An Unexpected Shopping Spree!

 

Starting with last night...I was not a happy bunny....I realised I had misread the knitting pattern, about 4 rows back, at the dreaded heel turning!

So, nothing for it but to unpick it...the easy bit, then spend the next hour trying to get the stitches back in the right place!

 

 

This morning I unexpectedly had to take Teen One to Uni as her friend was ill.

Normally she would get the bus, but as she only had to be there for two hours and the bus journey is almost that there and back, it didn't seem good use of her time, so I took her and had an unexpected shopping spree!

With some time on my hands after the shopping, I caught up with the knitting...

 

 

...and as you can see...its actually starting to look like a sock!

 

 

 

 

With the grocery shopping in the boot, I saw a shop I hadn't seen before, "Home Bargains."

I picked up a basket as I entered, but realised before I had got half way through the first aisle, I was going to need a trolley!

I won't bore you with the entire trolley...but here are a few highlights...

...the above "chocolate spoons" with mini gingerbread men are perfect for a couple of older girls I never know what to get for....

 

 

...along with these teeny weeny gingerbread houses...

 

 

...these cans  were .....10p! I bought 10, having no idea what they would taste like, turns out Teen One and Hubby (our biggest fizzy drinks drinkers) don't think mint in fizzy is a particularly good taste!

However, I don't mind it too much so all is not lost!

 

 

 

 

I treated myself to a water bottle (£1) the design reminded me of rick rack...my nan used to use a lot of it in sewing back in the 70's

 

 

 

This is a disposable tablecloth...to colour in...which I thought would be great at the Sunday School party...and only £1

 

 

 

Another £1 bargain was this porcelain sweetie tray, we have been tucking into the Werthers I put in the autumn sweetie dish, so the naughtiness will be going on a little longer!

 

 

 

 

 

Back in town I called into my local wool shop who had a Black Friday sale...and yes...its more sock yarn!

 

 

I also took advantage of the sale and bought some baby yarn....there is a baby due soon in the family, so I need to get knitting quick....very quick...its 4ply!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst dinner was cooking I made a quick pan of soup for tomorrow, onion squash and carrot this time ( with the obligatory green thai paste and coconut milk of course!)

 

 

 

At Friday Club, it was time to decorate the Christmas trees we made last week with milk bottle tops..

we gave them a selection of glitter snow flakes, starts and shiny beads which looked a bit like fairy lights, as well as a large star  Teen One made from glitter pipe cleaners for the top of the tree...

 

 

...the kids really enjoyed filling up the lids with the decorations...

 

 

 

...we had planned to use more glitter pipe cleaners, as tinsel, but there wasn't enough surface area for the pipe cleaners to stick, which was a shame...however the overall effect was pretty good and I think I will continue to save the lids for next year!

 

 

 

 

 

Now That's My Kind Of Science Lesson!

 

This morning started early, as Teen One had to get the bus to Uni this morning, but of course the upside to that is I get more time to get myself organised before going out.

Today was of course Parent and Toddlers first thing, and we had a rather unexpected fright when we arrived...I noticed the fascia above us was hanging loose and billowing out in the gusty wind!

Yikes!

Not safe at all...with mums and little ones due in the hour and a busy road right outside, I was scared it would fly off and cause a terrible accident.

I called one of our elders, who came out within the hour, and had to pull it all down as the struts it was attached to were completely rotten.

 

 

 

So the fascia is now stacked up under the stairs...which is the area I recently cleared out!

So its a bit disheartening  it has been dumped there, as rubbish attracts rubbish, but I hope it is only temporary.

We now need to get some roofers in to sort the roof out and hope its not too expensive and that scaffolding isn't required as that always bumps up the price.

 

 

We have had a few new mums in recent weeks, and two more came today, with their tots and also newborns, which was lovely.
I asked how they had heard about us and they said "Facebook!"

We don't have a Facebook page and don't advertise anywhere, so I asked what page it was and it appears some helpful mums have put a page together of places they recommend for mums and tots.....which is lovely to be recommended....but do you think I can find it on Facebook...or Google??

I am intrigued so will ask for more details next week.

However, we are more than happy to have new mums as our numbers had started to drop a little.

 

 

I still haven't found a good use for all the oranges I bought on Monday, so thought I would use few of them in tonight's dinner.

I used to make this regularly before the Teens came along.

It's from an old Oxo recipe book, Turkey escalopes with Orange and Rosemary...

 

 

... the aroma of the oranges and rosemary ( well to be truthful I substituted with basil as I didn't have any rosemary!) as it sizzled in the pan was delicious.

 

 

I had a butternut squash in the veggie basket, that needed using up, so with our new addiction to anything Red Thai flavoured, thought I would add some of the paste whilst the squash was roasting....

 

 

 

...then add the other half of the tin of coconut milk I had used, to make soup for my friend earlier in the week.

Whilst on the subject of coconut milk, I do hope the saturated fats that are in it are healthy as it has 84% of the daily intake!

Having done a little online research, it seems it depends who you listen to as to whether it is good or bad!

The New York Times doesn't rate it at all....but the BBC Good Food Guide says in moderation it has many positive benefits, including help fight bacterias, so I guess like everything in life the key word is moderation

I have only started to buy it recently and managed to get it on special offer for £1, however in Morrisons on Monday it was back to its usual £1.49...a bit steep really.

When I was in Lidl's Tuesday, I had a look to see if they sell coconut milk...and they do...and only 79p!

Not only that but is has more coconut milk-water ratio

Morrisons is 63% and Lidl's is 82%

There's some useless information for you!

 

 

With the dinner finishing off in the oven and the house quiet for a short time, I made the most of the it and did the fiddly heel turning...which in actual fact isn't fiddly, but you do need to keep a tally of the rows.

My wool shop is having a Black Friday sale tomorrow, so I will pop along and see if they have pretty sock wool reduced!

Its about the only Black Friday sale you will catch me at tomorrow!

 

 

When Teen Two came home from college, he went straight out to do some bunny hugging...this little bunny certainly looks snug and happy to be in from the cold!

 

 

I could easily have sat knitting for a while longer...desperate to get the fiddly bits out of the way and onto the mesmerising "pattern appearing before your very eyes" bit, but dinner beckoned....and very tasty it was ...well so the Teens told me!

 

 

And as for the title of today's blog?

Well Teen One told me she had a science lesson today...

on the beach...

making hot chocolate!

That's definitely my kind of science lesson!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Much Awaited Awards Evening

 

 

 

 

Having been out and about the last couple of days, I needed a stay at home day to catch up on some cleaning ( just where does the dust and dirt come from?)

Now I must confess, I did pop into town briefly, but then spent the rest of the day cleaning, tidying, ironing, and a bit of Christmas pressie finishing and planning some new ones.

 

 

When Teen Two came home from college, we had an hour to eat an early dinner, then get changed ready for tonight's Awards Evening, which entailed "formal attire!"

So we raided Hubby's tie collection and these four were shortlisted.

Eventually we got it down to the pale blue one.

 

 

Teen Two has been looking forward to tonight for some time and he was so delighted to be back inside the familiar surroundings.

He was so excited to see the staff and of course some of his friends.

He spent the time afterwards chatting with the staff and they reminded him that any time he needed a reference, or maybe some work experience that school could provide, to contact them, which was lovely.

He has been on cloud nine all evening and we thanked the staff for making his five years there such enjoyable ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady...or Four Needles!

 

I was not looking forward to today....I had a 9am appointment at the dentist.

Having dropped Teen One off at school, I then tried to think positive....I mean....isn't it better to live in a country where we have access to good dental health care...so we don't have to endure the agony of toothache...wouldn't anyone in the Third World want to swap places with me? Of course they would, and of course I was just being silly....and look what I saw as I turned the corner...a beautiful rainbow...and it wasn't even raining where I was!

That's got to cheer the heart hasn't it?

 

 

 

And a short while later, as I was approaching the dentist....a double rainbow!

I really did have a lot to be thankful for being able to visit a dentist...I really should look on these visits as a positive thing!

And I am glad to say, today it was doubly positive as I had a clean bill of health!

Phew! All that worry for nothing...now just got to build myself up to the next one in May!

 

 

 

Once back home, I made some soup for a family friend.

She sent a text yesterday to say she had been in hospital all week for an emergency operation to have her gall bladder removed.

Her parents and my grandparents were good friends and I like to keep up the contact, but its not easy when she works and is tied up with her own family, but I thought this was an ideal opportunity to pay her a visit.

 

 

 

I called into Lidl's on the way and bought some fresh bread to go with the soup and some flowers.

She was delighted to see me and we had a good couple of hours catching up, reminiscing on the old days when her parents were alive.

She is now living in their old house and is in the middle of major renovations.

The whole of the back is now one big kitchen diner ( well the shell of one) and is going to be amazing when its finished...I have kitchen envy that's for sure!

 

 

 

Back home again, a friend called in for a quick cuppa, then I decided to hunt for my double pointed needles.

I have said many times, I hate knitting with four needles....but this past week or so I have not only had kitchen envy...but sock envy!

Attic 24 has posted several times about her own sock making and also that of another blogger and I have to say...it has given me itchy fingers!

I knew I had some sock yarn in the attic, which came in a bag from FQ2FF, and I also thought I had another ball of the orange I had made about a decade ago.

Somewhere, there also ought to be the free pattern that came with the wool.

It was just a case of finding it all!

Well, faint heart never won fair lady....and this lady didn't give up and eventually, after much digging around in various places, I found the needles....

 

 

 

 

...and the yarn AND the pattern!

 

 

 

Not only that, but I found a row marker as well!

 

 

I brought it all downstairs with the intention of casting on tonight, but having just lit the woodburner...it was rather a draw and I couldn't resist sitting down in the peace and quiet, casting on the stitches.

 

 

 

I must admit, part way through the first row I remembered how much I hate using four needles!

But I caught sight of a sentence in the pattern which said

"the first few rows are always fiddly, however after a few it does get easier"

So after all the effort I had gone to to find it all, I thought, just take it slowly, don't be in such a rush  (because of course I am ITCHING to be on the part where the pattern starts to appear before my eyes!) and true enough...

 

 

...just half a dozen rows later, I was feeling much more relaxed, and in fact was rather irritated that I had to abandon it all to get the dinner cooked and become Taxi of Mum again.

Mind you, my tummy could do with the rest, those sharp ends don't half hurt!

 

 

It has to be said though...I need to improve on my grafting skills....I do recall giving up on it all those years ago..and if these socks are to last a bit longer I need to learn pretty quick!

 

 

 

 

So, with all this four needled craze on my mind, I have bagged up the rather mundane sewing in of ends  from my stash busting granny squares and will add them to the pile of UFO's  go back to them another time.

 

 

When I came back from collecting Teen One...look what I found in my porch!

I can only assume it's from my late neighbour's son....he is the only man who brings me flowers!

I have emailed him my thanks in the hopes it was him!

 

On Teen One front, her first observation went well today, lots of positive feedback and just some suggestions for the planning side.

She also learnt she has passed the English exam which is needed to continue the course.

There is a mix up on the scoring, so until she picks up her papers at the end of the week, we wont know what percentage she got.

She heard that one of her friends didn't pass and also her observation fell apart a bit when students starting throwing pencils around and refused to stop when asked.

Poor girl will be feeling pretty demoralised right now I imagine.

Tomorrow Teen One has to teach the class topic on Ancient Greeks, and the usual teacher wont be there, which means yet another supply teacher standing in and the last couple of weeks experience
has shown the class do not cope well with supply teachers...or is it the other way round?

Anyway, it's not so important as its not an observation lesson.

Teen One is spending the evening looking at how she can make the lesson more interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Visit To The Teddy Bear Man

Today was an early start again, to get Teen One to school.

Thankfully she woke feeling a bit better, which is good as she has had to lead the class reading today and do final  planning for her first observation.

As a treat, I stopped by the drive thru McDonalds again and took Teen Two some pancakes home for breakfast...needless to say he was one happy bunny!

 

 

 

 

It was then on to see my Monday Recycled Teenager, who wasn't feeling too special today, so didn't come shopping with us.

I always take her a dinner in, so at least she only had to "ping" the meal when she was hungry.

 

 

 

In Morrisons today they had this big bag of oranges, marked up as "juicing oranges" for £1.07....

...25 oranges in total!

Well I can't say I often buy regular oranges...I would generally buy the easy peel ones...but all this many and so cheap!

Well...you know me...I couldn't resist!

I do have one or two dinner recipes that call for oranges, so will do them this week, I then thought

Christmas crafting with oranges...that sounds fun...so tonight I will do some surfing and see what I come up with.

I am sure they will all entail cinnamon sticks...of which I am right out, so will have to source some cheaply.

In the US large bags are readily available in craft stores...I am hoping with the advent of places like Hobbycraft, I might find it easier to get them here...and there is always ebay!

 

 

We got home from shopping around midday, just as the heavens opened...what a rainstorm!

I was so glad to be inside and had no plans for going out for the rest of the afternoon.

But pretty soon the blue skies appeared ( although that was very brief as it turned out!) and I remembered the other week I picked up this packet of teddy shaped snacks...with a certain person in mind!

We have a dear friend, in his 70's, who Teen Two calls "the teddy bear man" who was recently diagnosed with cancer, when I saw these I thought of him and picked them up, thinking that one day soon we would pay him a visit.

The reason Teen Two calls him "the teddy bear man" is because he has several stories, he tells to children at church services, about teddy bears...one of Teen Two's loves!

So, with the blue skies having made an appearance, I made a spot decision to make the 12mile trip to pay him an unexpected visit, with of course Teen Two.

However, I had no idea the usual 25minute journey would take an hour and a half and even longer coming home!

The rain had caused an accident, which meant the motorway had to be closed.

So a long and slow detour later, we finally made it to the Teddy Bear man's house, who needless to say, was very surprised to see us.

 

 

Teen Two took with him the oldest Teddy Bear he owns....Fraser bear was given to him by Grandma and Grandad the day he was born.

The Teddy Bear Man was of course interested to meet Fraser and very quickly launched into a story about this little teddy on the right, who had been left in a car that was about to be crushed...thankfully his son rescued the ted and knew just who would give it a new home!

He also told us another little anecdote, about a stuffed hedgehog, which was sitting on his teddy chair.

The hedgehog was really a doorstop, destined to live on the hard floor....but The Teddy Bear Man loved him so much he decided to keep him on the comfy chair, with the other teddies...

"So you see" he said

"It doesn't matter what you are in life...it's who you belong to that makes the difference"

A lovely thought aye.

 

 

The journey home took much longer than normal and I didn't have much time when we finally arrived home, so Teen Two did the hoovering

for me, whilst I made a quick and simple dinner ( thank goodness for Campbells condensed mushroom soup!) before collecting Teen One.

Hubby is going to have a long and slow journey home, and is going via the kind folk who get sacks of wood for us...perfect timing, we are running low and the weather is decidedly chilly!