Mummy where are you

My daughter is doing a project on Egypt.

She made a mummy at school from a doll she had and the same material you make casts from for broken bones.

this creepy little bugger is the result.











I think its a bit spooky, especially since you can see the eyes, nose etc. Shes made an excellent Job though!

Amigurumi In progress (crocheting)

Im taking part in little and large swap so i've been busy crocheting for it.

Im making an Amigurumi project, which is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures.

i thought I would give it a try and this is my first completed project.





Im really pleased with this, I wont be showing what it is until the swap's taken place, sorry guys!

Crochet my hat

I've been learning how to crochet recently and thought I'd attempt my first project.

I decided I'd make my daughter a hat/scarf and maybe gloves/mittens.

I'm thinking mittens will be easier than gloves to be fair, but she's 6 so gloves are probably more likely to fit and make her happy.

So this morning i started crocheting a hat

I have ended up with a nice red hat with a scallop edge


finished hat






scallop edge.


I am amazingly pleased with this, having never made anything, ever in my life like this. My daughters barbie head is the model.


I have made a wee video for beginners, which I need to edit and will post up ASAP!!!

Soup, Bread, Cake & Peg Bag

This weekend I was meant to be going to airsoft so I decided that I would make soup since It's still rather cold out. I made an epic amount of cake, bread and Soup.
I love making soup in this weather, especially when it's rather wintery, like it is just now.
I also usually make cake for my team, this week it was caramel shortbread, which I love, as does my whole team.
Hopefully going back to airsoft will encourage me to make more stuff.

I made Leek, Potato & Onion soup



Recipe

4 Leeks
4 Large Potatoes (dice small)
1 Medium onion - chopped finely
Knob of butter
1 1/2 pints chicken/vegetable stock
10fl Oz Milk
Large Pot

Take the outer layer off your leek
chop through the middle
chop them finely
peel and dice potatoes
chop onion finely
Put potatoes, onions and leeks in pot with a bit of butter
coat them all in the butter
sweat the vegetables for 15 mins
add the stock & Milk and simmer until the vegetables are soft
once soft, leave to cool and blend
put back in pot and season to taste, soup, sorted


I also made wholemeal seed & Grain bread,



Recipe

650g seed and grain flour
10g/2tsp salt
10g/2tsp sugar
15g butter or 15ml vegetable oil
15g/1tbsp dried active yeast (you can use normal yeast and if so recipe is a little different)

In a bowl rub the flour, salt and 1tsp sugar in the bowl
in a jug 100ml cold water, 50ml hot water, and 1tbsp of the yeast
stir and leave in a warm place until it has 2cm of froth
add the yeast mix when it's ready with 1tsp of sugar
add more hot water until your bread is a nice dough
take out bowl, onto well floured surface
knead for 10mins or until elastic and smooth
put it in a bowl and cover with a damp teatowel/clingfilm (if using cling film, coat with oil)
put bread in a warm place for about 30 mins or until double the size
take bread out, put into loaf tins and into the oven at 230oC/Gas mark 8
bake for around 30 mins
take bread out and tap hard to check if it sounds hollow, if not put back in oven without the tin and test until it sounds hollow
YUM!


last but not least I made cake







Recipe (final one, promise...)

Ingredients (Biscuit Base):
8oz (200g) plain flour
6oz (150g) margarine
30z (75g) caster ugar

Ingredients (Filling):
2oz (25g) margarine
2oz (25g) soft brown sugar
A large tin of condensed milk

Rub the margarine and flour together in a bowl until you have a mix which is similar to breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Spread the mixture evenly into a 9" (23cm) square tin which has been lined with baking parchment. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C/340F (160C/320F if fan assisted) for approximately 35 minutes until it is golden brown. Allow the base to cool.
Heat the filling ingredients together in a pot, making sure that you stir it constantly (otherwise it will stick!) until it begins to simmer. Continue stitting until it thickens (which it should do in a few minutes). Spread the filling evenly over the base and again allow to cool.
Melt the chocolate so that you can spread it over the filling.
When it has cooled and you are ready to eat it, cut up into squares or rectangles with a sharp knife.

finally I made myself a peg bag, as I got sick fed up of having my pegs being in a plastic bag
simply just sewed up one of Rachel's old nightgowns at the bottom and added a coat hanger
TADA

women in the media

I've been pondering lately about women in the media, I personally am sick fed up of hearing how models are shopped to perfection. Removing every blemish on their body to make them spot free, cellulite free, wrinkle free, fat free and the perfect shape, skin colour and glow.

Now, I for one do not require to be anything like these size zero perfect women, who at the end of the day are nothing but false.

From Loreal advertising for making your hair "better", to mascara adverts, to nail polish, eye liner, shoes. Most of the advertising for women is falsified with beauty.

I like the dove adverts, were natural women are promoted, regardless of their shape, age, hair colour, size of their arse.

Big can be beautiful as can slim, be who you want to be not who you are required to be by the media, your mascara isn't going to miraculously make your eyelashes the same as the models. Why? because she has false ones in. You don't - well you might, but if you don't you have no chance.

Embrace yourself, tell closer, heat, more to shove it.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paisley-United-Kingdom/ban-photoshopped-models-in-magazines/217476073573?v=wall

simple food, simple pleasures

This time - no photos. I can hear you all crying from here ;)

I made gnocchi with soured cream, garlic & herb sauce. I'm still not 100% keen on the flavours of the sauce yet, I feel like there's something missing which I can't quite put my finger on.

Anyway, since I wasn't keen on it, i decided to make something simple, which I love.

Boiled egg, soft boiled with toast soldiers.

It was epic

I recommend this

It's all political

I'm not very politically minded, but I thought I would give this a bash.

I'm going to post about the dispute going on between communication workers union and Royal Mail

I know this story from both sides, so I will do my best to lay out both sides.

From a union perspective, being an ex trade union rep myself, I wholey understand why they are striking, but I can't understand why CWU aren't advertising the reason to the public, to make them more aware of the plight of the postie (as it where).

Royal mail have, in recent years, taken the 2nd class post away, meaning more work for less post men, rounds have been lengthened, they are now expected to do twice the work for the same amount of pay. A situation which I am sure is prominent in many a workplace, although most of these workplaces don't involve the adverse weather conditions and mood of Joe Public to deal with.

CWU are basically striking to ensure that the postmen are getting fair pay for working more hours, for the same money and to help modernisation along without the loss of jobs. This would result in more hours needing worked by the less postmen, not exactly a fair deal, is it??

Now, for the flip side, the other side of the coin. Who is the strike affecting?

Well, it's affecting...Joe Public, small businesses like 

This Charming Girl

This website is run by Jackie, her business is being affected as the mail isn't being delivered, either by royal mail standard or recorded delivery, leaving her at a loss as to what to do.

The obvious option is courier, this is an expensive option for her and many other small business people, meaning that if this strike doesn't pick up, it could affect how their business ends up.

For this reason I'm inm turmoil, I understand why their striking but seeing how its affecting myself and many other people along with small and possibly large business people.

I'm staying on the fence.

Turns out, this wasn't political at all!