Project 365+1: Days 259 - 271

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I missed out on my chance to get my photos up on Sunday. This week I've been pretty tired and so most of the snaps I've taken have been on my phone (see if you can spot the one I took at the last minute right before I fell asleep).

We've had some fantastically stormy weather up here recently, though thankfully nothing quite as wild as at the beginning of the year, but it's rather hampered my desire to go out and take nice photos. Though with all the leaves turning brown and gold, and Autumn well and truly underway I'm hoping to be able to get out and take some nice pictures when we get a bit of a dry spell. I love Autumn colours!

Day 259: Fresh Apple Pie

Doesn't that photo just make your mouth water. This was an apple pie baked by a local lady - she does them to order at a very reasonable price. My in-laws' started getting them as a treat for pudding on a Sunday and when we couldn't manage it all, we brought some home. I LOVE apple pie, so it is a treat that has gone down very well with me.

Day 260: End of the Day

I have no idea why this picture is coming up this way round, I've rotated it round on the computer so we'll just have to put it down to some iPhone hinkyness. This is how many of our days end, with Tara collapsed on the bathroom floor while we get ready for showers and things before going to bed. The floor is all wood and she just throws herself down with such a thump. Obviously doesn't hurt though because it's as much a part of the routine now as our having a wash. If there was any way to take a photo of her trying to climb into the bath which didn't risk my camera getting wet, or inappropriate photographic nakedness then I would totally share that too.

Day 261: Getting To Grips With Othello

My OU course officially started yesterday, though I always like to try and get a little bit ahead of the schedule purely because it allows for things like procrastination (my number one enemy), tiredness, family emergencies, power cuts, illness and just plain getting stuck on something and needing to take a little more time to work through it. So I started work almost as soon as the course books arrived.

I have a very particular way of working. I've used the same folder for each OU course (it's a little bit of good luck for me now and so I can't change this late in the game). I write out detailed notes for each bit that I read. I normally start of writing really detailed notes, but gradually work myself down to writing briefer ones. So far I've been finding it all very interesting, and it all seems to make sense too. I hope that's not just lulling me into a false sense of security!

Day 262: Fresh Baked Failure

This is what happens when mid-way through throwing together the ingredients for a loaf of bread you realise that you've not got enough flour. The recipe I use calls for four, we only had three left (due in part to the poor weather and ferry disruption so we weren't able to get off the island for our shopping on the day we had originally planned). A quick flip through the recipe book suggested that three cups of flour could be used for a 1.5lb loaf. I modified the quantities of the other ingredients and we set it going hoping we'd have a small loaf for our soup at teatime.

Well, as you can see, we didn't. Somewhere along the line something didn't quite work out. The white you see at the bottom is flour, the top is totally sunken in and the whole thing weighed about five pounds. We ended up having omelette and sausages for tea instead.

Day 263: Supplies!

Luckily we didn't have to actually eat the bizarre loaf I made, because Mr Click went shopping and filled the kitchen up with all our essentials. He always waits to unpack everything until I'm around so I can see all the goodies he's picked up for us. He never disappoints, there's always something interesting, special or just a little bit yummy tucked away amongst all the regular stuff I put on the list.

Day 264: Pyramid

I love it when Mr Click cleans the bathroom. He always rearranges the stuff on the shelf in there and it's kind of fun to come home and see what he's done with the loo roll (hey, it's the little things that keep me happy). Recently it had been pyramids, but I'm holding out hope for a scale replica of the Eiffel Tower any day now.

Day 265: Add Wine

One of the goodies Mr Click brought home from his shopping expedition was a whole leg of lamb which he roasted following the instructions in the Good Book (AKA Delia Smith's cooking bible). It was very very nice, but he didn't think it necessary to use exactly the quantity of wine suggested by the great chef, so he added some wine to a glass and basted himself while he cooked. I have to say it certainly helped to add to the meal. ;-)

Day 266: Santa Gets Stuffed

I've posted this picture once already, so I've already explained the story behind it. Alas, Santa hasn't progressed a huge amount since this photo was taken because I've had studying to do and I've been good and actually getting it done. So let's all just be amazed that I've only got one hundred days left to go taking photos and so far, so good.

Day 267: Hard At Work

And just in case you doubted the truth in the last paragraph about all the studying I've been doing, look! Photographic evidence! I wasn't making it up at all. Although the course officially started yesterday and I didn't do any work on it then, and it's unlikely that I'll get any done today. Strangely enough, after working all day I find it much easier to get home and throw myself into studying at the moment, than I have done at weekends when I've got pretty much nothing to stop me from getting stuck it. I suppose it's something to do with being in the right frame of mind for it I guess.

Day 268: Making Money

Obligatory book cover photo so I've got something to use when I do my review without having to search the internet for a decent photo to use. I've actually got a review for this book already written because I'm doing the Reading Challenge on HTV and each review is worth 50 points (very good motivator), but it'll maybe be a little while before I get it posted on here because I'm still working through a backlog.

Day 269: Autumn Leaves

For the last week or so I've been desperately hoping to get a good photo of the pretty Autumn leaves all over the place on the Estate. There are some fantastic colours but I've just not been able to get out when it's been dry and daylight at the same time. So I decided that until I did, our living room curtains would be an okay substitute.

Random fact: nothing in our living room (well, the entire house really) matches. We don't have any particular colour-schemes, but thanks to all the colours in these curtains, everything kind of goes together.

Day 270: Just One More Page

I may have mentioned a photo which was taken as a last minute, oops-I-really-need-to-take-a-photo. This may or may not be it.

I can't be the only one who reads like this, lying on one side with the book tilted up so I can see the page. This doesn't always work so well with hardback books (which really hurt if you doze off and bop yourself on the nose with them). I have a funny feeling that this photo was taken while I was trying to read the last hundred or so pages despite it being late already and having to get up early the next morning, because it was Making Money and I hate going to bed with an unfinished Terry Pratchett book.

Day 271: Strike A Pose

And finally one of Tara being cute while we were getting ready to take her out for a walk. I'm not sure what it was that she was sniffing at but it wouldn't surprise me if she was just posing for the camera. When she's not being a silly clown she's quite the little poser.