Time goes by so quickly!

I had such big plans for this blog...last February haha.

Well that didn't pan out.

It's nearly Christmas for crying out loud!

I have been SO BUSY! Particularly with the girls home-education planning, teaching, etc.

Well, so this L managed to get a grade 7 in her Maths GCSE and a 9 in her English Language GCSE (7 is an A and 9 is an A**)! We are so proud.  She also passed her Silver Arts Award.  We are now doing 4 more GCSEs this year, English Literature, Psychology, Sociology and Religious Studies, which she will sit May/June next year.  She's been accepted (subject to grades) into a local Sixth Form College to do A Levels in English Literature, Politics, Sociology and Graphic Design starting September next year.

B is still doing her A levels and will sit them in May/June next year, she's in the midst of university applications to do a Theology degree.

So, life is busy...although I have already said that haven't I? LOL

Weather has been cold recently, we've brought our very old little guinea pig (JellyBean) indoors (his partner Cookie died this year, so he's been a bit lonely).  Boots the cat is as crazy as ever.

So what else?  Well, I've joined a Christian writing group and will occasionally post my writing on my other blog (It's Ok to Fail...and maybe on here too.

Oh, I've also joined a book club, we had our first meeting recently and we read a Young Adult book called 'Places I've Cried in Public', we are now going to read Book Thief...which I need to buy yet.

Here are some pics from a recent walk, it was funny really I decided I needed to get out into the fresh air, I set off on my walk and discovered it was muddier than I expected...half way down a path my shoe came off in a boggy puddle and I fell sideways into a tree.  A man had to rescue my shoe *sigh

See! Muddy :D

Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies

I am by parts both fascinated and amused by evil bunnies in medieval art.

Upper image: unknown. Lower image: Liebres cazando hombres. Al margen de un manuscrito francés del siglo XIII

The usual imagery of the bunny in medieval manuscripts (and in most art to be fair) is of purity and helplessness and fertility.  Rabbits are symbolic of docility, fecundity and pusillanimity.  They're right there, at the bottom of the food chain, eating boring vegetation and scurrying into a hole at the first smell of confrontation.

However, deep within that cute, fluffy facade lurks a ruthless troublemaker just waiting for the right time to enact it's furry revolution.

Rabbit and Goliath, Pontifical of Renaud de Bar, France ca. 1303-1316 (Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 298, fol. 7r)

It's just the perfect mix of humour and whimsy.  I mean, who doesn't love a rabbit with a slingshot and what looks like a snake[?]? 😆

Update

I can't believe how quickly time has passed since my last post!

Home Education

We've been so busy.  Particularly with home education stuff.

L is doing 2 GCSEs this year (General Certificate of Secondary Education) these are usually taken in Year 11 when children are 15/16, but home educators often spread them out over a few years because of the high costs and the intensive work required.  L has already done a Law GCSE and a Biology GCSE at 13 and this year she will do Maths and English Language GCSEs.  Next year we  are hoping to do at least three and have already started work on Chemistry, Psychology and Sociology.

In the UK you need Maths and English to access most higher education and jobs so these are important exams.

The maths course is huge.  It's normally done in school over 3 years, but we're doing it in 8 months.  Hence the busyness.  I feel slightly nervous for her, but I am just praying that God helps us!

She just took a past paper and did very well on it, but she still has some topics to master.

The English course isn't quite as daunting as she is very good already, just needs to polish some skills

Bible Study

I really feel this year that I need to get back into Bible study,  it's hard to find the time but so worth it.  I'm doing an NT Wright course which I am struggling a bit with as it seems to go around in circles back to the same point all the time.  But I have got a lot out of it.

I'm also doing a Bible reading plan, but want to do some self-study.


Well, I'd love to say more but I need to get off the laptop as it's late here.

Hopefully I'll post some family photos soon.

:) xx

A Searching Heart - Janette Oke - Book Review

4 stars
I enjoyed this book, but it took me a bit to get into it.

It's a simple, wholesome story and I really enjoyed it. One could say that the references to faith were too simplistic, but this isn't a theological tome it's simply an enjoyable (and encouraging) story. Even though the pace is slow it kept me engaged.

It has some sweet romance and some heartbreak.

I liked the characters and I'll have to read the next in the series to find out what happened to Jenny!

SNOW! So excited

I get inordinately excited about snow.

So, as soon as the snow began to fall, the girls and I decided to go for a walk.

Here is our photo 'safari':

Good morning!

Boots has had a busy morning!

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Wonder - RJ Palacio - Book Review

4 stars

I didn't enjoy this book at first. I didn't like the style of writing. I found the characters annoying and somehow distant. I actually felt the deepest character was Via. I realise it *ought* to be Auggie, but it was Via that touched my heart the most, for some reason.

However, by about halfway in, I was totally invested in the story.

The final few chapters and the ending are very moving, but maybe a little rushed, in the sense that everything was pretty much nicely tied up in a lovely neat bow, all the issues 'resolved', and then it ended.

I sound a bit negative, but I think that is because my husband and daughter had raved about how it was the best book they'd ever read that maybe I expected too much and so I am basically wondering why I didn't find it quite as wonderful.

It is a good story and very heart warming, and I am glad it had a happy ending; and I'm glad I read it.

It was a happy Tuesday

Yesterday one of my best friends from childhood was over visiting.  She moved to New Zealand quite a few years ago and it was just lovely to catch up with her.

She's staying at her mum's which is over in the next village, and it's quite a pleasant walk from our house.  Because it was such a lovely morning we decided to walk over and meet her half-way.

It was such a beautiful, crisp day.

Happy Homemaker Monday [7th January 2019]

Visit more HHM posts at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

The Weather:

It is so mild at the moment - it's 8°C.  It was  very foggy this morning, now it's just soggy. Drizzle, drizzle and more drizzle.

Right now I am:

Watching football (soccer) with Hubs - Wolves vs Liverpool (Liverpool is Hubs' team)

Thinking:

About some jobs I need to do before I make tea (evening meal), about some homeschool stuff I need to sort out for the girls.

On my reading pile:

I've just finished Tom Wright's 'Simply Good News', my next two books will be Wonder by RJ Palacio and A Searching Heart by Janette Oke.

On my tv:

We've just finished Salvation on Netflix, which finished on a bit of a cliffhanger and they haven't picked up Season 3 - so I may never find out!!  The girls and I have just started watching Desperate Housewives from the beginning - they loved it!

Favourite Blog post this week:

I've been blogging for some time, from around 2005, and had a blog before this one.  So it's been fun revisiting old blogs.  Quite a few of my favourite haunts have stopped blogging now, but two of my faves have carried on.

Sandra - who runs this Happy Homemaker Monday link-up. I loved her recent post: Makes Me Feel Like I'm in Idaho (because her posts are always so beautiful and uplifting and because I have snow envy - I so want it to snow!!)

and Rebecca over at Emerube - her posts are always so much fun - WI Bucket List #39

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Mackerel, chips (fries) and mixed vegetables (trying to eat more oily fish due to low vitamin D)
Tuesday - Tuna and salami pasta
Wednesday - Southern fried chicken
Thursday - Shopping day - not planned next week's yet (my meal plans run Thurs to Wedss)

On my to do list:

Laundry -  reds wash next, I've washed all my blankets today
Homeschooling - planning work for the girls
Cleaning - bedroom, hall, stairs, bathroom and kitchen floors

Looking around the house:

Living room looks so bare since the Christmas decorations came down.  But it is clean.  I bottomed it yesterday.  Rest of the house needs some TLC.

From the camera:

Mmmm, bread!

On my prayer list:

For my hubby's hand, arm and shoulder - he has pain and numbness in his hand and has a hospital appointment this week for it.
My mum's migraines.
For my girls - various things.

Devotional:

"With God...the first and most important point was not to understand him but to trust him. The idea that you might begin by looking this God up and down, giving him a cool appraisal, and then, if you understood him and approved of him, you might respond to him, is to deny that he is God at all. If he is God, our primary role is not to analyse him but to worship him; it is not for *us* to figure *him* out but to let *him* figure *us* out. Yes, I know: this sounds like a leap into the unknown. But the alternative is a sure route to idolatry, making a god in our own image." - Tom Wright, Simply Good News.

Prayer Starter:

Father, help me to honour your name, to love you and to love people.  Protect me and my family and bless our home. Amen.

Simply Good News - Tom Wright - Book Review

4 stars

Simply Good News is a great book. Tom Wright has a very clear and easy way of explaining his viewpoint.

I ummed and ahhed about whether to give the book 4 stars or 5 stars. My only complaint would be is that it doesn't go deep enough, but then these books of Wright are specifically aimed at a more accessible format. Rule of thumb, if he is 'Tom Wright' the book is less academic/theological than books written under the name NT Wright.

Anyway, I've gone for 4 stars because it just didn't seem enough, I felt a little dissatisfied - like only getting the starter and not the main course.

My favourite chapter though was the last chapter, where he demonstrates by working backwards through the Lord's Prayer, how we have got our understanding of the Good News backwards. That really made me think and I would like to ponder that further.

Fave quote: 'With God...the first and most important point was not to understand him but to trust him. The idea that you might begin by looking this God up and down, giving him a cool appraisal, and then, if you understood him and approved of him, you might respond to him, is to deny that he is God at all. If he is God, our primary role is not to analyse him but to worship him; it is not for us to figure him out but to let him figure us out. Yes, I know: this sounds like a leap into the unknown. But the alternative is a sure route to idolatry, making a god in our own image.'

Making God in our own image

"With God...the first and most important point was not to understand him but to trust him. The idea that you might begin by looking this God up and down, giving him a cool appraisal, and then, if you understood him and approved of him, you might respond to him, is to deny that he is God at all. If he is God, our primary role is not to analyse him but to worship him; it is not for *us* to figure *him* out but to let *him* figure *us* out. Yes, I know: this sounds like a leap into the unknown. But the alternative is a sure route to idolatry, making a god in our own image." - Tom Wright, Simply Good News.

Spanish-ish Chicken

Yesterday evening I made Spanish Chicken...except it was a little different to regular Spanish chicken because I used Italian salami in it rather than chorizo.  So I call it Spanish-ish chicken.

You can do this all in one pot and just cook it in the oven, but I pre-fried a number of the ingredients because I started to make it a little late and needed it to be done quicker.

I apologise that some of the instructions are vague, I kind of 'wing-it' when I'm cooking...which is why I have a bad relationship with my smoke alarm I think! 😂

Ingredients
(amount depends on the size of your family and how much you like each ingredient - I told you I was going to be vague!)

Potatoes
Chicken (I used mini chicken breast strips)
Salami (usually chorizo...but I didn't have any)
Plum tomatoes
Onions
Peppers ('bell peppers' - I put half yellow, half red in)
plus whatever other veg you like (I put in some carrots, some spinach, and some mushrooms)
Chicken stock
Garlic - have it as garlicky as you like, I just put in one clove.
Paprika
Pepper
a little salt
Oregano

Method
*there is always method in my madness*

You'll need a large casserole dish.

Chop the potatoes fairly small, then par-boil like you would if you were going to do roast potatoes.  I did mine for 15 minutes (which is longer than a par-boil) because I love potatoes fluffy and almost falling apart.

Pre-heat oven (and casserole dish with oil) to 220C if you are in a rush for it all to brown, otherwise 180-200C is fine.

Drain potatoes and pop in oven for 10 mins - sprinkled with paprika and oregano, and pepper and salt to taste.

Chop up your veggies.

Pre-fry the onions, peppers and any other 'harder' veg for about 5 mins.  Then sprinkle with paprika and oregano, and put them with the potatoes in the oven.

While they are cooking in the oven, fry the chicken for about 10 minutes until it is almost cooked right through (as I said you can do all this in the oven but it takes a lot longer), add the chorizo (or in my case salami) for a minute or two.

Then add the plum tomatoes, mushrooms (if you are having them) and around 200 mls of chicken stock to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

Here's what my potatoes and veg look like by now:

Then add the chicken and chorizo (salami haha) in it's sauce into the casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika and oregano.

If you want to, you can add something like spinach.

Cook together until it is bubbling and everything is nicely browned...but not for too long if you have spinach, otherwise it will go like tiny shrivelled bits of algae 😱!  Don't let it dry out either.

It was SO YUMMY!

Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs!

This made me laugh.  I need to find many ways to weave 'great googley moogley' into my conversation.

Now, if you live in Lancashire here are some suggestions of my own:

*Shock - "Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs!";
*Anger - "Flippin' Nora!";
*Bemusement - "Yer Daft Appeth";
and my favourite,
*Frustration - "Standing here like piffy on a rock bun!".

Fun day and girly evening in...ish

We had a good day yesterday.  I didn't get as much housework done as I wanted to, but I did scrub and shine the shower cubicle, which makes me happy.  However, there the housework stopped because the girls and I had lots of very deep conversations about the world, the universe and everything and we got rather distracted.  B was revising her Religious Studies A Level philosophy work and that sparked a few conversations too.

Plato - thinks that he must be because he is thinking...😜

We then decided we would test ourselves on how many countries in the world we could place on a blank map...just because haha.

Before I knew it, it was 3pm and B was panicking because she was supposed to be meeting a friend, so I dropped her off there, then when I got home I did a quick tidy round and then it was time to take L out to meet some new friends she has made.  It was a birthday meal for one of these new friends.  It warms my heart to see her happy and out with friends. 

When I came home from dropping L off at the restaurant and picking B up from a local coffee shop, Hubs had got home from work and was waiting for a friend to pick him up because he too was going out for a meal!  

So me and B were home alone.  It was therefore necessary that we did something fun, so B decided that she wanted to make pancakes, we would put our onesies (all in one fluffy pyjamas) on, and we would watch Dumplin' on Netflix.

Dumplin' is a really sweet film about a girl who is very close to her aunt but not very close to her mother who is an ex-beauty pageant queen and who runs the local pageant every year with great passion.  Willowdean (Dumplin') feels she doesn't measure up to her mother's (or anyone's) ideal of a beauty queen and decides to sign up for the pageant as a kind of protest.  I won't say anymore, in case you want to watch it, but it's definitely a heartwarmer-type film.

B making pancakes, apparently this is what she is going to eat for breakfast all the time at university

It's good to spend time with the girls, I love them so much and can't believe how quickly they are growing up!

When hubs got home we had a good natter and then settled down to watch Salvation on Netflix.  We're on Season 2 and apparently it ends on a cliffhanger and they aren't doing another season! *sigh*

Bootsy enjoying Salvation

Have a lovely weekend!

Happy days

Hello blogland

I am so excited to be blogging again!  Like fun blogging, I mean.  I've been updating this blog for a few days with things from all my social media stuff and my other blog...so it looks like I've never been away!  It's been interesting, going back over all my memories.

So, how have you been blog-world?  I think many of my old blog-friends have stopped blogging, which is sad, I miss those days of yore.

One irritating thing is that in my blog posts from 2009/2010 all the photos have disappeared - I've started restoring some links but can't find my own private photos.  I have an old hard-drive that has digital photos stored on it, but it's playing up and I don't know where all my old photos are to restore them. *sigh*

Chilly morning

Hubs has gone back to work today, so it was an early morning for us and it was bloomin' freezing in the house, the thermostat had run out of battery and so the boiler hadn't come on.  Anyway, G sorted it out and then he was on his way.

I'm pondering when to take the decorations down, we put them up quite late so I'm not fed-up with them yet.  I could wait until the traditional 6th January.  Do you take yours down pretty much straight away or do you leave them up til the 6th January.

We had a lovely Christmas, but busy, we were either entertaining or out nearly every day.  Which is great, but I am a bit of an introvert in the sense that I need...NEED...to have regular quiet time alone in order for my brain to function properly!

Bible reading

Do you have a Bible reading plan this year?  I'm just doing a basic read from cover-to-cover.  I've done the chronological and find all the jumping about difficult.  I also did a 30 day Bible reading last year - that totally boggled my mind, some say that it gives you a great overview, for me I just started glazing over with like 2/3 hours of Bible reading a day.  So I won't do that again!

The girls

I'm home educating both L and B now, which I (and they) love, and we need to get back into a rhythm with that today.

L is doing Maths, English, Sociology, Psychology and Chemistry GCSE studies (probably going to sit the Maths and English this year), plus her Art including a Graphic Design course, her Friday Art lessons and an Arts Award, oh and she's working her way through the British Gymnastics Trampolining certificates, she's doing Grade 11 right now.  She already has Biology and Law GCSEs.

B is doing Business, Sociology, and Religious Studies A Levels.  She's already got Maths, Chemistry and Art AS Levels (1/2 an A level) but didn't want to carry on to A Level.

Plans for the day

Sort out my menu plans for the week.

Make a shopping list and then do some shopping - the Christmas food has finally run out!

Try to find those photos.

Make some more bread.

Happy days! 😀

Happy New Year

Happy new year!