A cold run round the fishery

On Thursday Fifi was away back to school to be a unpaid skivy helper showing parents to the right place for the P1-3 parents night. and so I decided Bob and I would go for a walk round the fishery. I have to say once we got there I half wish we hadn't as it was bl**dy freezin, the wind was howling and it was drizzling slightly, had been a beautiful day too. 

Anyway we were here, parked and out the car before we realised so we battled on. Sight exaggeration but thats the way it felt. 

I had emptied Bobs memory card onto my computer before we went so he could take his camera and take pictures. So we set off, a camera a piece.    

Near the car park is the chicken/peacock pens. Bob spotted the rooster in one pen and went to photograph him first off. 

But every time he saw the camera he was off.

But eventually he got one of him stood still. 

We carried on walking round and Bob spotted this pile of digger buckets, he counted, there were fifteen of them.

So with Bob running, jumping and skipping we carried on round the pond. He had put his camera in his pocket by this point so he didn't need to worry about it.

Round the far side of the pond he captured the sun set reflecting on the pond.I stood him on  a bench to give him the height to take this picture.  At this point his batteries went dead so no more pictures from him.

Back round the pond and back to where we started. He was walking along the kerb stones here.

Cold, damp, and windy but out none the less.

Project 365 week 13 - 23rd March - 29th March

Week 13, into April on Tuesday, have to say loving the lighter nights and the fact we can get out after tea with the children. If its just us we often have tea at seven or eight o'clock so we usually go for a walk before tea.




Sunday

Daughter No 2 stayed over last Saturday night as she was going to a wedding fayre on the Sunday. So they went down to see the kids on Sunday morning, and left Jack behind. Here he is sitting looking sorry for himself when he was left. He was going to Stirling on Monday for an operation on a ligament.

Jack sat at the bottom of the stairs

Monday

OH and I went for a walk round Auchencruive Estate as it was a nice evening. Took various pictures but liked this blossom picture best. Nice to see the spring is finally springing.

blossom

Tuesday

Have fancied trying geocaching for a long time. Now I have a mobile that picks up a data signal when I'm out and about I decided to give it a try. There are not many caches near us but I decided to give it a try and go and see if I could find one. Well this was as close as I could get.
A local Facebook friend had seen this picture and said she also fancied trying it. We both agreed it would be fun to take the kids, but decided to get our own heads round it first. So we went out on Thursday and managed to find four of the six we looked for. Will try it once more this week together and then take the children out during the upcoming Easter holidays.

could not find the cache

Wednesday

Last week when Fifi was over we put some daffodils in coloured water . We chose red, blue and green. For some reason so far only the blue has picked up any colour. One of the red ones has a very very small spot of red on it, but not enough to photograph.  I also got a picture of a sunset while I had the twins out for a walk for  an hour to give daughter a break, but I didnt have a card in my camera and I cant find a lead to connect it to my computer, so cant pull it off to share it.

blue tinted daffodils

Thursday

Fifi went back to school tonight to be an unpaid skivy  a helper for parents night, to show the  parents round and do what ever else was needed. So Bob and I took a walk round the fishery. I had emptied the memory card on his camera and we set off to take pictures. I half wish we hadn't it was freezing, but we went all the way round the pond regardless.

reflections at sunset

Friday

I did have another picture lined up for today, but I got a phone call off of Fifi about half seven. I could hear Minky crying, Fifi reassuring Bob that Mum was going to be all right and telling me that Mum was bleeding and feeling really dizzy could I come round. So with dripping wet hair as I was just out the shower,I threw joggies and a jacket on top of my pj's and went round. She was going to fill the coffee pot but had somehow managed to break it and give herself a deep cut on the back of her hand. The bleeding had about stopped so I applied steri strips to hold it together and she was fine. Fifi did a good job till I got there and was very calm about it all.

So while I was round I got this picture of Dinky, she is rarely without her dummy these days, yether brother wont take one.

Dinky with her dummy

Saturday

This piece of bling came in the post yesterday. A 8gb storage dongle on a chain with a few dangly bits.

a pretty prize. 

Car cleaning with Greased Lightning

One job I find tedious and a complete waste of time, but necessary is trying to keep my car clean. We live in a rural farming community and the roads in this weather are often covered in layers of mud that the tractors drag out of the fields and spread across the roads that we then need to drive through. I have seen me wash the car in the town before coming home and time you get home it does not look like I have bothered.



This sign is commonly on the road as you approach one of the farms.

So when I was offered a car cleaning product to try I willingly said yes. I was sent a Showroom Shine started kit to try. 

What is Showroom Shine?

Get That New Car Look in Minutes with Showroom Shine Waterless Car Wax & Polish

Imagine it's Sunday morning and you're planning the day ahead. After you've had breakfast, read the papers and chauffeured your kids/grandchildren on a day out, you realise there won't be enough time left in the day to clean, wax and polish your car… again!

If this scene sounds familiar, then Greased Lightning's Showroom Shine Waterless Car Wax & Polish is the solution you have been looking for. Within one bottle, Showroom Shine will clean, polish and protect your car's paintwork – all without the use of water! By simplifying the cleaning process, Show Room Shine will help you restore your car's aesthetic to its former glory in minutes, leaving you free to enjoy the rest of your day.

Showroom Shine produces that new car look in minutes by:

• Not requiring water – so you can use it anytime, anywhere.
• Saving time by cleaning, polishing and protecting your car at the same time.
• Producing a finish without streaks, smears, scratches or water spots.
• Being safe and suitable to use with all types of bodywork paint.
• Ease of use – simply spray on, use one Microfibre Cloth to wipe the dirt and one to buff.
• Getting between 8-10 washes of an average-sized family car per bottle.

To join the thousands of Greased Lightning customers currently enjoying the benefits of a hassle free carwash, add Showroom Shine to your basket today.

So here is a photo of my car before we started.

close up

rather muddy

That got sprayed with the greased lightning.  The spray nozzle is adjustable from a wide spray to just a single line. I didn't use too wide a spray as I wanted to show the difference on a car door.

spraying the door

 It did not require a huge amount of effort to get the dirt to come off.

the dirt on the cloth

It certainly made a big difference very easily on the body work.

half the door done so you can see the difference

The next task I set it to work on was the dirty wheel trims.

a mud splattered wheel trim

 Spraying the contours of the wheel trims without the spray going through the gaps was slightly difficult but I narrowed the spray to enable me to do it.

spraying  the trims

Wiping the spray of the trims.

wiping them clean, getting into the curves. 

Works very well and made a huge difference.

clean and shiny

I have to say we were impressed with the results. If I use a bucket of soapy water then I do end up with streaks, but there are not streaks with this product.

If your car is  splattered in mud as much as mine you will need more than two clothes. Luckily for us we use this type of cloth so did have more. Cleaning the car did not take much longer than it would with water and a sponge, but gave a much better clean.

The only issue I had with this product is it is transported with a filler cap in the top that requires to be removed before the sprayer can be fitted. I struggled to get it out, and had to resort to forcing it out with a butter knife.

Rice Milk Jelly

This one is dead simple, but I thought I would share it anyway.

I bought sugar free jellies for Bob in Morrisons. Had seen a cola flavoured one that I thought would make something different for him, but it contains gluten ( didnt have my glasses on in the shop)

Heat 1/4 pint rice milk and dissolve the jelly in it. Make up to a pint and pour into wetted jelly moulds.

Leave to set and serve.

df, sf, wf, gf, ef cupcakes

I am trying to build up a recipe file for others to use as a resource. So my friend Debbie Barnes kindly allowed me to copy this one onto here.

df, sf, wf, gf, ef cupcakes




Pre heat oven to 180 

1.5 cups gf plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp gf baking powder
1 tsp gf bicarbonate of soda
Mix together in a bowl.

 In a jug add:
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar beat until mixed well together.

Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in wet mix.
Beat slowly until mixed together then beat for 10 mins. Mix will resemble faulty thick batter consistency. 
Pour into either a sponge tray for large cake or into cupcake cases (makes 12 cupcakes) 
Place into oven (large cake for 45-60 mins, cupcakes for 25 mins

Project 365 week 12 16th - 22nd March

Well I am glad we got out and about a few days last week as this week has been back to wintry weather again.

Sunday 16th

No overtime available this weekend, so I came home and did a baking instead. Made a bakewell cake and topped it with an almond flavoured icing, coloured some of it blue and make a pattern on it.

a bakewell tart cake 

Monday 17th

It has rained here, rained heavy along with high winds. Sadly most of the rain seems to hit the front of the house, and the living room windows have an issue with that. This is a common sight. New windows are on the cards this summer.

drip drip drop little March showers

Tuesday 18th

Dropped into daughters on the way back. Bob was in the bath, so I sneaked in to get a photo of the day. He saw me coming and decided to turn his water pistol on me. Loved the way the flash lit up the water as it came to get me.

he got me

Wednesday 19th

Saw this parked outside the house. Took this from the upstairs window, it just appealed to me. Not the best picture of a black mini at night with the street light shining down.

easy to find in a car park

Thursday 20th

Bob and I did some baking today. I had defrosted the freezer and found some blackberries we picked last year and decided to use some. Bob made a pear, banana and blackberry crumble and helped me make pear and blackberry pies. He prepared all the fruit, made his own crumble and added the filling to our pies.

Bob cutting up bananas

Friday 21st

I drop Bob at toddlers on a Friday morning. I got Dinky out of her pram and sat her in the bouncy chair. She loves to watch what is going on. She had been at the doctors during the week as her eczema is getting bad. She now officially has moisturiser and steroids to help it. Wonder what other issues she may have once weaned.
The twins have both been started on baby rice this week, she loves it and sits with her mouth open and it cant be shovelled in quick enough. Minky is not quite as interested just yet.

pulling herself up

Saturday 22nd

Using the last week of my work holidays and  we went off today to meet with daughter No 2's future in laws. We met on neutral territory for a meal. This was mine, for some strange reason not a plate in sight. This is their steak burger with onion rings coleslaw and a portion of chips. Very nice it was too, as were the in-laws.

burger, chips, side salad. 

Proud Grandparent update - Babies in February

So here we have them, the picture that were taken in February, some by me, some by mummy and daddy and some by Bob, he is on baby photo duty with his camera he got for Christmas

Dinky (the girl) has a bald patch on the back of her head now, but the rest of her dark hair is still there.

 3rd February

snuggles together, Dinky on the left

3rd Feb

Dinky

Minky fell asleep. 

Dinky 

Dinky with Granny Nan

Dinky with Granddad Tom

Minky with Granny Nan

Minky looking very serious

Minky asleep in his swing

lying on the new bed

in their snowsuits

Bob and Minky, all boys together

Dinky wrapped in Fifi's dressing gown

aahhhhh shhhh....

Minky

he is getting much bigger than her

Minky

sitting on the couch

Minky watching what is going on

Minky in his chair

Dinky

Dinky

in her cute babygro

Dinky on the LHS

big sister cuddles

Minky on his own

in his swing

on his playmat

love her strippy tights

too big from the pram, now into their cot

all four of them together