March 10th 2015 - Making a new hide

March 10th 2015 - Making anew hide

My bearded dragon is growing!  This is good for him but not for me as the hide I made him from expanding foam when he was a baby is now getting too small and he can only get his head/front into it not all of him.

So I looked on pinterest for ideas to make him a new hide.  There isn't many but as I needed a pin for today I have linked to one of them. 

I had the box my smoke machine came in going in recycling bin, so I decided to use this for his new hide as its big.

I cut out the middle of the box as an arch so he could get in/out of it.

I then covered the inside in expanding foam, making sure that all of the edges and pins that hold the box together were covered.  The expanding foam gives a really bumpy/rock look when its dry.

I'm now waiting for this to fully dry so that I can add a ramp to it and then coat the ramp and the outside with expanding foam so that it all looks like rock.  I will update and add more pics once its done and then it will need to be painted with grey acrylic.

March 9th 2015 - Planting seeds

March 9th 2015 - Planting seeds

Yesterday afternoon, we moved some of the wood bark from the front garden to the base of lil mans planter as it has started to go to mulch/compost where it has got so wet etc.  We also filled the planter with compost ready for lil man to start planting his veg.

We also planted a tray of seeds, which I have today sorted out with labels etc, brought in and watered for him.  Not sure how well they are going to do but fingers crossed they start to grow.  We are 2 weeks in with potatoes but as of yet there is no sign of green shoots.

We have a row of lettuce, a row of rocket, a row of basil and a row of corriander - all of which apart from the lettuce our bearded dragon can eat.  I did buy carrot seeds as well but they seem to have grown legs and wander off from the shelf where the rest of the seeds were.  I will see if Aldi still has any at 19p tomorrow when we go shopping.

Lil man has also asked me to get some corn as he wants to grow his own of that.  Not sure where I get it from so I will be hunting the net later.

March 8th 2015 - Pheasant & wine

March 8th 2015 - Pheasant & wine

(apologies for  spelling mistakes explain in post)

This is something I have never tried in my 32yrs of life!  Not sure why, but have never tried it.  That was until tea today.

It all came about when my neighbour asked if we had we a spare shelf in the freezer over Christmas as she had no room.  We said we had and she brought round a few bits.  A few days later she came and got them and brought a few other bits - 1 of which was a pheasant - I generally commented that I had never tried it - she said that in new year she would sort out a date and cook them and we could go round for tea.

Well a few dates were discussed and either they were not available or we wern't or something happened on planned date etc and today ended up as dinner date next door.  We went round at 5pm as agreed and were given beer (me and hubby not kids) - they knew we drank it as had seen in recycling (oops lol!)  Never mind.  We sat drinking and talking whilst the veg finished off cooking.

We then helped serve the food - they were trying to be good hosts by putting all food in serving dishes - I told em to serve from saucepan as it saved on washing up. No point making a dish dirty for no reason is way I see it.

We moved to the lounge where their table had been moved to as more room than in the kitchen.  We had chicken as well as the pheasant (encase we didn't like it) and loads of veg and yorkshires and gravy both meats had been coated in paprika as  it crispens the skin and adds flavour (note for future).  This is where it got messy - we had white wine with the pheasant main meal - it was nice and i'm not really a wine drinker as I don't like the taste of it and it goes to my head.

Well I can safely say I enjoyed the pheasant, it sort of seemed like a cross between chicken and turkey - I can't really say what it tasted like but it was nice, I finished off 1/2 a pheasant to myself.  I was also surprised that I liked the taste of the white wine.  So all was going well.  I then finished off the remaining 1/2 bottle of white wine!

My neighbours had also been and bought cheesecakes for desert (which were lovely) and had bought red wine to go with desert - this wasn't going to end well lol!  The deserts were lovely, we also the cakes I made yesterday and took round as my Mum told me you don't go to dinner empty handed.  And me and my neighbour had 1/2 bottle of red which each - hubby had another beer and the neighbours wife had coffee.  I felt fine and was talking normally, that was until we left and the fresh air hit me, not to mention the spots on my stair carpet moving as I tried to walk down them!  This is why I don't drink wine as it hits me hard!

A good evening, with good food and good company.  I should no by my age not mmix drinks but never mind. lol!

March 7th 2015 - swirl cakes

March 7th 2015 - swirl cakes

Today's pin is 1 I have done before and that is make swirl cakes.  They are very easy to do, using normal cake mix (home made or shop bought) add nothing but what you need for the mix so it is still the creamy/white/lemon colour.  Then add the mixture to cupcake cases as you would normally but before you put them in the oven add a couple of drops of food colouring to ech cake and using a cocktail stick swirl the food colouring into the mixture so you get a pattern.  Then bake as normal.  Once they are cooked you may not see the swirls on the top of the cakes but you will when you bite into them.  I added a couple of drops of the same colours into the icing and added that to the cakes so the red ahve red swirl icing and the blue has blue. (see pics).

There is a reason for my baking and its not a birthday or party (well it is my friends 18th today but thats not the reason.)  Tomorrow we are going for dinner with our neighbours at their house, they are cooking pheasant (which none of us has tried) and a chicken encase we don't like the pheasant.  I was always told you never turn up to a dinner or party empty handed and as I know they are on medication I decided not to go for a bottle of wine but some cakes.  I will take 1 each round there for after dinner.

Heres my pics:

March 6th 2015 - New laptop tray (part 2)

March 6th 2015 - New laptop tray (part 2)

Back on 12th January I bought  a new laptop tray, however it didn't fit on my sofa as the legs fell down between the  cushions, so not much use to me, but hubby took it to use as he only has a 2seater sofa with wider cushions than my 3 seater.

A few days ago I ordered a new one for myself off ebay and it arrived today.  It is  the same as this 1 on pinterest.  It has adjustable legs that can can be locked in a variety of positions and heights.  The tray also moves height and there is a seperate mouse mat that you can attatch as well.  There is also a built in cooler which i'm not too keen on as the cold air blows right on my legs, but will be nice in summer!

Luckily for me this one fits on my sofa ok and is a good size.  The only thing I don't really like is the lip thats there to stop laptop sliding off is actually quite high and digs into my arms as I type.  There is no way to lower this, so I am thinking of finding a way to add foam or material to it to make it bit softer.

They did make this laptop tray in purple but it was over £44 and the black version which I bought was only £14!  Thats a big difference in money.

March 5th 2015 - 2 pins for 1 today (see post)

March 5th 2015 - 2 pins for 1 today (see post)

Today there is going to be 2 pins for the price of 1!  That is because  of 2 things - 1. it's world book day and 2/3 sons have gone to school dressed up and 2. I had a brain wave last night on how to do something that I need to share as it may help others.

Lets start with number 1 on the list.  Today is world book day, this is a great day that aims to raise awareness of books and reading and encourages children to do so.  Most schools allow the children to dress up as a character froma book.  My youngest decided as soon as he knew they were dressing up that he was going as Thomas the tank engine.  He was going to wear his dressing up playsuit of thomas but its very thin and most of the back is open (it ties at the neck) and  as the weather doesn't know what its doing at the moment (snow, hail, rain and sun all on same day 2 days ago) I told him to wear his thick thomas onesie, which has thomas from the top to bottom, not small pics or the writing but a big thomas (see pic). My middle son wanted to go as Hiccup the Viking (see FEbruary 26th and 27th) from How to train your dragon.  This proved a bit hared than the simple onesie, but I managed to make him it and everyone that saw the photo of himand stock image of hiccup said I had down really well.  (See pic).

 

I will also add the instructions for Hiccip to one of my very early blog posts about making costumes for book day and parties etc.

NOW for the 2nd part of todays pin, this is a how to by me as when I looked yesterday on google and pinterest all I was finding was shop bought or make your own with wire or dental floss of which I have neither.

This how to is about making a needle threader from a drinking straw.

On March 3rd I posted about making a clown wig from wool and a hat.  Things were going ok to start with, then after 1 row round the hat my finger started to really get sore from where I was threading wool into a needle.  So I got out my needle threader (for cotton as all I had) and after 3 strands of wool it broke! 

After going on google and Pinterest to try and find how to make 1, I hunted the house and hubbys tool boxes etc to see if I could find any thin wire (no such luck) and the strimmer wire was too thick for needle as well and I don't have dental floss in the house either.  Call it what you like but I choose the word FATE 2 drinking straws fell out of the packet that sits on top of my cupboards (or my boys use them 1 per drink and then bin them).  Well this got me thinking - straws are flexible I wonder if it will fit through eye of needle if squashed?  AND yes it does!

For this make your own needle threader you need a drinking straw, a pair of scissors and a big eyed needle.  It's very simple to do.  Step 1 - cut a small (1-2cm long) piece off the drinking straw.  Step 2 - thread wool into straw.  Step 3 - squash straw flat.  Step 4 - push the straw through eye of needle.  Step 5 - remove strw and needle is threaded.  Then repeat the steps for each piece you need to do - this is lots with this clown wig!!!

Step 1 top left, step 2 bottom left, step 3 top right, step 4 middle right and step 5 bottom right

March 4th 2015 - Family Learning course

March 4th 2015 - Family Learning course

Today is Wednesday which means I am back school for the family learning course.  Today the children didn't come and join us as OFSTED are in the school and its not fair to disrupte the classes more than they already are.

Once we were all there in the library and everyone had their coffee and biscuits, Ruth explained to us that the children wouldn't be joining us and why.  She then told us that we were all going to do some creative writing and write our own story.  She  gave us some pictures of doors as the promt for where our story would go and the starting line of the story.  I chose this door (very strange that I found the exact one on pinterest! Fate is what I call it).  And I proceeded to write my story.  (see below for my full story.)

After we did these we talked about nouns, pronouns, verbs and adverbs and played a few simple games linked to them.  One of the games was a version of consequences where we each wrote one word, folded the paper and passed to the  next person to add the next bit.  Most of them didn't make much sense.  We then had to used the categories to make a 4 word sentence but had to use alliteration where each word started with the same letter.  I wrote 2 they were "many monkeys marched madly" and "small shapes sang slowly."

We then did a worksheet linked to the above, on it was a few short sentences that we had to make more interesting by adding nouns, verbs etc.  One of the original sentences was "The fox had a tail", edited I made mine "The fierce red fox had a long fluffy tail". 

OFSTED came into where we working and asked if they could join us for a few minutes, alot of the parents on course suddenly had "the don't come near me" or "you cant see me" image and stance.  I personally had nothing to hide to so answered the questions one of them asked me and showed my folder of work that we have done over the weeks to the other to look at.  Whilst they looking at my work they are not making notes on what we're doing nor are they asking questions!

It was a shame that the children were not able to join us today but we did get alot of work done.  The work the children were meant to do has been sent home with us for them to complete if they want to - mine WILL be doing it as they wanted me to go on this course to help THEM.

Next week we have a lady fro Dove Cottage (William Wordsworths house) coming to talk to us and apparently this does involve us dressing up etc, so should be fun.

My Story written in 20minutes today:

(First line given to us) I stood silently, looking at the door.  With a slow creaking sound it opened.  Taking a deep breath I walked inside..... Having slowly climbed the eight stone steps I had no idea what I was about to face.  I fully opened my eyes to see where I was and where this door had taken me.  To my supprise it was a magical land in all shades of purple.

The flowers wer all purple and of every variety you can think of, the leaves on the trees seemed  to change from purple to silver as they caught in the sunlight.  It was beautiful and a sight you would never forget.

There was a path off to the right which I followed, and after walking for a few minutes a sign appeared infront of me and it read "This place is whatever you wish it to be, it wont be the same for anyone."  And with that it vanished.  I kept walking and could see a sparkling pool of water, this intrigued me so I went towards it.  I thought it would get bigger the neared I got but it stayed the same size.  I looked into it but couldn't see anything, this wasn't normal water!  I leaned abit further to see more closely and as I did I was pulled into it, but I wasn't wet as I expected.

All around me was swirls of purple and as I started to spin panic took over.  I wanted to get out of here and back to the flowers.  Before I knew it I was stood back beside the now closed door and the sea of purple flowers was infront of me.  This sure was a strange place, i'm not sure if its real or just my imagination.