It's coming, so get ready.

Both Christmas cakes have been baked, I always put them upside down on the cake board, I can then tuck the marzipan in along the bottom, giving a neater finish to the icing. Both cakes have had a drink of brandy, daughters cake will now be covered in marzipan, I only ever give it one drink as Will loves cake, and I'm not prepared to let him eat boozy cake.  Our cake will get a few more drinks, I am only decorating our cake this year, Will and daughter will do theirs. 

We decided to be naughty this year,  I love Galaxy and hubby loves Thorntons, a couple of years ago I made hubby an advent calendar and I had a yarn calendar, but these are much cheaper and the chocolate inside is much smaller. I am hoping the inside is foil and not too much plastic. 

I have a couple of presents to wrap, for my sister and her partner, I don't think they will visit before Christmas and we have no plans to drive down to Somerset again this year. My brother is here next weekend and I will have everything ready for him to take back. We never spend huge amounts, just something I know they will love. My sister does not read this blog. 

My cactus is blooming, it always blooms early, brings colour into the bathroom, these blooms will last a long time, I never move this plant from this spot. 

I am fully into Christmas preparations, we did a big supermarket shop last week, so we have all our treats, tucked away until the week before the big day. I read somewhere that once Halloween has finished it's full on Christmas, that is the case here, I want to not have to go out when everywhere will be so crowded. We are popping into town later this week for just a couple of things, it's great to be ahead of the rush. 

TV ad breaks have started to show Christmas adverts, just incase you forget that unmissable item every home should have, I sit and shake my head, but I'm so glad we have stepped away from it all. 

I am not making as much craft as I usually do, no-one needs home knitted socks this season, but I do have a pair I am knitting myself. I am almost finished the french knots in the 'S' shape, once done I will make a cushion for my friend, I have all I need. Luna Lapin is taking shape, this is for baby Molly, I am thinking of making Luna a brother called Alba (meaning daybreak, sun) might be fun to have a pair. I am glad I finished the grandchildren's stockings last month, seen here.  

After the heavy rain and windy days over the weekend , its a much drier forecast this week, I hope to get outside and tidy the back garden, mainly picking up leaves from neighbours trees, our Magnolia still has all its green leaves. 

October roundup

 

Really low spending this month, everything shown in red is crafting items towards Christmas gifts, and some bargain yarn, nothing much in the garden. I got a poinsettia sprig with 3 flowers on for Christmas, to make a new plant look bigger.  

Not clothes or shoes, I have everything I require for the winter months ahead. We are now purchasing items for Christmas, we have decided again on a price limit for gifts to each other, there is very little we want, and we don't see the need to buy stuff just because it's Christmas. 

Nothing in the house, we are very comfortable here, after 11 years, everything is just as we want it. Heating has been turned on, but not until after mid month. 

One expense this month was to renew our passports, not cheap, but necessary, we now have the navy blue covers for the British Isles, rather than the burgundy EU covers. 

I have lost a couple of pounds this month, we are now having homemade veggie soups for lunch, porridge for breakfast with fruit, all very filling, which means a much smaller evening meal, and more importantly not so much chocolate. 

Inside

 I've had these 2 pumpkin pots for years, they come out every October, I always place them with this display in my kitchen, not many people get to see this, but it does make me smile, they can have tealights in them, but I don't bother. 

Also in the kitchen my white african violet is in flower again, and in the bathroom I have buds on the cactus. I've had these plants for years, I water them and do nothing else.

I still have fake flowers in the sitting room, I've had this orchid bloom stem for years, I pop it into a real plant, The poinsettia I purchased in January in half price sale online, it was smaller than I expected, but I have added another 3 blooms, they don't match completely, but they look good.  

I am excited about this new growth, I purchased this plant in April and blogged about it here, I am fascinated by leaf form, and loved these curls, I looked up the care as I wanted to have this plant on my desk with my other loved plants. So you can imagine how I felt when it started to die off, more reading to discover it's a bulb and they do die back, so after a rest and then new compost, new shoots. 

This spot on my desk is full, the big spiky plant is a pineapple, I have grown on a baby from a plant I purchased back in September 2019. You can see I still have my lemon sherbet habit, but I don't eat so may, these were purchased last week, and should last another week. 

My latest purchase a tiny orchid, how fantastic is this, again white flowers, its sat on my wooden sewing box next to my chair. It should last for ages as it has loads of closed buds, hubby was kind and said nothing. 

I love to see colour inside, the garden us still looking good, but gaps are forming. The greenhouse is full, but I'm OK with that, as so many plants survive our winters. 

I am busy crafting, still doing loads of french knots, I'm on the last quarter, then a simple case of sewing up. I have cut out Luna Lupin, I hope to make her this weekend, I have loads of fat quarters to use for clothes, for now she only needs one outfit. I'm home alone this weekend, so I don't need to pack things away, and I can get a couple full days of sewing. If I want a change I have my crochet blanket, and a new book to read, I have not picked up a book in ages. I am also trying to decide on my Christmas card design for this year. 

Christmas is on its way, but again this year I feel ahead, we did a shop at the huge Tesco, got most of what we needed, our aim is to stay away from the crowds again this year. 

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post, Will has amazed us all, he is healing well and is back to his normal self, eating mummy out of house and home, he has always had a great appetite. I've missed him and his siblings the past couple of days, it's very quiet here. Our local motorway is closed again this weekend, so no plans to go out, the traffic will be busy through the village. 

Doing good.

 We all know here in UK how wonderful our NHS is, our local hospital has never let anyone in our family down, from my cancer treatment to hubby's heart attack, babies being born and sadly friends at their end days of their lives. 

Now we add the fantastic Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London, it was decided locally to send Will there for his operation, daughter and SIL were impressed with the care given to grandson Will and to them at every stage. Whilst a routine operation for them, they acknowledged how major it felt to parents and how scary to a 4 year old boy. The care given whilst hoped for, is not always given in every hospital, here he's just an hour after waking up, our brave little man. 

He's had his bubble (birthmark) all his life, its going to be strange not to see it. He often would suck it inside his mouth, another reason to have it removed, if he had an accident and bit into it, he would have had heavy bleeding. Look at his beautiful brown eyes, unusual for a blonde haired boy. 

Daughter, Grandma and myself, Nana are putting our heads together to do a fundraiser for Great Ormond Street, like all hospitals most of their huge scanners and other equipment is paid for by fundraising, we won't raise huge amounts, but wider family will donate, and as they say, 'every little helps'. 

I've had brilliant medical news, after my blood test, my pre diabetic levels have gone back down to 42, which was my level 2 years ago, I am so pleased with myself, its not been easy losing weight, keeping it off and getting more active, all the hard work has been so worth it. Sadly my cholesterol is higher, its not unexpected, I've know my cholesterol is too high since I was 19, for years I controlled it by diet, but these days I take statins, I will have to have stronger pills. High cholesterol and diabetes go hand in hand, so I'm pretty pleased with myself.