week 9 ... more sunshine this week but still pretty cold ... and thats this weeks weather report! haha!


come on Spring, where are you?

so over the last week I have been making some little hanging owls. they are all slightly different, different button eyes and slightly different colours.


they look great hanging anywhere in your home and I have decided to keep the very first one I made as I think he suits our little cabin!!


they measure 11cm x 7cm and are all hand painted in fabric paints so totally washable. They are painted on the back too and the beaks are stitched.


they are £4.50 each and can be made to order and in any colours you would like! just message me :)


I will be listing them in my shop, folksy shop and on ebay over the next few day so please check them out!

whenever I make a trifle I make 2 ... one for Steve and one for his parents. Its a really easy pudding that makes you feel like summer!

3 trifle sponges or some sponge cake
tin of mixed fruit or some berries
1 jelly
custard
whipped cream
optional
hundreds and thousands, crushed flake or cherries or another topping.





Directions:
Break up the cake and place in the bottom of the bowl.
Drain the fruit (if its tinned) and place on top of the cake.
Make a jelly and carefully pour on top of the fruit and cake. Leave to set in the fridge over night.
make custard and pour on top of the jelly, leave to set.
Whip the cream and put on top of the custard.
Sprinkle on your topping, hundreds and thousands, a crushed up flake or cherries are good. 


roll on summer!!

stress, worry and panic attacks ... 3 completely different things, but people often cunfuse them ... even stress and worry are very different. I haven't had a panic attack for a good few months now which is great, but I have been thinking a lot recently about the long lasting effects my breakdown 3 years ago, has had on me. My health was not great before as I have suffered from chronic glandular fever since I was 12. But I used to have a pretty good memory ... it is cr*p now. I need to be reminded all the time of things that I need to do or shopping we need to get, I have to write a lot of lists ... and no this isn't just age and getting older, its a change that happened suddenly

I have wanted a slow cooker for years as my mum has always raved about them and was lucky enough to get one for Christmas. So I christened it this week and made a rice pudding. I decided to go for something simple to start with ... and it was really simple!

110g (4oz) pudding rice
55g  (2oz) sugar, granulated or caster
25g  (1oz) margarine
1.2l (2 pints) milk, whole, semi skimmed or skimmed
optional
1/2 tsp cinnamon or 1 tsp vanilla essence





Directions:
Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir.
Put onto high and cover.
After an hour stir again and leave for another 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
Serve with a little jam, syrup or honey or on its own.

It turned out very yummy and I am looking forward to trying out some other slow cooker recipes!

week 8 ... can you believe the sun has actually shone this week ... between the rainy windy days there has been the odd moment of sunshine!

Dan Brown DIGITAL FORTRESS
I always forget how easy to get into Dan Brown books are, the seem pretty daunting as they are always thick and I wonder if I am actually in the mood to read them, but after the first chapter I am engrossed and stuck in! I do wonder if I have read this before as there is a vague familiarity about it ... not sure if that's just cos Dan Brown books are like that or if I have?!

Set over a 48 hour period (again as Dan Brown books tend to be) it follows the lives of a few people trying to stop a program being released on the internet. There are many twists and turns and towards the end I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed it but not sure I would bother reading it again (or is it 'again-again'?!)

week 7 ... we woke to snow!

Timber and Dilly had great fun! Dilly has always loved snow, and although we had a light scattering yesterday, todays was thicker and so was Timbers first real snow experience and he loved it too! (as he should!)

its very hard to take a photo of Dilly as she won't stop still long enough, but Timber was happy to just lie there ... he was facinated by the crunching sound my boots made in the snow!

week 6 ... it snowed this afternoon!


I love the cosy look of the smoke coming out of the pub below us!

as kids we were bought up on flapjack ... there was always a box full in the cupboard and all my brothers still love it ... I am a bit more indifferent to it, I only really eat it if I am desperate for something sweet and there isn't anything else in the house ... I do love it raw though ;) I think its just because I had so much of it as a child!

that doesn't mean I don't enjoy making it though and luckily Steve loves eating it :)

its very simple if you have never tried it before.

340g caster oats
170g marg
110g sugar
110g syrup
optional
raisins, cherries, chocolate chips




Directions:
Melt together marg, sugar and syrup.
Stir in oats and other optional extras. Mix well.
Grease a baking tin and press the mixture in.
Bake for 15 mins 360F/180C/gas 4.
Slice when still in tin and remove from the tin when its cold. 





happy baking and flapjack eating!!

I saw a while ago on someones blog a post they did every week called reasons to be cheerful and I thought it was a lovely idea ... now I come to do it myself though I can't remember where I saw it so can't give her the credit ... sorry!

I have had been a bit of a downer this week, probably because I am tired from chasing a puppy around and being woken in the night by a wolf howling! ;)

so my reasons to be cheerful are ::

1. SLEEPING DOGS ... ALL AFTERNOON!


ok, so Dilly's not a sleep in these pics, but thats cos she heard me getting my camera ... but she is no bother anyway ... it's the little wolf rasckel that needs keeping an eye on, so an afternoon of sleep meant I could get a lot done!

Timber loves sleeping on the sofa and stretching out ... isn't he cute!

2. HOUSE-TOILET TRAINED PUPPY! after a few intense days, we have pretty much house trained him, I can't believe it ... I really thought it would take a few weeks.




3. TIMBERS DIARRHEA IS A BIT BETTER :) he is still not completley better, but it does make cleaning up after him sooooo much easier! Not sure if thats cos he is now a bit more settled or if his tummy has got used to the change in food.


they are all a bit doggy/puppy related aren't they?! well thats cos thats my world this week!

hope you are all having a good week and are cheerful! x

we have had Timber-Alasky for 4 days now and boy does he make me realise I was very lucky with Dilly-dog. She didn't cry for her mummy when I first got her, she only chewed one chair leg, she had some house-toilet-training and I don't remember her biting me ... I did get her in July though, so it was sunny out side so house training was easier!

.... Timber on the other hand ... well everyone says its practice for when we have babies ... I would rather the babies!! ;) ... haha! no, he's not that bad! he is in fact the cutiest little wolf cub I have ever known (he is the only one too, but that does not take anything away from his cuteness!) ... look ....


Steve's sister got a little black cocker spaniel puppy a month ago and we saw her again yesterday ... she has grown so much in the last few weeks and so much reminds me of dilly-dog and Gracie but she is still tiny compared to Timber who is the same size as Dilly (a fully grown cocker spaniel) and he is a week younger than her! His size does make you forget that he is only 12 weeks old ... that he is still a very young puppy.

He has the sweetest cuddly nature ... he loves cuddles, he loves following you around and unlike dilly who's paws make a bit of noise on the floor, his are so furry that you don't hear him and are constantly tripping up over him. He curls up by my feet while I am washing up and every time I look down he is gazing up at me ... I must admit my heart does melt! He isn't really house trained and he seemed pretty scared of the outside. The poor little mite has had really bad diarrhea too, we are hoping its just change of diet and stress from the change in his life and nothing serious, but we are keeping and eye on him. The first night we used an old fire guard and penned off the side of Steve's bed. Poor Steve had to keep his arm in the pen, stroking his head, or he would howl! not the most comfy night for Steve :( the next day we managed to get a cage for him from the paper ... its 3 foot x 4 foot so will fit him when he is full grown too ... unfortunately (or fortunately) it won't fit in our bedroom, so he is taking up the hallway (we can't use the front door at the moment!!) The first night in his cage, he howled ... all night ... and this is no ordinary howl ... Steve has had many dogs before and he says he has never heard anything like this before except on tv ... this is a wolf howl ... the next night we moved Dilly's bed next to him and he only howled for 2 hours (only!!) last night we put a ticking clock on top of the cage and guess what it was 5 mins of howling!!! whooo!! we have been feeding him in there so he thinks of it as a nice place to be (also helps with greedy-chops-dilly from not trying to get his food!)

I left him today in his cage for an hour while I popped to the post and shop ... I could hear him howling through the car window when I got back, but Steves dad just said he didn't howl the whole time, which is good! When I got back I had a cuddle on the sofa with the two wooflets ... one on my left and one on my right ... there is nothing like sleeping dogs right! haha

his fur is just like wool ... its a double coat and every part of him seems to be covered in it ... his ears are like velvet and the inside is furry too!

Dilly dog is quite happy to have him around ... except if there is a chance that he will get food that she should be getting or first thing in the morning when we have a cuddle on the bed ... she isn't sure about that either, but the rest of the time she plays with him and licks him and doesn't seem to bothered about sleeping next to him too. (I seem to remember she was the same with my sister in laws puppy, Gracie ... suddenly became frantic about food and didn't like Gracie on my bed)

I never thought I would be sharing my home with a wolf but I wouldn't change him!