Defrosting the freezer is something I have to do as soon as I think about it. Otherwise I will forget about it and do something else. ..It's not exactly a job that thrills me and it's not a job for summer, but a cold day job. There is only one part I like about doing it .So I have thought and forgotten about doing it for some time now. But today as I was putting the rubbish out for bin day today I noticed the bin was only 3/4 full.

How to defrost a freezer when it has food in it.
Arm yourself with a rounded knife, or a plastic scraper
plastic dustpan
plastic bags - if you are like me you will find plenty of empty bags in the freezer.

Using the scraper scrape any visible ice around the top of the freezer. Do this carefully if you are using the knife. (this is the part I like to do) The best way to use the knife is to slide it downwards between the side of the freezer and the ice with a chipping action. don't jab it into the side of the freezer or you will damage the freezer!

Next, move out one of the top baskets, move meat into another section if you can. but what you are aiming to do is to have one end of the freezer empty so you can finish scraping the ice off.

Scoop out what is in the bottom of the freezer, ice, chips, peas, slices of bread, prawns - (that's what was in my freezer) with the plastic pan and drop it into the plastic bag. try and work quickly, so that nothing you have left out starts to defrost. once that section is clean you can put the meat back in.


Clear the next section by piling what you are keeping into the area you have just cleaned.



When it's all done you can rearrange and move it all where you want it.


If you find anything to chuck out while you are doing this, then just bag it up.


This is what you will think.


I knew we had peas, I didn't know we had three packs and all of them open.

That's where the garlic bulb went.


I knew I had bought a bottle of soy sauce.


If you can do the whole job all at once then do it.
If you can only do one section at a time then do that.

Either way when you have finished let the freezer recover by not opening the door for a few hours.


If you find loads of bags of crusts of bread, then either use them to feed the birds or make a bread and butter pudding.
Put the crusts all together in one bread bag, leave them in the freezer for later or defrost now if intending to do something with today.

Sit down with a cup of tea!

An Ordinary Life

I wrote this and included it in our ladies seminar on Saturday. It is about how insignificant our lives can seem in regard to the lives of celebrities. Yet our lives become exraordinary if our life includes Jesus Christ.

There weren’t crowds awaiting news of your birth. The highest price wasn’t paid for the first glimpse of your little bald head. There wasn’t a discussion of your future role in society while you still wore nappies. There was no major interest of your antics at school, the small parts you had in your school play. There will never be world interest of photos of you walking the dog, putting out the rubbish in your pyjamas, wearing sweat pants while supermarket shopping or doing the unthinkable of stepping outside the door with no make up on yet again. Sparks won’t fly if you are spotted waving with a hairy armpit. Neither will there be queues at superdrug on the release of your new perfume. Sadly there won’t be airbrushed photos of you that make you look younger and younger as you get older and older. There won’t be colour spreads of your fashion disasters, before and after pictures of the amount of weight you’ve put on, took off, put on and took off again.. Alas there will be no Oscar, Emmy, or BAFTA on the mantlepiece that you tearfully dedicated to your Grandma. Flags won’t fly half mast on the day you die, there will be no announcement of your death on the news. But to the people around you, your family, your friends the people you live with or work with. You are a part of their world. You are being watched by them, your reactions, your choices, your decisions, are not missed by them as you journey through life. They watch Christ in you as you cross the finishing line surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

PANCAKE DAY!

Today is Shrove Tuesday, pancake day. It's traditionally the day to clear out the cupboards of anything that will ruin fasting and use it to have a feast today. Ready for the begining of lent tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.
In our household of six I have brought in the tradition of my own childhood home of eating pancakes with golden syrup. Not just any golden syrup - Lyle's Golden Syrup. I know others don't taste the same because I've tried Tesco's.

Hubby still prefers to eat his pancakes with the traditional sugar and lemon and may have one with about a teaspoon of golden syrup. the rest of us tuck into our golden syrup pancakes with a dessertspoon dollop of the golden syrup on a 'straight from the pan' pancake. Has to be hot so the syrup can melt. It's just right so that when you cut into it, the syrup oozes out of the top. I make up the batter in a large jug, pour out just enough for one pancake and then as I turn it over I will yell that one is ready. By the time that person has skidded into the kitchen and got a plate it is at its perfectional readiness. I suppose doing them this way means that we all don't eat them together, but as I make more, they are all being eaten at various stages although I always end up eating mine standing up. A neccesary addition to a pancake with golden syrup is a hot mug of tea.

The picture of the Golden syrup tin teapot is from the Tea pottery in Leyburn, Yorkshire, http://www.teapottery.co.uk/ Worth a visit if you're ever in Yorkshire. It also has a cafe. They actually make the tea pots there, you can watch them painting each teapot, very fascinating. I don't think you're supposed to use the teapots , they are collectibles. We would have bought this one, but our home isn't particularly display friendly. It would end up getting chipped or left in its box which would be pointless having it hidden away.

Back to the golden syrup -I don't throw away golden syrup tins if I can help it and they do special ones with 'perfect for pancakes' and 'Happy Birthday'

We don't just have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday either, why eat something so scrummy just once a year. they are nice when there's a glut of milk or the date is about to run out.

But today we will have a special bumper dinner of pancakes. Sweet pancakes for pudding and savoury pancakes for dinner. That means minced beef with a little gravy, chopped carrots and onion inside the pancake. Gravy poured on the top and cauliflower and broccoli on the side. For the veggie daughter it will be a cheese and broccoli filled pancake.

It's coming up to my birthday this week. a time for reflection in a way and another start to the new year if it hasn't quite got going yet. Particularly if my "Things I'm going to do this year" list hasn't started! We're only about eight weeks into the new year after all. So it's quite good having a birthday in wintery February. No fireworks or party poppers this time. Just me who will sing Happy Birthday to me around in my head all day with a silly grin on my face. I'll want to stop people in the street to tell them my news, although I probably won't!


I liked how hubby described it last month, the day before he reached the age I'll be on Thursday - the counter is about to tick over - nice one!


I like my birth date too. It's one of those special ones that can't always be planned for like 050505 . My birthdate is 26262. Commonly written as 26.2.62. and I probably share it with a multitude of people!



Can I put my plans for the year in writing?

Relationship with God
The main thing is my relationship with God I want it to grow and it is doing. I've learned that my relationship with Him stagnates when I stop moving forward. A pond stagnates unless it has a way of getting a fresh water supply into its system. So this year no going backwards!

Writing
This year I'm planning to spend more time writing my story, it seems presumptious of me to call it a novel and I'm keeping the plot under wraps till it's all done and printed. But by the research I've done it seems unique. It all depends whether it's readable Ha Ha!

Quilt
The other thing I want to do is to make a hole in my fabric stash and make something. Maybe a quilt.