Presenting...

Its the end of week 1 of the school summer holidays and so far its rained, rained, rained.  So, the children spent the biggest part of yesterday  drawing, cutting and sticking a home made film set together, for their production of "Jack and the Bean stalk".  I love the little drawings they did, although I was called into draw the giants head because J had a big tantrum when her "drawings turned funny"! and I filmed it off my laptop webcam.  This "production" was very much inspired by Amy Karol over at angry chicken.

Popcorn ready!?

P.S Sorry about the hiss, thought it would be a bit much to run it through Adobe Premiere.

A summer dress

I had a very relaxing weekend, the first in quite a while. 
I even managed to sew myself a summer dress.

The pattern is from the Built by Wendy Dresses book.  I bought this book when it first came out, and its great. Its very easy to follow, and has the prettiest easiest dresses to make.

A Rhubarb Reprieve

I'm finding today hard. I feel like I've got a mountain of  'stuff' I've got to do, and I don't really know where to start.  I think it might be worth mentioning that I'm also in a bit of a bad mood and definitely don't wont project management technique tips IMd/emailed/commented to me.  I just want to moan a bit, get it off my chest, and move on.  9 times out of 10 working from home is fantastic, I get to take the kids to school, be here when they get back.... but today, I just want to work in a team of people that I can bounce ideas off.  Anyway - in the midst of my home working moodiness I've settled for a Rhubarb reprieve!  That is.... I'm making a Rhubarb cake from my Rhubarb glut.  The original recipe can be found at http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/recipe-cake.html

Recipe and pics to follow:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups raw Rhubarb cut fine
1  cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Bicarb
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour

Method:
Cream sugars and butter, add egg and salt. Mix in the applesauce, Bicarb, vanilla, and flour. Add the rhubarb. Pour in to a baking tin or two and sprinkle with 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Bake at 190 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

OOoops! - That was tasty! and was demolished by the family.

I'm going to wake up tomorrow and everything is going to be ok.... please.

I'm a Mommy again!!!

Not really, but kinda...

One of the reasons, I havent had the time to blog recently is...
WE HAVE A PUPPY - YAY!!!

She:

• is cute
• fluffy
• house trained
• goes through a doggy flap in the door
• comes back when I call her (most of the times)
• sits
• has a penchant for sheep, children and OAPs - but we're working on it!
• is a bit smelly
• likes to lick my husbands feet
• and eats sheep poo!!!

She's a 17 week old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier called Tera as in Tera Byte, although we often call her Terabool, Terabithia, TeraNova, TeraPerma and Terence Trent D'Arby... amongst other things.

Book Club Anyone?

One of my new years resolutions for the last 2 years has been to set up a book club, I hope you will join me in this.  Ive made the first book choice, its only a little book, just to warm us up.... but the group can draw straws for the next book choice.  I hope you can make it :-) Please RSVP using the comment form at the bottom of the post.

Book choice

You could purchase this book from amazon here or maybe you could give Barnados book shop a call in town, they may have it (Carla 01686 622083) .  I will check next time Im in work and try and put some by if you're interested.... please let me know.

Logistics:

Host: Rachel Probert
Date: Saturday 3rd April 2010
Time: 19:00
Location: My house

Ideas for discussion questions of fiction

The following general questions can be applied to any novel, and they provide a good starting point for creating discussion – they're just ideas that I picked up from some guidelines I found on the web. Feel free to add to them.

• What was unique about the setting of the book and how did it enhance or detract from the story?
• What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel? What to you think he or she is trying to get across to the reader?
• Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?
• How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?
• In what ways to the events in the book reveal evidence of the authors' world view?
• Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you fell that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

Discussion questions for non-fiction

• What did you find surprising about the facts introduced in this book?
• How has reading this book changed your opinion of a certain person or topic?
• Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he or she achieve this?
• If the author is writing on a debatable issue, does he or she give proper consideration to all sides of the debate? Does he or she seem to have a bias?
• How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

This is the first time Ive ever done anything like this, so please, I'm hoping (relying) on ideas and feedback.

Competition - Star Trek T-Shirt Give away!!!

Cafe Press accidentally sent me the wrong sized T-Shirts and have very kindly told me that I can keep them plus the new ones that they're sending out! Wha Hey!

So I've found myself with a couple of spare Star Trek T-Shirts. I have no need for them now, so I'm going to give them away..... up for grabs first is the 'Live Long Salute' T-Shirt, size Large as pictured below.

All you have to do is answer the following question and I'll randomly select the winner from the correct answers. Please post your answers in the comment box below.

Question: What did I do to my best friends skirt?

Forgot to say - The answer's in one of my blog entries.

Rachel's Log Star Date 63525.7

The T-shirts that I ordered from Cafe-Press have arrived. They are fantastic quality and look great (atleast I think so anyway). I ordered 3 T-Shirts as follows:

 

 Yes they're geeky, but I love them.