Back on track

It's been busy here the last couple of weeks.  Last weekend Iain turned 40,

on Saturday we had our family over to celebrate :)

 

 

the week running up to the party was lost in preparations, mainly of the

cooking and baking variety.  This past week was lost in a lovely hotel and spa.

We disappeared for a couple of nights to Barony Castle in the Scottish Borders

- thanks to nannie who moved in and looked after our children,

the washing and the ironing :)

We had a lovely few days, a wee visit to the historic village of Peebles,

the Polish Map of Scotland which were in the grounds of the hotel,

a visit to Traquair House with lunch in the Traquair Arms, lovely food

and Traquair beer on draft for the birthday boy, I got to drive back!

Lots of time lounging, reading, using the Jacuzzi and the sauna,

cooked breakfasts and lovely 3 course meals.

 

 

We took a trip to see my sister and hubby at their new house,

(its lovely having them 40mins drive from us rather than 2 1/2hrs away) 

they live in a gorgeous part of the country which we have visited

lots, we took them up to the Bracklinn Falls.

 

 

 

It's back to reality this week, with meals all planned out

(I'm trying to use up things from the freezer)

 

Meatballs and spaghetti

Ham/tuna salad

Pulled pork / burgers / chips and salad

Soup and pudding

Chilli with rice, sour cream and tortilla chips

Chicken Kebabs

Chicken Pie and Veggies

I have a few different things on this week

and am hoping to get on with a few orders,

a couple of crafty presents and

knock some things off the to do list.

Spring clean swap

I've been joining in with the Craftblogclub on twitter on a Tuesday evening. An 1hr and 1/2 of twitter craft chat.  As part of that I signed up to take part in a Spring Clean Swap, the challenge to create something using just stuff you have already.  No problem when you have far too much craft stuff!  I made Kay - http://kaygetscrafty.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/something-special/ a fabric basket, I glad she liked it and has already found a use for it.

During this week my swap present from Kay arrived.  

A beautiful 'family' cross stitch which she designed.  I love it, it's so lovely to receive something someone has made especially for me, thanks Kay.

I really enjoyed taking part in the swap challenge, and it's been great to read the blogs as the swaps have been received, hopefully there will be something else happening soon.  

Making Fabric Baskets

Yesterday was an inservice day so no school,

it was fairly bright and sunny so we packed up

a picnic and headed to The Kelpies and Helix Park.  

 

My three are all at different stages, Daniel is quickly approaching

the teenage years, happy to stay in his bedroom all day particularly

if that also means he's attached to a laptop or Xbox,

David likes to be active/amused and

Fiona at 4 is happy to do whatever.

 

They had a great time and even although it wasn't that warm the

boys did go in for a paddle! Its definitely somewhere we will go again.

 

I've been busy this week making fabric baskets.

I made one as part of the Spring Clean Swap for the #craftblogclub

Kay blogged about the one I made for her, very glad to say that she liked it.

My Spring Clean Swap pressie arrived this morning

I'll blog all about it tomorrow :)

 

These baskets are all for 'customers' the first two have to get

fabric notebook covers to match the second two are bound for a

school classroom (love the brightness of these I hope they get well used). 

 

 

 

 

Start to another week

Its been a holiday weekend this past weekend, Saturday we got lots of jobs done

inside and out, more fence painting (still lots to do :( ) and the cars were washed.

Yesterday I went off to B&Q and bought 3 fence slats, Iain cut them in half,

they are now painted and pinned to the fence ready for me to paint a huge daisy

onto them - a little bit of outside art.

Meals are planned for this week and the shopping is done -

Spaghetti bolognese

Lentil soup with crusty bread and pudding

Sausage and Chorizo Casserole with rice

Enchiladas and Salad

Tuna noodle casserole

 

I've got a few things to get done this week, looking forward to making

some more fabric baskets, a couple of notebook covers and

hopefully more painting of my outside art.

Tomorrow is an I service day so kids still off school we're planning to go to The Helix

(http://www.thehelix.co.uk/discover-helix/the-kelpies/) 

We've seen the Kelpies from the road but this will be our first visit to the park :)