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.

I baked this the other day.
Such a shame you have to eat it quickly.

It always disappoints me that the cake is never the same after that first fresh slice, it just doesn't keep well. That's the downside of home baking I guess, no preservatives. I suppose the plus side is you get to eat lots of cake under the excuse that it "just doesn't keep well".

Don't you just love Abba?

I'm sitting in the kitchen listening to Abba drift downstairs from Lily's room and all I can hear is Nick, Lily and I all singing along from various rooms in the house...the power of Abba. Doesn't it just make you feel good? It doesn't seem to affect Tom to the same degree though, bless him.