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I spent a lovely couple of hours in the garden today.  I potted out my "donations", tidied up the dead daffodils, picked up all the bird seed, got rid of all the grass from the bird seed and hosed down the decking and the grass.  It looked so much better once I'd finished.

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Another 3 mile walk at lunchtime today.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  We decided to have a look around the houses today as Carol is wanting to move back to the area.  Just look at that sky.

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Poor old Moss was back at the vet tonight.  He really isn't very well.  He's still on the tablets and has to go back next week.  :0(

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A donation of some plants for the new beds in the garden.  Donations are always welcome!!

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Pooped after Meta Fit!!  It was good though.  Think I may have used muscles I didn't even know I had!!

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More of the same next week :0)

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There seems to be a few of these in the garden at the moment.  Unfortunately there seems to be a lot more of the "unhoused" slimy variety too!!

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Making Ginger Melting Moments from the Weight Watcher book.  Oh so yummy!!

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Time to empty the change bottle.  I was surprised to find I have nearly £80.00 in there!!

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Some things you never forget.......this is about the only thing I remember from Home Science at school.  BLue to the Left - BRown to the Right and everything else up the middle!!  The plug is upside down before anyone tells me I have it the wrong way round.  :0)

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The last ever orthodontist appointment was today and look at those pearly whites!!  He'll kill me for this photo but it's the only one I have so it gets blogged!!

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Earlier this year I bought a huge selection of bulbs for the new raised beds John had built.  I chose things at random and ended up with what I thought were a lot of daffodils.  Imagine my surprise when these Alliums started to bloom.  Aren't they gorgeous.  I've never had them in my garden before but I'm glad they're here.

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In January this year John had been with his company for 5 years and in recognition of that fact they gave him a gift voucher worth approx £250.  He didn't know what to buy for himself so bought me some new cutlery. It arrived today.  And very nice it is too :0)

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Tonight was the first meeting of the local Community Action Group to Save Our School (Milne's High School).  It's only a proposal to close the school at the moment but we want the local community fighting together to try and get the Council to change it's mind.  They want to close the local school and bus the kids 9 miles each way to either a new High School, that isn't even built yet or two that are already full.  If the Council had looked after it's finances better in the past we wouldn't have to be cutting things like education from the budget now!!

THINK AGAIN MORAY COUNCIL - DON'T CLOSE OUR SCHOOL

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Today I spent most of the day at the Gordon Castle Highland Games.  There were stalls and music, tug of war and highland dancing, tossing the caber and clay pigeon shooting.  And there was a lovely picnic with friends.

It was a really good day.

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Today was a day for paperwork.  I seem to have so many forms to fill in at the moment.  Easier to do them all in one go.

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Our 3 mile walk today took us mainly uphill.  The good thing about that is....it's all downhill on the way back. :0)

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The mundane jobs still need to be done whether you want to do them or not and it
always seems to fall to me to put the bins out!!

Recycling day today so that means 3 bins and a container for glass.

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An after work snack.  I have to have something to eat when I get in from work as it's a long time from lunch to supper time.  My favourite is a toasted crumpet with Marmite and a milky coffee.

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Marmite....Love it or hate it?

L♥ve it  ♥♥♥

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I managed to colour in my first petal on my Weight Watcher Summer Challenge sunflower today.  The idea is you colour one in each time you lose 1 Lb.  I'd best get a shift on otherwise I'll never have done all 14 by the summer.

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In an attempt to lose a few more lbs each week Carol and I did another power walk at lunchtime today. This time past the old flour mill and along the river.

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I don't have many "Paper" books any more.  Not since turning to the dark side and downloading them onto my i-pad.  I do still have a few that need to be read but not many.  The one on the top was leant to me my my friend at work and as you can see I've had it for 6 months already!!

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Back to normality today after all the excitement of last night!!  :0)  My friend's daughter K did my nails again for me this afternoon.  Shame about the poorly finger.  I managed to cut it on the blade of the food processor yesterday afternoon.  It proper hurt too!!

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EUROVISION!!!  Any excuse for a get together.  Not that we need one so I had the girls round for a few drinkies and some nibbles.

The entry that won was "unusual" to say the least.  An absolute gimmick. A dude in a dress with long hair and a beard!!  The bearded lady!!  What were Austria thinking?  His/her song wasn't that brilliant and if he/she hadn't had a beard probably wouldn't have won.
The whole thing is a fix and is the same every year.  That's probably why I don't normally watch it, but like I said it seemed like a good excuse for a get together.

This is us doing our hand waving when we found out who'd won.  There was a lot of over-reacting going on so we thought we'd join in!!

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Today walk took us out towards the park, past the cathedral, on the other side of the bridge from the flood works and past the Biblical gardens.  I sometimes come and sit here and have my lunch when the sun is shining as it's normally so very quiet.  Unfortunately due to the flood works it not so quiet at the moment.

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It's hard to tell from these photos but the sun was in and out like a fiddlers elbow.

 We managed to get round the 3.5 miles whilst the the sun stayed out.

More walking planned for next week.

Cheese and Pickle Muffins

This recipe started out as a Weight Watcher recipe for cheese and bacon muffins but I didn't have any back bacon so left it out and put Branston sandwich pickle in instead!!  I also used a silicone muffin tray as I didn't have any muffin cases left.

Cheese and Pickle Muffins


150g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

50g low fat margarine (melted)

1 egg (beaten)

125 mls skimmed milk

50g low fat cheddar cheese

2 tblsp Branston sandwich pickle (the small chunks)

black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/Gas Mark 4 and line a 6 hole muffin tin with paper cases.  

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add a little black pepper.  Combine the melted margarine, egg and milk then stir into the dry ingredients with a fork along with the cheese and the pickle.  Be careful not to over mix.  Keep some cheese to one side if you want to sprinkle some on the top of each muffin before baking.

Share the mixture between the muffin cases.  Sprinkle some of the left over cheese on top of each muffin.  Cook for around 25 minutes or until risen and golden.  Insert a skewer into the middle of each muffin to check if they are cooked.  It should come out clean.

Cool a little before eating.

TIP - These delicious savoury muffins are best eaten on the day you make them but can be frozen for up to 1 month.  Defrost thoroughly before reheating them for 10 minutes in a medium oven

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Another day.  Another gym session.  My legs are killing me!!!

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Carol and I walked 3.5 miles again this lunch time.  This time over the new bridge being built over the River Lossie as part of the new Flood Alleviation Scheme.  It's a shame it block out the view of the Cathedral.

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John bought me some goodies before he went away last week and I'm happy to say they are still there.  I need to see how they fit into my Weight Watchers points before I can scoff the lot :0)

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May Day Holiday

It's a bank holiday this weekend so we got an extra day off work/school.  With John away and the Teenager either sleeping or working I was very much left to my own devices.
I know some people don't like a big list of what others do at the weekend, but I do and here's how I got on:-

I did four loads of washing and got it out on the line.

 I got my mixer out and baked.

 I face timed John who looked worn out after his long flight.

 I sampled one of my cheese and pickle muffins.   Delicious  :0)

 I iced fairy cakes for the Teenager.  Never too old for a fairy cake (cup cakes)

 Mossy got a walk.

 I caught up with my latest journalling project

 I tidied out my wardrobe and put a lot of stuff in the charity bag.

I tackled a bit of crochet.  It's been neglected recently and I wanted to get it finished before starting a new project.

I also walked to the vets and paid Moss's bill from last weekend (£106 + £20 for this weeks tablets),  tidied up the loft space and found a lot of stuff that can go to a car boot sale at the end of the month, made tea, spoke to both my mum and my MiL and treated myself to a glass of wine.
Not a bad three days all in all.
Shame it's back to work tomorrow as I'm sure I could find a few more things to do.

How was you weekend?

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Bank Holiday Monday and true to form it started off raining.  Perfect weather for doing the ironing and emptying the ironing basket.  I feel very smug at the moment as it's the first time it's been completely empty in years.

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Today was the complete opposite of yesterday as it rained all day.  No chance of sitting in that chair today.

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Today was sunny all day so I set forth on tidying up the flower beds in the garden.

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Samuel and I drove John to the airport today.  He's going to be away for quite a while and it seemed really weird having to say goodbye.  It's a long time since he went away for months on end (not since his RAF days) but hopefully it won't be too long before we see each other again.
He's travelling to London today and then an onward flight tomorrow.

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Tonight we went for a meal,  just the three of us together.  We chose the local Italian, Toscanas, as we knew we'd all like something on the menu.  The joy of a fussy eater!!

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