browsing

while i was blogging tonight i came across this lovely blog called Silkie Sues, why not pop along yourself and take a look!  Silkie Sues Christmas Giveaway.. and as you can see for yourself she is also having a little giveaway too. I would have put a button on the side but i still havent managed to figure that one out yet, if you know then let me know. Ta x

 

mummies little helper

Today Bear helped me in the kitchen. I have  delayed  doing this for a while, just with everything that has been going on in my life at the moment i just havent had the time, but today is the day that me and Bear made some MARMALADE!!!
You have just got to have marmalade on toast for breakfast no other jam will do for me.
I have been saving all sorts of jars just for this day, only thing is im not too sure how many jars i need.
I have to be a little bit honest before i start  iam not making marmalade from scratch i have a little assistance from a tin of ma made. For those who are un sure of what this is, then i shall let you know. Ma made is a tin of  pre made marmalade so it saves on all the fiddly bits of peeling etc all i have to do is follow the instructions on the tin and add water and sugar, so i have to admit it is so much easier.

Here is the pot with the ma made, sugar and water.



Once the ma made, sugar and water are all in the pot we had to stir continously till it started to boil.

Bear was very good and ever so helpful. He was actually getting quiet excited by it all.

So there he perched on the top of the cooker, yes i know health and safety doesnt look good but i was with him all the time and believe me when i say he sat there as good as gold.

As you see from the photo Bear was ever so good and he stired it so nicely, so we took it in turns, till we reached the next stage.



Once it got to boiling point we had to  turn the heat down a little but still keeping it on the boil, we had to do this for a further 15 mins. When the 15 mins had past we then had to test it, im sure alot of you already know this but you have to put abit onto a saucer and leave for 2 mins and if when you put your finger through it and it ripples then you know your marmalade has set. Ta ta!!!

Next me and Bear  let it cool for a few mins then we could pour it into the steralised jars that we did earlier.

And as you can see i made a few jars out of this 1 can of ma made. All i have to do now is to put some covers on the lids. 2 of the jars are going towards hampers that im making up for xmas presents, along with the marmalade i will be putting in some more homemade items like homemade lemon curd and xmas cakes. Yum Yum.
You know you get so much pleasure in making you own stuff whether it is edible or not, but to know that other people enjoy your homemade delights is the icing on the cake.. 

The great escape

While sitting in one room today watching abit of Sunday tv, me and the family heard our little whirlwind Chewy the cat. Chewy has this habit like all cats i suppose if of being fascinated by our pet gerbils Fred and Ginger. He often sits on the top of their cage looking down on them, and wondering why he cant get  to them, when all of a sudden we heard this comotion in the next room. What on earth is going on i thought so i said to Cameron just go and check on what Chewy is doing. All of a sudden Cameron comes back into room saying ' the gerbils have got out the gerbils got out' oh god i thought this has happened once before and it didnt end so good as my eldest two found out the hard way.
First thing was to make sure that Chewy very quicky gets removed from the room. Thankfully we got to him before he got to the poor litle gerbil! So out he went, and the next thing was to find this poor frightened little gerbil. Out he popped so i picked him up and gave him a quick check over before putting  him back. He was so lucky.
I dont know how Chewy managed to undo the top of their cage but for now they are both back safe and sound.

Ginger after his Great Escape!!

cast away

On Wednesday hubby  had to return to hospital for his first appointment since being discharged 2 weeks ago. I have to admit we were both abit anxious about what they may say or do.
When we went into the side room the consultant who i must say was a very lovely young man told us that we will take a look at the leg first so off we went to the plaster room. The consultant did warn me though that it wont look pretty so just be prepared if i wanted to go in with him, and also that it could take up to 16 weeks before the leg even starts to mend so i think we are all in for the long run. Anyway after abit of a wait and after much thinking i thought be brave it cant be hat bad so i stayed.
Well off came the plaster and the bandages and slowly his leg was reveiled to me the first time since his accident. This is ok i thought, considering he looked abit like Frankenstein as he has two very long cuts on either side of his leg which goes from his knee down to his ankles. So i sat with him for a while sitting there for about 10minutes looking at his leg so i could deal with everything that was going on.
Oh but then just as i thought i was ok with it all, i just started to feel just alittle hot and abit sick, so i thought as suggested by the nurse that i would sit and wait outside the room.
Well 40 or so staples and so many stitches later i returned just in time for him to get his leg plastered. This time hubby decided to go with this colour!

blue

The question is what colour will he have next as i dont know whether you know or not but they come in all the colours of the rainbow!

My daughter has suggested RED

My oldest son likes GREEN

And Bear seems to like the colour BLUE

I think personally that PINK would be a good one he he!!

So the question that we are going to put to you bloggers is what colour do you all suggest? let me know what you think.

His plaster will be changed on his next appointment in 4 weeks time, so another trip to hospital right on top of xmas hey ho, we know how to spend a good xmas in this house.

All the colours!

Its getting to that time of year that we start celebrating christmas. 
Every year here where i live they hold a Festival of Light at the church, where different groups and businesses put up a tree. I suppose its one of the ways how our little community all gets together to do something special.
I thought i would share with you some Xmas joy!





This is the tree that my family put up for the Local Nature Reserve that my husband Wardens, even though he is still layed up in bed it was still worthwhile putting one up as it makes people aware of the flora of the reserve.

 On the tree instead of normal decorations we put up pictures of all the butterflies and insects etc that we found this year at the reserve and a little note about what  the reserve is about.







you might just about see a label that says bag it and bin it, this is a campaign that we have at the reserve to encourage people to pick up after their dogs, so far so good its seems to be working!





A business called Creative Balloons put together this one!



This little pink one was done by the brownies

The font looks fabulous

This one is done by the village allotments groups

A local farm that produces lovely fresh meats done this one

You may like this one as it has been put together by the village sewing club

The sewing club ladies made this lovely Angel and the wonderful little owl!!

Theses white wreaths were made by the guides, apparently they used white bin bags! Im all up for recycling!

So many people have worked so hard on their trees this year. Its amazing every year to come to the church just for this one weekend in the year for you just to lose yourself  and to forget about any worries you have even if it is just for a while.
If by any chance you also want to remember the people that you no longer have with you then there also is a very special tree in the church for you to remember them by writing a message and the popping onto the tree. Very sweet and thoughtful and such a lovely idea x

I do hope you enjoyed my festive journey x

Thankyou

Me and my hubby would just like to say a huge thankyou to you lovely bloggers for your very kind messages that you have left.
Please can anyone else let me know if they have had any problems posting comments on their blog or other peoples blogs, as i tried to leave a comment on mine but it just came up with there is an error. Its so frustrating after writing something then it doesnt get posted, then you forget what you wrote, so you have to start all over again.....

Poor Old Man!

Its been a long couple of weeks. Hubby is now at home after being told if he came home he would have to have total bed rest. So out came the sofa bed as he can't get up the stairs, and even though we have a downstairs toilet he can't even make it there!
He has to just lay in bed resting his elavated leg.

hubby in full leg cast..

I am totally  at  his beck and call all he needs now is a bell of some sort and he would be sorted!

I find it amazing, how on earth do us humans keep going when everything else around us keeps falling apart.

Ive got to keep positive next year will be a better year, the leg will hopefully eventually mend ok and we will be in happy days again.

One thing though that does have to change is smoking. The docters have told my beloved that he has to stop smoking or he could still lose his leg. So he has now got everything patches, gum, inhalators bad moods, grumpiness  and of course a great BIG pain in the arse. No he really isnt that bad...

Like they say when you get married for better and for worst etc