My famous (well now it is!) Emergency "Everyone in the house is sick and I still have to cook dinner" Chicken Soup

Oh man, I hate it when the kids get sick. Colds and flus are one thing but when it is a vomiting bug it sends shivers down my spine. When there are so many of us it is like we are just waiting for the next victim to fall.. and hoping and praying that it won't be all of us at once!

This time the Freckles managed to get away with it quite well... although the little Freckles would not agree with me on that one. Only two out of seven is not a bad statistic! So while it was still a 36 hour marathon of next to no sleep, bleach, buckets, washing and vomit  - it could have been much, much worse.

So with one Freckle calling out to me every few minutes and another hanging from me needing "cuddles, Mummy, cuddles" and with about 3 hours sleep under my belt it was time to bring out the emergency chicken soup.

It must be bad when Chicken Soup is called for.....

In my wisdom I thought that you may all like to know my recipe for the chicken soup that everyone will eat, is good for recovering tummies and takes all of about 15 minutes to make enough to serve about 6-8 depending on appetites. When we have sickies in the house this can last us a couple of days.

My trick to getting it still to taste yum is in the onions. Most slow cooker recipes require you to brown off the onions and the meat in the pan but I didn't have time for this and if someone starts vomiting I knew I would need to go to them and not leave the hot pan on the stove burning the house down! So I heat the slow cooker first with a lug of olive oil in it and then add the onions when I remember... then leave them there till they smell good... then add the rest of the ingredients.

 I also do the veges in really big chunky bits... it doesn't matter because they get blended down later.

and voila! Dinner is served.

Check it out on my website to download the recipe here.

And update... all Freckles are back at school today! Hooray! Must have been the healing powers of the soup ;)

Felicity xx

Dog Duty (and pet chart!)

So following from my foster fail with the RSPCA and my fast growing family that now consists of Mr & Mrs Freckle, 5 little Freckles and now 2 dog Freckles (as well as Budgie Freckle and Frecklefish) it was well and truly time to take the dog by the proverbial collar and create a dog-management system.

Previous to this looking after the dog(s) was a job that I tried my best to share around but it usually ended up being mainly myself and the oldest Freckle (who is the most dog-enthused) doing all the dog care. So here is what we did:

1. Family meeting: The Freckles sat down and had a frank chat about who was shouldering most of the doggy duty and who was getting away with very little. We all decided that we love our dogs and want them to have a happy life and that none of us like it when the baby Freckle picks up dog poo and squishes it between her fingers running delightedly to the others squealing "Doggy Play-Doh", "Ooo, stinky Play-Doh!".... yes, not one of my finest parenting moments, that one!

2. We needed a system so that we could all share the responsibility of the dogs.

3. We could all be involved but some of the jobs were more suited to older Freckles i.e. baby Freckle was not so good at walking over-excited Beagle.

So first, I developed this chart ("Pet Roster" so you can use it too):

It has a space for playing with the dogs (help the littlest Freckles feel a bit of ownership and learn some responsibility), walking the dogs (we do this in teams of 2, one of the older Freckles with a middle sized Freckle), poo duty and feeding (also involves putting on the coats - usually I help with this as it is a bit tricky for the kids).

You can download the chart for free here.

I went to my newly re-designed K-Mart for the coolest shopping experience around found this bargain:

Isn't it cool? And only $12... bargain.... I can feel a laundry makeover coming on (watch this space)!!! Also bought this mat, have since discovered that the mat is useless as it moves around all over the place, but hey... it looks good!

And look, magic! The Bits and Bobs is gone and it becomes, Dog Stuff. Thank you Pinterest!

Complete with all the bits and bobs (hmmm....) that the little Freckles need to look after their Furry Freckly Friends:

Also added a container (previous Tupperware Host Gift that I have never used for it's intended purpose) for Poo Duty, containing nappy sacks (what an amazing invention!) and  baby wipes for accidents (inevitable). So now our little Dog Station looks like this:

So what do the little Freckles think?

One is so happy that she can share the burden and joys of pet ownership.... One not so happy as he was first up on Poo Duty.

For other organisational ideas and inspiration check out felicityjd.com/footstepsandfreckles and have a look... keep coming back as I am adding a little more every week.

Until next time,

Felicity x

Foster Fail!

Meet Ginger. A 5 year old beagle. I consider Ginger to be the biggest bait and switch in animal history. We got her from a person who was re-homing dogs. Her family had abandoned her. When I first met her she was sweet, sedate and obedient. She was also 8 kilos overweight. Which for you and me, an extra 8 kilos may be a dress size up or down - it may be looking a bit lumpy around the middle instead of svelte and sleek. For a female beagle she was actually twice her recommended body weight.

So we bought Ginger home. We loved her. We walked her. In fact, all the older Freckles would run her up and down the park every afternoon. We loved her and put her on a weight loss regime. Little did I know that Ginger, like anyone who is carrying around twice her body weight. Had a true beagle inside her, just waiting for the kilos to come off and the real beagle to come out.

She began to act like all beagles. Inquisitive, overly friendly and with a sense of smell that means that if she gets a whiff of something she was off...... the first time she escaped she was picked up about 6 km's from our house. So myself and Miss Freckle set about fixing the fence again, and again, and again. Every time we patched up one hole, she found another. One time we were even at church when Miss Freckle and I saw a brown and tan lightning bolt dash past the window, sure enough another hole in the fence and another scent to follow.

She was eventually picked up and taken to the RSPCA. There she endured what for most dogs would be a sad and sorry overnight listening to the howls of other dogs. But for a beagle trying to re-live the adolescence she had never enjoyed, it was her version of heaven. So when the lovely ladies from the RSPCA suggested a companion for her, and in fact it just so happens they had a little pedigreed dog with grief issues. when I hesitated they said, just try him for the weekend and bring him back.

So I left the RSPCA with a hyperactive beagle, a fence to be fixed at home, torrential rain and a cavalier king charles spaniel on Prozac (I kid you not!).

We now have two dogs.....

We have officially failed as foster dog parents......

And now Ginger and JJ are huddled up contentedly in their kennel. JJ is being weaned off his Prozac and his anxiety only surfaces when he leaves Ginger's side by more that 30cm. And Ginger is happy because JJ still smells like RSPCA.

For the Freckle Family animal management chart:

http://www.felicityjd.com/#!footsteps--freckles/c207w

Watch this space and later in the week I'll go through how we organise the organisation of our fur babies!