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!