You're special because...

Apparently the kids are doing 'you're special because...' in assembly at school. Tonight, at the supper table, N. looked at me while I was crocheting I.'s beanie-take-two and said 'you're special because you knit a lot'.

Kids have an uncanny knack to say things without realising how much better they make you feel.

We have stairs

and neither of us can get quite used yet to not having to climb a ladder!

More cold

Memorable meals

B. and I have a list of 'memorable meals' - meals that were so good that we remember them for a long time. This was one to be added to that list.
On Friday night I got a phonecall from B. as I was leaving work, to say that I shouldn't bring up any food, he was cooking me a meal. The house tends to take priority over everything else right now, so I was quite surprised to say the least! I got to his place to find him cleaning mussels, I'd mentioned a few weeks ago it was time we had mussels again. I'd found some reduced price sushi which we had for starters, then the mussels cooked in wine with a ton of garlic, followed by dressed crab with a homemade salad. The wine the mussels were cooked in was pretty good so we left it at that, rather than opening the bottles of bubbly you see in the photograph - saving those for another special occasion. Dessert was the heart shaped biscuits I'd baked. Followed by a Fred Dibnah episode and we had a pretty relaxing evening!



We're going through a cold snap right now - Saturday night at 10 pm my car registered -6 Celcius, which is pretty cold for where we are. This is the view from my bedroom window this morning at 7.45 AM. It doesn't quite show how white everything was - it was beautiful with the sun just coming up. It does make for very cold nights though, especially as N.'s back in his room and has taken the fleece blankets with him!

Happy Valentine's Day

No, this is not what I received, but rather what I made made (with I.'s help) for B.
I don't really like those days where you're almost forced to give each other a present - it doesn't feel spontaneous and therefore not real or meant. I appreciate the presents which I get unexpectedly much more. So we'd agreed we wouldn't do presents for each other for today, just a card, but I'd seen heart shaped biscuits and fancied making those. So that's what he's getting (tomorrow, as we don't normally see each other on Thursdays). Coffee biscuits with coffee buttercream. Yummm....

That didn't last long

I. has just admitted she thinks she's lost her beanie :-( I'm so disappointed. She wore it when we walked from the park (where we took the photos) back to the car park, I remember because she was in front of me and I wanted to take a photo of her as it looked sweet with her plait. We then went to Sainsbury's and to the pet shop, and I remember asking her that afternoon where her beanie was, and she said she thought it was in the car. Didn't think anything else of it, till this afternoon and it suddenly clicked with me that I hadn't seen it in the car at all. Have rung Sainsbury's and pet shop but no joy of course. It might still turn up, it could be at J.'s place although I doubt that, I don't remember her taking it with her yesterday morning, basically we haven't seen it since the 'photo shoot'.
She's inherited the genes of two parents who aren't the tidiest people in the world, but she also has a habit of being quite careless with things - which is why I'm even more disappointed... I suppose I'll get over it - right now I just want to make another one, but that would just give her the impression that you can just replace things and I want her to learn that she's got to care for her things.
:-(

Beanie

A few weeks ago I ordered some yarn from Ebay for a cropped cardigan, and one ball caught my attention - I don't know why, but it was just one lonely ball and it wanted to come home here. As they do ;-) When I saw it in real life, I knew it was perfect for I. as she hasn't outgrown the pink stage yet, and together we decided it'd be a beanie. I'd tried teaching her crochet the other day, but she wasn't particularly interested, but it whetted my appetite, so a crochet beanie it'd be. No pattern, just constant fitting and decreasing number of stitches to get the right shape. No fancy stitches either, just single crochets all around, and then a flower from here to top it off.


She wasn't keen on the flower to start off with but it seems to have grown on her and now she wears it all the time. The beautiful weather here made for some good photo opportunities, which we did this morning. Nice to finish something in such a short space of time (took 4 or 5 evenings of one hour sittings) and have it appreciated too!