W.I.P.

As I am currently in the middle of so many things and have nothing very exciting to show you, here are Mr Owl and Mr Peacock from a trip to the Black Isle Wildlife Park last month.

Not only have we not finished Naomi's bedroom yet, we have now ripped apart Ben's shower room as the shower wasn't working, the toilet was leaking, and well, it is just a grotty little room, and it was time for some action. I'll try and get some before pictures for you so that I can do that whole 'before and after' thing for a change.

I haven't shown you this yet, so I thought I would. It's the first in a series of polymer clay teapot brooches that I started on a while ago. The black and white design I drew on paper first and then printed it out on my laser printer and applied it to the clay. That is my three year olds hand showing it off (complete with grubby fingernails), so it actually not that big.

I have always loved to collect smooth beach pebbles and have painted on them for years. At one point, when we lived in Belize, I was painting local wildlife on them and selling them as souvenirs to tourists for a bit of extra cash.

I had intended painting all the garden birds on these rocks for Gabriella to play with, but I only ever got as far as drawing the outlines. I wonder if I will ever get around to painting them?
This is a tiny pebble I painted with a peacock butterfly. It was kind of fiddly to do at that size. In reality it is only about just under an inch long.

A Warning...

Just one more crumb

to fill my tum

I've still a little room.

So she crammed them in,

till she emptied the tin

and then - alas

KABOOM !

PS. It's OK, I didn't really polish them off, but let this be a warning ! I think I might write this out and stick it on the biscuit tin. This silly poem woke me up at 5am this morning!

Nearly blew the diet with these!

I just made some delicious biscuits that are similar to one you can buy here called Hob Nobs. They were really easy to make - that's always a winner with me.

Trouble is they tasted so good, I had more than one. So that is it - no more biscuits, nope, no more ! I know the family will enjoy them though. Why not try the recipe and you will see what I mean.

So here is the recipe, but you have been warned, they are very more-ish.

Oaty Crunch Biscuits

8oz Self Raising flour

(or use plain flour and add 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder)

8oz sugar

8oz porridge oats

8oz margarine or butter(butter will be tastier)

1tbsp golden syrup

1tbsp hot water

Instructions

Mix the flour, sugar and oats together.

Melt the margarine and the syrup and the water, and then add to the dry mix.

Roll into small balls then put on a greased tray and flatten with a fork. The flatter you make the biscuit, the crunchier it will be. Make sure to leave ample room between the biscuits.

Bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 15 minutes or until they are a nice golden colour. (Don't leave them in too long like I did with one of my trays and I ended up with dark brown rather too crunchie biscuits - oops)

The recipe made loads. I didn't count how many exactly , but it must have been around 40 biscuits. Oh, and then a friend suggested I add some chocolate, and well, now they are even worse - or better depending on how you look at it!

Sunny day!

Hooray, it's been a sunny, sunny day. Just the perfect kind for gardening. Not too hot and with a lovely breeze for keeping the bugs away. I've had a pleasant time this afternoon doing some weeding. It's quite theraputic somehow. Gabriella had a great time playing with worms beside me and eating peapods, whitecurrants and tomatoes.

School is back...

...and for most Scottish schoolkids, summer is over. It's back to routine here, and for the last week or so it feels like it has been raining on and off. The moment the sun comes out there are bees,butterflies and hoverflies covering the buddlia bushes. We have decided to plant a buddlia hedge all along one boundary fence next year. You can't have too many of these plants.

On a creative note, I have spent the last two days making up around 50 greetings cards for a friend who kindly took an order for me at her church. So I guess I have actually been doing something crafty at last. The sewing machine has been put up and down and up and down several times this last couple of months with good intention to produce something, but it never really happened. All I made was a tiny muslin privacy curtain for the shower room in our log cabin. Maybe now that life is back to routine, I will be able to get something done around here.

I said, MAYBE!

Oh, and I hit the one stone weight loss mark since I started my healthier lifestyle plan! (Still a long way to go though!)

Sightseeing

It seems a shame that we live in such a lovely place yet only really take time to appreciate the beauty when we have visitors and we take them to do some sightseeing.We recently visited this beautiful waterfall. These are called Rogie Falls.
It was very Lord of the Rings-ish at this spot.
We visited Loch Achulty. The water was crystal clear and the surrounding views breathtaking.

It always feels like a holiday for us too when we have visitors. It was such fun. This time it was my three lovely nieces. Such charming young ladies. Haven't laughed so much since, well - the last time we saw them. Not surprisingly, we haven't had much time to finish of decorating Naomi's room yet. Had yet another leak fixed yesterday! Hopefully that's all the hold ups for that room over with for the time being!

Photo pals

I don't take many photos for my blog these days. I have no need to. Both my husband and my daughter Naomi are keen photographers. It's so nice to see them having a hobby they can share, although I have to say there is the teensy weensiest bit of competition going on between them . It's kind of amusing. Don't forget to check out Naomi's blog while you are online.

Decorating Blues

I've been rather splattered with paint lately as I am in the process of decorating Naomi's bedroom. Alas, nothing ever seems to go quite as smoothly as one would hope. I lifted her old carpet today to discover that there is water coming in from the shower in the next room. Everything is now on hold while we try to locate and fix the problem.

This is a totally unrelated picture - I didn't think a damp patch on the floor made for great blog photos. This amazing looking moth caterpillar is chomping his way through my golden hop plant. But that's OK, because it is a rather energetic specimen - the hop that is. I am always having to chop it back because it strays all over the place.