A week of this and that.

Good morning all and for those in South Africa happy Public holiday. I don't want to say it too loudly but I think we can whisper that winter is going to make an early appearance this year 👏🏻, it is the first year since we've been back that there has been rain accompanied by cold fronts this early. Since we moved down in 2016 winter has only really started showing her face in May even towards June so, there is absolutely no complaint from me 😁 We have had two cold fronts in as many weeks and since sometime Saturday evening the wind has been howling. Yesterday we had all the local family for lunch as a triple celebration you might call it, Jelly Bean's birthday this past week, the 10th anniversary of Poppet's radical surgery making her cancer free and the Bears celebrating their 8th wedding Anniversay. Oh how I wished Big Guy could have joined us. In true family tradition I made a big pot of beef curry (cooked it on Saturday), rice, rotis and sambals, a good choice as everyone seemed to tuck in and the 'big black pot' was empty, nothing a mom enjoys seeing more. Thank you guys for coming through and making it such a fun day. The week was busy as usual, I worked a little bit with the paint stripping of the 'unit', I worked on some of the plants indoors, putting a couple into ICU to perk them up. Jelly Bean, Charlie and I took a drive into Kleinmond for a few necessities and then I decided to bake a cake ............. shock of shocks hahaha. I think it must be more than a decade since I tried my hand at a sponge cake, mainly because I got fed up with them not coming out perfectly. I am now on a mission to find 'the' perfect vanilla sponge recipe. The one I made on Wednesday looked very nice, rose well and tasted quite good BUT, I had asked Hubby to bring a brick of marge home and the only one he could find was a brand I've never used before. It had a very high fat content and as a result I felt the cake was a little dense. I really should share what happened, when I was pouring the icing sugar into the scale (which is small) the box slipped out of my hand and we had a snow covered kitchen 🤦🏻‍♀️ It went EVERYWHERE, Jelly Bean just looked at me in horror, so not what I needed, anyway after some time we had it all cleaned up and could carry on. Later that evening I was taking out a 1L container of left over potato soup to reheat and that too just 'jumped' out of my hand 😭😭. Its trajectory was very interesting, down onto the floor and my foot (I had flip flops on) then the contents bounced right back up and under everything possible EEUUWWWW. Cold, squishy potato soup all over my foot and the floor, up the fridge, under the fridge, under the table and on every shelf is NOT my idea of fun and made the icing snow look like a picnic. UGHHH Dear Hubby helped me clean it up but I am convinced that in months to come I am going to find remnants of it somewhere. Charlie didn't know whether to finish eating his supper or licking the soup and spent a few minutes bouncing between the two areas - a chew here and a lick there 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣. If I don't laugh I may never stop crying so laugh it is. So now for the next cake recipe on the list, hehe at this rate it is gong to be a cake a week not that Hubby or Jelly Bean are complaining I might add. I have busied myself with adjusting and doing things in and around the house i.e. Sorting out the curtains, getting Hubby to make me some aluminum curtain tie backs / hooks, re-arranging book shelves and putting away the literally hundreds of cd's and videos which we never use as they are all downloaded and available. I think I may have mentioned last week that I had found a GORGEOUS big glass bottle and due to some kind neighbors it arrived on Saturday and is now sitting in place of honour on the dining room table 😍😍, I could not be happier with my purchase. Hubby has pretty much almost caught up on the clocks and watches and can now turn his attention back to the deck, especially with the cooler weather rolling in. The family are all well, Big Guy got to be in his 'happy place' as he was DJ'ing on Saturday night at a St Patrick's Day event, it's the one thing he misses from his old job. The girls are doing well and always busy, their little kittens are growing daily and becoming even cuter. Princess had a school camp during the week which she thoroughly enjoyed as it was a good opportunity for her to bond with her new classmates. The Bears are as usual always busy and have been busy with an international Cross Fit event so there were a few groans and moans yesterday when movement was required 😂. Miss Muffet and Mr Muffet both got their first CoVid vaccines in the U.K. and the boys are growing in leaps and bounds. Folks on this note I am going to wish you all a wonderful week and get down to being extremely lazy today, I plan to do nothing except read and drink copious cups of tea mmmmmm. Please stay well and stay safe, for those who are on the roads today get home safely. Ciao ciao My bargain glass bottle.

Zeepha investigating 

The first experiment on the road to perfection lol