....cupcakes!! To be honest, everyday I love cupcakes but I read this article on Hello Giggles and was inspired.
I think it may be cake making time this weekend.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Cold and flu remedies....
The Best Cold Remedies
Some natural cold and flu remedies I shall be making use of. I will be stocking up on Echinacea for future use. Apparently garlic, onions and leeks help the immune system too so leek and potato soup will be my dinner tomorrow. Also, liquorice is good for coughs too...bonus! :)
Anything to get a decent nights sleep!
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Of illness and a bit of knitting....
I have had a horrible cold and I am not feeling good at all. I am at the sneezy, running nose stage which hopefully means it's on it's way out but it means I have to endure the blocked nose stage which seems to happen at night and affects my sleep. To top it off, my smoke alarm keeps beeping (I think the battery is running out) and I can't reach it to sort it out and England lost in the Rugby Quarter Final.
Anyway, despite my ills, I have managed to make a start on my Christmas gifts. I have started making my hot water bottle cover (pattern from Lets Knit Magazine) and you can see my progress on Ravelry.
Anyway, despite my ills, I have managed to make a start on my Christmas gifts. I have started making my hot water bottle cover (pattern from Lets Knit Magazine) and you can see my progress on Ravelry.
Here is the cover so far. This is the first proper attempt at cabling and it's going pretty well. I'm not sure if you can tell but there seems to be an error in the chart I am following . It's not my error because I am following the pattern exactly but I am almost wishing I had changed it myself. Of course there is always the risk if I do that of messing up further along which is why I stuck to the pattern so I am hoping no one will notice! And, if I do knit this again (and I definitely bought enough wool to do another) I will change it.
I found some really nice patterns by Kind Cole in Snip today (the wool is a bargain too) so I might have to go back there in the next few weeks. I hear another project calling already! :)
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Support UNICEF....
Right now, they are trying to spread the word about the East Africa Crisis at UNICEF East Africa Crisis. In southern Somalia, 4 million children need urgent assistance.
Children are dying and we need to spread the word
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| © UNICEF/NYH |
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| © UNICEF/NYH |
UNICEF are delivering supplies and medical equipment as we speak
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| ©UNICEF/So |
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
The season is changing....
Yes, autumn is definitely here. It's getting colder now and soon it will be time to dig out the winter woolies and the blankets. In a way I am sad to see the sun go; for the nights to get longer and the mornings darker. But I do love this time of year; cosy nights and crisp cold days.
I am not loving the cold and flu season much however. I had to come home early from work today because I have a cold coming. My throat is so sore I can't swallow and my head is getting to that stage where it feels like it's full of cotton wool. I have a horrible feeling that I am going to wake up tomorrow feeling like crap and I have my first day of school tomorrow....typical right?! The timing is perfect!
I found this post on Fun. Fit. Chic. Some advice on treating colds: Cold and Flu fighting season.
I usually know when a cold is coming. I tend to feel tired and lethargic for a few weeks beforehand, then the sore throat starts. The advice seems to be at this stage to stock up on vitamin C and echinacea, drink plenty to avoid dehydration and gets lots of rest. Some chicken soup wouldn't go amiss either. Lets face it, I'm not going to be short of veggies now! :-)
I am not loving the cold and flu season much however. I had to come home early from work today because I have a cold coming. My throat is so sore I can't swallow and my head is getting to that stage where it feels like it's full of cotton wool. I have a horrible feeling that I am going to wake up tomorrow feeling like crap and I have my first day of school tomorrow....typical right?! The timing is perfect!
I found this post on Fun. Fit. Chic. Some advice on treating colds: Cold and Flu fighting season.
I usually know when a cold is coming. I tend to feel tired and lethargic for a few weeks beforehand, then the sore throat starts. The advice seems to be at this stage to stock up on vitamin C and echinacea, drink plenty to avoid dehydration and gets lots of rest. Some chicken soup wouldn't go amiss either. Lets face it, I'm not going to be short of veggies now! :-)
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
The forgotten victim....
As the world watches Amanda Knox's family celebrate her return home, let us not forget poor Meredith Kercher and her family.
Meredith Kercher: Forgotten victim
I'm not saying I believe Amanda is guilty but there is still a family mourning the loss of a daughter and sister, brutally murdered for no reason and the worse part is they may never know what happened.
Meredith Kercher: Forgotten victim
I'm not saying I believe Amanda is guilty but there is still a family mourning the loss of a daughter and sister, brutally murdered for no reason and the worse part is they may never know what happened.
Monday, 3 October 2011
So much to learn....
I discovered the other day that it's Black History Month here in the UK. My Mum found a story the Southern Daily Echo, about a man from Haiti who lost his life on-board the Titanic. Most people know that the Titanic set sail from Southampton harbour which is not too far down the road from where I live. Most people also know that many people lost their lives when the liner sank nearly 100 years ago after striking an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean (there is a certain movie that will fill in some of the details for you if you don't know).
Most people do not know about Joseph Phillipe Leroche. Joseph was born into a wealthy Haitian family, the son of a white French army officer and a Haitian woman who was the descendant of the first ruler of Haiti, Jean-Jacque Dessalines. His Uncle was the president of Haiti in 1911.
Joseph lived and was educated in France and married a white French woman, Juliette Lafargue. They had two children. Despite his upbringing and education, Joseph had difficulty getting work because of the colour of his skin. The family couldn't afford to pay for the medical treatment needed by their youngest child, Mary-Louise, and Juliette was also pregnant with their third child. The family decided to move back to Haiti where Joseph would be able to find well paid work.
The family weren't meant to travel on the Titanic. Joseph's Mother had originally them bought first-class tickets on-board the La France but because the children would not be able to dine with their parents, Joseph opted to travel second-class on the Titanic instead. Despite enjoying the opulence of the liner and dining with the first-class passengers, the Laroche family would suffer racial insults from fellow passengers and crew members who disagreed with their inter-racial marriage.
When the Titanic struck the iceberg, Joseph led his family to a lifeboat and gave his coat to his wife. His last words to his family were, "I'll get another boat. God be with you. I'll see you in New York." He went down with the ship and his body was never found.
I found this story, like so many other stories from the doomed liner, so tragic and poignant. We have seen the decadence of the ship and how the upper class lived while on-board and that film gave us an idea of how bad the third class passengers had it when the ship sank. We also know that despite it's obvious flaws, the Titanic was a mechanical marvel of it's time. It symbolised the great achievements of man. But the story of Joseph and his family and their struggle to be accepted in the place they certainly belonged really shows how much society was not as advanced as the rich white folks of the time may have thought.
We still aren't. We still have a long way to go before our attitudes catch up with our technology. People still suffer abuse and ridicule because of the way they look, even in societies as diverse and multi-cultural as the UK. There are parents raising their children to be bullies rather than teaching them to accept the differences of others. We have television shows and magazines that basically portray the image that to be anyone in this world you can't be a real person but a carbon copy of what the media has deemed 'perfect'. We still have so much to learn.
Most people do not know about Joseph Phillipe Leroche. Joseph was born into a wealthy Haitian family, the son of a white French army officer and a Haitian woman who was the descendant of the first ruler of Haiti, Jean-Jacque Dessalines. His Uncle was the president of Haiti in 1911.
Joseph lived and was educated in France and married a white French woman, Juliette Lafargue. They had two children. Despite his upbringing and education, Joseph had difficulty getting work because of the colour of his skin. The family couldn't afford to pay for the medical treatment needed by their youngest child, Mary-Louise, and Juliette was also pregnant with their third child. The family decided to move back to Haiti where Joseph would be able to find well paid work.
The family weren't meant to travel on the Titanic. Joseph's Mother had originally them bought first-class tickets on-board the La France but because the children would not be able to dine with their parents, Joseph opted to travel second-class on the Titanic instead. Despite enjoying the opulence of the liner and dining with the first-class passengers, the Laroche family would suffer racial insults from fellow passengers and crew members who disagreed with their inter-racial marriage.
When the Titanic struck the iceberg, Joseph led his family to a lifeboat and gave his coat to his wife. His last words to his family were, "I'll get another boat. God be with you. I'll see you in New York." He went down with the ship and his body was never found.
I found this story, like so many other stories from the doomed liner, so tragic and poignant. We have seen the decadence of the ship and how the upper class lived while on-board and that film gave us an idea of how bad the third class passengers had it when the ship sank. We also know that despite it's obvious flaws, the Titanic was a mechanical marvel of it's time. It symbolised the great achievements of man. But the story of Joseph and his family and their struggle to be accepted in the place they certainly belonged really shows how much society was not as advanced as the rich white folks of the time may have thought.
We still aren't. We still have a long way to go before our attitudes catch up with our technology. People still suffer abuse and ridicule because of the way they look, even in societies as diverse and multi-cultural as the UK. There are parents raising their children to be bullies rather than teaching them to accept the differences of others. We have television shows and magazines that basically portray the image that to be anyone in this world you can't be a real person but a carbon copy of what the media has deemed 'perfect'. We still have so much to learn.
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