felinedream

Much of my time has been taken up with studying and writing essays. My final uni essay of the year is due in on Thursday and then I have two weeks to finish my Forest School portfolio. Eek! The good news is that I have done my first aid training and am now qualified to be a First Aider in an outdoor setting. Work is busy but I’m enjoying it. Although I haven’t had a chance to do anything crafty for ages I have been cooking and baking. Tonight I made some beef burgers with garlic and chilli. Unfortunately they were devoured before I got a chance to take a photo. Devin has taken an interest in baking so last week we attempted Nigella’s Banana Bread. It turned out rather well but the kids weren’t too enamoured with it so I took it to work where it was gobbled up.

Tomorrow Devin has requested that we bake something with chocolate in it so I’m going to look out some sort of biscuit or cookie recipe this evening.

In other news, I went shopping for supplies for the Alice in Wonderland swap today. I’m hoping to get crafting when I’m on holiday in a week or so.

So, once again I find myself unable to bake and craft. Have I lost my mojo? Not this time. I was involved in a slight car accident last week (I was hit from behind by another car) and now have whiplash. After a couple of days of resting and relaxing I’m now going to try to pick myself back up and get into the swing of things. It’s strange how quickly you feel depression creeping up on you when something disrupts your life. Not being at work, sitting at home all day, really gets to me. I guess it shows just how much I love my job.

This week I shall once again be crafting an essay. I may not be able to put my bra on properly by myself, or straighten my hair, but I will find a way to get this blooming essay done. As January comes to an end we’re a little bit skint, so I’m going to try using up the ingredients I have in the house this weekend. I’m thinking that bread and biscuits will be doable.

Today is my 31st birthday. It’s been a bit of a non-event because today was also the start of the new school term. I woke up to be greeted with about an inch of snow (and ice) and drove to school where the snow was so deep I couldn’t even get my car into the car park. Still, pupils and teachers arrived and we set about having a ‘normal’ day.

There is no crafting or baking about my birthday; there was no cake (I approve of this due to healthy eating/dieting). However, I received some awesome gifts. My husband has pre ordered the new Lostprophets album and also bought me a couple of books: Tall, Dark and Dead by Tate Hallaway and Fugitive Cultures but Henry Giroux. My brother sent me a Pigeon Street retro bag from Truffle Shuffle. All in all it’s been a calm, relaxing day…which is just the way I like it.

It’s Christmas Eve! I sound excited, but if I’m honest I’m not feeling it yet. The kids are wired to the moon and I’m excited to experience tomorrow with them but other than that I’m not really a Christmas person. In an effort to have a stress free day I am not cooking tomorrow. Devin has decided that we will be eating steak so I bought that in, with all the usual trimmings. I couldn’t be bothered to buy a pudding so I may knock up some sort of cake in the afternoon. I am, however, going to make American style pancakes with bacon and maple syrup for breakfast.

We’re having a bit of a white Christmas. Today my mum and I went into Glasgow with the kids to do some last minute shopping and I was shocked to find that there was no snow on the ground. The picture above was taken as we waited for the train to take us into Glasgow (it was taken at 10am and I live 15 minutes from Glasgow city centre). The cold doesn’t bother me at all and I’m really looking forward to a day where it’s cold outside and I don’t have to leave the house. In fact tomorrow I shall be staying in my jammies all day.

On a Christmasy note: A few weeks ago the Fab Five had their Christmas dinner and exchanged Secret Santa gifts. The brief this year was that the gift had to be homemade. Stupidly I forgot to take pictures but the lovely Emma has blogged about the gifts she made me. I was seriously blown away by her thoughtfulness and generosity. The sugar scrub is amazing and I highly recommend it. The flavoured vodka has been saved and we will break it open tomorrow night. In return I made Sara a wooden trinket box. I feel like I cheated because I had a lot of ’support’ from the tech teacher at school. However, it was awesome and I shall prod Sara for photos soon.

So, Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you enjoy your day and that Santa is good to you and yours.

It’s less than a week to Christmas now and I may have found some festive spirit lurking inside of me. We put the tree up last weekend and Devin decorated it. It looks much better in real life, honest guv. I think he did a cracking job and he really enjoyed himself. This weekend I am living in the house of sick. The wee one has some sort of tummy bug and as a result is being clingy and smelly. For some reason it all fits in with my Christmas spirit. Someone always gets ill at this time of year.

I’ve been finding that, due to the cold and the SNOW (yes we have some), I’m craving warming winter foods. With Brodie being unwell and me still at work, I don’t have the time to shop or make hearty stews or casseroles. I’ve resorted to taking a dish from my childhood and tweaking it a little. This is perfect winter food for me.

Cheese, egg and toast.

The basic recipe calls for bread to be toasted on one side while you mix together a large amount of grated cheese (I used applewood smoked because it’s my favourite) and an egg. This mixture is then spread over the untoasted side of the bread and grilled until it is fluffy and golden. It is yummy like this (especially dipped in brown sauce) but I made a few changes. I like my toast very light and soft so I didn’t toast the underside of the bread. Then when I mixed together the egg and cheese I added some mustard. Before spreading the mixture I layered the bread with ham and then piled the mixture on top of that. Seriously easy and wonderfully moreish. In fact, I might go and make this very dish for my breakfast.

That’s a lie, Christmas has hardly entered my head these last few weeks.

There is just over a week until the end of the school term and I am working hard to get everything done so that I can enjoy my holiday (and when I say enjoy I mean write my essays for uni). I got my recently completed uni essay back today and got an A, so all my hard work paid off.

There will be crafty posts to come though, I promise. This week I have made a fruit cake, which is steeping in rum as we speak; completed my Secret Santa gift for the fab five get-together on Saturday; and there is a parcel awaiting me at the Post Office which I suspect contains my eagerly anticipated Bauble Swap stuff from Annie. In short, there will be plenty of crafty stuff to come.

So this weekend will be all about Christmas: with the aforementioned get-together on Saturday and on Sunday we will be putting up the Christmas tree.

So, after a period of absence (and obvious depression due to lack of computer) I’m back with a shiny new laptop. I have been keeping up to date and reading your blogs using my ipod touch over the past few weeks but I hadn’t managed to update my own blog.

The past month has been pretty manic in terms of work and uni. I seem to have a lot going on and as well as working Monday to Friday, I’ve been at uni classes on a Saturday. I’m glad to see the back of that routine. This has meant that craftwise I have achieved very little. I baked for Dev’s school fair (chocolate cupcakes and caramel shortcake) and managed to make some masks for the kids Halloween.I’ve just posted off my parcel for the lovely Eileen’s Christmas Bauble Swap. I shall post details once the swap has been completed. I’ve also signed up for an Alice in Wonderland themed swap in the New Year over at Meridian Ariel’s blog. I’m looking forward to this one and hoping that I can come up with something amazing for my partner, whoever that may be.

Right now I have reports to write and a daughter to get to bed so I shall leave you with this photo of said little girl, trying out her new look (Skater style).

Today has been a good day. I awoke this morning after having a lie in (Brodie didn’t climb into bed with me until 7.30). I guess the downside was that we’d been at a wedding reception last night and didn’t get in until 11pm. Anyway, this morning was the launch of the new Body Combat release at the gym. I was there for 10am and sweated my way through the cardo heavy routine which I love, love, love. After a brief lunch I dropped my kids with the lovely Barry and kidnapped me a Sara. We went to see writers Alan Bisset and Denise Mira as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. I was in such a good mood when I returned home that I set about baking some cookies. I found a recipe for gooey chocolate cherry cookies which I thought I’d try. Now, these cookies are seriously yummy. The only problem is that I made them a little too big so they are more cakey than gooey.

Ingredients

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Beat the butter, sugars and egg until smooth, then mix in the flour, chocolate, almond and cherry pieces and ½ tsp salt. Spoon onto non-stick baking sheets in large rough blobs - you’ll get 20 out of this mix (I only got 12 which was part of the problem). Make sure they are well spaced as the cookies grow substantially as they bake. The raw dough can be frozen. Bake for 12-14 mins until just golden, but still quite pale and soft in the middle. If baking from frozen, give them a few mins more. Cool on the sheets for 5 mins, then lift onto racks with a fish slice and leave to cool completely.

And still there is no crafting to report of. Well, that’s a little lie. I have made a start on some resin key rings but they have still to be sanded and are, therefore, not ready to be photographed. People at work are constantly asking me to bake but this week going to the gym has taken priority (above everything else according to my husband). I fear I am becoming addicted. I am also working very hard (and enjoying it), preparing for my uni course to start on Monday and for Forest School to resume on Tuesday.

Instead, I leave you with a photo of Brodie. This is what happens when she decides what she will be wearing. At 2 years old she is more fashion conscious than I have ever been.

We are now 3 weeks into term. I haven’t managed to do any baking or crafting in that time due to being tired and preoccupied. I did buy some resin the other day with the intention of experimenting a bit but I’m not sure I’ll get a chance before the September weekend. This is not to say that it has been a bad three weeks. Despite the ups and downs of work I’m enjoying being back. I like the new group of pupils and am throwing myself into the joys of full time teaching.

However, this is not the point of today’s post.

By now you should be familiar with my love of peanut butter, and in particular, Reece’s products. For this reason I need to dedicate today’s blog entry to S’mug; a coffee shop/deli just off Byres Road in Glasgow. I popped in today to purchase Sex in a plastic cup; or as it’s more commonly known, a Reece’s milkshake. I believe this drink may contain a entire day’s worth of calories but it’s so worth it. It appears to be a milkshake containing Reece’s peanut butter cups, milk and ice-cream all blended together. I don’t believe there is a more perfect drink in the world (although adding a touch of Vodka could create an alternative white russian which I am always in favour of). Until today I have been loyal to the consumer giant that is Starbuck’s, but no more. I am a milkshake convert.