Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Around Here Lately...

It's been a little crazy around here, I have to admit. At times this week I have felt that I have been stuck in some kind of weird movie, I'm doing things I never thought I would...

Like for instance, my sick cat behaved disgracefully on more than one occasion with myself and then the vet nurses in trying to administer her tablets. In desperation we have had to switch to administering her meds in injection form - only, it's ME who is doing the injecting! Never in my life did I think that I would be poking needles into my pets! lol. So right now the windowsill in my bathroom looks like this...


and I have one of those bio-hazard waste boxes next to the loo :) Thankfully I have managed to inject her successfully two days running. I still keep making a safety net appointment each day in case things take a turn for the worse.

The other kind of crazy this week is that the rubber seal on my washing machine ripped. It's a new-ish machine and still under guarantee so fortunately it will be fixed for me at no charge - but only next week Thursday. Now I don't know about you but there is no way my family can be without a washing machine for so long, so I have had make a plan and have patched up the rip with - wait for it - a bicycle repair kit. Who knew that it would come in handy for something other than a bicycle wheel! 

On a lighter note, I have been put in charge of snacks for our Art Co-op tomorrow which isn't a big deal normally, but one of the children is vegan, so today I baked my very first vegan cake.


I am so happy with the way it turned out. It's risen beautifully, smells delish, and all that's left to do is ice it, with vegan icing of course.

An arrival brought by the postie...


...some cookie cutters I ordered in anticipation of some fall baking later on in the year. I thought of baking some maple leaf cookies and flood icing them, the apple cutter is to make little apple-shaped apple pies (as per pin on my 'All Things Autumn' board) with a friend - a fall activity we want to do together with our children.

And a fun outing this week with a friend...


We went to the beautiful Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire. It is absolutely beautiful, we had a picnic lunch in the rose and lavender garden - which was positively alive with insects and birds.


There is currently an archaeological dig underway as they are wanting to uncover earlier foundations. It was interesting to watch for a bit and added to the educational side of things :)


Apart from uncovering foundations as you can see, they have found a pipe and two human teeth!

So there you have it, a little peek into the summer living that's going on here at the moment ;o)

4 comments:

  1. Hope your cat improves, I bet you make an excellent nurse. Love he hint of fall!

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  2. Poor kitty! And, poor you. I am always amazed at the things I find myself doing that I never thought I could or would. I hope the treatment works and your dear cat makes a full recovery.
    This is strange, but I *just* said to my daughter a few moments ago that, "I want to try making the Moosewoods Six-minute Vegan Chocolate cake tomorrow" What recipe did you use for your cake? It looks very yummy!
    Those are *very* cute cookie cutters. And, what a gorgeous place you got to visit. It looks like you're having a lovely summer. : )

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    Replies
    1. Hi Susan, I can confirm that this vegan cake was a huge hit. It was so lovely and moist and tasted delishious! The recipe for the cake can be found here
      http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4666/vegan-chocolate-cake.aspx?o_is=Hub_TopRecipe_1

      and for the icing you can find the recipe here:

      http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/sweetsaucesfrostings/r/chocfrost.htm?utm_source=pinterest_ip&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons

      I left out the white vinegar that the cake recipe called for as I had none in the house - all turned out well. According to a friend of mine the vinegar is usually used to activate the Baking Soda. But it seems that the baking soda does not need activating as my cake rose beautifully.

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  3. I like your resourcefulness with the tire repair kit! :)

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