December 9th 2015 - Christmas cookies

Tonight at St John Ambulance we are going to be decorating some Christmas Cookies.  This pin of tea cakes into Christmas puddings is just 1 of the things we are doing.

To make a Tea cake Christmas pudding like this:

You will need the following:
chocolate teacakes
white icing (or melted white chocolate)
red icing balls (or red icing pens/red sweets)
green icing leaves (green icing pens)

They are very simple to make: 

Take a tea cake and unwrap it carefully.  Place the foil wrap pattern side up on the plate and place your tea cake back on it.  Place a spoonful of thick white icing on the top of the tea cake and let it drip down the sides.  Add 2 of the red icing berries and a couple of the green icing trees as holly leaves in the middle.

Another  thing we are going to be doing is decorating gingerbread men:

 You will need the following:

Gingerbread men (pre-made)

white icing

chocolate buttons

decorations for face - sweets/icing pens etc

Take a gingerbread man and some icing and place on top.  You can use the icing balls (assorted colours) as eyes, mouth and nose or choc drops (baking).  you can use the icing balls or chocolate buttons as buttons.

The third thing on our decorating list is gingerbread reindeers:

You will need the following:

gingrebread men (pre made)

icing pens

red icing balls

green icing leaves

chocolate button for nose

Take a gingerbread man and turn it upside down so that the head is facing downwards.  Using small amounts of icing draw antlers in the "leg area", turn the "arms" into ears and then add a face using icing balls or choc drops (baking) and a chocolate button for a nose.

The last thing on our decorating list is melted snowman biscuits:

 You will need the following:

 digestive biscuits

thick white icing

icing pens

white marshmallows

 

Take 1 digestive biscuit, place a blob of white icing on top of it, stick a white marshmallow at one side.  Add 3 buttons (icing balls (assorted colours) infront of the head.  You can either use the icing balls or icing pens to make the eyes and nose and mouth.  Scarf is optional as are the arms.

Hopefully it should be a good fun night for them all and they make some lovely snacks to take home.  The ideas may also give parents ideas as what to do over the holidays.

December 8th 2015 - Beauty & the Beast

My local community centre organises day trips for the local residents during the summer holidays and then at Christmas to the Pantomime.

Tonight was the Christmas Pantomime.  A local theatre group were putting on a production of Beauty & the Beast.  Over the years I have seen most of the pantomimes - Jack & the Beanstalk, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Mother Goose, Snow White etc but I have never seen Beauty & the Beast.

It was brilliant.  The boys sat and watched it and joined in.  Sadly myy lil man ended up going home with Daddy at the interval as he was going hot n cold, shivering, very pale and felt sick.    I was not able to take any photos though.  However 2 of the cast were running around with a selfie stick taking photos of them and the audience.

December 7th 2015 - Sofa bed

I have been saying for a few months that I need a sofa bed for when friends and family come to stay rather than them having air beds on the floor.  This was ok in theory but the biggest issue (aside from paying for it) was where were we going to put it.

Well the kids kept fighting at the dining room table at meal times, it was used as a dumping ground for anything and everything and caused more arguments than it was worth.  So I did what all "normal" people do - saved up for a sofa bed, dismantled the table and put it in the shed and put the sofa bed in the dining room!

I didn't just want any old sofa bed, it had to be lather or faux leather  so that it matches my main sofas.  I did look at the one that was the same make and range as my sofas but it was dearer than the actual sofas cost so I didn't bother.  But I did find a nice £495 one reduced on ebay to £114 so I got it.

It arrived today and after much trying we managed to get it built.  It has opened up the dining room area no end, and will provide extra seating at parties etc.  Plus the kids can use it with the folding card tables for meal times.  AND it is open between the base and the floor, so we are going to get some under bed storage boxes and put lil mans train set there (well what he's not using of it anyway).

December 6th 2015 - Christmas Cards

I have spent today writing out my christmas cards so that they can be posted tomorrow or tuesday.  I just need to finish adding address's to them.

They are not like the picture but it was the best I could find.  I didn't realise how many I had in a bag and then remembered I bought loads in the sales.  Oh well the kids will use about half of them for school friends.

December 5th 2015 - Flooding

We  decided to take the boys to the local farm even though it was cold and wet. 

Along the way some of the roads were starting to flood in places, but were still passable if you went through slowly.  We got to the farm and the road into it had big puddles and the world and his wife also had the idea of the going to the farm in the rain as it would be quiet!

Well the boys went to see santa and the reindeers and played in the soft play area and the rain didnt stop.  We had dinner and let them play some more but at 1:30pm we decided that we would leave as the rain had still not stopped and we didnt want to get stranded due to the flooding.  So we left early and got half way back when we hit stand still traffic and cars stuck in deep flood water so we had to turn round and find another route.

We could not get any internet signal so we were unable to get the satnav to work to help us find a way so hubby pulled into a petrol station and asked for directions.  The way we were advised to go did get us home eventually.  We followed a milk tanker for many miles and this was pushing the water out so we could follow easier.  Then we met a fire engine that was on its way to pump out, when we got home it was actually on road we had passed.

We had to stop about 20miles from home as we had a catching sound on the wheel.  So we pulled up and hubby had a loo and it was the"mud guard bit" in the wheel arch that had come off.  He couldn't fix it so rang the rac.  They came out and cut the plastic off so we could get home.

Due to the flooding the usual 1hr trip home took us over 3hrs.

We are actually really lucky that our house is up hill and very unlikely to flood.  Some people in the local areas are not as lucky and parts of the area are under 3ft+ of muddy, dirty water.  And there is more to come.

December 4th 2015 - Mould and mildew

Due to the weather being cold and wet outside and the house being nice and warm the windows are all getting condensation on them.  This inturn is turning into dots of mould and mildew.  As and when we are seeing it we are cleaning it off.  But this isn't stopping it coming back.

So I bought a bottle of mould and mildew remover.  I have applied this to my windows and cleaned it off and it has worked so far which is good.

fingers crossed it stays that way.

December 3rd 2015 - Touramaline knee supports

I was reading a blog post a few days ago that was linked to crystals and healing.  It said that Touramaline is a good gem for healing the body.  I had also found some Touramaline knee supports that said they were good for healing.

I bought them and they arrived today.  I have been wearing them for a while and can't say after a few hours that I notice any difference but I am guessing that long term they may help.  But I will have to wait and see.