10.02.10 - Part 2

You know something?

There are people out there that can make me smile.

And this lady is certainly high on my list.

Thank you Angela -

as ever your timing is perfect,

what a lovely surprise after today's little sojourn with a stinking stove.....

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world. The rules for accepting the Sunshine Award are (although feel free to ignore these rules and just enjoy your award!)

The Rules

• Put the Sunshine logo on your blog or within your post
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PS....
What I omitted to mention in my previous post was this....
when I had followed Himself downstairs at 3.30am, I found him at the back door clad only in his underpants and hiding from the milkman whilst tar dripped through his fingers.

Himself is another one who can make me smile, 

and in this case I laughed so hard that I almost cried!

10.02.10

Today's heart has been sponsored by..........

...the weather.....

Oh - yes, in case you were not aware, it's been snowing again.

And on a cold day like to day,

while flakes of snow whirl and flurry around,  

I like to have all the doors and windows open and the woodburning stove empty.....

(can you hear a note of sarcasm in that last statement?)

A few nights ago, the woodburning stove belched a tar-laden acrid-tasting thick cloud. It coated everything with a thin layer of grey greasy soot. We let the fire burn down and then go out, so we could give it a good clean the next day. 

In the morning, when we came down, that same sour stink was lingering heavily in the air. Himself tackled the immediate problem of the stove, clearing out ash and soot and removing the soot plate in the chimney to see why the flue seemed to be choking.  He rodded the pipe to loosen anything, but as far as he could reach it seemed just to be a light coating of soot - nothing to cause the pungent back draft we had had the night before.

So, he set the fire up again, lit it and although it sulked and didn't seem to be drawing properly, the smell was gone and the foul bad tempered burping seemed to have stopped.

Then.......last night at 3.30am, I was aware that Himself had leapt out of bed and thudded downstairs. I followed him to find him lurking at the back door with a handful of pitch-like tarry-gloop soaked kitchen towel. He'd been woken by the bitter stench of the sulking woodburner and had found copious amounts of this black treacle-thick tar coating the back of the woodburner, the hearth and all the heating pipes.  He had opened the stove door to see how down the fire was and had been completely engulfed in a large oily puff of smoke. 

We went back to bed - and despite my cold, I could smell him - and it wasn't nice...........

So, I have spent most of this morning cleaning out the foul-smelling mess in our lounge - hence the statement...

I like to have all the doors and windows open and the woodburning stove empty.....

The chimney has a date with some rods and a brush this evening. 

And I need a bath before I go to work - I stink!

09.02.10

Today's heart ........

Cradled by my sister in law. 

When I was learning about 18 months ago to crochet,

she very kindly commented on my first attempts, 

gently explaining where I had gone wrong

and how to finish off my work.

Then, in a flash she had created this heart 

to show me how it was done.

I was transfixed....

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I have been cooking and experimenting and have found a most delicious passata sauce to pour over pasta.  

Will make again (but not too often as it is a bit heavy on the calories....but in the name of 52 recipes - I am prepared to do so!) 

Will post pictures and details - and you have just got to give it a go, it is so unbelievably simple and tasty.

08.02.10

Today's Heart winner is.......

Drum roll please.....

Youngest performing the very scientifically folding of the names

The picking of the winner...

(The tension at this point was mounting!)

....And the winner is......

.....is.....

......is......

WAY HEY!!

Well done Jan, let me know your address and I will send you the girly-girl pink heart as requested :)

Thankyou to all of you who entered, I wish I could have sent hearts to you all x 

07.02.10

And Today's Heart(s) are brought to you by..........

........Youngest.

He had been laid prone on his bed for most of the morning, wasted by a steaming headache, when, after being offered a piece of mincemeat loaf and a cup of tea, he struggled manfully up and scoffed the lot - headache gone!

Such are the medical properties of tea and cake (and a bit of sympathy). He came back downstairs a new man, feeling fine and full of enthusiasm. So I suggested he got out his paints and this is what he created .... that's my boy!

And as for that cake - thank you Colouritgreen! Very tasty and going to be recipe number 9/52.

Youngest going in for a second slice............

06.02.10

Today's Heart it.....

A clay heart made as a gift for our 20th Wedding Anniversary.

Eldest has a best friend who lives in a neighbouring village.

A nice kid, from a French family, with a bevy of younger sisters.

At the bottom of his garden is a beck.

He collected a load of the clay soil from the river bed and modelled it into a heart shape.

Then added the nuts and washers and stripped electrical wire to make hair.

He spent most of the morning working on it.

Finally he put it in his Mum's oven to bake hard.

It exploded.

So, he returned to the beck, collected more clay and started again.

This time kneading the air bubbles out.

Again he shaped the clay, added the extras and

after getting permission and clearing up the mess from the last attempt,

he put it back in his Mum's oven.

It slow baked over night, filling their entire house with a rather

hot earthy  baking smell - apparently not all that nice.

Once cooled, it was painted, pink and red poster paints from his sister's collection,

 a light blue enamel paint begged from a neighbour.

We were so touched when we unwrapped this little gift and even more so when we found out the tale of it's creation. 

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Time to tally up the next lot of untried recipes (52 new things etc)

so - oo..........

6. Yummy Buscuits - their name, not mine. I wasn't that taken, but they were scoffed by my boys.

7. Barrovian Love Cake - a rich Victoria sponge cake,

(If you follow the link, you need to scroll down the page for both recipes to page 2 and 3)

8. Apple and Gingercake - yum-yum yum-yum yum-yum and per chance did I mention the yumminess of this particular cake?

If the earliest recorded form of yum-yum was in 1878, what did cooks and their chief tasters say before then? 

It is a word we use a lot.

05.02.10

...And today's heart is...

A little treasure box that shelters my rings when I am not wearing them.

Made by Youngest at cubs and presented to me on Mother's Day 

complete with little chocolates 

wrapped up in crinkly red tissue. 

Each little heart stuck on with generous globs of glue.

The wobbly handwriting.

I will always love it.

He will grow up and become a man  

And this little box will keep safe a  precious memory of his 8 year old self for me. 

I will always love them, my boys, no matter what.

It is a binding, unbroken invisible cord that wraps my love around them.

I had never intended on having children, we were happy with just us and our cats. Then I discovered I was pregnant with Eldest and was horrified, I didn't think I could cope.

Something my Mom said to me was.... don't worry, they bring the love with them once they are born...

She was right. 

But what she did not say was how powerful and unbreakable it was.

However, I still yell at them when I have had enough of their antics!!....... 

I might love them dearly

but I am still the boss :)x