More Bookmarks

I started these a few months ago and only finished them today. I am useless when it comes to finishing off things which I have made. I pop things in a bag to complete another day then the bag will just get moved from spot to spot in the house until the day in which I stumble upon it and it does get finished off. This can be years in some cases. I have actually opened a bag of knitted or crocheted bits and not had a clue as to what they were destined to be. Any how I found these bookmarks which I started months ago which only needed the ends sewing up so I sat outside with Little L and finished them.

The designs used for these are from Aimee Ray's books, Doodle Stitching and Doodle Stitching :The Motif Collection

New Family Members

To add to the excitement of Little L's birthday yesterday we also acquired some new additions to the family. These cute tiny balls of fluff.

A bit of a family discussion had taken place not so long ago as to whether to have either goats or chickens in the garden. I personally have wanted some goats for years and goats did get more family votes but chickens won in the end as they seemed easier to look after and I know the children will soon lose interest and it will be left to me and hubbie to look after them. 

Anyway a chicken coop was purchased then it was a phone call to my own chicken expert, my sis, for her advice on what kind of breed would be best for us. Jay recommended Pekin Bantams as they are very tame and also small enough for Little L pick up. I started looking at local breeders for Pekins which were already old enough to lay eggs but didn't find any for sale. Jay had a look around her neck of the woods then rang me to say she thought that they were expensive compared to what she pays for her chickens. My brother in law said that if I wouldn't mind having them from chicks that I could buy some hatching eggs instead and he would hatch them in one of his incubators ( he is incubating his pheasants eggs at the moment). We ended up with 4 chicks out of 12 eggs, which isn't very good and I hope that none of these are cockerels as we can only have hens here as it is a residential area ( my sis said she could take any cockerels ).

I really hope that this one is a hen as Little L has chosen it as hers already and named it Chicken Little.

Birthday Girl

My lovely little girl celebrated her 3rd birthday today.

Here she is enjoying her new slide. It wasn't the baby brother that she asked me for as her birthday present but she loved it all the same. She had lots of visitors and lovely gifts including a work bench and drill set from one set of grandparents ( Little L isn't always a girly girl ).

Lots of food was eaten followed by even more cake. Little L really enjoyed her day and is shattered now so I'm off to get her ready for bed. Too be honest so am I and could quite happily trot off to bed myself and its not even 9pm yet.

Aches & Pains

I haven't been up to much craft wise lately because my right arm doesn't seem to want to let me. I have been having pains in it for years but only went to the doctors about it last year when it was getting too much.  I was then send to physio , who discharged me as they didn't actually know what was wrong. Then over Christmas my thumb started to hurt a little which I thought would go away on its own accord. It didn't and my hand started to swell. I still didn't go to see the doctors until a joint on my left thumb started to feel a bit weird ( it doesn't actually hurt, just doesn't feel right ) and that hand also began to swell. So I thought I had left things for long enough and paid the doctor a visit. He send me for blood tests ( which I'm having done this afternoon ) to test for arthritis. I don't know anything about arthritis but if it is that, I think its a bit odd to just start from nowhere. My hands were fine before Christmas and now its awkward to try and hold a needle. Anyway I should soon find out what the problem is.

These felt magnets were made this week to spruce up our fridge.

I hope we continue with the lovely weather we have here at the moment in the UK and hope you all have a great weekend x

Chocolate Mousse

My boys are on their half term school holidays at the moment not that I'd notice, they are never in the house. The eldest is usually off playing football all day but he has injured his knee and has to rest it so he will barricade himself in his room to play games on line with his friends. The youngest will be off to the skate ramps, adding new bruises to his already battered legs. He was showing me his legs earlier and he seems so proud of his shins in various shades of yellow. 

Little L loves her big brothers being off school but gets a bit upset when they are in and out of the house so fast and don't want to spend any time with her so this morning we did some baking. We started to make shortbread biscuits then both the boys wanted to help and sort of took over so I left them to it and while I made chocolate mousse. I've tried a few different chocolate mousse recipes but this is the one that I use the most.

Ingredients                                                                                                   Serves 3 - 4

75g Bournville Dark plain chocolate

3 Eggs, separated

1) Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water.

2) Take off the heat and stir in the egg yolks.

3) Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate.

4) Turn the mousse into your serving bowl and put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

It is really quick to make and tastes lovely served with whipped cream.

Under The Sea

Today my mum,dad, my husband, Little L and I went for a day out to Blue Planet Aquarium. It was the first time Little L had been to a large aquarium and she had been getting pretty excited for a few days leading up to the visit. When we arrived and saw that four school trips were going on, I did think that Little L may not get to see much but the place is split into different sections so we didn't actually bump into any group of little people.

At first Little L was too excited to stand still long enough to look at anything but she soon calmed down. The first thing to stop her in her tracks were some ducks that were swimming around on top of the tank in the Rivers & Streams section - I was a bit surprised to see those myself. 
Little L didn't seem to be too impressed by the sharks at all but loved walking through the tunnels.

What she loved the most was when we went to The Rocky Shoreline because she had wanted to see a crab anyway and she was also allowed to put her hand in a tank and touch the fish. She would have stayed there all day swirling her hand in the water if we had let her.

I quite liked the Venom part. Not for spiders, snakes or anything creepy but for the jellyfish. 

I've never seen these upside down ones before and though it was some kind of coral at first.

These moonlight jellyfish were gorgeous, really bright.

Outside were two kinds of otters and as soon as we stepped out we heard a pretty loud squealing/squeaking noise. It was these small otters waiting for their dinner. I've never heard an otter make a sound before and was surprised at how noisy they can be.
Before we left Little L played in the play area and I got a little wet which was down to my dad ( he had played on a game with Little L and as a prize you had water squirted at you , my dad walked off and I got the water ) 
We had a great day but were exhausted when we arrived back home so Little L, hubbie and I had a quick 40 winks before the boys came back from school.

How Time Flies

At the weekend Anders and I celebrated six years of marriage. Six years may not seem a long time especially compared to both sets of our parents who are celebrating their Ruby Anniversary this year but looking back at the last six years a lot has happened in that short space of time, both good and not so good and the time has gone so fast.

We didn't go out anywhere to celebrate but we did have a kiddie free evening, which is a rarity in its self. It always surprises me just how quiet the house is with no children about. I find it a bit unsettling to be honest but it is nice to be able to watch a film in peace and not have to think if it is suitable for children or not. 

We had a lovely peaceful evening. I cooked us a meal, we watched a film and we had a nice lie in the next day.