided to join Twitter and kept hearing references to Web 2.0.  So, off to Google I went to find out what it was all about and what I found was very exciting.  I’m now out of my rut and all fired up.

 

While on Twitter, I also stumbled across a huge network of ‘Mummy Bloggers’, according to www.mychild.co.uk, there are 36 million of us World Wide. I’m really enjoying reading their tweets and Blogs.  I’m learning and laughing a lot.   It’s great to see we’re not all perfect!

I’m planning to keep this Blog to share my experiences and mishaps of motherhood.

 

Cheers,

 

Mediocre_mum