This Week: 24th September 2012

The weather ... "Wet and windy with gales and some very heavy downpours" (BBC Weather)

I am wearing ... Grey trousers, black v-neck sweater, black cardigan (need an extra layer!), pink handknitted socks (my favourite pair, need something to brighten up a grey day) and black boots

I am reading ... just finished To Romania With Love by Tessa Dunlop. Not sure what to start next.

I am creating ... Bedford sweater for Marie. On a knitting roll this weekend and have done about 8 inches of the body (knitted in the round, bottom up) since Friday. It is a quick and easy but effective twisted stitch pattern

I am listening ... the sounds of the girls getting up, which is what I should be doing!

I am watching ... Downton Abbey and The Great British Bake Off. I horrified addicted friends at work by saying I had never watched Bake Off. I watched. They are right, it is addictive. Tension, blood (ewww!!!) and an array of yummy desserts.

I am enjoying ... taking soup to work for lunch instead of salad.

Learning notes ... Rose's teachers seem to be working a new system this year. Her class does literacy, phonics and numeracy daily, but they are doing other subjects in weekly blocks. The first full week of term their topic was geography (life in other countries), and last week it was science (healthy eating). I wonder what it will be this week?

On the menu ...
Monday: chicken stir fry
Tuesday: chicken steaks and chips
Wednesday: cauliflower cheese and potato wedges
Thursday: honey mustard chicken pasta
Friday: veggie chilli, crusty bread
Saturday: baked potatoes?
Sunday: roast lamb, roast potatoes and parsnips, other veggies

On the calendar ...
Monday: need to go clothes shopping on the way home from work. Got out winter clothes at the weekend and I am short of clothes that fit!
Tuesday: ballet for Rose; emergency orthodontist's appointment for Marie whose braces broke yesterday.
Wednesday: Yom Kippur, so Tevye will be at the synagogue all day; after school recorder class for Rose; work for Helen; band for me - think the logistics all work out with Tevye not around, but I'm not entirely certain!
Thursday: swimming for Rose; work for Helen; maybe orchestra for me?
Friday: evening with neighbours - we were all away at the same time (us cruising, one set of neighbours in Spain and the other doing Disney in Florida with their nephews), so we are going to have a catch up evening to see each other's photos and drink wine
A quiet weekend?

A picture from last week ...
Rose taking a picture of me taking a picture of her taking a picture of me! The cute panda phone case is Marie's. Photo taken while we were at a Chinese restaurant for lunch yesterday, celebrating my mother's 85th birthday.