a new week - a new me

You'll be pleased to hear that I am in a far better mood this week. Admittedly, it is only Tuesday but I remain optimistic. There is still stuff that makes me grumpy. There always will be but I'll leave it at that - for now.

We've had a goof weekend, thanks for asking. I hope yours was nice, too? We went to a birthday curry night on Friday with all our camping friends. All of us except Sam, who is working Friday and Saturday nights, still dishwashing at the local Chinese restaurant. He informed me  on Saturday that he has been made an honourable Chinese. I think he was quite chuffed. Teenagers are funny. He better brush up on his Mandarin now. Anyway, the curry night. It was fun. All the children were fed first and then were left to their own devices. The curries were cooked by all of us but the hosts ordered pakora and nan bread from an Indian restaurant. I enjoy making curry but didn't fancy it much on this occasion and left it to Richard. He made a lamb curry which I am told was delicious (I don't eat lamb). I roasted spiced butternut squash slices for the vegetarians instead. There was lots of laughter and I really enjoyed everybody's company. It definitely helped me to relax a bit and feel normal. Good friends are one of the biggest joy in life.

On Saturday morning, Annie left for the practice expedition of the practice expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh expedition. I was a bit worried about her feet as she recently got new walking boots and has only broken them in for 30 minutes the day prior to this weekend hike. I was right to be worried, her feet looked mangled and swollen when she returned on Sunday evening. She was only able to hobble about, poor thing. It was also absolutely freezing and she told me that the girls in her little tent had moved to the heated toilet facilities on the campsite during the night, to warm up a bit. I am glad that they stayed on an actual campsite for this practice expedition as I knew the temperatures would plummet to well below zero. I don't think she had a particularly good time but no doubt the experience will have taught her a few things, in particular that walking boots really need to be worn in sufficiently for a two day hike. I hope very much hat the next two day hike will be more fun.

The boys and I did chores, including a Lidl food shop. We went to a couple of shops to look at tall floor lamps for our reading corner in the extension and we took photos to show to Richard. We then treated ourselves to lunch at Ikea, which the boys think is the most amazing restaurant in the world, only surpassed by KFC. They are still little and there is hope for their palates. After lunch, we ventured into the sofa section and tested a few sofas, and took photos to show to Richard. We have an uncomfortable Klippan sofa in our living room with a slightly shabby denim cover. It is not really suitable for our ageing bodies and I'd love to get a new one and give the kids the Klippan. It was the kids sofa in the first place, until our more comfortable one broke (Annie still uses that one though, not bothered about a broken armrest). Richard is stubbornly resistant to prettify the house if it involves replacing furniture that is not broken beyond repair. His taste has remained unchanged since I first met him and he never seems to get bored of anything. This is in stark contrast to myself.  I'd love to shake things up a bit. I thought pre-screening and taking photos might help but I don't seem to be able to elicit a response. The mere mention of such thing is considered a major nag. It can be hugely frustrating but I guess that's life and hopefully, we'll get there in the end.

I spent the evening listening to the radio and sewing blocks for James' quilt. Jo says that sewing straight lines is good for the soul and she is right, it is. I have forty blocks now, eight more needed.

On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous but somewhat cold. We spent some time in the garden, tidying up. I managed a full hour, which is good going for someone who doesn't like gardening. I bought two bare roots climbing/rambling roses for the garden, which needed planting. One I wanted to plant where the sick honeysuckle is. I have been wanting to do this for two years now but every time I brought the topic up, Richard said that he didn't think the honeysuckle was sick. I guess one could argue that it does make a few new leaves each spring and produces a couple of almost instantly withering flowers in the summer. We compromised on moving the honeysuckle to a position at the top of garden to see if it maybe didn't like the the spot it was in. The climbing rose went where I wanted it. The rambler went up against the garage wall, an amazingly unattractive building. I hope it will cover up the wall and offer some hiding spaces for small creatures, too.

James and Alistair were playing outside all afternoon. First they went to the football pitch, then to the playground. There little faces got a bit of colour, which made their freckles stand out even more. We all rolled our sleeves up to make some vitamin D, which we all need urgently.

I tinkered in my sewing room for a while, sewing button holes. I'll show you my next make soon.

For dinner I made steak without mushroom pie. It was a double crust one and it was rather good but not terribly pretty. I must have overworked the pastry a little and maybe added a smidgen to much water as it was shrinking away from the pie dish. There was noting left, James must have eaten a quarter of it, beating even the most voracious eaters in the house. I don't know where he puts it.

The weekend was followed by a rather dull Monday. I enjoyed my yoga session in the evening. It focused on twists, which ain't easy for people with big fat tummies but I squeezed the fat as much as I could and managed something like a closed twist pose in the end.

I am working at home today so I can go to Alistair's assembly show later without loosing time to commute. He is a horse. Of course.

Have a good day. Thanks so much for your encouraging comments on my last post. I am glad I am not on my own with general grumpiness. Take care my friends xx