Slow Cooking Recipes - Netmums

I'd received an Amazon gift voucher from my work colleagues and thought I'd check out the site after receiving an email from Amazon regarding their deals on electricals.

Wow!! I've managed to buy a 6 portion "Entertaining and Cafe" George Foreman which also looks like a sandwich press for just £32.00 from Amazon!! That's a fantastic price considering it would cost us between £60 and £70 to replace the "seen better days" model we currently have. The non-stick has now rubbed off - can't complain as the GF has been used regularly and with a family of 5 ........ To overcome the failure of the 'non-stick' coating, I've been using those sheets you can buy - you know, same material that makes those "pop in the toaster" style sandwich bags. Anyways, I'll be glad when that arrives - no more scrubbing of the old one. I now need to do some research in how to get rid of it - it certainly does not belong in the wheely bin!! That's what I've gone and used my voucher on - yeah I know what a boring thing to buy but I am trying to be practical and at that price I couldn't afford not to buy the GF LOL!!

Another purchase I made was of a larger, 6.5 litre slow cooker - again from Amazon for a bargain price of £22.99!! I've discovered a UK site which is for mums - this site has an array of information etc including recipes for a slow cooker or "crock pot" as it is also known as. You can find the Netmums site here.

**NB - Images courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Sledging in a fashion!

We decided to take advantage of the weather conditions and take the kids sledging [or is it sledding?]. Only we didn't have proper sledges but used old trays instead - I remember the days of whirling down hills on old metal baking sheets or trays!! My nephew came with us and the 3 kids seemed to have a fab time whirling down the slope in the 'Pans.

2010 Calendars for the teachers!

I had bought 2 x "Oxfam Unwrapped" gifts for my youngest daughter's 2 jobshare teachers. In the run up to Christmas, I hadn't had enough time nor the mojo to make anything "crafty" like I normally do for the teachers at Christmas time. I think the unwrapped gift ideas are original, totally different from traditional as far as gifts go. I do hope they are received well by Tracy Marr and Tina Mistlebrook :o) One of the gifts is a supply of clean water for 10 people and the other was school supplies such as pencils, jotters etc. If you are looking for something similar, here is the link to Oxfam unwrapped.

Both handcrafted calendar stands were created with chipboard covered with pps from 2x different DCWV pads. If you want/need instructions, please email me on HForlow@aol.com with "Calendar Template" in the subject box. I have placed photo corners on the stands to allow same sized calendars to be displayed in future years.

A close-up:

"Charms" created with chipboard, Bazill CS and die cut with Sizzix; blue photo corners created with Bazill CS/chipboard/Sizzix die cut; ribbons with buttons stitched and attached to the BIA O Wires; other ribbon tied to O wires also.

Ribbons secured by tying or stitching; buttons stitched to ribbon with DMC skeins; "Smile" bread tag from embellishment stash [sorry, I don't seem to recall where I got it from]

A close-up of charms and tag:

I placed the calendar stands in large cellophane card wraps [hobbycraft supplies] and sealed. The paper bows I created myself with patterned paper - apparently they look better with double-sided PP but I wanted to use the left-over supplies to match the calendar display stands. I want to re-think the sizes as I felt the paper bows were over-sized for these projects. Again, if you want/need instructions on how to make the paper bows, email me on: HForlow@aol.com

A close-up of the paper bows:

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year and best wishes of health and happiness for all in the year 2010

My first "official" post relating to 2010!! [Yes, I know I've recently posted - I failed to keep up with my blog over the festive period for one reason or another LOL!!]

Jammin' on Christmas Day

Belated Christmas cheer to all my readers - many thanks and lots of appreciation for stopping by to read and keep up with my blog! I hope the festive period has been kind to you and you have enjoyed sharing with friends and/or family!! Thoughts went to families and friends who are no longer here.......

Just as Christmas was fast approaching, it was equally fast departing LOL ........

Photos above taken of my youngest 2 kids jammin' away on the XBox World Tour Band thingummy game....... I had a go at the singing - but it certainly wasn't quite as easy as it looks - gimme the PS2 Singstar any day LOL!!

The kids didn't get as much this year - partly due to gaining a lot over the previous years and partly due to the fact that my kids' birthdays sit around lateish November, late January and mid-February time and partly due to lack of funds this year - money isn't everything but special people and family means EVERYTHING.

Oh but we must not forget this having being a 'proper' white Christmas in a very long time indeed - really special - I am just wishing I had managed to capture an image on Christmas day just like I had planned - inevitably, I didn't manage to get round to it with getting dinner etc organised.