A week of celebrations together with childcare for 3 days and I am cream crackered.
I am not sure if this lockdown makes things easier or harder as far as celebrations are concerned. With my mum being 95 on Tuesday this week and little Freddie just two on Wednesday I had to do something to mark the occasion for each of them, (and from a distance in the case of my mum) and in neither case, because of lockdown, would it be a big party. Sometimes a big party is easier.
As I wouldn’t be seeing my mum (who lives in North Yorkshire) I had a posy of flowers delivered to her from a florist in Thirsk (one that my daughter had used at Christmas and recommended) and I would also recommend them as they couldn’t have been more helpful. This is the link for anyone nearby alina-florist.
I couldn’t have them delivered direct to mum as I wasn’t sure they would get in the apartment building and if they did I wasn’t sure mum would get to her door. So I had them delivered to my sister’s the day before as she was going to be with mum on her birthday and she had arranged that a local deli would provide them with a take away afternoon tea.
The flowers were beautiful.
The afternoon tea I am told was delicious – and it certainly looks it – and my sister had taken the time to get mum’s best Royal Albert china out with the tiered cake stand and matching teapot – there is nothing better than a little pink loveliness on these occasions. Mum got loads of cards and had a really nice day even though it was just the two of them. We did a Zoom ‘party’ for her last Sunday so she could see the family all together.
For little Freddie it was up to DH and I to make a little birthday tea, complete with dinosaur birthday cake and games, as his birthday fell on one of our childcare days. It was not easy trying to put the roll out icing on the cake whilst looking after him -I found it rather difficult to get rid of the folds around the bottom and there was no time for any undue faffing. To add to the difficulties the strips of grass DH had made had become rather brittle overnight and broke into pieces.
I loved the little dinosaurs that DH had made using the cutters I had sent for on the internet from http://www.cake-stuff.com and choosing the neon colour mix of ready roll over the usual primary was the right choice. Little Freddie was delighted with the finished cake and that is all that matters. I am not even sure why I am showing you a picture of yet another cake disaster!
I also finished the jumper – just in time for him to get a little wear out of it. Sewing it together did get easier as I got into the swing of it and no doubt by the time I finish another jumper I will be much more proficient.
The weather has been so wet, windy and cold there was no chance of getting outside – the best we managed was the shopping on Monday night. To amuse little Freddie during these long days, limited to indoors, we set up a tub of water to play in – he loved it but could not have been any wetter afterwards had we stood him outside in the torrential rain!
So childcare is over for this week and now it is my time for four whole days to myself. I have necessary and urgent paperwork and banking to do and should I find we have some money in our account I will be very surprised. January is the month for my car tax and insurance, MOT and servicing – yes January is all about the car – never buy a car at this time of year or you are stuck with the bills in January for ever after.
After paperwork must come a few household chores, definitely the oven and perhaps the shower – neither are my favourite jobs, I find both require the skills of a contortionist to get into the nooks and crannies – though I can’t complain as much now I have the high level oven…can I?
And when all that is done I must get back to doing some of the half started craft projects – in fact I might even tackle the projects before the chores.
Have a good weekend everyone. x
where the journey takes me 2 
Enjoy the next few days. You worked really hard to create some wonderful celebrations during lockdown. Freddie’s little sweater is lovely.
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Thank you Ann – I have a lot to catch up on in 4 days – but I did have a lie in this morning for an hour.
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Two lovely birthday celebrations. Your dinosaur cake is a masterpiece and that little jumper so cute. I love your Mum’s china, what a pretty birthday afternoon tea she had, yummy food, glorious flowers and that lovely best china.
Happy Birthday to two of your favourite people. xx
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Re: the cake – you obviously need to go to spec savers!! An enlargement of the photo would show up the awful defects. I need to have a look on You Tube to discover how you get rid of the excess icing on a tall round cake – no amount of smoothing, tucking and gathering did any good – still it tastes OK!!
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What delightful parties you gave them both. The flowers are lovely and the afternoon tea looks lovely – the shop is clever to provide such things. The dinosaur cake is fantastic too.
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Thank you Pat – Two family members at both ends of the age scale – normally we would have had a family get together for mum as 95 is such an achievement.
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Wow! Both were successful celebrations! Love the attention to detail and the lovely flowers! Everything looks very yummy! You definitely deserve a break! Thanks for sharing.
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It is hard trying to make an event special during lockdown – but we tried our best – then you hear of people having 400 guests at a wedding party and that feels quite scandalous especially when church leaders must have known and the people hiring the hall – in my mind there is no excuse for such behaviour.
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Freddie’s sweater is charming and that darling cake was a masterpiece–definitely not a disaster! I’m willing to bet Freddie was thrilled. What a gorgeous spread, too.
As for Mum’s flowers, they are so lovely. I do miss English flowers–the variety and colours just aren’t the same here. And how I wish I could reach into my computer screen to whisk away one of those afternoon tea scones. One more thing I miss. Your sister did a lovely job. Must tell Mum she looks a good 10-15 years younger than her age!
Another great post, Viv. No wonder you are cream crackered! Hope you get a bit of a rest before next Tuesday. x
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You can’t beat an afternoon tea so it was good news to know the local Deli were doing takeaways.
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That sweater is lovely… you are a talented knitter. Oh those cakes look divine too. Happy Birthday to you MOM!! quite an achievement. Beautiful flowers as well.
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Thank you – this was my second attempt at knitting something after a forty year break and I only did a few things back then when my girls were little.
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Oh Viv, what you and your sister did for Mum is quite, quite wonderful and I am sure it gave her a lot of pleasure. That afternoon tea looks utterly yummy.
I do agree with Mary – tell your Mum if I look that good at 70 I will be delighted, let alone a quarter of a century further on.
You made things beautiful for Freddie too, no wonder you are exhausted 🙂 That cake looks heaps better than most things I have seen on Bake Off.
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I smiled at the Bake Off comparison – it would have gone down well in their catalogue of disasters – not maybe as bad as the lady who made the custard slices and then had to go and put her head in the freezer!! She still has a good head of hair my mum and until recently had not really gone grey which makes a big difference. Sadly she is starting to lose teeth now, needs a replacement hip and has a very dodgy shoulder but she soldiers on and often drives us all mad in the process (she looks so angelic on this photo – but believe me she has her moments of impatience with us all).
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Oh, what a nice week you have had with lots of special celebrations! Your mum looks amazing to be 95 years old. Her flowers are gorgeous and so is the tea, so glad she had a lovely day. Freddie’s cake is adorable, too. Happy Birthday to both of them. The handmade jumper is beautiful. You are very talented. I hope you enjoy a few days of rest or whatever makes you happy as you definitely deserve it!
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Thank you Julia – in a way I am relieved everything went OK it has been hard to get even the rollout cake icing during the lockdown and now I can relax for a while – no family birthdays now until April.
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All looks wonderful. Well done.
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Thank you Jill.
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I admire your ingenuity and creativity so much, Viv. Well done!
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Thank you Chris -I tried my best under the current restrictions.
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I think I would love to come to one of your parties Viv! And I hope you did the craft project before the chores.
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I did!
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Both birthday teas look lovely, as do the flowers you gave your Mum. Birthdays are so difficult in lockdown. Two of my Daughters have already experienced lockdown birthdays and the other two, who have birthdays at the beginning of the March, are already worrying that they will too especially the eldest who will be 21. She is away at University and is worried that she might not even be able to spend it at home with us let alone go out and party!
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It is such a difficult time for any celebrations at the moment and it never quite seems the same to celebrate after the event has passed. I do hope they can both enjoy the day in some way. I think when it is possible and safe to do so we will be arranging a family get together to celebrate all that we have missed – maybe even a lovely picnic where we can just enjoy being together once again.
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