Tuesday 31 December 2013

Last Post

Of the year 2013.
Today I've had
My last shower
Lit my last fire

Cooked my last party food
Cut my nails for the last time
Emptied the dishwasher for the last time
Washed the last dirty socks
Been to town for the last time. 



Tomorrow
I will be *hilariously* saying things like
I've not had a shower/done the washing/shaved my legs since last year!

I'm all about Christmas. I cannot be arsed with New Year. But if you do, please enjoy your celebrations! I will be watching JOOL's Hootenanny in front of a dying fire and I will have a melancholic day as I start dismantling Christmas, sigh. But my tree stays still the 6th! Tea is chips n egg as requested.

Let's be having you 2014!

Sunday 29 December 2013

Mine was magical, yours?


Of course, I am talking about Christmas Day! The run up was hectic. Finishing work so close to the 25th had me running around like the proverbial fly with the blue Netherlands. I only just finished bedecking the house 
by the 23rd and of course did some traditional Christmas Eve wrapping. Although, all finished by midnight. I had planned on going to Church for midnight mass but just ran out of time, and the gale force winds put me off!

Christmas Day was ours. Just the four of us. As usual the HG was the first one awake and woke us all up. I do miss it being two small excited children running in with their stockings to open them on our bed, but the beauty of teenagers is that they like to sleep! So it was a very civilised 8:30am when we went down to see if 'He'd' been.  I do miss buying toys ( through the year in the sales ) for two small children as teenagers are expensive to buy for! We opened presents leisurely and stopped for bacon butties and phone calls before finishing off by 12.  The room was cleared of debris and the teenagers quickly hoovered and set to looking at what they'd got.
These are my new luxury furry slippers! 


During bacon butty break, the HG got the BBQ out and set up for our lovely joint of beef. This beef was a huge piece of prime, organically reared, happy beef. I'm sure I've  written how the animal frolicked in the meadow, in the dappled sunshine, drinking cool, fresh water from the spring,..... And how it  was reduced from £25 to £9....

Well it was done to perfection, and the bonus of cooking it on the BBQ was that we had BBQed sausages too, on Christmas Day!! Win.  Pudding was jam roly poly for them and a marzipan mince pie for me!

Speaking of Mince pies... I'd bought individual foil trays from Poundland to try as I get fed up of trying to clean the tray where the mincemeat invariably boils over, because I like a generous mince pie I do!
The best £1 I ever spent. I've loads of trays left too.
I made orange shortcrust pastry from the Hairy Bikers Christmas book and added marzipan to the middles; the idea I used was Wendi Peters off Corrie, who I chat to on Twitter. My foody hero Nigel Slater likes a marzipan mince pie, I know this, because he tweeted me!!
Step 1. Grate your butter in, so quick then to rub in! 
Generously filled, some have marzipan on the top, and some have discs hidden underneath. 
Some have full lids and some have a snowflake. Egg wash and a sprinkle of demarara. 
Done! 

I also made gingernuts, some Viennese shortbread biscuits and some cut out biscuits. All of which are far too delicious and I cannot stop eating them!


We were so full that no one wanted anything else to eat for the rest of the day.  A day spent dozing and chatting and just being lovely. Bliss.

I've read about lots of your days already, I'm sorry that for some it's a sad day, illness and bad memories prevail. I'm sad it's all over for another year. My tree will stay up till the 6th as it always does, but I will slowly start dismantling the other things.  Whilst I don't wish for it to be Christmas every day,I do wish I could keep my house bedecked for longer. I HATE January, I do not like the sparseness left behind, I dislike dark mornings and evenings, it's also so long to payday!! Not that I actually need to spend anything as the freezers and cupboards are well stocked. I will buy a sack of potatoes from the farm shop as they are so much cheaper and better ( being local ) than the supermarket.
And, rather brutally I think, I am back at work NEXT FRIDAY. That is ONLY  3rd Jan. It was set as the 2nd but our new saint like head stepped in and changed it. I love her ! Never mind, only 6 weeks till half term - which is when I will do my spring clean! Something to look forward to !

I will not be making resolutions, because I never stick to them! What about you?

Monday 23 December 2013

Merry Christmas 2013

Well lovely readers, if any of you are still out there! It's been a hectic time here! I've not had time to pass wind let alone blog! I've been reading how you all are getting ready,  baking your various festive goodies and completing lots of lovely crafts.

Work has been relentless in its march towards the end of term. The nativity was adorable, the carol service quietly dignified ans I was overwhelmed with the large pile of presents from the children.  Only yesterday did I finish the festive trimming of my house and I've only really the bathroom left to scrub clean and Hoover through before it passes the 'clean enough for Father Christmas to come' test.

Home made Biscuits,marzipan  mince pies, bacon,( old fashioned cure !)  ham in cherry coke, a piece of top rib for the BBQ and a turkey which were both  free range -  'had a happy life frolicking in the fresh air, drinking  filtered through volcanic rock spring water from a babbling brook at the bottom of the meadow bathed in dappled sunshine' is stuffed into my fridge along with enough fruit and veg to make sure you have 55 a day let alone 5!  I'd saved vouchers and reward points etc so it didn't all break the bank! Let the feasting commence!

This makes me chuckle!

Anyway, I hope you all have a peaceful few days doing exactly as you please! Don't worry, it'll all soon be back to normal xx

Happy Christmas folks x

Saturday 14 December 2013

Ninjabreadmen!

My beloved HG bought these for me! I am absolutely tickled pink with them! They have kept me amused for hours! I love the name, I love the idea, I just love them!




So instead of doing the ironing I whipped up a batch of gingerbread dough and faffed about in the kitchen for a few hours! I used some white chocolate on the ninjas and will use red for their belts and masks! I finally had a go as using upside down gingerbread men to make reindeers and found a random Christmas tree cutter! 
Today I have sorted around the rest of my cupboards, and although the rest of the house looks like a bomb went off, the inside of my kitchen cupboards are sparkly and clean and tidy! I'm coughing as I type due to the plaster dust from the Uni one's bedroom. The ceiling will be papered tomorrow as I put my tree up ( finally ) in the afternoon. I was going to tell you something else....but I've forgotten!!! It may have involved Cauliflower soup and my new neighbours, but I don't think that was it!! Back soon :-) 
Rachel Gingerbread Artiste Radiostar! 


Friday 6 December 2013

Nearly 300!

I've just noticed that this is my 294th post or thereabouts! I can't believe I've had that much to waffle on about. Yet here I am again!

I've had a very busy week at work. We had the Christmas Fair - I made snowflake topped fairy buns for the cake stall. I am very thrilled to announce they made it to the 50p section.



 The WW2 topic is topped off today with an Educational Visit to the Imperial War Museum North with Year 6. I've been before. It is an amazing place - I find it at times, uncomfortably emotional, I must not break down into a blubbing wreck in front of the children!
( late night add in - it was a great day and I surprised myself with a climb of 161 steps to the top of a very very high tower but I got to see the top of the new Corrie set! )


Friday at Night Owls = DVD and treat night. Last week 'we' all sat enthralled at Sponge Bob's Christmas Efforts. Tonight it's Scooby Doo's turn to entertain us.

Then tomorrow, we are off to see the Uni one ( and Fenwick's Christmas Windows!) We are taking my Mum and Dad, who celebrated his 65th Birthday yesterday - Happy Retirement Dad! Except he's carrying on working! Cannot afford to pack in work. I wish for a lottery win this weekend, so he can.

Sunday will be a shopping/housework/pre Christmas Clean type of day. Then my tree will go up next week! Bargain Beef ( heavily reduced quality joints ) ( to be cooked on the BBQ at Christmas ) was secured at Sainsbury's last night after a successful Parent's Evening for the Teen. Well, it was eventually successful when we finally managed to see the teachers. They have the children make a timed appointment and are supposed to stick to slots five minutes long. Our first appointment was at 6:15pm, then 6:25 , 6:35 and 6:40. We arrived for maths at 6:10. And we waited.

And waited. At 6:17pm I started doing the 'shuffling from one foot to the other and glaring' angry waiting person dance.  I may have tweeted using bad swear words.  The parents who were hogging the teacher were, quite frankly, getting on my nerves.... The pushy parents eventually got up and we were poised to strike when some woman and her brat walked straight to the chair and sat down! Being British of course, I didn't want to make a fuss, so instead I just seethed silently.  At 6:25 we gave up and went to see the Business Teacher. She  had someone with her. After a few minutes, they left... We stood up....she called SOMEONE ELSE. I may have audibly growled. She apologised for running late and suggested we went to see other appointments. (!!!!!!) so now five minutes late for the IT teacher,, we tramped through the school to find a packed corridor of equally pissed off parents and their bratty offsprings waiting. We peered in the room but the IT man was occupied. So we left to go see Mr Chemistry. It was out last appointment booked. .he was waiting for us! We were warmly welcomed and thanked for being on time. He was already on the top of our favourite teacher list before he gave us a glowing report about our seemingly talented scientist son. ( how would we know? He only comes out of his lair to feed. Mostly at night. ) we left feeling smug! We then back tracked to Miss Business, who pissed me off because she spoke exclusively to the teen it was almost as if we were not there!  It was PARENT'S Evening for goodness sake. She did say it was nice to meet us. I did not believe her.
Mr IT had come out of his room now to look for us and took us in and shared some work, went through what went wrong,how to improve, how he expected the boy to exceed his ALPS target and then we went back to see Mr Maths.  He was with someone. They left. Another woman just queue jumped. I was almost at boiling point. I fact I was dangerously like that pan of milk frothing up the pan about to go over the top. I stood very close so I could tell you how her child was struggling with algebra.  Then it was us.
He looked at his list. Looked at the boy. Looked at his list and said we were late!!! He was told, bluntly, we'd been there at 6:10pm and ignored. He did back track and apologised several times and it turns out he likes to talk. Properly, to the teen and us about the work, the results, detailed feedback from class work, exam technique, extra clinics on offer and everything else you can think of! Mr Maths was thorough. He never stood a chance of being on time. I nodded politely as he took us through an exam question that had gone wrong. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about! I work in Y6 with the Red Group. We are still using tiddlywinks to share out for division questions! Anyway, the upshot was, we didn't get to go late night shopping as planned, but the boy is doing well and is broadly on track for success.

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing x just doing my Christmas Cards - if you want one - let me have your address!! Fun! 

Monday 2 December 2013

NORDIC WOODEN SNOWFLAKE STAR THINGIES

Hey folks, it's December the 2nd. I've written some cards, ordered more stuff via Quidco and drooled at the telly Christmas Food adverts. Especially the M&S ones.
Anyway, at Night Owls, we are going all out Christmas Craft Crazy. Well, I am, and I'm dragging my fellow Owl ladies and Owlets with me. We, ok I, played our brand new Christmas CD 1 out of 3 and I forged ahead with the proto type. The children will have a go tomorrow. In small groups. The rest can make merry with the glitter and create Christmas Owl pictures to festoon the walls!

Swedish Snowflakes.
I first made these about a decade ago. Before all things Nordic were fashionable. It's EVERYWHERE!! Have you noticed? Or is it just me? 
Anyway you will need some old fashioned spring wooden pegs.
I found these wee darling ones to play with too!

You need to pull them apart. 
 My cowlleague,  ( ba da boom tish! ) started to fashion little Christmas shapes from the springs- these are still under wraps right now! 
You need to apply some glue to the flat side of the peg. 

And stick the two halves firmly together. 
 Here is where I made my mistake. I 'remembered' you need 6 pegs for each snowflake. My memory is shocking. Actually, and you'll see, the magic number is SEVEN! 

The tricky bit now is to glue the pegs into shape. You can get away with 6 for the smaller ones, but the larger one didn't look quite right. I used a glue gun to stick them into shape. It is quite fiddly, but stick with it. 

It might be easier to stick them in twos or threes first. 
I'm cross I didn't see the obvious missing seventh peg till I'd run out of time but I wanted a finished one to show the children. We have metallic paints and glitter. I can't wait till the children make them! I'm going to make some teeny ones for my own tree! 
Hang them with thread for a really thrifty, easy yet stylish and up to the minute Christmas Decoration. 
What is your favourite Christmas craft? Could I do it with my Owlets? Do please let me know! 
Rachel *Nordic* Radiostar xx 

Sunday 1 December 2013

One pack of mince, twice the Hairy Bikers!

Hello! I'm blogging today, bum firmly plonked on sofa, dodgy disaster movie on the TV, HG gently snoozing in the corner, fire just lit and getting going, tea already prepared thanks to the title of this post and some Christmas shopping done this morning.


So I made two of my favourite Hairy Biker recipes for mince yesterday.  One from each of their books.

One is for meat n potato pies and the other for Tumble pie - a kind of cottage pie. They are both tasty and delicious and a good portion comes in at less than 400calories each! I used Morrison's extra lean minced steak at less than 5%fat. My pack was 450g. I made the full quantity of pies but halved the Tumble pie. I simply halved the pack, so each recipe had slightly less meat than they list. The pastry for the pies, is actually packet pizza dough mix! Very easy to make and very easy to handle. 

You roll it out just as you would pastry. Easy as pie! 
The meat and potato pie contains mince, onion, carrot, celery and potato. I told you they gave good portions! 
Lids on and a milk glaze and into the oven with them, for 15 minutes. Then a further 15 minutes with a foil lid on and 
TA daaaah! Lovely with a tin of beans. 

We have three in the freezer for a midweek meal and it's the tumble pie with some veg for tea tonight. Yummy! 

How was your weekend? 

Saturday 30 November 2013

The big pre Christmas clean starts here...

..... Here on the sofa with a cup of tea!


I do the big clean because my Mum did it, probably because my Beloved Nanna did it. Also, I've heard that Father Christmas has standards and will not call at a house where the oven racks are less than sparkly.  So far today ( 7:21am ) the dishwasher and  the washer are on and the oven cleaner is working. This is not a person, by the way, but highly dangerous chemical stuff that's a bit scary!

I'm going to give one of my kitchen cupboards a good scrubbing - you know the one, the baking tin cupboard. The stupid, goes round a corner and it's not fancy enough to have a revolving thingy like what they have these days, that's got all the stuff in you don't use yet don't throw away type of kitchen cupboard.( I have mentioned the fact I might be on Hoarders Extreme one day soon.... )

I'm sure ( I damn well know for a FACT )  in there is my old Turkey tray, which I once bought because the HG HGed the world's biggest turkey ( our children were teeny with bird like appetites). We had turkey coming out of our ears. I did my yearly 'boil the carcass to get the goodness out, use the skimmed stock and the stripped meat to make ten ton of Turkey stew that no one really wants to eat, put it carefully in containers and freeze then throw away the following Christmas in that strange 'must clear the freezer before Christmas' ritual that also happens.  I'm not even sure if the tray fits in this oven! Throw (me ) or keep ( HG)  Let's look at the evidence.

a) this tells you how old the tray is because my new oven is two now and
b) we've just had a turkey crown for the last four years and
c) we are never going to use it on the BBQ ( a HG suggestion, probably to secure its place in the cupboard that no one goes in )
d) it's too good to bin ( HG )
e) I think we could use it as a bird bath ( me )

So there you have it, birds need a shallow tray to drink from. Feeding the birds at my house is costing us more than tuppence a flipping bag. 


Our starlings and sparrows and now sodding pigeons feast on the finest the RSPB have to offer! We ( ok, the HG ) made a bird bath out of an old ikea lamp, it lasted a few winters, but they need a new bath. I have a turkey tray. I hope to them, it doesn't scream TURKEY COFFIN at them. We have a new bird watering station. Oh yes we do HG! He will probably read this later, shake his head at me and tell me how it cost a fortune and it's like new!!

Right, tea drunk. The house is still quiet. I'm off to boil the kettle again and make a start!
Here is a photo of my classroom, well the outside. There are another four windows along side too. Look closely, there's fascia boards too!! 

I'd done the blackout Blitz windows for our WW2 last Friday. Our Christmas theme is Winter Wonderland. So yesterday I added a roof, complete with PVA glue and glitter frosty snow! We are going all WW2 theme so yesterday the children made paper chains and snowflakes from old newspapers. My Nanna told me how my Grandad decorated their window in the war. He used fishing line at different lengths and attached wispy bits of cotton wool and put up so many it looked like snow fall. So that's what I'm going to do at work too. Hopefully it'll look a teeny bit magical :-)

Have a Super Saturday everyone! Do you do a big clean?

Thursday 28 November 2013

Feel good freebies and 'Gooder than God'.

I've been sat here perusing the Kindle store since the Uni one texted to ask could I please order Les Mis for her Kindle. Sure, poppet, Mama will do that for you! It is free at the moment!

Anyway I've also ordered and downloaded a good 6 books for me to read so far - all for free! ( ok, apart from the electric and broadband subscription )
There's a few good stories I fancy and as soon as I hit publish on this, I'm off to look for some more!

Night Owling is going great and I am so ready to be doing Christmas crafts every day from now till the end of term! Today I did the prototype of some really easy but oh so effective Christmas lights art that I saw on someone else's blog on google+.

I need to buy some old fashioned wooden spring pegs for the Christmas decorations I've been making for about a decade and a half - well before this Nordic craze took off. Have you noticed how EVERYTHING is Nordic this year?  Pictures will follow. We are also going to be making our 'Signature Bake'* - little owl cakes, for the Christmas Fair .

WW2 day was a SUCCESS. Have I told you this already? I wore a red dress with a black spotesque pattern, I watched tube of you videos on how to apply my make up, do my hair and wear my silk headscarf bought from The Samaritan's Charity shop for 75p! Black beads from the Uni one and a floral pinny from my Ma in Law completed the luck! Everyone thought I looked the part and the children thought I looked fancy!!  The whole class had joined in and a FANTASTIC day was had by all! I'd put masking tape up at our blacked out windows. We made parsnip and leek soup ( onions were scarce in the war ) and homemade chocolate Bourbon biscuits that actually tasted like homemade chocolate Bourbon biscuits!!  We sounded the air raid siren without warning and they dived for cover like pros! We met a dear sweet man who'd been evacuated from Manchester in the war. The children and adults alike sat spellbound by his story. It was something else. The chill I felt as he described looking up one night and seeing a German plane so low he saw the bomb doors open ready to drop their deadly weapons will stay with me a long time. The children were touched by his memoirs and asked some really creative questions!  They made model spitfires and chose popular names of the day. We are off to the Imperial War Museum North soon to complete our Term's topic. I think they've learned a lot. Thankyou to all your lovely suggestions and help for my costume. It meant a lot.

Right, before I go back to my free book shopping I shall tell you about the title of this post.
Last night, my fellow owl and I went shopping for our little owlets' snacks and Christmas DVDs and things. With our hawk eyes we spotted and swooped on some mini doughnuts with chocolate sprinkles for 50p. Two boxes were bought. These were the children's snack tonight along with the drink that they have as soon as we gather together. This humble gift of sugar, flour, yeast and chocolate brought us worship and adoration and I'm sure some y4 boys broke into spontaneous applause. Yet it was the words of a girl in y2 who comes every night,  which will stay with me for ever....
You are gooder than God for giving us these!!

Rachel Gooder than God Radiostar xxx

*absolutely no baking goes on whatsoever.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Planking day 2

I checked my position in the mirror. Didn't look too 'bum sticky uppy' or back too hollow and I didn't collapse till 19seconds today! At this rate I'll be Olympic standard by Sunday! 


In other news... I found a whole new bunch of blogs to read and follow and I'm still on the lookout for my elusive 61st follower! I know it might help if I post interesting stuff but still... Come on people! Follow me and find out how I plank on day 3! 

I woke up at 2:30am. I think a visit to my new dentist to replace a missing filling is on my mind. I listened to all the songs on my iPod that I could before the battery ran out. The HG is working further oop north today and left early. So the beds been stripped and changed, the dishwasher is on. Tea tonight will be christened later. Depending on the butchery in my mouth it might just be Cafe tea ( summat out of t'freezer ) for the men folk. 

It's our WW2 day tomorrow, I'm wearing a red spotty frock, frilly pinny, head scarf n red lipstick. Might get someone to draw up the back of my legs with a sharpie! Things the children will be doing> 
Choose a war name, create a luggage label, make a gas mask box, write letters home, make 'cream' of parsnip soup and ration chocolate biscuits, make a model spitfire, listen to the wireless, hide under shelters when the air raid siren goes off ( they don't know about this!! ) and meet a real life evacuee. Tonight when they've gone the class room windows will be masking taped and blacked out and all electronic equipment us off limits! We've a sharing assembly at the end of the day and the visiting parents will be allowed to 'choose' an evacuee to take home!! Such fun! 

At Night Owls we are celebrating Thanksgiving! American biscuits and treats are being enjoyed and hot dogs and pizza are on the menu for tomorrow's DVD night. Hand print turkeys, leaf painting and pilgrim puppets are our makes! They seem to enjoy it. I cannot wait till December 1st so we can break out the glitter and start Christmassing to the max!!

Busy morning ahead. Then the dentist. Gulp. 

Rachel Abs of steel Radiostar xxx 
( if only you can hear me snigger as I type that!! I must have the flimsiest abs in the world!!! ) 

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Planking

No, not the wooden variety that I have around my house and garden, but an exercise gauntlet thrown down by my super fit niece . Have a look at her post - it seems so deceptively easy. http://www.steakandbarbells.com/2013/11/plankchallenge.html

Balance on hands and toes in a straight line. Hmmmmm
The bits I will struggle with are
1. Getting down on the floor in the first place - my dodgy knee and the adjective ungainly springs to mind
2. Getting back up off the floor - you are probably familiar with the image of a darted bull elephant regaining consciousness and getting up to return to the jungle.
3. Holding my belly up off the floor - I'll be using it to lean on!!
4. Not sticking my bum up in the air
5. Breathing whilst doing this

So here goes Bexx ..... I may need medical assistance after this!

I'd also like to thank the lovely people who gave me lots of ideas re dressing up for Friday. I'll let you know how we get on :-) that is, if I survive this morning's adventures!! 

First Plank Time - watch the video she recommended.
Done! Easy. No pain what so ever - no sign of a six pack though.... 

Ok here I go ....

Bloody hell that's hard! I tried to be as flat as I could. There's a lot of inner trembling and it feels like you can't go on! I think I forgot to breathe but I was concentrating on being butt down, tum up, being still!! I think I must have been doing it wrong though because I didn't collapse till 16 seconds!! Look


I will have another go tomorrow!! ( Then the novelty will probably wear off! ) 

What new things will you try today? 

Rachel Abs of Steel Radiostar xxx 



Tuesday 19 November 2013

I need your help!

On Friday we are having WW2 day and I've to dress up! I was going to go as a land girl but now I'm not for many reasons!
1. Some git outbid me on eBay and I'm not spending a fortune on something I'll never wear again.
2. I'm not built for dungarees at all!
3. Not one charity shop near me has a 40's style frock in it.
4. No army clothes allowed.
5. The children are dressing like evacuees so I can either be a distraught mother or a welcoming farmer's wife!
6. I'm hoping my ma in law will lend me her frilliest pinny.
7. See my dilemma?
8. I know I've left it late - clearly putting my trust in the dressing up fairies was the wrong thing to do!
Hmmmmm
Over to you!


Saturday 16 November 2013

Cute as a button!

Meet Indie Blossom, wearing her brand new cardigan - you saw it on my last blog post!
It fits her perfectly! Her mama wants me to knit the next sizes up too! In fact I've had a few folk ask me now if I take orders!! Eep! No orders for socks thank goodness, except for Onechunkymama off twitter who is prepared to wait till her autumn years! I've STILL not finished the pair I started some 35 months ago!! 

Yesterday, I made a HB meatloaf for tea which was succulent, juicy and delicious. Only 343 calories for a man sized portion. Good value!  The HG was out HG-ing, so I spent the afternoon with Lisa n our boys as Madeleine was off to a three hour party! (£14.50 a head for the full class - those parents are CRAZY ) 
Harry, (who had an ALL CLEAR VISIT ) was super cute and must have said 'Hanty Reechewl' as opposed to Hanty Raychull like the others do, about a zillion times- but I don't mind one bit, I could hear it all day! We went shopping to Mr Morrisons ( I'm collecting the Christmas voucher things ) and then after collecting a 'partied to the max Mads' we came home! A lovely afternoon. 

On Friday it was 'Come to school in your Onsie' day! I had to buy one - secretly have wanted once since I bought the daughter's Christmas present two years ago! So when I arrived home the night before to a 25% discount card from Matalan, I decided it was fate. I had to have one, it's the second one down. 
- it's pale pink and impossibly fluffy, with my wobbles, I came first in the 'who looks like a blancmange' competition. 
 I have photos. 
If I get 1000 comments on this post I might show you!! ( MUUHAHAHAAAAAA ) 
One colleague told me I looked so cute, like a teletubby, that she wanted to take me home and give me to her dog to play with. Someone else said I looked just like a carebare. I like the carebare colleague better than the teletubby colleague now. 

A fluffy comfy cushion is what a child said! I was stroked and mauled by little hands all day. Plus I was sweating like a pig all day as the heating in school is set to tropical!! I couldn't wait to take the bloody thing off! I had yellow hands from face painting the children and sore hands from decorating Pudsey biscuits! Every single child joined in with the day and every single member of staff. It was a great day and I think we raised a ton of money for Children in Need. 

So here I am on Sunday morning just lazing before the day gets going. There's a whoopsed chicken in the fridge bound for the slow cooker. I've the ingredients to make Millionaire's shortbread. I might knit some sock. I do need to de clutter the bedroom Mantlepiece which I might do first after chicken/slow cooker/washer on type activities. 
But just before I go, here is a photo of Harry, fast asleep in the car seat, on his way to Birmingham. I defy you to find a more gorgeous boy! 



Wednesday 13 November 2013

A quick quickie!

It's 8am. I got back in bed to warm up after my shower! So this is a quick blog post before I finish getting ready for work! I can't fathom out how to get my photos off my phone into the 'from my phone' bit to add on here! The photos are on my iPad automatically, but not where I can access them onto here grrrr. But I simply pop across to my little phone app and add them here!!
I am 100% Northern. The internet told me. I am also 100% Welsh as I checked with the Wales Rugby page on FB. A disappointing result boys at the weekend against the boks, but I still love you. ( because I'm sure the WHOLE TEAM reads this!! )


Quote of the week came from a little Owlet. The grown up owls had been doing the banking, we were £4 up. We each counted and were trying to fathom out where it'd come from to no avail. So I quipped, we'll put it in the Leader's retirement fund.
"But I don't want you to retire!" Piped up this little voice from my now favourite owlet!!

I finally finished the sweet little cardigan and it's not in the safe hands of the Royal Mail on its way to Indie Blossom born a week early to my lovely friend Laura. You've seen her little boy Alfie, modelling his Aran jumper I knit when he was 1!



I entered an online giveaway thingy by email. I'd offered my opinion on what mixer people should invest in! So me and Beryl had a go!

That's me waving and Beryl is my Boysenberry Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer - my Christmas present last year from the HG :-)
We had a go at using the new cake pop moulds I had. 
An easy all in one vanilla sponge
They came out without sticking! 
TA daaah! 

Now then.
Mmmm!! ( new toy in the kitchen! )
*adopts posh voice! aka my mum's phone voice*

The HG and I are orf to the theatre this fine evening! How verry verry cultured of us!

It's a charity fundraiser for the Children's ward at our hospital, which has looked after both of my children and Harry. Paul Akister ( you know, the really good singer from the X Factor this year, who Louis didn't take through at judges houses, in preference to the pretty young can't sing for toffee boy ) is singing with the extremely fabulous local band 24seven who we've seen lots of times! In fact I see the guitarist every week now - he looks like Noddy Holder - and is teaching the kids at school how to play!  The theatre is ancient and therefore more adorable than a modern concert place!!
I know I had a self imposed 12 month gig ban which, quite frankly, has KILLED me, not going to Muse.... But this IS for chariddee mate!!

Speaking of Harry, after his longest gap between exams ever, spare a thought for him and Lisa off to Birmingham tomorrow  for his EUA on Friday. Please no new tumour growth xx

Oops, look at the time!!  ( 8:20am )Have a great Wednesday folks, for I intend to!

Rachel ( & Beryl ) xx