In a pickle

I have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen and produced beetroot chutney yesterday, and today (tonight!) my mother's and grandmother's recipe for green tomato pickle has been put to good use. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are breaking over with the weight of the fruit, so we relieved them of 3lbs of tomatoes, and made this old favourite.

My sister dropped by with the girls' birthday gifts - the YFG is 12 today and then the EFG will be 15 next week, so she brought them wee presents and cards. She can't help herself having digs at me, and the EFG and I were nudging each other each time she said something! There was one about the state of the kitchen floor, and then one about the last minute nature of the YFG's birthday cake. It is so sad, really, because she seems to try to be superior, but the children are wise to it now, and sympathise with me, and laugh at her silliness. We have thankfully got beyond being hurt by her barbed comments, as we used to be. I used to sob sometimes at the things she said, but now we realise that she is the one with the problem, and we surround ourselves with people who are nice to us!!

The EFG and YFG are enjoying having some friends here for the night - they have been playing on the Wii and now they are watching a DVD before they all sleep on the sitting room floor! The YFG and her friend had a great time icing her birthday cake, to her own design involving lots of marshmallows!!

I am going to have to investigate buying a new processor unit/tower for the desktop in order to bring it back into full use. It is a pain in the you -know-where, but it will have to be done! The EFG suggested just getting another laptop, but the processor will be cheaper, I think.....but I will have to look carefully at the choices.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!