The Bookworm

The weather ... back to more of the dull, grey autumn weather after a cold weekend. It was frosty here, but some parts of the country had snow. Thinking of all my American friends who are in the path of hurricane Sandy. One friend just posted on Facebook that they have been warned to expect their power to be out for a week. I can't imagine! I am old enough to remember the power cuts and three day week of the seventies, but have never known a power cut lasting more than a few hours. The girls are so unused to anything more than a momentary one that when our power went out for 30 minutes several days ago they were quite panicky - they couldn't get their heads around the concept of not having electricity at all!

I am wearing ... Black and cream floral tunic, black cardigan, black skinny jeans, black boots.

I am reading ... The Happiness Equation. I'm still ploughing on with this, though I can't say the economics of happiness is grabbing me. I may give up.

I am creating ... Another Bedford jumper, in cream Aran this time. I had to unravel my painstakingly knitted Aran cardigan for last winter due to the weight loss. I intended it to be generously sized, but it had turned into a sack so I decided to unravel it and repurpose the wool into something I could wear. I'm also knitting a pair of cheerful socks for a friend.

I am listening ... Christmas music which Marie and Rose have latched onto on Spotify. No point in telling them in isn't even November yet.

I am watching ... Downton Abbey. Only one episode to go.

I am enjoying ... my birthday presents, in particular a pair of blue suede, wool lined Converses. Toast for feet, and in much demand from the two daughters hose feet are the same size as mine. Also enjoying the mug Marie had made for me to take to work, with the slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On Archiving".

On the menu ... it is half term and the girls are home from school. That means we are out and about and random numbers of people turn up for meals. No point in menu planning this week. I'll just take things as they come.

Learning notes ... Rose has asked if we can do experiments. Will have to see what I can come up with. Maybe a vinegar and bicarbonate of soda volcano?

On the calendar ...
Monday: going out for a meal with a friend tonight, and Tevye is going to take the girls to a cheap carvery
Tuesday: Helen is working at the gym in the morning, then going to an induction session for her new job. Marie is planning to sleep over at a friend's.
Wednesday: band practice. No work for me - I'm taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off to spend time with the girls.
Thursday: doing something with Marie, but I'm not sure what yet. Rose is going to a friends for a tea party.
Friday: Tevye is also taking the day off. Eating out as a family, using up some Tesco clubcard vouchers.
Saturday: going to a fund raising murder mystery evening put on to raise funds for a "Second Skin" for a colleague's son who has severe cerebral palsy.
Sunday:

A picture from last week ... the main course I made for our round-the-world meal last week. Helen was the only person in when our neighbour called with the back of country names for her to pick one. She picked Egypt. Eek! My ideas on Egyptian cuisine amounted to zero. Thanks to Google and Food.com we ended up with beef in a rich onion sauce, green beans in tomato sauce, leeks (apparently in Roman times Egypt was known for producing the best leeks - who knew?) and rice. The starter turned out to be Croatian wild mushroom soup, and the dessert was pumpkin pie and blueberry pie. No prizes for guessing that country!