Monday

If only . . .

It's certainly not doing that outside here at the moment.  In fact it's so mild it is a no slippers and dressing gown morning and I woke to find myself on top of the duvet - and the window was a little bit open too!

Mind you, after all this rain in some parts, turning to snow would be a disaster.  It would remind me of that film, The Day After Tomorrow, which was scarily realistic in places.

On to happier things.  The dinner yesterday turned out fine.  Well, the Yorkshires were a bit of a disaster but they all got eaten anyway.  Slow roasting the small bit of silverside worked a treat and, with careful slicing, there was enough for three portions so guess what I'm having for dinner.  Yes, that's right!  I did what I am increasingly doing and cooked the meat early, let it sit for a while, sliced it and wrapped it first in parchment and then in foil.  It works beautifully!

I had a go at making a rice pudding in Thermione and it was OK.  I liked the flavour but it was a bit too thick so next time I will adjust the proportions of rice to milk.  It had added lemon zest and cinnamon and was delicious.

After the school fair, Beth and I have been busily planning what we will make for next year.  It's the 'pocket money' things and the kits that were the most popular so that's useful to know.  We are also considering taking a stall for the summer fair so if you have any ideas about what we could make for that, please let us know!

We've also had fun selecting items for Christmas gifts for friends and family.  It's lovely to give things we have made ourselves, giving loving time as well as the item itself.  I shall be sorting out my preserves too in the next few days.  It's about time some things were wrapped!

Today will be quite busy so I think I'd better stop now and get going.  Have a good one and stay safe, gentle readers.

Sunday

This made me laugh.  Many apologies for the advert before it starts (if it shows) - I don't know how to get rid of it, being a five star technotwit.

Let's get the whinges over.  Right now - sore throat, coughs, splutters,  aching sinus.  In half an hour, after a good dose of caffeine and maybe a tablet or two, I shall be right as rain for the rest of the day!

Yesterday ended up very lazy.  I always have these plans and in the absence of any real pressure they remain just that - plans.  I ended up having a PJ day and I did sleep a lot which, I guess, reflects that I'm not quite 100% again yet.  There are now back to back cooking programmes on the telly which I rather enjoy and, of course, Saturday evenings are a delight.

There was something that kept me very busy all day though in a sitting down way.  I help to admin a group on Facebook that is about 'Feed yourself for £1.00 a day' - basically lots of frugality: recipes, hints and tips, etc.  It's a nice group.  It was featured in the Daily Mirror on Thursday although I'm not sure whether it was just online or whether it was also in the hard copy.  The result was that by Friday morning hundreds of people had applied to join the group (it's a closed group and people need to be added by Admin).  All through Friday and then through Saturday we were kept extremely busy checking people and adding most of them.  The group has grown by around four thousand people - yes, thousand!  No wonder we were kept busy.

Today, being Sunday, Beth and Alex are round for lunch.  I fished out from the freezer a small silverside joint (small because it is part of a bigger piece that I cut into smaller roasting pieces) which Alex and I will have and I found a recipe for Beth that I want to try based around red lentils and packet stuffing.  With it we will have roast spuds, Yorkshires and carrots.  Has to be carrots because they need using up.  I'll probably open a small can of sweet corn as well.  That will make a good lunch.

I don't roast beef much so I think it will be better slow pot roasted and because it is such a titchy joint it won't take all that long anyway.  I shall follow Jack Monroe's tip of using strong tea because I don't have any red wine.  In fact, most of the dinner can be made/prepared in advance which is just what I like.

Well, I'd better get started while the energy levels are high.  Caffeine first and then a kitchen sort out and some meal preparation.

Have a good Sunday and I do so hope you haven't been too affected by the terrible weather we are having at the moment.

Saturday

As I love owls I thought this rather cute!

Good morning all and welcome to the weekend.

Yesterday was busy but very satisfying and by the end I was tired but hadn't crashed.  Can't complain about that.

As it was cleaner day, I did a pretty good tidy up of the relevant parts of the house with special focus on the kitchen.  Then I relaxed while I had my hair done (and it feels so much better now) following which we got things ready for the school fair.  When we got to school it was get stuck in time so we set up our table (and it did look nice) after which I went around helping others out.

We were so pleased with how out table went.  I won't say how much we made, obviously but it was enough to send us both home smiling!  It was fun counting out the cash, taking out the expenses and realising that we actually did pretty well.  I won't need to go to the cash machine for a while!  We were rather down after the previous craft fair but this one has encouraged us very much indeed.  A very good end to the day.

We still have stock - we have to update our Facebook page now but if you're interested, here's the link.  https://www.facebook.com/kittystitches1/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

I slept well!  I woke too early with an ouchy throat and a gungy cough (sorry) but shall be going back to bed again soon.  Must remember I can have a lie in if I want . . .

This morning I shall be making bread and doing general Saturday stuff.  I think I want to make more scrolls, perhaps making my own filling this time as I have no more mincemeat.  Also I will look around for some different bread recipes - a spiced loaf might be good for Christmas and should freeze well.  Also there's the ever present washing and ironing which has mounted up rather this week.
I can't get out of the habit of thinking of Saturday as a 'do it all' day!

Food?
Well, good question.  Let's think . . .
B:  Porridge as I have milk to use up, and fruit
L:  Soup and very fresh, crusty bread.  Maybe some custard (for the milk) for afters
D:  Steak, fries and some kind of veg.  Maybe . . .

I'm off to bed now before I fall asleep over the keyboard.  See you later!

Friday

I felt sparkly this morning!

Good morning, gentle readers.  It was chucking it down yesterday evening but the stars are shining now, the temperature has dropped and the ground is more or less dry.  Maybe it will be a pleasant day, weather-wise.

Another funny old day yesterday.  I zoomed into school to help with the Christmas fair only to find nobody there.  Well, when I say 'nobody' of course there were lots of people - staff and children - but no-one doing Christmas fair stuff, so I zoomed into town to get some change for our craft stall at the fair tonight and then meandered around a little bit.  I went into Lakeland but, for once, they didn't have what I wanted which is unusual.  What they did have was some containers just the right size for my plain and SR flour on special offer so I got a couple.  For ages now my flours have been stored in two cardboard containers that some flour originally came in and they were getting rather fragile.  I had this feeling one day I would pick up the box and the bottom would fall out.  Not any more!

I then looked in the pound shop and got some Christmas cards for the two classes I work with on Tuesdays.  Now all I have to do is write 'love from Mrs Clark' in sixty cards and stick sixty candy canes on sixty envelopes!  On the list for this weekend, I think.

When I got home I crashed.  Never mind, I kept going a lot longer than the day before and things are on the up.  I had a good sleep and then pottered about doing not-a-lot, feeling thankful that I could!

Today is chokka full of things ranging from hair day through to having a stall at the Christmas Fair with all sorts of other bits and pieces.  I shall start in soon and get going and fingers crossed the energy stays around.

I've made another entry in my recipe blog.  Mincemeat scrolls which used up some spare mincemeat that I had hanging around.  They're very delicious and my invention (though hardly original - recipes rarely are nowadays) so please do pop over and take a look.
http://fooddiaryofteacher.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/christmas-leftovers-mincemeat-scrolls.html

Have a great day.

Thursday

Cute!

Good morning, everyone!  It is a dull, still morning out there, not very cold but cool enough.  all very ordinary to counterbalance the extraordinary things that are happening at the moment.  I'm not going to get political on you so that's all I'm saying.

Yesterday was a cough and splutter day.  You know how it goes - as a cold gets better you start sounding a lot worse!  It was quite an impressive cough at the governors meetings last night.

Life starts again today.  I have to whizz into town first thing to get some change from the bank.  Then home to help out at school.  Then housework as the place is a terrible tip right now and really does need sorting out.  It's all go!!!

Whether you have a busy day or a gentle day, may you have a good day!

Wednesday

I've decided to post a festive picture each day as a sort of Advent-y thing.  Here's the one for today, December 2nd

After a rough day yesterday I am very thankful for a day off today.  It's really just the voice which, when I use it, sets me off coughing - not nice when your throat and sides are sore!  But I will live and am fortunate that I don't HAVE to work today.
If I had been OK, I could have taken supply work last Thursday, Friday and Monday - people are dropping like flies.

It was a pleasant day thouigh, despite the coughs and splutters.  There's little more delightful than little children when you are not feeling so good and those wee Foundation Stage children looked after me beautifully, bless them, as did the TAs.  I shall say nothing about the show rehearsal in case parents are reading but they're in for a treat next week!

I don't think I have any specific plans for today until this evening when there are two governors meetings.  I might do some clearing up, etc, I'll see how I feel later on.  For now I think it might be back to bed with a hot drink and a book.  Bliss.

Food:  No idea right now but I might spoil myself with something indulgent from the freezer - steak or something similar!

Tuesday

Time for the advent candles!

Good morning, gentle readers!

Well, I am going into school this morning but I can't say I really feel up to it although I'm feeling rather better after a good night's sleep.  You know how it goes when you have a disgusting cold and it is first thing in the morning.  Yes - that, but it is temporary!

In the end I didn't go to help with the fair preparations.  What a wimp I am.  It just got worse as the day went on and I spent most of the day resting.  Very frustrating after feeling so much better at the start of the day.  Never mind, today is another day so fingers crossed!

It is school but the first part of the day is a show rehearsal to which I need to go with the class I take.  Then it is Foundation Stage and, while I will be concerned at my loss of voice, I will always have a TA there to help.  Could be a whole lot worse.

Food today:
Breakfast:  toast and tasty stuff on top
Lunch:  sweetcorn chowder, turkey sarnie, fruit
Dinner:  what I planned yesterday and didn't have!