Delia's recipe

for homemade mincemeat for our Mince Pies is in the oven this morning!! I am making my own for the first time ever, but it is SO simple; why have I never done it before???? Thanks to Ann and Jackie we have the shredded suet required to make it, so I was weighing and chopping earlier this morning, before going out for the Brandy....only the best comes in small bottles apparently!! So this will be top of the range mincemeat, dear!!! It takes 3 hours to cook, basting as you go, so the kitchen smells divine right now. A real scent of what's to come! Tim has asked to cook the dinner with me this year so he can learn how to do it before he leaves home in the next few years. I'm pleased about it really as he has clear views on what we will eat, and what he prefers, but NO IDEA of the work it all involves!!!

Yesterday at work we carried on with our card making and now more clients are joining in. They are creating their own designs too, which is super, so the variety of cards is growing. We are lucky inasmuch as the local people are very supportive of our little shop and will come along and buy cards and other items on a regular basis. And I have sold the first cards to Ann!!!

Today I am free so it is a chance to catch up here in the home. Not that I am a huge fan of housework but it has to be done and there are no fairies living here as far as I am aware!!! I am determined to enjoy the whole day, what ever it brings.
Sue xx

Strictly disappointing!

Having just watched the results show I am disappointed that Nancy has not gone this week either! I really do feel she is the least impressive contestant, and deserves to leave the show. Pity about Dan but I was not a fan of his either if true be known. I think it is pretty obvious who I personally prefer!!! It was such a brilliant routine for Jason and his partner - Christina choreographed their tango superbly well. It was such fun to watch, and I think that is the key for Russell as well. Ah well, Ann and I will just have to wait another week to see whether she goes then or not....

The weather today was lovely although I was not outside to enjoy it. It has been a pyjama day for me!!! Feeling a little under the weather so decided to stay indoors and laze around instead. Tim finally swung into action and did his room as his friend Chris is visiting tomorrow - yes, its half term this week! He also made some Chocolate Caramel Shortbread which we all know is pretty sweet and tasty. Strange thing though, the white chocolate wouldn't melt properly - no reason I could see for it - so he had to abandon the extra flourish he had thought of for the topping. Just wondering whether there will be any left by the time I get home from work tomorrow? Two lads in the house all day, along? Don't rate my chances that highly!

The weather forecast is for a cold snap to blow over from England in the next few days. Hard to think that winter is on its way; seems like only yesterday it was still summer. But the clocks go back this month, and we are turning our thoughts to Christmas. I even wrapped my first few presents today!!!
I am trying to be ultra-resource conscious this year and using every leftover scrap from my cards to make present labels etc. It is actually quite a nice thing to do - and I am enjoying being far more thrifty than ever before. I have also started on my felt birds and leaves  - not sure what to actually make with them but even if it is not the banner in the book, they will definitely become something else equally charming! The first red bird and first green leaf are already stitched my friends!
Sue xx

Completed cards!!

It was quite a task making so many cards to the same design but they are winging their way to Naarden as I type!! I was happy to have got them done in the timeframe I set myself, so as a reward I have been to the hobby store in Heerhugowaard this morning and invested my payment in some felt and threads so that I can have a go at making some Christmas Presents!! I want to make something out of a wonderful book I have languishing on our bookshelves:

It has so many beautiful felt designs inside and I love the one of the birds and leaves - only I am planning on giving it a colour make-over so that it fits in our house!! Then if that works . . . on with some presents. I am not a confident sewer really - paper is my thing - but even I feel I can tackle some of the lovely projects in this book. I suppose one could also suggest that I am using my creativity to avoid essay writing (I hear you saying it!!) but everything has its own time, and right now, my head is not in the books!! Karen is not here until 12 November so there is still enough space in my planning to get the garden winter-ready; make the Mincemeat for the pies; do the Chocolate Freezer Cake for Christmas;
paint the stairs and landing, and the gorgeous lamp that I got in Zwolle for an exceptionally good price!!!! Having just read the weather prediction for the UK, I am definitely sticking to this order of getting things done!!
Sue xx

ChristmasCards at work

For the past week when I have been at work we have sat together and started on our Christmas Cards for the little shop at the front of our centre. I took along my punches and a few sentiment stamps and black ink and we have been creating as many different cards as possible ever since. The paper is all from ACTION as it is great for punching and extremely cheap, and lovely and shiny which is what our clients love!! So we have got punching out people; buying people; sticking people, packaging people and me!!!
I love seeing how enthusiastic everyone is about helping out with them, and how delighted they are with the results, and it is amazing how many different ideas one can come up with for such a small amount of materials. Enjoy!!!!
Sue xx

Mammoth card-making week!!

This week I am making 25 Thank You cards for Emma and her new husband so instead of thinking Christmas constantly I am enjoying doing something different. It's actually quite difficult making one design 25 times - well for me, anyway. Usually I do one card, one design, and then do something else with the next one, so this is a concentrated effort on my part to reproduce/clone my original thought so many times!! I took my inspiration from the wedding photo Emma sent me: the colours and her being Scottish an' all. So my cards are the colours of heather as well as the kilt her husband was wearing, and the design vaguely reminiscent of thistles etc. . . well, as far as my imagination goes anyhow!!! I will take a photo when there is better light as it is getting late and I am almost ready for beddibyes. The greatest fear I have is that when I post them off to her, and she opens the envelope, she won't like them!!!!

At work the Christmas card-making continues but this time for our centre's shop. We had so many punched out circles and stars etc over that I have been designing cards using only these products. It was fun!!! They look good and the clients can help with them all so that is what really matters. And when I am not there they now have plenty of ideas to adapt and create even more. I think once I have made my other orders and then our own, I will just about be done with Christmas cards for this year!!!
Sue xx

Last week in pictures.

very nice cafe with delicious cappuccino & Carrot Cake!

The Glass angel in Zwolle.

Jackie with the pretty flowers.

Starting work!!! If we can only open the
tub of paste first!!!

Handy, such a tall son, especially up in the
far corners of the staircase!

Looking pretty good, eh?

The Parade in Alkmaar, 8th October.

I took more photos but these give you the feel of our week really. Now it is back to work and knuckling down to the task of writing my professional practice essay. I really need to get it done asap now, so that I can finish my supervision, arrange for my counselling hours and hey presto, time for the exam!!!! . . . . .
Sue xx

Lovely to just sit!!

This past week my friend Jackie has been visiting so that we could decorate the stairs and landing amongst other things, so the awful weather was perfect for staying at home and papering!! Having checked the weather forecast we decided to start off the week with a visit to Zwolle, which was a nice town but I still prefer Deventer if  I am honest. It has a nicer centre especially in the summer months when the terraces are all full. Then she heard that her father was in hospital which threw our plans into disarray for a while since she might have needed to suddenly return home; but fortunately he is better than we first feared, and she was able to stay until this morning. We have been to Alkmaar too, and unbeknown to us it was some sort of festival to celebrate 150 years of freedom after the Spanish Wars?..seems it takes place on 8th October each year, and we happened upon it this time around! Anyway it made it interesting for Jackie too. I did plenty of window shopping and was my usual 'personal shopper' as we went round all the shops together. Another boost for the Dutch economy!! In between we did do the wallpapering even up the steep stairway which was an effort but with Tim's long arms we managed to reach even the highest corners. It looks so much better already even though it is only the paper that requires painting later on. Amazing amount of paste was necessary but fingers crossed it is now stuck firmly down for ever and ever and ever. Probably!!
We four girls also went to see One Day at the cinema. I agree with my daughter that the book is heaps more interesting and makes a lot more sense than the film. Having read it I had the advantage but if you did not know anything about the story it could be difficult piecing it all together properly. Won't tell you about the ending!!! But yes, tissues were handy to have with us.

Since taking Jackie to the station early this morning I have embarked on a much needed autumn clean up in my study. I have done all the administration and filed the lot!! I have cleaned out more scrap stash in order to focus on my card making for Christmas. I have possibly also got an order to make 21 thank you cards for one of my study mates who just got married recently. The designs are running around in my head right now as I think out what might be nice and more importantly re-producable 21 times!!!! I have completed the 700 cards for work so they can go in tomorrow and the clients can make a start on the second batch. I'm not sure I would offer to do it all again but it was good to know I can do it if required, right?

And I got the first comment back about my essay . . . thanks Kiki!!! :-)  Just the important mark to come now . .
Right now  it is just after three in the wet and rainy afternoon and I am thinking happy thoughts about the leftover Chicken and Apple Crumble that we are having later on!! Then its back on the diet folks! A much needed strict regime for a few weeks wouldn't go amiss.
Sue xx

A-ma-zing!

Fabulous, brilliant, spell-binding....the Phantom was everything I had hoped for!!! The phantom was played by a wonderful guy who gave it everything he had and then some! It was so beautifully done, and the close ups of the performers showed every little detail  so the deformity of the phantoms face was incredible to see. How did he cope with that I wonder? Fantastic really. The whole thing moved me to tears  in the end, it was so emotionally charged and he and Christine were genuinely crying as they sang the words...so glad I was able to see it. Cannot praise it enough, so watch out for the DVD that comes out in November!
My 36 hour day attempt continues!!! Still rather behind with what I had planned but hoping to catch up somewhat tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!!!
Sue xx

What a weekend so far!!

If ever there was a weekend when every hour counted, it is this one!! I have SO much to do and a limited amount of time to do it in so I am squeezing this post in because I still have ten minutes to spare before it's 8am and I can start painting in the living room again!! Just waiting for the light, honey!
As I lay there in bed around 6am it occurred to me that by getting up and doing the ironing it would ease the stress on Monday morning when I have now got a day's work instead of a day off, so a pat on the back for me for doing that!! Yesterday I started on the first half of the wall in the living room, because I hate the disruption of a totally messy room, and prefer to do the first half and put everything back before starting again. Especially when it involves the bookcases being emptied!! So I made a start for an hour, got distracted by someone coming round which was far pleasanter of course, did get another rod in the kitchen fitted at the same time, and finally around 1.30pm returned to my painting. I almost succeeded in completing the second coat but the light disappeared and it was not practical to continue. In between all this I made a delicious Plum & Cheesecake Traybake, dinner, washing got hung up etc and my multi-tasking skills were fully tested I can tell you! There was time to collapse in front of Strictly (go Jason!!), do the washing up during Dr. Who (sacrilege Becci, sorry) so that there was sufficient energy left over for the start of Merlin. Phew!!!
And today: ironing, posting, painting, singing in Enkhuizen this afternoon, over to a friend for dinner and then - ta ra!!!!! Phantom this evening- can't wait!!!
Tomorrow will be work and shopping and making beds etc as on Tuesday Jackie arrives - and somewhere in the middle of all this I am supposed to have stripped the paper off the landing . . . . oops, not looking so good for that!!
Sue xx