One Hundred and Forty

Squares cut out to quilt with.

I asked my dear daughter what she would like for christmas and the reply was

"Something to make my room look nice"

Now this is actually an improvement on previous years where she has just asked for "A surprise".

Now some of this fabric I bought to make her something with years ago and we are talking at least 6 years. It has been put away in the hope that I could think of what to make, only seeing the light of day when I would open the box, look, drool and stroke said fabric and put it away.

Some of the fabric flew all the way from Sunny Australia and the talented Levin as part of a swap, I wanted to use it for something special and couldnt think of anything more special than something for my daughter and some of the fabric is from thrifted embroidered table cloths supplied by Grandma. I am not too sure if I have too many squares but having laid the fabric on top of a normal quilt it looks slightly bigger (thanks for the idea Mum) and taking into account the seams I think it will be ok. I dont think there are any hard and fast rules about quilt sizes are there?

There are 41 days until christmas so really I need to get cracking as there are afew other things I want to make for christmas gifts also. I am still feeling a little under the weather though and dont think that my head will put up with the sound of the sewing maching just yet, so I will have to wait a little longer.

Right Now

This is where I am at. It is dark and miserable and I am feeling Yuck!!! I am sick of watching day time TV and even though I dont think I slept a wink last night, I just cant sleep right now.

I have so many christmas projects that I want to do but I just dont have the energy today. I have been thinking of what to get people, especially those people who already have everything. I so badly wanted to be organised by December 1st but there is no way that that is going to happen now. I heard the other day that a shopping centre nearby was so busy at the weekend that you couldnt get parked. Now I love to go christmas shopping and look for lots of lovelies for the lovelies in my life but I just dont seem to be able to face fighting to get parked and look around. I think that internet shopping may be the way forward.

How are your plans for christmas?

A Day in the Life

6:30 wake from sleep, shower and get ready for work.



7:00 Get children up, make sure they wash with water (apparently it burns !!!!) and brush teeth make sure they are dressed.

7:50 Run around looking for swimming costume you forgot needs to go to school today.

7:55 Dash out of the door to drop children at school for eight, only to realise you have practically
ZERO petrol.



8:00 Kids dropped off, dash to petrol station.

8:30 Run through the doors at work in the nick of time. Lots of worky stuff during which
time you manage to shovel something into your stomach that resembles lunch.

2:50 You leave work (late, running)

3:00 Collect child 2 from school and run back to the car at great speed.

3:10 Arrive at swiming pool to colect child 1, dash to supermarket as you intend to eat at some
point, call home to collect another swimming kit and deposit child 1 back at swimming pool
for yet another lesson.

4:10 Get back home and start to prepare dinner

4:45 leave house to go and collect child 1

5:10 Arrive back home, finish dinner, try to eat it whilst burning your mouth as it is too hot, getting indigestion for eating too quick.

6:00 Desposit child 2 at club.

6:15 Arrive back home and take dog for walk.

7:15 Collect child 2 (******************)

7:30 Arrive back home to get two tired children bathed and into bed.

8:00 Clean up kitchen, sort washing, answer phone .....................................................

9:00 Collapse into chair and wait for hubby to return home from work.

So to the person who complained at me today for something I had not had time to do but was not all that important.......

WHATEVER !!!!!!!!!

Am I really Bovvered???

I am tired and this is just one day, I could tell you about the rest but you would fall asleep.

Thinking

I have just been reading some interesting posts over at Green Twins Mummy .
It got me thinking about just how much money we spend on foods and other stuff at the supermarket and how much of that money and food we actually waste every week, You only need to look in the press for an article on what the latest figure if for family waste.
6.2 millions tonnes of food is thrown away in the UK every year, this averages about £420 per family for the year. I dont know about you but I dont want nor can I afford to throw this kind of money away, you may as well put the pound notes through the shredder.

Anyway it got me thinking about how much we could actually spend per week and still have lovely home made food on the table every night, nice meals that were nutricious and lovingly made but perhaps they were costing that little bit less. How much can our food bills be reduced and less food be thrown away whilst still filling little tummies with something good at the end of the day. I dont want to compromise on the quality of our foods but just be a little bit more "savvy" with what we have to spend.

It is a challenge..........
how much can my family of four survive on per week, with ZERO food waste and packed lunches every day for me and Hubby to take to work? Can we meal plan for the week so that we know what we are having for dinner and not rushing out to buy something last minute? Can we be that organised? Ha !!! I think we will have to wait and see.

I have done my food shopping for this week but will be starting from the weekend..
I have tonnes of cookery books, including a couple with war time recipes and one beloved book which is an Amish cook book. They are full of ideas of how to make your meals stretch further and to make the most of what you have got.

This post has gone on for far too long and when read back will probably make po sense at all but I just had to get my thoughts down so they didnt get oushed to the back of my mind.


I also need to make up two packed lunches every day for my Hubby and I.

The Dales

During the school holidays I was lucky enough to go and stay with one of my older sisters for a week in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. It was so nice to kick back and relax as much as you can do with five children between us This is not her house in the picture below but is one that brought back many happy childhood memories of visits to stay with our "Nannie" as we used to call her. I remember the bus drive with my Gran like it was yesterday.

It couldnt be anywhere but England.
I was holding my nephew up to look over the bridge at the water .
"You wont drop me will you?" he asks
"Of course not, silly"
Now when I was little I can vividly remember my Dad doing the same thing and I was convinced that he would drop me even though he was sure he wouldnt.

Autumn Days.

Do you remember singing this when you were at school ? I do and I used to love it, I enjoy it more now hearing the sweet voices of my children as they sing and hum the familiar childhood verses.. I am loving Autumn, I love the smells and taste of the damp air and the sound of crisp dried leaves beneath my feet. I think that along with winter and its promise of Christmas, Autum must be one of my favourite seasons of the year. Which is yours?

Autumn days, when the grass is jewelled
And the silk inside a chestnut shell
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All these things I love so well

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Clouds that look like familiar faces
And a winter’s moon with frosted rings
Smell of bacon as I fasten up my laces
And the song the milkman sings.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Whipped-up spray that is rainbow-scattered
And a swallow curving in the sky
Shoes so comfy though they’re worn out and they’re battered
And the taste of apple pie.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Scent of gardens when the rain’s been falling
And a minnow darting down a stream
Picked-up engine that’s been stuttering and stalling
And a win for my home team.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Autumn Days by Estelle White

Lots of fun.

Hello, firstly a Thank you to April over at Cupcakes make the world a better place for the lovely gifts she sent through the post as a Pay if Forward. What did I recieve ? Lets take a look,

A lovely drawstring bag ( I love pink), a Vanilla Cupcake Yankee Candle Tart (smells wonderful, I have to keeping picking it up to have a smell) and a cross stitch of my name with magnets on it. Oh and a cup cake post card. Thank you so very much April.

In a bid to increase the fruit consumed by the children we decided to make smoothies. My son is not what I would call a fussy eater but there is a huge list of things he thinks he does not like, when he tries to taste them he puts them on the tip of his tounge and then claims to dislike it. So we decided to make Old Fashioned Lemonade, I admit that this was probably too bitter for little taste buds but my daughter loved it. I didnt really follow a recipe but we squeezed the juice from three large lemons,

Squeezed the juice from one orange.

Put this in a jug and added some honey disolved in water (honey syrup)for some sweetness.

Then we put in cold water until we got the taste we were looking for. You can add more or less honey syrup or water until you get a taste you like.

Serve with lots of ice and a slice of lemon or orange.

We also made a smootie using fresh strawberries, one banana and one orange peeled and cut into segments. You whiz it all up in e blender and here you have a delicious healthy drink. We made up a second batch and have frozen them into lollypops for the children. My son turned his nose up at first as the drink appeared to have bits in but he eventually tasted it and loved it .

This was taken this morning when we took the dog for a walk on the beach nearby. What a lovely way to start the day, the kids collected sea glass to add to the collection.