I Love cooking and cooking loves me!

Argh summer's nearly over....did it ever really begin?, I'm not sure about anyone else but I'm sure summers used to be longer and hotter and dryer!, it seems to speed past and before you know it your back to ordering coal and dreading Christmas! I have had some nice warm outings but the weather is pretty rubbish now all thanks to chemtrails, I'm sure you have seen the planes criss crossing the sky with the polluted gases for weather modification....anyway enough of that, I thought I would post a pic of a sunny day for me to look back on next summer when its snowing in June! I went to a fab charity shop in Lytham the other day after our home school meet and was so pleased with these two tops I found......

Excuse the mucky mirror and the flash but I had to capture how bloody cute it is, it's all embroidered and covers my rather ample bosom perfectly, only £1-yep I couldn't believe it either so I quickly grabbed this....



this was also £1! its a Marks and Spencer's lace/embroidered shirt, its sooo lovely, not worn it yet as it's been too cold.

Our lovely girls have all started to lay now and I am a pleased mother hen, the yolks are so golden it's fab, I have been baking, making breakfast muffins, pancakes, omelette's etc everyday....not all of them at once-that's too greedy even for a cake lovin' lady like me!!

Eye-eye said Francesca as I got out the camera, I think she was bothered her wattle and comb had not been set!

Talking of cooking, since going to the local allotments and getting a free recipe sheet I have gone ratatouille mad, it's delicious and so easy to make in bulk. I had, had a bad morning and was making another pan full and Adam was moaning about me making it agaaaaaiiinnnn, when I cut open this pepper......

It made me feel much better and loved! I had to get the camera to capture it, yes I love cooking!!

This week I have mostly been doing lots of things but finishing none, having tons of ideas in the morning and by night time done none of them..... this happens to me a lot! I find myself frustrated with my lack of sticking to just one thing at a time, does anyone else feel this way?, maybe it's a creative thing, ideas going round and round. I would like to hear if you lovely ladies get this way too.

Castles big and small

I got up a few mornings ago and decided we was going out for the day - this was at 7.30ish - not sure why I woke that early without the help of a little person but I rallied everyone up - much to the disgust of the teen "eurghh what DO YOU want mummmm" and we got on the bus to Lancaster. Ive always liked it there as the buildings are so different to Blackpool and the cute little shops and quirky structural designs everywhere.

I took this one of the boys on the bridge because about 6 years ago I took a picture in the same spot and we compared how they have grown when we came home, much to little ones disappointment, he doesn't want to get older, he cries sometimes because he "wants to be a small boy for always", bless him.

Lancaster Castle, we had a great tour with a great guide, he answered loads of questions and was very passionate talking with the children about the gruesome history, the boys found Henry 8th shield on the wall and thought the weapons were awesome.


The tour lasted about an hour and was worth the price of a family ticket, we all learned a lot and found it very interesting.

Opposite the castle is the Priory church, we went in to be nosy and the inside was spectacular, I took some photos but they came out too dark, the pic above is just one of loads of tapestry's adorning the back of hand carved chairs, the work that has gone into them was amazing.

We went for a cuppa in the church cafe and I asked the lady if it was OK that I had brought my own rice milk for our tea, she smiled and an even older lady pulled a face like I was a hippy nutter and said "ohh whatever dear", I had a hard time keeping a straight face as I paid and walked back to the table smirking!

It started to rain so we headed to the museum and the boys had large smiles on there faces as it was full of war memorabilia, there was so much to see and read, costumes, weapons, diary's and letters, its a fantastic place, they had info sheets to take for free too - great for home school.


They have there own site too with history, pictures etc on.

Tom has been making a castle out of wood for Chris, we got the instructions out of a 1970's book of my dads, we got some offcuts for a couple of pounds and some carpet inner tubes for free, Chris helped to cut it (no goggles, masks etc - sorry Mr Badman ) and paint it.....

then he waited patiently for the glue to stick and Tom to cut out the other bits, he used his pocket money on knights and we used a curtain for a moat and voila...

it still needs a coat of paint on the wood and a base but he loves it! Its pretty big and has taken over the table so we've been sharing dinners with archers and dragons.

A new discovery.....

We went on the bus to Lytham the other day and although I have been there a few times I don't know it very well so I missed our stop and the driver carried on past the town and the shops and dropped us off outside a fantastic park, what luck! I never knew it existed, its really big and has loads to do for tiny ones through to teens, there is different areas including a skate park, a wooden magical picnic area, exercise machines from Sweden and loads of other cool stuff to do.

Look at the carved entrance, how lovely with poems engraved in the wood, there is a different poem on each side.
How cool is this fort/castle, the boys played for hours whilst we sat and people watched and chatted. Its actually much bigger than it looks in this picture.

Lift off in this excellent rocket, this is sooo high and looks loads of fun, I can't wait for the kids to go back to school and we can have a home school meet so I can go down the slide!

This is one of the Swedish contraptions, there is a massage roller thing too which works great for mums aching shoulders, these air walker things left me feeling sickish though.

There is also a zip wire but the batteries on the camera had run out so I couldn't take anymore photos.

After dragging the kids away from the park we started walking to the shopping area, now as sad as this may sound I don't care I have to share just how fantastic Booths building is, its round and modern but in a cool arty way, the staircase inside is round too and oh my the loos are so posh! I was very impressed with the range of alternative food stuffs too and ended up buying bagels, croissants and scones for breakfast!

Next I came to an upmarket junk shop, think more Cath Kidston than sally army, very nice vintage items, a gorgeous hall stand I so want even though I have absolutely no room or cash for it! I ended up buying a book instead!

I discovered a pop art shop with retro items and paintings in, I'm going to see if they will accept my Kitschy pink pop painting and some others I have done.

Had a lovely day somewhere different, will make sure I get new camera batteries for next time!

great friends and a great day

We went to our home school meet yesterday but this time we went up to Beacon Fell, luckily it was there sports day so there was lots to do!. After missing 2 buses we got to our friends house and my boys went with my friends boys to look for eggs, this is still a novelty to us as our girls are not laying yet. I enjoyed a lovely coffee ( I remembered to take rice milk with me - we have quit dairy) and we set off, there was an orienteering map we could follow and the men was in charge whilst the mums ambled at the back chatting and taking in the view, the boys all ran on looking for marker flags. It was a nice day for a change and after getting to the summit we sat for a rest......

there are many sculptures dotted around the woods and we came across this stick hut someone had built - how great with a little work we could live here!
Part of the sports day was arranged activities, we tried welly wanging, my throw was OK, its surprisingly hard chucking wellies the furthest! One of the home school boys said he had watched it on telly where they fill the wellies with custard before they throw them!!

All the boys got to try archery, they had a blast and all did really well, all got a bulls eye! its all the soldier playing practise I guess! I would of liked to have a go but it was children only. The archers ( Bowmen of Pendle and Samlesbury )had loads of patience with the children and were really friendly. We think we might try and go sometime and try it out, would be great for a party event.

After leaving Beacon fell we went to Holly Farm, we petted the animals, they have a horse, a pony, 2 big smelly pigs, never seen pigs as big in my life, rabbits, chicks, calves, cows and my favourite goats!, I named them Lilith and billy, Lilith a white cutie kept eating my skirt and Billy was so naughty headbutting stuff and jumping, they are so adorable, I can't wait to get some of my own.

The boys had an ice cream whilst we waited to see the cows being milked, in my honest opinion it wasn't worth the wait, the window where you look out to see them is tiny, if there is more then 2 families in there you have no chance, really when you do look the cows are all packed in like sardines and you can't really see whats going on.

Then we went back to our friends house, she lives in a big old farmhouse and has a lovely garden and orchard for the boys to play in, all the boys played at gladiator training in the orchard whilst we had a cuppa and a lovely chat. She made us all dinner which was another wonderful treat for me and then we came home.

Arriving home I had a faith in nature parcel - Mmmm yummy hair stuffs and an adorable thank you card with little baby feet on the front off Claire over at The green queen . Reflecting on the day when I went to bed I realised how lovely my life is and how lucky I am to know such wonderful people.

Living The Good Life - Chicken Factsheet Clothing from Joules Clothing (UK)

Living The Good Life - Chicken Factsheet Clothing from Joules Clothing (UK)

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This is really good for us homeschoolers, very informative and amusing too, I found it as I was ohhing and arghhing over the gorgeous dresses in the sale!!

Were back!!

We are back from our little break away in Ingleton, not far from here but it could be a million miles as its so different from Blackpool. We got two buses and the journey was good, a bit bumpy but we got to see lots of little villages along the way. We stayed in a caravan at the bottom of the village near to the waterfall walk, on first impressions it looked a lovely site, the owner was very friendly and there are free range chicken and chicks wandering about, a noisy rooster that didn't shut up from about 5.30 onwards and a couple of ostrich (the are not free ranging!)

There was a separate toilet and shower block which we didn't like to use because of the cobwebs and spiders, we found a really good spider free toilet in the village!

The caravans decor was out of the 70's which we really liked and there was a cool retro bread bin that caught our eye -no we didn't snaffle it, everything was basic but OK, then that night after a walk round the village and a couple of card games our nightmare began.....Spiders!! Now me and my BF are really petrified of them, we get the sweats, feel sick, you name it WE ARE FRIGHTENED, so after the first 2 or 3 we didn't feel well, but they kept coming and coming, the more we inspected the more we found, eventually we managed to get some sleep for our big 4 and 1/2 mile walk around the falls the next day.

Here are the youngsters looking for faeries on a request from Nannie, these wooden toadstools were so cute, hand carved by the river. There was so much to take in and the trees and rock formations were awesome, the sound of the river whooshing along made us feel very tranquil.

Chris with his binoculars spotting sheep in a field - this was a novelty as it was day one!!

Thornton Force, the main waterfall half way round the walk, we stopped here for lunch and a well deserved rest. After this we walked up and up loads more steps and a big hill then down into a valley and across a river and then up another hill to an ice cream van, this was in the middle of nowhere, we got out the picnic blanket and sat with an ice cream and took in the view, we could see for miles, it was an amazing site, that ice cream man has the best work view ever!

The walk back was pretty tiring, there were loads of steps up and down and our legs had a major work out, the boys didn't moan once which was surprising but great, we kept stopping to take in the views, they were fairy tale like in parts, we all loved it.

This is the view on the way into the village, up another great hill!, there is a pottery just in front of the viaduct and cute houses with adorable gardens, the main river runs right through the middle.Imagine this view everyday you come out of your house, and listening to the sound of the river as you fall asleep, to me its a little bit of heaven.



Another day we had a walk up the hills in search of a waterfall I had found on the map, not on a trail I might add, we walked for ages and eventually found a tiny stream in the bottom of a valley, we followed in and had a bite to eat, the kids thought it was funny that mums waterfall had turned out to be a tiny stream running over a few rocks!

When we set off I had another bright idea of following the stream back to the village....it was worse than on the way, there were crows, cows and sheep blocking the way, there was rivers running down hills we had to cross and slippy mud, the next thing is, Chris has fallen in the river which has now become quite wide and deepish!! I had to get him out and into a field, take off his freezing soaking clothes and dry him off with tissues!! Poor kid had to walk back with miffy tissues sticking out his shoes, then behold a great site THE waterfall, a great big noisy whooshing one (see I'm not that daft after all) only trouble was, I had hurt my leg by bashing it on a stile and Chris was wet through so we didn't stop to admire it!

Another day, we went to Settle market on the bus and I managed to get us on the wrong bus and we had to wait in the rain for another one to come along that took us back to where we originally came from! We walked around Settle and enjoyed the stalls but it was pouring down so we didn't stay long.

Another day we went to white scar caves too but it was so dark the camera didn't take the photos well enough, it was pretty cold in the caves and a bit of a rush for the £26 we paid to get in, I'm not sure it was really worth it.

We went into the village everyday, the shopkeepers are so friendly and lovely it was a real joy.
There was a sweet shop that Tom loved, an organic fruit and veg shop, a cake shop which made the most delicious scones and cakes to die for - I liked it very much!!

There was also this shop, very beautiful and fair trade, she sold all sorts from wonderful organics toiletries to girly dresses and baby clothes, I could of spent all our holiday allowance in there, the boys got some pencils recycled from plastic bottles and a note book covered in an old tyre. I'm sure all you lovely ladies would be in awe just as I was....

it looks like the online shop part is not working so I will email and see if its coming back, its not too far by car though if you fancied a day out.

We had, had enough of the spiders after another night of going around the caravan with a torch killing them, at midnight Tom and I packed whilst the boys slept and next morning we came home 2 days early, my leg wasn't up to much walking and our brains were fuzzy from lack of a good sleep so we were pleased to be going, next time we will stay in a B+B I think!!

Cabbages, Cakes, Birthdays and no kisses!!

The garden is in bloom and I'm loving it!, walking round each morning to see whats flowered or grown a little bit taller makes my start to the day brilliant, that and talking to the chickens who remain as daft as ever. We have picked so many peas, its really amazed me how there are always more every time I look, these peas are a definite winner for production rates. We have managed to grow 3 yes that's right just 3 strawberries, how that's happened I don't know I expected loads of yummy ones for summer, I also forgot to do the successtional sowing thing so only have one lot of carrots growing- I guess this growing larks all about learning though.

I have various objects filled with growing things, tyres have come in handy, I unearthed the first spuds for tea the other day - that was fun like digging for treasure, so when the tyres were empty I did a re-shuffle and planted the courgettes and runner beans, I use empty milk cartons loads too.

Arghh I hate the caterpillars that have invaded and eaten my lovely cabbages, the broccoli's that holey they could be net curtains! Damn you cabbage whites with your pretty fluttering and wriggly caterpillars because as much as I am disappointed my brassicas are not picture perfect, I still am weak and feeble at shooing you away!!

Mmmm cakes....I borrowed this book from the library and every page had my mouth watering and me eager to get my pinny on. So I baked a Swiss roll out of it - not made one since school many years ago but thought it would be a challenge......

Sponge came out light and fluffy and smelled deliciously eggy, I made jam from berries out our garden - and it worked!! I was amazed how easy it was.....

I covered it in jam and then whipped cream - great for flabby bat wings all that mixing to get it whipped - then came the rolling up......unfortunately it kinda went wrong and split so I pretended it was a Victoria sponge slab instead, it was delicious, every forkful was dreamy and well worth making.

When do boys get to old for kisses?......

My eldest was 15 last week, I can't believe 15 years ago he was a little cute bambino and now hes nearly grown up especially for kisses off mum!!