Made it!

Finally, I got it made!  Boy, was it hanging over me after I posted about buying seville oranges here on the blog.  I had to go through with it!

It looks and tastes glorious.  However, its lack of structural integrity shows that a friend came round & I lost focus.  On the plus side, it means the kids can't over-jam their toast without it running up their pyjama sleeves.  My cunning plan all along, honest, nothing to do with my domestic incompetence.

Giveaway link

I have just found this very generous giveaway.  I have no idea how to do the button link thing.  So if you are interested in a creative e-course to explore your soul connection, this one might be worth entering.  This lovely blogger is unschooling her two children, with a beautiful blog full of honesty.

Ancient Technology

Today we went to an open day at the Ancient Tecnology Centre to play in a Viking long house, and storytelling in the Earth house.  All good fun.  Bini got to paint on a mud wall, Tintin got to run in the chalk quarry, and Roo religiously carried around 2 small bits of chalk for the rest of the visit. 
Again it was packed.  Half term certainly makes me wish I was homeschooling.  I looked into it initially but Bini was deadset on going to school and she loves it.  Tintin is currently not so inlove with school so it might be time to look into it again. 

Half term gentleness

Most of the way through the half term.  And what a wet one it has been.  Thankfully!  I really don't have the energy to go whooping it up.  So we have found small joys in walking in the wet, wandering down to the community cafe, watching Nanny McFee & Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium (both delightful films), drawing & painting, eating, baking pizza, visiting Grandparents.  I let the kids help me with menu planning the half term week, which threw up some interesting choices!  Today as a snack we had cut up jelly cubes.

On the weekend, we had Bini's first sleepover.  I finally ran out of excuses, so we faced the music.  Five giggling girlies overnight.  Popcorn & movie, dressing up, midnight feasts (at 8pm!), playing Barbies.  All very sweet really.

We managed a day out yesterday as it was finally sunny.  So it seems did the rest of the cabin-fevered half-term mothers around here.  The farm park we went to was completely packed!  A small walk away from the playpark bit was lovely and quiet. 



Whatch lookin at?



Bubbly good fun

After asking to do bubbles in the almost-conservatory, as that is the place I prefer them to do it in, Roo & I went and jumped around with a pot of bubbles.  Well, he jumped & I blew what was left of the mixture after he 'opened' the pot.  After the mixture got just too fluffy to make good bubbles we moved onto more bubble fun.  Bubble painting.  Its the first time I've done it with Roo.  He loved it.  And he only sucked it in a couple of times!  I love the paint effect you get on the paper with this technique.  He was interested in that a bit but the pure joy was in the blowing of bubbles and seeing how big he could get them.

baking on the weekend

Tintin did some baking last weekend.  He asked me if he could make some dinasaur biscuits whilst I was having our tea in bed.  I came down to a bowl full of something looking like pancake batter.  'How much butter did you use Tintin?'  'Oh I forgot to put any in'. 'What recipe are you following?'  He looks at me like I suggested he wear the bowl on his head.  'Of course I didn't, there isn't one!' 
So we went through a recipe book and decided on some shortbread.  It was so lovely to just spend some time with him, whilst the siblings were busy doing other stuff.  Mostly Cbeebies...

The shortbread was shortlived!  We had the last of it visiting the playpark in the pouring rain.  We were that desperate to get out!

Spring...

Oh boy. This marmalade bizniz is getting tedious.  It seems to have taken me forever to get into it.  Have fnally got it onto soak over night this evening.  We have had slightly poorly children this week.  We have a couple of days off. 

Today, however, has been wonderful.  Feeling better enough for a bit of fish-face supermodel posing...

We went for a walk in the sun and felt the warmth on our faces.  Found some snowdrops for the first time.  Played with the camera and took some pictures of them.  Then Roo stamped on them.  Testosteron huh?!


These are sadly somewhat trampled now...



A new friend for the allotment

This little fellow has come to join us down the allotment.  In a rather odd way.  I was at my 5 rhythm dance class & a friend said she'd bought it for someone but couldn't remember who.  No one else came forward to claim it so he came home with me.  She had grown it from a cutting from her prolific plant.  Hurrah! Here's hoping.  Its happily in its new temporary pot home, awaiting its new home.

Thanks guys!

I am feeling somewhat sheepish now.  Firstly at my missing the obvious solution to resizing the photos.  I knew that.  Didn't I?  I have used it for captions & centreing.  How'd I miss the size thing?  I have obviously hit it by accident & made it smaller.

Thank you for all your lovely comments.  They mean such a great deal to me.  It was the visual aspect of the blog that I particularly felt looked boring.  Not that I have alot of interesting things to say, but I am happy to bimble on with the writing, while finding my voice.  It is the lack of extra bells & pictures on sidebars and all that pretty stuff.  And the annoying feeling of not quite being on top of that technology stuff.  So I have spent this evening fighting that demon.  Playing with picnik.com and Picasa.  I managed to create a new collage header.  Am feeling rather proud of myself now!  Baby steps, Jacs, baby steps.

By the way, the picture on the bottom left is me with my birthday makeover given to me by Bini with tea in bed!  I was quite impressed with the job she made.  It was a bit full on for first thing, but a pretty good effort.  My friend Dell, who bought back Tintin from his Beavers sleepcamp, was heard to issue a couple of expletives.  On both my actually being up this early on a Sunday, and in full makeup!

Ever feel like you are fighting a loosing battle?  After giving myself a hard time yesterday for not having the energy to mop the floors I am now so glad I didn't!  These tracked from the front to the back door to the guilty culprit!  On the positive side, the conservatory is being plastered & looking almost like a room!

On a completely different note, I was also giving myself a hard time for my blog looking so boring.  I seem to be rather good at giving myself a hard time, especially if feeling under the weather!  I realised however that one of the reasons for this is that my photos seem to be rather small.  Anyone got any ideas how to make them bigger?  I am sure they were bigger before and don't know what has changed that.  Mind you, this is from a woman who managed in narcissistic error to follow her own blog, so my grasp of this technology is sketchy at best.  I seem to be blanking at HTML code for some reason.  I did actually have to do computer programming at collage, in Pascal, but appear to have repressed that ability.  I just want to press a couple of buttons & make these pics bigger, dammit!

Grey day Gratitudes

• This fever is passing quickly!
• I didn't visit & contaminate my ill friend (cancer)
• We managed some child-free silliness on saturday night.  Heroes & Villains birthday party

Beloved Husband & I as Highway Robbers

• My hard working worms have made this for me.

• that my kids can find some fab play even in the chaos of a small building site garden



I don't know why Bini's play usually ends up in leotards or tutu's, but I love it!

• Bini went through her overspilling clothes box, after 2 different sets of well dressed older friends gave her bags of clothes, and did a very serious & grown up cull.  It now all fits in the boxes.  Just.
• Epsom salt baths
• Hot water bottles
• The fact that despite my best efforts to keep the seville orange separate, with help from Beloved, they found their way to the fruit bowl.  Hilarious results.  But no marmalade. Yet.  It will be a smaller amount if & when it happens.
• My wonderful, step in to the breach, husband.
• And my sweet kids who put up with Mummy lying in bed being boring
• My great friend Dell, who took Roo off my hands on my worst day & picked up the other kids from school & even walked them!  And she bought me home cooked supper.  What a friend!

Lou, Lou, look what you made me do!

I have come to the conclusion that Blogland is a place not without its risks.  I read this post on Lou of Little Green Shed's post about making marmalade.  Now, making Marmalade was one of those things.  You know.  Someday.  But in the meantime, something that Other People did.  And I might buy it if they chose to sell it.  However, it looks like Someday has arrived.  Today at the Greengrocers, flaunting themselves at the entrance...

I felt like a teenager buying alcohol.  Like I didn't have a clue but trying to look nonchalant.  I clearly didn't fool the purveyor of these orange floozies, so I had to confess I didn't know how much to buy or really what I was going to do with them.  I have opted for a cool kilo, and now need to scramble my brain to the rescue.  Making marmalade?  Me?  Oh yes.  Time to get busy.  And find a recipe. And jars.  Oh my.  Dangerous place Blogland.  How long do seville oranges keep?!