a few things

First off, I had nearly 100 visitors on my blog yesterday and today. Most of those are thanks to Anna mentioning me on her blog yesterday. Thanks again to Anna and to all of her fans who jumped over to visit me. It was an amazing feeling to be famous for a day! :o)

Secondly, I had my hospital check-up today for my psoriatic arthritis. Everything is going so well that the consultant doesn't want to see me again until this time next year. And I've only to get my bloods checked every 3 months from now on instead of every month. Fabulous!

Thirdly - believe it or not, it's snowing outside. Crumbs, it's nearly April, my daffodils are finally starting to bloom and it starts snowing? It's crazy! Let's hope it doesn't lie too long!

Finally - Debbie found this photo in her collection and sent it to me. The wind must have been blowing hard the day it was taken! Poor wee Rosie. :oD

I'm famous!!!

Anna over at thimbleanna has mentioned me in her blog today! She made the melting moments and mars bar cakes from my recipes in this post.

How exciting is that?

I looked at the counter 10 minutes ago and it was 7757. I'm going to keep an eye to see how many more people come here today.

If you're here because of Anna's post, I'd love for you to comment and tell me. I can see where you're from in the Feejit thingy. Wow - so many people from all over the place! Fabulous!

Thanks, Anna. You've totally made my day! :o)

a few of my favourite things

These are just a few things that made me smile today.

Some flowers and below them, my new chicken salt and peppers.



A fuzzy photo of the aforementioned chickens.



My morning snack.



A cake cookie jar Debbie gave me a few years ago.



Cake tins I bought myself last week.



A biscuit barrel I bought at the same time.



My lunchtime cup of tea in a mug Debbie left behind. It's mine now, Dibsi! :oP



Rosie licking her lips at the sight of her doggy biscuits.



The random blankie. It's coming along nicely.



This is going to be one of my favourite things very soon. Not this exact car but one just like it. Wheeeeeeeeeee! :o)

tablet

Anna asked about tablet. Yes it's what you would call candy. We, in Scotland, call it a sweetie. And, let me tell you, it is VERY sweet. But good. And delicious. And oh so moreish! That's why I only make it at Christmas.

Although all this talk of tablet is making me want to make it - and eat it - right now! LOL

Here's a fuzzy photo of my tablet.



And the recipe. Enjoy! :o)

TABLET

½ cup milk
1lb sugar
2 tbsp syrup
knob of butter - about the size of a walnut

Put in pan and melt SLOWLY until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and boil until it reaches "soft ball" on a sugar thermometer. Remove from heat and beat with an electric beater for about 2 - 2½ mins. Put into a greased baking tray. Cut while still warm.

This is kind of a hit and a miss recipe. I've been making it for years and it still sometimes won't set. If/when that happens, I just scrape it all back into the pan and reheat it to the right temperature and do it all again.

If it sets before it even gets out of the pan - no worries. It still tastes good even if it looks ugly! LOL

ABCs of me

I found this in one of the folders on my computer. Who knows how long it's been mouldering in there! LOL


The ABCs of Me

A- Age: 54 - really? How did that happen?

B- Bed size: King Size

C- Chore you hate: cleaning the windows

D- Dog's name: Rosie

E- Essential food: a cup of tea and some cakes

F- Favourite colour: bluey purple

G- Gold or silver: gold rings on my left hand but silver rings and bracelets on my right

H- Height: 5'4"

I- I am: therefore I think? Wait, that doesn't sound quite right. :oD

J- Job: housewife

K- Kids: 2 girls - 27 and 29

L- Living arrangements: 3 bedroom semi-detached house

M- Mum's name: Ellen

N- Nickname: At school it was Nabby.

O- Overnight hospital stay: births of both girls. Before that it would have been when I got my tonsils out when I was a child.

P- Pet peeve: bad manners.

Q- Quote from a movie: "Whoa! Ugly!" from The Three Musketeers. Or "I'll have what she's having" from When Harry met Sally. :oD

R- Right or left handed: right

S- Siblings: older sister, younger brother. Yes, I'm the middle child.

T- Time you wake up: 6.45am during the week. I keep hoping it'll be later at the weekends but usually it's the same.

U- Unique thing about your car: it's mine.

V- Vegetable you hate: I can't think of any. I'm sure there must be some - I'll edit them in if I remember!

W- Ways you run late: I'm one of those annoying people who's always there early. If I'm late, then somebody else must have come with me and it's that person that made us late.

X- X-rays you've had: Lots for teeth and last year hands, feet and back for my psoriatic arthritis diagnosis

Y- Yummy food you make: Tablet would have to be my all time favourite. I only make it at Christmas so I don't eat it too often.

Z- Zoo favourite: Penguins

more things I made - long ago!

Here are some of the other things I found photos of the other day.

Placemat bags -



Machine knitted Christmas decorations -



A Christmas cone -



Oven gloves -



Hobby horses -



And a rag doll I made for Joanna. She still has her. :o)

bedspreads

I've spent a bit of time this week trying to tidy out some of the folders on my computer. I have achieved a little but, of course, being computer files, there's nothing to show for the clean up.

I think I've thrown out the equivalent of several suitcases worth of stuff - mostly scrapbooking stuff that I thought "Why have I got this? It's hideous!" but, as I say, nobody can see these virtual suitcases to see how much time and effort this has taken me.

In the looking through the folders, I found a few things that I'm glad I kept. I'll show some more later but today's show off photos are all of bedspreads I made years ago. The photos aren't as big as I'd like them to be but these were taken in the days before I knew anything about Photoshop and Douglas made them this size. I'm hoping he might have the bigger versions on his computer but, meanwhile, these will have to do.

This is the bedspread on our bed. The patchwork pattern is called log cabin on point.



This is the one I made for Debbie. It's now in Canada with her. It's in the rail road fence pattern.



This is Joanna's. The pattern is courthouse steps alternating with plain fabric squares - ie not patchworked.



I made this one for my mum's 75th birthday in 2003. The pattern is called blueberry pie.



And this one I made for Douglas's mum's 80th birthday in 2004. The pattern is called Zig Zag.



None of these bedspreads are quilted. They are all made with prewashed curtain fabrics and backed with sheets. I must admit to still being really proud of them. :o)

to anyone Irish out there

Here's the title from google.co.uk today.

Very cool! :o)

tiffin

Since Dedi e-mailed me asking for this recipe, I thought I'd post it here in case others were interested as well. :o)

It's another recipe where the only cooking involved is melting things in a pan. It's one of Douglas's favourites.

TIFFIN



4 oz marg
2 dssps syrup
2 dssps cocoa
1 cup sultanas
1 dssp caster sugar
200g packet rich tea biscuits (= approx 30 biscuits), crushed but not crumbs

Melt all the ingredients except the biscuits in a saucepan. Add the biscuits and mix well. Press into a greased baking tray. Leave to cool then cover with chocolate.

A dssp is a dessertspoon. I think that would be about 2 teaspoons.

melting moments and mars bars cakes

Thanks to everyone who commented on the Mother's Day spread post. I was along at mum's this morning and she said she didn't have any tea* on Sunday evening - she just had another melting moment from her doggy bag!

She really had a great time and can't wait until the next time we do it! :o)

*"tea" is what we, in Scotland, call our evening meal.

So, for Anna and anyone else who'd like them, here are the recipes for melting moments and mars bars cakes. They are both easy recipes and oh so more-ish.

MELTING MOMENTS



4oz butter
3oz sugar
5oz plain flour
½tsp baking powder
1 egg
krispies
glacé cherries

170ºC (fan oven)

Cream butter & sugar. Add flour, baking powder and egg. Roll into balls and dip into krispies. Top with half a cherry. Bake for 15 - 20 mins.

MARS BARS CAKES



4 Mars bars - chopped up small
4 oz margarine
4 cups Rice Krispies

Melt the marg and Mars bars slowly in a saucepan mixing it together well. Put the krispies into a big bowl and pour the Mars mixture over.
Stir well coating all the krispies. Put into a greased baking tray (12” x 9”) and leave to set. Cut into bars.
These can also be made in cupcake cases or muffin cases.

Now, if my memory serves me correctly, what we call Mars Bars over here are called Milky Ways in the US. This is what it looks like inside -

Mother's Day spread

Yesterday was Mother's Day in the UK. We usually go to my mum's house every Sunday for an afternoon cuppa but yesterday we invited mum to our house. We had quite a spread.

Here's the table -

The lemon drizzle cake had sunk a wee bit in the middle but it still tasted gorgeous!

2 plates of queen cakes decorated with butter icing and various toppings -

Melting moments - the photo's a bit fuzzy.

Mars Bar cake made into nests with mini eggs in them -

Sticky date cake -

Tiffin -

We all ate a lot but there was loads left. Mum went home with a doggy bag and Joanna took some things to her work today. We've still got a lot in boxes so I might not need to bake this week.

Vedict - we'll do that again. There's just something so right about drinking tea from a cup and saucer, poured from a teapot with a proper tablecloth on the table. :o)

lazy blogger - again!

I've clicked the "new post" button a few times this week and then have sat there just looking at the white box wondering what to say.

And, for someone who likes to blether, that's a weird feeling. I've *always* got something to talk about but not this week, apparently.

I have been reading - a lot. I don't know if you're watching my book list over at the right but I'm reading my way - again - through my favourite Nora Roberts' books. I'm hoping they'll keep me going until May when her new book comes out. Not long to wait now. :o)

I've also been crocheting my new blankie - a lot. I don't know how many rows I'm going to do but I don't think it'll be too long before I have that to show off. Yay!!

So that's it for today. Not much but better than nothing! :o)

I have no idea …

I have no idea what this is - but I like it.

It's the header on google.co.uk today - 4th March. They are obviously violins but I don't know if there's any connection with violins and the 4th of March. You'd think there must be or why would they be there?

It doesn't really matter, though. Yet again, google has come up with a cool logo. :o)

Editing to add - Jo has informed me that hovering my mouse over the logo tells me that it's Vivaldi's birthday today. So, the 4 violins are to represent Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. It's brilliant!

what's next?

I wanted to make a blankie where I could use up some of the wee bits of wool I had left from all my other crochet projects. But I didn't want to make lots of hexagons or squares which I'd then have to join together at the end.

I didn't want to make another ripple blankie but I did want to make my new blankie all on one go - catching all the joined ends in as I go. So, I started making a ripple blankie with no ripple. In other words, it's just straight.

The best bit is I decided to just join the colours in a completely random pattern - not just at the ends of the rows. It means I can use up all those wee bits and also use all those big balls of wool I have as well.

I'm trying to join in new colours at different places in the rows and so far I'm loving this one. I started it on Saturday just after lunch and this is how much I've done since then.



Fun! :o)