Interesting Times

There's an old chinese curse,

"May you Live in Interesting Times".

And last week really qualifies as that, it was pretty lousy as weeks go with all sorts of work shenanigans and issues, and it culminated on Friday with getting rear ended at a T junction on the way home from the office. No major damage, just a cracked rear bumper but I felt pretty shocked and very rough all evening, with lovely friends concerned that I might have a concussion. A good night's sleep sorted all but the headache fortunately.

So Saturday had an unsurprisingly slow start, with an enormous reluctance on my part to do much of anything. Plans to decorate had to be changed as my Brother who was going to come over and help was in quarantine, his wife has suspected swine flu. With only four weeks to go to Irene and Mike's wedding it was a great opportunity to get the supplies in. So, off to Hobbycraft for A0 sized card for a table plan, coordinately place cards and table numbers and other sundries. Well it'd have been rude to go and just buy the essentials wouldn't it?

Another drive onto my scrapping home, Sugar and Spice for some personal fun bits and then to another local place for the peel offs. Followed up by a quick trip to Waitrose and by now my feet were in full on protest, so I dropped into some friends for tea and cake.

Sunday saw the welcome return of an old friend. My get up and go! I dd three loads of laundry, made a wedding card which will also double as my next Design Team post, and the first Order of Service card. Just waiting for the boss' approval on this one before I do the next 19. She wanted something plan and simple along the lines of her invites which were done by someone else. I hope she likes it.

Big News - Cats Purr when they want something!!! Grumpy old woman speaks.

It's true, some people are paid to do research that is just, well, excuse the pun, BARKING. According to research, which some highly intelligent people have been paid to do cats use purring to get what they want. Wow. Who knew? Well apparently we did....

"Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans."

The full article is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8147566.stm

As the proud owner of these two very naughty boys , I can tell you this is no surprise. In fact it's no suprise to anyone who's even met a cat, let alone owned one. Really, is this a good use of time and money? What's next? I can see the headlines now.....

BREAKING NEWS - Research shows that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night, although the time of these two events varies through the year, scientists confidently predict this will continue happening for the foreseable future, with one quoted as saying "we believe this phenomenon might even go on for as long as the earth continues to turn. Next we want to study if traffic slows down people's journies and if people actually do get wet when they stand out in the rain".

Speaking of cats, mine brought home their first trophy last night, in the shape of a pterodactyl. Ok, that might be a tiny exageration but it was a very large flying insect, with a wing span of around 5-6", and a thick body measuring 4". When I first saw it flapping about at the edge of the conservatory I thought they'd got hold of a bat. Of course, it had to come in the house, still flapping in a vain attempt to get away, and it's at times like those when you really need a big strong bloke about to rescue you! Instead I slunk upstairs and ignored it. Corpse clear up job tonight. Lovely.

Mrs Crimbles/Genius Gluten Free Bread Reviews

Fantastic, now, not only do coeliacs finally have the option of fresh GF bread available to buy in normal supermarkets, there are actually two to choose from.

I've now tried both, so wanted to write down my views on both the options.

Genius Bread
Available from: Tescos
Price: around £2.50 mark

this was the first one I tried, and it says to squeeze it on the side of the bag. Because it's the holy grail of gluten free bread, a loaf that doesn't disintigrate when you look at it the wrong way. It's a good size, comparable to a small, standard sized loaf.

It cuts well, it's squishy. The taste is ok uncooked and it doesn't need refreshing. Toasted it really comes into it's own though.

I've noticed problems with the supply though, they've moved the bread from the fresh aisle to the Free from section, and like other products there it suffers from the sections not being maintained properly, this meant last time I tried to get it there were a load of green loaves that were well out of date, and the freshest stuff had a very short shelf life.

Mrs Crimbles Gluten Free Loaf
Available from: Sainsburys
Price: currently on special at around £1.50 a loaf

Again, nice and squishy. Cuts well, though a little crumblier than the Genius version still a respectable slice. The loaf itself is a slightly odd shape, long and short, giving small slices. The loaf I had also had a collapsed end and lots of large air pockets, as if it hadn't been properly knocked back. It was the last loaf on the shelf though, perhaps for these reasons, so it wouldn't be entirely fair to judge it on that basis.

On balance I think I prefer the Genius bread, however Sainsburys still has a much better GF bread selection overall so I think Mrs Crimbles will be a regular guest chez moi.

Happy munching.

Easy like Sunday morning

It's a beautiful day, the sun is out but it's not excrutiatingly hot. Brunch, of eggs, bacon and gf muffins has been consumed and the rest of the day stretches out before me, with nothing more than a few housework chores, scrapping and catching up on my sky plus'd series to do. How lovely.

My first Sugar and Spice design team posting went up yesterday, http://sugarandspicecrafts.blogspot.com, please have a look if you have the time. I'd had a safe option to post, something I'd done for the entry competition, but decided in the end to do something new whilst I had the time and the mojo going. It's always good to have a fall back option in the future for those moments when I feel lacking. Crafting for me isn't a business, it's something I do when I feel the mood, when I feel creative, a little like baking. I know I don't produce as much as lots of other people, I know if I used sketches and kits I could get a lot more done, and there's a lot to do in my mental queue, and whilst both are completely valid ways of crafting it's just not me.

I'm going to make a start today on my friend's table plan for her wedding in August. And I've got an Ikea set of drawers that need labelling up, got a great bookplate die to use, so it's sizzix time here.

Enjoy your Sunday, hope it's easy too.

Stampaholic

I had a lovely weekend over in Bracknell with my scrapping partner in crime, Lynne, and her lovely two little girls. We had a barbecue, my first of the year, and it was lovely being able to have everything that was on offer. Hats off to Tesco's for having some gluten free stuff in their BBQ range, the ribs were particularly good and the lamb kebabs (organic only GF) are probably my favourite. Lynne made burgers, so no junk there, and I had some Genius bread to go with. In an exciting development, Mrs Crimbles have brought out their own range of fresh gluten free bread, available from Sainsbury's. I'll be giving that a go and reporting back on my next shopping trip.

Having a 7 and 4 year old running about doesn't leave much time for getting out the papers and the glitter, so we only got some scrapping done after their bedtimes, but it has put both of us in the mood to get on with more. So last night I set to work on my first Design Team blog, due next weekend. I'm really pleased with progress so far, it's got a lovely, summery feel to it but won't say too much about it at the moment or Marion will tell me off, she's small but fierce :)

I'm really enjoying my stamping, there are some gorgeous designs about and I particularly love both the Sugar and Spice stamps and the Bananafrog ones. I'm a big fan of stamps you can use again and again, patterns, shapes, flourishes all work well on both cards and layouts. I suggested to Bev of Bananafrog that they have a 'pick and mix' option, pay one price, pick as many stamps as will fit on an A5 acetate. She said they're considering it, I think that would be an excellent way to buy just the ones you like.

Busy week coming up, and friend's Hen Night on Friday - dinner and a Bjorn Again concert. Should be ace!