40 Trash Bag Challenge: Week 2 and 3 Update

Running a bit behind on my 40 Trash Bag Challenge (week 2 was not a success!), but I managed to get rid of another six bags over weeks 2 and 3, making a total of eleven:

4 bags of books

1 bag of old magazines and catalogues

2 bags of clothes

1 bag of old shoes

3 bags of toys, games and puzzles

Simple Woman's Daybook: 22nd February

Outside My Window ... a cold winter evening with the remains of today's snow on the ground. It snowed non-stop all morning, but quickly turned wet and slushy.

I am thinking ... how nice it is to have some energy back. Lots of cleaning, tidying and decluttering to catch up on this week.

From the learning rooms ... Angel's school is planning to switch to vertical tutoring - mixed age groups for their daily registration and tutor time.  I'll be interested to see how it works out.

I am thankful ... for the offer of an unwanted tumble drier. We have lived without one for the last three years, and it will be nice not to have wet washing draped round the house. 

From the kitchen ... baked potatoes and cauliflower cheese. I think Cherub and I may make these gold digger buns tomorrow. She loves making recipes from I Can Cook.

I am wearing ... dark grey trousers, purple long sleeved t-shirt, newly finished socks (see picture below).

I am creating ... lacy pink socks for Cherub, with a frilly top.

I am going ... to win the battle against clutter. Fighting talk and optimism - that's what I need!

I am reading ... another book on Victorian rural history.

I am hoping ... Star manages to finish clearing out and tidying her bedroom ready for my brother to start decorating it tomorrow. It isn't looking good.

I am hearing ... Tevye watching TV; Angel typing on the computer.

Around the house ... winter hats, gloves, scarves, umbrellas, boots, wet socks drying on a radiator.

One of my favorite things ... spring. Which can't come soon enough!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... a mums' night out on Thursday; extra dance class for Star on Friday; Little Friend N's birthday party on Saturday. Cherub is most impressed that he is five.

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ...

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Conversation between Cherub and her uncle ...

Cherub: Let's play night times!

Uncle: How do you play that?

Cherub: Well ... we have a cup of tea, then you say "let's go to bed!" and I say "No. I'm on the computer."

Barbie Girl

A conversation with Cherub, who was playing with my iPod Touch ...
 

Cherub: I'm going to get an iPod of my own. A Barbie iPod ... with a little pink pen. That would be just right for a little girl.

Me: Do you like Barbie?

Cherub (confidently): Oh, yes!!!!

Me: What is Barbie?

Cherub (thoughtful, then baffled): Hmm ... I don't know! 

For the record, we are not big on Barbie, who never really caught on with the older two. They had the odd Barbie and Barbie look alike, but they are long gone - they ended rather the worse for wear thanks to felt pen make up and some creative hairdressing involving scissors, and were mostly used for playing gym competitions. There is a Barbie playhouse at playgroup, which is where I think Cherub has picked up on the name, but she clearly hasn't associated it with the dolls.

Simple Woman's Daybook: 16th February

Outside My Window ... a grey and damp February morning

I am thinking ... about what to put in my trash bags. I have fallen behind over the past week.

From the learning rooms ... half term week, but Angel has English coursework to do.

I am thankful ... that both Angel and Star were given a clean bill of health after hospital appointments to check their backs yesterday. Scoliosis runs in Tevye's family so the girls are monitored regularly.

From the kitchen ... pancakes for pancake day.

I am wearing ... ridiculous pink pyjamas with hearts on. Very Valentine's Day.

I am creating ... socks for the Ravelympics (olympics for knitters at Ravelry to coincide with the winter olympics). I'm tackling fair isle for the first time in about twenty years.

I am going ... to Ikea to check out a bed for Star. She is next in the queue for a bedroom revamp.

I am reading ... Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden (a re-read)

I am hoping ... both Tevye and I are finally beating the colds, coughs and other nasties we have been struggling with over the past couple of weeks.

I am hearing ... CBeebies. Yes, it is that time of the morning again. Cherub watches TV; I blog.

Around the house ... laundry. After a weekend away and a week knocked out by a cold and mastitis (how unfair is that when I am not even nursing?) the dirty clothes mountain was reaching new heights. Also Angel cleared out her bedroom at the weekend and most of her wardrobe seems to have migrated to the laundry baskets.

One of my favorite things ... time with Tevye away from the normal everyday chaos. We had a lovely break up north - pictures to come later.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... Ikea; a girly night at an Indian restaurant with friends and daughters; a flower fairy birthday party for Cherub; Star's first dance festival performance

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ... sock progress so far

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

40 Trash Bag Challenge

 

Inspired by Willa, I am trying the 40 Trash Bag Challenge from Simply Catholic.  Here are the rules:

1. Pick what size of trash bag you want to use.

2. Each week day for eight weeks fill one bag (or equivalent).  It can be a bag of stuff, toys, clothes, papers – anything,  a box of books, an old TV.  Anything that you can count as clutter is fair game.
3. Update on your blog how it goes.
4. Have fun.

I started last week, and managed five bags between Monday and Thursday.  I am behind on this week, as I was away on Monday and succumbed to a cold yesterday, but I'm hoping to catch up by Friday. I am using large supermarket carrier bags - the home delivery ones that are bigger than the standard checkout version. Not as good as the big black sacks would be but more realistic, and big enough to make a dent in the clutter.

My scores for the first week:

2 bags of books

2 bags of old and outgrown clothes

1 bag of jigsaws. 

Trombone Lesson

Should you ever be inspired to take up the trombone, you may find it helpful to know the following ...

1. Too much unaccustomed trombone practice may lead to the discovery of stomach muscles you didn't know you had. Painful stomach muscles.

2. You cannot be a trombone player and travel light. Paraphernalia accumulated so far: music stand, music folder, trombone stand, straight mute, rather battered cup mute ("needs a bit of TLC - just see if you can bash it into shape"). I now understand why trombone players need kitbags. Carrying that lot around should develop a few more muscles.

3. As a beginner try to avoid turning up at rehearsals if your first trombone partner doesn't. Playing second trombone without a first exposes every bum note. Beginner trombones play a lot of those.

4. Last but not least. Trombones have a life of their own. Remember to hold on to yours with both hands at all times. Do not be tempted to let go with one hand to make a grab at music falling off your stand. If you should be stupid enough to forget this your slide will shoot off the end and fly under the chair of the player in front. It will do this very loudly, just at the point where the rest of the band stops playing. The entire band will then fall off their chairs laughing.

Pink Cupcakes

Cherub was in no doubt about the colour she wanted for her room. Pink. She is the most determinedly girly of our children, and would live in a totally pink world if she could.

It was a very bright morning yesterday, and I think the camera overcompensated a bit for the sunlight streaming through the window, giving an extra pink glow to the room.

Above the bookcase are a couple of wall shelves, full of books and teddies (mostly inherited from Angel and Star, but my childhood teddy is up there too).

 

The other end of the room has a cupboard and her dollshouse (also inherited from the older two), that I repainted pink. It was a rather bright blue, which would have stuck out like a sore thumb in pink-world.

The cupcake bedding came from Next, who always seem to have nice little-girl stuff. The duvet is a bit over large for her cotbed, but later in the year we are going to shuffle beds around and she will get a full size one.

We couldn't resist the matching rug and cushion ...

 

I took some "before" pictures, but managed to accidentally delete them before they made it onto the computer. Think mauve and rather more cluttered.

Simple Woman's Daybook: 1st February

Outside My Window ... a cold day after a frosty morning.

I am thinking ... I need to clean windows. Sitting here I can see a big Cherub-height smear on the window opposite.

From the learning rooms ... nothing out of the ordinary over the last week that I can remember.

I am thankful ... for friends and relatives who are looking after the girls so that Tevye and I can have a weekend away.

From the kitchen ... spaghetti, tomato sauce and meatballs for dinner. I'm planning to do some baking with Cherub this afternoon - probably apricot flapjacks and a sponge cake.

I am wearing ... red top, blue jeans, handknitted blue socks.

I am creating ... cream mittens for A-Next-Door. These will be my last pair of mittens for a while. I have some sock plans, as well as a couple of larger projects to finish.

I am going ... nowhere today.

I am reading ... Reshaping Rural England: a Social History 1850-1925, finishing the last third after I got distracted part way through. Still.

I am hoping ... Cherub will be back to normal tomorrow. She had a fever over the weekend after her swine flu vaccination on Friday, and is still a bit under par.

I am hearing ... Cherub's beloved I Can Cook.

Around the house ... Cherub's bedroom is done - pictures to come later. The next task is to start clearing out Star's room ready for painting.

One of my favorite things ... my new red sitting room curtains, which give the room a lovely warm glow. I found some cushions I loved in Ikea last summer, but it has taken me this long to find curtains in just the right shade of red.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... a weekend away at Appleby Manor. The girls have their own plans. Cherub will be making fairy cakes with K-next-door; Angel will be catching up on sleep at Grandma's; and Star will be enjoying an extended sleepover with a friend.

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ...

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

7 Quick Takes

1. All the snow and ice we had in December and at the beginning of the year has left our roads in a sorry state. Our town seems to be particularly pothole prone at the best of times, but now they are everywhere. Anyone else having the same problem? Is it only British roads that fall apart when the weather is bad? And is pothole - meaning a crumbling hole in the road - a peculiarly British word?

2. Cherub has reached the argumentative stage, with an answer for everything. The other day she wanted to know why there wasn't a rainbow when it was both raining and sunny. I pointed out that it wasn't sunny - if it was sunny the sky would be blue and bright, whereas it was actually (very) grey and dull. Cue an argument over whether or not the sky was blue or grey, ending with ...

Me (exasperated): You would argue black was white!
Cherub: No it's not ... black is dark.

3. Why would someone complain that the school heating wasn't working and that it would be freezing at school, then not bother to wear a coat? In near zero (centigrade) temperatures. Is it a teenage thing?

4. My brother and I learned the hard way yesterday that wiring a light fitting is not quite as simple as wiring a plug. He tried, blew the bulb and tripped the circuit breaker. I read the instructions and worked out which wire went where. Sort of. When there are three apparently identical neutral wires, how do you know which is which? We guessed. We tried all possible combinations. Then we realised the bulb had blown. Success with a new bulb - or so we thought, until a few hours later we discovered none of the other upstairs lights were working and Cherub's light wouldn't turn off. Fortunately a knight in shining armour arrived in the shape of Little Friend N's dad, who disentangled the neutral wires for us. We won't be trying to do anything electrical again in a hurry!

5. Despite the hiccup with the light Cherub's bedroom is now redecorated. While she is at playgroup this morning I need to put up her new curtains, sort out her new bedding, finish repainting the dolls house pink (what else?), and generally straighten things up.  Then it will be one bedroom down, threee to go.

6. Star, making plans for her bedroom refit: "Mum, can I have a toaster in my bedroom? Even though I don't like toast, it would be very cool ...".  Um. No.

7. Anyone else coveting an iPad? I love my iPod Touch, but I think I could love an iPad even more.

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

So Who Knew?

That an essential piece of equipment for an aspiring dancer is one of these ...

Star informs me that if you are going to dance at festivals this particular toolbox (Homebase's smallest and cheapest) is a must have: little compartments in the lid for hair pins, grips, nets and so on; a removable tray underneath for make up; and room in the bottom for brushes and combs, mirror, hair spray and any other vital bits and pieces.

If it keeps all those bits and bobs in one place, it has to be a good thing!

Simple Woman's Daybook: 25th January

Outside My Window ... rain again. Cherub is happy. She loves to jump in puddles.

I am thinking ... about colour schemes for our bedroom, even though it is third in line for redecoration. The plan is to do Cherub's this month, Star's next, ours in March and Angel's in April. We expect there to be some slippage, though.

From the learning rooms ... mock GCSE exam results for Angel (the only one she has had so far is chemistry which was rather better than we - or she - expected); mutterings about a day trip to France from Star; lots of vehicle related crafts from Cherub (the playgroup's current theme is Transport).

I am thankful ... for a brother who is painting the bedrooms for us.

From the kitchen ... baked potatoes and chilli for dinner. Cherub was inspired by I Can Cook on TV and we made tomato spirals this afternoon - very easy and very tasty, as were the fish triple deckers from last week. She gets very excited by the idea of making recipes from the programme and today's trip to the supermarket was punctuated by "we need basil! ... don't forget the puff pastry! ... have you got the puff pastry yet?" and so on.
(Note for Pamela ... I think you asked for the recipe for last week's chicken stir fry with sweet chili sauce. It was a cheat, I'm afraid - strips of chicken stir fried with a bag of pre-prepared stir fry vegetables and ready made sweet chili sauce.)

I am wearing ... grey-green trousers, grey v-neck sweater, stripey handmade socks.

I am creating ... more handwarmers, with the yarn left over from last week's mittens.

I am going ... to paint Cherub's dolls house pink to match her bedroom. It is a brightish blue which will clash horribly.

I am reading ... Reshaping Rural England: a Social History 1850-1925, finishing the last third after I got distracted part way through.

I am hoping ... for some nice, bright winter days. I've had enough of snow, ice and rain.

I am hearing ... the TV, which Tevye is half watching.

Around the house ... Cherub's bedroom makeover is well under way.

One of my favorite things ... Whittard's hot chocolate mixes. I bought some for Christmas, and I don't think I can go back to the jars of instant chocolate I used to buy.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... a meal at Cafe Rouge to celebrate K-Next-Door's birthday on Friday. An extra dance class for Star, who is thrilled to have been picked for a group who will take part in dance festivals.

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ... last week's mittens

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

4 x 10 Reading Challenge: Year End Update

Oh, what a bad book blogger I am. After a good first six months of reading and reviewing, my 4 x 10 reading challenge fizzled out. I can't remember everything I have read since, but I have patched together an end of year list using my daybook notes. I make it a total of 33 books, spread rather erratically across my 10 categories, together with a fair sized list of books I started but didn't finished. Book titles added since my last post are in blue. Some were reviewed in this holiday reading post.

Autobiography

• Nella Last's War: the Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49 (ed. Richard Broad)
• Nella Last's Peace: the Post-War Diaries of Houseife, 49
• A Vicarage Family: a Biography of Myself (Noel Streatfeild)
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (John-Dominique Bauby)
• Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)

Biography

• Flora Thompson: the Story of the Lark Rise Writer (Gillian Lindsay)
• Noel Streatfeild: a Biography (Angela Bull)
  

Crafts

• A History of Hand Knitting (Richard Rutt)
• Sensational Knitted Socks (Charlene Schurch)
• Custom Knits (Wendy Bernard)
  

Education

• Teach Me To Do It Myself (Maja Pitamic)
  

Faith

• My Life With the Saints (James Martin, S.J.)
  
• The Rosary: Keeping Company With Jesus and Mary (Karen Edmisten)

Fiction

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer)
  
• The Uncommon Reader (Alan Bennett)
• The Autobiography of the Queen (Emma Tennant)
• The Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs)
• The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett (Colleen McCullough)
• Baking Cakes in Kigali (Gaile Parkin)
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Paul Torday)
• The Amulet of Samarkand (Jonathan Stroud)
  

Geography and Travel

• A Street Without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria (Kapka Kassabova)
  

History and Historical Fiction

• Helena (Evelyn Waugh)
  
• The Road to Wigan Pier (George Orwell)
• The Road to Sebastopol (Katherine MacMahon)
• Singled Out (Virginia Nicholson) 
  

Science and Nature

• Electric Universe (David Bodanis)
• The Planets (Dava Sobel)
• About the Size of It: the Common Sense Approach to Measuring Things (Warwick Cairns)
  

Serendipity

• The Morville Hours (Katherine Swift) 
• Confessions of an Eco-Shopper (Kate Lock)
• Julie and Julia (Julie Powell) 
• Spotted Pigs and Green Tomatoes (Rosie Boycott)  
  

Unfinished Business
Alison Uttley, the Life of a Country Child (Denis Judd) - print too small!
Beatrix Potter At Home in the Lake District (Susan Denyer)
Yiddish Civilisatiuon: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation (Paul Kriwaczek)
A Year in the Country (Alison Uttley)
The Shrines of Our Lady in England (Anne Vail) 
Buried Treasure: Travels Through the Jewel Box (Victoria Finlay)  
The Secret Life of Trees (Colin Tudge)
The Catholic Revival in English Literature 1845-1961 (Ian Ker)
Longitude (Davina Sobel)
Knit Two (Kate Jacobs)
Ripping Things To Do: the Best Games and Ideas from Children's Books (Jane Brocket)

Now I can move on to the next challenge. Watch this space.

A Day In The Life

I haven't posted one of these in a long time. If you enjoy trivia read on, if not please feel free to jump to the next blog.

This was today ...

7.30 ... Get up. Shower. Dress Cherub. Cook and eat breakfast (hash browns and scrambled eggs)

8.15 ... Manhandle protesting Cherub into car. Drive four girls to school.

8.30 ... Build farm for Cherub. Put away yesterday's laundry mountain. Match up large pile of socks. Stop in Angel's room while delivering clean clothes to straighten hair (she has possession of the communal hair straighteners). Cull old history books I am never likely to need from bookshelves while waiting for straighteners to heat up.

9.10 ... Sit down with mug of tea and laptop to read blogs and knit.

9.20 ... Cherub gets bored of farm and asks to watch TV. Turn on CBeebies (BBC preschool channel).

9.50 ... Turn off TV. Print out pictures for Cherub to colour while I do half an hour of housework. Cherub refuses to be left. Give up on housework. Sit next to Cherub and finish off flip-top section of mitten while she colours.

10.30 ... Stack dishwasher. Get ready to go to Grandma's. Cherub now happily engrossed in Playmobil and not pleased at being interrupted.

10.45 ... Manhandle protesting Cherub into car. Again. She wants to walk. It's raining, and I don't. Arrive at Grandma's. Cherub throws a fit because I refuse to leave her standing outside the front door in the rain. Eventually calms down and has game playing marathon with Grandma. Meanwhile I sort out a printer problem (computer refuses to recognise a paper jam has been cleared ... why?), drink coffee, eat chocolate cream cake, and start yet another pair of mittens.

12.55 ... Head home via Tesco Express for oddments. Have run out of kitchen roll and need to feed the older girls' blueberry addiction. Cherub not pleased at having to go to the shop, but limits herself to grumbling.

1.15 ... Make lunch. Eat lunch. Watch The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Deal with money stuff on the computer.

1.45 ... Work on local history project. Trying to finish checking censuses for several generations of a rather prolific family.

2.15 ... Look at a numbers activity book with Cherub (her choice)

2.30 ... Cherub putters with toys. Make dinner (lazy chicken and potatoes). Hang ridiculous amount of pink laundry round the house to dry. Declutter a cupboard in Cherub's room. Clean bathroom while Cherub sits on toilet.

3.45 ... K-Next-Door comes round for mug of tea. Older girls drift in from school.

4.15 ... Play game with Cherub. Make hot chocolate for Star. Quickly tidy up. Read to Cherub. Tickle fest with girls.

5.00 ... Tevye home from work. Chat for a while. Star reads to Cherub

5.40 ... Cook vegetables. Eat dinner.

6.15 ... Sit down for fifteen minutes while nice Tevye clears up in the kitchen.

6.30 ... Take Angel and Star to dance classes, collecting an extra child on the way. Bath Cherub and get her ready for bed.

7.40 ... Go to brass band practice. Fall more deeply in love with my trombone.

9.30 ... Get home to find one girl in bed asleep, one girl in bed awake, and one girl on the computer cooing over pictures of cute fluffy lapdogs. Chill with laptop. Post this.

Simple Woman's Daybook: 18th January

Outside My Window ... damp and miserable but much warmer than it has been for the past month. There was more snow on Wednesday, but only a few small patches remain after lots of rain on Friday and Saturday.

I am thinking ... about books I would like to read this year.

From the learning rooms ... yet another snow day on Wednesday, when both older girls were sent home from school after morning snow caused traffic chaos.

I am thankful ... for my new mobile phone. The old one got stuck in silent mode. A phone that you can't hear is not good. I particularly wanted a QWERTY keyboard, so I got one of these.

From the kitchen ... chicken stir fry with sweet chili sauce.

I am wearing ... dark grey cord trousers, black top, black and white striped sweater, zebra print socks with pink heels and toes.


I am creating ... mittens for myself. I'm trying to combine aspects of different patterns. The first attempt was not a success; hopefully Mark 2 will be better.

I am going ... to be busy getting Cherub's bedroom decluttered and tidied ready for my brother to paint next week.

I am reading ... We Are At War by Simon Garfield. Or more accurately, not reading. I think I've lost interest.

I am hoping ... for a routine week, with no snow days, sick days or other unexpected disruptions.

I am hearing ... TV and the dishwasher whirring.

Around the house ... carpets in need of hoovering, bathrooms in need of cleaning.

One of my favorite things ...sausages and mash. Winter comfort food.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... tap exam for Star tomorrow, but nothing else out of the ordinary on the calendar.

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ...

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

On the Seventh Day ... God Made Spiders

Anyone who has taken small children to church will know it is rarely a restful or prayerful experience. Some days are better than others; some days offer more unique challenges than others.

Today's challenge was an eight legged one. As usual, we sat in the front pew, alongside a slightly older couple (kids grown, kid friendly and used to Cherub). All went well until a large daddy long-legs or leggy spider of some variety ran down the sleeve of Mr F's jacket, catching the eye of Mrs F, who squealed involuntarily and flicked it off. This caught Angel's attention, and she bent over the pew to see what Mrs F was looking at. This, in turn, got Cherub interested. The first I knew of it was when I saw Cherub hanging over the top of the pew watching Mr Leggy climbing up the outside of the pew towards her.

Cherub claims to like spiders, but this was too much. Frantic squeals of "Get rid of it! Get rid of the spider!"  Angel reminded her she likes spiders ... "I only like little ones! Not big ones!"  As her volume increased I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed the daddy long-legs.

Question. What to do when you find yourself in an exposed position during a quiet point of the Mass with a fistful of wriggling arachnid? The church was packed which meant no clear line of retreat to the exit. The windows were all shut, and in any case too high to reach. I contemplated dropping it on the floor a few rows back, but decided that dumping a large eight-legged creepy-crawly near some unsuspecting parishioner was not really fair.  Hanging on to the darned thing until the end of Mass was not an option. Then I spotted a bin for used candles under the votive candle holder. Phew! A new home for Mr Leggy.

Angel and I spent the next five minutes trying very hard not to giggle.

Little Dancer

Little Cherub finally made it to her first dance class on Thursday. She was very excited ... which made taking pictures difficult.

She couldn't keep still ...

And was easily distracted ...

Ah! Got her!

The class is a mix of tap and modern. In her head ballet is too hard for three year olds; in reality this class is harder than the tiny tots ballet as it has a wider age range and the other children were all five or nearly five. Not that this phased Cherub, who was completely focused and determined to keep up. Afterwards she said it was even better than she expected. And to add to the joy, Little Friend N went too.

How cute are these little feet in tiny tap shoes!

Musical Interludes

Sunday was a musical day, albeit a rather eccentric one.

Musical Interlude No.1

Instrument: Trombone

Location: Golf course. First tee. Outdoors. In the snow.

A golf club engaged the brass band to add musical accompaniment to the ceremonial drive off of the incoming club captain. I can tell you from personal experience that metal instruments, with metal mouthpieces, are not ideally suited to snowy conditions. On the plus side, you can play a trombone wearing gloves, and they gave us bacon butties and hot coffee to warm us up afterwards.

Musical Interlude No.2

Instrument: Flute
Location: Church

Musically straightforward enough, but ecclesiastically cock-eyed. Our parish priest is on holiday in the Algarve (talk about good timing!), and his substitute couldn't make it through the snow. We ended up with a Communion Service instead of Sunday Mass.

Musical Interlude No.3

Instrument: Violin
Location: Home

I took my violin out to play for the first time in an age, and Cherub was inspired to want to play "her" violin. The smallest violin we have is a quarter-size, which is still far too large for Cherub, so we turned it upside down and pretended it was a cello. After "playing" for quite some time, she thinks she might like to learn cello when she is older ... but then again, maybe she would rather play the trumpet. Choices, choices!

Simple Woman's Daybook: 11th January

Outside My Window ... another half inch of snow last night to top off last week's snow, which was just beginning to melt.

I am thinking ... how much I appreciate efficient central heating!

From the learning rooms ... snow days for the older girls last week. Angel had to go in on Friday for a mock GCSE exam, and has another this coming Friday.

I am thankful ... we didn't have to travel anywhere when the weather was at its worst, and have been able to enjoy the snow.

From the kitchen ... I have rediscovered my bread machine, which I had got out of the habit of using. I tried pizza dough in it for the first time - Cherub says homemade pizza is "very yummy". Dinner tonight? Cauliflower cheese.  

I am wearing ... jeans, red top with floral trim, red hand-knitted socks. 

I am creating ... a coat-cardigan for myself and socks for my brother (I gave him the yarn for Christmas with a promise of socks to come). Last week I finished mittens for Angel and Star, and a pair of handwarmers for myself. Mittens for myself are next on the list as soon as I can buy the yarn.

I am going ... to have to venture out to the supermarket this afternoon. I shopped online last week, but left it too late this time.

I am reading ... We Are At War by Simon Garfield. Snippets from World War II diaries, but not as interesting as I expected.

I am hoping ... that we can get back into our normal routine this week, after three weeks of Christmas break and snow days.

I am hearing ... beautiful silence, apart from the whirr of the washing machine. Tevye is at work, the older girls are at school, Cherub is at playgroup, and I have the house to myself for a couple of hours.

Around the house ... girls' bedrooms that look as though a clothes bomb has gone off. Ugh.

One of my favorite things ... the set of Cadfael DVDs I was given for Christmas. I've watched seven episodes so far and have another six to go. When I finish this post I'll be settling down with my knitting to watch the next.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... orthodontist's appointment for Star on Wednesday; Cherub's first ever dance class on Thursday (postponed from last week thanks to snow, much to her disappointment); a quiet weekend (I think)

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ...

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

More Snow Days

"Winter is my favourite and my best!" says Cherub. She is, as anyone in the UK with small girls will probably recognise, a fan of Charlie and Lola. She is also a fan of throwing snowballs.

Somewhere under the snow is our car ...

 Which is parked on the road because our drive looks like this ...

The UK continues to shiver through the coldest, snowiest winter for thirty years. More snow and freezing temperatures are on the way. If you don't hear from me, you may need to come and dig us out. Or at least, lend us a shovel.

Stop Press: An abominable snowman just appeared on our doorstep, having walked ten yards from next door. It seems the snow has already arrived.