Rather a useless day today

Serves me right of course, and I blame the red wine.  One glass - I ask you, ONE GLASS last night and it's stuffed up my day today.  No, before you ask the glass wasn't the size of a bucket, but it was a large one at 175 ml.  I had a pint of iced water along with it too, but unfortunately it got a grip of me and I didn't get up until 10.30 today.

I had all manner of things planned too.  Hoped to be up by 7-ish, washed and dressed, out to Morrisons for the weekly shop, visit daughter for a quick coffee and then do some gardening this afternoon.  I had a mound of paperwork to wade through as well - pension stuff now I've retired.  What did I do? Here's the list:

• Dossed around feeling rubbish
• Stared at the paperwork
• Did nothing about it
• Made a coffee
• Had breakfast
• Looked at the clock and decided it was too late to start much
• Answered phone to daughter
• "If you're coming round can you bring some milk?"  Cheeky madam!
• Groaned
• Decided maybe I should get my backside in gear
• Went to post office and missed the post
• Groaned
• Got milk
• Went to daughters
• Made coffee
• She was banging about upstairs so I shouted up to ask what she was doing
• "Come up and see"
• I went upstairs only to have a paint brush shoved in my hand
• "Do us that door, will you?"
• Groaned
• Painted door with brush and mini gloss roller
• Coughed a lot
• Drank my cold coffee
• We both finished off and went downstairs
• Caught up with Coronation Street on her fancy telly 
• Had another coffee (warm this time)
• Had her cat on my lap
• My jeans had a fur coat
• I went home
• Made a sandwich for Grumpy Trousers
• Went to Morrisons
• Groaned
• Saw old chum
• Had a natter with old chum
• Laughed with old chum
• Head cleared
• Felt better
• Went home and unpacked shopping
• Made a quiche from scratch
• Figured I'd done enough for one day
• Paperwork still there
• I'm still procrastinating as will be obvious from this posting!

Reasons I haven't done much blogging lately

Finding the time to blog at the moment is a bit of a struggle.  You see, we went away for a few days, two weeks on the trot.  First visit was three days in Lincolnshire with our friends.  It was on the coast near Mablethorpe which we affectionately call Mab-le-thorpe.

For those who don't know the area, its a seaside town on the east coast of England, but it doesn't get much tourism investment and sadly has lost some of it's shine.  The beach however is absolutely beautiful with flat, damp sand that you can walk on for miles.  For me that's it's only redeeming quality so my friend and I like to make it sound posher than it actually is.  The surrounding seaside towns are also a bit run down so we verbally spruce them up by referring to them with French sounding names.  Sutton on Sea becomes Sutton sur la Mer, and my favourite is Chapel St Leonards turning in Chappelle san Leonard.  At these places all you can see for miles are caravans and trailers.  Pretty soulless eh?  But perhaps they afford cheap holidays for families who just like to play on the beach, although given the weather in the UK at times, holidays there won't work out THAT cheap.  For example, two options for when it's raining - sit inside the caravan and play games (good option and very cheap), or take bored kids to the arcades and have lunch in a greasy spoon cafe (not cheap).  Believe me, I know, we've done it when the kids were little.  We once totted up the cost of such a holiday and quite honestly, we could have gone abroad!

Despite what I said above, I have the greatest affection for these little seaside towns.  They struggle to keep going without the investment that the bigger resorts get, yet they still provide something for everyone.  Yes it's limited with arcades, cheapo shops selling tat, bingo halls and karaoke, but people still like this stuff.  My friend and I went into Mablethorpe to walk along the beach. It was a really hot day but we enjoyed the breeze coming off the water and the sand under our feet.  We put on our shoes and went up to the promenade to sit on a bench with an ice cream each.  Not just any old ice cream, but a blooming great '99' with twin flakes no less.  Our philosophy is if you're going to have one, have a big 'un!

photo courtesy of http://emsb-solutions.co.uk/99-good-enough/

 It was great smelling the fish and chips and candy floss, not to mention hearing the sounds of the funfair and children's laughter.  We walked back to the car by a different route that took us on a man made path on top of the dunes.  By that time it was scorching hot and we arrived at the car red in the face, looking very much like twin beetroots.  Not a good look!  Opening the car door was like opening an oven so we had to stand at let the heat out before we dare sit in to go back to the nearby village where we were staying.

Here's a jolly image of Mablethorpe.  It's a nice picture and shows off the beach to its best.

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The second slot of time away was the following week where we spent 3 days in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, helping our elder daughter decorate her yoga studio that she is renting right in the town centre.  It's a huge room which will take a class of ten comfortably, twelve at a push.  It was pretty hard going, decorating in 30 degree heat.  The paint was drying almost immediately, so it was dragging off the roller.  It slowed things up somewhat but we got it done and it looks magnificent.  All pure white, with red doors and a red carpet.  The carpet was already down but it's almost new so there was no reason to change it.  Red is an energising colour and Kat was happy to keep it.  She's put some lovely little touches around the place, like some wall art of a flock of butterflies, and of course there'll be other Yoga orientated stuff going on.

We so want her to succeed at this venture as a yoga teacher.  Although it's her side-job, it's her main interest and has been for years.  She works hard at it and deserves to do well.  She'll be setting up a new website soon called Great Malvern Yoga.  It's not live yet but I'll do a link to it as soon as it is.

This is her finding alternative uses for good old Morrison's carrier bags to cover the light fittings while painting the ceiling.

Shabby or what?

Crikey peoples, now I've retired time is running away with me!  It's a while since I posted, yet every day I think of something I want to write and share with you.  Can I find the time?  Can I heck!

I'm making time now because it's Saturday evening and I booted Grumpy Trousers off to the pub.  I must say he didn't take any persuading, but his mates will be there, plus our daughter is working on the bar tonight so it will do him good to get from under my feet for a while.

Now, here's the shabby bit.  I was a PA to some high-faluting directors in blue chip companies in my past life, and as such you'd think I'd be terribly well organised wouldn't you?  Well, wrong.  I'm ditsy, and getting ditsier by the day.  The inside of my head is like a shabby old cupboard, full of crap with nothing of any importance.  Example:  today I suddenly remembered that I have a physio appointment soon for a cortisone injection in my hip (to match the one in my foot).  I didn't put the appointment on the kitchen calendar, nor did I put it on the calendar in my phone.  Or in my diary.  I have a letter for an appointment later in the month, but not one for next week.  I began to get worried and turfed out all my drawers in search of it, and I also disrupted the dumping ground for bits of paper that no-one knows what to do with.  It wasn't anywhere.  In a last ditch attempt, I emptied my purse of all its Morrisons vouchers and saving stamps, together with receipts for coffees we had while in Wales at Easter (see, I told you I was shabby!) and lo and behold, there it was, nestling in a little corner of my purse was an tiny appointment card for Tuesday next week at 8.15am.  Phew, thank goodness for that.

This is happening a bit too much lately.  I am so easily distracted and lose track of what I should be doing.  I have a strong need to retrain my brain to become more efficient, then at least I won't fret about forgetting stuff.   Another example is I double booked myself last week.  I invited two chums round for a glass of wine last Monday evening, then realised I should have been going to an Aquacise class at the local pool.  I hastily cancelled the class in favour of wine and gossip.  I'm such a dopey mare sometimes.  When I get into a proper routine with this retirement malarkey, I think I'll fare a bit better.

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I was out with a couple of chums last night as one of them had a milestone birthday.  We went to a local steak house, drank lots of Rose wine, got giggly, shared some gossip, and generally had a great time. 

Here's a picture of me (in spotty blouse) with one of  my friends from last evening.  We were a bit squiffy when the photo was taken.  Mind you we do look pretty happy too.

That could explain why I feel a bit shabby today!

My domestic day

I get Tuesdays off work which is great.  Normally I like to get out and about with my camera and do a bit of gentle walking.  My foot is really quite comfortable in my hiking boots because there's plenty of support.

Today however, has been proper dismal with husband's mood to match.  I've switched off from him muttering and grumbling to himself as he frustratedly bangs the keyboard of our desk PC housed in one of the bedrooms.  I suspect there's a spreadsheet involved, so that is definitely my cue to bugger off out.

I went for a self indulgent facial with the intention of calling at Morrison's on the way back for cake ingredients.  While the facial was wonderful and I was all relaxed and away with the fairies, my hair having being tied up in a headband, was sticking up uncontrollably at bizarre angles. I hunted frantically in my bag for a hairbrush but it was at home in my work bag.  I ran my fingers through it hoping to restore some law and order but I still looked like a scarecrow.  Hoping not to bump into anyone I knew in the supermarket I hastily shopped for my cake stuff and went home.  Husband in slightly better mood when I arrived, so clearly the spreadsheet behaved itself.

Anyway, here's the recipe.  It's been done and now out of the oven, smelling absolutely gorgeous! I have The National Trust to thank for this.

Lyveden Courgette, Lime and Ginger Cake

• Serves:8
• Preparation time:30 minutes
• Cooking time:50 minutes

Try this recipe yourself

Ingredients

• 12oz Self Raising Flour
• 2 Tsp ginger
• 9oz Caster Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 6 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
• Zest of 1 ½ limes (finely grated)
• Juice of 1 lime
• 9oz Courgettes (coarsely grated)
• 2 Tsp baking powder

Topping
• 14oz Icing Sugar (sifted)
• 3 Tbsp Lime juice
• Rind of ½ lime (finely grated)

Method

To make a 9” cake (serves 12 to 14)

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4, 180C. Grease a 9” cake tin. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. Line the base with greaseproof paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and ginger into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar with a wooden spoon. Put the eggs, oil, lime zest and juice into a separate bowl and pour over the flour mixture. Stir until well blended. Add to this the grated courgettes, taking care not to over mix. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level the surface.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a warm skewer inserted comes out of the cake clean. Transfer the tin to a wire rack to cool slightly. Turn out the cake onto the wire rack and leave to cool completely.

For the topping, combine the icing sugar with the lime juice and zest. Spread over the top of the cake allowing it to drizzle down the sides.