Last night, both of my daughters were invited to different ‘sleep overs’ with their friends.

It seemed very strange to see their beds empty and I missed them so much.  I suppose I was bound to miss them, as in fourteen years this has only happened once before.  I wondered if this empty feeling is how you feel when your children all finally leave the nest?

In the end, after much discussion, my husband and I decided to treat ourselves to an evening in front of the TV, with a chinese takeaway.  We can’t usually have a takeaway, due to my youngest daughters dairy intolerance, which of course saves us money, but as she was away we thought it would be a really nice treat.

The takeaway totalled £14.20 for the two of us and it was really nice.  There was more than enough for two of us.  However, I felt really sick about an hour after eating it.   I don’t know if it was too fatty, or I ate too much, or something just didn’t agree with me, but I also felt ill all the way through the night.  As well, we both spent the whole night feeling thirsty, which must be due to the high salt content.  I wonder if our tastes have changed, as it’s so long since we have had a chinese takeaway?

So this morning I didn’t go to my allotment.

I always put my washing machine on very early in the morning, as we have ‘economy 7’.  This means that our electricy is cheapest for seven hours during the night.  So I make sure I also use my dishwasher, mobile phone chargers, etc. early in the morning for the same reason.

It was a beautiful sunny morning so when I started to feel better, I hung my washing out to dry.  This is something I always do unless it rains.

I love to see my washing drying outside on the line.  I don’t know why, but stupidly I always feel that everything is ok in the world when my washing is out.  It always smells so fresh when it’s dry and I find it easier to iron when it’s been on my line and not tumble dried (but it must be noted that my tumble drier isn’t very good).

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My youngest daughter then had her friends round for lunch.

Instead of making sandwiches, I made them all ‘pizza toast’.  It’s so easy to make and is a tasty quick lunch to have.

All you do is lightly toast some bread on both sides and then spread it with tomato puree.  Then put a covering of grated cheddar cheese on and a sprinkling of dried basil and oregano and toast it again until the cheese bubbles and melts.

The kids seemed to love it.

For pudding I made some gingerbread men.  Again they are very easy and the kids all seemed to enjoy them.  Below is how I made them.  I managed to make 17 men with my recipe:

Gingerbread Men Recipe

400g self raising flour

3 teaspoons of ground ginger

100g caster sugar

50g margarine

3 tablespoons of golden syrup

glace cherries and currants to decorate

Preheat your oven Gas 3 / 160C / 325F

Put the flour, and ginger in a bowl and mix

Warm the margarine, sugar and syrup over a low heat and when melted, add to the flour and ginger and mix well

Knead lightly with your hands and then roll out on a floured board.

Cut the shapes out with a cutter and place on a greased baking sheet.

Use currants for the eyes and buttons and a piece of glace cherry for the mouth, by pushing them into the uncooked biscuits

Cook for 10-15 minutes depending on their thickness.

Allow to cool on a wire rack

(the biscuits will be soft when they first come out of the oven, but will become stiff when they are cool)

**A good tip = heat your tablespoon before using it for the syrup, as it slides off the spoon easily when it is hot**

That’s it for today.

Thank you for reading my blog.