Bread whoppers

I have written 2000+ blog posts and have written every single day for the last six years.  I’m a bit bored of it now and feel like I have nothing much to write about.  So I am thinking of just writing it when I have something to say or maybe at the end of the week.  I hate the way I have to use a different app to blog and it’s not very IPad friendly and it just infuriates me so...........

We did have a lot of snow but the buses were not cancelled nor even delayed (well not ours anyway) and although the snow did not stop any of us going about our morning business of School, exercise, work-at-Home, I did cancel my lunch with Suffolk.  Our road didn’t get ploughed until past midday and the snow just kept coming and coming.

Small’s bus arriving

Smallest went to ski club and got promoted which means not only can he use the chair lifts by himself now and with his friends, he gets to move up a class next year.  Yay.  Huffle went and met up with him this evening.

Small and I stayed at home and played a complicated game of Agricola.  He won of course, but I did
score a lot better than previous games.


Today I attempted to make a Ciabatta bread but read the recipe correctly and ended with a
piece of dough that I left to prove almost all day.  It was huge until I knocked it back.  It went in the oven later with some mini baguettes I also made.

I also attempted some chocolate orange muffins but they tasted disgusting.  I have no idea what I did wrong.  The consistency was all wrong and they were chewy and dull ooking!  Small likes them though.

Dinner was leftovers.  I had a small walk to the co-op (old beer store) midday to get some milk and yeast.  The place is just full of dust.  Plenty of work going on there.  It was tough walking because no one had cleared the paths and it was really thick.  Huffle and I cleared the drive mid afternoon.

I had a knitting lesson with MissHorse where she learnt how to pick up stitches and knit them and how to do a short row (like you would do for socks).

I did some crocheting of the blanket and took outte( border I did yesterday and started a new border which looks much better).

So I am not sure when I will next write - it will be a surprise x

I’m running low on blog titles

More snow arrived during the night to cover our newly cleared drive BOOOOO.  More on the way with severe weather warnings stating we will have 15-20cm. Both boys are hoping for a snow day tomorrow though I’m hoping we talked Smallest out of staying at home.  Huffle doesn’t want to set a precedent.

When I got up the temperature controller was at 15* which is much colder than we set it for the night and the temperature it was trying to get to was 32* which is way higher than we ever it.  The light was on and the button stuck in.  Not sure what happened there!?

Today, both boys went to school.  Smallest got picked for the Dodgeball team despite them being a really bad team (says he).  Small did some more fitness work in gym and got to 6.5 in the beep test (think that’s fairly average but I’m not sure).

I went to work in the greenhouse and we did cuttings of more pelargoniums.  For coffee break we had had a delicious chocolate orange cake (like a lemon drizzle but chocolatey and orangey drizzle ummm).

Back home Huffle had made us lunch and we watched a bit of Gotham.   When Huffle went back to work I spent time helping MrsM work out how to calculate mileage (over the phone) and then FaceTimed Moo and started the dinner.

The boys came home, homework done, music practiced, chores done, dinner eaten.

MrsM sent biscuits home for the boys 

Huffle and I went for a walk around the Hamlet.   It was snowing and was quite cold.

TV, FIFA and bed.  Tired and headachy. 

Stewpid

It snowed a lot and the wind was drifting it around so much and howling through the night.  We didn’t get 40cm but we got a fair amount.  It took Huffle (with a little help from me) several attempts to get it all cleared from the drive and paths.

Small went to School and had an interesting Geography lesson where they had to identify parts of Canada from the shape of the province or City and a fitness test in gym which he did okay at but didn’t really like.

Smallest went to School and came home with two test results , -4 and 4 (4 is the equivalent of a A) and did nothing in Science.  His teacher (the one who doesn’t like kids) said they would be doing something but spent the whole time writing in naughty peoples agendas (Smallest almost got a note Home but managed to avoid it by keeping his head down and saying nothing).

I left Huffle shovelling and went to my exercise class picking up MrsOrange on the way.  I wasn’t really in the mood for it today (or I was in a mood is probably more the problem) but it was a good session and I will hurt tomorrow.

Back home I helped to clear the drive, did some washing and made a beef stew and a veggie stew and then went out to do a small food shop.  The place was empty which was nice and I only had disagreements with one old lady and a man who blocked the aisle.  I did say I was in a mood!!!

Back home Huffle and I had lunch and we ate yesterday’s baguette that I made.  It was really yummy.  We watched a Gotham episode and then he went back to work.  I put the shopping away, organised the fridge, did some more washing and drying and had my shower.

This afternoon I mainly cleaned and finished off the stews.

The boys came home.  Small had some homework from BusinessTech and disappeared to do that.  MrsPiano did lessons.

Blanket of Snow?

Nice lie-ins, social engagements cancelled, nothing to do.

Smallest is better but is sneezing.  I have been sneezing all day and am tired and Huffle banged his head on the wooden pasta dryer!!

We decided we needed a list day which we started after breakfast, but before we did Smallest and I made a start on a baguette which we later made into garlic bread.

I can’t remeber how many years ago Aunty Miaow bought Prehistoric Park for Small, but it is still played and it’s not in bad condition.  Smallest chose it and won it which gave him extra points.   Small’s choice was Wizard which he too won.  Huffle chose Jenga and was very confident that he would win it.  Smallest lost the first game and I lost the second which left Small and Huffle fighting it out.  Huffle did indeed win.

We stopped for lunch and finished the DrStrange film.  Good film.

This afternoon we played Kingdomino which I chose but Huffle won.  Small chose MarioKart knowing full well he would win and we ended with a Five Crowns which Huffle interrupted to Facetime Grandma and Grandad.  Smallest won this one.  So basically the only things I won was making a baguette, watching a film and eating lunch!!!

Early evening we all made pasta from the dough Huffle made earlier.  We had it with a lovely
homemade tomato sauce, garlic bread (baguette was lovely) with mushroom and courgettes.   Very

nice.  The boys made us a Sunday Sundae and we watched Captain America.

The Snow continued all day but we didn’t have the forty centimetres we were forecast.

This evening I finished the blanket though I do still have an awful lot of sewing in of ends, plus a border to do but the main part is finished and right at the beginning, I found a mistake but there is no going back now!

Pass the Panzo

As we had cancelled Smallests football game today (should have been 8am start) it meant we could all have lie-ins.  When I got up Smallest had a big grin, put his thumbs up and said “I’m better!”  Hurrah.  The doctor was right then after all.  It’s nice to have our bright little fire cracker back, even though he’s noisier than ever.

Today we had sever weather warnings in effect, mainly snowfall.  It started snowing around 2pm and continued (supposed to go through to early hours of Monday morning now).

This morning we had breakfast and the boys watched the Stoke game while I crocheted and watched the Leicester game.  (Loss for Stoke and a draw for Leicester).    Seems wrong that I sat making a stoke blanket whilst watching Leicester!

For dinner we went to have Calzones at the ‘place that never closes’.  Our waitress ordered a Monster
Calzone for Smallest (the boy who eats like a mouse) by mistake so he now has enough dinner to

keep him fed for the rest of the week.  *when our food came, she gave me Small’s, she gave Smallest
mine and she gave Huffle Smallest’s.  We didn’t know until we each cut into them too.  They were very good.

On the way home we went to the supermarket for essentials but it was crazy packed.  The check out we selected broke at the end of the person in front of us shopping and she left our queue and went to another one.  She was still there as we were going to our car!  We never got any apologies for waiting so long,  luckily we weren’t in a hurry.

Back home we watched some of DrStrange before Small got ready for his football game and we all went with him to watch and cheer.

Small volunteered to go in goal for the first half and to be honest, that was the best half to watch.  He was quite a good goalie.  His team were against the GuidoAllStars and didn’t really have a chance but they fought well in the first half and played terribly in the second half.  They lost 5-0.

Merv’s a shadow puppet

Happy Groundhog Day.  Huffle thinks the Hamlet needs a Groundhog of its own.  He wants to call it Cleatus.  Today various Groundhog around North America were brought out to see if they could see their shadows.  Our nearest Groundhog saw his shadow so we have six more weeks of Winter coming.  One of the groundhogs bit the reporter and another we found out was a puppet.

Smallest didn’t go to school.  Still not well but feeling slightly better, lots of laughing (though laughing does hurt), a bit of help in the kitchen and a brighter face.  He will not be playing football tomorrow.

Small went to School and came back with no homework.  He was very pleased but had a bit of an attitude problem.  He helped with dinner after reading in his room for a while.  Both boys helped with dinner tonight.  We had curry and Smallest mixed the spices and made the masala and and Small knocked back the dough and rolled out, with help from Smallest, the wraps that we had as naans.

After breakfast I went to the pottery studio and picked up my left behind Snow boots.  The lady there had also found my new missing tool and another one I had forgotten.  Thank goodness.  I left Smallest at home with Huffle working upstairs and I was only gone for about forty five minutes.  It was really cold.  I think the temperature was about -26* feels like.  I went out in the garden briefly to 

take photos.

Today I made wraps from PaulHollywoods book and we had them as Naans for dinner - very good, very tasty.  Will definitely make them again and I also made another bloomer loaf for tomorrow.  It didn’t rise very well, I am wondering if it was too cold in the kitchen.  

While I was kneading the bread, I was playing with Smallest with his word book where you make silly stories based on using nouns, adjectives etc.  He was certainly brighter.  

For lunch we sat and watched Coco which was entertaining enough.  Smallest went for a bath this afternoon and took with hm, his tablet and a bowl of ice cream.  I don’t think I have ever eaten ice cream in a Bath! But he said it helped his throat.  

I did some more crocheting today and wound up all the tangled balls of wool associated with the blanket.  

We have had 12-20cm of snow forecast between tomorrow afternoon until Sunday evening.  That’s a long period of snow.

Falls, slips and bus accidents

Poor Smallest was not well this morning and he didn’t want to go to school (that’s a good indication that he’s not well considering he even goes on a Snow Day).  He looked pale, was warm to touch and it hurt to swallow.  I toyed with the idea of taking him to the doctors and not going to Pottery but he said he wanted me to go and that he would see how he felt later.   When I got back he looked terrible and I decided to take him there and then.  We saw a lovely doctor who talked to us about English Premier League Football (his Dad is a huge fan). He checked Smallest’s nose, throat, temperature and ears.  All was well apart from swollen lymph nodes but he could prescribe nothing except rest and paracetamol (acetaminophen) which we picked up from the pharmacy next door.  He also said if he wasn’t feeling better by Sunday, then we should bring him back.

Small went back to school today and started his new Semester.  Gym, Geography, Business Tech and Music.  He will have to bring home his Tuba (or a smaller version of it considering his is Mahoosive) Home once a week so guess who has to transport it backwards and forwards!?  His new home room teacher is the Geography teacher who is strict but has a sense of humour (and he likes him already). His Gym teacher is a woman which is rare teaching gym to boys only (but she is old!).  Business Tech is taught  by a Polish woman.  He is going to need less folders which means less weight for him
and certainly less homework.

Huffle stayed and worked and half watched Smallest while I went to Pottery.  Today was a good day for me.  I watched a video before I left the House and then, because we had some new people join, we had a demonstration.  For some reason, it just all clicked into place when I made my first pot of the day.  It wasn’t fabulous and it certainly wasn’t the shape I wanted but it worked and the clay moved the way it should.  I was so pleased.  My teacher said I did well and she said she knew I had
got it.  I made three decent pots, no rainbows (big mistakes) and last week my stamp was fired so I used it to make a new stamp which was the right way and a relief one.  I also made another two stamps which will be fired on Saturday and put three other pots from previous weeks in to be fired.  Next week we do some glazing.  I am absolutely loving this course.  Week four of ten done.  It’s going too quick!

I got home around 2pm and took Smallest to the Walk-in clinic and back home and just had time to put my cup of tea in a thermos to go and pick Small up from Band Practice.  He chatted to me all the way home about his day and asked about mine.

Back home I made dinner and left Smallest watching a film and dozing on the sofa.   After he had 

some painkillers, he seemed a little brighter and he ate his dinner, albeit a small one.  No football tonight for him.

The boys went and read and Huffle and I went for a walk and a nose at the garage to see what the notice was posted on the door.  It was just about salting and clearing the paths.  Need our little petrol station back so I don’t have to drive miles away.  Huffle found out yesterday that the old BeerStore has partly been sold (the barns and land) but that the  owner is still putting a restaurant in the old shop.  He says it will be open in a couple of weeks but that can’t be right, it’s nowhere near finished.