Almost there!

My first Christmas cakes with fondant icing - I usually choose royal icing whipped into a snowstorm of little peaks, but this year we thought we would try snowflakes instead of a snowstorm!  It looks quite good.

And there is one for UJ to take home with him as well, with a slightly different pattern of snowflakes.

And this is the gorgeous bouquet of flowers I received today from a lady at chapel who was grateful for all the help I have given her since she broke her arm, she said - there was no need, but it was a lovely surprise for me!

I've had another nice but busy day, and the washing machine repair man came along, too.  Unfortunately, the drum needs to be replaced, so he couldn't fix it today and has had to order a new drum.  Someone will ring me next week [NEXT week!?!] to arrange a date for it to be fitted, so we are to be without a machine for some time.......I'll panic about that after Christmas!

Tomorrow's service is prepared, the veg are done, the sitting room is hoovered, and the sausages in bacon are defrosting.  I think we are all ready, and I can go and have a shower and a rest.

A Very Merry Christmas to you all - wherever you are!

A family day

Today has been lovely!  

My Dad and his companion came to lunch, along with my UJ, and we all enjoyed some time together as our Christmas get-together.  I cooked a couple of small chickens, lots of veg, roast potatoes, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding and gravy, followed by a chocolate self-saucing pudding.  We all sat and had a cup of tea and a chat afterwards, before my Dad and MB set off to see another of my sisters later in the afternoon.  UJ stayed a while longer before he also had to go because he had plans to be bell-ringing for a Carol Service tonight.  

We gave them their gifts: the scarf for my Dad, which he and MB both loved; a cyclamen for MB which was also well received; and the "socks and chocs" combination for UJ - what to buy the man who needs nothing!?  I couldn't make him a scarf as I know that he received one last year from the ladies at the Dinner club.

Tonight we all watched "Mr Stink" on tv, and thought that Hugh Bonneville was great in the lead character.  The Duchess, the dog, was excellent - Britain's Got Talent winner Pudsey was the star of the show.

The girls are now doing some "Just Dance" on the Wii, the FH retired to bed some time ago to rest his foot, and I have just done a clean up in the utility room as I have a washing machine engineer coming some time tomorrow to repair that.  The washing is piling up, but there will be none done until Boxing Day now as I do not want wet washing draped around on the big day!

Top title for Louis

(image from tv.uk.msn.com)

Louis Smith has pulled it off tonight and won the Strictly Come Dancing final with his dance partner, Flavia Cacace.

They performed three dances, starting off with their lovely Dirty Dancing salsa, then a show dance which paid tribute to Louis' Olympic strength, and rounding off the night with their cheeky Charleston.  They were excellent entertainers all night, and we loved Louis and Flavia's fun attitude.

We can't help but be proud of a local hero, so well done, Louis and Flavia!

Letting go

(image from publicdomainpictures.net)

It is now Friday night, there are four "sleeps" to go, and it is time to be realistic! 

Some things just aren't going to get done this year - I bought some lovely festive material to make a "Merry Christmas" bunting banner like the one I had seen in the Lakeland catalogue, and many of you offered me wonderful advice about how best to make one.  I haven't had time....but the material is still there for another year.

There are people I wanted to visit, places I wanted to go, and there just isn't enough time to do it all.

There are the "must do" things which have to come first - a sermon for Sunday and another talk for Tuesday are pretty sure to be at the top of the list....

Then there are the "would be good if I did" things like icing the cakes, and some cleaning up.

And then there are the "well, if you get round to it" sort of things, which will probably include washing the car sometime over the holiday, and making some phone calls.  Let's face it, if those people were that keen on speaking to me, they'd be on the phone to me anyway.

Tonight, I am going to make one more batch of the truffles, and some mince pies, because I need to give them as gifts tomorrow.  The truffles made last night were well received this morning at school, even if I did oversleep and had to get to Assembly with no breakfast!

Please join with me in remembering that this is a HOLIDAY time of year, and we all need to take a break.

Much love to you all xx

Present preps

I have had one of those pre-Christmas days when you have to do things that can't be done any earlier and then all have to be done at once!

The FH is back in bed with a bad foot, so he has been out of action.  Consequently I had to take his friend to the shop and Post Office this morning to get his pension and do his tiny bit of shopping - a sparrow would have trouble living on what he bought!  He seems to manage, though, and eats out several times a week.

After giving the FH some lunch, and doing some preparation work for Sunday's service, I went to town with one of the older ladies from chapel to see a very old [96years] lady who has been taken in to a home there since she collapsed at home in October.  We only saw her for about 15 minutes, but she seems very pleased to be in the home, and thinks it is like a holiday, although she is aware, and told us, that this will be her home for the rest of her life.  Bless her.  "They" [the hospital, the ambulance staff....?]have lost her teeth, so she has been seen by someone to take impressions to get some new ones, but at present hasn't any, so she looks quite different, and she didn't recognise us, but when we told her who we were, she remembered things about us, and when I told her who I was, she mentioned the YFG's name too.

Whilst in town, I went to the Co-op to spend some vouchers they had sent me from dividends, which expire at the end of the month.  I failed to use last year's so I wasn't going to let that happen again!  £16odd of treats and I paid just 45p - some bacon-wrapped sausages and stuffing balls for Christmas Day, some chicken thighs, some chocolate, meringue nests, etc - a few treats indeed.  We also picked up the girls from school and brought them home.

Tonight I have made 18 little trays to put the chocolate Rocher-esque truffles in which I have also made for all the teachers, TAs and office staff at the school.  They will get 4 each in a little tray, with a handmade gift tag - it's all home made!  The chocs are in the fridge, with the chocolate coating fresh on them - hoping that they will set overnight and can be packaged early in the morning, as I have to go to school at 8.30am to give out certificates in assembly.

Busy day, and I am off to do a few rows of knitting in bed with a cup of tea.  Night, all xx

Christmas Knitting

My scarf is finally finished, and I feel sufficiently well pleased with it that I dare to give it to my dad for his Christmas present.  He doesn't know about blogland, so I can show you all!

This is a beautiful yarn, and reasonably priced at £2.20 a ball.  You can knit this scarf until you think it is long enough, so I just knitted it for a ball and a half.  He won't wrap it around his neck, but probably just cross it over his chest and tuck into his jacket.

The best bit about the yarn is that it is self-striping and makes the pattern all on its own!  All I have to do is knit and purl.

The pattern was shared by a lady at the Craft group at the chapel, and it is so easy.

I cast on 51 stitches onto size 4mm needles, and then the first row is K3, P1 to the end.

The second row is K1,P1,K3 and then P1, K3 to the end.  Continuous repetition of those two rows is all it takes!

When the knitting is hanging on your left needle ready to go and the tail from casting on is on the left, you are starting with K3, and when it is on the right, you need to start with K1.  That little tip saved me hours of trying to work out which row I was on!

It comes out in a delightful rib all of its own accord.  You think it isn't working in the first few rows and then it all starts to gather in, and it looks great.  It knits up into quite a thick scarf.

Having finished this one, I am now doing another in the same yarn but in shades of green with pink in it.  I love it. 

Halfway through the month financials

(image from guardian.co.uk)

Monday is that day again, when I get the calculator out, read the meters, see how we are getting along.

It was going OK, until the postwoman came with the letters, and then it went a lot better!

I claimed a small amount of PPI back from a credit card company.  I hadn't heard anything for a while, but this morning there was a letter to say that I am entitled to £238 back - what a result.

I only paid small amounts of PPI on a card for about 18 months, a long time ago, before I was as financially aware as I am now.  I was doing a lot of bookselling, and using the card to buy the books [because it is connected to a major supermarket and it was getting me points if I used it] but I paid it off each month.  Well, the months I bought a lot of books, I could be paying £8 or £9 in PPI, and I didn't realise to start with that this wasn't compulsory.  As soon as I did, I cancelled it.  When I was having a clear out a few months ago, I found all the old statements with the PPI amounts on them, and thought that it would be worth trying to get it back.  I totted it up and it came to just over £100.  They are paying me back with interest, though.

And I did this all on my own, with no help from any PPI claims company.  It was very easy!

The last invoice has been submitted for the gymnastics after-school club, and I am waiting for that cheque to arrive, and I am fairly confident that I will make the target for the year now.  If the PPI money comes in before the end of the year, that will be a bonus.

As to the electricity meter, we are settling at about £12 a week, give or take pence.  I would like to get it down a little further, but I have to be realistic.  I am running a sewage treatment plant in the garden, 3 freezers, 2 fridges, the FH's CPAP machine overnight, one desktop PC most of the day, as well as all the other stuff, so that perhaps isn't too high a rate.

Spending wise, we are up in some categories, like groceries and chicken food, because I hope to spend less over the Christmas period because I don't intend to go out much!   The activities budget is down because the YFG has only had two piano lessons this month, and is done now until January.  I hadn't spent anything on cat food for ages because we had stocked up using the Tesco double up vouchers last time they had cat food on it, but this month I have bought some dry cat food from Lidl's, which is still the cheapest I can find which the cat likes.

Christmas preparations are going well.  The cards are written, and when I unearth the book of stamps, I will be posting them off at 2010 prices!  I bought 2 books of 100 stamps back then, and I still have half a book left, so I am pleased to be able to be posting my cards off at a reduced rate to me.  Shame I'll have to buy more soon though.  [Edit - I have had to buy some as I ran out!  Not as many left as I had hoped.] I don't do First Class any more for anything - it just isn't worth it, and we find that in many cases, things posted second class still get there the next day.  I have three wee parcels ready to send out, and there will be one more to go when the final component for the present arrives soon [hoping for it to be here tomorrow] and then all the posting will be done.

This morning I have ordered the replacement part for my glasses at the optician, and I hope it will be there tomorrow - I am managing with the contacts, but I am finding it hard to do "close" work like reading and writing and knitting - I am managing on the computer now because I have shifted the monitor back a little, but I still have to squint at the keyboard sometimes!

This afternoon, I am going to do some meal planning and shopping lists.  I have the delivery coming from Rosspa on Friday, and I know what is in the parcel, but there are a few speciality items [like my FreeFrom pitta breads] that I have just got to go to the shops for.  We will be diving in and out on Saturday afternoon, so at least then if there is anything missing from the delivery, I can get it then.  I will be going well armed with patience and stamina.

I took in two chickens yesterday from a friend who says he hasn't time to look after them any longer.  They are basic brown hens, and I hope that they are settling in with my flock OK today; I keep going out there to make sure that they are all right and eating and drinking.  I would worry if they were being hassled or standing alone, but they have been happy each time I have been out.  Hoping that they are in lay, as we could do with a few more eggs each day.

Hope you all have a great week x