Responsibility.......

Our three family Tudors have gone to Kentwell for the four day May event so R is staying with us again. Hubby is meeting up with old friends all day Saturday and at a Blood Runners event all day Sunday.

R needs to go to bed at a reasonable time Friday night to get up, ready and out by 10am Saturday.    TICK
I need to take her to drama and wait till she's done (while knitting)  TICK
R needs to be reminded to extra extra brush her teeth ready for the orthodontist next Tuesday.  TICK
R needs to be encouraged to do physical stuff as she has joint problems if sitting too long.  TICK
I need to do my physio exercises, she'll do them with me.  TICK (I did them 4 days, R did them 1)  TICK
R needs to repot her gooseberry bush that we look after for her  TICK (granddad did most of it)
R wants to make a tricky dessert worthy of a French patisserie  TICK
We need to shop for the ingredients.  TICK

She needed baking rings I don't have, so we had soup for lunch and I made rings from the cans.

Blurred baking as she's moving fast (not, cause I'm laughing as she makes another indecision).

Beautiful and delicious Peach Clafoutis.

Shame about using so many pans and bowls hahaha.

Neighbours/friendsP&A were entertaining a large group (22ish) for Sunday lunch some of which were visitors from Romania (they go over annually to do charity work with them). They were all meeting at church then coming back straight after the service and P&A asked if I could cook some food to be ready for when they get back. ....so early morning three prepared lasagnes arrived, thankfully they were ready, not burnt, in time!  TICK

Monday morning up and sort the kitchen for our usual coffee morning and a very full house as bank holiday for those that are normally at work  TICK

SisterS and bilK want to holiday with us again, this time September as sisterS is retiring in July so no longer restricted by term time. I came up with some choices and we decided on the driving through France option. So I suggested a route and a time-line which they agreed on and I now need to book three hotels (main destination for six nights plus overnight stop on the way down and back), and book the Eurostar train return tickets.  TICK for two hotels, so hard going through and checking details and booking what we hope they will like. One more hotel and train still to book.

Yet again Daughter had problems with her car on the way there Friday and she has ignored it all weekend as it didn't need to move. So this afternoon instead of driving here, collecting R, then all going home for dinner, she stayed at Kentwell and called out the RAC, Hubby also drove there to bring E and O home so they could be home and fed instead of hanging around for hours, meanwhile R and I had dinner here. She was being towed to our local garage and has just text Hubby to meet get there, she'll then being him home, collect R and keep my car until her's is fixed! Parents always on hand TICK
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A week of food.....

This week has really been dominated by food and also lots of lovely people all wanting to eat out.

Monday our friendsN&T came over and we went out to lunch. We went to ASK the Italian restaurant and I had my 'taste card' and a meal deal voucher and a special 25% off voucher, so we all had a lovely meal and when we asked for the bill the waitress took the lot and worked out the best price she could....so that deserved a good tip hahaha

Tuesday lunchtime I went out to lunch with my old work team. So lovely to see them as we hadn't managed to meet up since our Christmas dinner. I had to ask for a lift as Daughter still had my car while her's is being repaired. I felt like I hadn't been home long before getting ready to go out to eat again with our Son and fiancé, they were treating us for a belated birthday for Hubby and Mother's day for me. In return I helped Son with a 2for1 voucher :-)

Wednesday was our usual group in our usual pub, all except friendDJ who sadly now has lung cancer and had to be home for someone to come and fit an emergency alert button at home as he's not too steady on his feet just now :-(

I had decided to make another batch of chutney and there were enough damsons left in the freezer for two and a half batches and for some reason I decided to do them all as I had enough of the other ingredients. It took me nearly all day Thursday to de-stone all that purple squishy fruit as it gave me backache. I had to leave it with all prepped and all the other ingredients in the saucepan but not cooked. Feeling a bit worried about the final taste as I'd realised a bit late that I'd used a half tablespoon measure when the recipe meant teaspoon! So there was a lot more cayenne pepper than I'd needed and thankfully I'd run out of paprika before I'd finished counting and then just as I started counting out the garlic granules I realised!!!

I was eating out again on Thursday evening with bfriendM and friendH as we haven't had a girly catchup for ages. Mexican this time and friendH had both a 25% off voucher and her student card that gets discount......love a bargain!

All Friday morning I cooked down the chutney, took ages as far too much for one pan! Made about 15 jars of various sizes, it tasted good but with a lot more kick than I'd previously made. Daughter and O came for lunch and Daughter had the chutney (still warm) in her sandwich and declared it good (but not as good as the original plum recipe). O's lunch choice was getting me to make him peanut butter pancakes.

That afternoon I collected friendDJ and we went to meet a new baby of friends (DJ can't drive now so was thrilled to go). Our visit included cake!

Oh I love all baby cuddles. They also have a 2 year old who is adorable and we played together too.

We had arranged for O to have a sleepover here.  He is so funny, when I said that his usual bed was full of stuff on top and would he mind sleeping in one of the girls' beds he said "what about the bed you'll say no to?" as if I ever say no to this boy lol, he meant the sofa bed and that was fine of  course. He'd also put in a menu request by Skype video message of Yorkshire puddings and sage and onion stuffing for his dinner thankfully he allowed me to add chicken and vegetables.

It's now early morning Saturday and I'm rather tired. O went up to bed at 8pm but took ages to get to sleep so I didn't creep out of the room till nearly 9pm. Then a little naked boy crawled into my bed at 3:50am saying he hasn't slept at all (he was asleep when Hubby went up at 10:30pm and still asleep when I checked on him two hours later on my way to bed) anyway he snuggled and tried to relax but we eventually came down at 4:30am! So our first breakfast of porridge at 5am and he's now waiting for a second breakfast of pancakes but he'll have to wait for Hubby to get up before I'll do that. Daughter and R are coming for lunch and to collect O and Hubby has an old school friend coming for the day and I've been requested to make lasagne for dinner so my 5:2 diet hasn't stood a chance this week!
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Catching up with catching up.....

It's been quite a domestic week.  I've made lemon cake and tear-n-share garlic and herb bread and a batch of damson and onion chutney all on different days. I've shortened some new jeans and made a start on patchwork repairing the sofa bed.

We have put the pool table onto eBay. .. end of an era!
And because hubby needs to sort the games room stuff he had decided to check out the games and jigsaws to see if they are for keeping or charity shopping, but of course if they are not complete then they will hit the recycle bin, so we keep getting job interruptions from jigsaw making.

Daughter had been here with the children lots this week, (very very lovely), with lots of comings and goings for Daughter and/or a child for dental or physio appointments, percussion lesson, dance lesson and drama leaving the children not needed for each thing with me. Some of this included her taking my car while her's went for a service and MOT. Sad to say it failed and expensive sounding repairs were started. .... three days later and still in the garage, hopefully it will be done by end of Monday!

Last night I had one of my lovely sleepovers with friendH, always good to have time for a real catch up gossip till nearly 2am. Then didn't leave there till nearly lunchtime today.

Meanwhile, as I'd pinched my car back overnight, Hubby had helped out with the normal Saturday morning driving children to various activities, but now I'm home she can have my car back...... and he'd finished the latest jigsaw