The week that was my birthday

Tuesday!  Seems so long ago now.
The cake that Cal and I made

 I had a lovely day, we went out for a meal in the evening which was wonderful.
I received quite a few bunches of flowers, here's one of them.

We went to Southampton Hospital for Callum's year check on his back.  He was signed off only for us to receive a phone call when we got home saying that one of the clips and two screws had come loose at the top of his spine. Apparently they'd taken a closer look at his xrays and seen it.
We were meant to get a call on Friday morning to sort out what Callum's options are now, having heard nothing by lunchtime I then rang them about every twenty minutes for a couple of hours only to eventually speak to somebody who told me the person I needed to speak to had left at lunchtime.
So I left a rather sarcastic message on their ansamachine asking them to ring me first thing on Monday morning.
Callum was devastated by the news and is saying that he doesn't want another operation.
I can't say I blame him, he didn't have the best of times a year ago when he had his big operation. I'm just so annoyed that firstly he was signed off and secondly left all over the weekend not knowing his options.  He's been asking me so many questions and I just can't answer them as I don't have any information.
Yesterday was spent in A & E again with my Stepdad, he was diagnosed with pneumonia!
Today has been spent very quietly at home, we picked Eden and Luke up at 2 am as they'd been nightclubbing and although we didn't get up early this morning I think my body is too old for these odd hours! That's why you nightclub at eighteen not fifty!
I'm really hoping that next week is going to be a bit calmer, but I won't hold my breath!

Signs of Spring

Saturday was spent very quietly. We picked Eden and a few friends up from a party on Friday night, two of them were staying at ours. When they got home they decided they wanted noodles! We got to bed at about 1am! Luke had to be at work at 8am and Eden at 9am so I got up early to make sure they were watered and fed as I  knew that they would get up at the last minute possible .
I made muffins this morning and Clark decorated them.

I bought the little eggs for Easter cakes but I thought we'd start them a little early.
I've also made the sponge for my birthday cake which I'm hoping to ice tonight. I'm picking up a plaque tomorrow afternoon to put on it.
I hope to post a picture of it tomorrow.
My dining table is a blaze of beautiful colour and perfume at the moment.
The hyacinths smell absolutely divine, when you open the door in the morning it just hits you.

Not a lot to blog about really,  quiet weekend!

The scam that is car insurance!

We have spent most of this week looking at cars for Eden. We looked at a couple, looked up insurance and dismissed the car within five minutes of looking at it!

Eden's boyfriend was also looking at cars this week and on Wednesday evening he found one and bought it. He'd spent the day cleaning his inside and out ready to sell it.

As he didn't have to spend as much as he thought he would on his new car he offered his old one to Eden at quite a good price.

We knew the insurance would be fine as we knew what he was paying.

So Eden bought it.

(Not her car, she would never buy pink!)
Luke was gutted he'd spent most of the day cleaning it only for Eden to have it!

On Thursday we rang up the insurance company that she'd got the best quote from.

The down payment and monthly payments aren't too bad.  We went halves on the down payment and we're paying the monthly payments,  she's paying her own petrol and Tax.

Honestly how youngsters can afford a car nowadays astounds me!

Her excess is £500 but if she "volunteers " another £450 it bring her insurance down even more.

Basically if she has an accident the car will be a write off.

It's costing us £1,366 to insure a car she bought for £500.

So we are paying for fully comprehensive insurance which is cheaper than third party, fire and theft for any third party involved in an accident with her because if she has any damage to her car it won't be worth claiming!

What a  crock!

She's legal

She's got her own car and she's on the road. You have been warned!

A weekend of baking

My opportunity for my first act of kindness for Lent came faster than I thought it would. I rang my Mum as usual as I do every night only to find my Step dad had a bad foot, it was a bit discoloured and tracking up his leg so fearing  DVT which he's had before I took him to A and E.
Although the Juniors Doctors strike was on it was quite empty when we got there and we were seen very promptly.
Unfortunately for us there were a lot of people being brought in by ambulances and there were four Code Blue, resus in 5 minutes announced so things started taking longer and longer. Thankfully DVT was ruled out and after an X-ray and blood tests an infection was diagnosed and antibiotics given.
We arrived there at 6-15 pm and left at 11-45 pm.
Thursday we were all so tired, how I went to work I don't know? 11-45pm is waayyyy past my bedtime!
On Friday night Eden had a little soirée to go to with Luke and some friends so she took my car, she brought it back in one piece!
She's looking out for her own car and although we've seen a few either the insurance or the Tax has been quite high. She knows the kind of thing she's looking for but we just can't seem to find it.
She's on Half Term this week so I think we'll set aside some time to go actively looking.
Saturday morning Soloman and Cody helped me do a load of baking.
Cody helped me make a trifle for tea on Sunday

Soloman help me make some bacon diamonds with puff pastry

And some pizzas, we made the base in the bread maker and then put the tomato puree on and then everyone chose their toppings

I made a chicken in white wine sauce pie

Then I made these

Into this

For Valentines Day.
Today has been sunny but cold, we've managed to clean the rabbits, a horrible job to do in the rain and I watch the weather and try and clean them out in between days of showers.
We're forecast some really cold weather over the next few days, the word snow has been mentioned for the top of Dorset, to mine and the boys disappointment we live in the South!
I'm looking forward to reading blogs from people further up the UK though and seeing all their snowy pictures!

What are you giving up?

For Lent I mean!
Now I wouldn't say we're particularly religious, we go to our Coffee Church now and then where the children do readings and Eden sings and plays guitar.
We only started to go to church, other than the Christmas Carol service when Eden was christened.
We thought as we'd entered her into the church then we should hold up our part of the bargain and actually attend now and then.
Personally I find most of the Bible hard to believe, I do wish that I had a blind faith maybe my life would be easier if I could hand over my future so completely to somebody else but I think that I'm too much of a control freak and far too cynical!
I like to think that we have " Christian like tendencies " I try to teach the children to be helpful, respectful and kind to others, to be honest to themselves and each other and to work to the best of their ability no matter what the task at hand.
We don't give up things for Lent, I (and this is just my personal opinion) think it's quite negative. I know a lot of people disagree and that's fine, each to their own.
What we do in this house is try to do something positive and helpful each day for 40 days, whether it be a kind word or deed without being asked like a chore or praising somebody,  anything that would come under the heading "kind and thoughtful"
Now I don't want people to think we're perfect, we're far from it! I also don't want to come across as being pious! I swear too much to ever be!
I also certainly don't want to offend anybody, this is just what we do and how I can adapt this to fit in with the kind of faith I have.

It makes me happy to help others and I often tell people that I'm helping them for me, not them!
On that note let's see how long I can uphold being positive and encouraging to children, forty days is a mighty long time!

Pancake Day

Cody helped me make some at dinnertime.

Eden has decided that she is going to get a car, she wasn't going to bother because she's off to Uni in September and as she'll be on campus for the first year she won't really need one.

She was looking at some last night and looking at insurance on a couple of them and the insurance would be about £70 less a month than I will be paying on mine for her, mainly because mine is a 1•6 engine. Hers will be a lot smaller. On one she was looking at the Tax would only be £30 a year. She's looking at getting one with 12 months MOT and then hopefully selling it just before she leaves so she can get some money back on it.

I went to pick her up from school today and she drove back.

She's getting more use to my gears and I think I only held my breath the once!

A wet weekend and passing tests

The boys had a great weekend. They did assault courses, an activity involving harnesses and climbing cleats! Good job I wasn't there. Just looking at the pictures was enough!

The boys and I followed somewhat more sedate pursuits!
On Saturday we went to my favourite wool shop and I bought some buttons for the two cardis that I knitted last week.

Then we went to the new cake shop that I mentioned last week and I bought some roses made out of icing to go on my birthday cake and some little toppings to go on top of muffins. They're for Valentines muffins so look out for them later in the week.
Today's great news is that Eden passed her driving test first time. Definitely a proud mummy moment!
I've put her on the insurance for my car so when she got in from her test we gave her a congratulations card and I told her she could take me for a drive. I think she was a bit surprised.
Her and Luke are celebrating their six month anniversary today so they've gone to the cinema. She's gone in my car, she was a bit worried about going but she mustered up her courage, Luke is beside her anyway.
It's a bit daunting to drive to the cinema because it does involve quite a long stretch of dual carriageway with a roundabout and a flyover along it.
She sent me a snapchat of my car all parked up safe and sound when she got there!
So another milestone in our house, they are coming thick and fast nowadays!

More cakes

 Any long time readers will know that Malc works with leaflets! He does all sorts with them and this involves quite a few leaflets being delivered to our house.

One of his contracts has a lovely delivery driver who calls every Friday.

Now Mike has found out that we like baking and a tradition of giving him a muffin or a slice of something has been started.

This is fine if baking doesn't take place too early in the week otherwise I have to hide something for him so it doesn't get eaten by the boys!

From our baking this week I managed to hide this for his Friday treat,

Today Callum did some more baking.
He decided to make some cake mixture and then divide it into four portions and add colouring to three of them. He added blue, orange and red.
This is the result,

I only took a picture of two of them, I think all 24 will be different and that's too much work!
You might find a couple more pictures pop up over the next couple of days though!
The boys and Malc are leaving in twenty minutes, everything's packed and in the mini bus.
I'm trying to keep them from bouncing off the walls at the moment, they're so excited!
So depending how the weekend goes I could be blogging a lot or you might not hear from me for a couple of days because I'm too busy having my own adventures!!

Birthdays and packing

It's Luke's birthday today so this morning Eden sent me a Snapchat of him opening some pressies and Luke being the well brought up lad that he is sent a text to say thankyou for the presents we gave him.
It's also one of my best friends birthdays today so I'm blogging whilst waiting for her to get home so I can take her presents round.
It's 28 hours until the boys go to Winter camp and they are beyond excited, they keep asking how many hours it is until they go hence the reason I can tell you exactly!
We've done most of the packing, from this

To this,

We've got to add the sleeping bags, pillows, coats and wellies so there's a bit more to do tomorrow. I've written a list to tick off so that they don't forget things like toothbrushes!

One gone, three to follow!

Firstly I must apologise for the mess in my comments and if I've commented on your blog.  For some reason my comment is coming up twice. I have even pressed  the publish button ever so carefully and made sure that I've only pressed it once so goodness knows what's going on!
This morning Eden left with Luke and I'm not going to see her until Friday. She's then away Saturday and Sunday. Practice for me for Uni!
On Friday night Malc, Soloman and Cody are away for winter cub camp so I'll be running on a skeleton crew here. Callum, Clark and I have made some lovely plans for the weekend which I  shall no doubt blog about.
At the moment all four boys have gone down the backwaters to fish again, I do love it when they all go out together and pool their resources and knowledge to complete a task. It really doesn't happen that often!
Whilst Malc, Clark and I went shopping Callum made some muffins. I thought I'd try out a spray can that you fix a nozzle to to put all the icing on the top of the cupcake with.

As everything is always perfect in blog land I only put the picture of the best ones up, the four "practice" ones are a bit of a mess. They'll still get eaten, luckily the boys don't care what their foods looks like, it's the taste that counts!

Trip into town and knitting

We really don't go to town that often but with it being Eden's boyfriends and my best friends birthday in a couple of days I wanted to get a couple of bits and pieces.
Eden's boyfriend will be eighteen, so Eden came up with the great idea of getting him eighteen things and putting them in a box.
She had nothing and was going to get all eighteen presents in town. She was going to do this in the two hours from when we picked her up at 3-30pm until 5-30pm when just about all the shops would be closing.
Sometimes I seriously doubt she has any of my DNA, I am so organised and she just floats along on a cloud!
She managed to get fourteen!
When she asked Luke what he wanted for his birthday he originally said he wanted a panda! After looking into adopting one for a year and finding it was beyond her means she thought she could get him a cuddly teddy one instead so most of the two hours was spent running from shop to shop looking for a black and white panda!
We finally found one at about 5-20pm at Clinton's cards, although it was on their Valentines display it will be fine for what she wants.
She's gone to Asdas today just to get a few little things to make up the total of eighteen presents.
I think she was in a bit of a panic last night until I went over a few ideas with her about a couple of things she could get so I really hope she has learnt that it pays to be more organised!
We'll see!
On the knitting front I have been knitting a couple of little cardis for my Mums friends who's having a baby boy in about six weeks. I've just got to find some pretty little blue buttons to put on them

I'm hoping to do a couple of pairs of mittens and boottees tonight, then I'm starting on a knitted blanket. That will be the complete set.