Back again

Hi and sorry for the few days' absence. The family were away overnight last night, and they were quite concerned as to my being alone here for two whole days - I was relishing the thought and they were worried about what I would find to do with myself....they have no idea. I do have to say that I had the best night's sleep last night that I have had in ages; I think that as a mother, you feel that you don't sleep quite as deeply as you might as you are constantly on the alert for that "Mum!" shout which may happen in the night - the call to deal with a nosebleed or a tummyache. Knowing that I was alone here last night, I slept much more deeply than normal - and not having the FH in pain with his foot next to me must have helped, too!

Anyway, I filled yesterday with pottering about looking after the animals, cooking some meals for myself, picking and freezing the dwarf beans (and there were eight freezer bags full), finishing the ironing which has been glaring at me from its baskets for two weeks, and most satisfyingly, getting it all put away in the airing cupboard. Trouble is that I did another three loads of washing yesterday evening, ready to hang out today, so the ironing pile will soon be resurrected.

I also got a couple of new books in the post yesterday from Amazon - the River Cottage Preserves Handbook - well, I just had to have it, as GTM says that it is wonderful. I completely agree with her, now that I have had a good look through it, and the Pontack sauce does indeed sound amazing. Not sure where I will get the ingredients in this area, but I will be investigating the opportunities. The other package in the parcel was a recipe book for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which I am trying to see if it can help with my IBS which has been particularly troublesome since the swine flu - almost as if the virus has got lodged in there. The diet is quite similar in restrictions to the "original" days of the Slimming World plan, which I taught many years ago, so it is not that difficult. Well, I don't think that it is difficult, but I am already living with wheat and dairy exclusions, so to exclude sugar and carbs is not such a big thing - it means living on fruit, veg, meat, fish and honey, at the moment. The SCD does include a particular kind of yogurt which you make yourself to ferment longer, but I won't be trying that just yet as I haven't had any dairy products in over 14 years, so that might not help matters much. I think that I may make some veg soup today for lunch, if I can.

The tax return and tax credits form are no further forward, so I suppose I had better go and sort the critters out and get started on the day properly so that I can get to that later. I have treated myself to a bit of a lie in this morning!