Good bye 2011

The last post of 2011.   I have never liked New Year's Eve and this one is no exception.  Tonight I have been catching up with all of my favorite blogs and today Sue from Our New Life in the Country has written a post which completely sums up for feelings for 2011.
http://ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2011/12/goodbye-2011.html?showComment=1325365584273#c3285727401403921475

This has been a year of the most incredible sadness and loss,  part of me will be glad to start a new year,  the rest of me will be incredibly sad to leave 2011 for very many reasons.

I am hopeful that 2012 will be a year of positive changes.   For me and Mr Milly to take control and made our lives better and different.

Sue starts her post with these very moving words;-

You were a strange year, a year of learning, of realising.  One of strengthening bonds and knowing the true value of love.

You gave us great heartache, you gave us laughs, you took what we most valued and then tried to take some more.

We will look back on you with sorrow, with joy, with love and with hatred.

You were just a year

 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year

Alison x

 

 

Last minute bits and pieces

The little nephew's Christmas tops are finished..   a slightly tamed down version of the grown up girls Christmas tops,  which I think is about right for the 2 boys!  The grown up girls wore theirs to Tesco yesterday - which was entertaining!

The last days of the Advent Calender have passed with a few more little sweetie bags hidden around the house.   This has definately been the best Advent calender ever!!  I now look at sweets in a whole different light when I am in shops - and wonder what they could become!  What an exciting life hey!!

My Boy popped in today,  he is working both Christmas Day and Boxing day this year - 7am until 7pm both days so we won't see very much of him.  Not his choice to work these days,  but a downside of working shifts in a 24/7 industry.   As in previous years we are all hoping he will be able to finish early and spend extra time with us.  

I did tell him that I have some stocking goodies for him and for him to take them home on Christmas Eve to open in the morning,  his face lit up and he was really pleased that he has one.  BUT I then worried that he would feel left out as the girls have the lovely Kirstie Alsopp inspired Christmas stockings that I made yesterday.   I am sure I was worrying more about this than My Boy would be,  but as he was pleased he has a stocking I thought he should have a lovely home made one too.....   Didn't want this one to be too girly though.......  Another that I am really thrilled with!  

This is really getting me thinking though,  they are very inexpensive to make and each one takes less and less time to complete and I think these would sell really well - what do you think?  A project for next year maybe!

Wishing you all a Very Very Happy Christmas,   From all of the Milly's!

Note to self

Do not watch Kirsty's Homemade Christmas just 4 days before Christmas!

The programme is full of all sorts of  goodies and brilliant ideas,  I do wish it had been on the TV a few weeks ago..... 

As always I was inspired and fingers itching to have a go........ I did convince myself this morning that I really wouldn't have time to make anything and definitely no time to shop for supplies.    The more I thought about it, the more I realised I probably had the supplies and lo and behold and a quick rummage through my fabric stash,  I did find all the supplies I would need.  The next problem was time - one of the advantages about working at home - when you take a lunch break you get a whole hour,  no travelling back to the office, just  a 20 second walk up the stairs and Mr Milly on hand to help with ironing and tidying up!

Trusty Google provided the template,  a bit of material cutting up and some time at the sewing machine.........

I love them!!

The poor dog has had a Christmas make over, courtesy of My Girl and the Portuguese Housekeeper!

She is such a good dog!  She is wearing a pompom on her collar,  Rudolph sticker on her head and look closely you can see her sticker earrings - she has worn them all day!!  What the camera will just not show is the glitter My Girl has decided to rub into her coat - she does look sparkly and pretty BUT there is now glitter all over the house :o)

Talking of Google - have you tried typing in Let it Snow into the search bar??  Try it - it is very cool!

19th December

In the advent calender today;-

The message;-

It was a very vague clue,  so it was fun watching the 2 girls run round the house trying to track down the little gift!  (They were by the front door hiding behind the curtain!)

Gifts for my work colleagues have been packaged up today ready for transporting into the office in the morning - that will be challenging,  it's a 15 minute walk up a steep hill,  so I will be trudging along with handbag, laptop bag and some other bag with all of these goodies in!  Keep your fingers crossed that it is not raining.

And finally - with just 6 days to go My Girl and the Portuguese Housekeeper have been scouring the shops trying to find fun novelty Christmas tops/jumpers to wear - I have no idea why,  just something they decided they wanted!   Believe it or not, these type of things are in very short supply this year and none at a reasonable price could be found.   They did get a resounding NO from me when they asked if I could knit them one (That is 2 jumpers 7 days before Christmas, and working full time - superwoman I am not!)

The ever trusty Google came to the rescue with some templates for a Rudolph and Snowman found, printed and cut out.  A rummage through wardrobes for some old tops to customise - then a swift visit to the Haberdashers for some supplies.   A couple of hours spent, cutting, ironing, sewing and positioning and they are delighted with their tops!  To be honest I loved doing these and am really pleased with the result.  The only downside - both my little nephews were here at the time, helping with pinning, cutting and sticking and now I have 2 more orders for their Christmas tops!

Gifting

The Christmas gifts are starting to be distributed to their recipients.   This week My dear father-in-law received his. 

This one has taken a while to put together and Mr Milly and I were very happy with the result and Dear Father-in-law seemed to be too!  This one was filled with all sorts of home made goodies including crochet dish cloths, chilli jam, jam, mustard, chutney  and soap. 

The creative streak seems to be rubbing off on the rest of the family,  Mr Milly has made some homebrew - with My Girl helping with the wrapping.  It seems a complicated business this homebrew, Mr Milly checks the temperature almost daily with the barrel of brew being wrapped in an old quilt and lovingly check daily to ensure all is ok.  Then washing and sterilising the bottles, adding sugar, re-checking all the levels again and then finally bottled and capped.  Mr Milly has enjoyed doing this though and I expect lots more homebrew will follow!

And continuing the Christmas spirit, I had another play with the Christmas decorations,  I liked the heart garland so much I decided to make another one.  I really like these and will be sorry to take them down after Christmas.  Although My Girl now has her eye on them and I expect they will find a new home when she returns to work!

Finally these pictures - just because!   Star wanted to surf the internet with My Girl!!  LOL :)

10 days to go

Christmas is coming up fast now, and although I feel I have been making and doing things in preparation for months, I still was not quite prepared for Christmas to arrive so early!

We have debated about Christmas trees and decorations for a while - should we/shouldn't we put any up this year.  Finally I relented and decided we really must make the effort.    The fat quarters I have had for months have now been made into the Christmas bunting and inspired by Kirsty's Homemade Christmas today Mr Milly and I jointly made a little heart garland.

A little tree has been purchased  a bargain basement price and decorated with some little coloured ball lights  - it actually is quite pretty and perfect for us this year.   Mr Milly is already bored with me saying "I am really pleased with the tree" - he must have heard it at least twice an hour for the whole day today!.

The pictures are not great - I think the bits and pieces are much prettier in the flesh.

8th December

The Advent Calender today;

A snowman came a calling;-

A frantic rush to the fridge;

Snowman soup was found!

I wonder who will visit next???

6th December

The Advent calender was fun today - and yes it is just after midnight,  but this seems to be a favorite time for 2 grown up little girls to open the pockets.

 In the number six pocket was a little message;

A frantic little treasure hunt followed to find what the fairy had left for them.   It didn't take very long and what had the fairy left?

Magic Fairy Wishes!   They loved them and I must confess they were great fun and very easy to put together.    And just like 2 little girls there were cries of "that was fun - can we do it again?"  (Remember they are 19 and 22 years old!!)

Well they will just have to wait and see what other surprises the Advent Calender holds!

Cherry and Walnut Cake

Following my post yesterday I have had a couple of requests for the recipe for the Cherry and Walnut Cake.
Here it is;-

Cherry and Walnut Cake

225g Walnut Pieces
225g Glace Cherries
340g Self Raising Flour
280g Caster Sugar
6 eggs
280g Butter

• Prepare cake tins.   This recipe will make 2  2lb loaf tins or one 20cm round tin.
• Wash the cherries in hot water and dry.   Ensure all the stickiness is removed to stop the cherries sinking.   You may need to wash them twice.
• Chop cherries and walnuts.  (Not too small - a gentle chop)
• Cream butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time.
• Fold in the flour
• Fold in Chopped walnuts,  sprinkle the cherries with a little flour to lightly coat them and fold into the cake mix..
• Cook for 1.5 hours.  It's done when a knife inserted comes out clean.  If not quite done or becoming over brown, cover with brown paper until cooked.
• Cook on  Gas Mark 3 or 170 centigrade



The cake on the right was cooked in a silicone loaf tin.
 The shape is a little odd and I won't be using this one again.

Not recommended for this cake!



December

The biggest problem with this time of year is what to blog!   I am busy, busy getting all the homemade Christmas pressies finished.  BUT I can't post any pictures - it would spoil the surprise for my family who follow the blog!   I will store the pictures up and post them after the big day!

I have been experimenting with a few new recipes and trying some hand me down recipes.  This week it was Cherry and Walnut cake - this is a family Christmas tradition to have this cake always having been made by my Mum and her Mum before that.  This year it is for me to make the cakes,  a trial run this week and they turned out OK!  My boy visited today and he loves this cake - the verdict I got the thumbs up and yes it is just like my Mum made.  I am really pleased as I was worried I wouldn't get it right and this tradition of ours would be lost.

Tonight the dog has been naughty and sneaked up on the sofa with the 2 girls - I think only a little encouragement was needed!   She really doesn't look comfortable

Dozy Bird

As I went to let the chickens out yesterday morning, the big run was covered in white feathers - to say I had a panic would be an understatement,  out came the 4 chickens bustling and rushing for their morning feed, in fact perfectly normal.  

Then a proper look at Stella - the white and black hen and overnight it seems she looks like an ex battery chicken.  A thorough run and house inspection followed, checking for holes to see if anything had got in with the chicks - nothing to be found.   No option then but to catch the now very tatty looking chicken and inspect her for damage.   Stella does not like being picked up - she nevers has and she is a big bird too,  after pinning her in a corner I managed an inspection. 

Fortunately she has not been attacked in anyway and has just decided to have a moult - she is completely covered in little pin feathers poking out all over - a sure sign that she is about to replace her feathers. BUT the dozy bird just doesn't realise that the coldest time of the year is rapidly approaching and she is going to be cold!   Chickens are supposed to moult at the end of the summer/early Autumn,  but not this one - she has decided now is the time.  

Tatty Stella

Poor Stella has lost her lovely tail feathers



 She has always been contrary this one and will go broody at the drop of a hat - she really would like to be  a mum! We often have to kick her out of the nest box when we notice she has been in there all day,  she will gather up everyones eggs and sit on them, they are really hot when we taken them out!!  The noise and bok-boking she makes in protest is hysterical - at least for the first 5 minutes or so,  when she is still at it 30 minutes later - it is not quite so funny!  

We will have to keep a close a eye on her if the temperature drops before she feathers up again.  Tonight when I have closed the hen house for the night,  Stella is in her usual spot in the nest box with Nando cuddled up tightly next to her.  Usually Nando sleeps on the high perch with the other two - these 2 chicks are friends and I am hoping she is in the nest box to keep Stella warm. 

The posh girls enjoying fruit loaf soaked in hot water for breakfast.

The advent calender is finished!   A joint effort this project - the Portuguese Housekeeper did all the cutting and sewing,  a rapidly tutorial on the sewing machine  for her and she did a great job at sewing all the pockets, and sewing it all together.   I finished off the little bits of glueing and then filled the pockets.   It is ready now for My Girl and the Portuguese Housekeeper to open the pockets for the next 25 days!!!! 

Lastly a health update - I think me and Mr Milly are now finally  and slowly on the mend after this horrid flu/virus thing we have had.  It has knocked us completely sideways  for almost a week, today we are both just starting to feel a little better - thank goodness!

One of those weeks

The week started with the bread maker not working,  then my laptop died a death,  next it was my mobile phone which has now decided it will not switch on and lastly it's me - I'm poorly! :(

The bread machine is now sorted  as you know - operator error!  The laptop is now working after finding a new charger  and Amazon swiftly dispatching it,  fortunately that was all that was wrong with the laptop.  The mobile phone is still not working which is very very annoying as I have only had it for 5 months,  so that one is stil to be sorted.

As for me - I'm dosed up on strong pain killers to tackle the blinding headache and ease the aches and pains and for the last three days have either sat on the sofa or been sleeping. - which is completely unheard of for me. And to top it all,  Mr Milly has now come out in sympathy and we are BOTH unwell.    Not a brilliant combination when we are both poorly at the same time, we are muddling through - taking it in turns to fetch the medication and make the occassional drink and keeping our fingers crossed that it will soon pass.

Crossing off the list

The list of Christmas to-do or to finish is still there.  Fortunately it is not growing at this time and I have managed to cross a couple of things off the list;-

Rag Wreath - this is now finished..BUT my sister in law has seen it and now wants one too!  That came off the list and the 2nd one is now on it!

Two make-up bags finished,  10 more to go....

Hat and matching wrist warmers - finished!

Two dishcloths - done!

 Note to self - don't add any further projects to the list!

Laptop

My laptop is broken......... complete nightmare!  I have all sorts of patterns, photographs, recipes, blogs, favorite links...  the list is pretty endless really of all the things on my PC and I am missing it.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get into a repair shop and see if there is anything that can be done.  So tonight I am using Mr Milly's PC, this will be a quick Blog post tonight with a better post tomorrow, hopefully!  And it looks like a milestone is about to happen,  Blog stats tonight are showing 1999 views of my little Blog since I started it way back in May!  That really is quite amazing!

We have had a minor saga this weekend.   Mr Milly baked bread on Saturday morning and to say it was a disaster would be an understatement.  A little flat pancake of a loaf was the result - and straight into the food waste bin that went.  Mr Milly then tried again and we waited the allotted time with bated breath.....  the result, a little flat pancake of a loaf - that food waste bin is now full of inedible loaves of bread.

We examined the recipe and did a double check - did everything go in?  Was the right flour used?  Was the right amount of water used?  Were the settings right on the machine?  On and on the checklist went - We really checked and double checked everything - the verdict -  The machine was broken.    

This morning I decided to try once more and set the machine underway. With very little hope that the machine would be OK, into the local shops we went looking for a new machine.  We looked in 3 shops at all of their  bread makers,  checked the boxes, made sure the control panels was in the right place for Mr Milly to see it and then took out the loaf pans to see what size and shape they were, eventually (about 2 hours later!) we decided on one and as the shop had a discount weekend it was reduced by 10% - back home we trudged with the shiny new machine.

The new machine is still packed in its box and will not be unpacked by us!  The reason - my loaf in the 'broken' bread maker was perfect!  Me, My Girl and Mr Milly stood looking at the perfect loaf in complete disbelief......  so back to the dissecting of Mr Milly's 2 failed attempts......  finally we found the culprit.....  When I said to Mr Milly use hot water for the yeast,  I meant hot and not the boiling, straight out of the kettle water Mr Milly had used for BOTH loaves....  the poor yeast never stood a chance and was killed off before it even reached the bread maker!   Oh well - back to the shops we shall go...................................

My Girl

Is home - woo hoo!  She is home now until the beginning of January and I am really excited to have her at home with us - I have really missed her!

I'm not sure that I have missed her untidyness - but I suppose that goes hand in hand with teenagers!  And she went away with very dark  brown hair and has returned with very blond hair!  It does look good - but I think it will take a bit of getting used to  LOL!

Anyway - just a quick post today as I have just returned from my two days away and am now really looking forward to mum - daughter catch-up time x

Panic.....

I thought I was really well prepared for Christmas and had started all the makes early enough.....  now I am starting to panic!!

We had a weekend away to Wales this weekend with some friends and family visiting time, which was lovely the weather was warm and sunny for the whole weekend which was a real treat in Wales and in the middle of November.

This has meant now that I am behind with what is still left to be done.   The house is filled with UFO's (UnFinished Objects!),  the Lottie and the raspberry beds is still unfinished and time is rapidly marching on..  I was in the East of the country for 2 days last week and 2 days again this week and with the weekend in Wales I feel like I haven't much time at home!

The current list of makes to be completed is;-

2 blankets - crochet
1 hat - crochet
1 snood - crochet
1 rag wreath - cutting, tying, crochet
12 make-up bags - sewing
pair of lounge trousers - sewing

And if that isn't enough, I am baking cupcakes tonight with an apron to be finished, all  for a charity day and fund raising at work tomorrow!!

No photos today - no time to take any or upload to Blogger............  photos to follow!

Bins

Courtesy of our local council we now have 4 bins in the kitchen.  You did read that right 4 bins!   One for recycling, one for compostables,  one for food waste and one for anything else that is left over.   We also have an egg shell bin. (The shells are baked in the oven and ground up and occasionally given to the chickens as calcium supplement - this helps with making great eggs and more egg shells!)

What a mission it is now everytime something is to be thrown away - what goes in which bin, is this compostable,  if not is it food waste?  Is this bottle recycling or general waste and that is for everything that is to be disposed off!

Mr Milly is fab at the composting thing and we have frequent debates about whether something is compost able or why I put something in the general waste...... I'm still learning this whole sorting the rubbish out malarkey!  Good job I have Mr Milly though as the Lottie does need a lot of compost!

As you know I am trying to save money a bit here and a bit there - driven by the change of lifestyle that I strive for.   Mr Milly is still learning this particular and new way of  thinking.  At times he looks at me like I have completely lost the plot LOL!

Some examples of this;-

• The kitchen basil is growing up across the window and blocking out the light - chop a load of it off and whizz in the food processor with a few other store cupboard bits and pieces - Pesto made.  Frozen in ice cube trays then popped out into a tub and frozen until needed.  (Recipe on my recipe page)
• Tomato puree - after opening a new tube, the remainder goes into ice cube trays and same as for the pesto frozen until needed.  This is good too as a single cube is about a tablespoon measure - perfect for popping into whatever it needs to go into.  I know it doesn't cost much to buy - but we always have to buy a new tube every time we want to use it.  More than 1/2 of it every time is thrown away as it can't be kept.  Not any more in this house - all of it is used and we always have some on hand when we want it.   Empty tube into the recycling bin.
• Stale bread - sometimes it becomes a bread pudding for the weekends or a bread and butter pudding for tea.  This is a good thing with homemade bread - it doesn't go mouldy as quickly as store bought bread and can be kept for a while before using.   Egg shells into the egg shell bin or compost bin, crusts into food waste bin.
• Custard powder - some of the very well know supermarkets have custard powder for 6p per packet - a true bargain and perfectly acceptable custard.  Empty packet in recycling bin.
• Dish cloths.  We used to use J cloths or supermarket equivalent.  Mr Milly really did think I had lost it with this brainwave.  I rummaged in my stash of yarn and found some cotton yard,  crochet hook to the ready and now we have crochet dish cloths with matching scrubbies.  No more buying cloths and enough in the kitchen for one in use, one in the wash and one in the drawer.  AND - Mr Milly is now converted and thinks they are great,  actually I really like them too!  Scraps of left over wool into the compost bin.

Bread and Butter Pudding and Frozen Pesto cubes



Crochet dish cloth and matching scrubbie!