There was the morning walk up to the plot,

followed by the picking of brussel sprouts.

and parsnips.

A quick peek at my micro lettuces which is very posh grub. I’m quite pleased with them and will start to crop them shortly.

My gorgeous boys.



(note: some of us dress for lunch and some don’t!)

Lucy joined us for dessert. (well we managed to force a spoonful inside her!)

And, there was socks!

I was trying to finish Lucy’s scarf and hat before she went back to Uni today, but I failed. Sorry Lucy, I was up until one this morning but couldn’t quite muster the energy for the final sprint. However, son no.1 will be joining her for New Year, so, I will have it finished by then and be able to tuck them into his rucksack. It is the Amanda Hat in Manos del Uruguay, Wool Clasica. Colourway 7458. Knitted up on 5.5 mm needles and I’ve added 4 stitches to the hat pattern. I’ve managed to convert this pattern into one that can be knitted on straight needles and have knit up a matching scarf for her, which I am very pleased with.

I am also very pleased that it will fit. I have a two Amanda hats that I have yet to blog about (I was knitting them for fit for me) and I asked Lucy if she liked the larger of the two, her response was that she didn’t like hats, but she tried it on anyway and immediately fell hook, line and sinker for it. Whilst looking at the hat on her head in the mirror and I have to say Lucy was visibly swooning, Lucy told me that she didn’t normally like hats as they didn’t fit her as she has a large head. “And me” I cried. I quickly whipped out a tape measure and measured Lucy’s head and.. we both have exactly the same enormous sized heads, 23″ .

As I know exactly how frustrating it can be to find a ladies hat that will fit my head in the shops I knew precisely why Lucy had said she didn’t like hats and could see how much she loved this hat. So I quickly found some Manos on the net in the colour that Lucy loved and started to knit as soon as it arrived. I really love this yarn, its so soft and so comfortable, it doesn’t itch or scratch me and its just so very, very pretty.

We have cake.

We even have a marzipanned cake and….

and hubby iced the cake.

And we have a tree, which Son no.2 (who is quite artistic but doesn’t realise it yet) decorated mostly on his own. I think he did a wonderful job.

All we have to do in the morning is to dig out our parsnips and pick our brussel sprouts. Along with the peeling and chopping and cooking that goes on for half a century. I am a very lucky girl, hubby always cooks the Christmas lunch, I just do the floating around, dressing tables, finding napkins and crackers and wondering if we need another sauce boat. That does sound like I have done nothing really doesn’t it. But you have to remember, who has planned and cooked it all in the first place.

Happy Christmas Everyone.

xx

Track Santa

We can rebuild her.”

The operation was a complete success. Zapped and ready for Christmas action, well, I will be tomorrow.

That was five days of my life I’d rather not repeat too often. I’ll tell you the scariest part was when my heart was converting the flutter 1 to 1, which meant rather than being on the receiving end of a 130 heart beat I was up to the 250 beats per min range. Which was very, very scary and to be honest there was a couple of times that I thought… “Oops, definitely over egged it this time” Fortunately this only happened about four times and only for twenty to thirty seconds, but always in public although fortunately a hospital waiting room.

You know your never going to change when….. You can joke with your anaesthetist and male nurse whilst laying flat out on an operating table, with barely your modesty showing, bald as a coot, blind as a bat (because your specs have been taken) deep in Atrial Flutter. They appeared stunned for just a second as in a ‘did she really say that’, then giggled like hell.

Revision was required (something to do with health and safety) on how to inject anticoagulants subcutaneously – the satsuma never stood a chance, I was allowed home. One four hour snooze later I’m almost feeling normal. *evil grin*

to see the lovely Dr Clarke before Christmas.

and I’m one of them.

Tuesday was not a good day. I went into Atrial Flutter, as soon as it clicked in, (2.00 p.m. if you must know) I Knew it was going to be In that rhythm for a long time even with medical intervention, rather than the fluttery, that pops in and out for a few minutes just to remind me that I have this condition before disappearing.

To cut a long story short. I feel like shit. I can’t do much. My surgery is planned for Saturday where they will zap my heart back into normal sinus rhythm whilst I’m under a general anaesthetic. (I’ve not had this done before and its quite frightening for me, I normally opt for a drug route but that takes time, eight days last time) I’m on anticoagulants and more heart drugs. And I’ve had to make a decision that once all of this is over that I will need to go ahead with the heart surgery that rights this condition.

The Christmas tree and everything else are going to have to wait. (although I have a marzipaned cake that may get a very child like covering of royal icing, maybe thats a job for the boys this year.

Apart from when I’m at the hospital having blood tests or anticoagulant injections I’m sleeping, knitting for a short while makes me quite tired and I need a four hour kip in the afternoon!

I’m sure I’ll be fine, 😉

Oooh my tummy feels queezy.

Today, is the day.

I had a phone call last week telling me there was a cancellation, So… I’ve been fit in for a final wig fitting. Which means, I get to see my wig(s) for the very first time and have a two hour appointment to dress and cut one in. (the other will have to wait until after Christmas).

I have this really big knot at the top of my tummy that won’t go away.

The country mice became town mice for the evening.

Dressed up in our finery to see The Nutcracker at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

My lovely hubby.

I was and am still Giddy, the ballet by the Birmingham Royal Ballet was absolutely breath taking.

Son no.1 took ballet for many years, from the age of 5 to 11 only giving it up because of the pressures of his peer group whilst going on to secondary school. His teacher told me at the time of making that decision that he was quite gifted, but it was a decision that was his to make. Looking at some of the younger members of the cast, as they performed, it made me realise quite how gifted that boy was. Still from this, he is an excellent Fencer, much of which is fancy footwork along with sharp tactics.

Sorry to witter, but I have to recall, there was one particular boy this evening who so reminded me of son no.2 ‘s ballet at the age of 6yrs. Sturdy is the word I’m looking for, perhaps muscular, along with the brain of a young child which made him slower than the rest which ranged up to a twenty something (he was the youngest and his build was exactly like my second son).. but as was and is the case, although he wasn’t quite in line with the rest, he put in a brilliant effort at following his script (as in stage directions) and never missed a beat. It made me smile and almost made me leak.

We had a lovely evening.

Best put the clothes back into their closet for another year. (or two!)

Its coming along, in a slightly ‘oh my gosh I’ve got to get this to fit to make a solid piece when I lead it, which is very scary’ way! Its not like knitting where you can just give it a little bit of a tug to get pieces to match up.

The good news is that hubby and I are now quite proficient at cutting glass which was the main reason we wanted to take this course. So, when the wind blew out five panes of glass in the greenhouse up at the plot a couple of weeks ago, hubby was able to cut the glass in a ‘straight’ line and fixed the problem in less than a mornings work.

Apologies, I can’t show you the carrots, hubby had packed his away before I fished the camera out of my bag.

If I’m going to make Christmas puddings I always make them in November. Sometimes, (look away Delia) I buy a ready made shop version, it really does depend on my mood and inclination.

Mostly I’ve made more than I’ve bought. Some years when the boys and hubby have taken a shine to them, I’ve made seven or eight, as they’ve been eaten nearly as soon as they have been made.

I follow Delia’s recipe for Christmas puds, Delia was my guiding light on how to cook when I first got married, her recipes always seem to work out and she doesn’t seem to have any odd taste buds that match up slightly weird items. Just plain, simple, tasty cooking. And the other reason that I continue to use Delia’s recipe, is that it is simply gorgeous, so why mess around trying other chefs recipes when you have the most perfect recipe to hand.

I use my preserving pan to mix the ingredients in. Personally I think making Christmas puddings is far easier work than making the Christmas cake. My muscles really get a work out mixing the cake up, its far easier to assemble the ingredients for the pud and give it a mix.

Two 2lb pudding basins filled to the brim.

Ready for eight hours of steaming.

I would just like to say, thank you for not leaving too many rude comments whilst I underwent the marathon of NaNoBloMo. Today, is the last day. (thank goodness!) Will I be doing this again? I very much doubt it, although I might. I enjoyed Having to fill my day with something that I could blog about. So in that respect it was good. But then spending as much time as I have in front of the computer, that’s not so good. Overall it was enjoyable in a ‘eating one chocolate bar is enjoyable’, but nearly side tracked into the ‘but not if you continue to eat the family pack!’.

I’m still suffering from a miserable headache, although I am going to venture out in a little while to see if that will clear things. I will be well wrapped up, especially my head.

I thought you would like to see all of these together. My Christmas knitting, 9 pairs! All of the wool came from Web of Wool, Anna has such a lovely choice, you can literally get lost for days in her shop.

I have just photographed hubby’s scarf so he can wear it. I made this from Toft Alpaca in a Grey DK, it took 2 balls and it is lovely and soft. Kerry has some gorgeous items in her shop, its certainly worth a trip out if only to see the Alpaca’s. The stitch comprises of casting on a multiple of 3 stitches and then knit 2 purl 1. What happens is that you get nice columns which slightly pleat and look Very smart and its completely reversible.