Steak pie bonanza

Imagine my excitement when a large steak pie was delivered to my office today. It turns out that I won it in the raffle  at the race night on Saturday. We cooked it for dinner this evening and it was absolutely delicious. What a nice postscript to the evening.

I am in an excellent mood despite 

a) very nearly being blown off my feet outside my school by high winds

b) having a large filling replaced with resultant numb mouth (not the one that broke on Friday, another one)

c) finding out that I will need a crown in place of the tooth that broke on Friday

It's funny how moods are not always directly related to events. I feel great. 

I get the dress code wrong!

I went to a fundraiser for Luwero - a race night - last night. James was away for a bothy weekend at Kinlochleven but Davie promised to accompany me, because I wouldn't know anyone who was going except a few pupils and the head teacher. The event was organised by the pupils' parents and attended by lots if their friends, but of course I wanted to go along to support it. I got all ready in my grey sparkly dress only to find Davie playing with the kittens with a mutinous look on his face. He had changed his mind. I was horrified and pleaded with him to come - to no avail. So I had to go alone. The first thing that I noticed when I arrived was that nobody else was wearing a short sparkly dress. The dress code was decidedly casual, most of the ladies were wearing black trousers or even jeans. I proceeded into the hall all on my own with a sinking feeling.

From then on however things looked up. The head teacher and his wife and daughter were really lovely and I sat at their table, they all made me feel very welcome. And I was chatting with the pupils and even made myself useful by popping out to buy more cider for the bar when it ran out. I bet on all the races and our table sponsored a horse for the last race although we didn't win. It was a good evening and no one mentioned the sparkly dress! 

More bits of me drop off

2015 continues to be the year when my body starts to fall apart. My tooth had settled down after its root canal treatment a couple of weeks ago, but today it split down the middle and one half wobbled dangerously. It felt really weird, it's so long since my baby teeth came out but the shoogly loose feeling was still familiar after all these years. Sure enough later on the half tooth detached completely and I have put it in my jacket pocket ready to take to the dentist on Monday. When I came home I showed the remains of my tooth to David and he was gratifyingly horrified. He got a mirror so I could look for myself and indeed it is a ruin!

Just yesterday one of my pupils said to me "You should take better care of yourself Mrs Anderson, now that you are getting that bit older." 

How right she was.

Miserly March

I'm joking of course, I promise that I'm not getting obsessed with cutting costs. However Frugal February was a rip roaring success; James did some calculations and he estimates that I halved our usual food bill last month! So I'm continuing to watch the pennies by using more supermarket own brands and planning meals more carefully. I think we are eating better and more healthily too and it's making meal times more efficient because planning ahead means that I remember to defrost items as required, and plan the cooking times better. I have made one concession for James by upgrading the butter back to our usual brand; he loathed the very low cost option! The kittens however are not so privileged and are continuing to tuck into their "Tesco Value" food. 

Wired to the moon

After blogging yesterday that I thought it was nearly Spring, I had to laugh when I got up this morning to find that we were in the midst of a veritable blizzard! It snowed on and off all day but the roads remained clear where we are so there were no transport problems. 

James is out this evening so I did a bit of housework, played with my kitties, and am about to jump into a nice warm bath. I was on the phone to a friend earlier who pointed out that we are approaching the full moon. According to teacher folklore, a full moon adversely affects pupil behaviour. The busy and eventful day that I have had certainly backs up that theory! 

Tom and Ruby want to go outside

It was quite wintery today with snow showers on and off all day, but none of it lying, so maybe we are on the verge of spring time. There are lots of snowdrops in the garden and the kittens are desperate to get outside. A couple of weeks ago I carried them outside in my arms and walked round the garden; they were so excited by the birdsong and all the outside smells, and when I took them back in they scratched at the French windows and squeaked (they have still not learned how to miaow properly). I haven't taken them back out because we have decided not to let them roam freely until they have had their operations, so it would be a bit mean to keep showing them what they can't have yet. Yesterday Tom ventured onto the back doorstep when I was taking a bag of rubbish out to the bin; I was keeping a close eye on him in case he made a dash for freedom but a large gust of wind drove him back inside! He's frightened of the hairdryer so maybe he thinks that there's a really big hairdryer in the garden. Ruby is also very interested in the big outdoors and often stares out of the windows both downstairs and upstairs. There was much hissing and raising of hackles one day when they saw another cat passing by! They are getting bigger all the time and are so full of strength and energy, tumbling and play fighting all around the house. When the time comes they are going to love exploring their jungle! 

Reheated lasagne

On Friday evening I hosted Book Club. This came as rather a surprise to me because even though it was written in my diary I had forgotten all about it until the first girls arrived! But I just welcomed them in, turned up the heat in the lounge, James brought through the drinks, and we had a great evening; only the initial look of complete bewilderment on my face may have given me away to my first arrivals! 

Bill and Katy came for lunch today. Bill is my Mum's wee brother and he is a lovely, funny, intelligent man. I think that I have blogged before that I was the flower girl at his wedding to the kind and beautiful Katy many years ago - forty-eight years ago in fact! Oh my goodness! I remember the pale blue satin dress I wore as if it was yesterday.

We had a pleasant lunch (although I was a bit disappointed in my lasagne, the bechamel sauce was a bit runny) and had a relaxing afternoon chatting. When Grandma came round for tea I reheated the lasagne and it was much, much nicer. I often find that with reheated lasagne for some reason, maybe I should always cook it in advance.