Pages

Monday, December 30

Yule time - Family event 2.



Having had our Christmas Day at my sister in law's house it was my turn for a buffet. To be honest the buffet idea was my own suggestion as I didn't want to have a sit down meal after the lovely time spent on Christmas Day. Maureen had told me how stressed she had been about the whole Christmas Dinner as she has such a small kitchen (due to be revamped/extended in 2014) and felt it was her turn to do the dinner. Last year Maureen  had some family business to attend to following the death of her partner's mother resulting in them not being with our family on Christmas Day and Maureen had really missed our traditional get together hence her wanting us round at their house.

A buffet sounds so innocently simple yet I could hear the stress in my voice every time I complained to long suffering Jon about the kitchen. At one point I apologised to him for being so unreasonable - it was all so disorganised for me, despite my lists and plans. Another reason for doing my own buffet was because I wanted to make sure the food was decent - ie alternatives to pastry and fatty foods which we tend to get if we buy prepared buffet food - no, mine would be healthy yet tasty.

I made some potato scones



which I then filled with cream cheese and smoked salmon, quiche without pastry,




good old egg sandwiches, pork sausages and scotch eggs. At one point I had thought about making something along the lines of an M&S product which was fish, on a potato  with mushy peas, but came to my senses when I pictured the obscurity of such an operation with an hour to go before the family arrived.

Deserts - thank you Asda!

Next get together is Friday - at the other Mrs Nesbitt's!

Watch this space.

For more ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar.

Thursday, December 26

Christmas EXcellence!



X as in EXcellence!

We had Christmas Dinner with the family at Jon's sister's. I was too busy sampling the champagne to take many photographs but here are a couple taken by our nephew2/godson Andrew. (Front row from left - Andrew, Steve, (Maureen's boyfriend). Second row from left Ben, (Nephew 1) Richard (Nephew 3) and Jon (husband 1) holding Bing.

We had a wonderful meal, great fun and lovely champagne. Tomorrow we are having friends over for a supper buffet and another family get together here on Sunday. We will all be going to Jon's mum's for another get together on 3rd January and that will conclude our planned events as yet...oh and neighbours in for New Year's Eve.

How was your day?

Merry Christmas.

Tuesday, December 17

W is for Wreath

I am on with my Christmas cards as we speak but I did my wreath . I ran a workshop at our village hall some time ago - I think we did well! Good thing about taking photographs is we can look back for inspiration.....plenty here!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is mine - 2013 from greenery from my morning walk.

 
 

Sunday, December 15

A walk around our village.


Bing has a blister on his paw so we have given the beach a miss - I took Freida for a short walk in the village - down the lane to our church.



I will be using lots of this greenery in my Christmas Wreath


Again, the red berries will look fantastic in a wreath.


St. Michael's is a lovely church.







The sky is looking a tad dark - a bit of pottering in the snug this afternoon me thinks!

Watch this space!

Tuesday, December 10

Very nearly there!

The landing window needed some curtains to finish off the decorating/revamping project. Whilst I have plenty of spare curtains we have never had a grey theme. I decided to keep my eyes peeled, knowing something would come up......and they did.


On Saturday we took Jon's mum shopping in Guisborough, so I popped into the charity shops and found exactly what I was looking for. Lined and ironed...£3.50.


On Sunday I bought the curtain pole and Jon fixed it onto the wooden plinth. We adapted the brackets so there wasn't a gap between the curtains and the wall.


The size of the curtains was spot on too!

The snug carpet has been down since May 2011. Remember this?
We decided we needed to change it and have been out and sorted one today.......a bit of a change of colour!

Watch this space!

For more ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar.

Friday, December 6

Mirror mirror on the wall.



Radiator fixed in hall and finishing touch was this mirror I spotted in Guisborough a month ago.
I thought it was a bargain at £60.
Love it!

No more DIY until 2014!

Tuesday, December 3

Under the Weather.



Last Wednesday, for no apparent reason I felt very lethargic and quite low. On Thursday I was craving for a chip butty with lots of butter and soft white bread. I should have known I was going down with a cold.
By Thursday night I knew, so on Friday had a good long session on the beach with Bing and dosed myself up with Day Nurse and went to bed where I slept for most of the day. Every 4 hours I would take my tablets, as stated on the packet.
Jon and I, together with a  group of neighbours were all going out for a meal, so I wanted to feel my best.

The meal was a great disappointment and we didn't stay late.

Saturday saw me up early as I was marshalling for the Great Santa Run, raising funds for a local hospice.



The fresh air did wonders and I really enjoyed the day. You can read about it here,
On Sunday we had a great walk on the beach - I definitely think the outdoors is the place to be when unwell!





On Monday I was looking through some cookery books and came across on of my all time favourite snacks. Tinned Mackerel on Toast. For the first time in nearly a week I had a genuine appetite and have had 3 similar meals since.

Lush!


I was so looking forward to eating it I just remembered to take a photo before I finished off the lot!

Perfect comfort food......what's yours?

For more ABC fun follow the link on my sidebar.

Friday, November 29

Stairway to Heaven DIY style.

 
Prior to our decorating project, the hall looked like this.



Now it looks like this.

 
We went with a grey carpet.
 


The landing before.....



During....



and after.


A blue carpet in the main bedroom.


We are so pleased with the white glossed woodwork - even the re-positioning of the door knobs has given the whole place a lift.

Colours used - Farrow & Ball Strong White for landing and hallway walls. Pavillion Grey for wall above radiator in hall. This can't be seen really in photograph 2 but the different shade can be just made out. We are waiting for the radiator to be returned from the sand blasting process and then we will finish it off with a mirror I spotted!

Watch this space!