More cake and a sewing machine

Yesterday, I made a cake for Phil for his birthday. We had it at the quiz (which we lost horribly) and everyone seemed to like it! It's a Nigella recipe and is a malteser cake:

Today I've been doing housework, as Mum is coming to stay with us this weekend. I've done two loads of washing, which are currently out drying on the line, made a loaf of bread, and I finally sorted out Ade's Nan's sewing machine:

It a beautiful machine:

Look at the detail on here:

Plus there's a box of bits, and an instruction manual. I don't know if it still works, but I'll definitely be giving it a go and seeing what it's like.

Finally, the lounge is tidy!

Tomorrow I'll be sorting out the purple room for Mum to stay in, plus cleaning the bathroom. Not really very exciting, but I might also get a few minutes for some Wii too.

Right, got to do Ade's ironing for him now, then make his sandwiches and cook his tea...

First fishing trip of the year.

On Sunday we went fishing to Five Bar Gate to celebrate Phil's birthday. He and Angela spent the night before in a nice hotel in Blackpool, and we surprised them on the beach. We also took a picnic, but it was rather chilly. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything, even with our fantastic new rods! It's only about an hour's drive away, so if the weather is nice one weekend and we're not doing anything, we'll probably head back over there.

After fishing, we headed in to Blackpool for a quite pint and a look around. Of course, I couldn't go to Blackpool without taking a photo of the tower:

It was a lot warmer on the pier, probably because we were out of the wind.

We went round the arcades too, and I won a couple of things of the two-penny falls:

Today, I finally got round to lining the purple bag I knitted several years ago:

I did two pockets inside:

I'm not sure about these buttons, but I'll leave them for a while and see if they grow on me. I've also got some other lighter ones, which I might use instead.

Cake, plants and Lizard Ridge.

Yesterday, I made a carrot cake! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it, as the battery ran out on my camera. The icing went a bit wrong, and came out more like a sauce, but it still tasted OK. We had some after tea and Phil and Angela's, which was a very tasty fish lasagna and garlic bread made by Angela, and then went to the quiz and won! Maybe I should bake every week from now on, and we might win the quiz more often. Ade took the rest of it to work with him today, and he said they all enjoyed it. I think I'll do another one for when Mum comes to visit, but I'll find another recipe for the icing this time.

Today, I've been fairly busy doing bits and pieces. Here's how the garden is getting on - the radish and lettuce have come up, but there's still no sign of the carrots or spring onions:

I've had to put some canes over them as something was digging the ground up - I think it's probably a squirrel. Yesterday there was still a little bit of soil disturbance, but today it seems to have stayed away. Any squirrel-deterring suggestions welcome though!

The mint and parsley seem to be doing well. I've also planted some basil seeds in the parsley pot, so we'll see what happens there:

The strawberries are doing well, and there are quite a few flowers on them:

The tomato plants haven't died yet!

I've also planted some seeds in some pots and put them on the kitchen windowsill:

After making some ginger beer, which is currently in the airing cupboard brewing away, I blocked out my Lizard Ridge. Looking at Ravelry, it seems I actually finished knitting it in June last year, so it's been a while!

There wasn't enough room on the bed for all the squares, so I had to put some on the floor:

I think tomorrow I'm going to have a quiet day, as I'm feeling knackered now, and I still haven't watered the plants or cooked dinner. I did think it was going to rain earlier, but it seems to have cleared up now. Hopefully the weather is nice for the weekend, as we're thinking about going fishing on Sunday. It'll be the first time this year, and maybe we'll even catch something this time!

Magna and a clean fridge.

Magna on Friday was excellent - it was lovely to see Mum, Chris and the boys, although it was a very tiring day, as I was on my feet the whole time (apart from when I was going down the zip line!). I didn't take many photos, but here are a few:

An engine:

A fire vortex - this was amazing:

Having a sit down at the end:

The weekend was lovely too, although we didn't really do very much except go to the pub and drink beer in the sun. It was so lovely, it seemed a shame to waste the nice weather, and what better way than sitting in a beer garden with a nice cold pint?

Today, I've actually done some housewifey stuff, and cleaned the fridge/freezer! It looks really strange now - anyone who's been to our house will know that we usually have a large number of fridge magnets all over the fridge, and I haven't got round to putting them back on again yet. It took ages to melt all the ice in there too, and I ended up using a hairdryer!

Clean fridge:

Inside (I haven't put the beer back in yet, which is why it looks so empty):

I'm knackered now, especially after going to Tescos, so I'm going to put my feet up now and play a bit of Animal Crossing until Ade gets home...

Getting shirty.

Well, I've finally finished my shirt! This photo doesn't really do it justice, it looks much better on, but I can't really take a photo of myself. I'm a bit annoyed that the circles don't line up properly, but they are printed on the cloth that way, and it was just a test run on the pattern to see how it sews up. I'm very happy with this pattern, and will definitely be making it again.


Yesterday, I sorted out the breadmaker, and made my first loaf. As you can see from the photo, it wasn't long before we had to try it. I think Ade was happy with the result, but I'll have to find out from him tonight how his sandwiches were today.

The Easter weekend was fantastic - we went out on Friday during the day to buy some plants and compost for our garden, and then on Friday night we went out drinking in Manchester to celebrate my birthday. Even with a hangover on Saturday, the weather was so nice, we decided to plant out the seeds and plants. These are our tomatoes:

Mint and parsley:

Garlic, spring onions, carrots, radishes and lettuce:

Strawberries:

Fingers crossed they grow!

On Sunday, we went over to Phil and Angela's for a bit of an Easter party, and then, after a short pub crawl, ended up at the Oddies, Royton's Premiere nightspot! Was a great night, although we felt a little bit worse for wear on Monday.

I'm off to Magna tomorrow with Mum, Chris, Max and William, so that should be a fun day out. Hopefully the weather will be nice, although I'm going to take my waterproof anyway, as I've heard it can be quite wet there. Max even wanted me to bring my swimming costume, but I don't think I'll go that far...

Bad tooth, pots and goldfish.

I went to the dentist this morning and it turns out I've got an abcess on my tooth, which I'm going to have to have extracted. He did give me the option of having a root canal, but that would cost nearly £200, and then I'd need a crown in another couple of years, which would be another £200, so I think this is probably the easiest option. Plus I asked to have it done at the dental hospital with sedation, which means it'll be free! I'm really not looking forward to it, but it's not going to be for another 12 weeks or so, so I'm going to forget about it now and hope my tooth doesn't hurt too much in the meantime.

After that, I decided to go for a drive out to Cheshire and have a look round some garden centres for some pots for our new "Good Life" plans. These ones are nice, but quite expensive:

Slightly cheaper option:

Ade fancied growing some potatoes too, but I'm not sure how good this system is. Plus £20 is quite a lot, especially if it doesn't work!

They had goldfish there too. I'm still planning on getting out my old tank and getting some fish, although I think I'd quite like a mix and not just normal goldfish.

They probably thought I was mad at the garden centre, going round taking photos of things! In the end I went to four places, and each one was slightly different. I think I know what to get now, and where to get it, but I need to drag Ade along with me, so I'll suggest we go out on Friday for a bit of a birthday treat. Plus it means I can get him to buy me tea and cake!

Quiz tonight - hopefully Susan will win, but as long as we beat Lumbered, that's all that really matters...

15 Mario Galaxy Stars!

I'm back home again now, after spending most of last week in Derby with Mum. The funeral went OK, and it was really lovely to see all the family, even though it was in not particularly nice circumstances. The flowers were lovely, although we didn't have many, since we asked for donations to the Derby Amputee Club instead.

On Friday, we went to Markeaton Park for a picnic and to feed the ducks. I've put some photos on Facebook. The weather was fantastic - a real taste of spring.

We came home on Saturday, so didn't get much done, but on Sunday me and Ade sorted out the back garden. Before:

After:

There's still quite a bit more to do, but it's getting there! I'm going to get some pots and plant some veg, so that could be quite interesting, as I'm not really the best gardener around. And of course I'll be blogging about it on here too.

Today's been fairly quiet - my biggest achievement is getting 15 stars in Mario Galaxy! I've got to go to the dentists tomorrow, but depending on how that goes, I might actually do some housework too...