11 June 2009

Beads! I have found a pattern for a lace crochet bowl cover that had beads to finish, so I decided to make the beads for mine. I made these polymer beads yesterday, and they turned out to be beautiful. I don't know if I will use all of them for my own projects, or sell them, but I am very happy the finished product. Making beads out of polymer clay is fairly simple, you just have to be willing to make some really ugly beads before you figure out what techniques work.

When Michael returned from school and discovered all of my clay was out, he enthusiastically joined in and made a wonderful Bane pendent and I made a batman pendent for him.

I have also been knitting away, and have finished Neil's fingerless gloves, Jack's sweater, and have started on a new short sleeve pullover for myself.

The garden in town centre is absolutely beautiful right now, and we couldn't resist getting a picture of Mike in front of these gorgeous blooms. Mike wasn't so enthused about posing...I suppose he is getting too old to be my model ....not quite so easy as the old days....

..oh, mom.....

...3 year old Mike in the garden

On 6 June, Michael drew this fabulous picture on his bedroom whiteboard to send to his Grandmother for her birthday! Happy Birthday Gradma!

In the beginning of the month we went to London so that I could meet with a recruiter who specializes in placements in my field (Intellectual Property). We decided to get a little bit more out of the day by visiting the musuem, comic shop, and game store, plus a nice quick lunch at Slug and Lettuce.

...at the British Museum

....in front of the Gherkin

...on the tube

We took another day trip on 4 June to Legoland. We packed a picnic lunch of sandwiches and fruit salad, and after eating we did the balloon ride, train, and boat ride. Sally, our new family member (and Satnav), accompanied us, and she did a wonderful job navigating the drive to Lego land.

...controlling the balloon height

...ready for takeoff

...enjoying the balloon ride captained by Mike

...Captain Mike on the water

...finally our turn! Getting ready to drive the boat.

This week we dusted off a game that I bought ages ago when I was working for SimplyFun games. This game, OOGA, is the perfect game for a seven year old. You get a menu card showing 5 different dinosaurs and then you have to "spear" one that type of dinosaur before you opponent does. The first one to collect all five wins the round. Mike loved playing this. He won.

We have also started an herb garden, and we have been putting it to good use in some new recipes I have been trying out, such as mushroom salad with penne. We have basil, parsley, thyme, mint, and coriander.

Neil has been busy. Spending more and more time in London, and loads of time working at home, but he has still managed to do lots of stuff with us as you can see above and has a nightly ritual of bike riding with Mike before taking a ride for himself after Mike lays down for reading time in the evening. We sure do appreciate all he does with us!

Til next time...

23 May 2009

Jack and Cody, the monkeys, are modeling thier new "premie hats" that I crocheted on the way to Legoland today. These are really quick to stitch up, and are great for using little bits of yarn to donate to a great cause if your kid doesn't steal them for his or her animals and dolls!

I promised a pic of the GOOd milk tart that I made the other day, and here it is! YUM



This is just a cute pic of Mike reading at the library.


Thursday evening Mike had his first dance! It was a disco for the Year 1 and 2 children. You can't really see the blurry streak in the brown t-shirt that is our kid, but he is in there among the other hyperactive streaks. Michael really enjoyed the dance, and was very hot and sweaty when we picked him up.

This morning is the first day of Mike's term end vacation. It was a beautiful day, and we decided to go "shopping", (or so we told Mike). We passed 12 Legoland signs and the kid still didn't have a clue where we were going. On the 13th, (which happened to be the entrance), Mike saw the Legoland sign, then he saw a giant lego. We had a very, excited boy on our hands! We had a great day out at Legoland, and have a few pics to share here.

When we got home, we took a bit of a rest while Mike went to the park, then we all worked on a craft project together. Mike and Neil made the pompom and I made the hat. We had a nice time working together.

We stopped for a dinner break. Believe it or not I have never had Indian food before, and we ordered some for delivery. It was a really nice meal, and I look forward to trying it again soon.

Because this is going to be a busy week of vacation time for us, I will be blogging a little more frequently through the week from keeping it becoming overwhelming at the end of the week.

Til next time.

19 May 2009

What greater joy is there to a little boy than to make a clay replica of a discontinued Lego character? Not many, as you can see from Michael's radiant appreciation of the introduction of our homemade polymer clay Mad Hatter to the Dynamic Duo. Using the body of the penguin, we matched the size and shape of the legs, body, and head. Michael designed and molded the hat, while I did the rest of the body, including the bow-tie and shirt design under Michael's constant eye and rigorous attention to detail.

What greater joy for me than to finally finish the sweater! The sweater started as a just a small row of stitches that I had to continuously restart due to my complete ineptness in crocheting anything other than a blanket, mittens, or hats, while I was staying with Sue in Virginia awaiting the Visas. It doesn't quite cut the mustard for public appearances, but, it is fantastic for throwing on and wearing around the house. Particularly because the 3/4 sleeve allows you to perform tasks such as washing dishes, and little boy's hair, without getting your sleeves wet :)

Try, try again! This is a picture of the milk tart I made the other day. Unfortunately, it should have been in a 20 cm pan, not a 30cm pan...so it was too thin. Still, it was tasty, and it is a great treat for Michael's lunch box.

Not being one to allow a recipe to end on such a note of disappointment I decided to remake the tart, even investigating different recipes and finally settling on one that Neil had found and doubling it for my giant tart pan. It is a thick, rich, sweet, Milk tart. I would show pictures of Milk Tart two, but I have no pictures of it yet. Look for it next blog :)

I found the idea for this recipe while looking for books in the Library for Michael's reading time. We were looking at the cookbooks and found recipes for different festivals around the world. On the horizon for recipes to try is the Chinese dumplings, rice pudding, and peanut sauce.

On Sunday we headed to Brighton to meet Ianne for breakfast and go to the Mini Rally. We met at Carats, and had a lovely morning. When we left the restaurant it was pouring down rain and very cold. Poor Michael had worn shorts, so we decided to purchase some "long sleeve" pants for him at the shops. We still had a half hour until the shops opened, so mommy bird tucked baby bird under her coat and kept him warm in the corner of the store front. By the time we got into the store, bought the pants and some umbrella's the sun was shining and we had a fabulous, sunny day to play

We went to the Madiera Park, which has a snack vendor, bathrooms, a sprinkler (which wasn't on), and various climbing and riding equipment. It is a nicely designed park, and the location, as you can see, is fabulous. Check out the sea in the background! It is a short walk from the Sea Life center, which we didn't go to, and it made for a nice break for Michael from the walking around looking at the cars.

There were literally, hundreds of Minis of all sorts. One was the Mystery Machine, which was my favorite, it was really amazing how many of cars there were. Being that they are Minis, they can fit a whole lot of them onto the street!

I end today's blog with the delightful blackmail picture we have of Michael. This is the picture we will show to his future girlfriends to completely mortify him. Neil snapped this while Mike was on skype with his grandmother......

HA HA HA!!!!

Til next time!

11 May 2009

Hivemania! click here to learn and play online this fun strategy game


Playing Bringing Down the House for our Thursday game night

Last Sunday we went to Brighton and collected Rod for the bank holiday weekend. We also picked up my bike, and yesterday we got Neil's bike. We are now outfitted with bikes for the whole family, as well as a bike carrier for the car. Soon we will be full of pictures of Brighton on bikes!

We had a roast chicken that Sunday evening. This is one of my favorite things to cook, for some reason I like rubbing all the garlic and pepper, butter and lemon, over the chicken, and then slicing all the vegetables for roasting and watching it all slowly become juicy and tender as the house fills up with that wonderful aroma that lasts all evening long. Then taking the watery juices and thickening them into a nice smooth fatty gravy. MMMMMmm

We played a game called The Crunch, which basic premise is that you are a banker and you have to manage your assets. You can also fiddle around a bit and hide money. Rod won. :)

We dropped Rod off in Brighton on Sunday and stopped to get fish and chips for dinner.

On Tuesday I made a chicken and mushroom pie from the super secret recipe that was shared with me, and afterwards made a nutella cake which we covered with bananas and custard. I liked this recipe so much that I made it again last night, only to be dismayed by the fact that the oven is broken and no longer heating :( (though I am very thankful that it waited until after the roast chicken, chicken pie, and cake that were previously cooked).

My sweater in now in one peice, and I am lengthening the body and completing the collar now. Neil has been doing a lot of work, so even though he is at home, he is too busy to bother with me most of the day, but is always around when Mike gets out of school to spend some time together. Yesterday we took the long way home around the duck pond, and it is little times like that which tend to stick in your memory.

The garden is doing fantastically, the tree in the back yard is down, and we are missing it though. We have green peppers and a standard tomato joining the ranks of our vegetable patch. Unfortunately, these things need to be planted! A gardner's work is never done.

Yesterday we went to London and met Catherine for lunch, after Mike's Saturday breakfast of eggs and soldiers, which he proudly makes for himself. We had lunch at ASK near Tower Bridge, and afterwards we headed to Forbidden Planet, and finally Play'n Games. We purchased Hive and Bohnanza, and have since played both games several times.

We're in front of HMS Belfast









Woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, hoping that it would go away soon. This morning I was at the Urgent care center because I was barely able to breathe or swallow. After a 2 minute look in my mouth the doctor declared "They are infected", walked over to a locked case, opened it, and handed me a course of amoxicillan. It really hurts, but at least I know I am likely on my way to recovery. Hospital Emergency room visit: 10 minutes and £0. If I had been in the states these past few weeks, where I have had back to back ailments, it would have cost me several thousand dollars even if I had insurance in the land of the free.