Making progress :)

A bit late with my post today but it's been a bit of a busy day so far. 

Last week was a rather quick week. There wasn't too much going on during the week, we went for a meal at my parents and my niece was there also and so she completely bypassed me to go straight to Husband. She's so cute. 

We had a new calf born on Thursday as well just before going to my parents so that was nice. Was a rather large bull calf.

So onto the weekend. Saturday I met up with one of my friends and we went on a little Christmas spree, so we first went to HomeSense and they always have lovely things in there. I managed to get a little something for my niece, some Jamie Oliver ceramic measuring cups as a lot of the recipes I find online to try out are American and so they always seem to use cup measurements. I also got two new mugs for Husband and I which are Christmas themed to have our low calorie hot chocolates in. I'm currently loving Option Outrageously Orange flavor which is only 36 calories a mug so a really nice treat on the cold evenings and don't have to feel guilty about having one

Look how lovely it is and a great size too. The one I got husband is blue and has a snowman and snowflakes on it and is a little bit bigger and they just make great hot chocolate mugs.

During the festive spree I just couldn't resist these from Dunelm

Love them, they are festive without going over the top and even better husband likes them too so I didn't get moans and groans about them being Christmas themed.


Husband decided to organise going up our local pub with some friends on Saturday night and so I was left with the flat to myself and I managed to

 finish Anna and the French Kiss by Stephine Perkins. Lets just say I completely get the hype around this book. It was just a great contemporary romance read. There wasn't anything in the book that made me get annoyed or want to put it down. Anna is a really likable character and just seems like a really reliable protagonist. I loved the story between Anna and St.Clair, it didn't feel cliche or fake or predictable, it just felt honest and true and some of the situations you could really relate to. I just loved Stephanie's writing style and I couldn't recommend this more highly, I give it 5 out of 5. As you can see from previous blog I did a bit of a book haul with Stephanie's books and I'm so glad I jumped straight in and got all three. But I am going to read a couple of books in between but I will hopefully soon be on Lola and the Boy Next Door. But yes if your still umming and arrring about getting Anna and the French Kiss just go and get it, you won't regret it.

I did take a few minutes on Saturday night also while Husband was out to

WRAP SOME CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! ! ! I'm really pleased with the papers and ribbon I've chose this year. I think they look pretty. I got the paper in this picture from Stampin Up as I used to be a demonstrator for them but I couldn't dedicate enough time to it so I am no longer a demonstrator. But I still love their products and would definitely recommend them and I can put you in touch with a demonstrator if anyone is interested. But yes definitely got into the Christmas spirit while doing these beauties haha I have now wrapped all the presents I have got so far accept two. Saving those for another evening and hopefully when I've picked up the last few.

Onto the next book

Can you guess what it is.........
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas it was on offer (and think it still is) on Kindle for 51p! 51p a complete bargain and again I've heard good reviews about this book and at 51p I thought it was worth the risk. So I'm trying to read at the moment where I read a paperback and then read a kindle book (this will only continue while I have new paperbacks to read) I'm a little bit further in that the picture suggests now as I took this not long after I started it yesterday morning and so far so good. I don't really want to say too much about it so far as I'm only about 10% in but we shall see how it goes.

Final pic and news.
I tried another new tea yesterday

Strawberry and Mango, this one definitely didn't disappoint on the smell test, it smelt like an ice lolly. When I smelt it, it made me want to pop it into those make your own ice lolly containers and stick it in the freezer. Once it had cooled down enough for me to actually drink as well it tasted really nice, it was really subtle flavors and not over powering at all so again another hit. I'm obviously being too lucky with tea and am bound to get a duff one as some point. But so far been really pleased and surprised. 

So that's all for today and hope it's given you some idea what I've been up to and where I've got to. If anyone ever want to suggest a book or do a read along with me just get in touch.

Getting a bit nippy

Morning,

It's Monday again can't believe how quickly the weekend flies by. Now I've decided to take a new approach to this blog, which some of you may have noticed already. I'm going to try and give an update each Monday and that way hopefully I'll have some interesting bits to speak about from the week before. Sometimes on special occasions there may be an extra post but that's what I'm working towards so far.

Well as you can see from the picture above it's getting a bit nipper here and winter will soon be upon us in full flow. But what a better way to spend part of the weekend than with a log burning fire, lots of tea and some books.

Update on books to beginning with. Right so I was reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer
 
Now to begin with I was really enjoying the book, obviously the title gives it away with it being a twist on the Cinderella story so you pick up on influences of this straight away. But I was really enjoying the premises of the story. I was loving the whole cyborg element and Cinder herself is a really great protagonist. I wanted to find out more about her and how she was going to get through, however it just started to become too predictable. It began to get so predictable that I started skim reading and I was able to keep up with it all and even know exactly what I would come across. I know a lot of people would say well what did you expect when your already familiar with the Cinderella tale but I just felt that even though so much was done in the beginning to create a new premise that I was just really disappointed. I don't know if I will pick up Scarlet at this point but I wouldn't rule it out completely as I did enjoy Cinder as a character but I just won't be doing it yet. Will probably be one for filling in a gap. I give this book 2 out 5. But I would recommend it if you are particle to the Cinderella tale and looking for a new version and style of it. I would also recommend it for younger readers also maybe those aged 12/13.
But now as I've finished Cinder that does mean I get to start this tonight:
 
I cannot wait to start reading this as I'm in the mood for something a little different. So I think this will just do the trick. I have heard nothing but raving reviews for this book that as you will see from my previous post I bought all three Stephanie Perkins at once so I just hope it lives up to the hype and I don't regret it. 

So other bits which have gone on this week/weekend. 

I didn't get round to doing anymore sewing this week which I'm frustrated with myself about so I must catch up this week so I'm at the next stage for the weekend when I hope Mum is going to be coming over to do the backs of the covers with me and then I can do the quilting bits of it before joining the back to the front and job done, will just be a case of going and getting the inners.

We went and babysat for my niece on Saturday night, we were tied to the farm as we were milking on Saturday. So did normal duties in the morning, and did a couple more jobs before heading to Waitrose to get a food shop and then back for lunch and the England Rugby game which involved a lot of shouting at the tv and just general screams haha. Then onto evening milking before heading over to my parents where we were looking after my niece. As she's familiar with my parents and has her own room there so figured she would be a lot more settled if we stayed there with her rather than bring her out to the farm.
My niece is completely obsessed with my husband at the moment, she didn't want to the read the book with me she would take it and go straight to him, when we gave her a bath she wanted us both there, and then she has a little routine of watching an episode of In the Night Garden before heading up to bed and well as you can see...

There was only one person she wanted to watch it with. But that's all fine with me she is so cute and it's so nice that she likes husband so much and he's very good with her playing games, looking at books and so I don't mind at all and I knew I was having my time with her in the morning. Husband had to escape back to the farm early in the morning to do jobs so was just me and her playing and dancing and singing, she loves Frozen and has a doll which sings the let it go song and she's just so darn cute.

After getting back on Sunday morning Hubby and I popped to a farmers market which is held at a local pub every second Sunday of the month and it's always exciting to go along (have only been twice haha)so we got some fresh produce and some mackerel to have for tea tonight after milking so really looking forward to that. We're trying to loose a bit of weight at the moment so I'm on 1300 calories a day, have only been following this for a week and so far I've lost about 3lb which I'm pleased with and hopefully can keep this up until at least the new year and we are only planning on having 4days off in between now and then. My husbands birthday on 26th, we're going to the BBC Good Food Winter Show on 30th and then Christmas Day and Boxing Day. My aim is to have lost 8lb by Christmas which I'm hoping and thinking should be a realistic goal to have so just have to wait and see and keep trying. 

After we got back from the farmers market it was onto a practical task. As the first picture shows we have a log burner which helps to heat our flat (we don't have an central heating). So we took a trip down to the wooded area at the bottom of one of our fields to fill a trailer with logs for keeping us warm. The boys had been down some previous years to cut some lengths and so the wood is well seasoned and so was just a case of chopping them up into more manageable sizes.

Now this is definitely a job for Husband, I help by stacking up the logs in the trailer and driving down, I helped a little bit but I'm quiet scared of the saw bench (rightfully so) I just stick to the other bits of the task keeps us all happy then. So on the way I drove the Gator and empty trailer and well lets just say it was a little bit wet and muddy in places and I wasn't allowed to drive that back so I drove the tractor and saw bench back. Another thing I like to do while we're down there is take cute pictures of these

They came down for a run around and a play, but they are also very well behaved as we tell them to stay in the back of the gator when everything else is going on to keep them safe and out of the way. But look how cute they are just so lovely, have a couple of close up pics of them as well.

So we got a whole trailer full of wood again which will hopefully help keep us nice and warm for a few more weeks before we have to take another trip down and chop some more. It's a nice task to do really.

Had a nice relaxing evening where we drank tea (not just normal I'm trying out some different fruit teas at the moment and the two I've tried so far have been rather nice and well they smell so great) and I read while Hubby watched tv. Sunday's tends to be our day together which is always nice and means we actually get a good block of time together. 

I think that's everything but if I remember anything else I'll either add a post or include it in next week's. Bye for now and hope everyone is enjoying the move into Winter and the Christmas period (I am :) ) 

   

Weekend Mix

Morning,
Well this post it going to be a bit of a mix of things. It's going to contain; books, baking and sewing :)

So to crack on with it. Books. I can't remember if I've told you this previously but my Husband put me on a physical book buying ban. I was allowed to buy books on my kindle and get books from the library just not allowed to buy books to have in the house. This is because when we first got together the kindle hadn't been realised yet and I was bring two bookshelves worth of books with me and he didn't like the amount of space they took up so I wasn't allowed to get anymore until I got rid of some. Which made sense because at the time we didn't live in a very large space. Well a long time has pasted and the rule has now changed to as long as I don't increase the amount of space I'm allowed to get books. So what I've been doing is books which I first got in paperback I'm continuing in paperback and then just adding a couple here and there and have got rid of few here and there. So on Saturday I knew we were going to be popping into town and there are some books going around which I've heard loads about and they just look so pretty, I figured I could sacrifice some and donate these to charity bookshop and buy some new ones and that's what I did :D

Don't they look amazing! I was really lucky as well. I decided I didn't want to wait to order them from the net and so went to my local Waterstones in town and I had come to terms with the fact they were probably going to be a little bit more than I would usually pay but thanks to the wonderful offers in store, I paid about the same amount I would online. Lola and the Boy next door was on offer for half price! Then the other three were in a buy one get one half price offer, I know I know why didn't I pick up another book half price but there wasn't one I could really see I had already flagged as wanting to read and I was on a tight schedule so I didn't. But really pleased with this haul and once I have finished Cinder which is taking me a bit longer than I hoped it would and expected I will move onto Anna and the French kiss and I cannot wait to read this.

Next on my mixed weekend was MINCE PIES!

Now part of my personality which drives a couple of people mad (including my Husband sometimes) is that I f**cking love Christmas. I mean it is amazing and I love it and it's completely one of my favorite times of the year. So now that it's November I am allowed to start getting Christmassey. So naturally one of the first things to do to get you towards the Christmas spirit is homemade mince pies. I love homemade mince pies and I love the fact they are so easy to do. I got my sweet almond pastry recipe from my Dad last year and I love it. (I know a lot of love being mentioned and used) So we enjoyed eating a few of these yesterday with a cup of tea.

Then finally for my mixed batch weekend was I did some more sewing. Part of the reason we popped into town on Saturday was to get some more fabric for making cushion covers for my Mother in Law as part of her Christmas present this year. So because they are for her I wanted Husbands input on it. We had picked out some fabric which I had already at home and just need a couple of others for the backing and one other pattern for the block. My mum is still helping me learn with my sewing, the truth of the matter is I don't think we ever stop learning so my parents came over yesterday afternoon and we cut all the pieces ready and started sewing them together and this is how far I got and you can see the idea for the two covers.

I still have to finish sewing these together and placing a boarder round them, then that will be the front finished, then onto the back and joining them together. I quiet enjoy doing covers (accept for the zip part this is still tricky) and they are quick so should hopefully be able to get these finished in the next week before going onto a secret project for my mum as she keeps on saying oh well when will I make something for her. So that's my plan and will update with progress as it goes along.

Hope you've enjoyed reading and until next time :)