Sunday............

Wow where did the week go?

I ended up working everyday except Friday last week so today is a day of catching up on housework, and trying to be more organised for meals for next week.

Fortunately the house isn't too bad the kids and I got stuck in on Friday and did some things, but I have had a bit of a head cold so I was moving much slower than usual!!

As predicted daisyboy4 isn't taking me being at work very well and is very clingy and whingy, I am hoping that when he starts prep in a few weeks he will have so many other thing to occupy his mind that me not being there won't worry him too much.

Daisyson17 is studying externally so that means he will be home to pick up kids from the school bus etc so that is a blessing. he will be working at the local hardware store though three or four days a week and we are trying to work it so he works the days I don't and vice versa.

I have been reading another Elm Creek Quilt novel and so all I really want to do today is unpack the sewing machine and start sewing something! But we are having lunch with friends so it will have to wait until Tuesday when I have a day off.

Once I am over this cold I will get more organised and get some more photos to post for you all of the happenings in the garden. I have pulled everything out of the vege patch and have added loads of manure and am digging it over everyday just to break up the soil. I will plant out some seeds today I think if I have time and so in a few weeks things will be ready to go again but this time with more planning and rotation so hopefully we get good yields.

daisymum

The Last last day

Finally Daisyboy7 finishes today. I know it will seem very early for some but I have had one home for two weeks one home for one week and one home since Tuesday, plus daisyboy20 is out of hospital and here being looked after by his mum. All they did yesterday was fight and argue , I was ready to leave home, but then last night all was well - they had sorted out their pecking order and things are calm again - another round tomorrow when daisyboy7 is home all day that should have them sorted for the whole holidays. Yes they are like chooks when you add a newcomer.

Christmas Triva: The Christmas Cake

Christmas cake is an English tradition that began as plum porridge. People ate the porridge on Christmas Eve, using it to line their stomachs after a day of fasting. Soon dried fruit, spices and honey were added to the porridge mixture, and eventually it turned into Christmas pudding.
In the 16th century, oatmeal was removed from the original recipe, and butter, wheat flour and eggs were added. These ingredients helped hold the mixture together and in what resulted in a boiled plum cake. Richer families that had ovens began making fruit cakes with marzipan, an almond sugar paste, for Easter. For Christmas, they made a similar cake using seasonal dried fruit and spices. The spices represented the exotic eastern spices brought by the Wise Men. This cake became known as "Christmas cake."
Christmas cakes are made many different ways, but generally they are variations on classic fruitcake. They can be light, dark, moist, dry, heavy, spongy, leavened, unleavened, etc. They are made in many different shapes, with frosting, glazing, a dusting of confectioner's sugar or plain.
The traditional Scottish Christmas cake, also known as the Whisky Dundee, is very popular. It is a light crumbly cake with currants, raisins, cherries and Scotch whisky. Other types of Christmas cakes include an apple crème cake and a mincemeat cake. The apple crème cake is made with apples, other fruit, raisins, eggs, cream cheese and whipping cream. The mincemeat cake is made with traditional mincemeat or vegetarian mincemeat, flour, eggs, etc. It can also be steamed as a Christmas pudding.
All Christmas cakes are made in advance. Many make them in November, keeping the cake upside down in an airtight container. A small amount of brandy, sherry or whisky is poured into holes in the cake every week until Christmas. This process is called “feeding” the cake.
In Japan Christmas cake is a frosted sponge cake with strawberries, chocolates or seasonal fruit. It was an expression that to call women over the age of 25 "Christmas cake," meaning that they are out of season, as the cake is after December 25th. Now the age is raised to 31, linked to toshikoshi-soba, a noodle dish eaten on December 31st.
In the Philippines Christmas cake is a yellow pound cake with nuts or the traditional British fruitcake. Both cakes are soaked in brandy or rum, a palm sugar syrup and water. Rosewater or orange flower water is usually added. The cakes have a long shelf life, usually lasting many months. Sometimes they are eaten the following Easter or Christmas.

Have a fabulous day

daisymum