Woofing in a Winter Wonderland

 Well here it is the obligatory snow post! How exciting it was when I woke up to a rather a lot of snow, about 8 inches in places I think. Well I was excited until it dawned on me that I had to drive to work in it this morning. So I got up a little earlier than usual and got myself ready for work. Listened to the local radio and was logged on online to check traffic and weather reports. They all said to only venture out if it is an emergency. I work as a playworker in a breakfast club so was waiting to here if the school was closed. But although most of the local schools had decided to close, the school I work at hadn't made a decision arrrrgggg. So I phoned my boss and she decided that it was too dangerous to go to work today, so today is a snow day whooopppeee.

 The dogs have been driving me mad all day. They constantly want to be out in the garden playing in the white stuff. Woody my older springer is far more into the white stuff than Beau pictured above. They have been pushing it along with their noses and hiding the ball in it. I had such fun watching them from the warmth of the lounge :0)

 This is how much snow was nestled on the shed this morning, but we've had more since then.

 It looks so pretty!

Look at this poor little bird nest in the tree, I hope there arent any inhabitants.

My snow day has flown by, and I haven't really done a thing. I've browsed the Internet, looked through some craft books and I've drunk copious amounts of tea, to keep warm. After tea tonight though hubby's taking me for a snowy drive in the landy :o)

Now, as my blog has been a little neglected these past few months I hadn't shown you all my recent-ish Cath Kidston purchases so here they are.

 I'm loving theses tins especially the book sewing tins. I just need the button one now to complete the collection.

I also fell in love with these espresso cups. I love the pastel loveliness. All I need now is an espresso machine to make a decent coffee to drink out of them.

Well I hope you've all had a great snow day, keep warm.

TTFN

Things that made me smile today

Things that are making me smile today are:- These gorgeous pink and white lisianthus from tesco. They look so pretty.

Tulips and a bit of sewing

The Clematis in bloom in the garden

My Littlest boy Beau

Playing in the garden with his pork chop chewy

Both my mad boys, playing in the garden (Goodness me look at the state of that lawn)

And what you've all been waiting for a picture of me.........................

ooohhh don't I look gruesome.

Thanks to all those lovely people who've already signed up for my strawberry swap, we already have lots of people joining in the fun, I'm really looking forward to it. Also I'd like to say a big hello to all the lovely new bloggers who've become followers friends of my blog, welcome to my mad little world.

Off to carry on with that sewing now.

TTFN

Its been a while.......

But I'm still alive. Its been ages since I've written a blog post so I thought it was about time I got to it. Well since I last posted, Christmas, New Year and snow has come and gone, and January is nearly at an end, thank god, I bloomin hate January. Christmas was a busy affair full of cooking, cleaning and entertaining but a good time was had by all. I had some lovely Xmas pressies and wasn't short of CK. especially hand cream. I don't think I'll need to buy any for a while.

I can recommend the wild rose hand cream, its absolutely gorgeous and I slap it on everyday. I'm hoping to have some time to get some crafting done at some point so I can get to use my new sewing and pin tin. I just haven't had time to do anything of late, and I'm having sewing withdrawls.

The new CK spring catalogue popped through the door last week and had some lovely new designs inside. I hope to be able to do a bit of shopping this weekend and treat myself. I had hoped to go on Saturday, but we had a very poorly puppy on our hands at the weekend. Had to phone the vets out of hours and got little Beau to see the vet first thing Monday morning. He's on some medicine now and is doing much better, almost back to his normal bouncy self. We just need to fatten him up a bit now as he lost so much weight.

The snow had the dogs acting crazy. They both absolutely loved it. In fact Woody loved it more than Beau, you'd think he was the puppy. This snow man became a good friend of theirs. Beau decided to steal his stick nose.

I've popped over a few of your blogs, and hope to get around to a few more in the next couple of weeks. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I won't leave it so long until my next post. Catch you later folks. xxxx Pixie xxxx

Happy Halloween - Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Greetings witches and wizards. I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen yesterday whipping up

some lovely warming pumpkin soup to eat with some homemade fresh bread later today. I did have a bit of a taste yesterday to sample, :o) here's what i did........................

500g pumpkin, skinned and cubed

1 med onion

1 med potato

1tsp dried cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

150g spit red lentils

1.2l veg stock

2 tbsp sunflower oil

chop onions and fry in the oil until just soft, add the spices, chopped and skinned pumpkin, potato, lentils and veg stock. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on for 3o mins. When cooked blend with a hand blender or put in a food processor, return to pan to reheat and season to taste. yummy!

I had enough pumpkin left to make pumpkin puree too. You can never seem to get pumpkin puree in the shops and I've so many lovely recipes that require it.

Pumpkin Puree

Put 500g pumpkin skinned and cubed in a pan of boiling water, when tender drain, then pat dry with kitchen paper, then blend to a puree and refrigerate until ready to use. This make approx 300g puree. I'm hoping to make a nice pumpkin pie later. Even after the soup and puree I still had a little pumpkin left which got put into yesterday lambs stew which was scrummy.

hubby and I went for a lovely walk in the woods yesterday with the dogs. Beau has only been allowed to start going out this week and he's loving it, so many sniffs lol :o). (Isn't he growing fast).

My boys!!!!

I love the autumn colours in this pic. Woody blends in well. I think Beau is a winters snowy day kinda dog lol.

I hope to be back later to show you my ginormous pumpkin that I would have calved. :O)

TTFN

Pixie xxxx