Party pennies

We had a wonderful afternoon tea party yesterday - I was so busy and then so engaged in chattering with all the guests that I didn't get any photos, so you have to make do with the logos of the charities we supported yesterday afternoon!

People came and had a good time, they said, so I was very pleased.  I over-catered but it would never do to not have enough food for everyone, and the congregation at the chapel this morning won't mind cake with the  morning coffee.

I was so grateful for the help of the church ladies who manned the tea pots and the washing up bowl admirably.  Two of them stayed in the kitchen most of the time, and another two were helping them out.  The  girls, my own and the others from church, were most helpful in so many ways, so we were very proud of them too.

I hope you all had a cup of tea and some cake yesterday afternoon and enjoyed the "virtual" party!

We raised a further £300 yesterday afternoon, to be shared between the chapel and Macmillan, so overall, after both the events, Macmillan will be getting £320 and the chapel £150.  I think we did well for them!

Macmillan pennies

Every penny counts when one is fundraising, and we managed to collect quite a few pennies together today!

The raffle, thanks to the hard work of my friend, Joyce, raked in just over £100 which was amazingly good, and the donations for tea, coffee and cakes amounted to just over £60, so all in all, we have about £170 in the pot to send off to the charity from this morning's event.  The chapel was packed out at one point and we had to make room for a party of latecoming gentlemen (yes, the FH and his mates!) by getting out more chairs and an extra table.  

It was lovely to have so many people there.

Chicken run

Right now, I would love to have my feet up and a cuppa in one hand, whilst watching the funny animated film of that name!

(image from imdb.com)

But it is our chickens which have been liberated this afternoon from this kind of establishment:

(image from waltons.co.uk)

The recent downpours have made their runs very muddy so the FH has let them out to pillage in the vegetable garden, and they are loving it!

They are finding all sorts of tasty morsels to eat, having a jolly good scratch around, and sunbathing!

The FH was instructed to make sure that they couldn't poop all over the patio, and get under the porch area near the back door, so he has constructed, in a Heath-Robinson manner, a little fence to keep them out.  They are happy, I am happy!

Parcels away

The little booklets are parcelled up and posted, so Ang, Susan [VC] and Lesley can expect them very soon! SarahElisabeth has something going in the post that I promised some time ago as well - that will be posted today.

Menu planning

I had got out of the habit of planning the week's meals, knowing that there was food in the freezer and cupboards that I could pull out each morning to be cooked in the evening.  The trouble was that we have had to re-adjust to getting back into the swing of term time activities again, and things have changed in that department a little.

The EFG has started a hockey club on a Tuesday evening, at the same venue as the gym club, but at a different time.  So, consequently, it was a bit of a hiccup last week in the culinary department.  I went to school to pick the YFG up and took her to the gym, so I left here at 3pm.  The YFG has a snack at about 4.30pm when we have the gym equipment set up and then we have classes until 8pm.  The FH brought the EFG to the venue in time for hockey at 7.30pm, and he took the YFG home with him a little earlier than she would normally have left gym, because after gym, I had to sit and read a book until the hockey finished at 9pm.  The EFG and I arrived home at 9.15pm.  Hungry.

I had had a sort of plan that the EFG would do herself a microwave baked potato and beans before hockey, and then the YFG would cook herself a piece of fish and some veg from the freezer when she got home after gym.  This they did, and I ate some leftovers at 9.30pm.  The FH managed to eat twice, as they each made enough for him as well when they made their meals!!

It wasn't terribly good all in all. This week, I was more on the ball, and had some mince out of the freezer on Monday evening so that it was defrosted by Tuesday morning, and able to be cooked then into a shepherd's pie.  They both went to hockey this week, and were able to re heat portions of the pie before they went, and I had my portion when I got home.

Tonight, I have thought about what to make again, as we have a fairly quick turnaround to get the EFG to Guides, so planning definitely helps!  My trouble is keeping it up, but I will try...

Baking and other stuff

The baking for the weekend is underway, and two banana/chocolate/walnut loaves are in the freezer, two boiled fruit cakes are wrapped in foil and stored in tins, and three ginger cakes have had to be hidden in the utility room before anyone attacked them with a knife!

Tomorrow, Twink's hobnobs are on the list to be made.

This morning the FH and I had a whim to go to Scotland this October half term.  It lasted about half an hour, in which time we discussed travel [hiring a motorhome], where to stay [campsite just outside St Andrews], making the journey in one day [probably not] and the weather [forecast looking bad] and added up how much it would cost....£650 for the motorhome, about £180 for the campsite, the fuel, the overnight stops - and then we stopped.  It was getting ridiculously expensive, and I only wanted to visit two old friends in Cupar for the week.  Trouble is that they ARE both old - both over 80, and we haven't seen them in about 5 years face to face.  They are definitely worth the trip, as we dearly love them both, but it was all escalating out of control.    A little more time and effort researching to find cheaper options is on the cards, and probably not for October.

Whoops!

Having launched this giveaway on the 30th August, I then forgot all about it!

I have four more titles to add to the bundle.

I found this bundle this afternoon whilst tidying, so here I am with the winners - I decided that Lesley, Ang and Varis Creations should share them.  Hope that is OK with you, ladies.

So, I have VC's address, I have lost Lesley's and I haven't had Ang's, so if you two would supply me with your addresses via the comments, I will get these sent out tomorrow.

I am putting them randomly into three envelopes, and you will get them allocated as the addresses come in so it will be a surprise as to which you will get.  Happy cooking!