Christmas Day

A very lovely Christmas Day was had with family yesterday - just missing our youngest son who didn't want to come and my family in New Zealand who I miss dreadfully.

Christmas Morning

Little folk and presents gathered around the tree. 

Christmas Table - getting prepared

Merry Christmas!

Desserts:

Pavlova

Trifle

Christmas Pudding, Fresh Fruit Salad, Trifle, Pavlova

Loaf of bread for tea - a Christmas tradition of mine is to make a loaf of fresh bread - which always gets demolished!

Light Tea

Percy - pulled the stuffing out of this toy in the first five minutes!

With his antler

My Aunty Val with her new shower cap

Val & my MIL

Uncle Bob, Val & Mum (inlaw)

Hubby asleep - after all eating is such hard work!

Snooze....

Steven in his requested Christmas jumper that I made.

Happy 1st December.

Wow, 1st December already!  How did that happen?

Been rather busy these last few weeks, painting and decorating, holding an afternoon tea party and culminating in my older son's graduation 'Passing Out Ceremony' as Officer of the Watch on Saturday night.

It was a lovely evening and we are very proud of how hard he has worked these last three years.  

He only has a couple of weeks left at Warsash now and then is home for the holidays before setting off on the high seas again in February/March.

So what about this painting and decorating?

Our younger son has left home.

So we changed the room from this....

...to this!  We now have a dining room.

Really pleased with it.  A few finishing touches still have to be done - the window frame will need painting in the spring/summer and the skirting boards need to be painted....oh and a new door as we had to remove the old one as he put a hole in it. 

Having a dining room meant I was able to finally invite some friends for a lovely old fashioned afternoon tea - we had a lot of fun!

Being able to remove the dining table and wall unit from the lounge meant we could space that out a bit more.

It feels much more open now.

Nice to have some space.

The Christmas tree will fit where the dolls are having their 'tea party' and after Christmas my writing bureau will move into that spot.

I started putting up some decorations today - and will gradually put up decorations over the next couple of weeks, updating photos as I do so.

In the meantime I still  have to tidy up the Sailor's room as I have been using that to store things while decorating and shifting the rest of the house round!

The work is never ending.

We had a really lovely Advent Concert at Church on Sunday - so much better and far more enjoyable than last year.  Lots of singing over the next few weeks with various rehearsals and concerts - so keeping busy with that as well.

Happy 1st December!

Second WIP Finished

I have finished my second WIP.

I wouldn't recommend the  patter at all - the stitch guide doesn't actually work out as per the pattern - missing lots of rows to make it the right length in bodice, body and sleeves.  I had to add a lot of rows to get it to a length I was semi-happy about.  The body could have done with more length.  It is a small fit - not what the pattern said and I double checked the stitch and row gauge a couple of times.  

Still it might go nice with a skirt.

Now to dig out the third WIP.  IF I can remember where I have stashed it!

Easier to find than I thought.

This was started in the late nineties if I remember rightly....

This is as far as I got.  

Looking forward to finishing this one.

Finishing WIPs

I have had some WIPs on the back burner for um...some years now and decided I would get them finished by the end of the year.  

The first to complete is ...

From this pattern book I began knitting this pattern:

in February 2011!  Yikes!  Was it REALLY that long ago?!!

This is how far I had got, the back and part  of one sleeve made.

I started during last week and finished it yesterday,

My next WIP to complete will be the following 'Christmas Jumper'  I'm ashamed to say I started this pattern FIVE years ago...

I bought it at the Alexander Palace Knitting Show and in my defence the wool is horrible to knit with as it keeps splitting so I think that is part the reason progress has been exceedingly slow. 

I have changed the pattern slightly as after all these years it was difficult to start where I had finished off, so I decided to simplify it.

Almost finished the front...

No Comparison.

Laziness really never pays off...I know this, have always known this, but thought surely it wouldn't make much difference if the same ingredients are used.

Wish I hadn't bought the Nutribullet - there is absolutely no taste comparison - juicing then blending is so much nicer and tastier - maybe a lot more to clean, but I would drink what I make whereas I don't want to drink what I make with the bullet.  Very disappointing and definitely not worth all the advertising hype.  Obviously all  those reviewers who have used it have never actually tasted stuff made with a juicer!

Now what to do with this expensive mistake!

Nutribullet was sent back.  

Nutribullet Day One.

Day One:

Pineapple, Spinach, Ginger, Avocado, Carrot, Broccoli stalk, Banana, Blueberries, Acai berry juice, Manuka Honey. 

I used similar ingredients to those I would use in the juicer and then blender - I have to say I am really disappointed at the taste - it is nothing in comparison to when I use the juicer.   True there is no pulp waste, it is MUCH easier to clean and use  - but taste - nope just doesn't get there.  It is completely bland. I wonder why that is when pretty much the same ingredients are used?  All that was missing from the list was apple and beetroot.  In yesterday's drink I did include apple - that was incredibly bland as well.

I don't think I will be packing my juicer away just yet....hoping I haven't made an expensive mistake!

A change of appliance!

Feeling completely tired and lethargic most of the time on top of the usual pain issues I have been telling myself I need to start juicing again...and I make the odd attempt but then the thought of having to wash up all the bits involved in juicing and then blending to make a smoothie just becomes overwhelming.   Having heard a lot about the Nutribullet and not sure whether to believe the hype or not, I have been unsure whether to get one.  However, wanting to sleep all the time isn't doing me any favours either, and after coming home from choir yet again yesterday morning in lots of pain I decided to take a step of faith and give it a go.  Who knew ordering from John Lewis could be so quick and easy! Ordered yesterday afternoon, collected from a local Waitrose this afternoon!

So replacing these:

My juicer - which has seven parts to clean.....

and this....which has five parts to clean  - I now just have this 

on the side - which has two parts to clean - and they just rinse under water!

Added benefit - much more space on my work surface as well.

With this in mind I plan to make a drink every morning - possibly twice a day and hope I will start to feel brighter again.

Possibly the blender could have done what this does, although I had attempted I was not entirely sure it was successful.

The box...

It does come with other size cups and things, although I probably won't use these unless I am making drinks for other people as well.

It also came with three books with lots of information - and of course some advertising hype/testimonials.

I am looking forward to getting back into 'juicing' albeit in a different way again.

I have also been back to see Simon - I used to see him once a year while he was in the UK before he returned to Australia - and he managed to help some of the pain issues then.  He is now back here permanently - or at least for the foreseeable future so I am looking forward to a series of treatments from him in the hope that he will be able to help my pain issues.

I figure it is worth a shot.

He currently has me on two weeks of iodine treatment - he believes a lack of iodine may be part of the problems I am having with the extreme tiredness and nausea in the mornings.

So I will report back to see how it goes.