Freecycle

With the move coming up, we've obviously been having a clearout. For the inexpensive stuff we were getting rid of, ebay didn't seem worth the hassle, so last week we decided to freecycle several things. It was the first time we'd ever used it, and was definitely not what I expected. The post went up at 5pm, and by 5 minutes past I'd already had 2 emails. They were quickly followed by many more and I was quite overwhelmed by the response to a load of stuff that to be honest I hadn't really expected anyone at all to be interested in.
Everyone turned up when they said they would to collect the things, and everything was gone by the following evening. Result!
Against D's better judgement, I ended up sending a request on Friday to someone who was getting rid of some Disney princess jigsaws (F is currently jigsaw mad). I was just about to post a moan about not having had any response to my email when I remembered to check my spam folder and there it was! Fortunately it was only sent last night so I haven't delayed by long. So hopefully this evening I will be taking possession of some Snow White and Ariel jigsaws which will make some little girls very happy.
And I will be freecycling some more stuff over the next few weeks as it's a lot easier than taking it to the tip, and by the looks of things, people will go for just about anything!

Chocolate crunch cake

Just made this and it is lovely. Very bad for you, but lovely nonetheless.

6oz chocolate (I use plain, but whatever takes your fancy)
4oz butter
1 tin condensed milk
10 oz rich tea biscuits
Raisins and cherries (you could also use chopped nuts or other dried fruit)

Melt the chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a large pan. Crush the biscuits and mix together. Add whatever else you want to put in there, then turn out into a foil lined tin and put in the fridge. Chill for around 3 hours, cut into squares and enjoy.

A letter from my daughter

My lovely 7 year old wrote me a letter today, it's quite long and rambling (and occasionally repetitive), but here are some of the best bits with the original spelling:

To Mummy,
I love you wiht all my hart becuase you are the besstes mummy anyone could ever have. You look very preety some times but most of the times you just look pretty and sometimes you look beautifull but still most of the times you just look preety.You are very nice and daddy is very very nice but you are very very very very nice.
....
I will never never ever go away from you becuase you are the greateset mummy enyone could ever have.
....
and you are very helpful and polite.
....
You are as clever as the cleverest person on Earth but the Eggheads are a little cleverer than you. and you are as special as the specilest angel ever!

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as I read it, but will certainly be keeping it to show her when she's 18 and can't wait to leave home.

Delicious Library

I bought Delicious Library today, and it's great! Using it to keep track of all the books and CD's I'm packing for our big move.
I never thought that scanning barcodes could be so much fun!

ITV

It's terrible that so many people are going to lose their jobs at ITV, but do they really think that cutting the drama programming and having more reality shows is going to save them? How can they not realise that part of the reason they're in so much trouble is the amount of absolute rubbish like this that they've been broadcasting over the last 5 years?
The awful reality shows (Celebrity Love Island to name just one) and badly made rip-offs of programmes that have already been done (and better) usually by the BBC - as much as I love Schofe, what else is Dancing on Ice except a poor imitation of Strictly Come Dancing?
I won't be sorry to see Heartbeat and the like go, but things like Wire in the Blood are the only reason we've bothered to turn over to their channel for quite some time (apart from F1 which they thankfully don't have any more anyway). 
I fear the final demise of ITV is definitely on the cards, and that will be a shame.

The 4 stages of life