Finally it was Sunday the 19th and our mulled wine & mince pies party was upon us. Unfortunately it snowed rather heavily in the morning so a couple of friends didn't make it and a few others were on christmas holidays somewhere hot and sunny but apart from that I think it was a resounding success.
There was only a couple of drivers in amongst all the guests so lots of wine was consumed and I think a happy time was had by all. We still have some mince pies left over which we are enjoying on a daily basis and I am already looking forward to doing it all again next Christmas - so keep the last Sunday before Christmas free if you want to come and do it all over again!

Mum & Dad arrived on Christmas Eve and we had a delicious Fish pie for dinner with a few cheeky glasses of wine - not too much though as there is nothing worse than a hangover on Christmas Day (I speak from experience - once and once only!) All too soon (Lily woke up at around 5am) Christmas Day was here and we managed to delay the opening of the stockings until around 6am when I admitted defeat and got up to put the heating on. After viewing what Santa had brought for Tom & Lily, Nick went down and made a pot of tea before we retired back to bed to open our stockings.
We could delay the inevitable no longer and had to get up, so after a starter breakfast it was through to the lounge around 8am to start with the presents under the tree. I needed a break by quarter to nine so we stopped for bacon butties and coffee before finishing off later in the morning when I then required some toast!
We sat down to our Christmas lunch at about 2pm and I have to say it was quite, quite delicious. We all managed to overeat and then we relaxed for the rest of the day. I ate so much at lunch that I didn't actually eat anything else except for a small piece of cheese later on in the evening to accompany a glass of wine and then it was bedtime.
We went for a nice walk along the beach yesterday and some friends popped in for coffee and a chat today and apart from that it's been very quiet and I am getting a bit agitated now and am looking forward to the return to school and work and all that that means;)

Bah Humbug

I finally got round to posting some pictures of Tom as Scrooge in the school play, he did brilliantly.

Even managing a solo during one of the songs. How fantastic is that? I was a very proud mama.

Nick even managed to get away from work early enough to come and enjoy the performance too.

It's now Sunday morning and all the mince pies have been made (192 of them) , the invites have been issued and the ingredients for the mulled wine have been purchased and it's decided to snow again. Bah humbug...we may be eating a lot of mince pies as there is loads more snow forecast for today.

Ta Da!

The Christmas Draw was great fun and in case you're wondering why I am standing next to a Statue of Liberty, this year's theme was 'Fairytale in New York' . The shoes are excruciatingly painful when you are standing in them for a long time so will not be worn again if there is to be lots of standing. They are wearable for an evening of sitting down though as I wore them to Frannie's 40th way back in September and my feet were fine then.
We had a fairly relaxed weekend after that and then it was another Monday and look what I did...

Pastry getting cut out...

Mince pies taking shape...

Ta Da...completed mince pies. Finally got off the mark and made 72 so feeling a bit better about Sunday. I've been at work today so will make more again tomorrow.

The mince pie saga continues with none made yet but at least the invites are now out there along with some of the christmas cards.
Monday saw another day off school due to the snow but at least I managed to get round there with the completed waistcoats as the secretary was in. So I got the last of them finished off as well and in total made up 63 waistcoats - I did a few spares just in case.
Tuesday saw me catch the bus into Dundee as Nick was still driving my car to work but today he finally managed to take his in so I could reclaim the mrecedes and drive to work today.
I thought I would finally get started on the mince pies tomorrow but had forgotten about my appointments with beauticians and hairdressers tomorrow for the Christmas Draw tomorrow night. So the great mince pie production should now hopefully start on Monday. Wish me luck.

I managed to complete Tom's Scrooge costume last weekend and it looks pretty good.

Tom getting into character.

We traipsed round to school on Monday morning with the costume, the waistcoats and my sewing machine only to find the school shut due to the snow. So it was back home for a duvet day....which turned into a duvet week with the school closed until Friday when we were able to repeat our earlier trip to school laden with sewing machine and costumes.

So we had a bit of a rush on to finish the waistcoats, especially when it was discovered that we had 60 to make not 40. So today I have sewn all the ones we cut out yesterday and we have a total at home of 44 with some completed ones left at school so I reckon Monday morning should see the end of the work. Thank goodness - then I can finally get on with making mince pies.

Fun in the snow.

Cool snowman with a scarf made from leftover material from the dreaded waistcoats.

I'll start this post with a photo for Helen, we get nice sunsets too. This one's taken from our bedroom window and I think it rivals the Falklands.
Well, still no mince pies made but I will get them done, promise. I have been busy helping the school with preparations for the christmas play. Painting scenery and sewing. Since we woke up to snow yesterday morning

I spent the morning sewing up waistcoats that we had cut out at school on Friday. Got 15 done and then it's back to school on Monday to get the other 25 done. The children spent all morning outside playing in that small amount of snow. It's amazing what fun you can have with a little snow.

We met up with Angela and the girls yesterday for lunch and then went into town for the St Andrews Day Fair celebrations. Frankly, we shouldn't have bothered, they were a bit of a let down and it was freezing cold. Lily & Daisy got balloon animals made up and we had chestnuts (roasting on an open fire - which I had never tried before) then it was back home for a warming cup of tea.

This was the scene this morning when we woke up, loads of snow (for St Andrews in November anyway), so they are all off sledging and I have just had a phone call to cancel the christmas choir that Tom was to be singing in today at Kellie Castle. The decision has been made that the roads are too dangerous to travel on. It's a shame as I was looking forward to visiting the castle and browsing the goodies to buy at the Victorian Christmas Fair.

Oh, well I guess that means we shall just have to light the fire and stay toasty and warm indoors all day. It's snowing really hard and its really windy at the moment so I don't know how long the sledgers will last outside. I reckon hot chocolate will be required on their return. Fantastic.

Well, I'm not quite the domestic goddess after all. The mincemeat is still sitting in a jar on the kitchen counter where I left it last Wednesday and not a single mince pie has been made. I have a feeling I shall have to post out my invites before I get round to making the pies. Why am I so unmotivated to do anything? I wonder. Saying that, I did volunteer to help paint scenery and sew costumes for the school play. I'm happy to do that but not make my own stuff or exercise myself. Hmm, answers on a postcard please.

I held the book club here last week and so, for once was able to enjoy a glass of wine with the discussion. Unfortunately I felt a bit shabby the next day but was informed it was a head cold I was suffering from and not a hangover. I like that idea, I'd never heard it before.

We had a lovely quiet weekend, Tom had rugby practice on Saturday but no game on Sunday and Nick had to go to a Remembrance Day Service in St Andrews.

After we all got back from that we sat down to a delicious roast beef and yorkshire pudding lunch (domestic goddess again!). As I sat down to eat it I thought to myself I should really take a photo of this plate of food. Unfortunately as it looked so good it never got passed the thought stage and I tucked into it so quickly the photo of my half eaten meal wouldn't have done the food justice.

Domestic Goddess

Mission accomplished, mars bar krispie, banana muffins and a big batch of mincemeat. Now all I

need to do is make a start on the mince pies - at least I have an excuse at the moment as the mincemeat needs to infuse and is still waiting on the brandy and cooking part of the process.

Busy Busy

Well, we made it to the bonfire night, obviously I did forget my camera again but Nick took these pics with his phone. What a lifesaver.

It was raining but the heat from the bonfire helped to keep us warm and was also drying us at the same time.

After the firework display finished we decided to come straight home instead of going onto the party at the mess as we were all knackered and Nick was to get up at 5.30 am the next day. Why? I hear you ask - not for work but to get a taxi, train, bus, plane to London so he could meet up with his dad & brother amongst others to watch the England rugby team play New Zealand at Twickenham! Crazy, sports obsessed man.

I took Tom to his rugby practice and then we just lazed around at home for the rest of the day. Nick got home very late that night, apparently he just missed a train at Edinburgh and had to wait around for the next one.

On Sunday we had friends round for lunch which was lovely, Eleanor and Stuart have 2 little boys aged 2 & 4. You forget what that involves! So after a chaotic lunch the boys all went out for a walk to the park to use up some of their energy while Eleanor and I relaxed in front of the fire.

This morning I had to whizz round to Morrisons to get some rolls to make up the childrens pack lunches as we had ran out of my supply in the freezer and of course I need to go back again later on this morning as I am hosting book club tonight and whilst I remembered to pick up some crisps I forgot to get some dips. I also need to make banana muffins and mars bar krispie cake for snacks for Tom & Lily and I must, must, must make a start on my mincemeat.

I have also volunteered to help out at school to paint scenery and/or make costumes for the christmas play, have I mentioned Tom got the lead part and is playing Scrooge? Anyway, I need to be at school after lunch to get started on that so I better get off the computer and get on with things.

Tom did really well in his race, he ran his mile in 5 minutes 40 secs.
Then on Sunday it was off down to Madrascals Rugby Tournament. It was a glorious day

and fun was had by all. Even me who was stuck in the clubhouse cooking up hotdogs and then selling them, Lily helped out too and was giving out change to our customers.

Afterwards my friend Frances came up from Glasgow to stay overnight with us. It was nice catching up and then pottering around all the local shops in St Andrews on Monday followed by lunch out at Con Panna (cheese toastie and mushroom soup - delicious) before Fran caught the bus back home.

I have bought all my ingredients for making mincemeat but have yet to find the time to make it up, maybe on Monday I'll get round to it. I can smell it already, fantastic! Then I shall need to clear some space in the freezer for all the mince pies that need to be made for our christmas party.

As it's the 5th today we are off to the station bonfire tonight, quite looking forward to it, need to remember to take my camera.

We've had a lovely quiet week just pottering around at home for our second week of school holidays. Nick has been off since Wednesday too. That meant that Tom could come for a run with me. We set off on Wednesday morning to do my 4 miler (hadn't been out for almost 2 weeks) and I was concerned that Tom wouldn't be able to do it, having never run that distance before. Pah, no worries there. Tom was like a playful puppy gamboling about while I slowly plodded along in the wind and rain...how to make your mum feel inadequate in one easy step. I can't say I really enjoyed it, Tom definitely takes after his father and not his mother in his athleticism. I am trying to turn it around in my head so instead of feeling defeated and a failure Tom should be inspiring me and pushing me to get better. Hmm, we'll see how that goes.
Anyway, today Tom is off to Grangemouth to compete in the SSAA Primary Road Relay Championships. He is competing in the P7 group as he is one of the fastest in the school, so he is competing against boys a year older than he is. We are just about to head over there to cheer him on. Then tomorrow is the Madrascals Rugby Home tournament which he is playing in, so a big sporting weekend for Tom before going back to school on Monday.

Nick & I went out for dinner last night to the Vine Leaf having finally managed to sort out a babysitter. We had a lovely time out together and are looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.
I just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in preparation for the film coming out in a few weeks time, I think it's fair to say I am the most excited about it and keep watching the trailer on the internet..Sad or what?

October Holidays

Friday 15th finally arrived and Tom & Lily started their school holidays so I packed them into the car and we started our holiday. I drove until around 8pm and then we pulled into services and booked into a hotel for the night. Saturday so us complete the first part of our journey as we arrived in Bournemouth around lunchtime to catch up with John. I haven't seen my brother for 3 years so it was good to catch up with him. We also got the chance to see Gary & Jack in Bournemouth for a quick catch up as they were playing a gig in one of the pubs in town. On Sunday we spent the day with John, Conor & Nathan which was great fun. The children all got on well even after not having seen each other for 3 years.
After dropping the boys off home and having a very quick catch up with Lisa it was back to our hotel for bed before setting off on to the camping part of our holiday. Yes, you heard right, Tom, Lily and I were going camping...in October...in England! Alabama it was definitely not and our holiday coincided with an unfortunate cold snap and by god it was cold.

Thankfully my parents arrived on Tuesday afternoon with extra blankets and firewood (having been forewarned by me in the morning about how cold it was). The worst part was in the morning before we got the stove warmed up and blazing away. Apart from that we all had a fine time and went for nice walks in and around Church Stretton and Ludlow, including Ludlow Castle.

A scenic view from atop Ludlow Castle.

Tom and I braved the cold and had a shower, this is me pulling a barrel filled with toasty hot water back to our little camp where I hooked it up to a hosepipe and pump system and stood under a tin bucket with holes in it.

All great fun, but perhaps better in warmer weather. It was back in the car on Friday to drive home. At our first stop it felt like such a luxury washing my hands in warm water. We got home around 4pm and found Nick at home with the heating on and the fire roaring in the fireplace, food in the fridge and no laundry to catch up with. It was a lovely surprise as I hadn't realised Nick had organised to take the Friday off work and I had been preparing myself to come back to a bit of a bachelor pad. 3 loads of our dirty laundry later and I am all caught up with our clothes too.

Meant to post this before I went away for a holiday, when I went out for a run I remembered to cut my toenails so I didn't get a bloody foot and all went well until the next time when I went out this happened...
obviously forgot to cut one of my toenails, it looks worse than it felt thankfully.

Big surprise - I didn't get the job, and I haven't got interviews for any of the other jobs I have applied for so I'm a bit fed up again, although that might have something to do with the weather as it's a crappy day here today.
On a more upbeat note, I did go out for a run this morning, first time in just over a month (naughty girl) and have agreed to do a 10 mile run on 7 November so I have something to aim for and progress towards. Hopefully that will motivate me sufficiently to get up off my arse 3 times a week and go out for a run!
Kids about to get home from school so I'm off now, sorry it's such a short post.

It's a glorious day today and I have a job interview in an hour and a half. Yikes, I was very surprised last Friday when I got an email requesting I come for an interview for an administrator job. What a boost to my confidence.
Tom & Greg have been busy collecting conkers and so far have managed to get over 500. Not quite sure what we are going to do with them now though.
I drove through to Glasgow on Friday night to meet up with friends for another 40th birthday party, I collected Frances and we went off into town to meet up with Ross, John, Adrian and Murray who I hadn't seen for at least 12 years, so it was lovely to catch up with them. The beauty of going through on my own meant that I could finally take 'my' chair from mum & dad's

and make it my own. I have been after this chair for years and now I finally have it. The plan had been to get it re-upholstered (as you can see there is a spring bulging up through the seat pad) however now that I have the chair I am loath to get it done. If I upholster it, it will lose its smell and the smell is part of the chair and I love it just the way it is. I have noticed Tom sitting in it a lot this week so I wonder if he is going to pinch it from me 20 years from now.

This cheeky bugger reappeared in the kitchen sink yesterday so I chucked him out the back door again. He really is enormous and I don't like him.

Got a new battery for my camera and it appears to have fixed the problem so as you can see I am back taking photos again.

Since moving back home we have discovered fish in our pond, at first I thought there was just one lonely fish swimming around, but then I discovered there were at least 3 in there and then the other week when my parents were here, my dad and I counted 6 of them plus there is a baby one which I see occassionaly. They're not quite the pets that Lily & I had in mind but there you
go, I'll take what I can get. I just thought I'd post this picture of an anemone which I planted

a couple of weeks back, it looks very pretty at the moment and the hover flies are certainly enjoying it.

Nick's parents came up for a visit this last weekend and Nick took Tom and his dad on the chain walk while Lily & I stayed at home.

We reckoned it would have been a bit too difficult for Lily at the moment.

I went out to a business networking lunch with Angela yesterday and I had great fun, and Angela got a couple of new business leads which is what it was all about. I made another great first impression though - as the room was very hot I went to take my cardigan off and there hanging from the label was a massive cardboard tag that I had completely forgotten about! Classy, very classy. It reminded me of the last time Ang & I did some business socialising together. I knocked over a glass of champagne upon arrival at an art gallery and Angela and I started laughing loudly and then we got into trouble from the sensible people...I think I did mention that in a blog post a few months back.

Today I have been around to school as I have volunteered to help with the gardening again (when we lived here previously I helped set up the original garden and planted a hedge which looks great now). The first project is to be something to do with the greenhouse and I have just discovered that I have to actually build the greenhouse which is currently in pieces in a shed! Not quite what I had in mind but I do like jigsaws so I shall have to think of it as a very large 3d jigsaw challenge. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

After another fairly uneventful week mum & dad came through for the weekend which necessitated baking lemon muffins. Tom decided they were a bit dry! Thankfully everyone else said they were lovely. Do you like my cake stand? It's a birthday present from Angela,
and I love it. It matches a mug she gave me when she visited us in America.
It was the Leuchars Air Show on Saturday so Nick was away all day. We took Tom to his rugby practice in the morning and then went to the beach for a couple of hours in the afternoon to watch the airshow and play in the sand. Then on Sunday after dropping Nick off at work to clear up then head off down to Shrivenham for the week I took Tom through to Cupar to play in a rugby match. I hadn't realised it was a tournament so we had to leave after the second match as Lily had a party to go to in the afternoon. Tom played well despite having to pull his socks up all the time, they seem very large around his calves - a pair of elastic bands might come in handy next weekend.
I have had a very dull week so far and am very fed up with things. I have applied for jobs but not surprisingly am getting nowhere fast. Who wants to employ a 40 year old who has been on a 10 year career break and has no up to date skills? No one, that's who. I also looked into getting onto The Childrens Panel but that is for a minimum of 3 years and I know I won't be here in 3 years so that put an end to that idea. Who'd be a forces wife?

Thought I'd better update you all on what's going on here at the moment. Truth is, not a lot really. My camera appears to be broken hence the lack of photographs. I'm hoping it's a battery problem (it got coffee spilt on it a while back and has been temperamental ever since) but I think I might just need a new camera.
I went to my first ever Bunco evening last Wednesday - Bunco is a dice game with no skill whatsoever. So I got to meet a few of the other wives whose husbands are based at Leuchars and I won a prize (£6). Lucky me. On Saturday Tom had his first taste of rugby at Madrascals before we drove through to Lenzie for Frances's 40th birthday party. Nick & I left Tom & Lily with my parents while we went to the party and I got to catch up with some old friends (most of whom I hadn't seen for at least 12 years!) Scary how time passes, thankfully nobody had really changed very much and we were all able to recognise each other.
Yesterday I updated my cv and registered with the University for casual staff work and I also sent my cv off to an agency, so fingers crossed something will come out of that. As today was Tuesday I was in helping Angela with a bit of marketing. It all got very exciting mid morning when the road outside the office flooded and we had to shove cardboard under the door to stop the water coming in. We got off lightly, as the hairdressers next door flooded and lost their electricity. Next stop Travis Perkins for some sandbags! I got home just in time for Lily getting home from school closely followed by Tom whose football had been cancelled. Children nowadays are obviously not allowed to get wet or muddy.

We had a very quiet weekend last week and then a reasonably busy one this week. Julie was up with Isobel & Charlie visiting so they came round on Saturday along with Angela and the girls and then I went back to Ang's with them to have a few glasses of wine and a sleepover! I don't know when I last did something like that. We sat up until around midnight catching up with each other's news and then eventually went to bed. On Sunday I had to whizz home as Tom was going to Madrascals Rugby for the first time and I wanted to be there for that. It was a really cold and blustery day so imagine my relief when we got there to be told we were a week early, so it was off back home for coffee and a biscuit. Nick took Tom & Lily off to the castle to meet up with Jason and his children before all coming back here for a late Sunday lunch. The castle was holding a fun day with actors dressed up as soldiers etc.
Looking at the photos I reckon everyone had fun.

Lunch was a partial success, the beef was done to perfection, the mash was fine however I forgot to put the veg in the oven for roasting early enough so they were 'al dente' which was a bit disappointing especially since they are normally overly roasted and caramelly. Never mind, we still had a nice time and the day had brightened up enough to sit outside with our cups of coffee to end the meal off.

Nick had today off work as it was an English bank holiday so he came out for a run with me, which improved my time - no slacking with Nick around! Then I did a very minimal bit of gardening and some laundry and baking while Nick did a few odd jobs around the house too. Later on we are off to Pizza Express to see Julie one more time before she heads off back down south tomorrow. Yay, no cooking dinner tonight.

Well, we ended up with chocolate mousse for pud on Wednesday, an oldie but reliable goodie.
On Thursday I went off to Dundee to help out with Angela's business for the day and will be doing so regularly from now on. So go and visit http://www.dundee-printing.com to see what she does.
Today, Nick officially took over as OC Ops Leuchars so we probably won't see much of him for a while as he is going to be BUSY.
I managed out for another run this morning and ,thankfully, did better than on Wednesday but my legs are still very sore, I'm looking forward to getting rid of that feeling once I get used to the exercise again.

Well, Nick started work properly on Monday and Tom & Lily started school today. Think Tom was a bit nervous about it but Lily was fine, you could drop her anywhere and she would be happy
making friends, unfortunately Tom is more like me and struggles with that. I left him looking a little bit forlorn in the playground, bless him.
Well, with everyone out of the house there were no excuses left and so I went out for a run. Bloody hell, you could tell I hadn't done any exercise since May, I was knackered but managed my 4 mile route (albeit very slowly - in fact I looked at my running log and it may be the slowest time ever!!) Lots of work to do there then, at least I can only improve.
Right, now I need to go grocery shopping as we have one of Nick's work colleagues coming round this evening for some supper, lamb casserole and then some sort of pudding which I haven't decided on yet.

Sunday Funday

I can't remember if I mentioned I had applied for a job or not, anyway I heard back this week and didn't even get an interview. A bit disappointing but more time to spend in the garden. I had paid a tree surgeon to come and do some tree lopping that was too much for me to take on but it still left me with masses to do. I decided to get rid of the ivy on the back wall as it was in danger of taking over the whole back border. Two full days and approximately 6 trips to the tip later

there is still a lot to do but the garden looks a lot bigger all of a sudden. This corner has still to be attacked and will be the challenge for the coming week.

I used to have a vegetable patch here and plan to do so again once I regain control of the space.

Thankfully the weather has been beautiful for the last 2 days (something of a miracle, I know). I made caramel shortbread last night, so we had our morning coffee outside today.

I used a new recipe and I can't say I was pleased with the results, I shall revert back to my old one. This morning Lily made Nick an omelette and a fruit smoothie for breakfast - with just a little help from me. We bought a children's cookbook yesterday and after a quick trip to the supermarket for ingredients she was off and running this morning. The omelette ended up more like scrambled eggs but I thought it was a valuable lesson for Lily to learn as she didn't read through the recipe before she made a start on it.

We had Angela round for lunch today and Tom helped me with the pavlova, I meant to take a photo of it to post on here but forgot andas it was so good we all had seconds so there was none left for even a partial picture. Oops. The sun is still shining so I am off outside to sit on my bench and soak up the last rays of sun.

Florence & Forty

We had a very pleasant visit from Nick & Jamie Drew on Thursday, it was nice to catch up with them both and the girls too. Luckily it was quite a nice day so we were able to sit outside and enjoy a coffee and slice of cake while sitting in the sun at our newly repaired patio table (well done Nick for an excellent repair job.)
After showing off last week about my cake I baked another one on Friday for my mum & dad (a special request from mum) who were coming up to look after Tom & Lily while Nick and I jetted off to Florence for a few days. It seemed like the least I could do.
So on Saturday we set off to Florence
for a few days. What a beautiful place and fantastic food. On Sunday we visited the Uffizi and the Galleria de Academia and climbed the bell tower attached to the Cathedral - all 414 steps. What a view from the top though. Monday saw us go on a very long walk and see some more beautiful architecture, sculpture and views before we started to stand in line to climb to the top of the Duomo. 2 hours later we started the climb of 463 steps to the top. Boy, was it worth it, the fresco is amazing and the view from the top is breathtaking. Unfortunately, as we had queued for 2 hours we had no more time left to enjoy Florence and it was a mad dash to the train station (did I mention we had to climb the 463 steps of the Duomo with our bags? ) Our plan had been to have a late check out of the hotel so we could do the climb then go back and get showered and check out in a leisurely fashion, but alas, the queue was so huge Nick had to go and check us out of the hotel while I carried on queuing and inching forward slowly but surely towards the entrance. We made it to the station with minutes to spare and caught our train back to Bologna. After a quick walk around Bologna we headed out to the airport hotel for a shower and some dinner before hitting the sack for a well earned rest.

So on my birthday we were up around 5 30 am to get some breakfast and get to the airport for the flight home.

After driving through some awful rain and flooding we got back to two excited children desperate to wish me a happy birthday. There was a balloon, cards, cake, a delightful hat that Lily had made and a fabulous wooden puzzle that Tom had made me. Oh, yes and champagne chilling in the fridge. As I was a bit knackered I had a Pot Noodle for dinner and Nick ate some leftovers, so I had champagne and pot noodle to celebrate turning 40. Classy.