Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

crazy_cat_lady

Morning lovelies.
It's half term! I don't have to fight ds for over a week (well - not about school work at least) Although yesterday's fight to get to the 3pm deadline with him really took it out of me - I'm not going to lie. Means I'm going to be spending my Saturday morning finishing my marking because I was just too tired to do it yesterday. But I can live with that - the kids are still asleep and I'm feeling reasonably motivated.
Found a recipe late last night in my 'Girl Called Jack' book for griddled scones that will help to use up some of my cabbage (not my favourite vegetable) and will remind me to put cabbage through my mash that I'm making to use up the rest of the beef stew today. Alas I still have loads of oranges left and I can't find anything that I want to do with them. I just don't like oranges that much - they're a load of faff to prepare and full of pips. That and a massive excess of pears. Think I'm just not good with puddings perhaps.
Found the time to dig the car off the drive yesterday and just drive it to the farm of frozen foods to appease my kids addiction to frozen breaded chicken products - the brakes were a little clunky but I'm pleased I did it. I bought more flour too - and I never need to buy more flour because I don't cook Got home and spent half an hour playing 'hunt the cat pee' because I could smell something awful. Found it, and I have my suspicions as to who it was - she duly spent 2 hours outside last night before the temperature dropped too low. I'm too soft with keeping them all indoors when the weather is awful.
I've woken up this morning with a burst blood vessel in my eye - can't feel a thing but it looks awful. Wonder what/how that has happened? I will pretend to the kids that it's agony until one of them takes pity and makes me a cup of tea. I'm also a bit achy from digging snow off the drive yesterday - not sure if I can be bothered with anything much today. I haven't had a cup of tea yet this morning though so I won't make any decisions until that changes. 
Feel like I've fallen behind with housework too - but I suspect that is because we're in the house 24/7. There's loads lying about because we're living at and working from home at the moment so I don't think I can expect to feel that the house is tidy and decluttered at the moment but it is getting on my nerves a bit. At least with it being half term though I can nag the kids to help me...

janb5

If you have loads of oranges - squeezed orange juice is divine!
Yes it's a faff to squeeze the oranges but it tastes like nectar from the gods!

f0xh0les

Orange drizzle cake - just a sponge cake with  squeezed orange and sugar poured on the top.   Oranges keep for ages, don't fret.  You could also try and put some orange zest  where naughty culprit cat peed. Cats are supposed to hate citrus smells aren't they?

You could slice them and freeze them (the oranges not the cat) and use as ice cube.

Or just treat yourself with freshly squeezed (not by you) orange juice tomorrow morning as your kids lurve you so much you deserve breakfast made for you.

The peels you can put in white vinegar and leave for a week or two and then take the peels out and you have home made nasty chemical free orange scented cleaner.   Recipes online.   Dungerees and headscarf optional.

Happy Happy Half Term!!

apple_muncher

I read it as 'girdled scones'. Twice!

Honeysucklelou2

Pears are great chopped up on top of porridge. Pear and ginger muffins are a tasty treat as is pear and almond tart 🙂😋🙂!

Happy half term!

crazy_cat_lady

DS has asked if we can make a cake tomorrow as I have refused to let him go out and play with his friends and they are all going for a big football match. Pandemic !!!!!!? I have said yes, but I think that I'm going to be struggling to convince him to make anything like pear or orange cake. However, he has pointed out, and I have also noticed that we only seem to argue at the moment. It normally involves me shouting at him for his poor motivation and nagging him to work, followed by him asking me for money and me saying no, which dissolves into and argument, followed by me asking for help with the housework and him saying no, which dissolves into an argument. We just really don't seem to be on the same page with anything at the moment - lockdown seems to be getting to all of us. However, I will make him walk into town with me tomorrow to buy whatever little extras we don't have for whatever cake he wants to make and then we can do some mother/son bonding over baking. It can only go better than Saturday's attempt. On Saturday I was a little domestic goddess - made my beef casserole and colcannon, and I also made a pear crumble - followed a bbc recipe and didn't like it because it turned out too sweet for me. I'd been in the kitchen a good couple of hours cooking and tidying up after myself, when ds arrived and announced he wanted to make a cake. He insisted that he could do it on his own and not make a mess, and didn't need my help. I repeatedly told him that I didn't want to be back in the kitchen helping with cake and he said that he was fine etc. Anyway - I tried to overlook the flour and sugar spilt everywhere in my kitchen and I thought his cake batter looked very runny but he insisted he'd followed the recipe... I left him to it figuring that it was all a learning curve, watched him pour this batter into the cake tin and pick it up to put it in the oven. And the bottom of the cake tin fell out. And the runniest, stickiest cake batter ever went all over the top of my cooker. I wanted to cry. Really, properly cry. Because I knew that I was going to have to be the one to clean the cooker. And I didn't want to. It took ages, and I was really grumpy about it too. Needless to say he didn't attempt another cake and I promised him that we'd do something together during this week - so he's taking me up on that offer tomorrow by the looks of things. And I think that it's pancake day tomorrow as well so I expect that we'll be making some of those too. Need a good list and then either to Herr Ronn or Herr Liddle to get what we need.
Yesterday was nice - went to visit my mam and stepdad. They have their vaccine appointments for this Thursday which they are both really pleased about, and so am I. We had gammon and roasties for dinner, and we had a good catch up. Unfortunately it was still very icy so we didn't end up staying for a long time but it was nice - I like having that bubble. Also went for a long walk with bestie and her ds for a good natter and a catch up. It was like taking my life in my hands but I was fairly desperate to see her - I'm not going to lie. So we slipped and slid all over the place and had a good laugh and catch up. I thought I'd sleep like a log last night but I didn't. Woke up at 2, woke up at half three and couldn't get back to sleep for over 2 hours, then dragged myself up at 8am because I'd promised another friend that I'd go and meet her for a walk along the beach. She'd made me an afternoon tea in a box to bring home - belated treat for the bitter CCL on Valentine's. She's so lovely - always thinking of other people. After that, I just came home and have mooched about the house for most of the day - too tired to do much useful stuff today. I hoovered through the house, top to bottom. Me and the kids had our COVID tests for the ONS and I spoke to my dad - he had an appointment with a consultant at the hospital today. He was having an investigation done into some health issues he has and a CT scan discovered a nodule on one of his kidneys. He met his urologist today and has been told they'll do another CT scan and then they sent him home. No diagnosis as yet so I've spent a lot of time talking him down from thinking he is at death's door with kidney cancer, and tried to talk him into going for his vaccine. He's too nervous to drive himself there so I've said that I will do it. Hopefully he'll get an appointment soon.
I've knitted a few more rows of my mam's jumper (really slow going) and crocheted a dream catcher for someone. I really want to do a good job with this jumper, and knitting is like a horror film if you make a mistake... so I have put it down for the night. My plan is to get a good night's sleep tonight - the sea air really helps tire me out. Hopefully then I can enjoy a proper relax tomorrow. I have a couple of books that I want to read. 

Honeysucklelou2

Can your DS be persuaded to use a couple of oranges in making a sauce to go over the pancakes?

Good to read that you have been able to have some relaxing times on walks, even if a little slippery. Hope the rest of half term is restful. 

f0xh0les

Start him off with bun cases ccl if he wants to go off piste and do it on his own.   I did laugh at your sticky cooker top, but rather on the top than actually inside the oven.  I must say it has happened to me too recently to forget - the bottom fell out of my world... well, cake tin.   Worse things have happened at sea,  and Sunderland.

The pancake thing is a very good idea on International Pancake Awareness day.   HSL is a genius.

I bought myself  My kids gave me a ceramic lemon/orange/lime citrus juicer for Xmas ( charity shop find 50p) and I love it. 

I am a mess this morning, about 3 hours sleep due to stupid kids wandering up and down the landing at 1am, 2am, 3am and then not being able to get back to sleep.  Today will be sponsored by strong coffee and grumpiness.

Your walks sound lovely.  I am very envious.

DawnW

I agree, bun cases sound like the way forward. I keep them for small grandchildren who want to make a cake - miss those days

janb5

I have a recipe for orange and coconut cake if interested?