The Simple Woman's Day Book . . .

FOR TODAY, June 8th, 2009 ...

Outside My Window...
The sky is overcast. We watched Country File on the telly last night and they said that we would have a very unsettled week here weatherwise this week. Lots of lows and highs, and it looked like there was going to be big differences in temperature from one day to the next. I guess we could be prepared for anything this week! Yesterday morning when I got up it was raining bucketloads and then, by the time we left to go to our church Stake Conference in Maidstone, the sun was shining! It was fairly nice for the rest of the day.

I am thinking...
About the lovely talks we heard in our Stake Conference yesterday. President Uchtdorf spoke and gave a wonderful talk. He is such a loving man and I could listen to him for hours. He's witty and funny and very spiritual. All the leaders in our church are what I can only describe as being Spiritual Giants. I have no doubt in my mind or in my heart whatsoever that they have been called of God to lead us. That is a pretty special feeling, and I am grateful for that.

I am thankful for...
Just as our Stake Conference finished yesterday and we had all gotten up to leave and say our goodbyes to each other the fire alarm started going off. I looked towards the back of the hall and could see smoke pouring out from between the curtains that lay across the stage back there. There was probably a thousand of us in that hall and I am so thankful that we were all able to get out in an orderly manner and that nobody got hurt. Two firetrucks arrived shortly after. I am not sure what happened after that as we left to come home, but I am assuming the building is ok as nobody e-mailed me to tell me anything different!

From the kitchen...
There is a Victoria Sponge sitting on the counter left from our get-together on Friday evening, and also some peanut blossoms in the tin. Our dinner guest on Saturday evening brought us a lovely tin of Belgian Biscuits from Marks & Spencers and they are looking very tempting sitting over there on the counter, not to mention half a loaf of homemade French bread! (Bread maker bread and it's good!) I haven't decided what I am going to make for our supper yet, but expect it will be something good. I have some mashed potatoes to use up so I will probably do something tasty with those!

I am wearing...

I am wearing pretty blue and white check seersucker cotton pajamas, with white lace trim. Yes, they're new and I just love them. I have always loved seersucker anything. when my oldest daughter was about five years old I sewed her the cutest little dress out of blue striped seersucker. It was a sailor dress and had a white collar and a pretty red satin bow at the front. It was so cute. I used to sew all the girls clothes until they got old enough to balk at wearing dresses and such. When they were really small I made them matching cowboy outfits. The trousers had fringe trim down the side seams and the little cowboy shirts had pearlized snaps on them. One was in mint green and the other in denim blue. They were so adorable in them. Everyone thought they were twins!

I am creating...
I didn't get any painting done at all this weekend. I was finishing up some sketches that I had been doing for a project a friend and I are doing together. I have some wicked good ideas for some new pictures though and I am still mulling the doll idea over in my mind. I have had a problem finding proper doll hair over here though. I am still searching. I have ever such a hard time finding crafting materials over here. I have to do most of my shopping for them online as I am really limited to the hours I can spend shopping in real shops. I really only have Saturdays.

I am going...
To work today and then every day this week. I am finished teaching Seminary for the year now, so I only have the Mutual Activity on Thursday evening with the Young Women to attend. It will seem odd not having to rush out of here right after supper that night. With seminary I had to be at the church by 6:30 and fight rush hour traffic to get there. Now I don't have to be there until 7:30, which will be nice!

I am reading...

I am reading a book called Stolen Innocence by a woman named Elissa Wall. It is the true story of a young woman's escape from the FLDS church. These are the polygamists that live in America and parts of Canada. People are always confusing them with the LDS church, or as it is properly known as, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons as a lot of people call us. It can be very frustrating at times because most people think that as Mormons we practice Polygamy still. The truth is that Polygamy was outlawed by our church in the late 1800's and if anyone who is a member of our church was found practicing it, they would be excommunicated. There are these splinter groups however that broke away when Polygamy was banned, and they formed their own church which is nothing at all to do with ours. Anyways, this book is about those people and it is a true story about this young woman's escape from it. It's very interesting. Here's a quote from it in her own words:

"I had been in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) from the moment I was born. It was all I knew and the only way I could imagine living. From his teachings, I knew that the prophet's job was to dictate what was best for us, and that the words he spoke came straight from God. I believed that my impending marriage was God's will, and therefore nothing could be done to stop it. But still, I had to try.
I also knew that I was different from other FLDS girls. I wanted to get an education, and maybe even become a nurse or a teacher someday. I'd come to realize things were possible that I'd never dreamed before. Sure, I knew that I wanted to be a mother, but not at fourteen. I wanted children and a future, and I dared to think that both were possible."

I am hoping...
We discovered a huge lump on our Jess's leg on Saturday evening. We are taking her to the Vet's today and I am really hoping it is nothing serious. She has had a small bump there for a long time, like a small cyst. It was only about the size of a pea and I never thought it was anything to worry about, but it seems to have grown to the size of a small apple seemingly overnight and I am really worried about it. We don't have any children of our own. She is our baby and I love her dearly.

I am hearing...
The birds in the garden are chattering away. I think there are some starlings out there right now judging by all the noise. They are very noisy birds and quite greedy as well. I noticed some fledgling blue tits out there yesterday afternoon. I love to see the fledglings. They're so cute. We also had a pair of red spotted woodpeckers come this weekend as well. We have a long feeder filled with niger seed and the other day I counted 3 pairs of goldfinches at it. So beautiful, so very beautiful . . .

Around the house...
Can you believe we still haven't gotten the other half of the kitchen painted? I know!! That's terrible. I have been sitting here with a half yellow kitchen for at least 3 weeks now! Maybe he will get it finished this week. Hope springs eternal, or at least they say it does! ☺

One of my favorite things...
is watching old films from the 30's and 40's. That was a simpler time and there is not a lot of violence or gratuitous sex in them, not to mention no bad language. People have simple values and lives. I like that. I also like sitcoms from the 1950's and 60's. We have DVD's of several of them such as Father Knows Best, Hazel, Leave It To Beaver, Andy Griffith, Mary Tyler Moore, Newhart. I just love watching them as does Todd. Most of them are completely new to him as they are North American shows. They are as new to him as the Brit sitcoms from that era are new to me. We also have the whole series of Upstairs Downstairs which we are watching. I think we are on series 4 of it now. It's really good!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
Not a lot really. Just basically work and then the Mutual Activity on Thursday evening. I do hope that I can get some painting time in this week. My fingers are just itching to play with my brushes and paints! I wish I could do it all the time.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...


This is a picture of a rose on the rose bush that sits right outside our kitchen window. You can see the lavender in the background that is just coming in to bloom. I thought it was really pretty. We have quite a few roses all around our cottage. On the wall next to the drive there are red and white climbing roses and then we have a yellow climbing rose that grows along the side of our garden shed. Not to mention there are several bush roses. Up at the big house there is a beautiful rose garden. You walk down a long pathway that has a fence on either side upon which climbing roses have been trained to grow. This leads to an arched area that has arches of roses growing over top which leads to a complete rose garden, which is very beautiful. Indeed all the gardens on this Estate are spectacular to say the least!

And there you have it, my Simple Woman's Day Book for today. Don't forget to hop on over to the Simple Woman to check out the other day book entries! (Or better yet, do a simple day book entry yourself! It's not that hard and I am betting you would enjoy it!)

I made a delicious Corn Scallop for our dinner the other evening. I love this dish. It's old fashioned and simple and quite tasty. I could eat this til it comes out my ears! The leftovers taste even better heated up the next day!



*Corn Scallop*
Serves 4

Printable Recipe

This is one of those old fashioned dishes that are real family pleasers. I could a whole plate of this for my supper and nothing else. It is comfort food, plain and simple. Creamed Corn is not all that easy to find over here. You can get it at Sainsbury's and also from www.Skyco.uk.com. You can find it in the General Groceries section. I find it comes in handy for all sorts of things. Heck, I've been known to eat it out of the can, cold, with a spoon...

1 can cream style corn (2 c.)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. cracker crumbs
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped celery
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup grated strong cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper to taste



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a 1 litre casserole dish well. Set aside.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, making sure they are well mixed together. Pour this mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Bake in the heated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the mixture is set and nicely browned on top. Serve warm. Delicious!