Ring a Ring a Roses

Just a quick post to show you all how the patchwork is coming along. I love turning the roses over and seeing the handwriting on the cards.

We keep on trying to work out if we could put a plain row around the centre rose but we don't think it's possible. The tessellation (I love that word) then doesn't seem to work.

I'm also trying to decide on whether to have set patterned roses like the ones in the picture for just the centre of the quilt and then have the rest as just mix and match ones.

I'm going to try and do one and see what it looks like and if I can cope with it...I do like my symmetry as many of you know.

Hope you like the pics.

xBx

P. S. If any one has any old cards they don't mind being chopped up please feel free to donate them to me. I'm running out!

Baby Bunting

So here in our little white house on the hill we've been very busy making things for our wedding. My lovely mummy is doing lots of the big things in her slightly bigger house and here in my bedroom I've been managing to do the little jobs. The jobs where it doesn't matter if I fall asleep on the job! 

We've been collecting jam jars for several months now and I've been trawling the Internet to find lots of ideas for how to decorate them as holders for flowers and tea lights. 

Mum has made lots of bunting to decorate the garden and I've made some teeny tiny bunting for the cakes. I've decorated the jars with twine and my Auntie Topsy's old buttons and then I had the idea of putting some baby bunting on them too. What do you think? 

I like doing all this making, it is reminding me terribly of all the cutting out and gluing that I used to do in my 'past life' as an early years teacher. I woke up this morning thinking about baby bunting and the lovely story Each Peach, Pear Plum...plum pie for pudding this weekend me thinks!

Each peach, pear, plum, I spy Tom Thumb,

Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard,

Mother Hubbard in the cellar I spy Cinderella,

Cinderella on the stairs I spy three bears,

Three bears out hunting, I spy Baby Bunting,

Baby Bunting fast asleep, I spy Bo Peep,

Bo Peep on the hill, I spy Jack and Jill,

Jack and Jill in the ditch, I spy the Wicked Witch,

Wicked Witch over the wood, I spy Robin Hood,

Robin Hood in his den, I spy three bears again,

Three bears still hunting, they spy Baby Bunting,

Baby Bunting safe and dry, I spy plum pie,

Plum pie in the sun, I spy�..EVERYONE!

Boomerang Biscuits

Just a quick post.  I dont think I could feel any rougherer if I tried. My kidney pain has spread up into my ribs and I am not liking it...not at all! 

Anyway,  I think some of my readers don't believe that I actually do bake in bed.  I do...
As much as there are days where my body just wants to hibernate life goes on and I have to keep going.

One of Mr Lardshow' s friends has got a wonderful job down under and so to celebrate and say good luck we made them some boomerang biscuits. 

So back to the bed baking. I made it downstairs and collected all of the ingredients, propped my sore ribs up and used the heat of the electric blanket to help soften the butter.   Genius idea I thought...
So by the time Mr Lardshow got home I was struggling to ice the biscuits but they eventually got done.

Im quite chuffed with how they turned out . Thank you again to Weena Fish for the boomerang idea x ♡ x

Love Cat Love

I am not a mad sad cat lady I am just a lady with cats...
That's what I keep telling myself anyway...

I'm not feeling too great today, back off to the doctors later. Boo Hiss.

I've been trying to find some inspiration about what to post today, nothing exciting is coming to mind I'm afraid. Let me think...We got some fresh eggs, duck eggs! We got a new mattress (Heaven on a bed frame!) I appear to have started a cake club with my pain management friends and it's still raining here. That's it.

So because I have no exciting news I thought I'd post about the cats that fill my days with love, nibbles, snoring and nagging for food.

If you visit our little white house, within moments you will be greeted by Finn and if you are wearing black he will soon become your best friend, curled up on your lap, ready at a seconds notice to roll over and dazzle you with his whiter than white tummy. He's just this minute graced me with an extra special tummy rub...bliss.

 If you stay for longer and end up going to sleep he will climb up onto you, he's not fussed about where, normally the most uncomfortable spot for you and commence snoring. His snoring seems to have got louder and heavier since the introduction of the meat shelf into the house. Anyone else seeing a correlation there?

 Then there's Huckleberry, our little Bear. Finn gives his love freely and seems to know when you need that little bit of extra love. he's outstanding at knowing when my bad kidney needs a good pummelling. Berry however is more like the stroppy teenager of the family. She runs around like a mad thing, barging into rooms, miaowing loudly and then dashing off again...we think it's hormones!

She is the most beautiful cat I have ever met. I know I'm biased but honestly she is. She looks like she has a mask over her eyes and wears an off the shoulder black evening gown. All she needs is a tiara and she'd be all set for a night out on the tiles.

Because Berry is such a different cat to Finn when she does choose to give you love it just fills your heart with joy. You think, "She's chosen me! She wants to love me!" Over the years I've realised that it isn't that she doesn't want to be affectionate it's just that she wants to be affectionate on her terms and if that means some Berry cwtching on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night when you've woken up for a quick wee then so be it!

Finn waiting for the taps to be turned on for his morning drink. Note the grumpy 'I haven't woken up properly' look

I know that as you read this you will have been thinking 'sad cat Lady' and that's fine. I am a cat lady but I'm not a sad one. I think I definitely would be without them. I spend the majority of my days, in my house, alone apart from the telly and random phone calls from cold callers. My cats genuinely keep me going and I love them all the more for that.

Mash Lollipops

Hello all,

It's been a slow day here, I seemed to sleep through the morning. I say seemed, I did. It's taken me hours to get moving today, I seem to live my life in reverse, I wake up more as the day goes by. Much to Mr Lardshow's annoyance, especially at 11pm!

Anyway, the washing got done and it is out! I know people, out, and it still hasn't rained! Yet...

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find the energy to go back to yoga, I really enjoyed it last week and I really want to get some strength back in my weary, knackeredy body. Then, hopefully, Jill and Sandra from my pain management group are going to come over for some coffee and cake in the afternoon. Can you tell that talk form the dietitian had absolutely no impact on us whatsoever.

We're going to have this;

just out of the oven...

All iced up...I really want a slice...

Almond Tart. Don't tell Mr Lardshow though. He hates almonds. Shame isn't it. We are going to feel duty bound to eat it all up! I really hope they come, we were all talking last week about making links with others in the group and I'd love to find some people to spend time with during the long days.

Dinner tonight is mash, veg and a turkey steak for him...I didn't know you could have turkey steak but apparently so...I haven't really got the energy to make a fancy dinner, I managed to do the mash but that's about as exciting as it's going to get I'm afraid. Would you like to see the mash? here it is...

You just have to have a mash lollipop, it has to be done. How else would one know if it was perfect? Sadly one lollipop turns into seven and then there's hardly any left! 

I'm going to sign off now, there's gravy to be made and mash to be tested. One last pic for you all, this is our lovely, blissful little kitchen. 

The best present my parents ever gave me. 

Thank you xBx 

Olympic Dreams

Now I'm not sure if any of you out there are aware but there's something really special happening in this the year, 2012...yes that's right I will be competing in the Olympics! Have you picked yourselves up from the floor? Good, then I shall I continue. A few years ago if you were to have typed in my home town into Wikipedia and scrolled down to the bottom, under 'notable inhabitants' you would have read my name, Olympic hopeful in the 1.2 metre breaststroke. Oh yeah baby I had dreams!

But sometimes dreams change and you have to adapt. Sadly I missed out on the trials for said breaststroke competition and on a very dark day my dearest mother sat me down and said my Olympic dreams were over. I tried not to take this to heart but it was hard, all those years of training, all those swimsuits, all that talcum powder!

Yesterday I decided to believe that maybe my Olympic dreams could be realised again. After a bit of a sad, teary morning I decided to be brave and try and find a local yoga class. Since starting my Pain Management group I really want to get stronger and get out of the house a bit more if I can. The days can be very long in my little white house all on my own with just the two mad cats for company! Anyway, I found a class! I had a lovely chat with the teacher called Jean and she was so lovely, she laughed when I said it might take me longer to get up from the  'Downward Dog' than everyone else.

The lovely Mr Lardshow stopped off on the way home and picked me up a yoga mat (That means I've definitely got to go to the class now!)

And so with much trepdation we contacted the official Olympic commitee and told them I was back in the game. I have to admit, there was pure joy in their voices when they heard the news. afterall, I am a medal prospect and yes i am talking BRONZE here! The post arrived here mid morning and there was something extrememly special all packaged up for me. I am taking this as confirmation that I have got into the official GB Yoga team. 

GO TEAM GB!!!!!!

Little Candles

Last night I cleared away the bits and bobs that we'd piled high and filled the table room with candles.

I love the way the light has made rays coming out of the holders, like little rays of sun in our rain filled summer.

I'm tired today. I went to pain management this morning from 9:30 til 1:00 but I didn't get home til 2:00. It was really good today but the sessions are so long and it's excruciating sitting on a chair for that long. We had 2 speakers today who had done the course before and had come along to tell us how the course had changed their lives. It's very hard, only 2 weeks in, to imagine how it'll be able to make that much of a difference but I am remaining positive.
The best thing I'm getting out of the course so far is leaving the house and getting to spend time with other people. People like me, who understand why I sit in funny positions with a hot water bottle constantly attached to me! We did exercise today (I know, deep breaths!) and apparently we'll be doing that every week! Every time the course leader said the word 'exercise' I just kept on thinking 'CAKE'. I had a lovely giggle with one of the other girls on the course and it was lovely to feel equal with others.
So no cooking tonight, friends are coming over for curry. Nom! I can feel a nap calling me to bed, I've done too much, i clearly didn't pay any attention to the lecture we had on 'pacing'. I hope you enjoy the candles. xBx

Strawberry Cupcake

I did it, I baked, I jammed, I iced, I plopped a strawberry on the top, I got Mr Lardshow's camera and I had a go at taking some fancy, arty photos, I ate the cake, I rubbed my tummy, I went to sleep. It was good it made me happy.

Throw It All In Pasta

Hello my loves,
I'm still amazed every time someone says they've read my posts. It's truly doing wonders for my spirit. Thank you for continuing to read my ramblings (I fear this post may be very rambly)
So I'm struggling with my pain today, I've just taken some extra painkillers, I don't know why it takes me so long to take extra ones when I'm feeling worse. Silly. Stubborn. Girl. Yesterday's cooking was difficult too. Pain was bad and I found doing everything really heavy and hard. At one point I tried to empty the dishwasher sitting down...it didn't go well...
Anyway to the point of this post. As I was cooking tea last night it dawned in me that I really do cook like the three amazing ladies that inspired and taught me how to cook and bake. These wonderful women were my two great aunts; Aunty Topsy and Aunty Lena and of course my Mum. We were and are 'chuck it in cooks', we look at our food, we work out what will go together, what needs using up and then we add a good pinch of hope for the best! I can still remember shelling peas and slicing runner beans at the breakfast bar with them, I can still only peel potatoes with a knife, just like they taught me to.
Since allowing a meat eater into my home and his meat onto a shelf in the fridge (I know, GASP!) I have had to start working out what goes best with the meat that he likes to eat and also what we can eat together to make my cooking days easier. So far so good, according to Mr Lardshow who is always very complimentary (He's not daft, he knows the correct things to say) but I do struggle with not being able to taste what I'm cooking for him. As he eats his dinner, I sit there waiting for him to say it tastes horrid, or that I've put lavender in it instead of rosemary...I did do that once with Cath, Jo and some new potatoes.
And so to last night's offerings, chuck it in pasta. I like my pasta nice and simple. Tomatoes, basil, cheese and wholewheat spaghetti. That's it. (There are no pics of mine being cooked sorry, I was struggling to cook at that point of the evening and couldn't cope with doing photos too) Mr Lardshow likes his pasta a bit spicier and with MEAT! So I started his off by frying some chorizo and then adding some beef meatballs, the smell of this was not pleasant to me but it sent Finn into an outstanding display of excitedness, I do wish he had a volume switch sometimes!

Next I gradually added the veg, got to get those 5-a-day's into him somehow. I love chopping up veg, sometimes the knife has to be taken off me when I get a little bit too excited while chopping up the veg scraps for the compost bin.

Once all the veg has softened I add some tomato paste, cook it out and then I add a good splosh of passata. Once this has come to a nice simmer I turn all the hob rings off and go and collapse on the sofa until Mr Lardshow comes home. I try to get everything cooked and ready early in the day when I'm feeling 'good'.

And here's the final dish, nice and simple and gone in under 10 minutes!

Is anyone still reading? I'm cream crackered today, hope I feel a bit more awake tomorrow as it's Pain management course day and I really want to get the most out of it. I'm wondering if it would be acceptable to lie on one of the beds as soon as I walk in...

Ooh just as I was about to post this the phone rang, I stupidly answered it! Another bloomin cold caller, this one is offering me a grant. Does he want me to go back to university? Sadly I can't ask him as I've put him on hold under Finn. I've just checked, he's still on the line after 3 mins 43 seconds...I wonder if I can do better than my personal best which was just over 9 minutes! OOF cold callers leave me alone!

An Egg-celent Adventure!

Good Morning to you! I say morning, it is, I know, the afternoon. My body clock has gone a bit haywire since I started taking more of my tablets. I've been awake for two hours and I'm exhausted again now. All I manage is a quick potter downstairs and then I flop back into bed. Finn looks at me each time I return, climbs on top of me and gives me that look. The look that means "Why don't you just stay in bed with me?"

Anyway to the adventure. Adventure I hear you say? Yes ADVENTURE! Let me just clarify, an adventure for me is just leaving the house, nothing fancy like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, just putting on outdoor shoes! So last night after tea, we decided to go out for a drive to get me out of the house. We packed the car bag (full of emergency tablets, moisturiser and lipsticks), filled the hot water bottles and away we went. Mr Lardshow wanted to try and work out how to get to a pond filled with trees that he wants to photograph, we couldn't actually work out how to get there but we did end up going down a road filled with hidden farmhouses. As we were trying to find a place to turn round and head back home we noticed a box attached to the wall of one of the farmhouses. We stopped and opened the box that was covered in little chickens. Inside were little egg boxes, full of the most perfect, freshly laid, free range eggs!

It is the simple things in life that give me pleasure and you would not believe the giddiness that buying these eggs has given me. They are just beautiful. I cannot wait to eat them.

So now the big question is what to use them for? I've got my eye on the biggest one for my lunch today. Although it'll probably be afternoon tea by the time I get round to making lunch. Mr Lardshow spent the night trying to persuade me that we should have a fry up for tea tonight, I have taken to responding with 'hmmmm' when he gets these fanciful ideas in his head. 'Hmmmm' means 'Er, I think you'll find my love, the answer to that request is NO!'

I want to bake with them, I can just picture the yellow fluffy sponge that you would get from these little delights...Now if I can just stay awake enough to do it...

Mash. Mash. Mash.

So we had mash and it was good mash and it filled our tummies and made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I spilled most of it down me. This is my life, I sleep, I wake up, I think about what to cook, I cook, I eat, I spill, I wash.
Talking of washing, It has just taken me half an hour to hang the washing out. Beautiful blue skies when I started, spots of rain by the time I'd finished. Why does everything take me so long? Why won't it stop raining? I don't actually mind it not being hot I just hate having damp washing all around the house!
Right, back to the mash...I do worry that it's actually more butter than potato, but I'm pretty sure that can't be a bad thing can it? Butter's yellow so it must be good for you and after all I do have a B in Home Economics and I'm sure Mrs Hodge said butter is a five a day! Our mash has been revolutionised since we got a potato ricer. I would urge anyone who loves mash to get a ricer, they just turn potatoes into the most heavenly, buttery, pillows of love...deep sigh!
In other news I'm hoping to try and do some baking today if i can find the energy and stay awake. I haven't baked since hospital but I miss it so. I'm supposed to be increasing one of my tablets today but it's going to just send me to sleep...hmmm. If I do manage to bake I'm going to try and put a whole recipe up here. I know, exciting! Right I'm off to attempt some sit down ironing...

I have a wet shoulder

Good Morning My Fellow Bed Dwellers!
So, I don't think anyone but Mr Lardshow and I are actually reading any of this but I'm going to carry on regardless. I've managed to spend the morning faffing around making my blog look 'pretty'. I know, I know but it makes me happy and fuzzy inside. i love the patchwork quilt keeping my words all cwtched up and warm. I once tried patchwork, Mum and I bought lots of Laura Ashley material and I set to work...all those teeny tiny stitches were just too taxing though. Big, fat embroidery stitches are always going to be the way for me.

Anyway, to the wet shoulder...this morning after waking up Mr Lardshow by telling him it was 12 o'clock we braced ourselves to enter the chilly kitchen of love. We normally bump along pretty easily in the small room but this morning we bumped into each other left, right and centre. The reason for this I think was that I was trying to use the grill (I've never been a grill person) and also that I may have injured poor Mr Lardshow with my sock. The final bump resulted in lots of coffee going all over my shoulder and the floor! We did manage to make breakfast, I had my bread, tomatoes and fried yolk mixture...delicious!

So dinner tonight I think is going to be mash and yorkshire puddings and some veg for good measure. We've got the mash sorted perfectly, I could happily eat it until the cows come home. Mind, I'm not sharing it with them there cows...oooh No!

I'm feeling really positive about this blog, hopefully it will give me something to focus on, something to take my mind off the pain. At pain management the other day, I  felt really quite 'meh' I kept on looking at the ladies doing the course thinking this time 3 years ago i could have been standing up there teaching and now I'm just 'meh'. Well no more 'meh'! xBx