Saturday, 31 October 2020
Fab freebies of the week 31/10
Friday, 30 October 2020
Madhouse recipe : Ham & Cheese Croissant Bake
Wednesday, 28 October 2020
October 2020 Degustabox review : Movie Night & Halloween
Monday, 26 October 2020
Giveaway #742 : Win a Spooky Tales 3-movie collection - closed - winner Keith Hunt
What's Cooking At The Madhouse ? menu plan week 43
lunch- leftover cottage pie
Sunday, 25 October 2020
Project 366 : Photo diary week 43
Hands up if you forgot to put the clocks back ! I went to get the roast potatoes out of the oven this lunchtime then realised it was only half past eleven - oops ! I was convinced it was next week we changed ! Oh well ... This week, we've been on holiday so it's been bliss. No rushing around, plenty of time to do everything, slowly ticking things off the never-ending to-do list. Basically lots of much needed rest and recuperation for everyone - and we still have a week to go. Aaahhh ! :)
Sunday - A stress-free day. All the usual must-do jobs for the weekend (laundry, cleaning, dealing with paperwork, lesson planning/marking, shopping, ...) have been put back to next week when I'm on holiday. After tucking into a laid-back Sunday lunch out of the slow cooker, I had a video call with Sophie and my mum and dad, walked the dog and that was it for the day ! I settled down to read A Perfect Storm, sent to me by the author all the way from Canada. You may have read some of my reviews of the previous Sgt Windflower books - this one will be up on the blog next week.
Monday - I've had no time for blogging lately so I gave myself a day (or two or three !) to catch up on replying to emails and sorting out blog posts. Walking the dog was as energetic as it got today ! I tried a new recipe for Chicken & Bacon Ranch Casserole today - not bad, especially in the colder weather. It's the first time I've made a casserole with rice in it.
Wednesday - After a lazy morning, I started on my list of jobs. First, I had a big tidy-up in the kitchen and cleared some space on the table (which gets used as a general dumping zone !) then I cleared out all the bags of rubbish that were in front of the car so that it can be accessed easily for the battery charging/changing. The dustmen come once a week so I've been trying to siphon off the excess bags (from the big clear-out over the summer in the kids' rooms) in the bin whenever there's room. The neighbour came around and did (in minutes !) all those jobs I couldn't figure out, like sorting out the cupboard door that wouldn't stay on its hinges or changing the shower head (the water tube had a hole but it was stuck on with limescale and I couldn't get it off). I'll have to get the other neighbour on to sorting out the car though, as they couldn't manage ! A quick pop to the supermarket revealed this selection of pumpkins and gourds - they're finally branching out and stocking parsnips regularly too. Woohoo !
Thursday - My new phone arrived, as my old one had totally stopped working - it looks very posh but it wasn't that expensive. I love the back which is blue fading into white and kind of reflective so you get pink flashes too if you tilt it. I also went into town and dropped off the paperwork for getting €80 back for buying a new bike for Pierre (a measure brought in at the end of confinement - presumably to help reduce the numbers of people on the (free) bus network?) and also enquired about the money you can claim back on changing your boiler.
Friday - We decided to bring our trip to town forward a day, to hopefully avoid the crowds. After a visit to McDonald's (definitely less busy than at the weekend), we headed to the shops. Juliette got a jumper and pointed out lots of things she likes as ideas for Christmas presents, then we bought a necklace that she fell in love with (that has been put aside for Christmas). I even bought some pyjamas and underwear for myself. I never normally start Christmas shopping this early but who knows what will happen with confinement. I need to head back to Le Furet du Nord (the equivalent of Virgin/HMV) as they had lots of bits that would be good as stocking filler-type presents for the kids. We finished off with a drink in a smoothie bar and Juliette sent a photo to Sophie to annoy her - kids !
Saturday - A total lazy day ! I played Gardenscape for far too long (as I changed phones, I lost my account so I was back to level 1 - oh well !), went food shopping and popped to see the neighbour so he can sort out the car before its MOT. Nothing to show today besides a picture from our dog walk along the canal !
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Fab freebies of the week 24/10
Friday, 23 October 2020
Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club review : Picture Show

Thursday, 22 October 2020
Smashed Alcohol-Free Beers and Ciders review
When I was a student (many many moons ago !), my housemates and I regularly used to meet up for a quick chat in the communal kitchen and throw out a random proposal of "let's have a night in and get smashed" ! Well, funnily enough, that's something I could imagine myself saying again fairly regularly, but this time, it has nothing to do with boozy nights in and painful hangovers the next day. Smashed is the name of a new range of alcohol-free beers and ciders that taste great and have none of the downsides of their alcoholic counterparts.
As you can see from the packaging, they look just like cans and bottles of regular beer and cider, which is always a good thing if you're the only one not drinking. I can remember when I was pregnant and it was a birthday or Christmas celebration, I always felt a bit left out when everyone was happily knocking back champagne or wine and I'd have a glass of orange juice. I can also remember when we used to go out to pubs, I'd regularly get given a hard time about not drinking if I opted for a coke. Whether you're the designated driver for the night or just fancy a night off the booze, you can still join in and look the part if you opt for a can or bottle of Smashed. Definitely something to stock up on for all the end of year get togethers and parties (even if they end up being online meet-ups !).
Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Giveaway #741 : Win Wish Upon A Unicorn dvd - closed - winner Margeret Gallagher
Tuesday, 20 October 2020
Book review : Where The Edge Is - Gráinne Murphy
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1789559413
- ISBN-13 : 978-1789559415
- Product Dimensions : 19.7 x 2.4 x 13 cm
- Publisher : Legend Press (15 Sept. 2020)
- Language: : English
Monday, 19 October 2020
What's Cooking At The Madhouse ? menu plan week 42
lunch- roast chicken, roast potatoes, veg & gravy
Sunday, 18 October 2020
Project 366 : Photo diary week 42
Our final week at school before heading into our two-week half-term holiday - literally counting down the days ! Next week, I plan on chilling out, catching up on sleep and unwinding. Oh, I have a rather large to-do list to work through too ... but that can wait for a few days !
Sunday - At the kids' request, we had raclette for dinner - it's a French cheese that melts into a smooth almost-liquid texture and you melt it in a little dish on a special machine, then pour it over boiled potatoes and cured meats (ham, salami, etc). Delicious - and it also helped warm up the house, as we still have no heating ! Spent the rest of the day as usual, catching up on the weekly wash, phoning my parents and doing my marking.
Monday - My half-day at school. In the afternoon, I went back to the town hall to pick up Pierre's new ID card. Headed back home and worked on my write-up for the Norway project - I'd done a few lessons in class and had to write all my answers on a worksheet about how the lessons were planned, improvements I'd make, skills that were used, etc. Finished off with more marking. Who said it was supposed to be a half-day?! *sigh*
Tuesday - A usual day at work, then it was Pierre's parent-teacher evening. This year, due to Covid-restrictions, we had one appointment to see his form teacher (who is his French teacher) and one extra teacher (his physics/chemistry teacher). It all went OK. We talked about a test in the first week where he got 0/10 because he was caught with identical responses to his friend's answers. After talking to Pierre when we got home, he admitted that it wasn't him who was cheating, as he had originally told me. He'd agreed to take the blame for his friend (who was cheating off of Pierre) because his friend promised to give him some sweets ! In his own words, he had no regrets ! Apart from shaking my head at him and telling him not to do it again, I couldn't help but laugh when I explained it all to Juliette. What a blooming idiot ! Juliette made pancakes for tea while we were at the school so I didn't even have to cook when we got back :)
Wednesday - A morning at work, then an afternoon at home, where I finally finished off my Norway report and sent it off by email. Done ! Thank goodness for that ! I decided to go and do battle with the boiler again, as it was feeling decidedly chilly. I turned it on again, the same way I have numerous times in the last ten days, and it burst into life - we have heating ! But still no hot water !?! I really don't get it ! Still, the house is warm so it's better than it was. I hope it stays on this time. We celebrated by warming up endless kettles and pans of water and filling up the bath - it reminded me of when I was a kid and we must have had similar problems with the boiler !
Thursday - A long day at work, but it was lovely to come home to a warm house. I still have no idea what the problem was last week or how I managed to fix it this time, but who cares? We have heat ! Took the dog out for his usual walk after dinner - it's decidedly dark when we get back home now. The sky looked so menacing, I was sure we'd have a storm before we made it home, but we didn't luckily.
Friday - The final day at school before the holidays - I was nice and finished off the lessons with the younger kids with Halloween wordsearches ! At the end of the day, I had to hang around for half an hour, then walk down to meet Juliette at her school, before heading off for her orthodontist's appointment. All OK, next appointment in February, all done in ten minutes, waiting time included ! Back home to the lovely smells of dinner wafting from the slow cooker - it's such a fabulous invention !
Saturday - The weekend is pretty full-on usually, but as I'm on holiday next week, I put everything back a few days - trip to the cemetery? shopping? washing? That can all wait until next week ! After a lazy morning, we headed into town, ate at McDonald's (they've reduced the number of seats/tables and you now have to leave your details/phone number so you can be contacted if there are COVID cases) then went to look for a new coat for Pierre. There are very few shops that cater to teenage boys but he eventually found one that he loved in Redskins. It's an expensive shop - adult coats were all about €300 so I was expecting the worst, but for a kids' coat, it was about €50-60. Still expensive but it's good quality and I know that, even if the shop has nothing to do with the Washington Redskins, it reminds Pierre of his dad's favourite American football team, so I gave in and bought it. We saw this big dragonfly on the ground - not quite dead but definitely on the way out. Poor thing - it's probably way too cold for it to survive now.
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