mostly...

we've been poorly, for what seems like weeks now. Some horrible sore throat, coughing, headache, temperature, sore tummy type business. First Benny, then Joa and now Rebe and I. That's been about it. We missed all our groups and singing and visits, we stayed home and rested and slept.

I took it easy this morning while Rebe made soup in the kitchen. It was actually fairly nice, although erm... interesting. If you'd like to try it yourself she told me she put in: 1 onion, half a swede, 2 sweet potatoes, a small cup of red lentils, 2 stock cubes, half a teaspoon of chili powder, half of ground ginger and half of all spice, bring to boil (she kept checking with me to ensure she was recognizing the boiling aspect: 'it's got loads of tiny bubbles and is sort of grumbling' : not boiling yet, wait another few minutes... 'ok now it has big bubbles that are pushing each other around and the steam is all whooshing up') ...so let it do that for a few moments then turn it down ti simmer for half an hour then whizz up and eat with plenty of bread and butter.

We have done a little bit of crafting too. It is S.O.S. day, the RNLI's big fundraising day, on Friday and the kids (as proud Stormforce members) are holding a fundraising day at school with games and crafts and we have asked some of the crew of the Courtmacsherry lifeboat to come along for a question and answer session.
One of the games we are doing is life-saver hoola hoops.
We made poor people-in-distress from old plastic bottles, weighted with pebbles and covered in crepe paper,

 they will be hoola-hooped with these life rings made from newspaper, masking tape and a little too much red paint:

 We're really excited about Friday and I'll take my camera and share it with you here :-)
 Aside from that:

Benny discovered he can write! He sounded out 'Macs' (Max) for his friend's birthday card and was so proud he asked me to share it here.

And with all this staying in I have been doing lots of doll making:

 I also filled all of the places on my workshop for next month which I am so, so excited about and feel I have pretty much got my head around it all. I am being aware of how much prep time I will need for it and not over stretching my custom work that month, although it's always difficult not getting carried away because I do so love making these dolls.

I hope we'll all be well again soon and back to normal life, perhaps I will even get around to taking some more pictures too!