Soft, bubbly and fresh

Lilly with her brothers and sisters, they are all active and starting to try weaning mousse, Lilly is in the middle, the light grey kitten, next to her is a biscuit coloured kitten called Freddie, daughter is keeping him, the others all have nice homes to go to. It's a case of waiting until they can feed themselves before bringing her home, sometime between 8 and 10 weeks, they are almost 5 weeks old now. 

Hubby has started his first sourdough, he's following Paul Hollywood's recipe, just something new to try, I have everything crossed this takes off, but we are aware often they just don't start to bubble.

This week we had leek and potato soup for lunch, the leeks came out of the ground and into the soup maker in less than an hour, I said my leeks were small, but that has not impacted on the taste. With a fresh baked roll, pure delight. 

I have used my poinsettia blooms and turned them into this plant, it's a great size and tucked back it looks real, which is brilliant as the leaves start to drop the moment a real one comes into our home. I just need to add fake soil.

 

Looking back on older post my decorations in recent years been up by now, I aim to have them sorted by Sunday, daughter and children are coming for a Sunday roast after going for a winter wonderland walk, so it would be nice for them to see our tree all lit up, it will also brighten our home. I have my Christmas music list ready on Alexa, the first play is always the day our tree goes up.

Nothing much is happening here, both hubby and I have coughs and a cold each, for once not from the little ones, I am reading and sorting the edging on my brothers blanket, and I've wrapped a few gifts. I only have to find something for daughter, we don't have many gifts to get, most of the grandsons like to have money. 

I am loving the blue skies again, dry days, laundry on the line (not fully drying), nothing to do outside, just occasionally watering the greenhouse, ensuring the bird feeders are full and the water spots are not frozen. We do wake up most mornings to our roofs being white, just an air frost, nothing on the ground.

My week

How cute is Will

 Simple costume from Asda.
He is still not walking, but very confident on his feet. 

I spent £5.30 at our local market on Wednesday

The 4 small ever greens I have planted into one pot, which is in the greenhouse, I would love these to bush out, I have a pot next to our back door, which next spring I want to use, once these are fuller, I will cut to make topiary, I want them in a button shape, not to high from the top of the pot. 

I have knitted myself a chunky little scarf

Perfect for under my winter jacket, I have an allergy to lanolin, and can't wear any wool, so winter scarfs are always a problem. This is knitted with chunky woven Tshirt cotton. 

Another good book, I loved this story, it was a great read to the end, this is the second book I have read by Debbie Howells, I will look for a few more titles. 

Carrot and coriander soup

We had to make more soup, a friend stayed for lunch one day, so our leftover soups are all gone. Last week we got cheap bags of carrots and tomatoes, so we got a pack of fresh coriander, added an onion and a couple peppers going soft, it taste brilliant, and we have enough to last for this week's lunches. We are still eating leftovers, last night we had cold beef with wedge potatoes, and a mixture of roasted tomatoes, sweet peppers and mushrooms, it was a lovely meal. Tonight we are having turkey pie with cranberry sauce, stuffing and parma ham, all mixed together and baked in the oven. 
It's a sunny and cold morning here, lovely blue skies, I have a line of washing blowing in the breeze, nothing to do in the garden, everywhere is tidy, I do pick up the fallen leaves and pop them on my raspberry plot, the huge magnolia leaves are not falling yet.
I have no plans to go out, Will is coming for a couple of hours this afternoon, so play time, it might be nice to take him for a walk around our park, he loves to see the children and dogs running around. 

October gone

I came in just under budget, but spent more than predicted

the purchase of the walking foot was not budgeted at all. 

As yet I have not found the Christmas fabrics I am searching for, I still have a couple of places to pop to, I really do not want to take a chance on the net and end up with the wrong weight of cotton. 

I have portioned the leftovers from Sunday lunch, the beef was on discount for the larger pieces, so we purchased knowing we would have loads left over.

Monday's tea, beef roast, plus a bowl for Will who was on another sleepover.

 The turkey and stuffing are in the fridge, enough to make pie, 

again I will add cranberry sauce and palma ham. 

The beef will be used this week for meals. 

 Turkey carcass and left over veg, once the meat came away from the bones, I added the veg, warmed everything through and blended it. I am fussy with what veg I eat, but adding it to a soup, mixes the taste and I get to eat everything. 

 Four huge pots of good thick soup, which is perfect this week as our temperatures are dropping. These four cups will make three lunches for hubby and I. 

We are on a mission to clear the fridge this week, we have enough to ensure we should not require a big shop, hubby will make bread today.
Will had a good sleep over, we were up at six, bit earlier than normal, I put him in his travel cot whilst I had my shower and he is taking a nap, not sure how long he will be down, our sitting room looks like a toy shop, we have the morning to play together, then he is out with mummy to another baby playtime.
I have finished reading Dead Woman Walking, Sharon Bolton, she is a master of leading you wrong and then when she revels the true plot, it was there all along. I could not put the book down, hubby is now reading it. I am also reading letters from Father Christmas, J R R Tolkien, a dip into a long gone world of childhood in the 30's and 40's. It is the publication of letters to his children, I can dip into it as and when I want.
Whilst I was feeling under the weather, my steps dropped and honestly I was not too bothered, but yesterday I got to my target, so the plan will be a couple of walks today. These cold sunny crisp mornings are great time for walks.

Seed, soil, Grow

We have sorted the decking this morning, 

and worked in the garden

 I used grit for the bottom of bird cages, much cheaper

has the look I wanted

Behind in sink, loads of mints

 I have been sowing, tomatoes, cucumber, sweet peppers and a couple lots of flowers

 Lovely new tool for weeding

 Bottom of the fridge soup for lunch

 Later this will become a bag

We spent the morning in the garden, we have not had the sunny weather promised, it's been dull all day, but dry. I have cut things back and weeded the side flower bed. A couple of years ago I was give two plants with lovely pink flowers, the second year they were huge and I dug them out, each spring I dig out loads of these plants which regrow, when I asked Win if she wanted a plant, she declined, I wish I had, the new tool I used was brilliant, I could dig out roots whilst not disturbing any of my growing bulbs, I love it when a horrible task is made easier.
I am pleased with my Acer, it has the right look, the grit from our local pet shop is light enough whilst not being completely white, and the cats should not like the gritty bits, so they should keep off.
I am pleased with the seeds I have started, I have sorted my stash and thrown loads away, I don't have room to grow much else other than salad items, so why keep all the others.
Watched Gardeners World last night, I do like to see what Monty and the others are doing. I also listen to his jobs for the weekend, my Clematis and Rose bushes are now much neater.
Hubby made the bottom of the fridge soup, and it was lovely, with another two bowls for the freezer. I am going to cut the fabric out this afternoon, and my plan is to sew tomorrow, the weather we are expecting is rain all day.
Shaping up to be a good weekend, daughter informed us baby Will, who is 21 days old, slept from midnight to 7am this morning, mum and dad were shocked and pleased to be able to catch up with their sleep.
Later we are thinking we have earn't a Chinese takeaway for tea.