What I did today.

My designated drawer in the wall unit fell apart the other day, so decided today to sort it out and get rid of a load of stuff as hubby was fixing it. I got rid of lots of rubbish, yet the drawer is STILL full to the brim!

Cleaning and tidying (mountain of bits and bobs on dining room table ready for sorting.... just like you Crimson... always left with heaps!)
Do wish I hadn't listened to Jezzer Vine donging on about tunnels, a couple of days ago, proposed trip to Brussels doesn't look quite so appealing now. Ho hum!

Just back from Cubs. We made apple crumble. Mega handwashing to begin with.Four chopping apples, weigher-outers of ingredients, relays of butter rubber-inners. More handwashing. Clearing up and floor sweeping. Then some games while it cooked.

It was delicious . Everyone had some.

Did anyone else just see Danny Alexander on Channel 4 News sitting next to Rachel Reeves and refusing to debate with her? Why go on the programme to talk about the Autumn Statement if he wasn't prepared to discuss it? Very bizarre.

Lovely day! I cannot tell you how much we are loving having some of our family nearby for the first time ever; today DG1 (in Y12 and therefore with a little flei- time) wandered down to us and we put up my Christmas tree together. (GDs 2&3 will be here at the weekend, so we wanted to have it ready) I have done it myself for years, admittedly with Theseus standing by to help with the electrics etc, but little interest in design, but with DG it was such fun, and in our new house even more so.

Synchronicity. Just been having similar thoughts about mice on another thread.
If they can make a coat out of moleskins Bags. And what about larks tongues?
I had a really lovely walk today. My old friend has a week off between jobs (some leave owing) and we met at Ashridge in the snow. Walked for an hour and a half, saw lots of deer and a raven. And no people.
Light lunch and cake in their excellent NT cafe (but seating only outdoors so 2 mugs of tea needed).

Not much meat on a mouse. I wouldn't bother making a stew with them. You'd be picking out bones the whole time.

Bet someone has made a hat with mouse skins though. Betcha! Human ingenuity

And the honey, Greatnan..you forgot the honey....

Not sure I like the juxtaposition of mice in traps and stews!

Anno my first piece was still.......

Cleaning and tidying the living room so I can get the Christmas tree in it. However, all the junk and clutter is now in the hall, kitchen etc. The detritus of my home never goes away it just moves around .

Ella, please don't corrupt me. I have been known to eat cheesecake straight from the freezer - and I mean frozen, though that was a long time ago when I was a Weightwatchers Leader...

Well, Anno all I can say is that mine was in the freezer too! Then all of a sudden it was defrosted and ready to eat! {naughty nanna emoticon}

Got myself to the health club and had a refreshing, though rather slow, swim. Sadly the jacuzzi was out of order. Then a quick trot round Lidl. And yes, I did buy a Sicilian lemon cheesecake, Ella. It is now safely in the freezer along with their own brand vanilla ice cream which is the perfect accompaniment to my ginger cake. That sorts out the puddings for when sister and BiL come for New Year! That's my forward planning so far. A well stocked freezer is the answer, so will have to do a lot of cooking in the next two weeks.

Today DH and I went to his cousin's wife's funeral. She'd had an inoperable brain tumour and was ill for only 8 weeks. However DH and I walked to the crematorium and back in glorious frosty sunshine, the crematorium was full to bursting with friends and when the minister spoke of J's life The sun's beams could be seen slanting down into the gardens through the large windows. Just how it should be.

It must affect the taste of the honey, surely [although fudge flavour sounds pretty good]. I'd've thought all the rape that's grown everywhere would be ideal for bees, but it has quite a short flowering time I guess. I really wanted to ask him more but couldn't very well follow him into the pub .

crimson I saw a programme a while back, about a bee-keeper giving his bees blocks of fudge to help them out whilst nectar was scarce. The size of the blocks was enormous - a full tray in each bee-hive.

Small pieces of chocolate stuck in the peasnut butter works well. My traps are so violent if I put just chocolate in them it shoots across the room when the trap goes off. However, I'm realising more and more that the 'accident' the other night was my fault for not putting the food dead centre in the little container for it. I always think food like lasagne tastes better the following day although, obviously it's kept in a fridge because of the dairy content.

Recipe books usually say something like 'giving it time to allow the flavours to develop' I think I like the 'bacteria breaking stuff down' explanation better

Good morning, Bags

If you google hummingbird feeders, you'll see one. I use small chunks of Mars Bar in mouse traps sometimes, though peanut butter is good too. Stew tastes better after it has been sitting around for a bit because bacteria have had time to get going breaking down stuff and releasing the flavour. Don't let that put you off.

Getting good at emptying the traps as long as the mice are ex mice and not just trapped mice. Dog seems a lot happier now that she has cost me more money; I've never had a dog that's had to visit the vet as often as this one. Find it strange that vets are so keen on glucosamine whereas my doctors say it's a complete waste of time. Had an interesting dog walk without the dog tonight. Met a chap on his way to the pub and somehow got chatting about beekeeping [as you do when you have a conversation with a complete stranger]. I mentioned that I hadn't seen many bees or wasps or butterflies this year and he said food had been scarce for them so he had to feed them. 'How d'you feed bees' says I. Well you feed them on sugar and water [must be the right consistency]. 'Don't they drown in it' I asked. 'No, special feeders' he said. Which made me think of those plastic bottles you have for guinea pigs with water in. But they're not like that and, annoyingly he either didn't tell me or he did and I forgot because I can't recall what the feeders are like [although I did say something about humming birds]. Anyway, I fell asleep during my favourite programme, Waldemar Januszczak's 'The Dark Ages; An Age of Light' so I've got to set the alarm so I can watch it at 2. I think I got as far as Attilla the Hun and woke up at the Visigoths. Thankfully it's my day off tomorrow. It would be better walking the dog without the dog if said dog greeted me with a 'hope you had a good walk, crimson; I've made you a cup of tea' when I get back. One can but hope....

Crimson - I've heard from another couple of "doggie friends" that there seems to be a form of dog flu going round. One of them had given her dog half a 75mg dispersible aspirin in the morning and in the evening for a couple of days and said that it seemed to make her dog much more comfortable. Just remember that it must be aspirin NOT paracetamol which dogs can't tolerate.

And on the subject of mouse traps - emptying the tripped ones really does get easier. We have them in the boiler house, they come in as soon as the weather gets cold or damp. I wouldn't mind but they do insist on eating the insulation around the pipes so I have traps (4 of them) always set and generally there is at least one dead mouse every morning. Peanut butter seems to be the most effective bait so far

After a horrid morning at work [had been dreading today for ages] was supposed to have an annual meet up with some friends for lunch but, not being happy with the dog last night I was even more concerned when I got home, so instread of a meal it was a trip to the vets [can't find anything wrong so is on anti inflamatories and glucosamine for a week]. Was really looking forward to seeing everyone as well. In the grand scheme of things it's nothing, but I feel very sorry for myself tonight. Especially as I'd decided I would walk the dog roung the village each evening now that my knees seemed a lot better.As I said to the vet 'looks like both me and the dog are bu*****d [he didn't disagree]. Perhaps will go for a walk with the lead tonight; wasn't there a character in a Rupert book that did that, or was it just one story? Rupert books were well weird; I do think the writer was on something like waccy tobacco.

Shovelling, shovelling, shovelling - and more shovellling.

A blizzard and tons of heavy wet snow !!! Not sure how i'm going to leave for my 8am meeting down in the valley ???