Aha Me Hearties!

 I woke up unable to open my right eye without difficulty and discomfort.  This used to happen a while ago but then it went away and so I'd forgotten all about it until this last week where it started happening again. Of course I consulted Google and it can be a few things but likely to be dry eyes.  Perhaps I'm sleeping with my eyes open - a terrifying prospect for Chris - or more likely it’s the effect of the HRT I started taking just over 2 weeks ago.  Whatever it is, it's very annoying to start the day looking like a cross pirate, trying to prize it open enough to stumble downstairs to make packed lunches.

After pilates, which I found pretty hard due to the same wading through porridge feeling and compounded by stiffness from PT yesterday, I grabbed Bonnie and swiftly put her in her cat carrier for a trip to the V.E.T.  Bonnie has been overgrooming for a long time now and is looking increasingly bald and odd looking.  Numerous organ, blood and allergy tests have shown us that there is nothing medically wrong but it's likely to be anxiety, behavioural problems and possibly skin itchiness too.  She is a very needy cat and highly strung so I'm not sure how much really can be done.

After today's visit we are trialling an anti itch treatment for a month or two and then if no improvement we will try piriton - and if no good we will have to think again.  I’ve changed the cat food to one containing virtually no cereal, as mostly any allergies were cereal, carrots and peas along with some grasses and trees. We will have to wait and see.  I'm very lucky that our vets is a two minute walk away, which is really convenient and doesn't cause the cats the stress of a car journey.

I'm continuing to work on this little stitched cushion for the doll’s chair.  It's pretty slow as I'm using a single thread of DMC embroidery cotton to stitch it with chain stitch.  I'm quite happy with it taking as long as it takes - when it's finished I will post it on Instagram.  I managed to finish my audio book though; 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari.  I think I preferred his other books, Sapiens and Homo Deus.  As a 50 something person, it's hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed and already irrelevant when thinking of these next decades and what may or may not happen in terms of biotechnology, technology and society.  It makes me worry for my children and it also makes me think about my mortality a bit too much - which isn't necessarily a good thing for a super-worrier like me!  I tend to alternate between books like this - neuroscience, nutrition and philosophy - to escapist fiction. Generally I prefer to read fiction with my own internal voice but I'm quite happy for someone else to read to me about buddhism or botany.

Both teens are still at school until Thursday and so I quickly made some coffee and walnut buns for an after school snack.  In the north, these little cakes are called buns - or certainly they were when I was growing up.  In the south they are generally called fairy cakes or cupcakes but I think of fairy cakes as a bit smaller and iced and cupcakes as having a huge amount of fancy and swirling icing/frosting on them.  I'm not keen on icing as I think these are sweet enough.  I use the recipe my mum told me:

2 eggs

100g butter

100g sugar

100g sr flour

This makes around 10 to 12 buns.  

I tend to whisk the sugar and butter together, then add the eggs and whisk, then the flour and whisk.  Other ingredients are folded in at the end.

I usually add either 50g of walnuts and a tsp dissolved instant coffee in a bit of water or chocolate chips or lemon zest or 1 tbsp cocoa powder depending on what I have in or what I fancy.  Bake at around 170/180 degrees fan oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

They are so quick and simple and they solve an after school snack emergency plus I know exactly what is in them. I like to give my family ‘real food’ over processed food if possible. Happy teens = happy mum ( I say that as though I don't scoff a couple too…)

It's been gloriously warm today and I've had the back door open all day with the washing on the line.  It's made me realise that I must get on and find a garden table and chairs to buy.  Our old table (which we’d had for about 12 years and had been painted many different colours depending on my current whim) finally rotted by the end of last summer - so it went to the tip and hasn't been replaced yet.  I only want to get a small 2 person table and chairs as in September we are hopefully getting the garden landscaped and redesigned with a permanent seating area in it.  I'd just like to be able to have my coffee or lunch outside on such lovely days as today.

I'm getting close to the finish line with my Vanilla Latte sock as I have done about 20 more rows of the foot this afternoon. Just the toe decreases and kitchener left now.  Hurrah!!! I might actually get it finished as hoped for in March.

So that's it for another day - the penultimate day of the #blarch challenge. Thank you for reading along with my posts.  It's greatly appreciated.