Finally, It's All Fixed! Let's Have A Cookie...

Finally!! We have Broadband back on at the farm! It has only taken since about the 17th of December! We finally decided that Sky was a no go. We had continually had to call them to be told they would call us back - they didn't. We then called up and they said that an engineer would need to "gain access to the property" and they would call back with a date and time - they didn't. We then asked to cancel the order, that apparently takes 30 days! We said that was ridiculous, so they did it in 4. And, suspiciously enough, cancelling the order apparently fixed the issue that the engineer supposedly needed to come out and fix....? So we are now with BT who said they would turn on the Broadband on the 17th - they did. They said they'd have the modem delivered on that day and left if we weren't around - they did. So hurray for BT and hurray for Broadband!

This means that there have been SO many changes on the farm since my last proper post! Well, I'll give you a run down of whats in store for you guys in the catch up posts coming later this month...

We have finished the floor in the living room and are trying to find the motivation to get on with the walls..

There is a new 'bed' in the vegetable patch and the raspberry bushes have been planted...

The seedlings are coming along well and we should be ready to plant a new set of them to get a bit of continuation harvesting going on....

Also I am going to start a little series of recipes... Things To With Sausages ... starting with a nice traditional English Dish - Toad in the Hole.

So that's what we have in store for plus more.

You may have noticed that there is a picture of some cookies on this post... this is because I have, for the first time ever been able to make proper cookies without turning them into little cakes! These worked and you have never seen someone so proud with a biscuit!!! So if you would like to give these a go (they are VERY easy) then here's the recipe:

Chocolate Cookies
220g dark chocolate
10g butter
80g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4.
2. Melt chocolate and butter. At the same time, in a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl, whip the eggs with the sugar. Add the flour mixture. Add in the melted chocolate and stir.
4. Make small balls of dough using teaspoons. Place them on a tray covered with baking parchment.
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven.

Enjoy with plenty Yum Yum Yumming!!

I Am Still Around!!

Did you think I had disappeared never to return? Well, no such luck I am afraid! I haven't been posting for so long because we are STILL waiting for Sky to sort out our Broadband (Yes we have been waiting since about the 18th Dec 2009!). But rest assured they are CHECKING our account every day! As far as I can make out this means they look at the screen and say 'Oh yeah, that one' then click the 'Checked' button! It is extremely frustrating, particularly as the only people we can speak to are the help desk, not any of the departments that do the actual work or ordering or anything, so every time we phone we just get more 'Well it doesn't say anything on screen'. The latest ridiculous one was that one of these other departments phoned and we were out so they left a message asking us to call back, which we did, but they left the call centre number so ... they didn't know anything!

The major house update is that the floor in the living room is complete, I shall get photos up at SOME point! We have also bought a new vehicle, again photos ASAP. But we should pick it up next Saturday! So it is good bye saloon car hello 4X4! There has also been some baking going on and the first of my seeds have been planted. Once again I shall get more info as soon as I can, but bear with me...

Baking Out Those Blues - (Blue Hands That Is!)

When its cold outside and you need a little pick me up nothing says 'It's Okay, your toasty now' better than food! While we were battling with the frozen pipes over the weekend I decided that the troops needed some pick me up so I set about making some Black Forest Muffins! I had intended to make them before Christmas and all the ingredients were in the cupboard waiting, but I never seemed to get round to it!

It was somewhat hard going as 'Use butter at room temperature' didn't quite work out as the recipe intended, seeing as the house was colder than the fridge at the time, but perseverance and 'whisking by the fire' paid off and the mixture finally resembled something close to muffin mix! I only had small muffin cases, not much bigger than cup cake cases, so they weren't the huge chocolate fests I had originally intended but they where certainly tasty. Only two remain of the 10 I made, so the masses must have approved as well!

A Tasty Find...

How do you find those blogs that make you go "Hey, I gotta keep up with this"?

Most of the time I sneak a peek at other people's Favourite Blogs List, heck if someone else likes it then odds are it's a good one! Of course there is spotting those who leave comments on your own posts, a polite return visit often uncovers a multitude of fabulous information and stories. And then there is the comments left by others on some of your personal favourites. This is where I discovered my newest Blog to the list. The comment was left on an older post on a blog I read regularly. There was nothing special about the comment itself, no insights, no family history stories just a politely written compliment on the blogger's post. But something about that comment made me click on to find out who this person was. And I was rewarded with a great blog - Life At Cobble Hill Farm - I have been reading through all the archives recently and only become more glad that I clicked that link!

I know it must have been fate as I had just bought a special offer of Buy One Get One Free Blueberries (that's punnets not individual Blueberries, although I guess it amounts to the same thing!) and was looking for something to do with them. A recipe greeted me at Cobble Hill Farm, a recipe that I attempted that very night, a recipe I will certainly do again, a recipe perfect for my newly aquired Blueberries! (See picture)

My husband decided that cream was the way to go when eating it but I thought it was amazing on its own... want to know how to make it? Well then, head on over to Cobble Hill and get the recipe - Blueberry Oven Pancakes - you will not be disappointed!

I love finding a new blog, especially ones about the country life: reading about others exploits, trials and experiences is always inspiring and always gives me plenty to think about! It lets me see other things happening that maybe I cannot achieve myself (for example some of the great fruit you guys grow may struggle in Scotland) but it still gives me the drive to do what I can with what I've got.

So thanks guys for all your inspiration!

And get on over to Cobble Hill - they're making pancakes...

Slowest Internet in the World!!!

Sky, Sky Sky! We were supposed to get our Sky TV etc set up on Sunday (last Sunday) but they never came due to the weather. We were supposed to get our Internet set up on Wednesday but oh no, no Internet till you get the TV!! When are we getting the TV, next Sunday. But for some reason the Internet this time might not be set up until 15 (that's right, count 'em 15!) days after the TV! How much time does it take to press the Go button!!! So I am working on Internet supplied via a mobile phone plugged into the PC, it is generally slower than 56k dial up!

Ah well!! But its CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we have been majorly busy trying to get the house sorted before then. We completed the Dining Room:

And it really looks great! We have even managed to pick Christmassy colours!! I have also been trying my hand at a few handicrafts. Main project was a wreath with some of the Holly from the bush outside and some left over Xmas decorations. I think it looks rather good, even if I do say so myself!

Next on my list was the Christmas Baking. I had decided that sweet things was the way to go so I went for Vanilla Biscuits and Spiced Orange biscuits with an Orange Icing!

There was also Christmas cake for all! I had bought myself a great new pan that meant I could make 12, 3inch, square cakes, in the one tin. This means I have nice little gift cakes to give away!!
And finally the mince pies, can't go wrong with Mince Pies! This was using my own mincemeat and a nice sweet pastry!
We have got a nice roast for tomorrow and there will be plenty of trimmings!!! Will report as often as I can!

Have a great Christmas People!!

Merry Christmas from the Farm!

Let It Snow!

Well we have had our snow, and by gum we have had our snow! We must have 3 inches (4 if you stand in a deep bit) and it has become somewhat treacherous to get out of the yard! As a result we have no Internet, still! The guy decided it was too bad weather to make the trip up our hill so we have to wait till after Christmas before we get set up. So all the post ideas that I had ready for this week are all going to be late! But I thought I would share with you this little recipe that I have just found which I am looking forward to trying. Nothing says Xmas like Mulled Wine but what about the kids, those who don't like wine (raises hand) or those, like I will have as most of my guests next week, who have to drive afterwards? How about Mulled Apple Juice? This seemed like such a simple recipe that I knew I had to give it a shot, so next week I will but I thought I'd share the recipe with you now in case you wanted to use it for your own celebrations - if you don't want to risk it till I've tried it, you'll need to wait till the 30th!!

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1.5 Litres (50 fl oz) apple juice
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 tablespoons allspice
• peel of 1 0range
• peel of 1 lemon

You could even use one of those mulled wine spice bags, instead of creating your own spice bag!

Method:

1. Pour the apple juice into a large saucepan, and add the maple syrup and allspice.
   Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peel and lemon peel into a muslin spice bag, secure with kitchen string and drop the spice bag into the mixture.
2. Simmer the saucepan on medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until the mixture is very hot (but not boiling). Remove and discard the spice bag.
3. Ladle the cider into big cups or mugs, adding a fresh cinnamon stick to each serving if desired.

If anyone gives this a shot before I do then please, come back and tell us how it went. Perhaps any changes to the recipe!

I am going to try and get some photos up for you all, I have so many waiting but since the Sky Man Never Cometh they are all still waiting!! It is quite frustrating not having the ability to easily pop pictures on here, thanks to all for hanging around, normal service will be resumed as soon as I can!!

Getting Ready For Xmas... Mincemeat

Well, I decided that all work and no play makes for a very dull life and in this case would make for a Christmas without mince pies! So I decided a week or so back to make up my mincemeat, just to give it a wee while to "get tasty" before I start the big pie bake!!

So using my Mincemeat Recipe:

Ingredients
1 Bramley Apple
300g Raisins
300g Currants
250g shredded suet
250g muscavado sugar
85g mixed peel, chopped
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of mixed spice
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
100ml whisky (optional, I don't use it as we don't like it but feel free - glug away!)

See Full Instructions

After a rather sticky time, I always get in a mess peeling apples, have no idea why, it was into the jars for my mincemeat to await "The Time of the Baking"! These jars are now in my larder cupboard and are looking good! I shall update this with the Mince Pie excitement after they are cooked. I am also going to be making my Xmas Cake soon, I don't do the dark cake which is why I get away with leaving it so late!!

When The Cat Went Up the Chimney...

Our cat Monty featured in such posts as: Cartoon Cat & Upside Down Cat is a scaredy cat in the perfect sense. He is particularly bright but his first reaction with anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, is to run away. He runs away and then immediately turns back and goes to investigate the new thing, this includes his mum (me), his brother, cat food tins, strange paper bags and whenever Farm Guy stands up. This has got him in many scrapes, including being stuck up a tree, locked in the shed and in the attic and under the bed. In his latest exploit the scary-thing was one of the tradesmen, come round to collect his pay.

Farm guy answered the door and dealt with the monetary issue (I spend, he pays!! :O) ). He then came up the stairs to where I was laboriously painting the bedroom wall.

'Think Monty's up the chimney' says Farm Guy 'He's completely disappeared.'

We both troop down, while I think, I have no idea how to get a cat out of a chimney! Luckily we arrive in the living room to see what is now a completely black cat emerging from the chimney asking what the fuss was about. Phew!

Monty was given 24 hours to clean himself up (which he didn't, Monty isn't into personal hygiene) so I just had to wipe his face and neck cos I couldn't bear to see him looking such a state: although admittedly he didn't look much better after his wipe down!

At least he's black and grey now rather than black and black!

The Latest on the Farm

Hi,

Unfortunately I am still without proper Internet access at the moment so I am afraid that photos will be thin on the ground, although I think that I may have come up with a sneaky solution to that, watch this space.

What has been happening on the farm? Well, we are still living in essentially three rooms out of the 6 available and even these rooms are pretty sparse! Farm Guy keeps walking into our living room and saying, 'this is depressing, we must decorate it', which is a different tune from way-back-when when he was saying that the living room looked alright and we should leave it.

The plasterers are now finished, except for the bathroom, which they will return to do next Thursday. We are hoping to get some of the decorating done this weekend, I have challenged myself with finishing the decorating in the bedroom - mainly because we don't have any furniture, beyond the bed, and it will be easier to decorate with a nice open space!

Farm Guy is hoping to make a start on the secondary living room, which will be an office, we are going to sand the floors, and in his usual attempt to save a few pounds wants to try doing it with a belt sander first (I know, I know, you don't need to tell me!). I will DEFINITELY be giving updates on that attempt! Also, taking bets on how long it takes before he decides hiring a floor sander is the best idea - there is a reason they are called FLOOR sanders!

There is also the question of the kitchen and what we can get done in there too! There is still lining paper to hang, a hole to fill and some painting to do! It is looking good though, probably the best in the house. Once I get photos up I shall do a post on the woodwork that dad has been undertaking around the place too!

We may have some fun news after this weekend.... but then again we may not.... guess you'll just have to wait and see!!

I've Won an Award!

Thanks to Tanya at Allotments 4 You for nominating me for this award! This is the first award for the Realising The Dream blog!
This award is presented from one blogger to another to say:

"Well Done! Big Thumbs Up! Love the Blog!"

So thanks once again to Tanya, it's great to know that the blog is entertaining and of interest to people because it is a lot of fun for me too!

So, I would like to nominate the following blogs for this award:

Mamma Kerr

The Cat Comic

A Smallholder's Diary

Fancyin' The Farm Life

On the Way to Critter Farm

Life on a Southern Farm

Rural Ramblings

The Compost Bin

The Good Life

Up the Garden Path

Small Farm Living

I apologise for the list being shorter than 15 but you will not be disappointed with these tasty morsels of the blogging world!

Rules:

1. Anyone awarded with this one must pass this “BEST BLOG” Award to 15 bloggers who he/she thinks have the best and greatest blogs.

For the new awardee…

2. To receive and accept this award.
Copy and save the award
Make a post in your blog about the award, like this one, but write in your own words, or at least a reasonable facsimile.
In your post, mention the name of the blogger who awarded you, and include a link to their blog.

How The Bathroom Progresseth..

The bathroom doesn't look a whole lot different from the original but I assure you there has been major progress. The main problem was that the immersion heater, which was on the wall just as you came in through the door was old and needed replacing. This has now been done, with one about 4 times the size and has been put in a cupboard upstairs, resulting in a nice toasty airing cupboard - see, there is some method to our madness.

The old bathroom suite has been removed, the bath kept - we are hoping to have that re-enameled and use it when we extend the bathroom. We have chosen a pretty plain suite as it was A) not very expensive and B) small! There is a shower unit that needs to be installed, this is being done as we speak.

Once again there is a lot of stuff going on while we chug away at work, it is most frustrating that so much is having to be done while we aren't there. We have both expressed our frustration at not being able to just 'get on with it' ourselves and at having to do everything by phone or trying to explain to someone else what they need to explain to someone else. We are both looking forward to the time that we are moved in and can take real control ourselves.

Such A Long Time!

Sorry there have been no posts recently! I have been unwell for the last few days and that, coupled with all that is happening on the farm, time has been short. But fear not, I am still around and I have much to tell.

As you can see from the countdown we are into our last week and as of yesterday we had no shower and a half finished kitchen. Farm Guy and my Dad spent around 6 hours yesterday installing the kitchen cabinets - it is actually beginning to look like a kitchen - there will be a proper kitchen update tomorrow - your first glimpse at the kitchen as it unfolds! We have decided, after a plasterer failed to show up to discuss what we needed, to do the minor plastering in the kitchen ourselves, and have also decided that the bedroom doesn't need plastering anyway, so we may be able to get stuck into that this week - but probably next. The rest of the plastering can wait until we have moved in and we can get it done porperly. We seem to have the whole (old) house still to pack even though we have packed loads of boxes already! You never quite realise the crud that you have collecting until you try wrapping it and fitting it in the car!

The bathroom has a nice new toilet and sink but, as yet, no shower (or floor, but has gained a huge hole in the wall! - nice!), we hope that will be there in all its glory by next weekend! Bathroom update on Thursday!

The Electrician has to return today to wire in the Immersion heater and then, for the first time, there will be hot water! Oh Yes! No more boiling kettles for warm water to wash mucky hands!

Sunday night will see the report on the move, plus plenty photos and, if I have done my maths right, will mark the 100th post for Realising the Dream. I am quite chuffed that without really trying the 100th post ties in with such a big event! So, I will see you all again tomorrow when the kitchen semi-completion unveiling takes place!

Things About The Place

With so much to do around the farm to get it ready to live in come November I quite often am rushing about with arms full of things other than cameras so although I spot something interesting I can't take photos! But I did manage to get a couple of snaps of things I found on one tour around.

This hairy little guy was on the wall where the new greenhouse will go, don't know how he got there, it's concrete and brick as far as the caterpillar guy can see! We moved him to some safer hedge accommodation!



And I spotted this and it sounds like just the thing for a dirty house!

"Are you tired? Is you home a mess? Do you feel like you can't go on? Then you need GUMPTION!"

Pays Not to Pay!!!

It pays to shop around! The fabby fridge that we ordered... well, "Soon To Be Farm Guy" did some searching around - don't ask why we didn't do this before we ordered it... blown away by its magnificence we were... Anyway, he discovers it for significantly cheaper online, pretty much everywhere was selling it cheaper than the shop we bought from! Then he discovered one of the sites (a high street store) was having it a "12-Hour-Buy-It-Now-And-Save-A-Bucket-Load-Buy-Buy-Buy" sale and we could get even more off plus free delivery!

So we raced back to the shop we bought from to cancel the order, trains not withstanding (but that's another tale!). Understandable they did their best with plenty "umm-ing" and "err-ing" and "we can match that" and "let me ring for authorisation" but in the end they couldn't match or beat it nor could they break our resolve to get our money back!

Then it was back to the old Interweb to place our order for the same fridge (two week later on delivery but who cares) for the grand saving of... ready... £350!!!

That's (patter of tiny feet to currency converter) (patter back again) *phew!* $562!

So, my advice is, shop before you buy and, I know it's a shame and we should support the high street store, but prices are still lower on the web! If it had only been a few quid we would probably have taken the hit but for this kind of money, and us needing every penny, we just couldn't ignore it!

So what did I do with the money? I was allowed loose (well, slightly less reined in) in the direction of soft furnishings - WOOHOO!!!! Farm Guy had also discovered (which I will add to my "goodies for you" section) that old Argos was doing a sale on rugs, a pretty decent saving, 75% off so I got a couple of rugs for the living room and possibly the bedroom! - lets hear it for ukhotdeals.com!

While on the subject of money saving and Argos, may I recommend, for UK persons, the National Shopping Monitor. You scan your shopping every time you buy something, return your receipts and they give you points. Every 10,000 points equates to £10 in high street vouchers or give the money to charity - various redeemables, its up to you what you do with it. The points build up fast (example: every week you scan you get 1000 points). You get points for receipts, bonus points each year, points for scanning and then they have other things like surveys which will give you points should you choose to fill them in. I have never been bothered with spam from them nor from other companies as a result of them and have been with them for several years now. I have had so much 'free' stuff with my vouchers, they are great for little gifts to yourself, extravagances you don't usually allow (like rowing machines!). I have given the best link I can, a search maybe better, oh and so you know this isn't some paid advert thing, I just think its pretty cool!

Ahhh.. To Be Famous... At Least in Cartoon Form!

Do you all remember Monty? The upside down cat?

Well, my friend and collegue James has made Monty a star! James is a great artist and his latest series of cartoons involve cats, cats in many forms! He was looking for models and I offered up Monty as he posed so well in his last entry HERE.

Monty's cartoon went online today. Yes, it is his 15 minutes of Fame!! Go and check it out he is very proud of his new found stardom Monty - in Cartoon Form! I think it looks great, say "Hi" too, while your there!!

James has also cornered the market on cartoons about Sheep and Aardvarks. Check it out here:

And while we are at it, James has written a book too! It's here - Silly Beggar

Meet Farm Dog...

We don't currently have an official Farm Dog so my parents dog has chosen to help us out until then...

"Come on guys... there's work to be done!"

McMillian Cancer Research - Coffee Morning

As many people across Britain would know last Friday was McMillian Cancer Research's Nationwide Coffee Morning, and our office took part. For those unaware of the scheme essentially people and places all over Britain hold a 'coffee morning' to raise money for cancer research. This can be a whole office (like us) making cakes to sell for (in our case) £1 for cake and a coffee, or even a street all meeting at someone's house for coffee and just making a donation each.

The effort from our little office was amazing and we raised nearly £300! I was so taken aback by the sheer volume of cake that people had baked, or bought, to give to the cause! I am definately caked out! I made an Orange Sponge with Orange Cream Cheese topping (pictured) but there was Clootie Dumping, Flapjacks, cupcakes, tea loaves, fruit loaves, crispy cakes, muffins and those little marshmallows with a smartie on the top (I call them TopHats) and so much more!

We also had a small book stall with 50p for a book and a raffle with donated prizes. It was a good day, not sure how much work got done but there was definately plenty cake eaten!!

Anyone See A House For Sale?

Nope, me neither!

For everyone that was wondering what happened with the people who came to look at our house while it was in a total state, you know, the ones from this post CLICK HERE.

Well, the day before we were leaving for our holiday in Florida we had just dropped our cats off at the cattery for their holiday when we found a message on our battery power lacking mobile, from the solicitor asking us to give us a call. We dreaded what this might be, we were going on holiday tomorrow and didn't need any problems.

But we were to be very, very plesantly surprised. That couple, the one and only viewers to the house who stayed all of 10 minutes had put in an offer over the offers-over price! We said 'Yes, yes, yipppeeee yes!'

We were obviously going away for two weeks but we found that the buyers were quite happy to wait. This means that the deadline for everything at the farm is now 13th November, or as we worked out, the weekend before (as we can't get time off on that week to do the final move).

This makes things very exciting and was a great start to our hoilday!

Florida Trip

Well, we are back from the Florida Trip and what a trip it was. This was our first trip into America and we were most looking forward to it!

We were on International Drive for one week and then one week in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had great weather for the two weeks with only a couple of days with only a couple of days of rain.

We did the Universal Studios and Sea World in the first week as well as a good roaming around International Drive.

We tried out a Dinner show in the first weeks and I was one of the 'chosen' ones who got dragged up to participate. I was dressed as a pirate and had to march around with either a treasure test or a lamp!

We were very impressed with Sea World and spent one day and an evening there. Favourite show had to be the one with the pets. Goats, dogs, cats, pigs, rats... the list goes on, all running around the stage doing fun little tricks. Very clever and very funny!!

The second week we were in the Animal Kingdom Lodge which was extremely beautiful. Our room overlooked the 'Savannah' and in the evenings we could sit on the balcony and watch the giraffes and zebra.

We managed to do all of the parks in the second week. We had no problems in queues, longest wait was for about 20 minutes. In fact over the holiday we spent more time waiting for buses than we did for rides.

I think the favourite park would have to be Animal Kingdom although it was cut a bit short as we didn't notice that it closed early. We still managed to make the most of it and got all the rides we wanted and even the parade. Think I preferred the Animal Kingdom Parade to the Magic Kingdom ones!

We certainly had a great time and will probably go back but not sure when. There are other things that I wish we could've gone to, the Space Centre or some of the Gator spotting trips but there is always another time.

Now, where are we going next year...

I'm Back

Hi,

Apologies, apologies to all about the dodgy links. I will have them fixed so you can find the recipes!!

I have been away on holiday, in extremely sunny Florida for the past two weeks! It was amazing! First time in America and am now completely Mickey-ed out!!

Normal service will resume shortly and boy do I have SO much to share with you all!! Brace yourselves for a big dose of excitement!

Once again, apologies for the dodgy links...