Menu Planner

4^th – 10^th May

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
S U N		These Will Vary Between Soups, Salads, Fruit/Nuts Or Sandwiches/ Crackers	Ham Egg & Chips
M O N			Andrew Cooking “Page” Dinner
T U E S			Page’s Birthday Meal
W E D			Fish Pie W/Vegetables
T H U R			Vegetarian Bake With Rice
F R I			Chicken Fajitas
S A T			Going to friends For Dinner

Oh my time is flying now - in eight weeks time I will be Mrs Andrew Hartley - woo hoo . I just do not know where the last couple of months have gone but it is not very long now.

We are getting there slowly with wedding plans and everything is coming together but I still have a lot to do which is ok but it would be so great if everything can be organised by the end of this month.

I will post a picture of the wedding invitation that we made and talking of pictures, I have some others to share too.

At the weekend, we are going shopping to purchase Andrews suit and if we have time I need to purchase his wedding ring too.  Also next week I am going shopping with a friend to buy the accessories needed to go with my wedding dress and then that will be me almost done.

The main thing I need to concentrate on now is putting together the "Order of Service" and I have a lot of work to do here but this will be fun so I have about three weeks to put this together before sending a preview to the Pastor so that he can go through it and make sure that there is nothing that has been missed.  I am sure that changes will need to be made a couple of times before this is actually ready to be printed.

We have a set of Unity Candles which are lovely and we will be lighting the candle as part of our service.  Unity candles are not as popular over here but thankfully my local Christian Bookstore was able to find a supplier.  These took less than a week to come through.

So basically everything is coming together quite nicely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a different note, health wise I am still not brilliant but I have an appointment to see the Gynaecologist next week so hopefully he will have a better idea of what is going on.  I do hope so as I can't continue on with the problems I have been having and this has (a) been getting me down and (b) caused a lot of friction between Andrew and myself due to "hormonal issues". I am also fed up of feeling so exhausted most of the time but hey ho.

Well I need to get back to sleep as it is 4.15am - on this note, have a blessed night

I am having great difficulty looking for worship/contemporary Christian songs for our wedding. I am not getting very far on the internet either. 

If anyone has any suggestions please please help - as I am completely stuck

Thank you so much

Welcome to the 44^th edition of the Homestead Carnival, wow doesn’t time fly and I don’t know about you but I just love the Homestead Carnival as I am sure you all do too.

This edition is not going to be in any particular order for a change but you will have tons of fun anyways I can assure you of that.

We have some great recipes just to kick start this week’s carnival. What better way to start your day off than with delicious wholesome Oatmeal Pancakes.  These you can find over at The Funny Farm

If you are after a healthy pancake recipe – then this one by Flossie is a must to try.  So Oatmeal pancakes here we come over at The Funny Farm for this delicious and wholesome recipe.

Then hopping over to Meredith at Humble Beginnings, there is a delicious recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup – this is one of two canning recipes on this weeks Homestead Carnival .

Our second recipe is for a delicious canning recipe for Tomatoes. As Grandma Rosie sums it up in her own words “Summer wont last forever but the taste of summer can carry us through another winter” So come on over as we are shown what to do with the glutton of tomatoes we get this spring.

Next, how about Dying wool with Kool Aid with your children – doesn’t that just sound like great fun.  This method seems so very easy to do so why not join me in giving this a try and just think of the different colours you can use – what fun! Join me over at Dora’s to see how this can be achieved.

Have you ever wondered how to conserve electricity without resorting to air conditioners? Ceiling fans are just what you would probably be looking for. Join Andrew over at Home Decorating Reviews, where he shows us just the place to get ceiling fans that are stylish and will help keep you cool without having to resort to other means.

Wild garlic only comes out for a short season and this is an article about this wonderful plant that can be so versatile in so many dishes.  To find out more, hop on over to Valeree’s blog. Article on wild garlic from Cincinnati Locovore – check who

Balsamic Vinegar is a fantastic condiment and can be used for so many dishes. So check out Surfer Sam’s blog. Balsamic vinegar is vinegar made from grapes and aged in wooden casks.  It is not wine vinegar, because the grapes are never permitted to ferment into winde.  Far superior to other vinegars, the flavour of balsamic is rich and slightly sweet. It is culinary delight when used in sauces, marinades and vinaigrette salad dressing.  Italians have enjoyed “balsamico” for more than 900 years, but only recently did it become popular in the United States.

 Have you ever wondered how to dry roses properly, How To Me shows you how to dry these beautiful flowers. When dried there are numerous ways you can display your dried roses and other flowers too.  Dried flowers are great for home décor and can grace any room in your home – so the next time you are given roses, why not give it a go and you will see just how easy this is to do!

Bees are great for making honey and wouldn’t it be great to have pure honey from your garden, but obviously you can’t do this without keeping bees.  Brenda  over at the  cfarm has a great link to an article if you are thinking about adding bees to your garden. So for tips on beekeeping

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to wash our hair without the use of store bought shampoos – well you can as Belle takes us into Day 5 with no shampoo. You can also catch up with Belle’s diary from the beginning for using an alternative to store bought shampoo

Jennifer shows us tips on the best plants for kids to grown plus a fun themed garden. Gardening with children is fun – so come on over and have a look at Jennifer’s ideas.

Have you ever wondered or heard of Coconut oil, well here you can find out more about this oil and included is a delicious recipe for Coconut Bark using this coconut oil. Jessica has a wonderful post all about this.

I don’t know about you, but I love paella. Here is a recipe that Nichole has made for a vegetarian version of this delicious main meal – so why not give it a try – it looks so yummy!

Abi over at Teaching4him shows us how to make a teacup bird feeder – and this looks so pretty too.

Next weeks carnival will be hosted by Diary Of 1

Menu Planner

7^th – 13^th April

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
M O N	Muesli	I don’t often eat lunch	Baked Thai Red Chicken Curry with rice
T U E	Muesli	“	Baked Potatoes with cheese
W E D	Yoghurt with Jam	“	Gillard of Lamb Breast, roast potatoes Green Beans
T H U	Fresh Fruit Juice	“	Tuna Fish Cakes on a bed of cous cous Peas & Sweetcorn
F R I	Muesli	“	Smorgasbord
S A T	?	“	Pita bread with falafels Salad
S U N	?	“	Kedgeree

Yesterday Andrew & I met up with a girlfriend of mine whom I have not seen for over 20 years now.  I first met Sheila when I was 16 at the train station of the town where I used to live.  Sheila resided in St Lucia at the time and we met up periocially during the next few years and then we kept in touch via email and telephone. 

Sheila now resides in America and has been there for several years - she has been of tremendous support to me over the years and is a great friend whom I love to bits.  Sheila arrived in the U.K. on Friday and her husband is arriving I believe on Tuesday. 

Andrew and I drove up to St Albans (a lovely old historic town but sadly I did not have time to take any photos).  We spent the afternoon with both Sheila and her friend Marie - here are some photos. 

Sheila & her friend Marie

Sheila & Page

Sheila, Andrew & Page

Andrew & Page

We had such a wonderful afternoon where we went to a local Waffle House for lunch before going back to Marie's for tea & toast before heading back to Hampshire.  We are hoping to see Sheila again this week especially as I haven't met her husband yet ,so it would be wonderful if we could catch up again before they head back to America.

Have a blessed SONday

Well things have been a little crazy these past few weeks to the point whereby I have not been up to doing anything very much at all.  There is so much going on right now that I have found things a little difficult to cope with.  I have felt so tired, drained and my moods have been extremely low - I have also discovered that I am aenemic and hence now on iron tablets twice a day.  I have had to attend a scan at the hospital and have now been referred to a gynaecologist to find out what is going on with me physically and so on.

Things as you can see have been a struggle and as I am not up and running with my internet provider, I have found it a little difficult to get online at times but I hope this will be rectified within the next couple of weeks.

Our wedding plans have not progressed brilliantly either and I have

yet to do the invitations.  We have a lot of work to do over the next ten days or so and so I do need to pull my finger out here.

I also need to change my diet in some ways and start to eat a more balanced diet so I have worked out a menu plan for this month and from now on if I can do the following then I will be getting somewhere. I have worked out that menus during the week will be fish twice a week, meat/poultry twice a week, vegetarian twice a week w