Challenge Update - February

My 2013 challenges are:-

1) Watch one old film each month.

2) List five items on Ebay each month.

3) Have a date night with Mick each month.

Rebecca was the film I chose to watch in February, and I loved it. I've seen it before, but a long time ago now, and I could watch it again today, it's such a good film. I've never read the book, but I imagine it to be even better than the film, books usually are, so I picked up a copy from a charity shop last year and it's on the waiting to be read pile. I'm hoping to get round to it soon.

I'm making use of the free listing days on Ebay and getting my five items uploaded then. I haven't sold everything I've listed, but I'm relisting them and managing to get some extra sales. I'm doing quite well with the price things are selling for, so I'm pleased with how this challenge is going.

Our date night was a meal in the local pub. They have an extensive menu, and the food is good. I've just found out that they have promotions where they accept Tesco Clubcard vouchers, though they don't accept them all the time, so that's something which I'll have to look in to, as this makes going for a meal very inexpensive.

After the dull, drab, cold days we've had lately, February looks set to go out in a blaze of sunshine. I can see blue skies, which makes such a lovely change and lifts my spirits.

Walking On Sunshine

The weather was so nice at the beginning of last week that we couldn't resist getting out of the house and going for a walk. We decided to go to Fairburn Ings, a local RSPB reserve. We saw lots of different birds, but there were lots of other things which interested us too.

Lichen. It covered nearly all the tree.

Catkins. Just look at the gorgeous blue sky.

Peeling bark. The sunshine is illuminating it.

Holly in dappled shade.

A berry. There weren't many around, I think the birds have stripped the trees.

Ice on the ground. Even though the sun was shining and it was actually quite warm, we came across lots of ice still hanging around.

Half of the lake was still frozen. The birds are reflected in the ice they're stood up on.

A beautiful swan who would insist on hissing at Archie to warn him off.

We enjoyed our walk. I think it's important to get outside when the sun's shining as we have enough enforced time indoors due to the weather as it is. The weather has taken a turn for the worse since these photos were taken and it's been much cooler again, though the snow which was forecast, thankfully, hasn't materialised.

The First Of The Year

I always look forward to daffodil time, I just can't get enough of them. I love to see great drifts of them bobbing about in the breeze, but I equally love to see them in a vase in my room, they really brighten up the last dark days of winter.

It was my mum and dad's fifty seventh wedding anniversary on Monday, so I bought them a lovely bouquet of flowers, but couldn't resist also buying them a couple of bunches of daffodils, and at the same time, bought a couple of bunches for myself too. These are the first I've bought this year, but definitely won't be the last.

They had tight buds when bought, but they'd started opening up the following day, it doesn't take long for them to open out fully.

I'm just waiting for the ones I planted in containers in autumn to do their thing now. They've poked their noses above the compost but they're not doing much else at the moment.

Congratulations And Celebrations

Today is Daniel's 18th birthday.

I don't know where the last 18 years have gone. It doesn't seem two minutes since he was a bouncing baby.

This year, he's due to head off to university to study Physics with Astrophysics. I'm having sleepless nights already.

We're going out for a meal tonight, and then we're having a small party on Saturday, to which Daniel's friends, and close family and family friends are invited to help us celebrate.

We're so proud of Daniel, he's grown to be a sensitive, mature (sometimes) and caring young man. He's got fantastic opportunities ahead of him so I hope he grabs them with both hands.

Happy birthday Daniel. xxx

The North Wind Doth Blow...

...And we shall have snow, And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?

Well, we didn't have the wind, but we certainly had snow yesterday. It fell thick and fast, and look who was visiting the garden.

I love my little feathered friends and try to keep them well fed so that they visit me often. I see a much wider variety of birds in the garden now than I used to, I think they realise that there's always a meal available here.

A pair of collared doves were perched in the lilac tree nearly all day just watching the snow fall, and I had many different birds coming and going, I'd have thought they'd got more sense than to venture out in the snow.

The snow was quite thick by yesterday afternoon, but I'm pleased to say that it's all gone again now. It didn't last long at all this time.

No Pancakes Here Today

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. We're not huge pancake lovers, but I would usually make some as an after school snack and then have a late tea. I've got all the ingredients at the ready, I even bought a Jif lemon, something I usually forget, as we like our pancakes with lemon and sugar.

Unfortunately, Eleanor is at her drama group tonight, so we can't have a late tea, which means no after school snacking. Instead, I've made lasagne ready for tea, and we'll have our pancakes for breakfast at the weekend.

We always used to make pancakes for supper when Daniel and Eleanor had friends staying for sleepovers when they were younger. I used to let them flip the pancake, something that some of them had never tried before, and they though it was great fun. I used to make sure we had plenty of different toppings, even though we always have lemon and sugar. I remember one of Daniel's friends having Golden Syrup on hers, I can't think of anything more sickly.

It's Here

I mentioned in my Diary Love post last year about how I'd rediscovered Filofax. I've been using a planner again, rather than a diary, since the middle of last year, and it's been keeping me much more organised. Filofax sell a whole range of binders in different sizes, and I've been using a pocket Malden for on the go and an a5 Chameleon as my home organiser.

I regularly read Philofaxy blog and love the Web Finds posts on a Saturday and Wednesday. These are a round up of the weeks posts on people's blogs, and videos on YouTube, about Filofax. Although I'm getting on well with the pocket size filofax, after seeing how other people use their personal size, I'd been fancying trying one out myself.

I was given some money last year when one of my uncles died. I've been thinking of something to buy with it as I didn't want it to just be frittered away, I wanted to buy something I could keep. When I came across Lady Filo's My Filo World blog with a post about 35% discount on the Italian Filofax website I couldn't resist, especially as they had the crimson Malden in personal size for sale, this isn't available on the UK site anymore. What's more, during January, shipping within the EU and Europe was free. I decided that it was too good an offer to pass up, and this would be the perfect thing to spend some of the money I'd been given on.

It arrived on Monday and I couldn't wait to open it.

It's made from buffalo leather and it's so soft. I love the colour, it's a gorgeous deep red with a contrasting trim. I had wondered if the colour might be different to what I'd seen online as it's sometimes hard to get a true colour in a photo, but it's just as I'd seen. My photos all show different shades, but I'd say it's most like the first photo.

The inside is similar to my pocket size, and though it doesn't lie flat when open at the moment, I'm sure it will do in time.

The diary supplied is in Italian, but I've decided that it would be a waste of money to replace this with an English one, I can work out which day is which, so it's fine.

Also supplied are a-z dividers, subject dividers, various types of Filofax paper such as address sheets, finance sheets,to do sheets, website pages, coloured ruled paper and a credit card holder. The subject dividers are in English, which is a bit odd given that the diary supplied is in Italian, I'd have thought they'd both be in the same language.

I just need to move across now from my pocket size, but this is going to give me so much more room. I should be extra organised now.

Specs Appeal

I'd been meaning to book an appointment for an eye test for a long time, and finally got round to it a few weeks ago after I'd received a voucher for a half price test.

It was no surprise that I needed glasses, it's been a struggle to read for quite some time now. It was so hard to choose a style to go with, but there was a two for one offer on, so I picked two different styles. Now I can have a different look whenever I want.

It's great being able to see what I'm reading without having to squint or hold everything at arms length. Oh well, another sign of getting old.

Challenge Update - January

My 2013 challenges are:-

1) Watch one old film each month.

2) List five items on Ebay each month.

3) Have a date night with Mick each month.

The film I watched in January was Brief Encounter. I'd heard a lot about it, being one of the classics, but had never seen it before. It's based on Noel Coward's play Still Life, and stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as Laura and Alec, two people who meet in a railway waiting room and fall in love, though they're both already married. I really enjoyed this film, and it's one I shall definitely watch again.

I did manage to list five items on Ebay, though it was rather late in the month and the auctions haven't yet finished, but two items already have bids, and I have watchers on another two.

Our date night was a meal out at Bella Italia, purely because I'd exchanged some Tesco Clubcard vouchers for restaurant vouchers and they were running out. Every £5 in Clubcard vouchers can be exchanged for £20 in restaurant vouchers, so it worked out to be a very inexpensive date. We enjoyed having a little alone time, and the meal was lovely.

The first month of the year has gone by so fast, I can't believe it's the first day of February tomorrow.

One A Day

I received some Stylecraft Special DK for Christmas in an assortment of colours. This is an acrylic yarn, but it's so soft that I'm happy to use it. This is the best budget yarn I've found, it's not splitty when crocheting, it doesn't have that squeaky feel to it, and it comes in a whole host of colours. It's a great price too.

As the yarn was a gift, I didn't choose the colours myself, but there's a whole selection with everything ranging from flourescent to pastels and then darker colours too.

I decided that it would be fun to mix all the colours together, and after seeing Gwen's Granny A Day project on her Cottage in the Lane blog, my one a day blanket was born.

I started it at the beginning of the year, so I should have twenty seven or twenty eight squares by now, but I have to admit to falling down over the weekend as I've been a little busy. Twenty four squares have actually been crocheted so far, so I have a little catching up to do, it won't take long.

I'm crocheting the squares together as I go this time, something I haven't done before, but it's so easy, and it will save all the sewing or crocheting together at the end.

I'm loving this project so far, I don't know how big the blanket will be, I shall just carry on until it looks right.

One a day leaves me free to get on with other projects too, so I'll have to tell you what else I'm up to soon.

Snow Days

We had quite a snowfall on Sunday night and in to Monday morning, in fact, it didn't actually stop snowing until yesterday afternoon. As a result of this, the school was closed, so Daniel and Eleanor had the day off.

It was a blessing for Daniel as he's started with a cold and bad chest, and didn't feel like going to school anyway, though he's taking exams this week, so come what may tomorrow and Friday, he'll have to go in.

Eleanor and I decided to take Archie for a run in the back field. I think there's something magical about untouched, freshly laid snow.

It was still snowing lightly and the sky was full of it.

We made sure that Archie was nice and warm in his coat. He only ever wears a coat when it snows or it's exceptionally cold.

Archie loves to play in the snow, front paws and head flat to the floor with his bum sticking up in the air before dashing this way and that and biting at the snow as he runs. He's also got a fascination with sticking his head right down in to the snow, I don't know what he's doing under there.

His ears are covered in snow when he eventually pulls his head out.

The only problem with long-haired dogs is that the snow sticks to their fur, and as they run along, each bit gathers more snow, until it's the snowball effect. This is what Archie looks like after a walk in the snow.

We had more snow fall overnight and the school is closed again today. The roads are terribly icy around here as we never get the gritters up our little cul-de-sac. We've had the worst of the snow now, according to the weather forecast, though it seems to change on an hourly basis, so who knows.

Yummy Goodies

It got so cold last week that even the heating wasn't warming the house up. I decided that I'd do a bit of baking, as the oven is a great source of heat. It throws out lots of warmth in to the house whilst it's doing it's thing.

I found one of my favourite recipes on Lucy's Attic 24 blog for Carrot Cake. Apparently, it's from a Be-Ro recipe book, but it isn't in the copy I've got so it must be from a different edition, mine's the 38th edition. If you haven't tried this version of Carrot Cake I'd definitely recommend it, not only is it delicious, but it's so easy to make too. It's Eleanor's absolute favourite, and Mick's also quite partial.

Now Daniel isn't a lover of Carrot Cake, his favourite is Chocolate Brownies, but I didn't have all the ingredients required for this in the house, so I decided I'd make him Lemon Drizzle Cake, another of his favourites. The recipe I use is also from Attic 24, and is equally delicious.

Not only did the house warm up whilst the oven was on, but it was filled with the most delicious smell, and I couldn't wait to tuck in to these yummy goodies.

Chasing The Winter Blues Away

We're certainly getting some wintery weather at the moment. January started very mild and I was beginning to wonder if the temperature was going to dip at all. We had snow at the start of the week, and there's still bits of it hanging around, and today we've got freezing fog which doesn't look as though it's going to lift at all.

I hate being cold, but don't mind looking at wintery weather through the window whilst I'm snuggled up nice and warm in the house. It's nice to have some colour indoors too, to brighten up the dreary days.

Earlier on this month, I happened to pop in to the local supermarket just at the time when they were reducing the flowers. This gorgeous bouquet should have been £7.50 but it was reduced down to £1.88. There wasn't a thing wrong with the flowers, and they lasted for a fortnight.

They've been helping me to chase the winter blues away for a whole fortnight, that's how long they lasted. At £1.88, that's what I call a bargain.

Les Miserables

I don't go to the cinema very often, in fact, I can't remember the last film I went to see. I've been waiting for Les Miserables to be released though, and yesterday, I went with Mick and Eleanor to see it.

I thought it was fantastic. There's some brilliant acting, and even though the film is over two and a half hours long, it certainly held our attention.

It's been nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture.

If you're a fan of musicals, I would certainly recommend it. I shall be putting the DVD on my Christmas list.

Red Sky At Night...

...Shepherd's Delight or Sailor's Delight?

What do you say, Shepherd's or Sailor's?

We have a difference of opinion in our house.

I've always said Shepherd's Delight.

There was a frost this morning after last night's red sky, but the sun is shining now and it's a beautiful, crisp day.