Winter wonderland

The snow is still the big topic of the day - it snowed a tiny bit overnight here, but nothing much. The wind this morning was icy cold, though, and the girls wrapped up warm for their journey to school. I bundled myself up in many, many layers to go outside to deal with the chooks - it is taking me about an hour now in the mornings, so I need to be warm! I had 6 layers on my top half, a pair of leggings and a pair of tights on the bottom half under the tracksuit bottoms, and two pairs of socks. Then there were two scarves and a woolly hat to finish off the ensemble. I did look rather Michelin-man like!

When I came in from that expedition, I spent a couple of hours wrapping Christmas presents! It was fun, and a great relief to get the bulk of it done. There are a few things that haven't arrived yet, but they are mostly for the girls. Now the next development will be organising the posting of some parcels - mostly to the children of the girls' godparents in Scotland, and to a few other children around the countryside. I generally don't give presents to adults, but I make exceptions for my sister, my uncle and my dad, amongst others. If there are children in the family, they get the presents.

After lunch, I moved the chooks around and spent some time cleaning up out there. Then I got a little surprise as the new-to-me car I have bought from a local garage in the village was brought round, just to tell me that it has passed its MOT, had new brake pipes fitted and it is ready to go. I wasn't expecting it so quickly, so I told N that I would have to sort out the money for him and arrange the insurance, and let him know when I would be ready for the car! One quick phone call to Direct Line and the insurance was set for Friday, and then organising the money was another thing done. When the girls got home from school, I walked down to the garage with the YFG and we gave N the cheque for the car and let him know about the insurance, so we'll be going back to get it on Friday. It is a Vauxhall Vectra, 1.8l petrol engine, and it is an 02 plate. I am happy to be sticking with Vauxhall although I am moving from an Astra to a Vectra, and from diesel to petrol.

I made a vegetable stew with cheese dumplings for the family's tea, and then I did some batch cooking to make use of the oven - two Herman fruit cakes and a Herman lemon loaf, a chocolate brownie that I can eat and a lovely apple crumble. The girls and the FH have tasted the lemon Herman and say it is gorgeous, so that is a relief. The fruit versions will be going into the freezer when they are cold.

We have just watched the tv programme called "Turn Back Time" about the high street shops in Shepton Mallet - it is a fascinating programme and I can't wait to see next week's as it will be set in the 1970s - just when I was born.