@AndSmelly
As someone who usually refuses to think about getting festive until mid-December, you might be getting the impression I'm rather excited this year. I'm not. I'm actually finding life more than usually difficult. Baby boy3 is on my mind a lot and it's not easy for me to understand why. So, to try to focus… Continue reading A Christmas Poem
Small boy was very pleased to receive My Living World Worm World for his sixth birthday, back at the end of June 2021. He's always loved being in the garden and getting dirty, forever turning over plant pots to see what's lurking beneath. He was sticking his hands in the soil before he was one… Continue reading Review: Worm World
For the last couple of years I've used a beautiful fabric advent calendar that my mum made to plan out a set of activities for the boys. Of course they never all go quite as planned, but we have a great time not eating chocolate. Previously I was more organised and bought them each a… Continue reading Advent Calendar Activities
Ahem, there are some empty gin bottles in the house. Well, that's not quite true. There are lots of half-full and some almost-full gin bottles in the house, much of it homemade. But there are also quite a few empty bottles, mostly from my Craft Gin Club subscription that delivers a treat package every three… Continue reading Christmas Prep: Light bottles
So a couple of months ago an exciting but scary opportunity presented itself to me at work. I'd been trundling along with the same general activities for quite a while, there are challenges and long term projects running all the time and I thought I was pretty contented. Background Earlier this year I got picked… Continue reading Exciting and scary: more progress
So I've written a few posts about how I've been preparing for Christmas and of course all the gin, jam and chutney heads in that direction too. However, I've also been enjoying reading about lots of other people's preparations. I've asked to share some here, hope you enjoy. Vegan Clementine Curd by The Grumpy Olive… Continue reading Christmas Prep: other people’s ideas
We recently spent half term in an AirBnB in Edinburgh - our first family trip there and our first time using AirBnB (which was excellent, by the way). Here are our top ten favourite things to do or places to eat with primary school children in (and around) Edinburgh. Note: Edinburgh Castle and the Royal… Continue reading Top 10+ tips for Edinburgh
As well as all the other culinary efforts producing stuff in jars this year (gin and jam, and mincemeat), I've also been in the chutney production business. This isn't unusual. In 2019 it was courgette chutney after a glut. I've done normal chutneys before as well in previous (pre-blogging years). I hadn't really planned on… Continue reading Making stuff 20: Chutneys
OK, confession time.... I do not like Halloween and I really don't like dressing up. We didn’t do Halloween when I was little, it seems to be an adopted, imported event from elsewhere. It's not a holiday or a celebration. It's just an opportunity to fill kids with sweets ("candy"! Eugh!), pour more money down… Continue reading Halloween (boo humbug)
I do a monthly round up for everything we've read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he's not getting a section - books only! Large boy The Creakers by Tom Fletcher Large boy is being concise again. He says it was good, same as any old Tom Fletcher. He… Continue reading October 2021 Reading
Smelly Socks and Garden Peas 
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