quiet night in

I was meant to be going out for dinner with an old friend this evening, but he ended up having to change his plans last minute. This means I have the house to myself this evening, which I am quite enjoying. Part of me fully intends to be in bed before 10pm, but the other part of me wants to be super productive and get all the little jobs that have been racking up a long list in my brain for a long time, done and out of the way. Of course, I won't get all the things done that I would like to, because there simply isn't enough time in one evening to do it all. And rather than trying my hardest to, I'm just going to do a few things (chores, mainly) then get a good night's sleep, because I am oh so tired.

So, what have I done so far during my quiet night in? I've eaten dinner, done some laundry, made a batch of 64 biscuits and cleaned the kitchen. The biscuits are for a BIGgroup meeting tomorrow night, which is when the small groups all get together for teaching and worship. I'm in charge of refreshments, and while I know that I don't need to bake and could just buy enough biscuits, I don't want to buy cheap normal biscuits because they are just boring and there's always ones that people don't like. I cannot warrant spending a small fortune on good quality biscuits, so I've settled for a compromise. I've bought 5 packets of good quality ones (half fair trade) and made the rest. Making 64 biscuits has cost roughly £1.20 - the price you pay for a posh pack of 9 biscuits. I would far rather bake and save huge amounts of money, than save myself time and buy them all.

I've spent the vast majority of my afternoon playing with duplo fire stations and police stations, lots and lots of playmobil people and a playmobil zoo. In some ways I am slightly horrified at just how appalling my logical mind is. I cannot for the life of me work out how to construct the plastic sections of the zoo together - it's kind of like playing tessalations and working with angles - in its simplest form. I just can't do it. How sad is that - that my play is inhibited by lack of a logical mind. (By the way, I haven't just invested in a whole load of children's toys, I was looking after the youngest of the children I childmind, and the playmobil zoo is his favourite at the moment.)

Here are a few photos from my mammoth baking session on Saturday...

I like the way baking can look pretty in the process as well as in the finished product

Divine Cookies - a fairtrade recipe