Homemade Marshmallows

A picture  of why I am so happy I taught my children to cook!  Beautiful homemade marshmallows.  Also known as one of the indications my daughter really should become a pastry chef.  She is a magician with sweets.
The marshmallows made outstanding nibbles while my nose was buried in The Hunger Games series. If you haven't read these books, please do.  I personally found them highly enjoyable, (they may have brought out a bit of the fan-girl in me).  The books are fairly quick reads(I read the last one in less than a day), well written, and not strikingly soppy or sugar coated teenage drivel (Husband's comment was that, for the young adult category,  they were a bit dark) .  Just for reference I am also fans of Robin McKinley and  J.K. Rowling.  I started the last in the Parasol Protectorate series today, Husband read it while I finished The Hunger Games trilogy. Ms. Carriger is quite popular around our house.  The first and second Girl Genius novels are also doing a tour of the house, the online comic being much beloved.
There's been an outstanding amount of reading going on lately, even the teenagers are flying through novels left and right.  I figure it must be the weather. Lying under a fan, in the heat of the day, and exerting only enough effort to turn pages has been an ideal way for us to pass the last month.  In my case, it's because I read faster if I am not trying to knit at the same time and yarn sticks to your fingers when it's over 90*F.

Re-do.

At the beginning of May, I was all set.  I had myself all pulled together, down to commercial bath products that actually worked, pants that fit properly and a fantastic hat that looked like a U.F.O had landed on my head.

Cue the beginning of June. I am looking a bit worse for wear. I've found an extra ten pounds, so while the pants still fit, they don't look nearly as well. I haven't re-dyed my hair, so the (still) ashy blonde roots are prominently exposed in my otherwise copper red mane and the frizz that summer weather has caused remains untended. No effort has been made to replace the bath products that had been working so well, which doesn't seem to matter as I have been lax in using them anyway and the state of my skin is testament to that, oily, flaky and breaking out.  Truly a charming image, don't you think?  It's an image I wallow in for June and part of July.  At which point I actually look at myself in a mirror and announce to the empty bathroom, "I really need to do something about this!"

I start exercising as soon as I roll out of bed. Can't seem to stick with it if my brain is fully awake, it argues and makes excuses.
I stop mindlessly eating whatever leftovers I find in the fridge.  I make smoothies and keep containers of mixed nuts (not pre-packaged or seasoned) at hand for snacks.
There is a pillaging of the pantry to make bath items.  The search reveals the necessary components for a face/body lotion, face scrub, sugar scrub and hair oil. Concoctions are stirred and notes taken so I can actually replicate them should they work. I even get fancy and put together an herbed milk bath.

Progress is slow. I am irked at myself for having to re-do all the work from the beginning of the year. I have no deadline nor any solid set of goals to reach.  There is just a desire to be healthy...and to be happy with the way my pants fit.

Scotch Eggs and Why Socks Are Good For Insomnia

About a week ago I gave in to my husband's request and had a go at making scotch eggs . They weren't difficult, just a bit fiddly.  I would have taken pictures, but they disappeared rather rapidly. Everyone in the house has an outrageous fondness for them.
Most of this week has been devoted to functioning on almost no sleep.  For some reason lately, my brain has decided that actual sleep is optional.  This is detrimental to my knitting.  I can push myself through most of my day, but the fine motor skills required to wield my needles suffer.  To the rescue comes the plain vanilla sock!  I have a two gallon bag, the yarn in it weighed and wound, to make pairs of ankle socks.  Mind-numbingly simple, don't even need a pattern, easy to fix if I make a mistake, yet much needed by me type socks.  The kind of knitting I normally avoid during the day as it tends to put me to sleep. 

Today, I am mostly avoiding caffeine (difficult), instead sipping a tisane of lavender, mint and chamomile. There are plans for a  lovely warm bath this evening, then dragging my behind into a freshly made bed, to knit slowly and steadily on my very uncomplicated socks until, thought processes beaten into submission by determined lack of attention and use, I finally manage to sleep.
Wish me luck.