Sparkly days

Our needle felting stuff arrived the other day and we have taken to it with gusto. The day of it's arrival I feared that anything standing still may well have been felted! Even Miles could do it with minimal supervision.

It wasn't long till a forest of woolly trees sprung up in my poinsettia pot - closely followed by the big cheese plant pot.

Here's the Nutcracker which Nana made for Miles. He's been well admired and strategically placed in various places around the house. Having him has inspired Miles to try to crack nuts, with a proper nutcracker. He can now crack hazelnuts (and eats them) which is great. What's not so great is when you get sharp nutshell in your bare foot!

Yes, it's that time of year when the glitter is back out. After making shiny snowflakes today I've hidden it away. I don't want to turn my back at some point to discover unsupervised glitterings having happened!

I didn't want to have to scrub sticky marks off the windows at a later day so I stuck the snowflakes to string and weighted the string with baubles tied on with ribbon. Hey ho, you can never have too much ribbon or too many baubles!

It's been quite a busy weekend with various activities. Hermione is now a registered voluntary dog walker at a local rescue centre so Saturday morning saw us walking Storm, a lovely German Shepherd currently looking for a new home.

Saturday afternoon was Archaeology Club where from what I gather much fun was had exploring the Bronze Age and joining in a Bronze Age re enactment. This was the first time Craig had taken the kids there and I couldn't help but think he would come home full of moans. Let's just say he has no passion for museums, old things or generally anything which doesn't have a three point plug. Surprisingly he was impressed and dare I say may even have enjoyed himself!

Today saw Miles and Craig at a soccer skills workshop followed by a trip to a pub for some lunch! Hermione and I called into town, moaned bitterly at the lack of seats in Starbucks and did a bit of Christmas shopping.

This afternoon I pottered at home, cooking, crafting and thinking. I think the dark days are a really great time for introspection. I like to think that at some point I'll figure out what life is all about, in time to share that with my children and hopefully guide them towards choices which will bring them peace and happiness.

I attended an advent meditation this week with my old meditation group. It felt very different to usual but it is still helped to plant me firmly on a peaceful and positive path in the hurly burly that often can be the run up to Christmas. It set me thinking about Archangel Michael and how he fits into my spirituality. I've been scratching my head and trying to figure how an Archangel can figure in any way in my non Christian (but not anti) spirituality. I've read around the web and was surprised to learn how many heavenly deities are common to many different branches of faith and religion. Archangel Michael has apparently played a significant role in Judaism, Christianity, Paganism and Islam.

I like this image below of Archangel Michael. His blue cloak resonates with me.

Thankfully I can multitask and managed to rustle up roast dinner with home made cranberry sauce and seasonal cup cakes while pottering. I was feeling quite inspired to try something a little more artsy with my cupcakes after flicking through Pinterest. If you've not yet discovered that site then get yourself over there for some great recipes and household style tips.

This is the point at which I usually reflect on what work we have done this week. Well...that won't take long! Let's say things have been a bit slack around here, and I'd like to put forth good reason, but sadly the truth is I have been ever so lax in lesson planning because I've discovered the books of C J Sansom and have become hooked on his Mathew Shardlake series. Generally speaking I lesson plan from 9.00pm on wards when the house is calm and I'm not on call to respond to requests for goodness knows what! Unfortunately, the pull of Mathew Shardlake and the electric blanket has been too strong this week. Goodness what would the 'officials' say! I am determined to do more than maths and English this coming week. We will do exciting and engaging activities - assuming that is we have our electricity supply disconnected. No no, I will try harder, honestly.