Bread and Butter

Well today has been my one and only 'free' day of the week. I made a goodly list and set to, cleaning various parts of the house. I also made some bread rolls, and some butter, being glad of the buttermilk the process left me with for some scones on Sunday. Half is also in the freezer, as is half of the butter. I cook with butter never margarine and the price has been going up. Though I buy the cheapest I can it just about works out financially better to make my own from double cream...not necessarily for the weight of butter only, but taking into consideration the buttermilk.

 

Just separating

Ready to squeeze

Squeezed and rinsed

The rolls I made were 25% wholemeal and I have not photographed them...however they did look rather lovely and hubby has already helped himself to two at teatime. He also found the rock cakes I baked earlier, at this rate he'll have nothing for packing his lunches again soon!

The Buttercup paint I bought for the dining room sadly was not suitable. It turned out to be much the same colour as what we have in the kitchen. I next bought a tester of Autumn Embrace, lovely but still rather dark...we now have Moroccan Spice ready to splatter on the walls...it's bold, it's bright, and it will have to do for now. When I used visualizer I realised that yellows just looked dull in the available light, whereas the oranger colour kept more of its vibrancy.

Hubby is currently out painting our patio walls...I need to ignore his size 12's trampling on the flower beds for the good of goodness knows what....I just do! 

I really love this part of the garden in Springtime

These tulips have continued to pop up for a few years now

The lilacs are just about ready to bloom, as are some Lily of the Valley

There is always something to look forward to in a garden

The cloth I used to squeeze the butter is now in a pan on top of the woodburner, just in case anyone was worried that it wouldn't get a good or hot enough wash the way I have been continuing to do my laundry. Yes I'm still using the bins and wooden spoon!

I caved in last Sunday and loaded the dishwasher, it took ages, and so Monday morning at 6am I was unloading it and trying to put everything away. Plastic cups and cutlery were dripping wet, my back doesn't take kindly to bending down and quite frankly I just wondered why I did that every day. I much prefer the hand wash method. Dry and put away. Job done. 

My work shifts have been all over the place this month, and will continue to be so, so I have re-jigged my household chores schedule. I use Opus One as my planner, and have daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and one off tasks listed. I changed all but my daily tasks to allow for more flexibility as in as long as I wash the bedding each week, it doesn't matter which day. Likewise monthly jobs such as cleaning windows. I do love a list! 

Well hubby has made his way back inside and it is getting later. We'll enjoy some cosy time by the fire, before heading off to bed reasonably early and resting to prepare for whatever life throws at us tomorrow.

Blessings, J. x