Playing At Grown Up's!!!

It's not very often I get to do any shopping without having someone in tow but yesterday Andy had some business in the big town so I got him to drop me off at Morrison's with plans to meet back there when he was done.
I had a fabulous wander round and did a small top up shop and then put my trolley in a locker and took myself off to the cafe for a coffee while I waited for Andy.
It was sheer bliss and I felt very grown up.....lol.

The afternoon was spent getting ready for a visit from Ruby. Chicken pie was requested and luckily I had one I made earlier in the freezer so just had to prepare veg and make some gravy.
Today I am getting ready for a visit from Marlowe who is coming to me tomorrow morning while DDIL works from home. Jelly has been requested so I will make that today to make sure it is set for her lunch.
If the weather is good we will go to the little park for her to have a run about but if not we will stay in and play with Play Dough and dolls and maybe watch a film.
I was absolutely thrilled that she has asked to come to sleep at Ganma's house so we are going to sort out a night when DS and DDIL can make the most of a night without the girls to see to. We'll just try one night to start off with to see how it goes and take it from there.

My hands are so cold that I am going to make myself a hot drink to wrap them round before I do anything else.

I hope the sun is shining for you today.
Sheila-x-

Whirlwind!!!

.....and that is just what I feel like today.
I am swooping around the house and getting jobs done left, right and centre and it feels really good to be in the mood to do them.
It's a lovely day out and to be honest I would rather be in the garden but I need to get the house in order so that I can be out there and not feeling guilty that I still have jobs that need doing inside.
I will go out and get some fresh air later as I need to go and do a top up shop. I did ask Andy to pick up a couple of things this morning which would have saved me going out but he forgot to take his wallet out with him and only had a bit of change in his pocket.

Lamb casserole for tea tonight which is done so I only have to do a small pan of mash to go with it as that is what DD asked for. Last night we had salad with cold meat and it was absolutely delicious so I think it's just about time to ditch all the soups and casseroles....as lovely as they are....and bring back the salads full time. I never get tired of them.
I might cook up a couple of casserole meals to keep in the freezer for pulling out if we have a really cold day or two but I am looking forward to simpler meals for a while.

Right....a couple more jobs to finish before DD gets home so I'll go and get those done so that I can have a guilt free sofa session after we get back from shopping.

Hope you are all having a good day.
Sheila-x-

A Lovely Weekend!!!

Well....that was a very lovely weekend.
Marlowe's birthday party went well and she enjoyed it so much....as much for the space to run around in as the birthday cake and balloons.
The tiny ones of Marlowe's age and younger were so well behaved but there were a few older siblings there too whose only purpose seemed to be to see who could scream the loudest. My poor head was banging by the time it was finished.
After that we just had a nice quiet weekend which suits the three of us at the moment. A nice roast for lunch on Sunday and an evening spent watching a film and that sets the workers up for another week.

Monday is here and I am so glad to have the house back to myself. I have been into town with Andy this morning to pick up some salad for tea for DD and myself. There is a lamb casserole simmering on the stove for tomorrow and I am just about to get into job mode and catch up on a few things.

Tomorrow will be a bit of a Red Letter day.....Tea Towel Mansion will finally be mortgage free. What a relief to have that paid off after all these years. It's a wonderful feeling.

Hope you have all had a fabulous weekend and that you have an equally fabulous week.
Sheila-x-

So Behind!!!

When either Andy or DD is off work on annual leave my routine goes straight out of the window and this week is no exception.
I've been out nearly every day and had a lovely time but I will be glad to get the house back to myself on Monday and get all the jobs done which have been neglected and also get back my computer time.

Yesterday we had a lovely day out at Bridgemere Garden Centre and the weather was so nice that I managed to walk round without a coat but today is quite chilly and I am in the house with a jumper on and seriously considering putting the heating on too.

There is not much planned for today apart from having a quick tidy round while DD is out in town. Tomorrow we will be going to Miss Marlowe's birthday party for a couple of hours. It's her first proper party with her little friends from playgroup so she is very excited.
The rest of the weekend will be quiet and relaxing with no plans for going anywhere else....well as far as I know anyway...lol.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing.
Sheila-x-

Bad Blogger!!!

Thank you so much for the get well wishes for DD. She is now recovered and enjoying her annual leave.

Well I have not been a very good blogger for the last few days.
To be honest there has not been much going on...just a very chilled and relaxing weekend with no going out or doing much of anything.
Yesterday DD and I went off to Trentham and had a really lovely day. We had breakfast out and then spent hours just wandering around the shopping village and the garden centre.
The weather was a bit hit and miss with drizzle and then heavier rain but eventually the sun came out and it was lovely and warm.
Unfortunately when we got home we found that Andy was poorly and he was unable to go to work last night. He is much better today though.

Today is Marlowe's third birthday and later we will be picking Ruby up from school and taking her home so that we can visit Little Miss Moo and deliver birthday gifts and cuddles. If she is anywhere near as excited as she was on Ruby's birthday we will be in for an hilarious visit.

Our butcher has started doing a family meat pack for £20 with enough meat for a family of four for five days. This week we decided to try it and for our £20 we got.....one spatchcocked chicken with Argentinian flavourings, four pork steaks, four burgers, 500g minced beef and 500g of stir fry chicken. Today we are trying the spatchcocked chicken and it is being cooked to have cold with salad later on. It smells really good.
The pack contents are changed every few weeks and if we enjoy this one then we will try it again.

Right I had best go and wrap some gifts and get on with some laundry.

Hope you all had a good weekend and a have a great day today.
Sheila-x-

Playing Nurse!!!

Andy had gone off to work yesterday and I was sat with a cup of tea all ready to write my blog post when DD walked through the door having been sent home from work as she was unwell.

She had woken up with a slight headache which got worse as the morning went on and she ended up throwing up and feeling quite ill.

She suffers with migraine just as I do but she hadn't had one quite this bad for a long time.

A warm bath, a cup of tea, a good rest and a good sleep last night and she is as right as rain this morning.

My plans for the day were scuppered but as long as she is OK that's fine by me.

So today I will be playing catch up and also doing my usual Friday thing of getting the house weekend ready.

I don't have to cook today as DD is out tonight so Andy is picking up fish and chips on the way home from work. That means a good long afternoon for me to do as I please and I will use that time to finish off the last two aprons and make a start on my peg apron.

I was planning on going to Trentham Gardens again this weekend but have decided that DD and I will go in the week as she will be on annual leave. I don't know what we will do instead apart from a top up shopping trip tomorrow morning but I'm sure we will find something to occupy ourselves.

I hope you all have some lovely things planned for your weekend.

Have a good one.

Sheila-x-

A Good Day!!!

More sewing done yesterday but I didn't quite finish all of the aprons as I was quite cold just sitting so I found something more energetic to do to get warmed up.
The highlight of my day was spotting another unusual bird visiting the garden. Looking it up in the bird book I was surprised to discover that it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Even though we live near woodlands I have never seen one before although I have heard them.
What an absolute beauty it was. I hope it comes back.

Wednesday means a visit from me Ruby so I am just about to have a tidy up and prepare tea....savoury mince with mashed potatoes and veg. I think it's forest school today so I expect she will be cold when she comes in.
There is a lovely new pair of slippers for her tootsies if they are cold and I have fetched one of my t shirts down to put on the radiator for her to get cosy in.

The visit to the doctor this morning for the results of my blood test wasn't too horrendous....weight only up by less than a kilo....I thought it would be more so that was good. Blood sugars had gone up so I need to get those down again...pronto....and blood pressure was fine.
The nurse and the doctor both know me well and were both concerned by my low mood. I was offered medication but declined as I am sure there will be some light at the end of the tunnel soon. If not I can always go back.
Four months until my next test so I will be working hard on the problem areas until then.

Right....I shall go and get ready for my gorgeous girl. Can't wait to see her.
Hope you are having a great day.
Sheila-x-

Sewing Accomplished!!!

So chuffed to have actually sat down at the sewing machine yesterday.
I now have two finished aprons, two more part done that just need the ties adding and one in the wings waiting to be done.
It's a filthy day outside and not fit to go out so I will probably finish them all and then I want to make myself a peg apron ready for when I can hang washing out. I'm not a fan of peg bags since I put my hand in one and a huge spider crawled up my arm. The apron will stay inside and hopefully we won't be having that happening again.

I am so disappointed that I have still had no little visitors to the window bird feeder. The garden is full of birds nearly all day so I don't know why they haven't noticed it.

I wish I had planned on something a little more warming than salad for our tea today. Poor old DD will be out in this awful rain and will be chilled to the bone when she gets in. Still....I'll get her comfies down and put them on the radiator for her to change into and she should be OK.

I'm looking forward to watching Sewing Bee on the tv tonight instead of having to wait and watch it on catch up afterwards. It sounds like it's going to be fun.

Well I hope you are all managing to keep dry and warm today.
Have a good day.
Sheila-x-

All Change!!!

I do wish the weather would settle down a bit. It's so hard to make plans when it's all over the place.
Today we have bright sunshine and wind so whatever warmth the sun might be putting out is being blown away.

The man has been to measure up for the new window and he thinks we will need the scaffolding due to the lack of space for getting the window upstairs. Not what I wanted to hear but the job needs doing. Just need to wait for their surveyor to make an appointment to come out and then hopefully we shall be all systems go.

All my jobs are done for the day until I have to cook tea. No baking to be done as there are fresh Bakewell slices in the cake tin for pack ups and all the big jobs on the list are mostly outside jobs which I don't feel like tackling at the moment so it's back to the sewing once Andy has gone to work.

Hope you are all enjoying some sunshine today.
Sheila-x-

Too Late!!!

I was up at the ungodly hour of 5am and it was thrashing it down with rain.
I spent an hour on the computer and then went and had a sit down on the sofa and by the time I got up again and looked out of the window it had snowed very heavily although it hadn't covered everything.
Too little and way too blummin' late. The rain is back and has washed it all away so it can stay away now.

The meat is in the oven for our Sunday lunch. It smells amazing and all I have to do is make some batter for the Yorkies.
Andy is out getting the papers and DD is having a tidy up in her room ready for the man who is coming to measure up for her new window tomorrow. He will also let us know if we will have to have scaffolding to get the job done. I will not be looking forward to that if we do.
Not sure what I will be doing for the rest of the day apart from making a start on the laundry.....a boring job at any time but I can't wait for some sunny and breezy days so that I can hang it out rather than drying it in the tumble dryer.

Hope you are having a good weekend.
Sheila-x-

I Will Do It!!!

Today is one of those flat grey, boring days with barely a hint of a breeze. Just the kind of days that I don't like....so....I am going to inject a bit of colour into it and I will do some sewing today. I don't feel like doing it but I am going to make myself else I feel like I shall never do any again.
I've never been in such a deep miserable hole as I feel I have been in these past few months and I am determined to get myself out of it and I will get back to my old self if it kills me in the process.

Nothing definite planned for the weekend so we'll just see how it pans out. Andy may have some ideas but he was in from work and in bed before I got up this morning so I haven't spoken to him as yet.
I shall have a check on the weather and see if we can maybe get out in the garden for a bit even though the lawn is quite mushy after all the rain.

For now I have a pile of tea towels that need folding and Andy's work clothes to wash out of the way and then the sewing machine will be going on.

Hope you are having a good day and have lots of plans for your weekend.
Sheila-x-

Sleepy Head!!!

I overslept this morning....not something I do very often but why when I have had extra sleep do I feel all out of whack and crabby....ugh....I don't like it.

Luckily when we took Ruby home last night the roads were clear of flooding but I can't say they'll be the same today if this rain carries on. I have no plans to go anywhere but Andy has to pick Ruby up from school and take her home so I hope there are no problems.

I'm going to be in the kitchen again....spud bashing and assembling a cottage pie and maybe making a Bakewell tart for pack ups. Andy is also going through a jelly phase so I'll make him one with some fruit in. Once all that is done I need to give the fridge a sort out and a wipe out and any bits of veg that need using up will get made into some soup for the freezer.

Before I do anything though I need a hot mug to put my hands round as they are freezing. A cup of tea should do the trick 😊

Have a lovely day.
Sheila-x-

A Filthy Day!!!

It is so nasty outside today. Grey and raining very heavily.
I hope it lets up a bit and we don't have flooded roads as we have to take Ruby home tonight after tea.

I've decided to do a midweek roast dinner with some beef which I froze in gravy from our last joint. DD missed out on lunch out on Sunday so she will enjoy that especially if she is out in all this rain.
I'm all done in the kitchen for now apart from a load of washing which needs fetching out of the machine and putting into the dryer and a mop around the floor so I am going to have an hour to watch something on You Tube which will probably be Homes Under The Hammer as I have quite got into that again.

Still no sewing going on although I did press some hems ready for the machine yesterday. Perhaps the visit to the quilt show will get my pistons firing again.

Hope you are all keeping dry and warm today.
Sheila-x-

A Morning In The Kitchen!!!

There are chicken breasts marinating in yoghurt and tandoori spices in the fridge ready for tea, a bread and butter pudding requested by Andy is just about to go into the oven and a mound of onions have been chopped ready for the pan of minced beef and onions I want to cook for the freezer and all of the washing up is done.
Time now for a break and a cuppa then round two will be some spicy potatoes prepared for tea, Yorkshire puddings to make in advance for Ruby's tea tomorrow and the veg also prepped ready as we only have a short time with her on a Wednesday.

First thing this morning I was down at the surgery for a blood test. I am dreading the results next week as there has been a little too much comfort eating going on. It has now been knocked on the head but not in time to have a lot of impact.
I know I have put a little bit of weight back on but I'm getting back on track with that. Even so I am dreading the scales next Wednesday.

Tickets have been ordered for the quilt show next month and I am spending some pleasant time going through the traders websites to see what kind of things they will have on their stalls. All very exciting.

Gorgeous blue skies and sunshine today but there are also some very ominous looking clouds scudding about so I have not risked putting anything out on the line. With my luck it would rain before I had finished pegging out.

Are you having a lovely day today?
Sheila-x-

Another Weekend Ticked Off!!!....And For Eloise.

DD and I chose our time well to visit the garden centre on Saturday morning and were able to walk round in bright sunshine looking at all of the beautiful plants although we didn't buy any just yet as the garden isn't ready.
We arrived home just as the sky turned black and it began to rain.

Sunday was just a sort of laid back day for Andy and I....out for lunch and then back to read the papers and start on the laundry.
Not a nice day weatherwise and the wind last night was very scary indeed.

As DD was at work yesterday she is off today so we have been into town for essentials. We hit the jackpot with the sunshine again and were able to sit out and have a coffee. Now we are back home it has done exactly the same as Saturday and started raining.

I wasn't in the mood for sewing over the weekend. I don't know what is the matter with me just lately. The machine is there all set up but it just wasn't calling to me.

Just a simple 'breakfast for tea' for our evening meal today as it is just what we fancy and I'm going to be in the kitchen for the next couple of days cooking meals to put in the freezer anyway so I thought I'd give myself an easy day.

Eloise has asked about the Hash Jackets........

Cooked baking potatoes....I turn them up to crisp the skins up so that they make nice containers for the filling.

Saute some chopped onions in butter until they are golden brown and then add a teaspoon or so each of English mustard and horseradish sauce.
Scoop the middles from the potatoes into a bowl and mash them a little then add the onion mixture.
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if required.
Cube a tin of corned beef and add to the potatoes and mix well without breaking the meat up too much.
Divide the mixture between the potato skins and place on a baking tray Place in a hot oven until tops are brown and crispy.
These freeze well so I sometimes make a big batch so that we have some for another meal.
Serve with salad.
Pickled beetroot goes especially well with them.
I hope you enjoy them if you try them.

Well I am ready for my afternoon cuppa so the kettle is going on now.

Hope you are having a lovely day today.
Sheila-x-

No Peace For The Wicked!!!

Today I have Andy at home as the car has had to go in for an MOT and a service which means my normal Friday routine just isn't going to be happening which sets me all on edge before I even start the day.
Also because he is home it means he wants a bigger meal than DD and I would have had tonight....I had planned on soup and a sandwich but instead I am making hash jackets.
Mind you he is taking me out for lunch on Sunday bless him.

No outings planned for the weekend apart from lunch so I am going to finish the ceiling in the sewing room and then spend the rest of the weekend sewing I think....although I haven't yet been to the garden centre which I want to do at some point so I may do that tomorrow if DD fancies going out.

For now I am going to put the jacket potatoes in to cook and chop up some onions ready for the filling.

Anything exciting happening in your part of the world this weekend?
Have a fabulous one.
Sheila-x-