Monday

Good morning - and I sincerely hope it IS a good morning and that none of my readers has woken up to an unpleasantly splashy surprise downstairs.
It's dreadfully wet here but, surprisingly, not windy as far as I can tell.  I am prepared for wet playtimes today and I think I will start what worked well last year which was giving them a DVD to watch over wet playtimes.  They really enjoyed that.

Yesterday was a busy day.  In the afternoon I went over to Beth's to help her clear a room before some decorating stuff and it was no joke.  Clearing one room when all your rooms are already cluttered is difficult, to say the least, and we could never have done it without Alex's help.  Al is a lot better now, his hand doesn't hurt at all (he says) and he is back to school today (he says, with determination).  Hopefully he will be OK; he's lost a lot of weight over the last two weeks but I guess at least some of that will roll back on again once he is really eating properly again.  Beth is still recovering; it's going to take her longer.  I am increasingly envious of how youngsters can bounce up so quickly once recovery starts.
Thank you to all who have send good wishes for them in the last couple of weeks.

I think I am more or less ready for the meeting this evening.  The shortbread and the mini mincepies are boxed up, the alcohol and fruit juice is in a strong carrier, the programmes are all sorted and the agenda is out to everyone, first thing they will see when they walk into their bays this morning, lucky them!  I just need to count how many chairs we already have in the hall.  I think the worst of the worry is over - at least I have had two nights of good, sound sleep which indicates there's nothing heavy on my mind right now.

Those little pies worked so well I am definitely making more, this time for the freezer.  Also, me being me, I am beginning to wonder what other fillings one could use.  Could I, perhaps, use hot water pastry and a savoury sausagemeat filling and make very mini pork pies?
Who knows, but lack of time means that there's no way I will find out this Christmas.  I don't have a week at home for experimenting this year, unlike last year.  The plus side is that there's nearly a week AFTER the festive stuff is finished to  rest and recover.  Win win!

And now it is half past five so I'd better go and have a hot, long, leisurely bath to start the week off and be grateful (in a non-proud kind of way) that I can.