Mum has a day out...

So today mum was off out with Sheila and Klaus - it is Sheila's birthday and she came and picked mum up at 10.30 and they went off to Polis for a wander and a coffee before returning to Droushia for what I would bet was one of Klaus's fabulous lunches.

John had some chores he wanted to do - the various pools he keeps and eye on are teetering near the limit before a pump out is necessary and I wanted to do a bit of cleaning and Mum had come up with a marvellous idea...
...I had ordered a table runner for our kitchen some time ago and it has been lost in the vagaries of the Christmas Post coming to Cyprus from the UK so Mum suggested cutting up one of my bargain Jumbo tablecloths to make a runner and some napkins.  Why hadn't I thought of that??????  These tablecloths are about 5 euros - a runner was going to be about 15 quid not to mention the cost of six fabric napkins!!!!  Out came the trusty sewing machine (also required to repair the 'vent' which had appeared in Johns jim-jam bottoms!!!).

TAH DAH!!!!!  Here is the finished article - a table runner and six napkins and I have enough material left over to make more napkins and if I had made the runner a bit thinner I could have made two.  I have to say I was chuffed with the finished article and well done mum for suggesting it.  John's jimmies no longer have the unexpected vent - they live to fight another day although the material is now getting too thin to repair!!!

Time just seemed to fly by today - by the time I had made a cottage pie for tomorrow it was almost time for mum to come home.  It is cottage pie because it is beef and beef mince out here is so much nicer than in the uk - much less fat and gristle, although sometimes there isn't enough fat!!  I had chosen to follow a recipe (bar including the celery because I didn't have any) as it was quite a different method of preparing the meat element.  It smelt lovely and rich so I am hoping it will taste as good as it smelt tomorrow when we have it for our Sunday meal.  The recipe is in my food section if you want to try it - maybe wait until after we have eaten it and I can give you my opinion.

It being Saturday, John was settling down to watch The Mighty Blades along with fledgling supporter Boris who seemed somewhat startled by the whole experience and this was only at the beginning of the match - after John had screamed home three goals I am guessing Boo was completely traumatised but John was ecstatic - normally SUFC are completely shite over the festive season but this year they have only been moderately shite!!!

As you can see Charlie and Minnie Mou were suitably unimpressed by the football and John's celebrations!!!!  Minnie amazes me - she is much more settled than she has been for years even with a 'stranger' in the house - in fact she has made great friends with Mum not least because Mum is happy to rub her head for hours on end - this is clearly the way to Minnie's heart - that and food!  We are a little concerned about Charlie - if you look at him square on you can see that there is something not right about the his face - it seems to have got worse as time has gone one so he looks almost like he has had a stroke.  He has also scratched a nasty sore underneath his right ear which isn't healing very well - we don't know whether or not he cannot feel how hard he is scratching.  We have tried cleaning his ears but the right ear doesn't seem to be dirty or have mites so John wonders if he has some tingling feeling returning and he is scratching as a result.  We are keeping an eye on it as we are with the abscess on Chivers tail.  Blimey they are such a worry.

Whilst John was watching the footie I entertained Mum with the three episodes of Worst Christmas of My Life which was first aired in 2006.  It had taken me forever to be able to find it someone on the tintyweb but having got it I was determined we should see it.  It was a hit!

Finally a big thank-you to Klaus and Sheila for giving Mum a lovely day, Happy Birthday to Sheila for today and to Klaus for tomorrow.