Happy Homemaker Monday

For more HHM visit Sandra's blog

As I look outside my [Mum's] window:::

(I'm at Mum and Dad's - if you read the post prior to this you'll understand why.)
It's a little brighter than it has been.  Not much to see out of Mum's back window where I'm sitting, her garden.  We did see Mr Blackbird a little earlier, he sometimes brings Mrs Blackbird.  They are such pretty birdies.

Right now I am:::

Typing this in my Mum's dining room.  A cup of coffee sits near by.  I've just finished some ironing and now it's time for a little blog surfing.

Thinking and pondering:::

About my Granddad who still needs prayer, and also the work being done on my bathroom.

On my bedside table:::

My Bibles. Effortless Change by Andrew Womack.  On my Kindle I have Praying God's Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds by Beth Moore.

On my tv tonight:::

Not sure.  I've recently watched Death Comes to Pemberley, that was fantastic and also The Other Pompeii, which is about a town called Herculaneum that was also wiped out by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Listening to:::

Mum and Dad talking about fireworks, which was sparked by my talking about Vesuvius, LOL. And the hum of the washing machine.

On the menu for this week:::

EASY PEASY!  I'm not making any foods from scratch this week I'm afraid.  Whilst the bathroom is being done I am not in the house much, so I will get back to my 'Journey into Enjoying Cooking' when it's all finished.

On my to do list:::

Today to catch up on some laundry.  To read through my notes from Bible College.  Take Squidge to gymnastics and Chatterbox to her church group.  Clean up after the workmen doing the bathroom at home.

Plans for this week:::

Bible College.  Catch up with an old friend from my previous church tomorrow. Keep on top of things whilst the bathroom is being done.

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

Nothing at the moment.

My simple pleasure:::

Watching my cat sleep. There's something so relaxing about watching a cat sleep.

Lesson learned from the past week:::

Not to go off into flights of imagination about all the things that can go wrong in a certain situation. I say this to myself when I give in to anxious thinking: "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (2 Cor 10:5)  It brings great peace the more I say this to myself.

Looking around the house:::

I'm not at home right now.  But at home there is building equipment everywhere and DUST!

From the camera:::

Because I'm at Mum's it's difficult to share much.  But here's a photograph of the front cover of the Sunday Times.  It's terrible. How photoshopped is the woman portrayed?  Her waist is as thin as her head and her arms are like toothpicks!  And yet one of the subheadings is #fit not thin.  Total contradiction. This sort of thing makes me so cross.  Chatterbox tells me that girls in her class at school are taking slimming pills!  None of them are overweight.  The media creates this myth of a woman who is impossible.  I tell my girls often about the lies.

Ridiculous eh?

Prayer List:::

Granddad.  Please pray.  He's so frail and tired.  He has a chest drain in and hasn't eaten for days.  He's being drip fed, but please pray for a full and swift recovery; but, most of all, pray for his salvation.  He needs Jesus.  We all do.  Thank you.


Bible verse, Devotional:::

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Cor 10:5

Have a very happy Monday!

Bathroom work, weekend, and update on Granddad

We are having our bathroom done finally.  But it's not been easy.  Our plumbing is old and complicated and our bathroom is small.  But in around 10 days all the work should be done.  I'll post some photos when it's all finished.

I'm blessed to have my mum and dad living close by so that we can use the shower and also just be at their house because it is SO cold at home because the heating has been turned off whilst they work.

Boots (the cat) is not impressed AT ALL.  All the banging and strangers in and out of the house has totally stressed her out.  Poor puddy-tat.

So right now I'm at my mum's, I've just done some ironing, had a shower and put a load of washing in her washer.

G came back yesterday from a trip to the Lake District for a friend's stag do (that's a bachelor party for my USA friends).  They did clay pigeon shooting, carting, paintballing, walking and biking.  He was exhausted, LOL. But he certainly got plenty of exercise! :)

Chatterbox has gone back to school today after time off sick.  Poor thing.  She's still not 100%, but well enough to go back I think.

I visited Granddad yesterday.  I didn't take the girls up to see him because of Chatterbox being poorly.  I waited in the hospital café whilst my mum and dad went up to see him. The plan was for mum to come down after a while and sit with the girls whilst I then visited Granddad.  It was quite cold so I ordered a coffee for me and hot chocolates for the girls.  They came in those cups with lids and stupidly I said to the girls to take the lids off so that the hot chocolate would cool quicker. Instead what happened was Squidge spilt hers all over the table, Chatterbox, the floor and her hand. It scalded her hand.  So I ran over to the chap behind the counter and he got me some iced water and some napkins to put on her hand.  I cleaned up and tended to Squidge's hand and it soon was fine again.  After about 15 minutes Mum and Dad turned up to take me to see Granddad.  I said to them, "You'll never guess what L's just done?" And with those words I demonstrated...far too well.  I spilt my coffee everywhere, including all over my new coat!  Well, we did laugh.  I said to the chap running the café, "I bet you rued the day we came into your café!"  Hoist by my own petard. LOL

Anyway, Granddad is not doing great, his chest is awful.  He has a drain fitted.  He's also not eating.  He looks so frail and he's so tired.  Please continue to pray.  Particularly for his salvation. Even if he comes through this he may not have many years left.  I'm so grateful for your prayers and love

So, that's where I am up to with things.  How was your weekend?

Friday's Fave Five #265

I'm joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and sharing my five favourite things from this week.

Visit Susanne for more Friday's Fave Fives

1. Bible College

I started my first week at Bible College.  I'm loving it already.  The full course is three days a week, but I can only do two as I care for Grandma on one of the days.  But that's fine.  At the moment we are learning about the Book of Zechariah, Book of Philippians, the Father Heart of God, and Fruits of the Spirit.  It's a lot to take in, but very enjoyable!

2. Getting my bathroom done

We are finally having our bathroom done.  When we moved into this house thirteen years ago the bathroom needed doing, and here we are FINALLY getting it sorted.  We are just having a very simple white suite and tiles.  It'll be lovely not to have that old blue suite anymore...or water intermittently coming through the kitchen ceiling!  I can hear the workmen banging and crashing away upstairs.

3.  The Pearl of Great Price

I have always understood the scripture about the Pearl of Great Price as being directed at us being the ones who seek out the Pearl.  But this week I attended our Ladies Night at church and we learned that WE are the Pearl of Great Price!  I think the scripture can be interpreted both ways, and to be honest I was rather dubious.  I wondered about it.  But then yesterday a chappie at Bible College taught about the Father Heart of God and guess what he said?  Yes, WE are the treasure in the field, WE are the Pearl of Great Price!  Either that is a great coincidence, or God is trying to tell me something. LOL

4. My Children

Every week I realise just how much I love my little girls...well Chatterbox is 12 now and Squidge is 9, not so little anymore.  They are beautiful, funny and so precious.

5. Spring Flowers

We've been very blessed not to have suffered from particularly bad weather like a lot of the UK has suffered in recent weeks.  It's been very wet - rain, rain, rain - but I've been able to get out into the garden and plant out narcissi, tulip, snowdrop bulbs and some primroses.  We've had no hard frost either.  I do want some snow though, not as bad as has been suffered by areas of the USA but just enough to go sledging, build a snowman and for the girls and G to get snow days away from work and school. :)
----------------------
Update on Granddad:
He's had a scan and it seems he has an infected gall bladder, which may mean he doesn't need an operation just a course of antibiotics.  Please keep praying.  He has a bad chest too, pray against pneumonia - always a danger in a man his age (95) who is stuck in a hospital bed.

Hugs.

For prayer

Please pray for my Granddad.  He's been taken into hospital with severe stomach pains. He has a blockage in his intestines and needs an operation. It's his 95th birthday tomorrow and he's quite frail.  Please pray for complete healing, safety through his operation, comfortable respite, and also that he come to know that love and peace of Jesus Christ.

Thanks.

Poorly Chatterbox and other tidbits

Chatterbox has been off school today.  She's got sore throat, headache, sore nose and tummy ache.  She looks so pale poor thing.

It was my first day at Bible College today and fortunately my Mum and Dad were able to look after her for the morning whilst I was out.  She lay on their settee playing games.

Bible College was fun.  There were three speakers today.  The focus was firstly about the counterfeit things the world and the devil offer us compared to the truth and wonder of God.  Then a chappie spoke about fruit of the Spirit and then another chappie taught some from Philippians.

Last night was fun too.  We had a ladies evening at church.  The topic was the pearl of great price and then afterwards we all got creative and made cards or bookmarks with all kinds of pearly and sparkly pretty things.

Right now I'm glad I have an easy tea to make because I am so tired.  Getting back into the swing of early mornings again after the Christmas break is always a bit of a shock to the system!

Someone's living the life of Riley!

Hope you're having a good day!

Blessings.

I remember those days of yore...

...when Mum would look after me if I was ill.  Happy days.  But, I wouldn't do anything to change my new role, I'm the one looking after my poorly Chatterbox. Poor thing, she has a sore throat and tummy ache.

Ooh, shiny computer screen!

Good morning! Some more cooking

Good morning.  It's a grey day here.

It's back to school for the girls.  I think they have done all their homework. We had a slight panic this morning when we couldn't find Chatterbox's blazer.  I've paid for music lessons and school dinners.

Squidge's 'Learning Log' task this holiday was to design a modern sleigh for Father Christmas.

Bit of a shock to the system this morning getting up at 6.20 am. We won't be back into a routine for a few weeks though.  I start a course at a local Bible College this week and we are having the bathroom done.  At the moment we have a delightful (NOT) blue suite and regularly have leaks coming through the kitchen ceiling!  So I'm looking forward to a) having a lovely new bathroom; and, b) having a working shower!  Our shower is currently one of those hose type attached to the taps held on with cable ties.  Classy! :)

My Bible study course doesn't start until Wednesday and the chappie doing the bathroom isn't coming until Wednesday.  So today I'm hoping to get as much cleaning and washing done as possible; I also have some errands to run, like drawing some money out for their dancing lessons and Squidge's gymnastics.

Some more on my Journey into Loving Cooking.  On Saturday I made a beef stew in Guinness.  It wasn't to a recipe, and I couldn't taste the Guinness, but it was pretty tasty.  I think next time I do stew I will attempt dumplings.  I will look up how to cook in ale and still be able to taste it.

Anyway, I had some...stew 'juice'? 'gravy'? 'roue'? left,  I put it into the fridge and used it on Sunday in some homemade mushroom soup.  Again, not from a recipe.  I chopped up the mushrooms very small, added some water, milk and some cream cheese.  It was very nice with bread.  It could have done with being slightly creamier, but as I didn't do it from a recipe I think it went well.

Homemade mushroom soup

Sunday evening I made some pizza dough and then the girls and I made some pizzas.  They were delicious.  Except I used Cheddar cheese which is a bit too greasy for pizza I think.

My pizza dough is doughing...it grew to twice this size

I have since watched a video to see how to make one's pizza circular :)

Presentation could be better, but it was yummy!

I've learned a few lessons:
1. Use recipes more for success!
2. Don't put the dough to rise in the bowl that you used to mix the dough, when I took it out there were dried bits of dough stuck to it.  But it wasn't a big problem.
3. I need to start meal planning.  I do plan meals at the moment, but because I don't do a great deal of cooking from scratch I need to be more thorough to make sure I have all the necessary ingredients.

I think I'm doing well so far.  I've not burned down the kitchen yet. :)

Colour amidst the grey

It's cold, grey and damp today.  But I've managed to get out into the garden and hopefully we'll get some colour here and there.  My winter pansies are fading a bit so we need a bit of colour.  After planting out my narcissi daffodil bulbs that I'd saved in my shed I was itching to get out again and plant some primrose, snowdrops and tulips that I'd bought with my Christmas money.

Unfortunately, this photo is a bit blurred (I took it on my mobile phone camera), but it gives you an idea.

Today is going to be catching up on ironing whilst watching Pretty Woman and taking down the Christmas decorations

The house is fairly peaceful, the girls are busy and G is out at church helping with some sound equipment.

Yesterday's cooking went well (if you don't know I'm doing a journey into loving cooking!).  The fajitas were lovely.  I made my own spice mix with cornflower, cumin, paprika and chilli powder...no cayenne pepper because the girls don't really like food that is too hot and spicy, I also added some garlic, red and green peppers, and mushrooms.  We had guacamole and salsa (not homemade!), cheese and lettuce with it.  Delicious.  I might try my hand at burritos next time, just need to get the right beans, etc.

A journey into learning to love cooking - Day 1, well Day 2 actually

My name is Sarah, and I'm a mum who doesn't like cooking. *Sigh* quite an admission here in blogland. :)

From here

I like nice food.  I want my family to be healthy. I love my family and want the best for them. But me + cooking don't get on.

I have mageirocophobia - haha.  I just love a new word.

I'm not sure why I don't like cooking.  My mum never really seemed to enjoy cooking, she dislikes the fact that everyone is elsewhere chatting and enjoying themselves and she's in the kitchen cooking.  But she always cooks really nice meals.  I kind of feel the same, I like to be with people and it can be rather a lonely job.  My ideal would be to have a kitchen/diner with room for comfy seats so that I can be with the family when I cook...but right now that's not an option.  So I'll just have to suck it up. LOL

My other issue is attention span.  Here is a transcript of a typical conversation:

G:  What's that hissing noise?
ME:  I've no idea
[smoke alarm activates]
ME: Oh poo, I forgot, I was cooking.

I've burned frozen peas, yes frozen peas. I forgot to put water on them.  Forgetting to put water into a pan is a common problem.

My other issue is oven gloves.  I burn them.  I've had to evacuate the house a few times, twice for oven gloves and once for a grill tray handle that I had detached and put under the grill.  I worked for a few years in a school kitchen and I am renowned as the only person to have ever burned a hole in an oven cloth. :)  Amazing that they ever let me loose on the deep fat fryer!  G bought me some fire-proof oven gloves and I have burnt them.  It's a gift.  He's threatened to get me some welders gauntlets as a last resort.

It's the attention span, I'm rather like these dogs from the film Up! SQUIRREL!



I can be cooking away, someone says something to me and I totally forget that I am cooking awakened only by hissing and spitting sounds from the kitchen, or the smoke alarm going off.

Cheese on toast is a great problem.  I have actually sat staring at the grill pan whilst the cheese on toast cooks, I've drifted off into a daydream, and it's set on fire in front of my very eyes.

Anyway, 2014 is the year I'm going to start loving cooking...maybe.  I've set up a couple of cooking programmes to record for some inspiration - one is Jamie's Money Saving Meals and the other is The Taste with Nigella Lawson.

SQUIRREL!

What was I saying?...

Oh yes...

Day 1 - was actually yesterday.  We had homemade vegetable soup for lunch and roast chicken dinner for tea.

Day 2 - we had a quick lunch because we were going out, I just made eggs on potato waffles.  For tea I'm using up the leftover chicken to make some chicken fajitas.

So, have you had a good day? It's been cold, wet and miserable today.  I want to plant out some primroses, tulips and snowdrops.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better for that.  I'm planning to take down our Christmas decorations today or tomorrow too.

Here's to Sarah Super-Chef!

Day 2 of 2014

What have a done today?

Well, today I had an appointment with the dental hygienist.  Exciting, life on the edge type of stuff you know. :)  I'm not a huge fan of dental work, even simple hygiene work.  I spend the entire time trying not to gag or choke.

I've finally (and rather lately) planted out my daffodil bulbs.  Squidge and I ventured out into our soggy sodden garden to plant them out.  I'm praying we don't have a hard frost for a bit to give them a chance!

Chatterbox went up to Malham Cove with a friend today, so the rest of us had a...fun...ish...time emptying the shed and taking a load of stuff to the tip.  I've been on a real 'life laundry' thing at the moment and just want to throw everything away. The shed was full to overflowing!

I've done my weekly grocery shop.  Bought some pretty towels and tea-towels from TK Maxx with some of my Christmas money.  Now I'm blogging and roasting a chicken with various veggies and honey roast parsnips.

I've never really enjoyed cooking.  I haven't the temperament - I'm forgetful and impatient.  So things are either burned, I've forgotten to defrost something...one time I forgot to make an evening meal at all, or, I overestimate/underestimate the time things take to make/cook.  I find being in the kitchen boring.  BUT one of my goals for this year, is to eat healthily and to eat more things from scratch and to GET OVER hating cooking.  Maybe I'm a lost cause, but I am determined! I WILL ENJOY COOKING probably. I will share my successes, and, if I am brave, my failures. LOL

Here are a few fun photos from the last couple of weeks:

Chatterbox looking like a little [storm] trooper - she's quite the Star Wars fan

Put a box in the middle of the floor and the cat will sit in it

Photobomb!

The girls opening their presents on Christmas Day - can you see the cards on my fireplace? They'd all fallen off over night!

Success!

Here are my honey roast parsnips, a spoonful of runny honey, a little salt & pepper, mixed with some olive oil, smear over parsnips, cook for 30 minutes.

Yummy!

Hope your New Year has started well too! :) x

Plans for the future, and a bit about last night and today

I have made some New Year resolutions 'hopefuls'. I usually shy away from making fixed resolutions because I verge between perfectionist and phenomenally disorganised (not great bedfellows).  So, I've made lots of plans, but I am remembering that a) I need to allow myself to change my mind or let something go because I'm fickle a free spirit [ahem]; and b) that God warns us in James 4 not to make strict unbreakable plans because who knows what tomorrow will bring. So my plans are not so much set in stone, as set in putty. LOL :)

I have the usual plans to eat healthily - at least 5 portions of fruit & veg a day; drink more water; exercise for 15-30 minutes a day; get on top of the housework/clutter; and, generally be absolutely awesome!

Today has gone a bit awry, Hubs has been called into work to deal with a leak - boooo! The girls have gone with him so the house is quiet, which is nice really.

I've done a load of washing, cleaned up the front door, made a batch of carrot and coriander soup, done a spot of shopping at the supermarket and now I'm blogging! :)

We had an interesting evening.  The teenage girl next door invited some friends around and the noise was deafening it was like there was a herd of elephants running up and down the stairs with the boom of music in the background.

We went to bed about 1 am and I put my earplugs in to try to get some sleep.  About 4 am my earplugs had worked their way out and I could hear an almighty argument going on next door with lots of choice language and screaming.  G was awake so I asked him what was going on.  Apparently mum had returned in the early hours and started screaming about the house being wrecked.

We get up this morning and there is glass and beer cans all over the street, one of our neighbour's fences has been kicked down, there's glass in people's gardens, and bizarrely tea lights strewn across our lawn!  Praise God there was no damage to our house.  We saw the mum and her daughter claims her party was crashed by some boys and they wrecked the house.  Oh dear.  G helped one of the other neighbours sweep up the street. If it was up to me I'd have made the girl whose party it was clear up!

I don't think we've ever had a quiet new year. One day I'll have a house with really quiet neighbours! God willing!!

We plan to get the house ready to sell this year.  We're having a new bathroom put in (our old one is falling apart and we have intermittent water coming through the kitchen ceiling as a result).  I've also started bits and bats of decorating.

So, do you have any 'resolutions' or plans for the year?  Did you have a quiet new year or a did your new year start with a 'bang'? :)