Deliveries, visitors and kids playing happily

The day started early with a delivery of books by FedEx for the book party that the FH did for me last week. Ordinarily, that would have meant that the books could be bagged up and delivered to the party hostess today or tomorrow, but one of the jigsaw books has a piece missing so I have had to re-order and will now have to wait for that to arrive before we can deliver. I hate to send out imperfect books so we always check, check and double-check that they are all in perfect condition, clean and tidy so that the customers are happy.

I pootled around for much of the middle of the day, made some lunch (reheated leftovers so that was really hard work!!) and then moved up a gear when my dad called to say that he was coming over. We soon had the place looking tidier and then the FGs went out on their bikes with a neighbouring boy and he is still here playing with them now! My dad visited for about an hour and a half, inspected the garden and the chickens - he always has advice to offer - and then they left as he wanted to get home before dark.

It has been lovely to have the children playing together with Playmobil and Nintendos - instead of bickering, there has been laughter which has been very welcome! The FGs are not used to being together too much now that they are not home-educated; they used to play together very well, but now that they are both in school, they are not so comfortable together and bicker, and compete for attention more. Just one of the downsides of sending them to school, I think, and kind of a sad one, as they are not as close as they used to be.

Tonight I am cooking Toad in the Hole for supper but instead of baking it in the oven, I am cooking it in the Remoska and praying it turns out right. Remoskas are Polish inventions, and sold in the UK only by Lakeland which is a fantastic chain of shops/online store/mail-order outfit, which started in kitchenware and now sell a huge variety of things. Anyway, the Remoska is kind of like a big pan with a lid, and the heat comes from an element in the lid, but it only has one temperature which is about 180C, and works OK for most things. I have cooked casseroles and bolognaise, chops and fish in it, but this is the first time for this dish! It is great for economising as it uses so much less electricity than the oven so it is cheaper to run.

Snow is forecast for tonight, so we are wrapping up warm - hope you and your families are snug tonight!