Highlandhearts

It was a harsh frost last night and I struggled to get out of my cosy bed into the cold although I've got my fleecy pj's on. No work for me today but OH was up early getting his tools loaded up and cleaning out and preparing the stove for me to light later on ( must be love!) before getting ready to go off to work himself. Hurray! a pyjama day at home to myself!   I decided to potter in the kitchen, breakfast tv on whilst i make a sausage casserole for dinner.  I grilled the sausages and then cut them in half as 12 bits of meat looked better than 6.  I chopped onion, carrots, new potatoes and added frozen peppers and peas.  I threw in a tin of butter beans and then added a sachet of Tesco's casserole mix 30p and cooked it in the oven for an hour.  As I didn't know what time OH would be home I thought I could warm it up in the microwave whilst cooking a bit of rice to go with it. (This made three good sized portions so I took a pic of the leftovers as forgot the ...

These boots are 25 years old and are worn frequently.  I brought them originally to wear on building sites where I worked for 15 years and since then they are worn on any bad weather day throughout the year.  I have certainly had my money's worth from them. This morning they were my walking boots.  I've also got my pink bed socks on!  I'm not a great walker, my knees hurt     but since losing 3 stone I feel able to give it a go. My OH planned a walk for us up a hill but with a promise that there was a seat at the top where we could have coffee and a rest for me! This was at the start and you could see the loch through the trees. OH carried the supplies.  He's an experienced walker and goes prepared for all eventualities, wonder if he's got a stretcher in there for me! The weather was a bit damp and dark but we walked higher and past this old ruin of a barn There was sunshine higher up and I really wanted to reach it Not far to the light now Made it to ...

the snow arrived overnight just as the forecast had predicted. it was -3 degrees when I took these pics but it felt bitter and my hands were freezing so I had to go indoors.  Five minutes later we had a complete whiteout. My son and OH accompanied me walking down the hill to work but only so they could throw snowballs at me! Terri X

I made a mince pie for my OH this morning, this is the before cooking pic.  I sprinkled a little brown sugar on top before putting it in the oven and this is the after pic My sis in law popped in for tea just as it was cooling so they both had a piece.  I prepared a chicken and vegetable curry and put it into my new slow cooker for dinner.  I had previously given a large slow cooker to a friend as it was just too big for us and she agreed to get me a smaller 3 litre one and this one was on sale from Tesco for £12.00.  Bargain!  I am so pleased with it and I plan to use it a lot over the winter.  This curry is enough for 2 dinners each so it is plenty big enough for us. I also defrosted two potions of leftover soups and put them together for lunch as one was tomato and lentil, the other was a veg soup This was all before 9am! After getting dressed I ventured out in the wind to pop down to the village.  The temperature was pretty mild at 12 degrees outsi...

I woke with a start at 5am this morning because my OH mumbled my name in his sleep.  I don't know what he was dreaming about but you know what it's like when you're woken, my brain started whirring and you start thinking about all sorts of things and you have no chance of getting back to sleep. I was thinking about what I intended to cook today and I know I took two chicken breasts out of the freezer to defrost overnight.  I put them covered in a dish and put them under the grill so the cats couldn't get to them but at the time although it was 9.30pm I  remember feeling a bit peckish so I made myself a ham sandwich.  Did I put the ham away? This may sound pretty unimportant but yesterday I treated us to a pound of really nice ham from the village.  At £4.89 a pack its not cheap but I intended to make a few meals out of it and OH was looking forward to having some.  I really couldn't remember putting it away but I didn't want to get out of bed at that time t...

I ran out into the garden on Saturday morning to get this pic before the rainbow disappeared. They never cease to amaze me and we get lots up here living in the hills and sometimes double rainbows.  We went out yesterday to pick up my Christmas present!  I never expected to get one but my OH told me he had been putting some money aside specially and I had to spend it on something for myself so after a lot of thought I treated myself to this I love the cover and inside its a ..... Yep I got a Hudl and I am really enjoying playing with it - think I am getting into technology now!  I am looking forward to downloading some books onto it and using it when I travel and of course reading everyone's blogs! We also used our tesco vouchers and as you can double the value at the moment we got £38 off the price altogether so it was a bargain too! Yippee! I also got another present in the week, I must have been really good or something! I had seen this cushion in a magazine and l...

Well winter is coming and we have had a couple of harsh frosts since the weekend with snow lying on the mountains. The daytime though has been lovely and sunny.  I much prefer the cold and sunshine, wrapping up in layers of clothing to the dreek rainy damp days that seem to get in my bones.  The stove has been on everyday by the afternoon and yesterday my OH made a grand job of chopping all the extra logs to size that we had piled outside under tarpaulin and we cleared out a few barrels from the garden that had held my potatoes and used them to store the logs inside the cottage. This will keep them dry and be easier for us to get to when the snow comes.  We also have a full woodshed outside as my OH worked hard this year collecting fallen wood as we could not afford to buy a load.    Unfortunately OH has only had a couple of hours work so far this week, this happens at this time of year but he earn't enough to pay the t.v. licence for a couple of months ...

I posted at the beginning of October showing the material squares I had brought with a little project in mind. This stool use to have an old wicker seat which had sagged so my OH cut some board and some foam to size. The material was a bit thin so I used a bit of old blanket to line it and a few coats of paint later here it is! I love the shape of the feet and its very comfy to sit on now too. After moving the dresser base into the newly decorated lounge, I had a space in the kitchen and needed some storage.  I had a drawer unit that we had originally moved out of the lobby when we had the BT man coming and put it upstairs.  It was dark mahogany so wouldn't go in the kitchen so it had to be transformed and now looks like this Luckily we still had some leftover paint so  didn't cost us anything to do up. The bottom drawer is big enough to hold my food processor and I have been able to put our glasses in another couple.  I paid a little visit to our local charity ...