Soup du Jour

My liquidiser broke a couple of weeks ago so it was imperative that I got another one.  I chose the Russell Hobbs one because of the glass jug.  My previous one was plastic and I think the hot soup I used it for caused the split in the collar near the blade.  Some days I plan to make soup and pre-soak any beans I might be using.  Some days I decide on the spur of the moment to make soup, that is when tins of beans come in handy.  I recently used black beans and I ended up with soup that was an interesting shade of purple!  Today I'm using borlotti beans...

This soup is very quick to make, onion; garlic, both roughly cut up; tin of beans; a squirt of tomato puree; a good glug of wine; pepper; and in this one, fish stock dissolved in about three quarters of a pint of hot water.  You can add any other veg you have on hand but for quickness these ingredients here are all you need.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about half an hour, let come off the boil then liquidise.  A very tasty, quick soup for two.  I can smell it now, ummmm, it amazes me how tasty bean soup is!

January

I don't think I've ever felt so lethargic as I've felt this January.  I think it is because of the weather being so cold and dull.  It's time I made an effort to get myself going again.  Here are a couple of things I've made recently...

A heart for a Valentine swap I'm in, this was very easy to do and turned out quite pretty.  Because I wasn't sure who I'd be swapping with and I wanted to get the hearts made in plenty of time, I also made this pot holder...

It wasn't until I took the picture that I noticed one edge isn't lined up properly, good job my swap partner wanted the fancy one!  Here's a picture of the hearts I've received in previous swaps...

I also bought a new doll, this one is very dainty compared to my Gotz one...

When I sat them together I decided that they looked just like Bridgette and Marie, two of the daughters in Medium, starring Patricia Arquette.

I sent for another book from Amazon, it's called Prairie Children and Their Quilts, but I have a horrible feeling I won't get it.  Three times the delivery date has been changed, it's now due in February, something to do with waiting for new stock to come in.  Never mind, there are plenty of other choices.

Once again, I apologise for some comments not showing up, I don't know why they keep going into the moderation page, I don't moderate comments so this is a puzzle to me.  It's not like they are going to the spam folder either.

A New Dress

No, not for me, for my doll.  This dress is from the Rosemarie Ionker book A Closet Full of Doll Clothes.

Things are still pretty slow around here.  We were away over Christmas and I haven't even downloaded the pictures from my camera.  We were in Yorkshire and my goodness it was cold!  It was so cold it got into my back and made it feel achy for days and felt cold but when I touched it, it was hot.  We had a nice time but wouldn't go away again for Christmas, I much prefer my Christmas day in my own house to in a hotel.

Wednesday

There's not much going on around here lately.  I've been doing a bit of sewing, a bit of card making, sending Christmas cards, Christmas decorating and that's about it, apart from the usual housework type things.  So, there aren't really any craft/baking/gardening pictures to show.

Yesterday I did get a nice bunch of flowers from my son and daughter-in-law, beautiful colours.

And Graham bought this lovely half cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop

Well it was my birthday!!!

Must be the time of year that's putting me off a bit.  And the weather, it's been so dull and the daylight hours seem very short, not good enough light for any embroidery.  

I know my craft room could do with a good reorganisation again - it's in a right mess, things out everywhere.  Even after my big cull earlier this year I still have too much stuff for the size of the room.  After Christmas I'll spend some time tidying it up again, until then I'll just ignore it!!!

New Shoes

First, an apology, I didn't notice that blogger now does a spam filter, of course some genuine comments ended up in the wrong place, I've now sorted it out - sorry if your comment hadn't appeared, I do enjoy reading them.

For quite a few years now I've had trouble finding comfortable shoes.  I can no longer wear anything with heels and the width has to be quite roomy.  It was years before I eventually sought medical advice about my feet and, as usual with me, the NHS doctor I go to was no help at all.  I don't think I make enough fuss with doctors, they just don't take me seriously, but that is beside the point here.  Anyway, I eventually went to a private hospital and saw an excellent podiatrist who diagnosed me with Morton's neuroma.  This is an extremely painful condition and it prevented me from doing much walking so I rapidly became very unfit.  I used to walk a lot and would think nothing of walking instead of getting a bus anywhere.  The podiatrist gave me two cortisone injections in my right foot.  This did help and I can now be on my feet for quite a length of time before I feel any discomfort.  But - I do have to be careful about my footwear.

A couple of weeks ago I visited a mill shop at Moffat and bought some lovely, comfy shoes

They are Hotter shoes and are wonderful.  I used to wear very fashionable shoes and that could have added to the problem with my feet, apparently the bones in my feet are naturally too close together (I do have a trouble with my spine too).  Nowadays I don't care how fashionable my shoes are as long as they are comfortable.  This can be quite a nuisance when it comes to wearing skirts and dresses but I think my new shoes will look fine.

One of my aunts, who was quite superstitious, said that putting shoes on a table would cause a death.  I'm not superstitious so I'm not bothered by this but I did look it up (on the internet of course).  One theory as to how this superstition came about is from when photography was first used.  Apparently the deceased would be photographed and so would have their shoes on while lying on a table - thus the superstition came about.  Ridiculous!!!

Snow

I don't really feel like doing anything much at the moment.  Does the cold and the snow have an effect on motivation - I don't know.

Even going outside the back door is an effort.

This is a main road into Nottingham and it's rarely this quiet.

Looking out over the back gardens wondering how the birds are coping, we have put bird seed out but the dunnocks, who feed on the ground, must be struggling.

I have been doing some sewing, still making dolls clothes but very slowly.  I seem to spend a lot of time just watching the snow!!!  And having a snooze in the afternoon!

Maybe this spell of snowy weather won't last and in a couple of days it will all disappear, we've been spoiled by the recent mild winters.  One thing I have enjoyed is our wood burning stove, it's lovely to have a real fire in the evenings.  And I must admit, we've been leaving the heating on 24 hours a day.  Some of my friends haven't been having their heating on during the day, I don't know how they can stand it and I'm sure just having the gas fire going all day is as expensive as having the central heating on.

Scotland November 2010

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Last week we were in Scotland, staying at the Tinto House Hotel, Symington, Lanarkshire.  When we arrived there was snow on the ground, the hills looked very wintery.  The hotel was comfortable and the public rooms very traditional looking with wood panelling and a huge, wide staircase.  Each day we had a trip out to different Castles and Palaces.  Even though the weather was very cold we enjoyed our sight seeing very much.  We didn't take pictures of everything we saw, as many of the sights were seen from the coach.  Our guide in Edinburgh, who was dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, showed us parts of the city not shown in my slide show.  For instance, we saw where Robert Louis Stevenson lived and the guide also explained a lot about the architecture of the houses.

I'm not sure if I'd go to Scotland in November in the future, it was just too cold!

On checking the slide show I notice that some pictures are out of sequence, I don't know why.