Hug a Mug

This morning I was up bright and early - yes I know, it is my day off but I'm an early bird remember?  We had an office breakfast planned for today as one of our lovely staff nurses is leaving us and I had offered to bake muffins and warm up the croissants.  She is such a sweetheart and has been a delight to have in the team - always cheerful, always ready to help anyone, very organised, great to work with and a whole lot of fun to be around. 

Like me she can be an early bird too so we have shared the office in the morning before everyone else gets in and she pops the kettle on first thing - she knows her priorities!  I love that and I shall miss it LOL!  Me?  I'm usually side tracked by all the things I have on my mind to do that day to even get around to putting the kettle on first thing so from here on my first cuppa is likely to be between 9.00 and 10.00 am (I'm in at 7.30 am).  The first hour of my day will seem much more lonely now that she's going too.  The office can be a tad spooky when you're rattling around there on your own.

We enjoyed watching her open her cards and gifts and bless her - she even got a couple of gifts for us - well for the office!  How sweet was that?

All the best Laura in your new job - they are sooooo very lucky to have you and we're sooooo very sorry to be losing you :-(  Visit us often :-)

After a lovely breakfast - we sooooo have to do something once a month - maybe I'll suggest a bring and share lunch or something?  Anyhow I headed into town to see if I could find any fabric to take my fancy plus I wanted some wadding for some fabric caddy's I'm looking at for a storage solution and something caught my eye as I passed Clinton Cards.  When I took a closer look there were the cutest array of porcelain mugs with lids for just £7.99.

I have seen ceramic mugs like this before but they were priced much higher and no where near so pretty either.  I chose a red & white polka dot one because it took my fancy even tho' there was a pretty patchwork looking one.  I knew I had a pretty floral 'mug cosy' I'd made from fabric scraps that would look nice against the polka dot background so I wasn't bothered

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This mug is double insulated so it will keep your drink hot (or cold for those of you who like a cold drink).  My tea is forever going cold while I finish off a sewing or craft project so I NEED THIS MUG!  And since I've now had not one but two lovely hot cups of tea from it I think I done good buying it.  Plus the silicon lid is soft against the mouth and doesn't smell like plastic (which I hate).

AND since I already have a pattern for a mug cosy how cute would they be for my tea lovin friends and family.  I don't do Starbuck's or Costa's but my mug makes me feel like I do LOL!

Oh darn!  It's empty again!  Guess maybe I should go fill it up.  My little people have just arrived (Grandma's babysittin today) so no more blogging for me.  I'm gonna take time out to visit with them and then hopefully a bit more sewing this afternoon.  I have made that many fabric carrier bags for orders that I still have my own requests to finish yet.

Quick update on the sewing classes - I know it's early days yet but ladies please email me here if you want to book on.  If I don't get enough bookings on the first class I won't be bothering with any of them.  I don't want to be messing everyone around - we're either in or we're out. I had such a cute idea in mind yesterday for putting together the patterns too - no reason why I can't craft a bit for you all huh?

Enjoy your day!

Suezie

Mom's Tomatoes?

We are still waiting for our first red tomato of the season.  I've had some lovely yellow cherry toms from the hanging baskets in our back yard but our tomatoes on the plot seem to be taking forever!

We were tidying them up this weekend after picking berries and hubby clipped this one off by mistake.  You can see how big it is by the size of my hand and it's really just a baby!  There are bigger ones than this.  Something makes me think we must've planted mom's tomato seeds this year.  I take charge of planting up all the seedlings and my memory is absolute CRAP so I may well have done and just not remembered it.  They look like mom's toms.

To my recollection Mom had been cultvating these seeds forever - well as long as I can remember at least and then some - and I know they have been grown by several generations in the family.  I'm pleased to be keeping that tradition alive so I must make sure I keep seeds from these for next year.

Hubby is 6 feet tall and so when you see this shot you get some idea of just how tall the plants have grown.  He had chopped much of them down by the time I took a picture. 

We have 9 of these beasties on our plot of land and we decided to clip back quite a bit to expose all those lovely toms to a bit of sunshine.  I am DESPERATE for them to go red so I can start making Italian sauce.  I run out of it pretty quick each year cos I love any kind of pasta, tomato and cheese dish.

I seem to recall these were a late ripener as well.  In fact it was last September when we lost mom that we were home and she had them growing in her back yard.  They were just about turning red then and when you know how hot and sunny it gets back there - I think I may have to be patient a while longer yet.  Thankfull we don't seem to be bothered by those big fat tomato worms that I always hated on hers.  Well least ways I haven't seen any sign of them yet.  Hopefully they're an American thing and we won't have them in this country.

For now I have my green tom on the kitchen window sill in an effort to get it to go red.  Wish me luck!

Quite the Weekend

Our weekends are known for being particularly busy but this was was quite the weekend! 

On Saturday I decided to pretty much hang out all day at YTOC with good friends for what was a really sad day.  It was the very last trading day as Kay, Amanda and Rosina closed the doors on one of our favourite craft stores for good.  We have become a wonderful little crafting community so while it was good to see lots of the 'usual' crowd - it was also very sad to be saying goodbye.  I don't doubt we'll see each other here and there but it will never be quite the same.

Lots of lovely ladies came along for one more crafting session but also to say good bye and wish Kay and Amanda well in their futures.  They still plan to take part in several craft shows to keep their hand in.

Rosina taught her last Saturday class right in the middle of the store.  Despite having a wonderful classroom upstairs I always enjoyed teaching downstairs on the shop floor like this.

And of course all of our favourite ladies took Rosina's class including Sheila, Wendy and Shirley.

Sadly the day did not pass without a few tears now and then and it was tough but it had to be done and now a new chapter can begin.

I was emotionally shattered by the end of the day - the heat didn't help either and with the grandkids coming to dinner I wasn't quite sure just how I'd manage but thankfully hubby had prepared a BBQ dinner so all I had to do was sit, relax and enjoy the company.  A fun movie and ice cream after dinner and then an early night once the kids had gone home and I was up and raring to go again this morning.

Just as well as I baked several more zucchini breads and even cooked some apples for the freezer - all before breakfast! 

After breakfast it was back to YTOC to help clear out the store before rushing off to watch Kaleb play football in the first tournament of the season.



Here he is with his team mates after the tournament (third from the left, front row).  They played in about 4 matches altogether with a draw, no goals scored in two games, and a win 1 - 0 in which Kaleb scored the winning goal.  Just like his older brother he is a real team player and we were proud to find out that the coach had sought after Kaleb for the team.

 We stayed for the presentation and all the lads got medals.  Unlike his brother, Kaleb is happy to pose for the camera so I get some lovely shots of him every now and then.

Zacheriah on the other hand has to literally be pinned down to get a shot and even then he wont look at the camera.  Would ya look at that hair!  He refuses to cut it right now even though he has to 'flick' it out of his face all the time.  He starts football with his first match next week and it's so funny to watch him 'flick' his hair out of the way throughout the match.  I don't know how he manages to see much of the game and still play but somehow he does!

And even though I had been up and going since 6.00 am this morning there was still more to do.  Dave and I stopped in at our little plot to pick elderberries.  They simply wouldn't wait any longer - if we didn't pick them right there and then they'd have been gone in a day or two and the opportunity would be lost.

Making elderberry cordial is quite a lengthy process and after a busy weekend we were simply too tired to make a start so we picked as many as we possibly could, bagged them up and popped them in the freezer for a couple of days until we get a free evening to cook them and extract the juice.

 

We picked about 14 good sized bags in all so this lot is gonna keep us pretty busy I can tell you.

We have a lot of things coming on at once right now which is giving us plenty to do.  Thank goodness the cucumbers didn't do so well and I don't have pickles to make this year.  I haven't made any jam this season either.  I am waiting to turn these babies into pumpkin pie and soup for the freezer next.

Hubby is taking one into work tomorrow for the little boy of one of the gals who works in the office.  He promised him a pumpkin and since there are still 8 or 9 more growing in the pumpkin patch we have plenty.

I am soooooo glad it's work tomorrow so I can sit at my desk.  I literally haven't stopped the entire weekend.  I managed to get work clothes washed and dried thanks to the weather and made a couple of fabric carrier bags Friday night to take into work tomorrow but other than that I simply couldn't have squeezed in anything else if I'd tried!  Still I'd much rather be busy than do nothing all weekend.

Here's hoping whatever you all did that it was a good one.  Wasn't the weather lovely?  I have the sunburn to prove it - shame I go red like a lobster instead of tanning LOL!