Birthday cake, mainly

Life is just plodding along here and I don't think I have much to write about at the moment.  We're back at school and I'm trying to catch up on my paperwork.  Being ill but back at work meant that I let the paperwork slip and it is now a bit of a mountain.  Oops.

I'm guinea pig-sitting this week which is fun. My friend at school is away on a week long field trip with Year 8 so I get the fun of the guinea pigs.  I just happen to have a spare hutch and run at the moment so that is very handy. They are three lovely little characters - two are smooth haired and really friendly and curious about everything and the third is long haired and looks like a mini sheep and is a cowardy custard., even when food is on offer. We had guinea pigs when our kids were small because they are so child friendly. And me friendly : )

We are about to start eating our homegrown lettuce leaves which will be nice.  We have still got a few of last year's leaf beet plants that I am cropping (I love anything spinach-y) but they are starting to go to seed so I'm sharing the past-it plants with the rabbits and hens who are also firm fans.  The guinea pigs are not so keen but they love grass so there is plenty of that for them to eat.

At half term, it was my husband's birthday, so we had a family meal/get together for him.  We held it at my daughter's house so he did not know it was happening until the last minute.  They all hid in the kitchen and jumped out and shouted Happy Birthday to him and our little grandson thought this was tremendous fun : )

I made the cake for him but had to make two - one that he saw me making for him and another to hide to take to my daughter's with candles for him and our grandson to blow out.  I didn't want to set the cake on fire so just had a token number of candles...

Then he decided that he wanted to take cake to church on the Sunday.  I made traybake sponges and iced them with chocolate fudge icing and cut them up into 120 or so fingers.  Before cutting them up, they were sitting on the table for the icing to set and my younger cat decided to go where she is not allowed to go and jumped on to the table and landed right in the middle of one of the cakes.  So that was another one to bake.  Then there was the cake to take into school on the Monday......  I had to go to the supermarket and buy eggs because my hens couldn't supply enough.