water polo widow

In theory it sould be really good. Even the title sounds tempting.

The Delicious Miss Dahl.

Is it just me or is it just not convincing enough? Put on some weight love and then we might believe that you enjoy your food.

Of course I had a little chuckle at myself being so judgmental when I sat down to watch, Pot Noodle in hand! Shame on me.

xx

not so easy third time

Well I am pleased to say that a little crochet has been happening.

I am mighty sick of big projects at the moment and have decided to partake in some mega satisfying quickies.

Stealing from Posy's blog I made a crochet hanger cover. The hardest part was finding an old wooden hanger. Luckily my sister in law came up trumps. As they say one mans junk is anothers treasure!

Lovely, lovely, lovely, I need to do more. Any ideas where I can find hangers?

Crochet bobbles are my other latest craze. Thank you Jo for sharing the pattern with me.

Crochet has been my saviour today. Little enjoyable projects. Suppose I am still tired from the weekend and should really STOP complaining. I am boring myself!

xx

what a cop out

Try number two at the caravan.




Didn't go to plan.



Of course.



The house in the woods decided to have a party. VERY loud music. VERY loud people. Until 2.30am. It was VERY hard to sleep as you can imagine. Is someone trying to tell us something?



All I can say is I hope that the culprits have VERY bad hangovers!



Back at home the skies turned grey and we had absolutely torrential rain, the sky looked a really dramatic colour. That I couldn't capture on camera, but I tried!

On the knitting front I am still cracking on with my cable scarf. Its a two thirds there.

Hope that you had a better weekend than me!

xx

handbag shopping

The Johnsons Holiday Skin streaked by the way. Think that the fact that it is last years bottle didn't help. I normally find it so good.

Why don't you tell me about your day? I would love to hear from you too.

xx

two boys

Yesterday was a day of housework. Two and a half weeks off school does not add up to a pretty house, as I'm sure you know!

Today was, quite unexpectedly, a day for me.

Had my hair done, managed a couple of charity shops and spent the afternoon with friend chatting. Yes, I know it sounds really 'lady of leisure' but I felt like I deserved it after my terrible weekend.

Of course I have managed to do a few mummy chores, the weekly shop, the final wash of the sicky sleeping bag, the swimming lessons - hey, it's never ending.

In Tesco's I bought a pair of short jogging bottoms. Am sure that there is a name for them but am getting quite out of touch with the fashion world these days. They are gathered under the knee. And I promise you they will only be worn at home (they are very comfy - fit lovely) - if I can't give them their proper name I am obviously too old to wear them outdoors!

Back home I tried them on. They are nude coloured. Truly. My legs are the same colour as them. Very unflattering. Cue Johnson's Holiday Skin, the first outing this year and it seems such a waste. For goodness sake it was snowing yesterday but who knows? Maybe tomorrow it will be cracking the flags.

xx

ps. I am over 1000 hits! Ok, I know that 500 are probably me but hey, it's a milestone anyway.
Thank you if you read me! Comment!

the eternal spot

Not a lot of craft has been going on recently.



Not a lot of blogging has been going on recently.



The holidays have stretched out and time has flown by.



I have never mentioned before that we have our own little caravan. A rather old little touring caravan.



It is tired and in need of some love and we havn't used the poor thing for nearly a year (husband resents the amount we pay for storage and wants to sell it) so I decided that we would make our usual trip to our favourite Harrogate farm this weekend and play house (it really is like that in a tourer, like a grown up Wendy house).

(picture above is from about five years ago, probably our first trip to this farm)

Anyway, having collected said caravan on Thursday, husband cleaned the outside and I had big plans to clean the inside on Friday.

Ha Ha, no you don't. I felt really ill on Friday, headache bordering on migrane and felt like I was going to pass out at any minute. I felt really guilty as husband tried his best to spring clean the interior, determined that we would enjoy our last weekend of the holidays.


I managed to get up at 1.30pm and from my bed directed the kids on what they needed to pack, 'two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, one vest - bring them to me' - you get how it went. Bless them.


We got there, and the weather was glorious, the location is glorious. I was feeling better. All I needed was a good nights sleep.


Ha Ha, no you don't. 9.30pm Billy Flint was sick EVERYWHERE. On his new sleeping bag, on his pyjamas, on his hands, on his legs, I had no sick bowl, he was in a BUNK BED for goodness sake we couldn't even move him. The best I could do was to supply lots of kitchen roll. Nasty.


Trapped in a tin box with no hot water, no Dettol and no space is a nightmare for someone like me who has to immediately disinfect the whole house once someone is sick. Can you feel my panic?


Cue quick pack up, throw everything in the car, turn off the gas and electric and LEAVE (luckily we know the owner of the site well so knew that she wouldn't mind if we left the van there for a month if need be).


Following morning, kids want to return. Harrogate is not far so we could manage a happy Saturday night, couldn't we?


Ha, Ha, of course not. We forgot to take the keys back with us. And I am ashamed to say we were that xxxxed off by then that we broke in to our own caravan, via the window and a BBQ fork.


Then the battery went flat at dusk so we had no lights or water.


And I am thinking 'if last night was bad with Billy Flint at least we had water and light. If it's a bug and Tilly Mint gets it tonight all we have is a wind up torch'.


I even missed the big car boot sale that I frequent everytime we visit Harrogate. Bummer.


Getting home was rather sweet (I could freely wash my hands)!


Not sure how I feel about going back next weekend to collect the van. Think it is doomed. No only joking, think it needs a jolly good service and think we just need better luck next time!


Please cross your fingers for us. Don't know if I can cope with that again.

three's a crowd

Seeing as this post is now a week old it feels rather odd writing it, writing a diary a week late. To save me getting confused I am going to write in the present tense.

Only a few days left 'til the children break up for the Easter holidays and with this in mind, knowing that my time will no longer be my own I decided that the rather brown bananas needed a makeover. My favorite kind of makeover, the Nigella makeover.

Now previously for her 'Banana and Butterscotch Muffins' I have substituted the toffee for chocolate (not by choice by sheer frustration that I can't find butterscotch chunks in the home baking aisle of neither Sainsburys, Tesco or Asda and we are not blessed with a Waitrose). They always go down very well anyway.

But, thank you Silver Spoon (have you noticed that they have brought out a new home baking range and it's really rather lovely. Even the packaging is quite tempting). I can now try fudge pieces in my muffins which come quite close to butterscotch, I think.

It has made a world of difference they are sooooooo much better than with chocolate.


Hmmm. That is not a flattering picture. Promise they are not really burnt.


Thats better, a much more tasty photograph.

So, on the same shopping trip to Sainsburys, where I found the fudge pieces, I bought a new cookery book. I had seen the series on TV recently and was especially impressed with the large amount of Emma Bridgewater china that they use (how shallow is that). The cooking seemed quite good too!


Having a good look through later I found quite a large number of recipes that I used to bake with my Mum. It is true Mum knows best! Coffee Kisses were a huge favorite.


Of course in those days we had never heard of bikers baking, let alone hairy ones, so our recipe came from the good old Be-Ro Home Recipes book.





and it was a recipe that my Gran used and found in her Be-Ro Home Recipes book




and its a recipe that is in my Be-Ro Home Recipes book


and they are just as lovely as I remember, especially when my own children have had a hand in them as well.



Other recipes in the Hairy Bikers were Empire biscuits, as seen below in my Grans handwritten recipe keeper (sorry, v. bad photo I know) and one of my Mums faves, Key Lime Pie (such a treat on New Years Eve).

Don't think I fancy the cough mixture as outlined below though!

And after all that retro baking it's lovely to wash up with retro washing up liquid. I tell you, this bottle will be washed and reused FORever!

On the knitty front, variegated cardi is finished (well, it was a few weeks ago actually) and no I havn't worn it out yet.

and my new project is a lovely cable scarf which I am very proud of because I am knitting it without the pattern! (thanks Ari).

Yes, I know it's the wrong time of year to be starting a scarf but at least this way it may be ready for Autumn 2010!

Any way, as in the words of Be-Ro 1930 - 'the woman who can cook well and bake well has every reason and every right to feel proud'. Golly, if only it were that easy in 2010.

x

Pasque

A bright April morning,
A brisk April breeze,
It hops through the hedgerows,
It tickles the trees.
It dusts down the alleys,
Through houses in rows.
It whispers, it teases,
Wherever it goes.
And folk in the city,
Lift hopeful heads high,
To breathe in its freshness,
To feel it dance by.
They hear its glad message,
The promise thats clear:
The blue skies are coming,
Springtime is here!

Margaret Ingall.

Springtime is here!? Anyone visiting Scotland over the last week would beg to differ.

But I can't complain. Although we arrived in the aftermath it soon cleared and we had a few nice days (you couldn't even feel the cold if you wore thermal vest, long sleeved t-shirt, polo neck, tank top, coat, scarf, hat and hood)!

Anyway, we are back now. And the holiday, short but sweet, had a few highlights (bad camera is on the naughty step so no photos for now)!

• both electric blankets worked
• both children caught many frogs on our pond dipping afternoon
• husband caught a fish in the river
• we managed our hill walk (in the rain - it stopped when we arrived home)
• I managed to do a bit of shopping

The best bit for me however was the pond dipping, I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE SEEN SO MUCH FROG SPAWN. It was utterley amazing, about a metre wide, a metre deep. I could have spent the whole day there. Frogs mating, frogs chilling, frogs swimming and . . . as son said 'can't I go back and look at that dead frog again?' (there were quite a few unfortunates as well).

Nature.

Plus two very wet children, wellies that needed emptying, clothes that needed drying, hands that needed washing. A sign that we had a really good family afternoon.

Followed by a Burger King

Hey I'm not supermum.

xx