Diary and dairy....

Nothing much has happened worth an interesting blog post, mainly due to yucky weather, but here's an update anyway more to keep the momentum of my diary going I think.

Well given my choice to stay indoors in the warm has meant I finished the third handbag and that one is now my favourite.

I'm making my way through the ironing, which I have to admit to being the highest pile ever. Having painful knees and then the kidney op gave me the perfect excuse not to stand at the ironing board so the pile grew and grew and even when I finally got back to doing about an hours worth at a time it went down a bit but then up a bit with the next machine load. The good thing at least is I'm looking for alternatives to wear and either giving long forgotten favourites a night out or committing to the charity bag something that has obviously shrunk in the wardrobe!

Another job I've been tackling is sorting my "What Room". It has that name as it used to be my son's bedroom, then was just a guest room, then O had his daytime naps in there and starts in that bed on sleepovers, but we can't call it O's Room as I have my fitted desk in there and all my arts and crafts stuff......hence a name that covers it all :o)
Another job that will take forever as I'm far too easily distracted by arty-crafty ideas, which is how I came to make the denim bag.

In the kitchen I've made more plum jam tarts and a roast dinner yesterday for Daughter, M and the children followed by a plum upside down sponge.

I have actually ventured out a few times, Tuesday during the day I went to the ENT department at the hospital (yes I have tinnitus and no they don't know why my head feels uncomfortable so referring me for an MRI scan) at night was a meal out with friends and we went to the Beefeater as I had loyalty card points to use which gave us £20 off the bill plus a free bottle of wine, so a nice cheap night. Wednesday night I was out eating Italian with friends and Thursday was an art night followed by the truck stop of course, this time our men went bowling while we were at art and they got to the truck stop before us.

Now I'm going to note this here just for the record really, but it may turn out that I'm writing/thinking total nonsense! Last weekend I had that awful stomach bug that is doing the rounds just now, so didn't want to eat or drink much for Friday or Saturday but to save dehydration I was drinking weak hot blackcurrant.  By Sunday and feeling so much better I still couldn't fancy anything dairy, I would normally have at least two very white  coffees in the morning and a bowl of porridge or weetabix with lots of milk, because women of a certain age need calcium right? Anyway by Tuesday /Wednesday I realised that I didn't have quite so many aches and pains as normal and especially noticed less in my knees! It may be shear coincidence but my plan is to keep to a reduced dairy intake till the end of February then introduce it all back again and see what happens!
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The one with the boring title.....

Made me laugh that my last post with the ever-so-slightly ambiguous title got so many hits from all over the world. Shame the stats don't show how long they stayed to look at my revealing photos....of crochet lol

Well yesterday was a lovely day here with Daughter and children, however things are definitely changing. The girls are very much into Minecraft on their laotops and now build/play/communicate/bargain/swap and generally live in a minecraft home-ed server village (all totally beyond me) but although they are sat with laptops the whole time they are chatting away to each other and co-operating all the time which is lovely.

O is very much into games on the ipad (they are all beyond me too). And when Hubby wasn't popping out to fix a techy problem for a friend he was on his laptop too!

Meanwhile I was making a birthday card and chatting to Daughter who was doing her crochet,  then we made lunch and the children allowed themselves just enough time to stuff some food in before heading back to screens. E had to shoot out for a percussion lesson but was straight back to her screen the moment she got back. How lovely Daughter and I have each other to chat to or it could be quite lonely in a houseful of people!
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I'm a hooker.....

I've been a knitter for as long as I can remember but have never really got to grips with crochet......but this time I've done my own thing (no pattern) and kept it all to just single stitch and made a whole very useful item!

I had ordered some handbag pockets insert thingies to use as Christmas presents, but they never arrived in time. So when they finally did arrive I put two away for future birthday gifts and kept one for my self.

The idea is that you keep all your stuff in this permanent liner and can then change your handbag in an instant.......so I just had to order some more wool :-)

This is the colour scheme of the one I'm working on now.

And yesterday I quickly upcycled some jeans. Think I'll increase the fringing a bit on the front flap.

What's that lovely smell.....

Best compliment of all as Daughter arrived yesterday and O bounded through the front door shouting "Grandma, Grandma what's that lovely smell?" It was my first attempt at Banana Yeast Bread,(recipe here) and it was as lovely to eat as the smell.

There was some jigsaw puzzling while Daughter cooked us all lunch, now on boards as they are still on the go. And there was our very own internet café which lasted most of the afternoon till they were dragged off for baths and showers 

Then back to art group last night after the Christmas break and onto our favourite truck stop for a meet up with friends and a bit of a dance to live music, so a great day all round :o)
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Happy as a hermit.....

I know it probably isn't the healthiest way to live but it's so wild wet and windy outside that I'm only venturing out when necessary and the heating is on constant mmmm cosy :o)

We saw in the new year with our lovely friends and neighbours P&A. They were overnight babysitting their grandsons so we waited for a text to say they were settled in bed then we joined them (just had to pop next door). Chinese takeaway and Jools Holland on tv for midnight then over to ITV for the fireworks. We did open the front door to see if any of our neighbours were outside but there was nobody about (not like years ago when the various parties all spilled out for a giant conga line).

My next trip out was on Thursday 2nd for our annual Mother/Daughter day as it's Daughter's birthday and we hit the sales. This year all the trousers she tried on were no good, but she did get a cardigan that was in the sales and a really flattering dress and lovely red ankle boots that were not on sale. We also enjoyed our traditional long lunch. Home via her house to collect M and the children for a roast dinner that Hubby cooked followed by the birthday cake I'd made already.

Saturday we had O here all day and E here some of the time while R had her audition for a local theatre company and Daughter was back and forth playing taxi and returning goods in town and shopping for clothes with the girls and bringing yummy breads for lunch and collecting M and a fish and chips dinner for us all.

Today was of course the first Monday of the month so coffee morning here with our neighbours with everyone wishing each other a happy new year :-)

Hopefully I'll venture out tomorrow evening for my normal girls night with friends, meanwhile I think I'll just curl up here in the warm with my book.
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2013 reads...

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Paperback. Passed on to me by Daughter. Started 1st January - finished 23rd January
This is set in Mississippi 1962, "Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver". A brilliant read, the characters so well described both in looks and personality. It made me laugh out loud and feel very sad too.

Grammar-Land by M L Nesbitt
An on-going dip-into reference book on the correct use of English grammar.
Published 1878. Started 10th January
Downloaded free to my Kobo reader. Recommended by a HomeEd blogger.

Crossing the Paradise Line by Annabel Giles
Paperback. Bought for me by Hubby for my birthday 2011 but only getting round to reading it now.
Started 2/2/2013 - finished 19/2/2013 (delayed by knitting then got a cold so curled up and read the book quickly)
Really enjoyed this light read with a very amusingly exaggerated story line. Annabel is brilliant at describing her characters. Very predictable happy ending.

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
Paperback. Bought for me by HelenM for my birthday 2012 but only getting round to reading it now. Winner of the Man Booker prize 2010.
Started 20/2/2013 - finished 13/05/2013
Yes it took me so long to reach the end because basically I didn't enjoy it. Why oh why can I not give up on a book as soon as I realise it's not my thing? Guess I'm always hopeful that it's going to get better!
Though there are various characters with different agendas, to me the whole thing was just a crazy, twisted analysis of Zionists, anti-Semitics and what it means to be a Jew (guess that's why my friend thought it would appeal). It is written in the most convoluted and confusing way and the Jewish references made me both angry and sad. It has gone straight into the charity collection bag!

Pedigree Mum by Fiona Gibson
Paperback. Bought for me by FayeL as a thank you for collecting her cat from the vet.
Started 14/5/2013 - finished 5/6/2013
Lovely light read, enough humour and character descriptions to keep me smiling at events happening to people I felt I understood well.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappesred  by Jonas Jonasson
Paperback. Borrowed from Alf
Started 5/6/2013 - finished 5/7/2013
An excellent read, very funny and a very different type of story line to anything I've read before which includes totally outrageous events wrapped around true historical events. Would recommend it to everyone.

The Defrosting of Charlotte Small by Annabel Giles
Paperback. Bought for me by Hubby for my birthday 2011 but only getting round to reading it now.
Started 6/7/2013 - finished 9/7/2013
A well written story with larger than life characters. Good descriptions of the depths of despair to a happy ending.

Trouble in Mudbug by Jana DeLeon
eBook. Free download to Kobo on the Playbook
Started 13/7/2013 - finished 31/07/2013
A fun but very light-weight story line with only a few main characters, one of which is a ghost!

Infant Barbarian by Jenny Worstall
eBook. Free download to Kindle reader on the Playbook
Started 3/8/2013 - finished 10/8/2013
This is actually two short stories. The first one "Old School" and the second one "Infant Barbarian" are very light reads with a moral tale.


Two Brothers by Ben Elton
Hardback. Loaned to me by Ann and David
Started 14/9/2013 - finished 24/913
Set in Berlin 1920. Description on the front cover reads "As Germany marches towards its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable choice..."
An excellent read, seeing a very well known part of history from the perspective of just a few people. It was tragic and amusing and horrific and felt so so real. At the end of the book Ben Elton explains how the characters and events, although fiction, closely relates to the people and history if his very own family. How hard it must have been for his relatives to relive the events to give him details and how hard for Ben to hear what had happened to his own family.


Bermondsey Boy by Tommy Steele
Paperback. Loaned to me by DaveJ
Started 26/9/2013 - finished 02/11/2013
Really enjoyed this and it only took me so long because of my kidney operation when I didn't feel like reading anything! Even though it was an East End era before mine I enjoyed all the references to East London life. I clearly remember Tommy Steele and found it interesting to read all he'd done before being a celebrity. Very well written too.

Witch Weigh by Caroline Mickelson
eBook. Free download to Kindle reader on the Playbook.
Started 8/11/2013 (coach trip to Luxembourg) - finished 10/11/13
Very very light read, romance between a rebel witch and a drop dead gorgeous male fairy......perfect rubbish for sitting on a coach.


No It's Us Too by Miranda Hart + General Public
eBook. Free download to Kindle reader on the Playbook.
Started sometime this year and dipped into occasionally - finished 18/11/13
Very amusing collection of tweets about embarrassing situations. 

Dear Fatty by Dawn French
Hardback. A lend from TrishaH
Started 5/12/2013 - finished 31/12/2013
A lovely biog written as letters to people important to her. Sometimes trying too hard to be funny but mostly a good read. I was though a little sad to read all the lovely things she'd written about her life with Lenny and what a great man he is, now I know that they have since ended their marriage if more than 25 years!


And as you've probably guessed I've sat here for the last two hours in my dressing gown just so I could finish this book and consequently this post this year!
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A magical eve.....

A Visit from St. Nicholas

BY CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds;

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,

When what to my wondering eyes did appear,

But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,

With a little old driver so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blixen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;

So up to the housetop the coursers they flew

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly

That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

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Ho ho ho.....

It's that time of year when we are being bombarded by advertising and even lots of my favourite bloggers are earning by posting trial reviews, sponsored articles, paying guests etc

Me, I'm posting this...

Disclosure: No-one asked me to and I haven't been paid to or compensated in any way.

The opinion is my own, that it is mildly funny like the groan of a cracker joke, so worth sharing. 

Enjoy.

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Don't bother reading.....

So much done and so much still to do,
shopping and struggling with what to get for the last few,
wrapping what I've already got,
printing lists and ticking them off,
menu planning and adding to the online supermarket basket,
swearing that the online supermarket keeps timing out for no apparent reason,
the 'alternative' panto,
the granddaughter's drama group performance,
buying and altering clothing for Christmas dinners,
organising and enjoying a Christmas dinner with x-work mates,
looking forward to another Christmas dinner with a crowd of friends, and
babysitting so Daughter could go to M's Christmas dinner.

However as EVERYONE is doing the same just now I won't bother blogging about it.
Cheers

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Theatre, So not a pantomime......

This is one of my fun Christmas time traditions and this year's definitely was fun!

About "The Brontes of Dunwich Heath (& Cliff)"

Eastern Angles proudly present their alternative festive extravaganza, The Brontes of Dunwich Heath (and Cliff).

Join Mad Cath, Plain Jane and a panoply of off-the-wall characters, as literature and laughs combine in this musical Christmas caper.

Prepare for a whole lot of wacky Wuthering!