Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again

I am not in a good place at the moment, I need to get my self sorted and address my work and my life balance - so until I have sorted things out, I will be a bit quiet on the blog front.

Merry part and sometime soon  - merry meet again, be happy - xx

Tuesday thoughts - bullet pointed....

• Did you see that woman knitting at Wimbledon? Well done her - more power to her knitting needles!

• This must have been the greyest, wettest, dullest most disappointing start to a summer E*V*E*R!. 
• Weather like this quashes all creativity.
• Need something cheerful to brighten my day and get my crafting groove back on......

• Fancy trying these out? I do.

Audrey Wilson at The Design Studio 

• Found this pattern (a free download on Ravelry), think I can feel a bit'o knittin' coming on!

1. Work stressful?
2. Kids impersonating a whirlwind?
3. Weather getting you down?
4. Vacuum cleaner on a sabbatical and carpet looking like it has done three rounds with Mike Tyson?

• If you have answered yes to 1, 2, 3 and/or 4 - this is the antidote you need :)

• Follow this link HERE  

•  So, going to join me? If you do, let me know and we can link up. 

• Ah, feeling better already.....just need to do something about the serious shortage of sunshine !

Bread, biscuits and walking

Did anyone else notice the rain? Oh, so it wasn't just me then......

Fed up with being cooped up again over the weekend due to the rather moist weather conditions, we set about baking.

I made bread - not as virtuous as it sounds! I have had a serious case of the wanties for a bread maker for ages and this year, for my birthday I received a rather tasty one.  Over the weekend our house had a delicious warm bready-scent tickling our taste buds.

Youngest fancied making scones but a quick foray into the baking cupboard revealed a grave deficiency of baking powder. We reached for a baking cook book and found ourselves a very tasty quick and easy biscuit  recipe. Youngest was soon at work, much dusting with flour and decorating of biscuits occurring.

He is taking after his mom (me!!) coz half way through the recipe he 'tweaked it' as he knows his dad and elder bro love raisins and sultanas in their biscuits so he hurled a huge handful in for them.
The were super yum!
So yummy that I have included the recipe below:
All butter cookies**

275g/10oz plain flour
90g/3 1/3oz caster sugar
10ml/2 tsp vanilla essence
200gm/7oz butter

• Mix flour and butter until looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
• Add sugar and vanilla and process until it forms a dough.
• At this point the recipe calls for the dough being rolled into a thick sausage and chilling for half an hour - trying telling that to an 11 year old......
• So we rolled little lumps into balls and flattened, then 'stamped' to make decorated biscuits.
• Bake at 200deg c/400deg f/gas mark 6. for 8 - 10 mins.
• Try to cool on a baking tray alternatively slap backs of hands as they sneak over to pinch still steaming hot biscuits.
• Scoff with copious amounts of tea as you watch the clouds clear and decide that now would be a good time to go for a quick walk.
• Don boots and grab camera and go!

Last few instructions are not necessary to make the biscuits - they were our optional extras!

We are lucky where we live, not far from our door is this wonderful spot. Not that you can see with all this lush growth but on the right of the spout is a cave, my two boys and a dog! Told you, you couldn't see them, you'd have to wait till winter before anything would be revealed.

The meadows were full of wild flowers and in the breeze the grass waved and undulated like huge sheets of water - it was cathartic to be able to get out - I think I was beginning to suffer cabin fever!

And suddenly it's Monday again- how does that happen?
How was your weekend?
Good?
Wet?
Productive?

Have yourselves a lovely day and may the sun shine where ever you are xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

oops nearly forgot ** All Butter cookies came from this book and it was on page 400.