Headache blues

The poor YFG has spent the afternoon suffering from the headache and throwing up so nothing I had planned got done! She and I had to lay on my bed for huge cuddles whilst she was suffering, and when she recovered, we were able to join the others downstairs for some TV, puzzling and a James Bond DVD. She has a longstanding problem with eating pork, which I had thought was limited to roast pork/pork chops which I now never serve, but it seems that I may have been wrong. This morning we were up late and so the FH served a "brunch" of bacon, eggs, beans etc for himself and the girls. Some hours later, the YFG asked if she could have a pepperami, which I usually keep in the fridge for a pizza topping. It seems to me that the combination of the bacon and the pepperami constituted pork overload and her system said, "Whoa!" and threw the lot back. She slept for a while, then ate some toast at about 4pm which was OK, and then they all had chicken sandwiches for tea at 6pm, and she has been fine. Her stomach is sore from the actual vomiting, but she is OK. We had this checked out by the paediatrician a few years ago at the local hospital and she has said that my association with pork cannot be proved but seems to be a probable cause, so I guess we have to be more careful in future - although this is the first such attack she has had for many months.

We are enjoying a beautifully crisp, clear winter day here; the sun is shining and there is still a frost in sheltered parts of the garden. The cat is replete from her breakfast and is sunning herself on top of the wheelie bins, and the two Dutch bantams are pecking around under the rabbit hutches for tidbits which they may have missed earlier! A vegetable seed catalogue came in the post this morning so thoughts have turned to planting the garden in the spring and which plants to put where. Before we can get to that, though, there is the small matter of several heaps of horse manure to be dug into the beds - and that needs to be done sooner rather than later. It will be good exercise, I think - well, that is what I am telling myself!

Yesterday, the EFG's godfather and his daughter arrived at about 10.30am. They came down from Doncaster, where he lives. His daughter lives in Scotland and was visiting for the holidays. She will be flying home at the end of the week ready for school again next week. She is 10 months older than the EFG, and they get on OK. So, we had a coffee and some chatting whilst the kids played on their DSs together, then we had the baked potatoes and various fillings. After that, the girls went outside for some fresh air and a bounce around on the trampoline, but it was quite chilly so they weren't out there very long! It was a good visit and it was lovely to see them again. They left at about 3 as we had to go out.

We had to nip into the town to throw some rubbish at the dump, have a quick scout around Tesco for some fruit and veg, and then a visit to a friend before coming home for tea. In the evening, I had a bath early and then we watched one of our Christmas DVDs, which was good!

Today, I have changed the sheets on my bed and they are in the machine at the moment. I have to hoover up there and clean the bathrooms, and then I am planning a quick tidy round down here as well. There will be some ironing to do later, and I have some serious cleaning to do in the utility room which is really messy at the moment, and I am hoping to encourage the girls to tidy their rooms up too - I like things to be clean for the New Year. The YFG has a headache now so I am not sure that there will be much enthusiasm from her today! The EFG is pleading homework so I doubt I'll get much help there either!!! The FH is still doing his puzzle, although he is making good progress so it should get finished this year.

Festivities continue!

Christmas itself may be over - hope that you have all had a good one - but the visitors still keep coming! We had a quiet Christmas Day at home just the four of us, then my uncle came over on Boxing day for lunch, and following closely behind him was the FH's cousin's wife and son who always come for the afternoon and evening on Boxing Day - we started that tradition when we moved to England and hope to continue it yet awhile. The cousin himself was ill, feeling down with man-flu, so he stayed at home, but we phoned him for a chat so that he didn't feel left out. On Saturday, we again had a day to ourselves, a time for rest and recuperation, and a quick walk to blow out some of the cobwebs, although it was very cold and clear so we didn't walk very far but we did walk fast so hopefully it burned off a few calories! Today we have had my uncle back for Sunday lunch, and my cousin and her husband arrived soon after 2pm and have just left. My uncle is doing a huge jigsaw with the FH but I expect that he will be going home later.

There are more people expected tomorrow - the EFG's godfather and his daughter are coming down from Doncaster for a couple of hours for a visit. They will be here at about 11am, so I am planning baked potatoes for lunch and perhaps then another walk.

The FGs have had some lovely gifts that they have really been pleased to receive. They were given some money which has already been allocated - they are allowed to spend half and half has to go into the bank. Amazon has already had an order for DS games with the spending money, and there will soon have to be a trip to the bank to put the cheques away. The YFG has had a couple of board games too, which means that all the visitors have been playing the Game of Life or Monopoly with her - Game of Life looks vaguely familiar to me, so I have been wondering whether I had it as a child, but I am not a huge fan of board games so I don't think it would have been my favourite!

New Year is approaching fast - there are only 3 more "sleeps" left in the year as we will be awake on Wednesday with friends here for the evening to welcome in 2009. It always starts me thinking about fresh starts for a new year - I have been thinking more about budgeting this time than losing weight! Weight loss has always been on the list before, and I suppose that it is still there but not at the forefront of the ambitions for the year. I have still got a couple of days to think about them so will keep you up to date when I have clarified things in my own head.

Just to recommend an author - Alexander McCall Smith has written some excellent books about the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, set in Botswana - and I bought myself a set of 10 of his books for Christmas. I had already read the first two in the series, but I have quickly made my way through the third and fourth in the past couple of days and they are excellent! They seem set in a past era of manners, politeness and respectability which is sadly lacking in this country today, but it heartens one to be able to read about it in such elegant prose. There are 6 books in that series in my set, and the other four are set in Edinburgh, I believe, around a different set of characters; I have yet to start on them so can't say what they are like, but if they are anything like the Botswana stories, they will be wonderful.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and I am just taking five minutes out to wish you a Merry Christmas!

I have just marzipaned the Christmas cakes, one for us and one for my uncle, so they will have to be iced later. We had a lovely neighbour when we were children who always seemed to be icing her Christmas cake just before she came out to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, so I always think of Jo when I am doing mine, and my mum muttering about last minute things! The FGs have gone to the Christingle Service at the church with our neighbours, and I will be taking them to our church for the 10am service tomorrow morning.

The ironing got done last night, but the DVD player didn't get sorted so the FH has just taken it to a mate's house to see if he can get it working for him! We are off out at 7pm to a neighbour's house for a Christmas visit, and we have my sister coming with gifts for the girls at some point today as well. The girls have been and finished their secrets - Fimo jewellery - it looks good!

Love to everyone across the seas, and wishing you all a very peaceful 2009.

A Christmas baby

Yes, a Christmas baby has been born to one of the families on the street in the past few days, so welcome to the world, baby Hannah!

Apart from that excitement, the FGs have been off to a neighbour's house making secrets, which they have to go back tomorrow to finish, and the baskets of ironing have been finished between the FH and myself. We made a dash into one of the smaller local towns today to deliver a couple of Christmas cards, a gift to another family, to get some more plasters for my sore finger from the supermarket, and to borrow a stack of DVDs from a friend; the FH has decided that the tv selection over the holiday was going to be pretty dire so he has his own selection now and it includes several Bond films, the Alamo starring John Wayne, a historical account of Oliver Cromwell, which the FH says we should all watch as we live in Cromwell country, and a few other of his favourite detective, Inspector Frost. The only trouble is that the DVD player is only playing in black and white, so there may have to be some rearrangements of tvs and players in order to watch these in colour. I wish he would just learn to love reading as the rest of us do and we wouldn't have all this bother...

This afternoon, the FGs made cupcakes in the kitchen, and then I was supposed to be doing some Christmas baking but that didn't quite happen as it took them so long to clear up! I also wanted to watch Ruth Watson's programme called "Country House Rescue" about people who own piles in the countryside but have no money for their upkeep and repair - she is remarkably blunt but an astute businesswoman, so if ever I inherit a stately heap, I'll know where to go for advice!

PS

The dippy chickens put themselves to bed tonight - hurray!!!!!!!

The tree is up at last!

My mother only used to let us put the tree up on the Saturday before Christmas, and I have one dear friend who puts all her decorations up on Christmas Eve. We finally got around to putting ours up on Saturday, as tradition decreed. I'll be honest, and say that in the recent past, we have put it up earlier due to the FGs' demands, but the room just wasn't ready this year! I keep moving things around, and the room has been in turmoil for a week or so. Even with the tree in place, there are still some baskets of laundry sitting patiently by the ironing board, hoping to get ironed tonight - they can hope - they may get done tomorrow. I don't do laundry on Christmas Eve, the big day or on Boxing Day, so at least I get a couple of days off!


The YFG has just got her face into this shot! It was meant to be showing some of our tree hangings, which I love. We seem to have a red theme going on, which is accidental. We do pick up additions to the collection most years, and the pointsettia lights were last year's. This year we have the red and green stars which we made earlier in the month.

Today I have made the orange and coconut cake from Rhonda Jean's blog - and it smells great. The FH and FGs have eaten some and declared it delicious, but as usual I deviated from the recipe somewhat: coconut milk instead of coconut cream, then I doubled the whole thing, and cooked it in two loaf pans instead of round ones. I sent one loaf to a dear friend who has recently had her tonsils out and is still suffering - sent with love, so hopefully she will be able to have a taste or two. I think that recipe will definitely have to go in the book as a "do again"!