Happy Halloween

I hope everyone has a wonderful time trick or treating tonight and that the weather in the UK is dry.

As for me, I'm enjoying sunning myself on holiday and Marion will trick or treat on her Granny & Grandad's room later on this evening.

Feeling Brighter

Yes I'm not so fed up today. The weekend I really felt miserable and that just made me feel tired, plus the fact that my darling little daughter decided that being as destructive as possible was the way to go. I fell up the stairs at one point because of all the junk she'd put there and then wondered why I yelled at her when asking nicely several times got me nowhere.

I then plonked myself in the chair, put the television on and watched all the wonderful films that were on. Free Willy, Calamity Jane (my all time favourite film), Pearl Harbour, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Free Willy 3 - seems ITV 3 forgot that there was a number 2 in between. So it was a wonderful selection over both days and I certainly didn't budge apart from to cook meals.

Yesterday I went in to do the Mock Assessment for the User Fundamentals, which only took me about 15 minutes to do. The mock got checked through to make sure I'd done it all ok and it was such a long winded process. The paper said to make ...2 news folders, which I did and then screen print showing those two folders and then print it. I did that. Then it said to copy some files into these new files and save, which I did. When it came to checking it, she told me that she wanted a screen print of the files in the new folders - but it never said that because at the time of the screen print there was nothing in those folders.

I decided when it came to doing the Assessment I would just do it the way she wanted it doing, even if it did cost me marks. I was also a bit peeved because they'd managed to lose my spreadsheets assessment from last week and I was half expecting to go in today and have to do it over again. Thankfully that wasn't the case, they found it and marked both papers yesterday.

That means that the 3 modules I did, the last one being a required element, I passed, so I will have a City & Guilds Certificate winging its way to me soon :)

Today I went onto Level 1 Wordprocessing, database and desktop publishing. I decided not to do more on spreadsheets, it's not really something I can see myself doing in the future and desktop publishing sounds more up my street. I found out after that I could have chosen web design or a couple of others, but they weren't given to me as an option to start with.

As you can see in the photo that my Christmas Cactus are starting to bud and bloom. This one is usually the last one to come out in November time, but I found it blooming away this morning when I went to open the curtains in the dining room.

Depressing Week

Well so far it has been a very stressful and depressing week. On Monday I went to my WP/IT course and did the spreadsheet test and then worked my way through the next module called User Fundamentals, which is basically all about health and safety using a pc and copying/pasting and moving files and folders and yes there is a mock test and then a real test at the end of that too. It's the mock test for me tomorrow.

When I got back in on Monday just after lunchtime I decided to phone the CSA to find out why they had so far ignored my letters and exactly what their intentions are to get the child maintenance payments. Hmm I got nowhere basically and as far as I'm concerned they are more than happy for him to get away with it scot free. When I asked why they hadn't even had the decency to reply to my letter from the beginning of September, all I got was "well yes I see that we should have replied, but we have nothing to go on". No that's about right because you're doing nothing to chase him, I'm doing all the chasing and I feel a bit like a cat who is chasing its tail.

So I had a good cry after I put the phone down. I'm just so frustrated by it all.

It has put me off stitching or anything really, I have no enthusiasm for anything anymore :( Plus I've managed to lose 2 pairs of scissors, they're nowhere in the house, I've ransacked it and I can only think that I threw them out by accident. I don't have any spare cash lying around to purchase a new pair and I just can't be doing with the big seamstress pair to snip my threads.

I think I'm stuck in a BAH HUMBUG rut.

Sunday Recipes

Fig & Frangipane Tart

375g pack ready rolled short crust pastry
100g (3 1/2oz) butter
100g (3 1/2oz) caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
100g (3 1/2oz) ground almonds
8 fresh figs, halved
200g (7oz) raspberries
3tbsp icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C (for fan assisted) gas 7.
Unroll the pastry onto a floured work surface and roll a little thinner. Line a 33cm x 12cm (13in x 4 1/2 in) rectangular fluted loose bottom flan tin with the pastry, then place baking parchment on top. Fill this with baking beans and bake 'blind' for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and bake in the oven for a further 5 minutes, then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 200C/180C/gas 6.

In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, then the ground almonds and combine until you have a soft paste. Spoon the paste into the pastry case and place the figs on top, then bake for 20-25 minutes until the paste is set and golden and the pastry crisp.

Place the raspberries in a sieve over a pan and push them through the sieve with a spoon, then stir in the sugar. Place the pan on the hob and heat for 2-3 minutes until the sauce is a jam consistency. Drizzle the sauce over the tart and serve.

Instead of figs, you can spread the pastry case with raspberry jam and then add the frangipane topping, back and drizzle with icing. You could use apricots or pears instead of figs.

Each Sunday I am going to put a recipe or two on my blog to share with you all. This one has been taken from The Mail on Saturday Weekend Magazine. I hope you will enjoy them and perhaps even make them and I would love to see your finishes on your blogs.

Gift From Sally

It was my birthday yesterday and Sally sent me this wonderful needlecase. Isn't it beautiful? I LOVE IT. All that work that went into it, the smaller they are the more work that goes into them.



Sally has some much nicer photos on her blog. I got in too late last night to get a decent photo and today is a really miserable, rainy day.



When I got back in this afternoon there was another card waiting for me from my Cousin. I will get him back next year.

The outside:


The inside:

Happy Birthday to ME

Yes it's my Birthday today and it has been an interesting one. Firstly I hardly got any sleep as my darling little daughter decided to come into my bed at around 2am and then for the rest of the night ground her teeth, even managing to argue the odds with me when I asked her to stop it for the umpteenth time.

When we got up all she said was 'morning Mummy' and then tried to go back to sleep. Five minutes later I heard a gasp and 'Happy Birthday Mummy, I've got something for you' and then ran downstairs and back up with a card and out popped a £5 note (Mum had sent it up for her to put in my card as they hadn't had time in the holidays to buy me a present). Mum phoned to wish me a happy birthday and then we were heading out to school armed with her goodies for the Harvest Show.




These are her cakes. The only thing I did to help her was to put them in and take them out the oven and she did everything else herself. We'd bought a cheat kit for her to make cakes for my birthday and she took the decorations from that to put on her cakes for the show. Unfortunately she didn't get anything for them or any of the other items she put in and she's said that from now on she's going to stick to the horticultural shows where she's got more chance of winning a prize for her efforts.

I bought the flowers for myself as a treat.



On Facebook I joined a Birthday Skein Swap and one of the cards that I opened had this frog on it. Let's hope it's the only frog that appears in this stitching household!!!



These are all the wonderful skeins that I received and not one of them is a duplicate :)

I also received the most wonderful gift from Sally, but I didn't get a great picture of it, so I will blog tomorrow about it (and rightfully it deserves its own entry because it is stunning).

Unfortunately my darling little girl is poorly with a full blown cold :( I hope she gets over it quickly, it's never nice to have a cold, but for a child it is even worse.

Good News, Bad News

I've been having a few problems with my boiler in that the stupid thing doesn't want to work all the time and it's something I can ill afford with the winter weather that will soon be upon us, so I called British Gas and took out their boiler service insurance. At just a little extra charge I also included the cover of the fire service and they included the radiators, electricity, sinks, drains and outside drains.

The boiler, which has given me many a headache, passed without a problem and the fire passed too. Great I'm covered and if anything goes wrong or I have to hit that reset button, I can call them anytime to come and fix it. They've introduced a new thing that comes in effect on Friday that if you call by 1pm they will come out the same the day - great news for the elderly.

Then came the bad news, there's a gas leak in the meter cupboard outside, so the gas has been switched off and I'm patiently waiting for Transco to come and fix it. They have to be here within 4 hours and it's already been 2, I'm just hoping that if they're still here at 3pm that I don't have to stick around as I have to collect Marion from school.

Still it could have cost me money and apart from the monthly direct debits, I've not had to fork out for anything, except I just need to purchase a Carbon Monoxide Detector for peace of mind.

I haven't got anywhere stitching wise, not even a little piece that is no bigger than 45 X 45 stitches. Maybe I should start next year's Halloween stuff now and I may be part way there when it comes round again!!!

Last night Marion told me that she's not got me anything for my Birthday, unlike last year, so I should just take all her pocket money so I can have something. I told her not to be daft and that she can buy me a present when we're on holiday, I can wait that long, it's just over 3 weeks to go now. Silly thing, most of my birthdays nowadays are spent racing around doing things for her. Next year better all be about me though, that's the big 4-0. I'm not bothered about a party or anything like that, just maybe a nice meal somewhere and that will satisfy me.

Off to pick up a needle and thread and do a little stitching while I wait for Transco to turn up.

My Autumn Wall

I haven't any WIP's or finishes to show so I thought, with Autumn officially starting tomorrow, I would put up my Autumnal and halloweeny stitching. There are a couple missing, but I think they might be in the loft with the halloween stuff.

We won't be around for halloween this year, so no decorating like we normally do, but I do still have to carve a pumpkin for the School Autumn Show next Thursday (which happens to be my birthday). Unfortunately I haven't seen any pumpkins in the shops this year and normally you're falling over the big displays of them by now. Fingers crossed we have one in time for the show. If not, it will be a butternut squash instead.

It was swimming again today, which went better than last week, but the TA for the other group still had no clue. The driver told her Council regulations mean that kids can't sit next to the emergency exit door, she hadn't a clue where it was and caused chaos apparently (it's at the back of the bus on the right hand side as you face the front. All she needed to do was put an adult by that door and everything would have been sorted, but no it wasn't that simple) and of course because I'm obviously the sensible one who knows what they're doing he moaned at me.

A couple of weeks ago in Lincoln a packed bus/coach full of teenage kids ended up in a serious accident with 2 of them still in critical condition in hospital. One of those teenage kids had grabbed the emergency exit handle and the door opened taking that teenager and another out onto the motorway and causing the bus/coach to crash. That bus driver has now had his licence revoked and is being prosecuted for something that wasn't even his fault.

Wednesday is always a hectic day. It's Brownies tonight and it's my turn to take and collect the girls, not that it bothers me. So as it's one of those out, in, out, in 4 times days I think I will be doing a small autumn piece and hopefully I will get it completed before I go to bed.

Lookie, Lookie

I came home to this wonderful little parcel on my doormat and inside JCS Ornament Preview issue and the JCS Ornament Issue. There are a few in the preview issue that I definitely want to stitch, especially the Brittercup design. I've not really looked at the ornament issue yet, but there were a couple I fancied and hope that I get to stitch this year.

I also ordered 3 GAST in avocado, pumpkin pie and tomato, which are for a Just Nan humbug.

I've been at my word processing course this morning, I did the mock test and did well enough to do the actual test, but something happened at the end where they give you an exam number and so I couldn't do it today. Never mind, I can do it another day.

Marion has been to her first football practise after school and the team already have 3 matches booked with more pending. So if a wife/girlfriend is a football widow, what do you call the Mum?

No big plans for the weekend, just tidying up the mess the child created, washing and ironing and then hopefully lots of stitching.

Congratulations Marion

I've just had a phone call from Mum telling me that Dartford Library called this afternoon to congratulate Marion on achieving level 3 in the Space Hop Summer reading programme, she was one of just handful to have read all 6 books and she's won a £5 book token.

Very proud of her :)

I've not been stitching much, not at all in fact, but Becky is an extremely talented lady and she is organising The Great Pumpkin Challenge. Sally has just mentioned in her blog that she has joined it too. I read it on Becky's blog yesterday when I was admiring all her wonderful stitching and I thought about taking part too, it might get me motivated and get my act together to actually produce some stitching.

I did dig out an Autumnal chart last night which has a pumpkin on it that I had kitted up 2 years ago, so I might just get started on it tonight while I'm waiting on some beads turning up to finish off the winter humbug.

It's getting cold here now, blustery and wintery and I've just heard that we're possibly to expect frost over the next few days. So it looks like I'll be out there taking the apples off the trees, picking any veg that's still out there and bringing in the gerbera plants into the kitchen until Mum brings up the fleece to wrap around them over the winter. Hope it's not too wet to do that tomorrow.